Jacob came to visit!

Last weekend Jacob and Suzanne came down. Jacob and I share the same birthday. We were in Vegas so we weren't able to attend Jacob's birthday party, so I decided to throw him a mini birthday party at our house! We got to have a sleepover and the boys had a blast playing together. They were like little streaks of lightening running around and having fun. They were inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, ALL over the house. I put up Aidans tent in the living room so they could play in it. Leave it to boys to go in the tent and not play but have a wrestling match! They basically wore themselves out playing. Aidan had an early night because by dinner time he was so exhausted that he just couldn't keep it together. He got choked because he started having a fit with a mouth full of broccoli and ended up vomiting everything he had eaten during the day. I gave him a bath and put him in the bed.

After a good nights rest he was ready to go the next morning! The boys spent some time in the morning riding their bikes. I bought Aidan his first bike on Friday. It is an orange Harley Davidson one and he loves it! We also played "Just Dance Kids" on the Wii for a little while. Jacob REALLY seemed to enjoy that! We had lunch and then they had to leave. I guess Aidan was still a little exhausted because he took a 4 hour nap that afternoon!

It was so good to have friends over. I think Aidan and I both needed it!

Happy birthday Jacob!

Playing in the tent...

taking a break from their wrestling match. Poor tent.

Aidan on his new bike! :)

such a big boy~

First day of Preschool

Last week was Aidans first week of preschool. He absolutely loved it. He went for the "discovery day" the previous week and had such a fun time! On Monday when I told him that he had school the next day he said, "you mean I get to go back!?". lol~ He thought it was a one time deal and was so excited when he realized he gets to go every week. He was sooooo excited as a matter of fact that he decided to walk himself to school the first day! I mentioned to him before that the school was so close that we might walk there occasionally. I guess he took that to heart. I took these pics below right before we were getting ready to leave. I took the pictures and then ran into the house to grab his lunch , his jacket, his nap stuff, extra change of clothes, etc... It was all ready to go so I was in and out in a minute. When I came back out I found Aidan walking down the sidewalk with his backpack on his back. When I yelled out to him he said. " Mom, I can walk to school all by MYSELF". Little Mr. Confidence thought he was going to walk a mile to school all by himself. I couldn't believe it. I have to watch that boy like a hawk!

When I went to pick him up his teacher Mrs. Thomas said that he had a great day.


Here are the pics taken just before he decided to walk to school....

This was him 5 minutes after we arrived. He gets to play outside for the first 20 minutes after he gets there. Aidan loves riding the yellow bike the best~

Our home

Our house is finally coming together and feeling more and more like a home every day. I can't explain how much I love this area and how happy I am that we moved here! I love this house and hope we stay here for a loooonnnng time. It meets our needs perfectly! While I was taking pictures yesterday of our Valentine fun I shot some of the house to share with you. I took one of the front of the house and blurred out our address to keep the stalkers away ( not that I think in any way we have stalkers but you know this is the Internet and there are crazies out there!) but for some reason it didnt save, so sorry there are no pics of the front. If you REALLY want to see what the front looks like you will have to just come and visit! HA! So let me show you around.....

I took this a couple of weeks ago. This is where we store all of Aidans riding / outside toys. Do you think I could start my OWN preschool with all of those toys????

The living room....

I LOVE all the windows and natural light throughout the house.

view from the front door.

One of my FAV parts of the house. The PANTRY! I have never had one and I LOVE it!

This pic is blurry because I just happened to "catch" Aidan this way and my camera was only a few feet away but I had to be quick! Notice he is standing on paper towels to reach something that he wanted that I put up HIGH so he WOULDNT get to it. My plan backfired. * sigh*

The backyard... On the other side of this fence is a sweet black lab. Aidan likes to "visit" him and then we have to listen to the dog whine the rest of the time we are out there because he wants to play.

another view of the backyard... The small white table beside the fountain is Aidans craft table.

Aidan spends a lot of time playing out there....

When he is not outside you can most likely find him here in his playroom!

This is most of the downstairs- There is also a family room off the kitchen, a bathroom, laundry room , and of course the garage. I didnt take any pics of the upstairs yet. Maybe I will share more later.

Valentines Day *edited*

So I told Aidan before I put him down for a nap that he could have a piece of cake when he woke up. He woke up and came to my room and we played and cuddled for a little while. He went downstairs and I blow dried my hair. I came downstairs and checked on him and he was playing in his playroom innocently. I walked into the kitchen and found this..... hmmm...... something seemed a little off. The cake was still there with its cover on but there was a fork laying beside it with pink frosting on it and a juice box. hmmmm........... so I opened the cover and found this - one little bite taken out of the cake. I HAD to laugh! The little booger got a fork out of the drawer, figured out how to take the top off, took one little bite and put the top back. Had he not left the fork laying there it would have taken me awhile longer to discover it. lol! You think I am going to be in trouble when he turns into a teenager???

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! I have been thinking a lot today about this holiday. I don't think it was as a big of a deal when I was a kid as it is today. Ok- let me rephrase that- I don't think it was as COMMERCIALIZED when I was a kid as it is today. I know that in most other countries Valentines Day is not a big deal and its mostly Americans that fall into the "trap" of this holiday. I can remember fun parties at school and making Valentines bags and boxes. I can remember getting very offended and upset if anyone gave me a valentine with a pig on it. Yes, I was kind of sensitive about my size / height as a kid . I can remember being disappointed when boyfriends didn't meet my expectations and then there was the single years. blah, blah, blah, blah. I think this is kind of a ridiculous holiday that can bring sadness. Valentines day should not be a DAY of the year that we tell those close to us that we love them rather EVERY DAY should be Valentines and we should let those around us know that we love them. With that said I am the typical American who has fallen into the "trap". lol! Of course I gave Clinton a card before he left on his trip and I do love him and he will always be my Valentine but I am having more fun with my lil' Valentine / my lil' LOVE! Although I tell him a HUNDRED times a day I love him, I am enjoying exposing him to this commercialized holiday created by the greeting card companies to make a bajillion dollars. lol!

I set out all of Aidans goodies last night before I went to bed. When he saw them this morning he said, " awwww, maybe the Valentine Girl visited us last night" lol! I showed him the card that I got for him and explained that the goodies were from me and his dad. For breakfast I fixed heart shaped pancakes and strawberries.

Then this afternoon we made a cake....

pouring in the water...

pouring in the eggs...

mixing....

The final product...

Happy Valentines Day everyone! In case I haven't told you lately- I love you!

The big four ohhhhh!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I had my 40th birthday!A month or so before my birthday I debated about what to do for it. I started looking at the calendar and realized that Clinton was going to be out of town. boo! I was determined NOT to sit at home alone on my birthday so I called my bff Cara and we decided to meet in Vegas for the big event. My plan was to take a babysitter with us so I could have some time with Aidan and also some grown up time. Clintons trip ended up getting cancelled so he got to come to Vegas after all! It ended up being perfect! I got to spend the weekend with 3 of my favorite people in the world and Clinton and Aidan got to spend a little bit of "guy" time together.

Cara's flight ended up getting delayed due to weather so she didnt get there until Friday night. We spent the night catching up and laughing until we cried. Clinton and I just finished up unloading the last load of the truck at 5ish AM the day we left and I found all of my yearbooks and pictures from college. I decided to bring those with us and it provided some great entertainment. Unbeknownst to me Cara made me an album of our 20 years together as friends for my birthday and it had some of the very same pictures in it!

Saturday Cara and I went for a pedicure while Clinton and Aidan stayed at the condo. While we were getting our pedicures I looked over at Cara and she had this look of well ...discomfort on her face. I had totally forgotten that Cara HATES to have her feet touched! The pedicurist kept slapping her foot and telling her to relax. This led to another fit of laughter!!! I told her that she could have gotten a manicure instead of pedicure, but she just stuck it out. What a trooper and what a FRIEND! lol! We then picked up to the boys and headed to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Clinton and Aidan then headed to he Harley store and Cara and I headed to the Lion King. The show was AH MAZING! It was so visually stimulating and entertaining! Clinton picked us up after the show and we went home to relax for a little while and I put Aidan to bed. Cara and I then hit the strip for the night and did some gambling and casino hopping.

Sunday we got up and Cara got a massage while I got a facial. We picked up the boys and headed to the Rio for brunch. Wow! that was an experience. I always love the buffet at the Rio and think it is one of the best in Vegas, however, Aidan was tired and cranky and so was everyone else. The 45 minute wait to get seated only added to the hunger and crankiness. However, we left there with full bellies and better attitudes. :) We dropped Clinton off at the condo and then Cara, Aidan and I hit the outlets until closing time. We then went to the strip to run into a couple of stores and to watch the water show at the Bellagio. It was chilly and really windy so I put Aidans wind/rain shield on his stroller. Honestly he looks like a boy in a bubble when I use that thing! We were walking down the strip and of course it was full of people wanting to sell their services/ music/ etc... One guy was pushing his reggae CD. He said "I got Reggae music, I got Reggae music for children in a bubble."- again the laughter ensued. lol! I wasnt that comfortable having Aidan out on the strip after dark so we left right after we watched the water show.

Monday we did a little bit of shopping and dropped off Cara at the airport. It was the PERFECT birthday. :)



On the way to Vegas... Two passed out passengers.
The living room at our condo...

Aidan relaxing in his room at the condo.

Cara enjoying her pedicure. NOT! lol!

lunch at the Hard Rock.

after lunch we saw these two Michael Jackson impersonators and HAD to get our picture taken.

The Lion King....

Gambling the night of my birthday. I am a HUGE gambler!! Ok just kidding. I always quit when I am ahead. I put 5 bucks in the quarter slot machine and got $51.75 back. I thought that was a BIG deal and a pretty good return on my money!

waiting for the show at the Bellagio to start.

see..... boy in a bubble.

watching the water show

New House - staying here awhile!

One of the reasons I haven't been posting is because we decided to get a house sooner than expected. We have been busy moving. This is probably the biggest move we have ever made! It took us 5 days and 5 truck loads to just get all of our stuff IN the house. We had to move Clinton's apartment, 2 storage units, and our warehouse that we use for our business. Clinton added it up tonight and it is about 1 football field length of stuff!!! The warehouse alone took 3 truck loads! So the stuff IN the house is 2 of the truck loads and the stuff IN the GARAGE is 3 truck loads. Needless to say the garage is FULL! We also have our truck here that we use to transport all of our equipment. It is so nice to have ALL of our belongings under 1 roof! I LOVE the house and the location. It is perfect for our needs. I see us staying here for a really long time :) We finished moving about 5 am last Friday. We slept a few hours and then went to Las Vegas for my birthday ( upcoming post). I have been spending the past week UNPACKING stuff and still have more to go. At least most of the rooms are liveable now. We just got our bed put together this weekend.

Aidan is also LOVING the new house. He has his own playroom, his own storage shed outside for his riding toys, and a good size yard to play in! We have already had a playdate with one of the neighbors who has 3 girls. The youngest just turned 4 in November. There is a GREAT park within walking distance from here. Clinton took Aidan there for a couple of hours yesterday so I could have some uninterrupted unpacking time ( a BIG help!) Tomorrow Aidan has a "discovery day" at one of the preschools we visited ( that just happens to be within walking distance). Its a visitation day from 8:30 to 12:30 to see if it is a good fit for us. I am excited for him!

I haven't really taken any pictures of the house yet because it has been such a mess but I did post some video above. The first day we moved, Suzanne and Jacob came down to entertain Aidan while we were busy ( also a BIG help). The truck had a lift and Clinton put them on it and gave them a ride. After that they wanted to do it again and again and again!