Halloween and Pear Picking

This is going a be a picture post. Enjoy :-)Aiden has been so funny lately. She is developing all of these hysterical quirks like demanding to take her hat collection to daycare and eating grilled cheese with a spoon!


Pear picking day was awesome! She carried this pear around the entire time and munched away...mmmm...


My brave brave husband, picking our bountiful produce.


All the helpers. Aidie REALLY wanted to climb the ladder. She couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her....


Halloween was spent at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. My adorable little butterfly!


Our family photo. Got to love the faces this kid comes up with...



Proud Daddy with his newly blossomed caterpillar


This was definitely Aidie favorite part of the children's museum. Sand! Woohoo! We couldn't get her to even consider anything else for at least 20min. She was very devoted to this place!


Here we are planting flowers. This place has really improved since I was a kid. There is SO much to do even for toddlers.


"boo"


It may be the most common toy ever, but Aidie loves beads and insisted that we play for a while on these doctor office favorites.


Here is part of the "Barbie Experience" Aidie is walking the runway and checking out the DJ equipment. Way to multi-task Aidie!


I loved this Egypt tour. Of course Aidie only wanted to climb on and off of all the statues. LOL


And here she is wrestling a giant crocodile at the finale of our trip. The next Steve Irwin replacement.
Anyway for quick updates. Aidie had a great 18month check up. She is still a tiny tot. Only weighing in at 22lbs not much over the 10%, but her length is up to 35in and her head is actually in the 75% this time around. Really boosting up there! She is really enjoying daycare now and never wants to leave. Too much fun! I'm glad we decided to stay. She is definitely feeling comfortable now. She is in full swing of the terrible twos: full body tantrums and power struggles. But also wonderful personality development, new words and lots of hugs and kisses. She really is a sweet and thoughtful child 70% of the time ;-) We have just hit major emotional development. Those hormones are pumping it all up a notch. Teenagedom is going to a nightmare...
As for Dan and I, all is well. Work is great. I love school and love going in every day (except for not being able to be with Aidie of course). So glad I have a job I love- can't wait to find a certified position though.

Pumpkin Carving, Covered Bridge Festival and Now We're all Sick :(

This past weekend, we had a lot of fun. Aidie was doing better with her croup and ear infection. So we thought we would take advantage of her improved health. We had a great time hunting the booths and playing around the mill and the woods. Aidie's favorite part was most definitely the helicopter that kept flying overhead, taking people for rides. Every so often we would hear lots of giggling only to look over and see her pointing up at the sky. So adorable.

We also went out for a picnic. It was super windy. So we had lots of fun playing with the blanket and going down the slides and swinging on the swing. Aidie loves the wind! I'm pretty sure March will be her favorite month ;-)


Over course, she was also a good blanket weight.

Here are the belated pictures from our pumpkin carving. Our poor little pumpkin is now a moldy, saggy mess. But we'll just have to carve another one before Halloween gets here.

And here is our puppy in her festive attire.

Aidie really wanted to help pull out the guts this year. However, the pumpkin was so tall that she had to put her whole arm in, up to her shoulder.
And she wanted to keep all the seeds!


I think we've decided to dress her as a butterfly for Halloween. Since Dan's family always made their own costumes, I found a great pattern for wings. Plus this outfit will let her be in long sleeves and pants, keeping her warm in the chilly October air. Just have to figure out where to go this year for trick-or-treating.

Off to the pumpkin patch

I just couldn't wait! We headed straight for the pumpkin patch the first day it opened. Thank you Freeman Farms for being open the first weekend in October! We had so much fun (even if Aidie was more interested in the toys and cars than the "pum pum"s -pumpkins- and animals. It was loads of fun. They had lots of animals for kids to pet and feed, including goats, piglets, a horse, a donkey, a cow and a miniature pony- not to mention the dogs and cats who needed lots of love. Aidie wasn't too sure about any of it at first, but after playing around in the kiddie cars for a while she started to have some fun! She raced (as fast as her little legs would carry her) out into the pumpkin patch looking for "pum pum"s and fell right on her face. Poor thing had a bump right out. Then, she didn't want to look for a pumpkin anymore. So we found a wagon and pulled her along in it. That seemed to make the experience less scary and we had a great time looking for our pumpkin. Aidie found it right away (perfect btw) and grabbed onto it, wrapped her whole body around it and says "mine, mine, Aidie pum pum!" Too cute! So we shipped it out to the car and went in to pet some of the friendly animals. Aidie was finally interested. Though the horse didn't think much of her offer of straw. However, the goats were fully appreciative of anything and everything she thrust at them. All in all, a fantastic day!She has grown up so much in the past week. I just don't have time to write it all down! She talking and dancing, reading and mommying her babies. I just love it. Here she is dancing on Daddy's feet. Too sweet to pass up. Enjoy :-)

Long time, No blog

For my blog followers: Sorry it has been so long. Adjusting to my new job has taken more of a toll than expected. Aiden is finally adjusting to daycare. No more crying! When I drop her off she waves bye bye and/or blows kisses and when I pick her up, she is all excited and chatty. She has made lots of friends and it is so great to watch her make decisions and play. I just love it!
My job has been more than expected. My work is specifically titled as a "remediation aide" but I'm not doing hardly any aiding. Mostly teaching. I work for Title I most of the day, Team teach math in the morning and teach 3rd grade advanced math in the afternoon. I even get my own classroom for a whole 40 mins. Poor room has been storage all year and now I get to adopt it! Yippee!
As I said we have been so busy:

Kathy had her birthday party up in Indy and a good time was had by most. Dan is not a fan of loud music, but he did humor me and dance. I'm so glad. I LOVE to dance and hardly ever get to. I think I would be totally fit if I could just dance all day!And Aunt Lilly came over a couple of weeks ago. I love that Aidie is finally being social with people. She played with Aunt Lilly and I think she might have popped from all the baby love :-)
Also: My child is incredibly tall and skinny! How crazy is this! And is obsessed with ribbon, particularly this one that once belonged to Caina. Poor puppy has to share everything!
We are in the stages of Halloween decisions: What to dress Aidie as for Halloween. Dan wants us All to dress up in theme. I want Aidie to be a "buffwhy" (butterfly). Suggestions?

Our First Chilly Play Day!

The temperature has finally decided to drop for a few days and it has gotten rather nippy outside. So we went pants, jacket and finally a hat, once the wind picked up! Aiden was definitely loving it!

Naturally we had to spend a good portion of the time digging and getting as dirty as possible until mom says "okay. New choice please!"

So we practice being a little monkey! I can't believe she can do this!!!

And slide down the big girl slides all on our own (thanks Rachel and Ella for the idea)

And finally trekked out into the woods... (I think she needs a little red cape for this scene!)

To find some some (much loved by the end of the trip) pinecones! I don't know if you can tell just from the picture, but I think she might have taken these home and added them to her favorite toy collection if she could have. Sometimes it's nice to let the park be the bad guy and blame having to leave them behind due to "park regulations". What an outdoorsy little girl!!

My Shy Little Catepillar has become a Social Butterfly!

**Warning** This post contains an overload of pictures**So it comes to pass that the little girl who once would not let go of my skirt in front of "strangers" (these including her own uncles and such) is now the belle of the ball, entertaining and interacting with everyone! I cannot hardly believe the transformation.

We decided to spend our park day in a large meadow with just a tiny playground and Aidie had a fantastic time running and running the whole morning!

We even found some wild grapes growing. She was VERY interested, but there was no tasting, much to her intense dissatisfaction...


We also tried our hands at fort building. Welcome back to the days when couch cushions were castle walls and blankets were Indian canopies. Aidie thought this was the best game ever! Thank you daddy for the idea.
Then, of course, it was Dan's birthday! Happy 25th! You get to be older than me for a whole two days under 2months... Ugh! A quarter of a century seems so old, doesn't it?
Regardless of the advancing years on us, we had a really nice "Dan's" day weekend. My grandmother's birthday is the 8th. So we had lots of people over on Sunday to my parents' house. And of course, with Aidie's new found socialite personality, it was a lot of fun. You can see her snatched up by uncle John and laughing hysterically.
And she had to help both Daddy and Great-Grandma King open up presents and read cards. She is a very good little helper!

As you can see, my Grandma was pleased as punch for Aidie to be happily sitting in her lap. And of course, there was a little ice cream nibbling during all of this. Mmmm...
She even snuggled with my Aunt Pam and had a few more bites of ice cream. I'm surprised she wasn't wired!
Then, as I went to get water, they turned my child into a biker babe. Can't really say it was forced, from the look on her face.
Uncle John even showed her how to ride a motorcycle properly. Laying on your belly in Aidie's case.
Since Monday was Dan's real birthday, we spent they day with his family. Megan came over with Matt and Aidie was finally willing to play without mommy on constant call. So Aidie and Megan read lots of books.
And Uncle Matt got to wear a pretty lei.

So all in all. A very good Labor Day weekend. Happy back to work everyone, even me. Yes. I'm starting a remediation position with MCCSC probably Tuesday. Thank goodness Aidie decided to turn social!

Don't want to forget

I know that if I don't write these down, I am going to forget them. Hysterical moments of the week:
1. Aidie singing along to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith. It popped into my head. I'm singing the "na na na na na na na" part and Aidie finished it up. Too funny. Now we can get her sing "na na"s anytime. So fun!
2. Aiden has adopted some strange toys over her little life (ie. mainly "Rosie O' Dolly". Yes. Named after you know who). However, this week she decided to adopt a pair of my pajama pants. She carries them everwhere!
3. I LEARNED HOW TO FRENCH BRAID!!! It finally made sense. Wee Hee!