Magic Moments

I was reading Aiden the Easter story tonight and he retells it rather well. Aiden will tell you (in no particular order), "Jesus was sad. Jesus had an ouchie. Jesus forgives me. Jesus is alive!" He doesn't fully understand yet but listens really intently to the story and LOVES the pictures. Aiden's faith is so simple and sweet and I learn so much from his innocence. He's quick to forgive and believe me, I need a lot of forgiveness from that boy especially on days like today when we're both tired and both missing Daddy. It's hard to believe that in less that a month he'll be two! Tom and I keep trying to soak up all we can b/c he at such a fun and CUTE age! It's not a special video, just one of Aiden playing with his trains that he always reminds me is "from Marme." He has been really into trains lately. This is my last post til after Easter and I'm sure I'll have fun pictures with Aiden and his treats from the Easter bu...

I started doing some mock Easter egg hunts with Aiden last night so he'll be prepared for the big day. I explained that the Easter bunny would come while he was asleep and hide eggs for Aiden with treats inside. The conversation went like this: Mama: "The Easter bunny is going to come and hide eggs for Aiden to find." Aiden: "Bunny Easter come to Aiden's house?" Mama: "Yep, and he'll bring treats!" Aiden: "I will eat them?" Mama: "Yes, you can eat the treats." Aiden: "Bunny will probably hold you then?" Mama: "No, I don't think the bunny will hold you." Aiden: "Where bunny is at?" Mama: "The Easter bunny is still at his house making the treats. He comes when you are sleeping." Aiden was a little disappointed today because he thought the Easter bunny was coming during his nap. I had a hard time explaining that he had to wait til Easter morning. I see Easter a little differently...

Take the hint, Mama! I'm ready for my nap! I realize that I haven't posted fun videos of Aiden for awhile. That little boy chats my ear off all day but the second I get the camera out he refuses to say anything. That little stinker! Take my word for it, he's a busy boy and he's getting SO big! And it seems that the bigger Aiden gets the smaller his toys get and I find bits and pieces and balls (footballs, tennis balls, baseballs) all over the place. Just this morning I found legos in the fridge. How it got there, I'm not sure. Of course he's as cute as ever and doesn't forget anything. Aiden was floating in the tub tonight and I asked him if he was practicing his swimming and he replied, "No, I don't have my yifejacket!" We have really only been swimming once and that was weeks ago. I guess it left a big impression. The Grandmas and Grandpas that are reading this can breath a sigh of relief cause I did get a couple of ok videos of Aid...

I started My Favorite Things awhile ago and today I'll do part 2. First on the list is Burt's Bees facial cleanser. I love it. It tingles as it cleans leaving your face feeling fresh without drying it out and uses natural ingredients. What more could you want? Thats right. Gerber training pants. These are on my list because they are something I never thought I would like. Until using these undies I had never used a Gerber product that I liked. Unlike several other brands I've tried these big boy undies are soft and stay soft after washing. The elastic holds up and is covered by fabric so it isn't itchy. They fit great and don't fade after multiple washings. Also since Aiden sometimes forgets to go potty until he dribbles a little bit, the little bit of padding in these keeps his pants dry so all you have to change is the undies. Definately 2 thumbs up. My last two favorites are lip products by "Say Yes to Carrots." Again, this is 95% organic, sme...

Ami, Aiden, and I went to Choo Ch oo Bob's Train Store for storytime this morning and I must say it was well worth the trip into St. Paul. It was by far the best storytime we've been to. Choo Choo Bob was an excellent story teller and of course there is nothing better than a good train story. If you get the chance you should go and take your "train engineer to be." You won't be sorry. Aiden sat (wearing his train shirt of course) with the big boys Choo Choo Bob didn't disappoint! His audience was captivated! Choo Choo Bob even played the guitar and led the group in "The ABC's" and a rousing round of "I've been working on the railroad!" Aiden was front and center for the guitar playing and appears to be helping Choo Choo Bob lead the group. Much fun was had after the stories playing with the multiple train tables. Guess what Aiden is getting for his birthday? :)

Tonight I was retelling the story of creation to Aiden. The conversation went like this: Mama: "God made the zebras and the giraffes and the turtles. What else did God make?" Aiden: "God made strawberries! For me!" Mama: "Yes, Aiden. God made strawberries just for you."

We're having FUN with Ami! And we're looking forward to Pappy and Marme coming this weekend. More updates next week.....

We spent the whole weekend with Jesse and Julie and we had FUN! We haven't had the chance to do this in over 2 years so we were due to spend some time with these guys! Times have sure changed since college. We graduated 5 years ago, but that seems like a lifetime ago. We used to sleep in, but now we wake up to our 3 children and the house is a little more crazy. But, Julie and I still went to IKEA just like old times...we just had 3 car seats in our car this time. And Tom and Jesse still played video games all day....there are some things that will NEVER change. :) We were so busy laughing and having fun that I didn't take many pictures. Aiden and Renae hit it off right away and played like 2 year olds do. Aiden really like baby Sammy, but after Aiden tried to sit on baby Sammy's head, Sammy did not really like Aiden. This is why we only have one child. We can't wait to squeeze in more time and have more relaxing weekends with Jesse and Julie. Veisha weekend, here...

We've been busy and it's going to stay that way through next weekend. We spent Wed. and Thrus. in Northfield visiting Tom's parents who are in the city watching over our nieces and nephew while their parents are in Florida. As always, Aiden LOVED playing with his cousins and soaking up all the attention from Grandmommy and Grandpa. Tom and I enjoyed all the attention from his parents too. It's really nice to be with family. Walking the street of Northfield after a trip to the bakery where Grandmommy treated Aiden to a cookie. What else are Grandmommies for? I love this picture! Family togetherness! Tonight I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of our friends Jesse and Julie and their kiddos! We were all BFF in college and they have been away in Spain so we've seen each other only 1 time in the last 2 1/2 years. We are SUPER excited...obviously. On Monday night my sister is flying in from AZ to spend the week! We have a LOT of shopping planned. Then when my paren...

I love my toddler! I love that by lunch time he already needed his 3rd clean shirt for the day. I love that he was so busy with Dada this morning that his outfit is mismatched. I love that he has strawberries dripped on his shirt and ketchup on his face. I love that his hair is messy and that he ate his whole lunch while standing up and singing "Zacheus was a wee little man...." I love it that his sentences are sometimes jumbled, "Mama, I can't know where paci is...I CAN'T! Where it is?" I love that he says, "I do it by MYSELF!" I love it when he tries using new words like "finished" and "first." I love it when he says, "Mama, I so proud of you!" or when he's guilty and says "Mama, I not doing anyfing." I just love my spirit filled toddler. The days are never boring. And here is a video that pretty much sums displays my toddler's 2 FAVORITE words right now: Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo .

The majority of Aiden's time is spent playing (as it should be!) but my little man is THIRSTY for knowledge. A few days ago I caught him trying to use the word "yesterday" in a sentence. So I thought we should probably start a daily calendar routine. If he was in daycare he would be doing this daily and I don't want him to miss out on things like that so we started calendar at home. Aiden LOVES it and I secretly love having a student. Nothing excites me more than hearing him say "Mama, yets do my yetters!" And nothing warms my heart more than times like this morning when I heard him say, "I yove Jesus. Jesus forives me. Jesus yives in my heart." :) P.S. He's still a long way from understanding yesterday, today, and tomorrow and time in general...it's a work in progress. I was explaining to him that his month is called March and he promptly started marching around the room.

In my quest to use only natural products that aren't harmful I've wanted my next step to be making over the products we use on our bodies. I've eleminated some yucky ingrediants in the kitchen and while I still have a long way to go, I wanted to do some elimating in the bathroom as well. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on organic shampoos and lotions, and soaps, and I wanted one product that could work for everyone in our family and be used for multiple purposes. We needed to streamline. So, I dug deep and the author of this blog came through for me yet again. Today I made my own shampoo and I'm EXCITED about it! It was easy and made with products that I had. We also are beginning to use straight up coconut oil for our lotion. This is a healthy oil I use in smoothies and it made my skin feel SO good today. I'm also using the coconut oil as a hair conditioner too! This isn't my recipe so I'm not taking credit but I am passing it along. Sham...

Aiden and I took advantage of this warm winter day and went to the zoo. I highly recommend going to the zoo in the early days of spring. There were no crowds and all the animals were out instead of hiding from the hot sun. Aiden had a lot to say about the animals! Imagine that! He told me, "Mama I need to give the yion a hug" and he said, "That biston (thats Aiden speak for bison) is mad! Yook, he has moke (smoke) in his nose!" Haha. Maybe the Bison was mad, but probably not. It was a little chilly so you could see his breath coming from his nose. I love how Aiden percieves things...he doesn't miss anything. I had to laugh because there was a man that was vaccuuming the penguins pool. I asked Aiden if he liked the penguins and he said, "No, I yike the baccuum!" Silly boy! At bedtime tonight he woud say, "Mama, I need a raff (giraffe!). Where raff go? Where zebra go?" I would tell him they were night night at the zoo and Aiden...

Even though I don't really like my job I do kind of like working 15 hours a week. It's nice because those 15 hours are my hours. I'm out of the house doing what I like to do (sort of) and using my brain (sort of). Those 15 hours give me energy to come home and be a better mom because I get to spend that time doing what I did before I was a mom...it reminds me that I have more hats than just a Mama hat. Working keeps me current in the field and gives me creative ideas about things to do with Aiden. I wouldn't do it full time, but I feel like 15 hours a week gives me the BEST of both worlds. I feel so blessed. I hadn't anticipated that the benefits of me working would extend beyond a paycheck, experience, and added resume fillers, but working gives Tom and Aiden precious one on one time with no Mama around to "police" what they are doing or what kind of a mess they are making. So, yeah, I come home after 4 hours to a pretty significant mess but seei...

So I've been working on this post for awhile and finally want to finish it. In case anyone wonders here is why I'm not on Facebook. The 2 generic reasons why I'm not on Facebook that I'm not going to elaborate on is 1) No one has 348 "friends" and 2) I do think that there will be some psychological consequences for people (read:kids) who have no boundaries within social networking sites. Enough said. My personal reasons for not being a Facebook member are as follows: 1. I know this sounds weird, but I feel pretty happy with the people I'm connected with. I don't have long lost friends that I want poking around in my life. That probably sounds mean, but I just don't want to be "found." And if someone really wanted to find me, they could. I'm not hiding. 2. I'm a pretty quiet person. It's a little hard for me to open up. I don't get super personal on my blog that often so having a "profile" online is hard ...