Play

 I am loving this new stage of play for Aidan. I love seeing the creative ways he uses his toys and the voices he makes when he is playing on his own. He is definitely changing and becoming more independent.

 

I am also loving our family time together just the three of us. Maybe its me getting ready for our family to change but I feel like I'm really recognizing how awesome my family is and cherishing the fun moments we have together at home. I absolutely love watching David and Aidan play together and keep grabbing the camera and video to try and capture these special moments.

Big Boy Bed

This big boy is about to become a big brother. With the arrival of baby #2 just a month away we decided to get Aidan a toddler bed to be ready for when it comes time for him to pass on his crib. We really had no intentions of having him sleep in in now or even for a couple months after the baby is born. We just hoped he'd get used to it being in his room and then the transition wouldn't be as hard. 


To our surprise he loved it and asked to sleep in it. I wouldn't say he has transitioned completely but we are definitely moving in the right direction. It is so nice that the timing is up to him.....we actually don't know if we're ready for him to be able to get up on his own. We like the boundary the crib provides. Last night he wanted to sleep in his crib. Today for his nap he wanted to sleep in the 'big boy bed'. I guess we'll let him call the shots for now...

Apparently the bed is good for reading

Testing out the new bed

Such a big boy

Snow!

 Snow! Here's a little of what we've been up to this weekend.

 

 

Play Kitchen!

I had the idea for a long time to make Aidan a play kitchen. Whenever we go to play areas or preschool rooms he is drawn to them. There are so many cute ones you can buy but thanks to Pinterest I was inspired by many DIY kitchens that people have made from a dresser, night stand or entertainment center. I searched around and found this little gem for $3.99 at Goodwill and thought it would be a perfect starting place for a kitchen. The one thing I forgot to consider was how much time we were already spending on house projects (our windows) and also how busy we are during the holidays. What was mostly an enjoyable project became a lot of work at times and was a pretty stressful project to take on this time of year. 

First we took out the drawer, sanded the entire thing and cut out a hole for the sink. We also cut boards for the over door, side cabinet, back panel and shelf. We then primed and painted all the pieces and then screwed and nailed everything together. As I write this description it sounds so easy but it took a long time. I think working with an existing piece of furniture adds a challenge because we had to cut everything to fit with what was already there.

Here is the finished product: 

 

 

 I did a lot of shopping to gather all the materials to make it look as real as possible. 

• Sink- metal bowl from Goodwill
• Faucet- used faucet found at the ReStore
• Oven and door handles- from Ikea
• Oven knobs- closet rod end caps from Home Depot
• Burners- wooden basketball cut outs from JoAnns (painted grey)

Not to mention multiple trips to Home Depot and Lowes for hinges, paint, screws, L brackets, magnets etc.

We did have a lot of fun making this and it will be in our family for a long time. We hid it for Aidan to open during his party but he found it a little early. We heard him banging around and he comes running out with a pan with grin on his face. "Mommy, eat!" and then ran back to get cook me something. That makes it all worth it! He has been enjoying playing with it ever since.

Aidan's 2nd Birthday

Aidan's is 2 years old! 
We had a lovely celebration with family this weekend and Aidan and we can't believe he's already 2. 

We decided to save all birthday festivities for a family party last night at our house. After a nice dinner Aidan got to see his awesome fire truck cake that his Aunt Rachel made. It was so creative and even had real lights on it!

Here are some pictures of Aidan opening presents with his two helpers (and best buds David and Danagan). The packing peanuts were the biggest hit (even though there were nice gifts in the box). Overall Aidan was spoiled with many nice gifts from those who love him. He is a lucky guy! We made him a play kitchen for his birthday which he found before it was time to open gifts. He came running to me with a pan in his hand and said "Mommy, eat!" and was very excited. It was such a great reaction to see after putting in many hours creating it for him. I will post kitchen pictures soon. 

 

As for our 2 year old. Aidan is very social and loving to those around him. He says "hi" to strangers and repeats it over and over. He is getting able to say more and more which makes it nice since he has stronger opinions about what he wants and can now communicate it to us. He loves fire trucks, snowmen, playing with his vacuum, dancing around, going to dance class among other activities. He is a great helper and I am amazed at how much he understands and can do. He loves to sing his version of the ABC song which doesn't really resemble the real thing. He can also sing most of Twinkle Twinkle little star. He cracks us up and has such a sense of humor. We feel so lucky to be his parents! 

Happy Birthday Aidan!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful and busy Christmas. It started out by us giving each other a new camera! We are thrilled to have made the leap into DSLR cameras and although we don't know what we're doing we're excited to hopefully get some better pictures of our family. I am so tired of blurry pictures and hope I can do better at capturing our favorite moments with clear and beautiful pictures.

Christmas eve we spent over at our family friends' house like we do each year with my side of the family. My mom's best friend from college Anne is like an aunt to me and we look forward to our regular Christmas eve dinners with her and her family. Aidan was especially sweet even when we stayed way past his bedtime.


 Christmas morning we woke up early and had a nice time with Aidan opening gifts and seeing what Santa brought for him. Favorite gift from Santa was the vacuum for sure although here is a picture of him vacuuming and writing on the chalkboard at the same time. I wish I could multitask like him.

We got ready to go and went over to spend the second part of our morning with the Koenigs where Aidan once again received wonderful and thoughtful gifts. Favorites were this horse from the Cardinale great grandparents (a gift for Aidan and Danangan) and this awesome firetruck. We enjoyed a turkey lunch and went home stuffed with great food.

After a much needed nap at home we geared up for yet another Christmas celebration with my dad, mom and brother. They came over to our house and we had a lovely dinner and opened gifts together. Aidan enjoyed talking on the phone to Mamaw and Papaw, reading books with Uncle Casey and playing with his new train set. 

We had a wonderful Christmas and feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends. It was so fun for David and I to share this special holiday with Aidan and to see his excitement in every little detail. We are still hearing about Snowmen, Santa and Christmas trees and will probably be looking for them everywhere we go even as we head into the new year.