Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts

Friday, January 10, 2014

The Elephant In the Room

As many of my followers (who are essentially following no one because I hardly write any more) know, there's some pretty heavy stuff going on over at Winterfell - that's what Aiden and I call home. Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I want him to be a nerd too.

I've been working hard on an actual piece surrounding all the baby-mama-drama and have not finished it yet. Partly because it takes so much out of me. And mostly, because I sincerely believe you can't really understand the journey, or storm or whatever other analogy you find fitting, until you come out the other side and you can look at the mess as a whole.

That partly piece though, about things being so weighty right now, has me thinking quite a bit. I need to really focus on the good stuff. I know this seems trivial and almost a little too kitschy considering it's the New Year and all. Side note - I don't believe in resolutions. But the point is, the more you smile and laugh, the less you stress. So lets have a little giggle shall we??

Holiday Season - we spent a lot of time gearing up for the holidays. Baking cookies, wrapping presents, visiting friends. Christmas is the one full solid paid vacation I get every year so I wanted everything done and out of the way before I was off of work for the year.


Our gift exchange with the Otley's this year had an all new participant. Baby Vander, who unfortunately found Aiden's gift to be much more exciting than his own.


The cookie baking was quite an obsession all of December - so when we finally did it, Aiden was in charge of all decorating operations.


Christmas 2013 - I spent a great deal of the holiday season contemplating Santa. Is my child really dumb enough to buy all this hoopla?!?! I guess so, now that the holidays are over, all he talks about is Santa this and Santa that. "Santa is gonna put you on the naughty list!" "Don't tell Santa I stuck my tongue out!" Luckily, Santa had Aiden on the "Nice List."



He opened *the big one* first, and if it had been ready-to-play he wouldn't have opened another thing! He's been interested in cooking for quite some time and kept asking why he couldn't have a kitchen. I'm not sure why he would think that but it seemed silly so I got him one.


He pretty much gave up opening presents about half way through - I think I went a little overboard again this year, even though I swore I wouldn't.


After Christmas it was all about cleaning up quick and making room for more.

Aiden's Birthday - we went the Mammoth game (they lost) and then had a donut breakfast party the next morning. Of course Aiden told the grumpy donut man it was his birthday and he gifted us the most obscene donut you'll ever see (below) Thank God Aiden didn't want to eat it - he would have had the jitters for days!


His birthday felt like Christmas all over again, so much stuff. And he gave up opening presents about half way though.




Can't really blame him, what with that cool dino book and all!



We spent the majority of what was left of winter break putting together Legos - I must say, I am quite proficient!



We even squeezed in another Mammoth game (they won!)


And we hatched some prehistoric dinosaur crab things - they're really pretty icky but Aiden thinks it's the coolest thing ever! We'll see how he feels when they start eating each other...


I'm doing my best to keep them alive and tolerate their existence in my kitchen, but really, if no one comes over for dinner until they are part of the big ocean in the sky, I won't blame you.



Mostly we've been having quite nights because there are some attitude and personality changes happening with the little dude...



 but like I said before, all that heavy stuff for a different day.

For right now, Happy New Year from Britt and Aiden.

*Some years ask questions, some years answer them*




Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Summer Break Part II

Alright, where did we leave off???

Oh yeah, it was Father's Day and Aiden was having ice cream.

Like I mentioned, sugar has been nixed at home - but this doesn't stop his Grandpa's sweet tooth one bit. Aiden and Randalicious go for a treat after school at least two days a week and probably more, recently.

If you have ever heard me talk about why I work so much, you have most assuredly heard the rant about the cost of Legos. And the set-up of the stupid Lego store which is such that you have to pass all the cool packages of current pop-culture trend related play sets in order to get to the cheap(er-mildly...) Legos in the back. Ugh...I digress.

Anyway, my point is. Aiden likes Legos, they are expensive, so is practically everything else - new shoes for rough and tumble boys, bigger clothes for growth-spurt-prone kids, etc.

So Aiden gets a little extra time with Randalicious while I work odd promotions, in odd places. Most recently, I found myself in the middle of no where North Platte, NE - whose claim to fame is Buffalo Bill, and that's about it. While walking around the "museum" (it was really a giant gift shop with a Buffalo Bill statue) trying to find a souvenir for the Bubba, I spotted a bag full of plastic horses and wagons and thought - Perfect! It'll do...

Aiden was so happy just to hear that he got something that he didn't care what it was...


   

And then we opened it up...the world's most offensive toy.



At least most of the red colored pieces are cowboys right??


He loves it, of course... but mostly only plays with the wagons and boats now, though it didn't take him long at all to figure out Cowboys & Indians.




Aiden has been getting a lot of play time with new kids this summer too! Stand by for the "Art Camp Blog" - anyway, he went to his second cousin Sebastian's birthday last month. The two of them are almost exactly 6 months apart - Aiden being older - but the closeness in age definitely shows! 

Sebastian's party was pirate themed, right up Aiden's alley, and it was all sorts of running around crazy - thank God my kid isn't the only one who wants to do only this, all day, everyday.

Waiting to hit the pinata...


Takin a swing...


Playing in the bouncy castle with the boys



Showing off his pirate sword!


Hope everyone is having at least half as much fun as this kid is this summer!