The lessons learned from being Aidan's Mama

I would first like to apologize for the REALLY bad grammar and spelling in the last post. Aidan woke up from his nap and I didn't get a chance to proof read it. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. HA!

Lately I have been thinking about the lessons I have learned from being Aidan's mama. He teaches me so much every day. I decided to sit down and start documenting them. Here are the things I came up with off the top of my head....

-sometimes if you whisper it is more effective than raising your voice.

- Hot Wheels have many different uses. They can run on train tracks, can talk, and are especially fun to run through finger paint.

-Sometimes cheese and crackers are ok to eat for breakfast.

-If you ONLY want to eat cheese and crackers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for days on end that is ok also, as long as it means you are eating something.

-If you use a Clorox bleach pen, Tide stain remover, Oxy Clean, AND regular detergent it still isn’t powerful enough to remove Aidan size stains.

- little boys should never, never, never wear white ( see above).

- Sometimes kids ways of doing thing is MUCH more effective than adult ways of doing things.

- A water wheel can be moved by energy from water , wind power, and good old boy power.

-When you are shooting baskets they can be worth 2 point, 3 points, 4 points, or 8 points. -whatever you feel they are worth at the time.

- Mosquitoes and ice cream do not mix, especially when they get stuck in the ice cream on your face. Ouch!

- cushions thrown off of a coach make a GREAT obstacle course.

-sometimes it is better just to sit back and watch to see what a person can create rather than giving instructions on what to create.

Thank you Aidan for teaching me and reminding me about the innocence and brilliance of childhood. I love you !

Aidans 3rd birthday part 2

For Aidans official 3rd birthday party we had a Thomas themed party. We invited a few neighborhood kids over. I was really excited that Sheri and Lauren could be there. Weston is still at Childrens Hospital in Cincinatti so please continue to pray for him. Sheri came home for the weekend and Jeff ( her husband) stayed with Weston. It has been a LONG time since I have seen Sheri and was soooo happy to see her! Cara also came as well as Nana Deuce and Cousin Terri, of course my mom was there too! We felt blessed to have so many family and friends around.

I got creative for this party and I have to admit it felt REALLY good to be creative after a 3 year break!

Here is Aidans party in pictures.I had to break it down into 2 seperate posts because there were so many pics. The bulk of them are in the next post.

Aidan with his Thomas "3" shirt. I love it!

The birthday cake.... Weeee..... Aidan is 3! I also put a railroad track on the sidewalk.

To begin the party I read "Trains, Cranes, and Troublesome Trucks". It was the theme of the party and one of Aidans favorite books.

reading the story.

The kids then did a craft and made their own trains.

continued in the next post......

Aidans 3rd birthday party part 2 (continued)

Well evidently blogger will only let me attach a certain number of photos per post so here is the bulk of the pics from his birthday party...

The kids made their trains......
When then made a train throughout the yard.

and into the backyard....

First stop. The Troublesome Trucks knocked over all of Thomas' coal. The kids had to pick up the coal ( black beanbags) and throw them into Thomas.

After helping Thomas the kids got train whistles.

We then took the train ( while blowing the whistles lol!) to the second stop.

The Troblesome Trucks knocked over James' milk so we helped to clean it up. The kids received a engineers hat after the clean up.

Next all of Gordons load of Grape Jam got knocked into the bay. We helped to fish it out. The kids got a red bandana.

Fishing for the Grape Jam.

The meltdown Aidan had in the middle of his party. I think he was a little overwhelmed.

Engineer Kagen with his whistle, hat, and bandana.

The cutest lil engineer ( gotta love those teeth). I was so happy Lauren and Sheri could have been there! It would only have been better if Weston could have been there. He is still at Childrens Hospital in Cincinatti.

The last stop. Aidan was back on track at this point and enjoyed cleaning up the trains!

Kagen cleaning up the trains. I think this was the little kids favorite activity.

After all the fun games it was time to eat. Sweet Emily and her sweet brother Jacob.

Cousin Terri, Lauren, and Isabella

Aidan enjoying his food.

Sweet Lil Isabella

Fruit arrangement from Edible Arrangements. Thanks Mimi!

Time to blow out the candles.

After we took a break for food, cake, and ice cream it was time to pull the strings on the pinata.

picking up the candy from the pinata.

Last but not least it was time to open gifts.

It was a great day! I think everyone had a great time! Aidan was EXHAUSTED and took a LONG nap.

Aidans 3rd birthday part 1

Well after a week I think we are finally finished with Aidans 3rd birthday celebrations. On Aidans birthday we started out with some gifts and then Krispie Kreme doughnuts for breakfast ( yummo). Lauren came over and mom and I took the kids to Billy Bobs Wonderland ( West Virginia's version of Chuck E. Cheese). Cara also came and met us for lunch. I bought a large pizza and got Lauren and Aidan a ton of tokens. I then just let the kids run around like wild little munchkins. Aidan had the best time playing the video games. I think he still doesnt care if he puts money in them or not but just enjoys jumping from machine to machine. He opened up a few more little gifts and then we had cake. He kept telling me that he wanted a "race car cake" for his birthday so I just went to the grocery store and had them make me a cake with white, blue, and orange frosting. I put a hot wheel car on top and that was his "race car cake". The kids played a few more games and then we played a quick game of putt putt and I took each one of them on a go cart ride. Fun times! The birthday boy wore himself out that day and was sound asleep by 7:15.


opening a few gifts in the A.M.

standing with his Happy Birthday flag. His shirt says " Its this engineers third birthday".

Aidan attempting to hold up 3 fingers.

playing games at Billy Bobs...

Aidan and Lauren in the ball pit

opening up a few small gifts. He decided later that he wanted to make a "traffic jam" on his cake.

Cake before the traffic jam...

blowing out his candles...

see. traffic jam on the cake.

Aidan after enjoying his cake.

Lauren playing putt putt

This is pretty much how Aidan looked the entire time we were playing putt putt. He just kept running from one hole to another. He really didn't care about getting the ball in the hole.

Aidan just before I took him upstairs for a bath and bed. Does it look like he had a good day or what???