Happy Halloween!

Have a safe and happy halloween everyone!

Happy 15 months baby boy!

Dear Aidan,

Today you are 15 months old. I can not express how much joy you bring me and Clap Clap. I love playing with you and watching you grow and learn new things. My favorite part of the day is the early morning ( very early!) when you first wake up. I love how you are so happy in the morning and how we cuddle as you take your bottle. You then bring me book after book to read to you! You love having books read to you. You are talking more and more every day. The words you are currently using are ma ma, da da, clap clap, pap ( passie), wa wa ( water), nana ( banana), hat, tink ( tinkerbelle), down, no ( your favorite word at the moment), boom, boo, fish, nose, boo ( book), ba ba ( bottle), bye bye, and bir ( bird). You can point to your nose, eyes, ears, hair, mouth, and pigs ( toes). Your motor skills are getting better all the time. You still sometimes walk on your toes, but you are getting very fast and are even starting to run. You are the most CURIOUS child I have ever seen. LOL!You want to know how everything works and are constantly getting things out of cabinets and drawers. You get a very serious look on your face when you are "examining" things. Your favorite foods right now are banans, grapes, strawberries, turkey, and string cheese. You also enjoy eating hummus, avocado and gold fish crackers. Your favorite toys right now are anything that is a "non toy" and books. You are starting to enjoy playing with your Sesame Street stuffed animals and with trucks.You always have things in your hands ( usually 2 of your little people that go with your toys or blocks) You love going to the park and going down the slide. Your favorite place is Seaworld playing at Sesame Place. You still explore EVERYTHING with your mouth ( which drives me a little nuts but I know it is all part of being a baby!). You are happy and in a great mood 95% of the time. However, you are starting to tolerate things like your stroller less and less. Your personality is developing more and more. You are such a silly boy! You are also "head strong" and determined. You are a total joy and pleasure! I could not imagine life any other way!

Love,

Mama

Getting ready for CHRISTMAS!

Aidan , Annabelle, and I have been hangin' this weekend becuase Clinton and the rest of the crew are in San Francisco running a Play to Win. It has actually been pretty nice having the house to ourselves and not having so many other people here working ( dont get me wrong, I love the people who work for us but it is NICE to just have some time by myself) We went to Gymboree yesterday, did some shopping, and visited 2 different parks. I am busy getting ready for our trip to the east coast in a little over a week. It is going to be COLD there, so I have bought Aidan lots of warm clothes. It is still in the high 80's here so the cool weather will be refreshing. At the same time I am getting ready for CHRISTMAS! I am putting aside some of Aidan's summer outfits ( that still fit him) for our trip to Australia. It is going tobe SUMMER there! I scored a new swimsuit, coverup, and hat for Aidan yesterday for $3.00! I am really looking forward to both trips! We will be in Tennessee and West Virginia for almost a month ( through Thanksgiving) and then we come home for 2 weeks before we leave for OZ for Christmas. I am really having to plan ahead as we have lots of Christmas activities including our company Christmas party ( which I am in charge of planning). I am getting ready to put Aidan down for a nap and climb into our attic to get down our Christmas decorations so they will be ready to go when we get home.

Here are some pics from todays visit to the park. It was totally empty except for a family there getting ready for a birthday party. They already had a jump house blown up and were nice enough to let Aidan get in and play.Look mama, I have someones dirty straw!

Look mama, I am off my leash and loving life!!

Playing in the sand. Wait, what is that brightly colored house over there?

Let me just run over there and check it out...

HMMM..... How do I get up there?

Maybe if I go around to the other side....

SCORE!!!! Thanks mama for helping me!

Why this mama should NOT attempt to work AND watch a 1 year old!

Can we say the magic markers were NOT out of Aidan's reach (silly mama) 'nuff said!

Bates Nut Farm

Fall is my favorite season of the year. October is by far my favorite month. To me fall means cool weather, sunny skies, beautiful leaves, football games, crisp air, and the awesome smell of leaves and chimney smoke. In a weird way fall feels like new beginnings although most people think of it as the end of something (mostly summer and all that goes with it). Perhaps it is because fall is the start of a new school year and possibilities. New teachers, friends, and new clothes! I just love fall! Although it is not quite the same being in California ( there is no change in weather or leaves, no crisp air or chimney smoke), I still love fall and always get the same cozy feeling each October. To me it is a time to get out and celebrate.

Today Clinton and I took Aidan to Bates Nut farm where they had a HUGE pumpkin patch, arts and crafts, food, petting zoo, hay ride, live entertainment, etc....It was a hundred times better than the pumpkin patch I took Aidan to earlier this week. Here are the pics that tell the story...

This is when we first arrived. I was letting Aidan walk around and explore while clap clap ( da da) got our food.

HMMMM.... So much to see

Aidan and me. He was eyeing someones boon ( balloon) so....

The next stop was to buy Aidan his own boon.

It was a little on the cool side when we left our house, however it quickly warmed up so Aidan had to break out his overalls West Virginia style!

I love how he is holding his bibs in this picture. Ir cracks me up! We were listening to a country band and Aidan looovved it. He of course was dancing and getting lots of attention from everyone in the crowd.

Hey, I have a stick!

Taking a break from all the dancing and sitting on clap clap's lap having some agua enjoying the music.

Hangin' out with all the pumpkins

and the gourds....

Have you seen my muscles? I am going to pick this pumpkin up!

Aidan enjoyed sitting ON the pumpkins the most.

After picking out our pumpkin we were waiting in line for ice cream and this is what I saw. Where is Aidan? He has been replaced by a pumpkin face. Hilarious!!!














This is what I saw BEHIND the balloon. One exhausted little boy.

But wait maybe ice cream will pick me up.... first some of moms.

Then some of da da's......

Can you believe it? I looove ice cream!

On the ride home. One happy sleeping baby!

Fun at the Pumpkin patch

Tuesday I took Aidan to the pumpkin patch. The Santa Ana's are picking up and the HOT weather is back. The pumpkin patch was an actual working farm, so it was hot, dirty, and smelly. However, they did have lots of things there for kids-including a hay ride, train ride, "baby toys", animals- llamas, emus, horses, chickens, pigs, etc... (hence the stinky part), corn maze, jump house etc... Aidan had a good time just walking around but he usually does not do well in the heat, so we didnt stay that long. Afterwards, I hit their market and got some small pumpkins, some veggies, and some yummy apple butter. Later that night we went out for family night. I posted the pictures in the reverse order but oh well... I am to lazy to fix them so you will have to figure it out...
This self picture is actually a blooper. However, I was laughing because as we were getting in close for the picture Aidan leaned over and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek... He is just soooo sweet!

Aidan and clap clap. Yes Aidan now calls his dad clap clap because Clinton always sings a song to him and those are part of the words. Aidan looooves the song and gets really into it. Today I showed him a family picture and asked "Who do you see?" and he replied clap clap! so funny!

Aidan and mama getting ready to go to dinner. Here are the little pumpkins I bought. Somebody or SOMETHING has already snatched one of the pumpkins that was sitting on the ground.

Aidan and his pumpkins

Hot, sweaty, and dirty little boy having a good time.

See Nana how dirty my hands are? I looove playing in dirt and eating it!

Just a swingin'

They had this horse at the Pumpkin Patch. My grandfather had one at his grocery store forever only it was waaayyyy cooler. It only cost a dime to ride and it had a real leather seat. The thing was old as the hills but all of us grandkids had a great time riding it! It was like a right of passage and some of the only entertainment we had while we were visiting. I had to let Aidan ride it. He was a little unsure of it.

" I love the pumpkin patch!"

Recap of last week

It seems that I am only able to post updates once a week now. We are not really doing that much except living life! This past week I worked helping Clinton and the girls ( Tracy, Mary, and Janett) out. We always have a big company meeting on Wednesdays where our entire staff come to our house. Aidan and I went back to Seaworld this week and had a blast as usual. We also had multiple trips to the park.

This weekend was a busy one. We had a Frontier Trainings barbecue at our house for those students who were participating in Power Play. There were probably about 20 or so people here last night working, eating, swimming, saunaing ( is this a word), and hot tubbing ( my personal favorite after Aidan goes to bed).

I think Aidan is growing because he is spending a lot of time sleeping. He takes a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. He sometimes sleeps longer in the afternoon. Am I a lucky mama or what? I have a feeling the 2 naps will come to an end soon and he will just have 1 long nap in the afternoon. However, I have been waiting on this for awhile now and he continues to take 2 naps. Yeah! Usually after his morning nap I take him outside and he helps me water the flowers and plays outside. These are some of the pictures I took this morning. I just love little boys in overalls! I was saving these for our trip to Tennesse next month, but it is getting darn cold in San Diego and I needed to put long pants and a long sleeve shirt on him today.

Let me just put this truck in the bush.

I have 2 trucks! Aidan loves holding 2 of whatever and walk around and say "2 tings (things)"


For some reason I just love pictures of Aidan from the back.

Why I love California!!! This is a picture I took last week on Family Night. These were taken from our table at the restaurant where we were eating.