Big Boy Stuff

I'm constantly amazed at how much these little ones quickly develop and grow up right before our eyes. Aaron has been doing lots of "big boy" stuff these days and never ceases to surprise me with a new activity....

He discovered these miniature rock walls at different parks that we go to and loves to scale up to the top....

Just posing for mom....

Trying to encourage "poo poo on the potty", I bought a mini garbage truck and told him we could open it if he was successful....

Look at him longingly gazing at the packaged truck as he sits. So pitiful.

He even tries to push.... Such focus.

One thing I love about this age is getting Aaron to say words and repeat whatever I say. It's the little things like this that keep me entertained throughout the day....

He does really like oranges by the way - we live in the right state....

Someone gave us a little bike with training wheels that is super nice. Aaron loves to ride this big boy bike and is slowly getting the hang of it....

Family Pictures

Most of you probably caught these on facebook, but our dear friend Rilie miraculously captured some great family photos for us a few weeks ago.... I say miraculous, because..... well, Aaron was grumpy that day (shock! What kid isn't on family picture day) and we just never seem to capture even one decent shot of the 3 of us. Anyway, here are a few of our favorites....

Weekend Events

We had a fun weekend - Aaron's Gi Gi and Papa came in town from Florida to visit us and see Harvest in action for the first time. Gi Gi was only 9 days out of a fairly major surgery to remove a large cyst in her abdomen so we were especially grateful that all went well so she could make the trip! We borrowed a wheel chair so that we could get out and do a few things, like go to the zoo...

Aaron loved having constant activity and attention, and having his grandparents around to pay him lots of attention. Monday morning is going to be rough when it's back to normal with just mom.

With willing and able free babysitting in the house, Lee and I also rode last minute in a local small 14 mile mountain bike race. It was so fun to do it together!

How can I say this nicely..... The course and the competition weren't..... hmmm..... very hard at all. We happened to each get first place (me for the women's division) but we don't quite feel like we can really brag about it.

What I would like to brag about and point out though, however, is that my award is on the right and Lee's is on the left - notice that mine is much bigger. Yep. Because I'm cool like that.

Anyway, all in all - it was a fun weekend! Thanks Glenda and Tim for the great visit!

Halloween pics

Aaron is fascinated when we have taken him to a few local high school football games by the "football guys" (as he calls them), so we of course had to go with this idea for the costume. This little football player and his cousin the cheerleader had a great time getting all the free candy walking from house to house....

Aaron would have nothing to do with the helmet, the little stinker.

Cousin Noah also came along....

It was a fun and busy day, as it was also Lee's birthday. And still plenty of candy in the bucket. =)

Also, a random story - a few days ago, we had Sesame Street on and Elmo was talking about violins. Of course, Aaron doesn't have a violin. But he has a guitar. And a drumstick. So he improvised and was very serious about it....

He cracks me up.

Safety Latches my foot

My son, the little engineer, has figured something out this week....

So much for child-proofing.

October days

Sorry for the blogging delay - between lack of inspiration, the busy-ness of life, and a crashed computer, I have been out of the swing of things on here....

We have had lots going on these past few weeks. One highlight was meeting and welcoming in a new family member for our good friends, Micah and Bethany - they brought home their 3 year old daughter, Mikayla, from Ethiopia and it was a very exciting time.

This is Aaron, Mikayla, and Micah and Bethany's other son, Eli. I fortunately caught this cute moment of all of them playing together just before Aaron tossed sand in Mikayla's face making her cry..... Sigh. Such a boy....

I also celebrated my 31st birthday and looking back, I think Aaron has benefited more from my presents than I have.... A new hand-held vacuum,
and a huge bag of sour patch kids that he "picked out" seems to have mostly been eaten by him as well....
Some slightly cooler weather has allowed us to plant our yearly flowers and Aaron loves to help plant and take care of them all....

Also this past month, he has taken off in his bike-riding ability. Here's some footage of that....

Watch out - he'll be on the mountain bike trails with us in no time!!! =)

Random pics

Yeah.... We don't get much personal space with this little boy.

Not sure why Aaron resumed this position with my oven mitt for his pillow.

Coloring with his second cousins Noah and Caleb

Discussing life over goldfish in their underwear.

The cousins. And yes, it is what it seems; Owen, at 3.5 months, IS almost as big as both of these two year olds.