Aidan goes bowling!

Pizza Night

We've had homemade pizza night a few times now, and Aidan is really starting to get the hang of it. He rolls out the dough, spreads on the sauce, sprinkles on some cheese, then adds the toppings.

So last week when we had pizza night, Aidan made his very own signature pizza: olive.

Saying "cheese" a little exuberantly.

A couple olives for the pizza, a couple olives for me.

Summer is here!

Summertime has arrived in Sacramento, and we're taking full advantage of the weather by being outside all the time. If we're not in the backyard, we're in the front yard. If we're not in the front yard, we're at the park. If we're not doing any of these, it must be nap time!

Aidan loves to be outside. He decided recently that it's really fun to roll the suitcase around in the driveway, and one day I guess he needed a break from all the hard work. He plopped right down on the suitcase and lounged for awhile.

As you can see, we've already got the lawn chairs in prime position for our outdoor enjoyment.

We went up to El Dorado Hills a couple weeks ago to play at a super fun water park with our friends Kelly, Ethan and Emily. Here is Aidan, modeling his swimwear. He didn't actually go in the water that day, but still had a blast playing at the regular (non-water) park.

Aidan picked up one of Ben's hats and put it on, so I had to take a picture!

It's easy to see why summer is my favorite time of the year!

Arrr, matey!

Aidan got an owie on his foot today, and asked for a bandaid. After I put it on, he informed me that he was now a pirate.

Apparently bandaids make you a pirate!

The past few months

The past few months have flown by in about 10 minutes, or so it seems. Life has gotten crazier since we moved back to Sacramento, and we are busy bees!

Aidan is now 2 years and 4 months old, and can do just about anything he wants to (and everything he's not supposed to!) Just this morning, Ben discovered Aidan in our pantry eating chocolate chips off the floor. He dropped an open bag, and they spilled everywhere. He's a sneaky guy - he closed the door so we wouldn't know what he was up to! Ben walked in and Aidan said, "Look at this great big mess!" So Ben cleaned up the choc chips and threw them in the trash can. I later discovered Aidan eating the chocolate chips out of the trash can (they were in the chocolate chip bag, but still). I guess he really, really, really wanted some chocolate! At least he was polite and offered me some.

Now that he's two, Aidan can run, jump, climb anything, figure out how to open stuff, turn on the xbox and put a dvd in, push the dining room chairs around to get to high places, open doors, and generally be very helpful. He can say any word you throw at him, and he has a very good memory. It's fun to have a full-on conversation with him. I ask him what he wants to do, what he wants for dinner, or where he wants to go and he will give me an answer. It's pretty amazing communicating with such a little person!

Here are some of the latest photos.

Say "cheese!"

Having a little fun in the mud!

Hard at work with the new wheelbarrow.

Always outside, always busy.

Drawing at his new table.

Wheelbarrow

Aidan's Birthday Party

I just realized that I never posted pictures of Aidan's 2nd Birthday.

We had a great day. I made homemade Mac 'n cheese, and put up streamers and balloons everywhere.

Aidan has really gotten the hang of opening presents, and he loved the decorations and especially the cake!

I'm just gonna take a big bite right now!

So yummy! Ice cream cake.

Reading the card.

Aidan's BFF Lucy helping him open the present from her.

Our friends the Tennys. We miss you guys - move to Sacramento!

We were too busy having fun to take a lot of photos, so that's about all I've got. It was a successful day!

Okay, okay...

I've gotten some angry verbal feedback that I don't update this nearly enough, (thank you, Julie and Jeanette), so now that we're slightly more settled into the new house, I will give it the old college try to update more often.

Yes, new house! We bought a house waaaaaaay back in October (October 1, 2009) in Sacramento. It was a "fixer" in the most literal sense - built in 1955, original owner who maybe updated it once in the 70's, wasn't taken care of at all, etc. The owner passed away, and her daughter put the house on the market maybe a year later. From what I've heard from neighbors, it took almost all of that year to clean the junk out of the house. When we toured it, it was a nightmare of dust, cobwebs, dark wood paneling on approximately half the walls in each room, and horrid old cabinets, appliances, and linoleum (gasp!). Naturally, Ben and I said, "Perfect! Let's get it." So we did.

I quickly drew up some plans, got building department approval, and we began our journey into headache-land and bank-depleting-ness. It was a very bumpy road. What started as, "Let's remodel the kitchen, update the bathrooms, add a couple electrical outlets and light fixtures, and throw in some new flooring and paint," turned into total overhall. New electrical throughout the house, new mechanical, new plumbing, complete remodels of both bathrooms, new texture and paint throughout the house, skylights, all new windows, new doors...basically everything is new. We doubled, then tripled our budget and added an extra month and a half of time to our schedule. We went tile shopping, hardwood floor shopping, light shopping, carpet shopping, granite shopping, plumbing fixture shopping, and paint shopping. And finally, after many calls from contractors, many checks written, and many stressful months, we moved in. On Friday, March 12, movers came to our house in Modesto and packed our stuff into a truck. The last box was unloaded around 7:30pm. We had done it! But it wasn't finished. Will it ever be? Who knows, but we're here and we are so happy with the results.

We've now been in Sacramento for two and a half weeks, and we couldn't be happier. It just feels like home.

Here are some "before" shots of the house.

All together now - "Ewww!" You thought I was kidding about the wood paneling, huh!

Next I will post some demo shots.

Then we got even crazier.

But then things started to come together.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of in between photos, so we'll go straight to the (almost) finish line.

So there you have it. That's what I've been up to for the past five months. It's been fun (sorta)!

I've been lazy!

I have been so lazy, as you can tell by my lack of Aidan Updates. I'll do a quick one now, and hopefully get around to posting a big update after next weekend.

So yeah, next weekend. I'm very excited yet sad, because we'll be having Aidan's 2nd birthday party! I can't believe he is two years old already. It's gone so fast, it's almost a blur! I'm glad I have this blog to remember when all the new stuff happened.

Aidan is speaking in full sentences now. Some of his longer ones are, "Doggy wants to go outside and go pee-pee on the grass," "Maybe we'll see a choo choo train and a skid steer and a police car and an ambulance and..." or, "Go home and get sand toys and come back to the park." He is quite the conversationalist!

He says and does the cutest things, like, "Mama carry you," (he means Mama carry me), Mama (or Dada) likes ____ (insert food, such as "cookies"), and "Mama sit next to you," (meaning, Mama sit next to me). Just last night, about an hour before bedtime, Aidan climbed up on the couch with his pillow and blankets and said, "I watch Thomas the Train." I said, "You want to watch Thomas?," to which he replied, "I need to take a break." Too cute!!

He loves to help me "cook," always wants to read "a couple books," and loves to play games and do puzzles and art projects. He's such a good boy! He's just growing up too fast.

22 Month Update

Aidan is now 22 months old. Just two months away from being 2! I don't even know what to say about that...so I'll just show you some pictures from the last month.

Christmas card photo outtake #1.

Coloring with Mama on the floor.

Aidan LOVES to color with his crayons, but he loves to sit at the table and draw with colored pencils even more. And he's always ready for a "new page."

Aidan also LOVES to jump. We put all the pillows from the couch on the floor and he leaps off the ottoman into them. Here he is, getting some serious air.

Dada decided to dress Aidan up once we got the Christmas tree decorated.

Aidan, stand in front of the tree and smile. Nevermind that you don't have pants on. No, we won't use this photo to embarass you in front of your girlfriend someday. Promise.

Bringing home the Christmas Tree!

Aidan and dada and the Christmas tree. Aidan loves to say, "Sismas tree, sismas lights, sismas cards and sismas presents."

Tonight, we went for ice cream after dinner and decided to go look at Christmas lights around the neighborhood. As we drove around, Aidan said that there were "free candy canes" (three candy canes). So Ben said, "More than three. 1, 2, 3, 4..." Then, Aidan said "five." Ben said "six," Aidan said "seven," Ben said "eight", Aidan said "nine, ten!" We had no idea he knew how to count to ten! I thought three was the highest number he knew. We clapped and told him, "Wow, that's really good Aidan," to which he replied, "Nice job!" He is so funny, and such a chatterbox. He will repeat anything we say.

He still wants to go to the park all the time, likes to go to the grocery store, and wants to "go get" the cat all the time. He is very painfully shy around strangers, but I'm hoping he'll outgrow that soon.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful new year!