Day 14 Seaworld

Day 14 on the advent calendar was to go to Seaworld. It had been awhile since we have been to Seaworld and we had a blast today! The park was decorated for the holidays and they had "Snowland" there. There was snow there for the kiddos to play in as well as a little hill for sledding. The only thing they didn't have there that they had at Legoland was a snowball throwing area. Aidan was bummed. It was his favorite thing to do so he decided to make them anyway and throw them at a statue thingy until they made an announcement of "no throwing snowballs". Aidan threw a few more and then I reminded him of the rules. Man was he ticked! He ran away to some bleachers near by and pouted for a few minutes but then he was over it. lol.

Aidan had his Christmas performance at church on Sunday and I posted it on facebook. It was so cute! He did a great job! I attempted to post it here but it wouldn't upload for some reason. I got some cute video today too of him sledding and of him and Zoey and Elmo. I will attempt to post those and see if I can, if not I will post them on facebook. Tomorrow night is his performance at school. I can't wait!

John our Elf was involved in an accident the other day. He was hanging out on our chandelier and I forgot he was there. I sat down to wrap some presents and turned on the light. OOPS! I melted his cheek and part of his outfit. I ran to Target and Barnes and Noble after Aidan went to sleep while our neighbor stayed with him but they were all sold out. I put a bandaid on him and Aidan seemed fine with it.

poor John.....
Aidan put on his sunglasses, looked in the mirror and said " I look gooooood". lol. Little ham.

I can't believe this is our first picture ever with Shamu.
At the new Sea Turtle exhibit...

playing in the snow...
getting ready to go down the hill...


just as he finished asking to do it again...
snowballs!


pouting because he couldn't make any more snowballs. lol!

I LOVE the holidays and being Aidan Kai's Mama!

I just love the Holiday season! I love everything about it- the fresh smell of the Christmas tree and Christmas treats, the lights ( oh my! the lights in our neighborhood- there are more and more going up every day!), the Christmas Cheer, all the decorations, figuring out the perfect gifts to give, the DIY ( do it yourself) projects, the Christmas parties and celebrations, and yes even the busyness at the stores. I go full steam ahead the whole month of December and figure I can just collapse in January. lol! It makes me sad that our families are so far away and even Clinton has been away for the past month (he is due home next week) but having Aidan makes the holidays so much more FUN! I LOVE his little 4 year old cuteness!! I love his curiosity and the questions he asks on a daily basis. I love his innocence and his colorful imagination! I love watching him play and doing things for the first time. I love his funny personality and creativity. I love how when he gets a boo boo it only takes one kiss from Mama to make it all better. I love all of our cuddle time (I am so happy that he still likes for me to hold him!). I love how smart and intuitive he is. I love when he comes to me and tells me these off the wall stories that he has made up. I love that he has an imaginary friend "Michael". I love his passion for trains and cars. I love that he thinks about things that I would never think about in a million years like- What kind of car Barrack Obama drives, what makes the stars shine, and what makes up air. What a true blessing from God this child has been and continues to be! I am blessed.

So here is some of the holiday fun Aidan and I have had this past week.....

Making cookies with Squirt- his classroom turtle.


Some mischief Squirt and John the Elf got into one night. Coloring in one of Aidan's coloring books....
getting a haircut.....
decorating the tree.... I haven't gotten any really good pictures of the completed tree yet, so I will post once I do.
playing with his friends that are in my mom's group. We had our Christmas party at the park...
Swinging with Karen....
working out how to play ring around the rosie......
more mischief from Squirt and John the Elf.... Enjoying a late night snack.
What have you done to our picture John?????
We had a play date with Emily our neighbor at our house. We. made and decorated more Christmas cookies.
getting ready tonight to go to Christmas in the Park. Man I need to get this kid to the dentist!
Christmas in the Park.....
They had face painting there. Out of all the things Aidan could have chosen (all Christmas) he chose a Menorah AND a Rudolph nose! Go figure. Just part of his quirky personality I love!

Advent Calendar

We are giving the Advent Calendar another go this year. Last year it didn't work out so well. I put some candy and some activities throughout the month. Aidan being 3 and all thought that he could go and get a candy off whenever he felt like it! This year I changed things up and put all activities. These are just normal things that we would do anyways during the Christmas season. I love the advent calendar because it has gotten me organized and Aidan is excited every day to see what he gets to do for the day! I love the fact that he can read the activities on his own this year! He is reading amazingly well these days. His Sunday school teacher was in shock when I picked him up this morning. She said, He can read! I said yes he can.

So far we have made Christmas cookies, gone to Legoland, and tonight we are decorating the Christmas tree. We were supposed to do a special activity at the park yesterday but Aidan was just exhausted and said he didn't feel well I decided to nix it.

Legoland was so much fun! Since we are pass holders they sent us some free passes to use during the month of December. We invited our neighbors to go with us. They have a 4 year old little girl and a baby. The kids had so much fun and Aidan was so excited to have someone to go with him. They had snow there this year! They got to go sledding, make snow balls, and help build a snowman! We had a couple of little incidences while we were there. Emily got a gate slammed on her face as she was walking out of the driving school area. She got a gash on her eye but luckily a little ice took care of it. A few minutes later we were in the little (but big) play area and Aidan just vomited out of the blue. I had NO warning. I was watching him go down the slide and noticed he had a weird look on his face once he got off. I asked him if he was going to throw up and we didn't even make it 3 feet. I got him cleaned up and asked him if he wanted to sit down and take a rest. He said "no I want to go play". He did and was fine for the rest of the day. Aidan has been complaining about his back hurting ( his chief complaint yesterday) so I had Dr. Danny take a look at him today. Aidan raised his shirt and Dr. Danny immediately saw what Aidan was talking about. He pointed to the spot that Aidan said hurt (without me showing him) and had me look at it. Sure enough there was a little indention of his spine. It is in the same spot that Aidan hurt when a babysitter was with him while I was sick. He evidently was horsing around , did a flip, and somehow got a rug burn on his back. He has been complaining of his back hurting off and on since then. I never really connected the two. Dr. Danny gave him an adjustment so hopefully it took care of it ( incidentally the part of the spine that had the indention is the part that has to do with the stomach so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the vomiting)

Elf on a shelf has also made a reappearance this year. Aidan was terrified of him last year so I just put him away. This year he is kind of into him! He named him "John". For those of you who don't know how Elf on a shelf works- there is a little Elf and a book that comes in the package. The story goes that the elf is a magical Christmas elf. He is there watching everything you do. Each night he flies to the North Pole and gives Santa a report. He comes back in the morning and is always in a different location. Part of the fun is that the child has to locate the elf each morning. Also, that elf can be mischievous! The other night he got one of Aidans coloring books and colored all over one of the pages and one night he ended up in our little bird cage. He is going fishing tonight in the toilet for gold fish! He is also going to make smores, take a ride in one of Aidans toy cars, help himself to a midnight snack, and other fun tricks! This weekend Aidan got to take home his classroom stuffed animal which is a little stuffed turtle named Squirt. He comes with a journal that the child and parent are supposed to write in and post pictures of all of Squirts adventures. Squirt and John the elf have been partners in crime this weekend! I can't wait to write all about it in the journal. I will post pics of Squirt and John later.

Here is a list of our Advent Activities this year.....

- make christmas cookies with mom

- Go to Legoland

- go to Winter Wonderland at the park

- help decorate the Christmas tree

- make a special Christmas card

-go shopping to buy mimi a special gift

-attend a holiday party

-watch a christmas movie and ear popcorn ( aidan doesn't like hot chocolate)

- make various holiday crafts

-attend our community tree lighting

-drive around and look at Christmas lights

- read a new Christmas book

-go to Seaworld

- write a letter to Santa and see him at the mall

- make a christmas alphabet book

- attend Boats on Parade

- play a christmas game (stocking dice)

- got to the zoo

-make reindeer food

- Special Christmas eve with our family and wear new christmas pj's.

Here is our advent calendar. Aidan is holding up one of the little slips of paper that tells the activity for the day.
Legoland.... Here Aidan is holding Squirt.
This is how Southern California kids have fun in the snow!

Emily getting ready to go down the hill.
The snowball area. The kids got to make snowballs and then throw them at targets.

Emily, Avery, and Aidan. I just LOVE little Avery. She really gives me baby fever every time I am around her. She is so sweet and just a really good natured baby!
Who the heck are these guys? Elves that were around the snow area.
Driving the cars. Aidan loves driving them now and they did about 4 times!
Emily....

What happened to November?

Can someone please tell me what happened to November? It seems it came and went really quickly! I didn't post in November so I will play catch up.

The middle of November Aidan and I flew to Tennessee where we had our annual girls trip to Gatlinburg with my mom, aunt, and cousin. We always have such a good time and I am afraid it is going to be our last year as Aidan will be in Kindergarten next year ( or PEPP we are still debating)! I don't think it is a big deal to miss preschool but it is a totally different story once you enter public school. I am already dreading Aidan having to go to school every day. I don't know what I will do with myself all day! :( I know that he is more than ready and will do great but this mama is NOT ready!

Gatlinburg was great. We did our ususal- went shopping, out to eat, to the Dixie Stampede, and took our annual photos. Aidan and my cousin ended up sick and in urgent care the same day with ear infections, but it was the only little snafu. The antibiotics kicked in and they both felt much better after a day.

After Gatlinburg I went home with my mom and we stayed with her until after Thanksgiving. I planned outings just about every day so the time seemed to fly by! We went to the library a couple of times for story hour, Wallabies ( a local jump house place that is super nice!), the mall, the movies to see Happy Feet 2, Fun Expedition ( kind of like Chuck E. Cheese), the Hands On Museum, the park, and to see the lights at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Mom took Aidan out one day for a "date". I think they both had a good time.

We had a low key Thanksgiving. The three of us had Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott. It was actually really good and neither mom or I had to cook! After dinner we took Aidan to the park where we all got a little exercise. :)

We came back to California last Sunday. I have been busy this week cleaning this house and getting it in order for Christmas. The houses are CRAZY in this neighborhood. Everyone goes ALL OUT for Christmas! There is even one house 1 street over that has an entire Christmas light show! They play music and the lights perform a show along with it! The traffic is really terrible as I think everyone in San Diego is going to come by to look at our neighborhood lights.

We have lots of fun things planned for December ( we went to Legoland yesterday with our neighbors) and I can't wait to post about them.

Aidan at the rock where we always take our annual pics.

My mom, Aidan, and Aunt Sue being silly.
cousins!
Having dinner at the Partridge and a Pear ( restaurant at the Christmas Place)
This is Aidans dinner- Christmas Pancakes and Candy Cane juice!
Enjoying some Apple Cider at Thanksgiving. The legs crack me up.
He thought he was a really big boy drinking out of the wine glass.
Driving to see the lights at the Bristol Speedway. Mimi let Aidan drive the car and he was in HEAVEN! I can still remember my dad letting me drive the car when I was 4! Of course we were in the middle of the desert and NOT on a race track. lol!

riding the rides at the infield.
I LOVE this picture of Aidan and my mom.

Aidan and I getting ready to roast marshmallows.

The carpet cleaning men are here and said they are on their way to clean the carpets (yay!) so I gotta run. I promise to post more about our December activities. :)