March Crafts

Baking Easter fun

This is our Peep Cake with jelly beans.

Our fun cupcakes.

The preparations.

Daddy and Aidan frosting the cake.

Aidan smiling with his frosting face.

Today we made a cake and cupcakes. After we let them cool we decided to frost them and decorate them. Aidan is such a big helper in the kitchen. When I make my breakfast smoothie, he is the button pusher. When I need to us the beater, he is the man to help me control the speed and power. Aidan did such a good job of helping decorate and frost the "yummies" as he has been calling them today. I don't know why I bake cakes and stuff. We don't ever eat them. Oh well! I guess we get to share them with our loved ones this week.

The Easter Egg hunt practice

What yucky weather we have today. SNOW! Its not so bad except that Mother Nature has been teasing us with beautiful short sleeve and flip flop weather.

As I laid in bed this morning (debating what to do on this icky Wednesday) I had a brillant thought! This weekend is Easter and the Easter bunny will be coming and hiding eggs for Aidan. That being said we also want to take Aidan to a community hunt. But he has never done one before. How will he react? Will he get the point? Will he collect the eggs? So I decided we would have a dry run. Aidan and Brian were downstairs and I strategically hid 20 plastic eggs around the main level of the house and then we had Aidan come and find them. I don't know what I was worried about. The first thing he saw was eggs around and went and picked them up. He had so much fun. I think we will be doing a couple of practice hunts today!

"Look Mom! I found the first egg!"

Running to collect the next egg.

He final product. He found all the eggs (20) in about three
minutes. Watch out other toddlers in the area!
Aidan is going to get tons of eggs this weekend.

Aidan loves the shower

Aidan is such a big boy. He new found fun thing to do is take showers. Thankfully it isn't baths any more. He was doing all kinds of scary things whilst bathing. Now I know that he has a small chance of drowning; especially when showers are so much shorter in duration. That being said, Aidan now requests showers two or three times a day. What mother would argue with having a clean toddler? Aidan has even been know to strip himself naked (yes even the diaper) and climb into the shower and then demand I come and turn on the water. Once again, who could say no to that? I just hope he keeps letting me turn on the water for him, I would be so sad if he burnt himself while trying to get himself into the shower. :(

Lets go fly a kite!

Aidan and daddy flying his Spiderman kite.

It goes higher and higher into the sky.
Aidan had so much fun.

The McFadden's getting Zoe's kite sky ready.

Steven and Zoe flying her
Buzz Lightyear kite super high!

Typical of all kites, the strings got tangled.
No worries that why we brought the daddies.

I haven't flown a kite in years. It is so much fun! I am pretty sure that it was so fun because it was a first experience with my Aidan. He loved it! We invited the McFadden's to meet us at Ellison Park in West Layton. We bought some pizza and candy (a quick picnic idea) and then we flew the kites. Brian was so cute with Aidan. Aidan seriously had a blast. Zoe Kay did so good with her kite. And then the kiddos had fun just running all over the soccer field we were at.

My favorite moment during this fun activity was repeated twice for my benefit. I giggled and giggled. Aidan had a hold of the kite, he was doing so well, and then he did it. He let go. The kite flew up high in the air and Brian took off running down the soccer field in a zig zag motion (following the kite) until he was able to catch the kite string. Aidan thought it was pretty funny too. He thought it was so funny that he did it again. Thanks Aidan. And thanks to the McFadden's for the fun time.

100% BOY

I love spring! And Aidan does too. Aidan loves playing in the dirt. He loves to put it everywhere. He really likes to find dirt clods and bring to me, so that he can smash them on my lap. Silly boy! Luckily for Aidan enjoys taking showers (that's right showers) just as much as he enjoys playing the dirt.

Whack Whacks!

Dialogue between Aidan and I about a month ago...

Me: Aidan, what is that? (pointing to a duck)
Aidan: whack whack
Me: What? Is it a duck?
Aidan: No! whack whack
Me: Aidan that's a duck. What does the duck say?
Aidan: Momma, yellyow (yellow) whack whack!
Me: (light bulb goes off) I get it! Yes Aidan!

Aidan doesn't call them ducks, he calls them whack whacks. Why? Well because ducks say whack whack. LOL! I have tried explaining to him that they say Quack Quack, but he knows best, they say whack whack.

Today we went and played with Zoe, Lincoln and Megan at the park and then we went and fed the ducks by our house. We love where we bought our house. The duck pond is three house away from us! We are always going for walks to go see the "Whack Whacks."

Picture of the pond.

Aidan and Zoe feeding the ducks.
Actually the ducks weren't all that interested today,
instead we littered the pond with bread.
Aidan enjoyed throwing whole slices of bread into the water.

Aidan coming back for more bread.

After we fed the ducks and took a walk, we played a bit in the
backyard. Lincoln was having a lot of fun
sitting in the Flintstone car!

Thanks McFadden's for playing with us!

Aerospace Museum

Last week I decided to take Aidan for a quick look around the Museum. He had a blast. Mostly because he was able to run around. He enjoyed the big "wows" or big wheels that were bigger than him. I plan on visiting the Museum a lot this summer, especially since he loves "space" so much. And the Museum is much closer and cheaper than going to space (Clark Planetarium).

Can you see the little one?

We stopped to rest from all the running and Aidan
enjoyed watching the documentaries on WWII.
Silly boy.

He just saw some footage of some of 101st Airborne
jumping from planes...
so he was having his bendable bunny
jump in the air and all around.

Aidan's frosty

Aidan loves his frosty's from Wendy's.
And lately he loves them even more if he can dip his
french fries into the chocolatey goodness.
Yum! Silly Boy!

Aidan-isms

I can't stop laughing. Aidan is a pill most of the time but sometimes he is a doll and I can't help but laugh at him, he has such a little personality.

" Aaarrrr " means he wants to watch Super Hero Squad. A cartoon with comic book characters (Iron Man, Dr. Doom, Hulk, etc.) but aimed for the toddler audience.

"Cake" means he wants chocolate milk. I don't know where he got it from. The first day he said it I was so confused. I finally asked him to show me what he wanted. He opened the fridge and pulled out chocolate syrup and milk. Funny kid.

" Hunnnie " means hungry. He will lay in bed at night and claim that he is hungry. "Mommy mine hunnnie" not thirsty, hunnie.

"Saw-ie" means mom I am soggy, change me please.

"Cody" means gross, yucky and ewe. I think he is trying to say crody, but I don't know where he got it from.

St. Patrick's Day

Our Blarney Stone
Painted courtesy of Aidan.

St. Patrick's Day dinner.
Spinach fetticini noodles with
green alfredo sauce.
Chicken cooked in a green liquid broth
and green salad with green goddess dressing.
For dessert Key Lime Pie.

A Shamrock clue for the scavenger/treasure hunt.
The clues were pictures so that Aidan could
help Suzie find the treasure.

The Treasure Pot! Found!
Full of fun toys for Aidan and Suzie!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today we had our 2nd annual St. Patrick's Day Party. Suzie came over for dinner. We had green salad, spinach fetticini, green alfredo sauce and baked green chicken. For dessert we had Key Lime pie. Earlier in the day I made a scavenger hunt for Aidan and Suzie. Last year I did one complete with riddles and it turned out okay. Aidan was bored by it (he just turned 1) and Suzie says she enjoyed herself. But this year I made sure that Aidan could participate. I cut out construction paper shamrocks and then I drew a picture on them. These pictures were easily identifable for Aidan and he took Suzie to each area. At the end of the scavenger hunt there was a "Pot O Treasure." I had been buying silly $1 toys since Christmas and loaded up the pot with these goodies. There was even stuff in the pot of sweet Aunt Suzie. And then Aidan had Suzie kiss our Blarney Stone that we made for FHE. We had a fun night and enjoyed spending time with Suzie. Thanks for coming over Suzie Q!

My sentiments, exactly

"For we pay a price for everything
we get or take in this world;
and although ambitions are well worth having,
they are not to be cheaply won,
but exact there dues of work and self-denial,
anxiety and discouragement."
L.M. Montgomery

Lately I have been reading a lot of "easy reading" or "silly romance novels." I never would have pictured myself reading such fodder. But after reading nearly everything published by Debbie Macomber and Anita Stansfield, I decided that I might as well continue this trend and read other books I would have never imagined picking up.

One night it was as though the book choose me. I looked over Anne of Green Gables many times but just in that moment it was the right time. This book was more difficult for me to read than "Hunt for Red October." I think it was because it was all rambling, for Anne rambles...a lot! But as I perservered and finally finished I realized how wonderful this book was and how grateful I was to have finished it. Thank you Grandma Armga for thinking so far ahead in my life to purchase such a gift when you did, some 20 years ago.

As I was reading the book some events came to pass. I finally received my diploma from Weber State University. After 12 hard and difficult years, I finally received my pay off. When I first took a look at the diploma I began to cry. I was thinking of all of the heartache, drama, self- loathing, struggles, arguments of mind over matter and dread that came with earning this degree. And then I had a rush of happiness, accomplishment, pride, exhilaration and planning.

Now that I have my degree I can't imagine my thirst for knowledge and intelligence to end. I will continue my education in ways that five years ago I would have never imagined. I probably won't go to law school. I can't see that in my future anymore. But I do see myself adding some form of culinary classes, language classes, craft classes, and quilting classes.

I found the quote by L.M. Montgomery in Anne of Green Gables, chapter 36 middle of the first paragraph. She in that one sentence has described a feeling that I have had for many years, one that I haven't been able to describe. Thank you Ms. Montgomery.

The most beautiful hands ever!

When I was younger, my sister enjoyed watching the all-time cheesiest chick flick "Beaches." Let's be honest, I loved it too. It was the perfect chick flick, laughing, crying, re-evaluating life, relationships, and hoping for the best. There was a scene in the movie that has always touched my heart. Barbara Hershey's character has recently found out that she is dying and is struggling with this. She and her young daughter are at the beach house bonding (with the help of Bette Midler), the daughter notices Barbara's hands and asks if her hands will be like that when she grows up. Barbara has no idea how to respond, because her mother died when she was young too. Barbara searches frantically for old pictures to combine hands.

When I was growing up I frequently remember going to church with my grandparents. One of the treats about "suffering" through sacrament was Grandma Virgie. She would take a hold of your hands and tickle your hand. Kellie was usually the lucky one and was able to get the best tickle, but on occasion I would get to sit by grandma and have her tickle my hand and arms. It was so wonderful and relaxing. I have searched and no one can quite tickle your hand in the delicate wonderful way that Virgie can.

I was noticing today that my hands are similar to my moms. I wish I was more like her in other ways because, lets be honest my mother is AMAZING! Aidan and I went over to Virgie's house today to visit and we began talking about hands. Virgie says her hands looked like my mom's when she was younger. She followed by saying how icky and ugly they were. My heart did a funny thing. It beamed with excitement. If my hands are like my moms, and my grandma's are like hers...then I have a strong chance of inheriting some of the most beautiful, soft, delicate and wonderful hands in the world.

I made her let me take a picture of her hands. She might hate them, but I love them. I was also able to sneak a moment and have her tickle my hand and arm. Hopefully my children will feel the same way that I do about my grandmother's beautiful hands.

Another project

In order to make Aidan's bedroom to have a more put together look I decided to spray paint his television stand/desk.

The before picture

The after picture.
I hope to do another coat of paint
tomorrow.

What a day!

Today has been one of those days. You know one of those days that would never happen to me. Not to this lady. Aidan is going to be the death of me. This is just a couple of incidents that happened today. Actually it all started last night. Aidan went to take a nap at 6PM and woke up at 9PM. I tried to keep him awake and I constantly tried to wake him up to no avail. Brian leaves for work at 11PM (and works until 730AM...I hate grave yard shifts). I try running Aidan around to get him tired, just enough so that I can have a little sleep tonight, plus he has swimming lessons at 0900 in the morning. NOTHING worked. So finally me being the sucker that I am, I asked him what he needed to go to sleep, because Mommy was tired. His response, "Bed, I daddy." What? I had him show me. He wanted to sleep on daddy's side of the bed with me. Cute sentiment but this young child needs to start sleeping in his own bed. So after an hour and a half of hearing him scream from his crib "Bed, I daddy" I caved and brought him to bed with me. Aidan wanted to sing to me and play with me. Once again, cute but not at 2AM! Finally at around 315AM (that was the last time I remember looking at the clock at that time) he FINALLY falls asleep. Remember I didn't get a nap and now I have loads of adrenaline running through my system, so I can't sleep. I got up and tinkered around the house for about an hour before I could lay down to relax, current time 430AM.

Brian comes home at 8AM. He quietly walks into the room and wonders why Aidan is in his spot. I wake up (because I can hear his mind wondering) and give him a run down of the last 8 hours. Brian, the wonderful man that he is decides that he is wide awake and will take squirt to swim lessons so I can get some sleep. At 815AM he wakes up squirt and off they go to swimming lessons. I, however, can not go back to sleep, so I get in the shower and work on other motherly chores. They arrive home around 10AM. They each have a shower and at around 11AM Brian heads upstairs to go to sleep. I play cars, trains, and puzzles with Aidan. Around 12 noon we have lunch and I prep him for a nap (the kid has to be tired right?), no good. He screams! So with Brian asleep we head downstairs to relax. I decide that I need to go to the restroom (sorry folks it happens). I swear to you readers I wasn't gone but maybe three minutes (the bathroom is right off the downstairs family room). I exit the rest room and Aidan is sitting on the couch quietly watching cartoons. YES!! Score one for mom! He is winding down. I start checking email and the such and look over and he is watching television. Then I hear him giggle. What? I turn around and he has some how got a hold of a chocolate orange (we had some HIGH in the cupboard upstairs), has unwrapped it and is eating it whole. Chocolate is everywhere. He devoured it! Apparently he was hiding it underneath his thigh (do all two year olds know to do that?). I freak.

Aidan is now irritable and mad that I took away his chocolate (threw it in the garbage). Still no nap. I have now turned off the television and am trying to get him to relax. We read books, we sang some more songs. Finally at about 2Pm (Brian wanted to be up at that time) I send Aidan upstairs to wake up daddy. I hear him in my room talking to Brian. Ten minutes later Aidan returns with no dad. I look at him and realize he has dirt all over his clothes. What the....? I go upstairs and he had destroyed my tomato plants. He has shoved his cars and other toys into the dirt and has yanked all the roots out the ground. GGGGRRRR! My fault I guess for putting them on the counter (where they have been nicely out of his reach for WEEKS) but today he figured out how to use the kitchen chairs to his advantage (look mom a new trick!).

At this point I am tired and need a nap. I am irritable and frustrated. I put him into his crib for a nice little time out...he can scream now for all I care. I leave the room and retreat elsewhere. Five minutes later I return to check on him and he has fallen asleep. FINALLY! Only I walk in to get a closer look and I notice that he has got a hold of an entire bag of diapers and wipes and has pulled out every last wipe and diaper from there packaging and is laying all over them. Damnit! Who put those there! Ooppss, dad did. He forgot not to put them in Aidan's reach and I didn't take an inventory of the room when I put him into time out.

Aidan sleep from 245 to 630ish. During this time I am a raging mother. I have tried calming down with a book and another shower, nothing is working. So I went shopping. It works for most women right? While I am gone I regroup and come home after a couple hours. We eat dinner around 830PM. Aidan is acting like a good boy for dad and doing everything in his power to test my patience.

Brian leaves for work. As Brian was leaving I walked him to the door. At 11PM I realize that Aidan is awfully quiet in the other bedroom. I go and check on him. Aidan has taken the chocolate out of the garbage can and has it shoved into his mouth. He can barely close his mouth. I get him to spit it out and I walk into the bathroom and flush the contraband. Aidan flips out. "My candy, mine hungry." What we just had dinner?!? I promise I feed this kid. So we go upstairs and I start making him toast. As I turn around to make toast, I hear a crash on the ground and see Aidan looking through the garbage. WHAT???? "More candy." WHAT???? I have lost my mind. Where did he come up with this and what have I done? I have never gone dumpster diving for candy. WTH!!!! I bath him, he eats toast and milk and he is now in bed, against his will.

During all of these moments I haven't really lost my cool. I have yelled a bit but I think anyone would after a day like today. What am I to do? I hope my irritation is coming as a direct result of little to no sleep and Aidan taking advantage of this time. Where does he get this stuff from? Hiding chocolate? Garbage hunting for chocolate? This chocolate we have had since before Christmas so it isn't that we are chocolate/candy fiends. I just hope that tomorrow is better. If not, beware. You may notice a two year old on your doorstep, if you do, please welcome him into your home, his mom is in the asylum, she has gone bizzerk!

Hallway project completed

Aidan's New Bedroom

Here is the semi-finished product of Aidan's redone bedroom. I say semi finished because we still need to hang the curtains, hang his stuff animal shelf, hang some church pictures, paint his orange shelf rack blue and paint his television stand blue. But I haven't been able to find the right color of curtains for the right price ( I will either be dye-ing some blue or making my own). And the weather outside is still a little bit to chilly to be outside with a two year old spray painting. And the issue with the shelves... we can't seem to get any nails or screws to go into the wall now. We will be experimenting and trying to figure out this craziness. But overall this is Aidan's new bedroom. Enjoy.


Aidan's new chalk board/dry erase board. He loves it. Notice the pictures on the wall... art work bought in stores is SOOO expensive or ugly. I thought I would give it a try, not too bad.

Aidan's bed and new car rug. Aidan HAD to have this rug when we went to IKEA. I let him get it. Even though it isn't a train, we still let him get this rug (price tag $1.50). This is the wall that should have all of his church stuff on it...silly wall.
Aidan enjoying his puzzles and books. This rack (along with the television table) will be spray painted blue as soon as the weather warms up. Aidan and I painted the fun trains and planes on the wall. I love those commands hanging hooks. Love them! And finally Aidan's bulletin board. Instead of constantly adding new holes to the wall for pictures and other little boy things, we decided to use a bulletin board and then he can poke holes in that all he wants.

Notice no futon? Notice all the extra room for this two year old. The futon is now is the guest/play room. That is also a project in the works. Stay tuned for that room and another adventure in decorating.

Spring is coming!

Last fall Brian and I went through a eliminated a lot of randomness that this yard had that we didn't like. Icky rose bush, random overgrown daisy bush, the tulip bulbs that were dug up by the dogs, the "was that a weed or a treeling", lots of wood chips, and so many others. In the front yard we knew that there were still plants that needed to be removed. But because we didn't quite know what do with it once it was gutted, we decided to let the stuff in the front yard stay for another year, until it is removed (one project at a time). Yesterday I noticed some color in our front flower beds. So pretty to see color after months of seeing white, dirt, and brown. The little dark green sprouts are more tulips. I can't wait to see them in bloom. That was one of the things that made us fall in love with this house. More pictures coming of the blooming tulips.

Jealous much?

Last weekend I able to babysit my newest nephew a couple of times. The first time I babysat I was at Suzie's house and look what happened. :) Aidan doesn't like to cuddle with me or give hugs. I figured that it must have been just his age. Well upon Aidan seeing me give some kind of attention to another baby, he freaked out. He wanted to be the center of attention. So he fell asleep in this uncomfortable position.

Then on another opportunity we were in our basement watching television. Aidan was originally upstairs with his dad. When he came downstairs and saw that I was holding Ezra again. This is what happened.


(Sorry for the icky picture.) Aidan wanted to watch television. He also wanted to be near me. He let me hold Ezra but I was not allowed under any circumstances to look any other direction but directly at him. Notice him holding my face in position. Silly boy! When Brian would hold the baby, it didn't matter. But if Mommy was holding the baby...

Generally speaking Aidan was much better this time than in other times with a new baby in our midst. He didn't want to hurt the baby, he didn't want to attack the baby, he just wanted all the attention on him and not the baby. I even caught him on occasion giving sweet Ezra little kisses on his head, without my promptings, because that is what you do with babies.

I love my Aidan. Even if other babies come into the picture (which the will), you will always be my number one!

Captain "PaintmaRoom"

The other day as we were painting Aidan's bedroom, he found the tape. Just so we are all on the same page, painters tape doesn't bother me. I don't know why but it doesn't. Aidan began to play with the remanents of old tape and I decided that we should dress him up. So I made this outfit, just off the top of my head. When it was all done, Aidan began to position himself into some pretty funny positions. It reminded Brian and I of He-Man. So we invited a new superhero of the day...Captain Paint ma room. Aidan had so much fun. He would pick up a paintbrush and "stab" the wall. So funny. We laughed for some time. Aidan's favorite part of his ensemble, the head band. Funny huh!

Aidan showing us his fierce teeth.

Aidan on the prowl...

Sorry for the horrible picture, I was crying.
But I had to post something.
Look what I got in the mail today!
Finally after 12 long and hard years, I am
OFFICIALLY
a graduate and alumni
of Weber State University.
Yabba dabba dooooooo.

Swimming lessons

Aidan anxiously waiting to go swimming!

Yesterday was Aidan's first swimming lesson. I didn't take but one photo. I am a horrible person! But I am nervous to get my camera and/or phone anywhere near the water, I am more concerned about Aidan's well being than the camera.

Aidan was pretty excited. We talked about it all weekend. He is a water baby by nature so the talking wasn't to get him prepared to swim, it was to get him prepared for early mornings. LOL! I don't know if I made the right decision about these swimming lessons.

Aidan is a lover of the water. Sometimes he asks if he can take a bath just so that he can play in it. So he isn't scared of the water or ignorant of things pertaining to swimming. The class I registered him for is "designed" for 18months-3 year olds. Aidan fits nicely as a 2 year old. There are four other pupils, and Aidan, like always, is the biggest kid (there are two 18 months-ish kids and two 3 year olds). The lessons or tricks that we are learning/practicing are things like blowing bubbles in the water, getting our ears wet, learning to splash, easily get into the water, and soon we will learn how to go underwater and float on our backs. I kind of wish I knew ALL this before I registered him. Aidan does all that stuff on his own. I am frightened by water and I thought that maybe with lessons we would be able to, together, learn how to be wiser and stronger in the water. Aidan has already out done his mommy.

I will probably continue taking Aidan to swimming lessons because he at least gets to swim. I hate to say it, but Aidan already knows all of these basic techniques. They are so basic that he has been able to teach himself by age 2!

They all said to start the seeds...

My first attempt at starting my own plants. In this bucket we have peppers on the left and tomatoes on the right. So far so good on the tomatoes. I just hope they all turn out. In the box in the back is my herbs. I am growing parsley, basil, thyme and oregano. I have starts for all but the parsley. But the instructions for planting said that the parsley would take a little longer. Yea for self suffient success!