A Weekend Away From Home

This past weekend we babysat Blair and Skylar.  Alexa was out of town for a funeral and Chris got called out on a last-minute flight (he's a pilot).  We went up Saturday afternoon, stayed the night, then spent Sunday there.  Thankfully, all the kids went down for bedtime easily Saturday night.  Aiden was a little scared sleeping in the guest bedroom by himself, so Travis and I laid with him for about 15 minutes.  After that, he basically kicked us out of the bed.  He has never been able to sleep in the same bed with us.  Once he was comfortable in that dark room, he was done with us.  Travis and I left and he must have fallen asleep nicely on his own.

Aiden woke up at 1:30 in the morning thinking it was time to get up.  I got him to go back to bed and he didn't get up again until 6.  That's still earlier than I would like.  He's gotten in the habit of waking up before the sun is up.  It's terribly annoying.  We let him lay in bed with us until 6:45 when the Ramby's woke up.

We went downstairs and ate breakfast.  Afterwards, Blair pointed out that the hamster was missing from her cage.  GREAT.  Our friends ask us for a favor and we lose their pet.  Alexa has told me about the hamster's escapades in the past, so I knew the best way to catch her: set the cage on the ground and let her come home when she's ready.  Unfortunately, the hamster wouldn't come out while the kids were running around.  We had no idea where she was at.

That morning we walked to the playground near their house.  We weren't there for very long before we realized we needed to get back home for Skylar's nap time.  The boys went down right before Skylar woke up, so we got a good taste of what life with two kids is like.  HA.

We had made previous plans for Aiden to go hang out with Ariel and Robert that afternoon.  It was the first time they had offered to take him out somewhere.  They babysit him from time to time, but it's always at their house.  They didn't decided what they were going to do until they were picking him up.  Since they were running late, they decided to take him to Chuck E Cheese where they could play AND get dinner.  It was his first time there and I think he had a great time.  They said he was really skittish about partaking in the fun at first, but after a while he warmed up to the idea.

They sent tons of photos and videos.  Alexa is talking about having Blair's birthday party there this year.  If that's the case, it will be so much fun to be the ones to take Aiden next time.  We have seen several commercials for Chuck E Cheese since then and Aiden recognizes it.  He still plays with the toy frogs and Chuck E Cheese whistle he bought with his winning tickets and he put a bunch of Chuck stickers on his potty.  I'm so glad he got to spend the evening with his Auntie Ariel and Uncle Robert.

I cleaned the house while Aiden was away. Travis stayed with the Ramby kids until Chris got home around 10:30 that night.  We got lucky and the hamster was found asleep in her bed soon after the kids went down for the night.  The full schedule doesn't stop there, but I'll save the rest for later.  For now, I'm off to bed (I actually wrote this post last night)...  Zzzzzzz....

Holiday Parties, Part I

Fabulous weekend.  The end.

No not really the end, silly!  I like to talk!  Or type.  So here's the rest.

We made plans to go to two Christmas parties this weekend.  The one on Saturday was a child-friendly party.  They have an entire room dedicated to toys, so of course the kids took over that room.  We arrived before most of the group did, so here's a photo of the room before chaos struck:



Left to right: Blair, Matthew, Juliet, Aiden and Skylar

I have started to notice that Aiden does really well with kids of all ages.  He seems to adjust his play level to his playmate's needs.  If he's looking at a baby, his voice gets soft and higher pitched and he gets down on their level to check them out.  But if it's an older boy that he has to run to keep up with, he pumps up the volume and the energy.  The one thing he's not good at, all around, is sharing.  He has the toddler mentality.  The rules: everything is his.  Doesn't matter who is taking it from him, he will get upset.  I found myself explaining to Aiden several times that night, babies are too little to know better.  I showed him how to give the little ones a toy to distract them from what he's playing with.  I'm not sure if that's the right way to go about it, but both parties seemed okay with it. 

Here is an example of Aiden learning to share a house with Skylar:

Everyone brought some food.  It was all awesome.  I ate horribly this weekend.  I need to reel that in a little bit because my goal this pregnancy is to NOT gain 41 pounds.  I don't know if that will be possible, but I'm going to give it a try.  Honestly, I didn't have much trouble losing the weight last time.  Well, the last 5-10 pounds didn't come off until after I quit breastfeeding, but I will keep that in the back of my head this time.  I just want to remain as healthy as possible.  I do have to say one of the annoying parts of being gigantic, was my inability to use stairs.  It would be nice if I didn't have an asthma attack every time I need to go up a few stairs.

ANYHOO.  In addition to the food we all brought, we also brought a gift for the kids' gift exchange.  I was so excited about this part.  Chrissy (pictured below) numbered the gifts, then each child drew a number that corresponded to the gift they would receive.  She obveriously has a magic brain because she knew EVERY child's birth date.  She let the kids draw starting with the youngest and going up from there.

Aiden had a rough time understanding that he didn't get to choose which present he got to open.  He wanted one that belonged to another child, so we had a minor breakdown at that moment.  But as soon as I got him back to our spot on the carpet and he got to open the present, he was better.  He got a variety of card games aimed at kids 3 and up.  He's almost to three and I've thought about buying him some card games, so I think it worked out wonderfully.



Plaid



Aiden LOVES puzzles.  There is a card game in the set called Matching.  I haven't read how you are actually supposed to play the game, but I shuffle the deck and hand it to Aiden.  Then he finds the three-card sets and puts them together.  It's a little like a puzzle, only a little more difficult.  He seems to enjoy it.  If anything, he just likes shuffling through the cards and looking at them.  I taught him how to pick up a bunch of cards at once and straighten them, so he really likes doing that now.  He gets a little frustrated when it comes to fitting the cards back in the box, but we're working on that.

After all the kids opened their gifts, they walked around and played with each other's presents.  It was so cute.  There was a really neat underwater puzzle set that required the use of a magnetic fishing pole to take the pieces out of the board.  Might be getting that for our little man...

Celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving. Ugh, I know.

Saturday we had more big plans.  Travis had to work that morning.  Aiden and I took it easy at home.  We played outside for a while and I folded some laundry.  I got him to take a nap on his own.  It took almost 45 minutes, but that's better than an hour!

When Aiden woke up, we played for a bit, then got ready to go out.  We went to Galveston for the Moody Garden Festival of Lights opening day.  I've been in the past and was really disappointed.  I thought they would decorate Moody Gardens with lights.  Instead, they have various shapes wrapped in lights, including Christmas items, safari animals, underwater animals and more.  I'm assuming those non-Christmas decorations are supposed to represent the two pyramids at Moody Gardens: the Rainforest and the Aquarium.

Since it was opening day, there were various additional attractions.  There were two small reindeer for the kids to gawk at...  

Then Santa sailed in on a parachute with two of his elves...

Interesting life...

We went with lots of friends:  The Ramby's (minus Chris, plus Alexa's mom), the Yeager's and the Yeager's friends that we've hung out with a few times.  I really like them.  They're fun-loving people who like to joke around.  My kind of entertainment!

After Santa landed, we couldn't see him very well over all the people.  There were SO MANY PEOPLE.

Aiden says, "Where's Santa?"

After an hour of waiting, Santa flipped the power switch and all the lights in the park lit up.  We were already in line by this point because there were SO MANY PEOPLE.

As disappointed as I may have been by the lights last time I enjoyed it so much more with Aiden.  He is so amazed at everything.  I love watching the wonder through his eyes.  At the end of the lit path, there was a fenced in area with snow!!  Next to the palm trees!  Without a coat, hat and mittens!

You had to pay $6 cash to enter the snow area.  We only had $5 left, so we told Aiden we couldn't do the snow.  He looks up at us with those big blue eyes and says, "But snow, Mommy.  Snow!"  I was immediately digging in my purse for a dollar's worth of change.  

Aiden slipped and fell while walking into the enclosure.  He was a little shocked at the cold temperature, so he started crying.  I told him it was okay, and when he stopped crying he looked at his hands and said, "Ice?"  Smart kid.  After I coaxed him back into the enclosure, with a little help this time, he really enjoyed himself.  Since adults weren't allowed in, Aiden waddled over to where we were standing near the fence and Travis tossed him a few snow balls.  Then Aiden threw them back.  He was so excited.  It was adorable.  We had to keep yelling at him not to eat the snow.  

"There won't be any snow left if you eat it all!"

Trick or Treat!

I was looking through some Halloween magazines this year and came across some fun ideas for party snacks.  I found this particular one online and really liked it.  It was cute and easy:

I decided to stop fighting Aiden into his pirate costume and went for something a little easier.  We used his regular cowboy outfit.  Of course he wouldn't wear the leather vest, wool chaps and gun holster.  Typical.  On a side note, I am fairly certain Aiden was the only child on the streets with a toy gun.  Many parents are anti-toy-gun these days, plus there's the off chance that a police officer will think your child is threatening them with a real gun and therefore shoot the child.  I used to play with this very same cap gun when I was little.  Not only do I have NO interest in guns these days, but I do not want to be a criminal.  Oh and I survived not ever being shot by a police officer and have grown into an adult!  Amazing.

Skylar the Birdie and Blair the Dinosaur

Ready to go trick or treating!

Travis gave Aiden a crash course on trick or treating with the Ramby's bowl of candy.

The dads stayed behind to give out candy for the first round of trick or treating.  After we got back, we traded jobs.

Aiden went trick or treating for the very first time last year at this door.  This year it was the first door we knocked on as well.



Aiden got TONS of candy.  We been trying to ration it out here and there to avoid a full-on sugar rush.  We've been lucky so far!  It probably helps that I've been eating the chocolate.  Aiden did really good with Trick or Treating this year.  I think he understood the concept fairly well after a couple houses.  Occasionally he would give his candy to the person who answered the door.  And sometimes he would tell people "You're welcome!" in addition to "Thank you!"  Overall I think he did well though.  It gets more and more fun every year.

A Very Ramby Weekend

Saturday morning Aiden and I met the Ramby's on the beach. There was an insane amount of seaweed covering the beach and more kept coming! We saw lots of little creatures that had lived in the seaweed. Very cool!

Travis had to work in the morning, but he was off by the time Aiden woke up from his nap. That afternoon, we met the Ramby's at a park that has a train caboose stationed within. Sadly, it was not open for the boys to explore. They did however, enjoy playing on the brand new playscape and watching the tons of turtles in the koi pond. Next time we need to bring bread so we can feed them!

After the park, we went over to the Ramby's house for dinner. We stopped at the fish market near their house so they could grab some tilapia and shrimp. I've never been in a fish market that big and found it very interesting. They had live crab and shrimp swimming around under the many tubs of seafood on ice. The guy that helped us explained that they keep the live crab in the water like that so they can get soft-shelled crab. They had octopus and GIANT squid. Seriously, I've never seen squid so huge.

The grilled dinner was EXCELLENT. Probably the best we've eaten in weeks, since we've been on the low-income Ramen diet. Hopefully things perk up here soon. I could really go for some more good eating!

Sunday we took it easy in the morning. Travis slept in. After lunch, Travis put Aiden down for a nap and I got on the road to buy stuff for Aiden's birthday party that is to be held next weekend. (Yay credit card!) Because money is so tight this year, we decided to throw a really small party. We invited eight of Aiden's friends and our family. Last year we had over 50 people come, so this is a serious downsize. As of right now, the only family that's attending is Ariel, Robert and my dad should hopefully be there. The plan is for him to stay a week or two and help us build that wall I keep talking about.

The shopping was really EASY without having Aiden. He is actually really good when it comes to grocery shopping, as long as I don't stop to compare products for too long. The key is to keep moving. Since I knew I would have to take my time shopping for Aiden's party AND I don't want him to see his gifts until his birthday, I made time for a trip without him. It was exhilarating to just jump out of the car for one item at a store. That is something I rarely do when I have Aiden. I bought everything we need for decorating and I also picked up his birthday presents. I got really excited picking everything out this year because I know he is going to love it all.

As for the party, I am soooo behind compared to last year. That is partially due to lack of funding and because it just caught up with me suddenly. I got the invitations out really late. Meaning, everyone received their invites last week. I did send out an Evite Save-the-Date a month ago though. We decided to do a luau theme with a touch of Toy Story. I wanted to something tropical since we are going to have all the water toys out. And Aiden is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear. We've been in a drought since February and it recently started raining again. Just in time for Aiden's outdoor birthday party. I hope it doesn't rain Saturday afternoon!

JP Star

Sunday afternoon, after we had the Callaway-situation under control, we drove back north for our friend Jacen's birthday cookout. Travis and I were both in a horrible mood by the time we were en route. We fought Aiden for two hours, trying to get him to lay down for a nap, with no success. Then we had to deal with Callaway. We thought about not going to the party at all, since neither of us were in a socializing type of mood. But then I decided it would be good for us to go. If we stayed home, we would definitely remain in a funk. If we went to a party with friends, we would have the opportunity to cheer up. And man am I glad we went. We all had a lot of fun.

I took boat loads of photos (to make up for missed shots in the past?) and I had trouble choosing between them all. Chris made sure to show off his muscles for the camera...

It was outrageously hot on Sunday, but if you stayed in the shade it wasn't so bad with the breeze. Some of they guys played the Longest Game of Washers in History, while the rest of us lounged nearby.

Supermodel Marina (pictured on the left below) did a great job with all the food. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken breasts, ribs and then pasta salad and veggie salad and corn. I'm not even going to go into the list of appetizers she had out beforehand.

Kai, Travis, Skylar and Marina's right half:

After the Longest Game of Washers in History, we continued to hang out. There were a lot of kids there, which were quickly dubbed the Pack of Children. Aiden followed behind as they ran around the large property with walkie talkies, looking at rocks and plants and the horses and doing whatever else it is that entertains children for hours without a single toy (aside from the walkie talkies, of course).

Eventually a few of the older boys pulled a boat into the little pond. It was so funny because all they could really do was push the boat in and quickly turn around again. Aiden watched from the grass, while I tried not to have an anxiety attack about the possibility of him falling in. We could see everything the kids did from the house on top of the hill, but just because I can see him doesn't mean he's safe.

At one point, a small group of us went with Jacen over to their barn to feed the horses. We took a moment to check out the chickens and the one rooster with the longest spurs I've ever seen. Aiden was absolutely enthralled with all the animals.

When I was in middle school, I was at my friends house when she decided we were going to go play in the woods behind the horse pasture. That meant we had to climb the fence into the pasture with the horses for part of the trek out there. My friend warned me that one of the horses was still a little wild and I should run for the fence if she came over. Well, she tried to come over, so I ran. I had no experience with the large animal, so I just did what she said. My friend quickly realized I was not faster than a horse and yelled for me to stop and stand still. The horse then bit me on the shoulder.

I'm fairly confident that it was mostly lips and just a little nip with the teeth, but it scared the crap out of me. Nothing was broken or torn, but I had some bruising for a week. Ever since then I have been terrified of horses. I have tried to show courage, but I always had that animals-can-sense-your-fear saying in the back of my head. It doesn't matter how calm I am or if I have a smile on my face, I am sure that animal knows I am terrified.

Lucky for me, I'd had a couple glasses of Sangria before heading over to the barn, so I was (mostly) carefree when we stepped into the pasture. Personally, I think I did pretty well considering.

Here's a shot of Jacen (AKA JP Star) feeding Choctaw, the biggest horse I've ever stood next to.

Blair watches on as Choctaw and Cowboy eat their dinner.

Note to self: Do not mess with horses while they eat. They may get irritable.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a lovely three day weekend with Travis at home. We spent a lot of time sitting in the yard while Aiden enjoyed his new sandbox. We had some boards leftover from building the veggie garden, sand leftover from laying the patio and Travis had some time leftover without working for the past week. Bam! Sandbox.

Saturday afternoon we had some friends over to enjoy use the new patio space with us. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera existed on that day. Boo. But we had a great time! We ate burgers and lots of sweets. I'm fairly confident I gained a few pounds from all the junk I ate this weekend. My clothes are feeling a little snug this today.

I am looking forward to bumping out the wall around the patio moreso now that we had that party. I think it was a little stressful for all the parents with small children running around (me included). We live on a busy street and it would be all too easy for one stray child to run into off towards the danger zone. That left all the parents on their toes, which means they had a difficult time socializing. It will also be nice when the overflow of people on the patio can stand in the yard, as opposed to the driveway.

Travis and I stayed up chatting with my work-friend Michelle until 12:30 in the morning. !!! I was exhausted the next day. We watched TV and the movie Astro Boy (very cute!) and did some more sitting outside. We even took a nap at the same time as Aiden!

Monday afternoon we went over to the Ramby's. The boys played in the kiddie pool and the adults chillaxed.

Snack break

Laying in the sun

Skylar has her own little pool of bath-warm water

Play zone

Just hanging out with us

Rough play in the yard

Coming back to work on Tuesday was rough. Especially since I had such a busy first day back. Travis had yesterday off, but he's at his first day at the new job today. Wish him luck!

Easter in Photos

The Friday before Easter, we set up the supplies for dying Easter eggs outside on Aiden's picnic table. We couldn't figure out what to dye the eggs in, so we settled for our whiskey glasses. HA. Next year I'm using Dixie cups. Not only are they NOT glass, but they seem a little bit more family friendly than booze tumblers.

Travis had Saturday AND Sunday off this weekend, which was amazing. It's been a while since we've had Daddy around that much. We took advantage of those daylight hours together and got a lot of things done around the house. Travis put together his new grill/smoker that he used to cook a pork loin for Easter. He bought all the materials to finish laying out the drainage in the yard and for building the patio. He also got some fun stuff for the yard work. The mulch makes the potted plants look fantastic and he got new hoses to replace the ones that have been hit by the lawnmower a few times.

I spent a good part of the day cleaning the house in preparation for our guests on Easter. Travis even made it inside to dust while I baked homemade mini espresso cheesecakes. That was my first time to ever make real cheesecake (as opposed to that no-bake boxed kind).

Saturday, we met the Ramby's at their church for an egg hunt. After the boys filled their quota of eggs, and a tour of the church, we headed over to a restaurant on the bay for dinner. The kids were a bit rowdy - the boys were being boys and Skylar is teething - but the food was great. I'd like to go back again sometime, but I don't know if we'll ever be able to find the restaurant again!

Skylar sat up at the table with us.

Ariel, Robert and the Ramby's came over for Easter in the afternoon. Totally unplanned, all the guys wore teal polo shirts. Every time they stood together I started laughing again.

We had appetizers while the last of the food was cooking. The problem with appetizers is I'm not hungry by the time the main course comes around. Part of that could be because I always put out way too many options to snack on.

After the meal, we headed outside for another Easter egg hunt. With the boys still being so young, that mostly consists of a bunch of eggs strewn around the yard. And since Smarties don't fit in Easter eggs (darn it), there were also rolled candies thrown out there too.

The onlookers

After the Ramby's headed off to another Easter celebration, we sat in the backyard, wishing the patio would just finish itself.

I gave Aiden a few bites of candy and that kid was off like a rabbit on speed. He kept running back and forth down the sidewalk and then started throwing all his toys into the dirt pile that is currently taking up a portion of our yard. (Travis spent last week digging a trench for the drainage system that will divert rain water away from our backyard and patio. This week we will put the pipes down and fill up the trench that is threatening to eat my son alive.)

I think this was the first time Aiden has really had much candy. Occasionally I'll gave him a piece, but it's only one piece and those times are far and few between. He even spent a good five minutes telling us an animated story:

Aiden adores his Uncle Robert. Anything Robert does, Aiden wants to do. When he was at their house Friday morning (I had to work, but the daycare was closed), he wanted to share Robert's morning bowl of cereal. When Robert took his shirt off, Aiden wanted to take his shirt off. When Robert put on his shoes when it was time to leave for work, Aiden wanted to put his shoes back on.

And Sunday, when Robert sat in the hammock and ate a hard-boiled egg, Aiden joined him.

Easy Sunday

Sunday was a much more laid back day. PHEW. That morning, Aiden played around the house while I attempted to coral the dog and cat hair that has taken over my house. I'm pretty sure everyone is shedding their winter coats. It's horrific.

After Aiden's nap, Travis headed out to play disk golf with some buddies, while Aiden and I went to visit the Ramby's. I thought it was strange that Travis didn't come with us, but that evening I found out that he thought Chris was still gone on a training trip.

Chris watched Aiden for me while Alexa, Skylar and I ran to Walmart to purchase some outdoor goodies for their backyard and to pick up a pizza. When we got back, we walked over to their neighbor's house to check out all the Bluebonnets in her backyard.

I just started some Bluebonnet seeds a week ago. They are just now poking their heads out of the soil. I know it is really late in the season to be starting seeds of just about anything, but I figured it was worth a shot. If they grow big enough to drop seeds, then next year we should have more flowers at the correct time of year. We'll see!

Vulture Park

After a week long of freezing temperatures and a couple days of freezing rain, I was ready to get OUTSIDE. I don't know how I ever survived up north - stuck inside for months on end. Yuck!

So! When I saw it was supposed to be 65 degrees on Sunday, I quickly made plans with the Ramby's to meet at a playground. The Yeager's had recommended it to us, saying that it was great for toddlers. Aiden has problems playing at the playgrounds near our house because he's not tall enough to get up the first step by himself. The park we went to on Sunday was wonderful!

There was one downfall. The park was FILLED with black vultures. Ugly things. And LARGE. Birds freak me out a little, so I was feeling anxious when we pulled up to this:

I was relieved to find the playground was on the opposite side of the bayou from these guys. I wasn't sure if one of them would try to make off with our son.

We had a few minutes to run around the playground before the Ramby's arrived. Aiden LOVED exploring this new play set.


We woke up a little late, so we decided to go to McDonald's for breakfast. I had the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. Uh, it was amazingly delicious. I couldn't believe it. I need to try to make it at home! We also enjoyed some McD's coffee. Not gourmet level stuff, but it hit the spot nonetheless.

Aiden was so excited when he saw Blair running over from the parking lot.

Skylar was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed when they showed up. I am fighting off a cold, so I tried not to touch her or any of her gear. It wasn't until after I had done it that I was scolding myself for trying to help Alexa. I hope they don't catch whatever we have!

We left the park with a bag full of shoes for Aiden and a toddler bed. THANK YOU RAMBY'S!!

PS - Happy birthday Rachel!! =D