More Vacay Pics...

The Kagy's at Look out Mountain
Lupi's Pizza...or is it Lupis Pizza?
Peekaboo!

Cousins! Taylor may have a motive for being close.Give me that fist! "No Nice Taylor." This is my favorite picture from the 1200 that we took last week. I know...what would we do without digital cameras?

VACAY 08!

A few days ago we returned from our vacation with the Kagy family. We rented a cabin about 20 minutes outside of Chattanooga. This is something we did two years ago when Aiden and his cousin Abby were first born. Now with two more babies we decided that this was a must. I have not yet blogged about this trip because I had no idea where to start and still do not. So, I thought I would just touch on a few highlights.

First I must say that there is something so special and wonderful about the relationship between cousins. Aiden and Abby (for the most part) played wonderfully together. Aiden absolutely loved Abby and would squeal whenever Abby woke up in the morning. They spent their mornings running around on the deck chasing each other, pushing the stroller, playing with the big ball, and chasing Nana. Then whenever we would travel to TN., they would play in the car together laughing and singing.

We visited the Tn aquarium, the zoo, an awesome hands on kids museum, spent some time in a nearby creek, and playing in some of the numerous water features around town. We even got to have a date night (Date Night 08) in which we indulged in some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Aiden loved his first carousel ride, but not his second one. While planning one night where to go for the following day, I began reading some reviews on a trip planner website about the Chattanooga Zoo. While many people loved it, one person described it as a dirty little pet shop! Despite this claim we ventured out to find that the person was pretty right on with their description. Maybe it was just that it was bloody hot, or maybe it was because all of the animals were sleeping, or maybe it was because one of the animals on display was a crow! But this was not our favorite place. There was a carousel that we thought would be fun, and it turned out to be quite old and rather scary. Aunt Sam almost fell off as the crazy old lady started the thing and the creaking of the carousel itself caused Aiden to hold on for dear life. Notice the yellow caution tape in the background.

The cabin had 3 floors, and our bedroom along with a bunk room for the kids was on the bottom floor. It was not unusual to hear the pounding of little feet running from one end of the cabin to the other. While it was loud, the sound was such a sweet reminder of what it meant to be little and carefree.

We also met our sweet little niece Joanna. She is such a sweet wonderful little girl, and unlike little miss Taylor she loved to be held and rocked. Her “tractor beam” would pull you in and before you knew it you would have sweet Jo-Jo in you arms fast asleep.

Aiden and Abby loved climbing the stairs to the third floor and throwing balls over the side of the loft area. Someone would quickly run over to guard the babes playing on the floor, and it was game on.

Going anywhere was a huge production because we would plan to be out all day. So with two toddlers and two newborns and 6 adults and lots of walking this meant a lot of packing and preparing, and unpacking and then packing again. Thank you for the double stroller, oh how I love thee!

After the kids were in bed we would stay up visiting and playing games.

Before we knew it, our trip was over and we started the mass clean up and pack up. I was overcome with emotion as we said goodbye. Family is so important to me and it was so special seeing Aiden and Abby play together and generally just love on each other. They are the A team; the first of the grandbabies. Now there is Taylor and Jo-Jo a new generation. It is so exciting to see our family grow. I also cherish the relationship that I have with Sam (my sister in law) we have been through a lot together and I feel a special closeness with her that cannot be described. I am so lucky to have her.

So we headed south. I gathered myself and finally stopped the tears flowing from my eyes. Aiden and Taylor were sleeping before we knew it. Later when Aiden woke he was somewhat cranky, and upon asking him what was wrong he said, “I want see Abby, I want see Abby.” I know baby, me too.

Now we are home. Vacation is over. As we came in the door, I put Taylor on a blanket to stretch out while we unpacked the car, and she decided to roll over! What a determined little 3 ½ month old. So many things I never want to forget.

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure. Check out the cabin here.

Aiden 2, Taylor 3 months

My best friend, Amy came over today with Lennon, and took these shots for me. There are lots more but these made me want to freeze time. Thank you Amy for catching my babies in such a natural way. I love you!

Some All-American Fun

We went last night and did the all-american thing. We hung out with friends, ate some food, saw some fireworks. The place we go each year is extremely family friendly. They do not allow alchohol, and the people that go there are generally nice and mostly families. There are lots of vendors and bouncy house things for the kids to jump in.

Aiden had a great time. About 4 seconds after we placed our blanket on the ground he had located the one patch of dirt in the whole place. Once his buddy Fox arrived he roped him into his mischief. Aiden was covered from head to toe with dirt. He made sure that Fox was also covered in dirt along with an innocent little boy who was merely passing by. The boys had a great time but they were sweaty, gross, sandy, and covered in sno-cones.

We didn't really know what to expect with Aiden and the fireworks, but he did rather well. For the first half he watched them but made sure my hands were tightly over his hears. By the end he loved it and was ooohing and aaahhing.

He fell asleep by the time we left the parking lot, which was about 30 minutes, but he DID get a bath when we got home close to midnight.

Here is Aiden with his buddies Fox, and Ranen.

There was a man flying in the sky with a little engine on his back and a flag attatched. I think this is what they are looking at. Notice the stained mouth and the water ( I hope) on their shirts. They were having fun.

Taylor stayed with my mom and dad. The heat and noise would have been too much for her. I took this picture today. Her eyes look so pretty to me. Note: she is wearing a swim suit that I wore when I was a baby. Weird.

Potty Training... I must be crazy!

Yesterday we began potty training. I wasn't going to do it yet. Aiden didn't seem all that interested, but I thought well lets give it a go and see what happens. We took away the diaper, and I loaded him with liquids and made him sit every 10 minutes until he went. Well he did and we danced, we shouted, we gave treats. He was so proud he jumped up and down yelling "Yea Aiden!" I put his potty seat in the kitchen so that he could get there quickly, and reminded him over and over again. I was so proud of him. We had no accidents yesterday and several successful attempts. He would be playing with toys and would stop and go running to the potty. The problem that I had was with the actual potty. It is hard for him to get his boy equipment pointing into the seat and in return it can sometimes spray everywhere. So I learned very quickly to have the sink full of mopping water. I mopped more yesterday than well... I mopped alot. SO far today has been successful, we will continue to work on it. I just fear going out. For now we will put on the diaper if we go out.

Tonight we will see fireworks. We have started talking about them and describing them as "good booms." Taylor will be with my mom and dad but she still had to dress for the occasion. She has started to wiggle her self around on the floor. If I lay her on her blanket to play, I sometimes find her off of her blanket and 360 degrees from where she started. She has most recently begun to arch her back like she wants to roll over. She is a crazy little girl. She is so sweet and we love her so much.

Yesterday I ws trying to make Aiden's lunch and Taylor was also hungry. So she was fussing and I looked over and Aiden had given her the pacifier and was lightly bouncing her bouncy seat and was saying SShh, SShh, SShh. What a sweet thing.

Vacation time is coming and I can't wait to see my sweet little nieces. I am starting to dread the drive up....

Happy fourth of July!!!!

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Yesterday 3/4 of our family went to my best friends family farm. This farm started from a big piece of land and has transformed into this wonderful farm full of animals and place to play and hang out. Here you will see Aiden and Miss Lennon rockin' their cares away. Lennon is rocking a little harder as you can see. The thing that what I found interesting about all of the animals here was that they were all so vocal. No other place that I have been have had animals that have been quite so vocal. It was a great learning experience for Aiden. The animals that we saw were goats, and sheep ( one named patience with three legs), 2 horses, 2 mini horses, a ton of bunnies, guinea hens, chickens, roosters, donkeys, and a llama named Tula. When we got there we went to the "Goataminium" and went for a tour of the place. The goats were so sweet and friendly, but Aiden seemed to think it was a little unatural. Aiden got to watch the horses being fed, and give the donkeys a little corn treat. I was a little afraid Aiden might come home short a few fingers, but we still have all ten. The donkeys were hysterical. I have tried to explain that the animal that kind of looks like a horse is really a donkey and he says HEE-HAW instead of Neigh. Well these donkeys came running to us "hee-hawing?" very loudly.

Taylor was sweet as usual. I tried my off road stroller, but she is really too small still, and was less than thrilled about it, so she stuck close in the baby bjorn.

Fun in the....shade

Aiden really likes to play in the sand. I have searched high and low and there are not many playgrounds any more that have sand. It is usually mulch or recycled tire bits. We also looked around for a store bought sandbox and they are either really small or really expensive, or both. For the low cost of $31 dollars we now have a sandbox. Mark was super dad this weekend and built Aiden one kickin' sandbox equipped with lid. It is wonderful. He used pieces of wood that we had lying around and sand from a landscaping company down the road. It is under a group of huge trees so Aiden can play in it at any time of day without worry of sunburn. Yea!!!

Taylor is growing and changing. She is such a sweet little thing. I thought I would take a picture to recall how her hair looked at this point. The darker hair is falling out and coming in lighter. Aiden's did the same, it just cracks me up at how funny it looks. Like a little old man.

Another milestone happened on Friday. Aiden counted to ten. He was sitting it the back seat and while I was getting gas I just happened to peak in to get something and he was counting. He got to five and kept going. I made a big deal and clapped and hugged him, and since then he has done it several more times. I guess he got his Daddy's math skills. Thank goodness.

It's Hard

Its hard..... to color a picture.....
with a Tiger-lily in the way.

This is how I feel sometimes. I am engrossed in a task and something prevents me from completeing it. Mostly kids. But then I stop and remember how thankful I am for my babies and it makes it all worthwhile.

Its Pickin' Time

Happy 100th Blog post to me!

Today the kids and I went and picked blueberries at a vineyard near our house. Okay really I picked, Aiden snacked, and Taylor slept. It was a beautiful day with very low humidity which is hard to come by during summer in Florida. There were tons of blueberries and the biggest blackberries I have ever seen. At first we were the only ones there. I found myself really enjoying the sounds of a summer morning. These sounds were not only from nature but the little boy next to me as well. I looked over and Aiden deep in concentration was picking blueberries faster than he could put them in his mouth. After each one he would let out a long "mmmmmm good." Sometimes it was "mmmmmmm yummy." This little slice of cuteness was followed by the smacking of his little lips. I wanted to bottle this moment up and keep it with me forever. There was something so innocent about it. After about an hour or so I guess the fun wore off and it was time to high tail it out of there. Peapod woke up, Aiden was suddenly tired of walking and wanted to be pushed in the stroller, and I had a gallon jug hanging by a rope around my neck. Finally finding a break between the bushes, we weaved through the stickers and the thick grass. I saw the car in sight and it was all I could do to get there. The owner was extremely nice and after giving us some blueberry recipes, adding our name to his email list, and giving Aiden a juice box we could get going. Whewww... its time for my nap.

These are the big honkin' blackberries that we bought and what happens when you give them to a little boy..

Our week at home

This week we have been stuck at our house due to a nasty cold that the kids and I contracted. Even little Taylor had a yucky nose. So in the best interest of our friends we have kept our germs away. Taylor did have her two month check up and is doing everything she should.

We lounged around a lot. Here is how I found Taylor when she was supposed to be sleeping, and sweet Aiden resting on the floor.

Eventually we got tired of lounging and I began pulling my resources. We have painted with brushes, and our fingers, we have played in shaving cream,we have molded, we have baked, we have eaten Popsicles, we have read books, we built towers with blocks, we have watched movies, we danced,and even practiced some yoga. What we did not do was a lot of cleaning the house.

I have had several reasons lately that I have wanted to bake something sweet. I have made triple chocolate cherry bars, chocolate chip cookies, a strawberry amaretto cake, and know I have moved onto breads. I really like making them and sharing them. I usually try to leave the dessert where I take it and only bring some of it home. One of my good friends,Lauren gave me a book to borrow called 500 cupcakes. I have gone through it and am in the process of copying recipes. Now I just need some volunteers to eat them, anyone? Anyone? I think that I have always secretly wanted to own a trendy little cupcake shop. So many cupcakes so little time.

A while back I bought a couple of handprint mold kits. I think it was during the holidays. After reading the directions ( I always read the directions) I discovered that in order for the mold to take, one had to hold their hand still for 2 minutes. At the time I thought that this was really unreasonable for Aiden so I put the kits at the top of the closet and decided to wait until he was a little older to try this. Well, this week I tried . I thought "oooh- father's day." So, I read the directions, I laid my materials laid out, I read the directions again. I had a dum-dum lollipop ready for Aiden to distract him. This was going to be a breeze. Well actually what the directions meant when they said let the hand sit in the ooey-gooey nasty gel, was let it rest, without touching the bottom, or moving a millimeter AND it will take more than 5 minutes to set ( We stopped trying at 5 minutes when Aiden began to cry very loudly and it stopped being "fun") So, needless to say the mold idea was a bust and it was extremely messy. Save your money… DO NOT BUY THIS KIT!

Yesterday I introduced Aiden to a yoga video I had. We had such fun together practicing the poses. He really got a kick out of it. I even put baby girl on the floor and let her join us. He had so much fun with it that I ordered a kids yoga DVD online, that also teaches ABC’s. It had wonderful reviews so we will see… Here is Aiden's downward facing dog pose.

My yearlong search has ended. Last summer a friend of ours had these homemade Popsicle holders that she found at Wal-mart. They are wonderful because the Popsicle twists up and the juice is caught in the container (unless you like to drink it like Aiden.)I found them the other day while wandering around. Aiden’s current favorite flavor is white grape pomegranate. I enjoyed my cherry coke creation. I cannot believe I am at the point in my life when I am excited about popsicle makers. Sigh.

Next week will be better... we are hoping to see some buddies, maybe pick some blueberries with Ms. Michelle and Fox, maybe hit the library.

Bring the Rain

Lately there have been things in my life that have happened that I thought were blog worthy so this is what Samantha refers to as a "Heinze 57" post.

A couple of weeks ago a pretty bad thunderstorm came through in the late evening. Mark and I were just headed to bed when the lightning and the thunder began. Now, I will have to admit that I love a good rainstorm but thunder and lightning makes me want to hide under the covers. It scares the bah-gee-bees out of me! As it started I thought of my little angels sleeping peacefully in their beds, mainly worrying that it would wake the baby girl who is so high maintenance at getting to bed. So when I heard Aiden screaming I was surprised. He has never woken at a storm, so Mark and I headed in. Aiden was lying in his bed panic stricken as the thunder boomed around him. We consoled him, laid next to him, telling him that it was the rain and with it comes thunder, but that he was safe. I must mention that throughout this conversation lightning is striking it seems right outside his window and the thunder is shaking things in his room, and every-time I nearly jump out of my skin. So he is shaking and now has his fist balled up and is pushing them as hard as he can into his eyes, and all of a sudden he opens his eyes and shout “light-boom!” and covers them back up. We eventually had to pull him out of bed and bring him out of his room because after a good 45 minutes he was still not calm. He finally went back to bed but only after the storm was long gone. A few days later out of nowhere he talked to mark about it. It went something like this:

Aiden: Daddy?
Mark: Yes Aiden
Aiden: Bad Boom Bye Bye
Mark: Yes Aiden Bad boom bye bye.

Now Mark and I never referred to the thunder as a “bad boom” this is just something that Aiden came up with. This was especially sad to me because it made me realize how much that it in fact had scared him. Since then he has asked me at random times about this bad boom to make sure that it is in fact gone.

Taylor is wonderful. If you ask me this at bedtime I might tell you different. She is really difficult to get to go to bed, but when she does she sleeps. Last night made the second night she has slept for 11 hours straight. PRAISE GOD! On other nights when she doesn’t sleep all night she will sleep from 8pm-3am and then to 7am. After she eats then she usually sleeps again until 9 or 10. Pretty good for 8 weeks.

I think that Aiden is getting sick again. He woke up this morning with a fever and has been ever so whiny. Words like “mama” turn into “maaaaamaaaa” and “cereal” turns into “ceeereeeeaaaallll”. When Aiden is sick the number of syllables used around our house increase dramatically. This is nothing that a pallet on the floor with some Little Einstein’s cant fix.

Today we showed our house again. First of all keeping a house show ready with a baby and a toddler is no fun. I find myself putting toys away right up until the last minute and Aiden is still pulling them out. Like I said Aiden woke up with a fever today so I should have taped a sign to his shirt that said “BEWARE.” When the people came to see our house 40 minutes late I scooped up Aiden and took him outside. Taylor was sleeping so she was no problem. As soon as we got outside Aiden started asking for his ball that he likes to play with. Well of course Mark has put all of the toys away. I begin looking for the ball but I hear his whine starting to grow. By this time our big beast of a lab is barking furiously and our beagle is starting her beagle howl/cry. This by the way is my only job: to keep the kids busy and the dogs quiet and so far I am failing. I try to make the dogs get quiet but they are louder when I am near them so I abandon ship and tend to Aiden. He had now given the cat a hug and a kiss and is getting upset because of the amount of cat hair on his face and in his mouth. I clean his face and redirect back to finding the ball. The potential buyers are now outside and the dogs are still barking. Aiden now has hurt his foot and is crying (loudly) and refusing to walk. I check his foot. Nothing. Still crying, still barking, now we are sweating. Finally, the buyers leave. I was about to pull out a popsicle. When all else fails, offer a popsicle. Magically Aiden's foot is healed and the dogs are quiet. JERKS.

Lately I have become what I heard someone once refer to as a blog stalker. It can become addicting because one blog will lead you to another then another. Mark thinks that it is weird to read other peoples blogs that I don’t know but what does he know anyway? One that I was reading was a mommy blog that I found particularly funny called Rocks in my Dryer. This blog had a link the other day to another blog post called a letter to my daughter. After reading this post I then went back and read all of the posts from the beginning. This mommy created a blog to log the story of their dear baby that they found out had a number of problems in utero, and has just recently passed away. In addition to this, her sister in law who had a baby right before her just lost her new baby to SIDS. I am amazed at this woman’s sweet spirit and courage through what can only be described as a nightmare. The numbers of people that comment on her blog and pray for her have been unreal. It is heartwarming. I have found myself praying for this family and for their healing. If you have a few minutes to read or to take a look, or to pray, please do, but remember your Kleenex. The power of prayer is amazing.

Here are my sweet babies. When ever Aiden lays on the floor next to Taylor he tells me "mama picture." I think that he has learned how cute they are together and wants me to take a picture. Notice the orange spaghetti stained face. Aiden enjoyed swimming with YaYa and Taylor was pouting because it was sticky outside. Gross.

Watching

In the afternoon Aiden often waits for Mark to come home by sitting in the window watching. We see a lot of birds and squirrels, and cars. Yesterday Aiden and Tigerlily (T-lily) formally know as the Demon cat played a cute game of Peekaboo. The second picture shows Aiden giving kisses through the window. When Mark pulls up he screams and pounds on the glass. It is a great way to come home.

Pea Pod

Some people have made requests to see more Taylor... As you can see second babies often have their siblings help them play! Here is Pea Pod...

More Vaction Thoughts...

While still reflecting on our week in Orlando I thought of two more interesting points that I would like to comment on.

When Mark was in training during the day Butch, Janie, the kids and I found things to get into. One of the days we spent the morning shopping at Downtown Disney. The weather was nice, and there was not too many people there. Marketing is a powerful thing.With everything you could ever think of that you may want to buy Disney related and the sound of the songs of Mary Poppins and other movies playing in the air, it just makes you want to go to disney world. It also make me dread the future of having a little girl and the disney princess hype.

As we walked around we kept seeing little girls from the age of about 3-12 walking around in princess dresses, pageant sashes, with their hair in up-do's. We wondered what it was about. Well while wandering in one of the store we found the source of this madness. I think it was something called the Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique. Well, basically this is a salon in one of the stores for little girls. The prices rance from about 40 dollars for just hair ( we didn't see many of these girls) to the low price of $225 so your little girl can look like a princess in no time complete with nails, hair (with extensions) makeup and princess dress (we saw LOTS of these girls) Here is the kicker...The salon at 10:00 in the morning was filled and there was a line. Some of the daddies actually looked like they were in pain. They would rather break the bank than so no to their little girls. I only pray that I can stear Taylor clear of this madness.

The other interesting thing that I found was the amount of people from different countries that were in Orlando. Aiden was dumbfounded when I told him our waitor at dinner one night was named Diego, who was from Columbia ( he watched Diego before naptime each day).At our hotel alone, at one point I think that we were the only Americans at the pool. There were many people with British accents and others that were speaking other European languages. I found myself listening to conversations to hear the different accents. I think the red-headed boy from Harry Potter was there, and by the way had no business being in the sun. Oh- and those Europeans love their speedos! Yuck!

I need a vacation

We are back from Orlando and I am so thankful to be home. We had a week full of both good and bad points. Here are the highlights…

The Good Points:

- Aiden had a great time playing with Nana and Papa
- We visited the Rainforest Café. What a cool place!
- The hotel had a great pool with a beach entry. Aiden could play in the
water and we could play with him without having to get in the water all the
time.
- Mark and I got to go out by ourselves while Nana and Papa watched the kids.
- We explored the many shops of Downtown Disney.
- We made it home safe and sound.

The Not So Good Points:
- Aiden ran a fever of 103 for the first two days, and then recovered for the
rest of the week.
- He screamed all the way to Orlando because he didn’t feel well.
- Anything he said to me for the next couple of days was in a whine.
- We left most of the places we visited the end of the week because Aiden’s
behavior was so horrendous. We tried the outlet mall twice but left with a
child screaming both times after being there only a few minutes.
- Our “suite” was nothing but a hotel room with a wall as a divider.
- That very cool pool gave me a STAPH infection in my left eye!

I am glad to be home. ALthough I feel like now I need a vacation.