He Would Totally Rock Paper Mache...

One of the many reasons why I love preschool for Aaron is that he comes home and is magically able to do things. One of these things is cutting with scissors. He's so good at it now! I tried to teach him a couple months ago but was really afraid for his fingers so we stopped. Now, however, he cuts like a rock star. I guess it was probably a combination of Ms. Heather having better teaching skills than me (that's why I pay her, right?) plus the added benefit of watching his classmates do it.

Now if I could just make sure, when I send him off to kindergarten, that he's still not chanting, "open, close, open, close..."

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is sooooooooo much more fun with a three-year-old. Last year, trick-or-treating had to be cut short due to Aaron's gigantic tantrum because he didn't understand why we were knocking on people's doors but not going inside! So this year, Bill and I actually "taught" him what trick-or-treating was all about and even held a few practice runs this week as well. And he did so well tonight, especially considering he filled the Halloween candy bowl back up with his own loot after I had just finished emptying it to all our trick-or-treaters. Halloween in the new neighborhood rocks!! Here are a few pictures from our night:

Spiderman costume without the Spiderman headpiece. There was no way we were getting that thing on him.

Aaron with his pumpkin. (There was a "Daddy Pumpkin" and a "Mommy Pumpkin" too but the Mommy Pumpkin died and molded under the 80+ degree heat! So wrong!).

Daddy even dressed up! Well, at least it made it easier to find him in the dark.

You'll Bawl. Trust Me.

Handsome Boy

Like Father, Like Son

Daddy working on his "Master's Crap;" Aaron tagging along as usual.

Please ignore the Aaron hippie hair. It's been cut since then, trust me.

Ring Around the Rosies...

Asses...Asses...We all fall down!

Rock Star Mommy

I feel like such a rock star because, this weekend, I'm off on a jet plane by myself to run this:

Actually, I'm running the half marathon, not the full, but it's still all so very exciting. I'm very excited because 1) I love to run, 2) I love the Air Force and 3) I finally get to say that I've been to Dayton, Ohio. Why is that last one such a big deal? Well, I seem to be surrounded by people who have, at one point or another, been associated with Dayton or nearby Wright-Patterson AFB. Bill's parents met at the University of Dayton and were married there. Several of Bill's TPS classmates came from the AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology) program at Wright-Patt. Bill has been there a few times for various reasons. And I want to go! So this should be a lot of fun. Wish me luck!!

Oh, So This is Why We Buy Those Big, Dumb Things

If Only He Knew How "Cool" This Is

I know. Mommy needs to buy him better fitting pants if he's not going to have diaper-butt anymore.

A Digital Flipbook

Hey, Tracy, if you ever hear excited yelping coming from our backyard - this could be the reason. This is how Aaron swings on his swing set and he always does it with sound effects. It hurts my tummy just watching it.

Look What We Found in Our Backyard!

It's amazing how well this Praying Mantis blended into our Gorillas in the Mist grass (Daddy's first job on his Honey-Do list when he gets back: mow the grass. I would do it but why? He's perfectly capable...and better at it, I might add.). It looked just like another blade of grass. I'm not sure how I even noticed it. It will probably meet it's death either by boy feet, pestering dog or aforementioned lawn mower blade, but it's still pretty cool looking.

Happy Birthday, Daddy

We love and miss you. We hope you have a good birthday in North Carolina.

P.S. You're old.

The Gospel According to Kate

Do any of you watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC? I do. Religiously. Mostly because it never fails to make me feel better about my own life. When I'm just about this close to ripping my hair out because of Aaron, I think "Hey, at least I don't have seven more just like him." That's right. The show follows Jon and Kate and their eight children - seven-year-old twin girls plus a set of four-year-old sextuplets (three girls and three boys).

I was watching an episode the other night and Kate said something so prophetic, so profound that I had to share it with the entire world:

"Boys are ridiculously disobedient."

Amen, sister. Amen.

This angel? Disobedient? Surely you jest.

Baby's First Day of Preschool

Today Aaron started preschool. I have been taking him to the Child Development Center (CDC) here on base a few times a week since we moved here a year and a half ago, so you wouldn't think this would be a very big deal. But it was. Trust me. Aaron's teacher's name is Ms. Heather and she runs the preschool out of her home. Aaron will go Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-11:30 each day. There are only five other kids besides Aaron and most of them are three years old, just like him, with maybe a couple of the kids being four. What's even better is two of Aaron's TPS friends, Delaney and Landon, are in the class with him as well! (Their daddies were in Bill's TPS class last year.)

I can report that Aaron had a very good day today. Ms. Heather called him a "bright kid" because he spouted out his letters and numbers like they were old news. He did get into a small scuffle with another kid (we had that problem a lot at the CDC) but Ms. Heather got on him immediately and told him to use his words instead of hitting. And he was fine after that. He also had an potty accident, but we're still working on that. I think Aaron had a great day and we can't wait for Thursday!

I have pictures but I was in such a hurry this morning (I'm never on time for anything), that I didn't have time to adjust important things like, you know, the settings and flash. So some pictures look orange and some are not quite in focus. Oh, well.

First day of preschool!

"Cheese!"
"You know I'm rockin' my new backpack and my combed hair!" Well, new backpack to him. Grandma Q sent it months ago but I've been saving it for just such a special occasion!

"I said 'cheese,' woman! Dang!"
Walking in like a big boy.
Aaron and his very own cubby!! Something else he didn't have at the CDC - his very own place in the world!! (Again, sorry about the flash.)

Where We've Been

Can you guess?


Happy 10th Anniversary to us (8/8/08).

And Now, For Your Listening Pleasure...

...a lullaby.

Good night and, as Aaron would say, have good sleeps!

My Sweet Water Baby

This is how we spend most of our days because, good Lord, it's hot here.

Mommy says, "Keep the hat on or we're going inside!" Hey, that threat actually works! Who knew!

Practicing his kicking.

Hot dog.

Aaron's Birthday Party

This year, Aaron had a Blue's Clues party for his birthday. Over the past few months, he has rediscovered Blue's Clues (I used to show it to him when he was very little, but he was having nothing to do with it unless it involved Little Einsteins) and since then he can't get enough of "Clues Clues." So, of course, Mommy had an excellent time running around finding favors (pencils, hi-bounce balls, tattoos, bubbles and even little, real life Handy Dandy Notebooks!), tablecloths, balloons that match Blue perfectly, etc., etc. etc. Yeah, I know. Aaron doesn't give a crap but it was fun for me!!

We had the party at the Jungle Zone here on base. The Jungle Zone is an indoor play area which gets used frequently because it's usually too flippin' hot to do anything outside after 9:00 a.m. We had pizza lunch with veggies and dip, my friend Lisa's Strawberry Salad (I make that all the time, dude! But I always give you credit!) and pretzels. For dessert, I had a gorgeous cake made from someone in town, even though it kind of embarrasses me to say that. My plan had been to make a cake myself that was a paw print (like the clues on the show) but my prototype did not turn out well at all. Oh well. The cake was very yummy (white cake with chocolate mousse layers) so that made up for it, I think. Here are some pictures from our day (only a few because I didn't really have time to take very many!):

'Cause He's Just That Freaking Cool...

This is a video I took of a C-17 doing a fly-by over the Fourth of July celebration here on base today. Who was flying it, you may ask? That's right, dawg! My husband along with his friend Chris were the pilots. Yeah, they're so cool like that.

Sorry about the Aaron fit at the end. But really? Are you surprised?

Potty Training Update: Let the Reprogramming Begin

I am very proud to say that, over the course of the past four days, Aaron has had only about 3 or 4 potty accidents. I am really feeling the Mommy Guilt right now because I realized that, during my potty training frustrations of the past couple weeks, I was losing my patience with him because I thought he was willfully not going in the toilet. Just because that's how he rolls with everything else. But then I realized, his little brain just needed to be reprogrammed! I mean, if I had been doing something as important as this the same exact way for the past three years, how can anyone expect me to suddenly do it differently in just a couple days time frame? So, over the past week or so, I have really been trying to keep my cool and be patient with him and it seems to be working because his accidents are getting fewer and far between. That and the fact that something seems to have clicked in his head as well because now it is a whole lot easier to even get him to do his business on the potty. This was the first big obstacle we had - just getting him to do anything on the toilet. However, now, he sees how happy it makes us, so he tries to at least do a little something most of the times we take him.

So, really, the only reason he has accidents anymore is if we don't take him often enough. He's not at the point yet where he will stop what he's doing and tell us he needs to go. We are still at the phase where we just have to take him every half hour or hour and then he makes sure he empties himself whenever we go. I'm not brave enough yet to take him out in public for long periods of time in big boy underpants, but he is managing to keep the Pull-up clean and dry when we're out and that's all that matters, right?

This is our new treat for going on the potty:

Birthday cake! With sprinkles! (The sprinkles are very important, you know.)

Soon, we are going to have to switch over to the whole surprise-at-the-end-of-the-day-if-you-keep-yourself-clean-and-dry strategy or else this kid is going to be eating birthday cake and M&M's all day long!