{iPhone Rewind} :: August

Our friends Taylor and Kesley are getting married, and we got to see them at a socially-distanced shower!

Mike has been introducing the kids to some classical music, and they request Bolero often :)

Daddy and his little buddy

Coloring fun pictures for Grandma!

He was so proud of his little book tower :)

Hahaha that look

A little garage picnic with Granny and Grumpz

He was pretending to take a nap with Sasha haha

She loves "reading" to her little brother

He's starting to become a master builder like his older brother :)

Sasha basically has an additional permanent appendage

We lost electricity overnight, so we made the most of it with a living room picnic dinner by flashlight

Zoom calls with Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Michael are ALWAYS fun :)

He sure gets excited about eating pizza!

Reading books to each other...it's pretty cute.

Please understand that the sheer magnitude of the reading photos is based solely on the fact that my children are actually sitting still. Because all other photos are 1000% blurry.

He LOVES his new vacuum! :)

My Pooh Bear-loving boy

He's a cutie and he knows it

Sometimes they can play nicely together :)

Multitasking Daddy

We put the batteries in, and it actually WAS possible for him to love this vacuum more :)

Saying Goodbye to My Grandpa

This past week, we said goodbye to my sweet grandpa, my dad's dad.

He actually passed away earlier in August, but due to COVID, his funeral was delayed a few weeks. Since he was deserving of a full military service, we had to wait for an available time for his burial at Fort Sam Houston. So I traveled to San Antonio for the small family service. 

My sweet grandpa enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1947 {when he was just 17 years old!} and proudly served his country for 31 years. He had a tour in Korea and two tours in Vietnam. He had a distinguished career, earning numerous awards, medals, and achievements. He retired at the rank of Command Sergeant Major and was awarded the Legion of Merit upon retirement. He then moved to civil service, where he served as a Military Specialist Proponency Analyst until his final retirement in 2003.

He enlisted in the Army when he was 17

Vietnam 1969

Vietnam 1969

While I grew up hearing stories from my grandpa's military service, I mostly remember the sweetness of him just being my grandpa. He was certainly a straight-laced, serious military man in all aspects of his life. But over the course of my lifetime, I was able to witness the softening of my grandpa's rough edges. Whether it was the smiles of pure joy when his kittens would snuggle up close to him, or the joy and pride in which he spoke of his great-grandchildren...under that rough exterior was a big old softie :)

My grandparents were married for 69 years {would have been 70 this October}. While my grandparents' marriage was not perfect, it was certainly a testament to faithfulness and commitment. My grandpa faithfully took care of my grandma until the end. He might have been noisy and opinionated about it {you just had to know my grandpa and smile as you think about it}, but he worried about and fussed over her, as he cared for her in her dementia. 

This recent season of COVID has been tough in so many ways. Telling my grandpa he had to shelter in place did not go over well. My parents were able to visit at the window, but to keep everyone safe, they were unable to go inside. Despite all of the restrictions, the senior living facility where they stayed was amazing and wonderful, allowing close family to visit my grandpa in his last days. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it in time {he passed the evening that I made it into town}, but I am so thankful that my parents and aunt were able to see him and say their goodbyes. 

It was sad and hard to say goodbye, but I am so thankful for my grandpa's life. It is such a unique gift that this is the first grandparent that I have lost...at 35 years old! Who gets to say that? I am thankful that all of my kiddos got to meet him, and that he got to enjoy and dote on his great-grandchildren. And I am so thankful that we got to celebrate him at his 90th Birthday party last fall. It was a sweet celebration with the whole family, and I will always hold that memory close. 

Hip, Hip, Hooray :: Aiden Turns 2 Today!

Our Little Pooh Bear turned 2 today!!

We made the decision not to have a party this year {you know, COVID and all...we could have done something outside, but AUGUST in TEXAS}. We wanted to make his day special, so we decided to have a fun "Pooh Bear Day" for our little Pooh-loving boy. Mike took the day off, so we were able to spend the whole day as a family. I decorated the house in all things Pooh Bear, and it was so fun to see his face light up when he saw his favorite character plastered everywhere. 

We took some morning birthday photos, opened Pooh-themed presents, had a family dance party, and introduced the kids to the classic Pooh Bear movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. There was certainly no shortage of birthday fun, and more than enough Pooh Bear to last a lifetime :)

And of course, none of our birthday celebrations would be complete without specially decorated cookies from Aunt Lindsay! She always does such an amazing job, and it's fun that the twins are starting to specifically ask for Aunt Lindsay's creations. Eli has been trying to get his birthday order in for months now haha!

Monroe Street Bakery

We did a zoom call with my family so they could wish our cutie a happy birthday and watch him open his present from them. No "Pooh Bear Day" would be complete without actual Pooh Bear presents :)  They had sent him a new stuffed Pooh Bear {to hopefully replace the old...smelly...one}. But he was pretty enamored with having two bears, so we'll see how that goes...

Granny and Grumpz came over for an outdoor picnic dinner, and the spoiling just continued. He got to enjoy a yummy pizza dinner, playing with "Banny" and "Bumpz," and he was beyond excited for his new vacuum! This boy loves to help me vacuum, and he had been folding up Maddie's doll stroller to use as a makeshift one. Now he has his very own "real" vacuum, so he's all set! Our garage floor is very clean now.

I think overall, he had a pretty fun day. He probably said "Pooh!" 8,000 times today, and he loved being showered with attention and love. At the end of the day, he was wandering around the house {carrying both Pooh bears}, singing "Happy Birthday" to himself over and over. I'd say that's a pretty good birthday for a two year old! :)

Aiden :: 2 Years

My Sweet Boy,

You are 2 years old today! I feel like this last year has just flown by, and I can hardly believe that you are not my tiny baby anymore. You adore your brother and sister, and you are now able to do a pretty good job of keeping up with them. The noise level in our house has doubled, with just you alone, cutie boy. And we thought twins were loud... haha! You are just so full of life and fun and hugs and opinions and joy. And we just cannot imagine our lives without you in it. We are loving the chance to see more and more of your little personality, and you are more than living up to your name {"little fire"}. As wild and crazy and seemingly all BOY that you are, you have the most tender of hearts, and your little snuggles melt our hearts every. single. time. You are by far our most physically affectionate child, and I love nothing more than to wrap your cutie boy body in my arms and hold you tight. Your squeeze hugs make me want to give you everything you want all the time, no questions asked. So good job rocking that "baby" status, because it's going to be tough to say no to your big pleading eyes, your adorable "pease?" voice, and that adorable impish grin of yours :)

Aiden, we love you so very much, and we are so excited to celebrate you today!

Love,

Mama

Stats :: 35 pounds, 36 inches tall

Clothing/Diaper Size :: you are wearing size 6 diapers and size 3T clothes, but you are really transitioning into size 4T {I'm trying to hold you off until the next season so you can wear Eli's clothes, since he is currently wearing the 4T clothes haha!} 

Loves :: your stuffed Pooh bear {he goes everywhere with you}, music {singing, listening/dancing to it}, anything orange, hugs and snuggles; you love both your siblings, but I think you and Maddie are kindred spirits

Dislikes :: waiting for anything. seriously, you are starting to show a pretty expansive lack of patience these days, little one. you want what you want, and you want it 5 seconds ago. 

Eat :: you love food, and you are our good little eater. you love oranges and watermelon and bread. you have started to get frustrated when we make you finish something on your plate before you ask for more of your favorite thing on the plate, and you have also started throwing your food when you're done. so we're working on our table manners. you use your spoon about 60% of the time, and you're actually pretty good at it. but you often ditch it since it's just quicker to shovel food into your mouth with your hands :)

Sleep :: bless you, sweet child- you are my good sleeper. you like taking naps, and you go right to sleep at night. you are taking an afternoon nap, easily sleeping 2.5-3 hours, and then you sleep 11-12 hours at night. I keep reminding you of our agreement that you will always be this way about sleep, and you readily agree. don't forget that: you readily agree.  :)

Play/Development :: you are running and playing and loud and rough and tumble and basically all over the place all the time. you have a crazy amount of energy, and you play hard. you love reading books, building with LEGOS, playing with trucks, throwing balls, and if it involves running, you're all in. you are starting to use more words, even putting together 2-3 word sentences. you have pretty much sad "no" to everything for months, but just recently have started using "yes" {and in the right context} a little more. it's still a work in progress. our favorite Aiden-ism is "I do," which you say in your cute little man voice, and somehow say with your whole face. whenever we ask if you like something, or we bring out something that you like, you say "I do!" with such emphasis and confidence. "Aiden, do you like oranges?" "I do!" :)  you also use "I did" when we ask you if you pooped in your diaper, running to your room screaming about a diaper. your toddler tantrums are on full display these days, and you mostly show your frustration through screaming loudly. you usually can be calmed with some snuggles, we just have to make it through some pretty dramatic screaming first. 

Unique to You :: sweet boy, you are wild and fun and full of life! you are on the go, all day long, and then you crash hard at nap and bed time. you are by far our loudest child haha. you seem to only have one volume, whether you are happy or upset. because you are so active all the time, you are HOT, all the time. and you constantly want to take your clothes off to be a "naked baby." and you often want others to join you, so we're working on letting you know that it's better if mommy keeps her clothes on haha. you are also still our little snuggle bug. you love hugs and you give the BEST ones. you snuggle in tight and squeeze so hard. and you absolutely love family hugs, when we all squeeze in tight together.