Magic Moments

My sweet little Aiden.  He certainly makes his Mama's heart melt. Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo . Birthday pancakes.   YUMMO!  I always thought it would be fun to have a tradition where you let your kids eat whatever they wanted for breakfast on their birthday.  But I just couldn't do it.  Instead I served up some ultra healthy (totally joking) pancakes.  To redeem myself I made some scrabbled eggs too.  Aiden called them dessert pancakes...he was exactly right. A kid free post later this week...promise.

Happy 5 Month Birthday, Sage!  It feels like you've been in our lives forever.  We couldn't love you more! At 5 months.... -You can roll and scoot like a pro.  I find you all over the toy room. -You can sit up by yourself for little bits of time. -You are happy, smiley, and like to babble. -You're into blowing bubbles. -You are having an identity crisis.  In the daytime you like to be a big boy...you move and scoot and desperately want to keep up with Aiden.  At nighttime you think you are a little baby who needs to eat every two hours and needs Mama to rock him back to sleep. -On the plus side, your bedtime is between 6 and 7 which is nice...now if you would just STAY asleep. -You have managed to make your way into Mama's bed for at least half the night...something I was hoping to postpone for at least a couple more months. -You own our hearts.  Each and everyone of us.  You give us such joy. -You absolutely, hands down love the song "Skinn...

I've never written Aiden's birth story.  The whole ordeal was quite awful so I just haven't felt like sitting down and reliving every terrible minute.  However, even though the experience is one I don't want to relive, it brought about the sweetest gift...my firstborn son.  I've told Sage's story and so now during Aiden's birthday week I'm telling his story in case he ever wants to know what his arrival looked like (which I doubt...but you never know). It was a Tuesday and it was my induction day.  I was miserable and I was 2 days overdue which is something I never thought would happen.  My doctor suggested an induction because I was feeling so poorly and sadly I agreed.  I was a first time mother and wasn't dilated or effaced so in my opinion this was not sound medical advice, but at the time I was uneducated and passive so I went along with it.  Getting the baby out sounded great to me...little did I know. I had been counting kicks all day and ...

Four years old!  My, oh my! Where did my baby go?  My sweet Aiden....how God blessed us with you.  Let me try to capture you in just a few words. You are my persistant fellow.  Taking "no" for an answer has never even crossed your mind.  You are expressive....you have a facial expression for every feeling you have and every comment you make.  Your range of feelings is vast and you are really good at telling me just how you feel.  You love all things pretend...knights, pirates, and Peter Pan.  You could spend hours with your animals and love to dress up.  I never know who or what will be coming down the stairs.  Like an elephant you don't forget a thing and this keeps me on my toes.  You desperately want to understand time and space but your little brain just isn't there yet.  I keep trying to find an answer that will satisfy you when you ask me, "Mama, what does nine 'o clock mean?"  or "Are we in Iowa? Is St. Paul ...

So maybe this song isn't exactly about a place (or is it?) but by Saturday night this was the song I was humming.  Tom and I (and the boys, of course!) made the trek down to good ole' Ames, Iowa to pay tribute to our Alma Mater this weekend and we spent most of our time living in the land of nostalgia and soaking up time with our best friends.  I think that home is about who you're with rather than where you live so we certainly felt like we were home this weekend. It's so good to see familiar faces, to be with people you have a history with, to connect with people you haven't seen in ages, and it just plain feels good to be with people who are as excited to see you as you are them. :) We paid a visit to our favorite chiro in Ankeny on Friday afternoon, and then went back to Ames and had dinner at Carlos 'O Kelly's. While it's no place special or unique, it is where we spent Tom's 21st Birthday.  I love reliving memories and Ames is full of m...

This week has just slipped away from me. We have a busy, but very fun weekend planned and maybe next week I'll get around to more interesting posts. For now, this is just another "look what my kiddos are doing" entry. They are pretty cute though so it would be hard to tire of them. :) The highchair. It's sort of bittersweet. I've held Sage for every. single. meal I've eaten since he was born! It'll be nice that he can join us in his highchair and Tom won't have to cut my food for me since I won't be one handed anymore. But alas, it means my baby is getting bigger. I think he is getting cuter too...if that's even possible. Sage is just so happy! He has a smile for anyone at anytime. I think he is programmed to smile for the Camera...he has no problem hamming it up every time I get it out. :) We are in full Birthday mode around here. Aiden has been sporting his Tiger costume I bought for his Tiger Birthday Party that is coming up in a f...

We have extra (and super cute kids) here today....or for just a little bit rather. Now I know how my grandmother and mother-in-law felt on a day to day basis. I'm not sure how 5 kids translates into daily living. I'm just trying to keep diapers changed and avoid any major accidents. (Cody 7 , Tanner 5, Aiden 4 {almost}, Trinity 1, Sage 4 months)

Matching outfits paired with these cute little smiles will never get old. Never.

Aiden was happy as a lark on the beach yesterday and by the end of the afternoon he was dumping buckets of lake water on his head. :) I think a fun summer awaits for this boy. The Maiden Voyage. Jim got a new fishing boat and the kiddos all got to go along on the very first ride...Aiden was even brave enough (and old enough!) to go since he didn't want to be left out of the fun. The play house was opened up for the season. The girls got busy sweeping out the remnants of the critters who made their home inside over the winter. And Sagey...the cutest little cabin baby. He spent most of the day smiling or sleeping in mama's arms. Does he look like his Daddy or what??

Last week was one of those weeks where I felt like I was trying to chase the days....trying to catch up all week long. I had a lot of things I wanted to do with Aiden during this Holy Season and we did do a lot...they just didn't happen in the time I wanted them to. Now that I have a grasp of what I want to do, next year will be a bit more orderly. I didn't have time to do any reflection for myself, but I learned a lot just doing things with Aiden. Maybe sitting down with a cup of tea and having some quiet reflection during Easter will have to wait until this nest is empty. Here is the long and short, the successes and failures, and mostly the memories of our week. Aiden was really into the Resurrection Eggs this year. And he really understood the symbols in each egg. Next year I'll be adding the book Benjamin's Box to this tradition. By the time I knew this book existed the bookstore had already sold out of them. I made Resurection Rolls with Aiden this year....

Aiden has this new pretend game that he plays and frequently I hear him say, "Hey Mama! I need to work on my Set-up." And at this point I try to say something positive like, "Oh yay!" instead of cringing because to me "The Set-up" should be called "The Mess-up" and it goes something like this: Every pillow and every blanket from the main floor gets dragged to the couch along with as many of Aiden's "friends" (read: stuffed animals) as he can carry in about 5 trips from upstairs. Then we both sit on the couch and listen for Monsters and Wild Things and the like. Sometimes the Monsters eat our food. Sometimes they hide in the garage. Sometimes we spy them through binoculars. I think the Wild Things are nice but I, myself, have never met them. I was informed that the floor is a sea of hot lava and if you want to get down you have to walk on the Spider Webs that Aiden shoots out above the lava to make a path. So imaginative and so...

This is Sage desperately trying to escape from his Bumbo. I put him in this thing and he'll sit up nice and straight for about 30 seconds before he tries to fling himself out. I don't think he's thought ahead to what he would do if he actually did escape. Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo .

That and a whole lot of fun is what you get when hundreds of people show up at an Easter Carnival complete with an egg hunt. Yesterday morning we enjoyed The Teddy Bear Band, a magician, the Easter Bunny, carnival games, and an egg hunt at a local church. So. Much. Fun. The cutest part of the morning was that Aiden insisted on bringing a carrot for the Easter Bunny. I think he was expecting a little bunny and I wasn't quite sure what sort of bunny they were going to have, so I said nothing and let him bring the carrot. At first Aiden was bummed out when he saw the bunny because he thought the bunny wouldn't eat it. But that sweet little bunny did not disappoint my boy. He acted very excited and gobbled up (for pretend but Aiden thought it was real) that carrot. Such a sweet little boy I have. Musical Squares Bring 'em in and book 'em! Aiden got to sit in the back of a police car! Aiden has been asking to see a fire truck and I've been meaning to see if I could...