Party Prepping

Hard to believe that in almost a month Aiden will be one!! OMG! So in a previous post I declared Bob the Builder was the theme. So I've begun prepping by buying all the decoration and gifts this month, so we are only hit with the food bills for that month. I'm getting excited! I finished the invitations tonight (edited version online) and just have the thank you cards left.

Let me tell you it is nearly impossible to find party supplies, we are going primary colors. Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue. I did manage to find a banner and some balloons. I'm going to make some construction signs and cones. Thank you Dollar Tree!

Found some cute ideas for food:
*Lofty's grilled tires (burgers)
*Toy Truck full of dirt (brownies) and grass (coconut dyed green)
*Lumber (pretzels)
*Red paint and woodchips (salsa and chips)
*Carpenter pencils (carrots)
*Saw, hammer, screwdriver cookies, thanks to the cookie cutters I got

I love the gifts we got him. 1. A little work bench toy. Aiden's gonna be like his Grande. lol 2. Outfits 3. Big boy items...which made me tear up. 4 sippy cups without handles and 2 sets of his very own fork and spoon. Hard to believe he will be using them soon. He is just growing up toooo fast!!

Christmas

This is a long post.

Christmas was so much fun this year even though Aiden had NO clue what was going on.

Last week we had the Lambert's Christmas. We got Aiden the cutest ride on, a cuddly Dragon. I just love it! Plus it's eco-friendly. Gabby and Grande got Aiden this awesome block toy that stores the pieces and folds easy. Like that will ever happen, but the fact we can put it away is nice. In addition to a neat parking ramp, that will get used later. He is just learning that if you push the cars they move instead of knocking them over. Work in progress. lol It's so funny to see his face light up when he pushes the cars the right way like "Mom! Look at it roll!? How did it do that?" Priceless.

Then we got ourselves a new camera!! YAH!! As you can see we are still trying to figure out the settings. But we love it! We are totally set and I'm going to be a picture taking machine now! Thanks Regina and Steve! :-)

The Saturday before we headed to Birmingham both me and Wes got sick as a dog! OMG! I've never felt that bad. Luckily it was only a 24 hour stomach bug.

Then on Wednesday we headed to Birmingham. Yah! This is how we started the trip:

Aiden had so much fun spending QT time with Honey and Pops before all his uncles and aunts came up. However, I'm not sure Pickles like Aiden coming to visit. She sure lost a lot of hair that week. haha Aiden doesn't get the petting aspect yet. It's more of pulling when it comes to dogs.

Then on Friday everyone else came. WHOA! 8 adults 1 baby 3 dogs. FULL HOUSE! I think everyone was called Momma at one time and drooled on. Aiden had so much fun being spoiled! I don't have the picture, Adrienne still has to send me the ones she took but we got a picture of Aiden holding a beer can. He was OBSESSED with the wine cooler! First it was bc he could see himself and there were blue lights. Then he noticed hey I can pull these doors open. Then it became..."hey theres things in here and its cold. I must attack!" We eventually had to lock the doors. Already treating him like a teenager. haha

Christmas Eve we headed up to the church for the candlelight service and wouldn't you know it literally right before we left Aiden fell asleep in my arms. So needless to say during the service we were sitting in the lobby with every other baby. lol Luckily we could still hear everything and Aiden got to play. He was out there crawling/flirting with this 1 year old girl. lol Such a stud!

Christmas Day arrived. It was apparent we are one blessed family while looking in the living room. Mrs Claus (Mom) delivered the stockings that morning too. :-) Santa Paws (Maverick) was still sleeping. Everyone stayed in their pjs all day, except for Trip. Odd man out :-) Aiden was wearing his fleece pjs but started to get hot, so he was showing off to everyone his guns and eventually his butt started to peak out too.

We were spoiled there too. Below are some of the items received. I got a new coat! Yah! Need that with the cold weather approaching in Memphis. Also, a 9x13 dish that matches my everyday pattern. EXCITED! Been wanting that. Wes got memory card for his camera, gift cards, and a digital picture frame. Aiden got his own personal chair, which we are teaching him to get in and out of. He tends to want to go head first. SILLY BOY! Then his aunts and uncles got him some awesome toys. He loves them!

It was hard to leave everyone that Sunday....Aiden will miss them dearly. Just need to plan a trip down to the beach this spring/summer to see everyone again. Hard being 8 hours away from them. So much went on that its just too much to list, but it was a much needed trip. This is how Aiden ended the trip...WORN OUT!

Visiting Santa

We had a GREAT Christmas!!! I will post about that later when I upload the hundred of pictures. Just know Aiden had so much fun in Birmingham.

This post is about his first of many trips to visit Santa!!! I was worried he would be a screamer....but he wasn't! Gosh he is so amazing! It was quite an ordeal too. I got him all bundled up in his "A" reindeer shirt that I had made, which I LOVE and will probably still wear way after December! :-)

First attempt was up at Millington Telephone, which I wish we could have done bc the setup was so nice and the Santa was amazing! But it started to rain. No way we were going to stand in the cold waiting. Not with the little man! Didn't he look adorable in his hat?

Next we braved the Wolfchase mall traffic to get this done. Even though Aiden had no clue what was going on I was determined to get this picture. And I'm glad I have this memory for his baby book! Luckily when we got there he was just going on a short break so we were second in line.

So I sit Aiden on his lap, stand behind the camera lady, and start making funny faces to get him to smile and this is what we get:

haha he didn't break one smile. Aiden kept puckering his lips. Then the best part happened. HE TUGGED ON THE BEARD! hahaha like...."hey is this thing real?!" He was so curious just looking up at him. I wish she would have snapped one of those pics. They would have turned out adorable. Instead something was going on with his hair and we didn't get the normal Bruce Willis look. Oh well it's still freakin adorable and makes me smile!!!!!

Time to start unpacking all the bags and do laundry. LOOOONG day at work tomorrow!

Bad News!

We had just an AWFUL day! So this morning we woke up to a house that was 50 degrees! AHHH! Our furnace stopped working. So I bundled up Boo and sent him and Wes to our in-laws, while I was working from home waiting on the repair guy.

So there I am bundled like a burrito. Long Johns, PJs, and my uggs. FREEZING! Poor Murph was so cold I let him bundle with me. And let me tell you working in the cold, getting called/pinged 24/7 was NOT fun!! Stressful day....that only got worse.

So the guy didn't get here till 1pm...but wait...was that heat I was feeling?! Yes....the heat came back on before the guy came. WHAT?! So I told the guy to take a look at it still.

Well I'm glad I did! Our furnace was condemned! AHHHH! He was like you are VERY lucky your safety triggers were installed. Essentially our heater was overheated and the safety trigger said that it needs to turn off because YOUR HOUSE WILL BURN DOWN or LEAK CARBON MONOXIDE! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think he said it was our heat exchange was cracked therefore condemning it. OMG! I about died. Merry Christmas to us right?!?!

Therefore, our money to our new roof is now going to our new furnace and ductwork. Sad right...but it has to be done. Now we just gotta begin to save for the roof again. Man, punch right in the gut.......like I said Sad Day!

Only good news is we have heard from several friends in the business that who is doing our install,Precision Air and Heating, is a very good reputable company. and our quote was reasonable and what our "friend" price would have been. They were super nice, and the guy was like I just hated to tell you what I had to but you've got a little one like me so I just had to. Other good thing is TAX CREDIT! YAH! One good thing and just meeting it. Apparently if you install an energy efficient furnace by Dec 31st you get a $1,500 tax credit. Blessing we caught it now, usually our luck would have been like Jan 1st find the problem. haha

Nice thing was the guy gave us some space heaters for the night, we borrowed two from Regina and Steve. So with one in each room, we are bundling for the night so the guys can come install the new one tomorrow!!!!!! BACK TO WARMTH!!!!!!!!

New Roof

New roof coming this Friday!! I feel so bad delaying it so much and making the guys do it in the negative degree weather...but I just wanted to get through closing before taking on another project.

We decided to go with a Brownwood shingle. Currently our shingles are like a reddish brown, which I'm not a fan of. Plus having literally 3 layers and the top layer coming up makes our house look so bad. This will be a BIG improvement! The next owners will thank us.

We decided to go with a 3 tab instead of the architectural. I reeeeally wanted the arch. shingle, because they look soo good. However, for our neighborhood and the style of home we have I couldn't justify raking out another $1,000. A new roof is a new roof. Regardless the next owners will be happy we did it.

I will say one thing. The roofing company we chose has a good heart. We wanted to replace our whirlybirds, because I feel like they are the original ones to the home, which was built like in 1972...They are ugly faded light green. YUCK! I want brown ones to blend in with the new roof. The roofing guy told us if we provide them they will install them, and that will save us a lot of money. So luckily Wes has a friend and we are getting the roofing company price (which is way cheaper than what we would be charged) plus an additional 15% off. (The friend price) haha. NICE! Times like this makes it truly apparently that we are so blessed and the luckiest people ever! Small things like that make me cry, because what did I ever do to deserve such kindness from people.

After this weekend I will be able to sleep in peace knowing that all of Wes' hard work won't go to waste, because we have solid grounds above our head.

Kid Photo Shoot

So taking a grandkid pic is the HARDEST thing ever! omg. But we did get some cute ones...however getting them together just wasn't working...One would look, one wouldn't, one would be crying. Man oh man! Enjoy some of the pictures.

My niece Lily who almost 3. Sure is a sweet one, but don't let that angel face fool you. Handful! But what do you expect from a 2 year old.

Poor Aiden was teething BAD today and drooling like a bulldog and just wasn't happy. But he let daddy get a few adorable shots...time to change computer background.

My neice Harlee, who's 8 months. TINY little thing! Still wears her newborn socks....Aiden looks like a giant next to her. It was so funny she would be crying so Aiden would cry. He just gets sooo upset when other babies are crying. Fun to see those two playing together. Cousin love!

Party Planning

With only about a month and a half before Aiden's 1st birthday the party planning has began. First big hurtle.....THEME! Man, I know it shouldn't have been that hard because this party will just mainly be a food gathering but I still wanted to make it special. Next year I'll be planning the activities for the kids.

Choices:
1. Wonderpets
This is such a cute show and Aiden will watch it, but I think he's still too small to get into it.

2. Bob the Builder
In the morning Aiden will curl up and pay close attention. He is such a little builder and loves blocks its only fitting. Very cute Sprout show.

3. Caillou
Aiden LOOVES this show. Sprout TV is the best. Luckily Caillou is played alot and has great lessons. However, as a theme not so much Caillou is just a preschooler and goes on different learning adventures.

The winner is............BOB THE BUILDER! Aiden loooves watching that show...plus I have the perfect gift in mind for the little man, a workbench and dump trucks. In love!

Now I just have to get with Joleen to start planning the cake and get invitation design ideas for Wes to work on. Yeah!

Dadda!

Lots of updates:
Friday night we went to Tupelo, MS to check out Uncle Mike singing during his church's Christmas program. He did AMAZING! I didn't realize he was that good of a singer.

But before this we were literally a few blocks away from the church when somehow Aiden knocked off the sippy cup protection insert and the entire bottle poured into his lap....UGH! So I crawled in the back seat, pulled him out so he wouldn't be sitting in water. He was sooo excited, like he knew this never happened, but he was a good boy and sat in the middle seat and laid his head on me until daddy pulled into the parking spot. Luckily the church ladies were nice enough and dried his clothes for him.

Today I met up with the cookbook club ladies to make holiday goodies. We each brought recipes and ingredients and shared our finished products. I was going into a sugar coma just looking at it all! Love those ladies!

Then I came home to spend time with my baby....however he was Mister cranky and needed a nap...and sleep ALL afternoon. :-( But at 6pm he woke up, had some dinner then it was off to the bath. Every now and then we will both get in the Master's bath and turn on the jets. He LOOOVES it! I think me being in there is part of the reason. :-) Aiden has those foam alphabet letters, so that's when we practice saying letters. Who said taking a bath can't be time to learn. lol So he had the letter P, I flipped it to look like a D. So I said D...Dog...Da....Dadda....Da Da. Then what did he do.....he said Dadda Dadda Dadda! AHHH Finally!!!!!! So I called Wes in there tried the same thing and he said it again! AHHHH! This was the first time he's ever said Dadda! He knows what it means, but couldn't say it. I just know he will say it more and more now. Love milestones!!

So on to a sad note, but it touched me. I read my friends blogs to check on them and one of my friends is trying desperately to have a child of their own. This year alone they've had two miscarriages. :-( Well, on their anniversary last week they found out they had another one. OMG! I can't even imagine. That just tugged on my heart soo bad. I can't imagine my life without Aiden! A true blessing I was given the chance to have him. I will definitely be keeping them in my prayers. Their doctor is referring they go to a infertility center, so hopefully they will be able to have a bundle of joy soon.

10 months!

We have been so busy I haven't had time to do any updates......but baby boy just keeps growing up! 10 months! Oh my!!!!! I can't believe how time flies and how my love for him grows even more! Nothing is better than a big slobbery kiss from the little guy!

Stats:
Weight: 28 pounds
Height: 29 inches
Size 4 diapers
18 month clothes

Eating Pattern: 3-4 5 oz bottles, 1 jar of baby food, plus pieces of mommy's dinner. We are starting to ween him from bottles and baby food and giving him straight food. Over the past few weeks he is getting much better at eating table food. He likes it bc it makes him feel like a big boy!
Sleeping Pattern: 7:30-8am! OHHHHHHH how I enjoy some solid sleep! The best part is on weekends he lets mommy sleep in till 9. He wakes up at the normal time, but will play in his crib. SUCH a SWEET baby! I LOVE YOU!!

Milestones:
*Standing without holding anything for a few seconds! AHH!
*Pro at the sippy cup. We have officially moved to giving straight water.

Likes:
*Curling up in his pack n play and watching Sprout TV. It is a great baby sitter in the mornings when I'm running around getting ready for work
*When my daddy tickles me. I get the biggest smile on my face and can't stop laughing
*Hopping on my ride on and letting mommy and daddy push me down the hall
*Bows on presents!

Dislikes:
*Going underwater. I try to stand in the bathtub then I slip and my head goes under for a second. Scares me!
*Being told "no". So I pat my leg and try to test mommy and daddy
*Teething! Still a pain in our side.
*When mommy is eating and won't give me any. And when she does if she doesn't give me more ASAP I whine.

I can't believe in two months he will be 1! OMG! Time really does fly....feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital meeting him for the first time. Very sad! But the good news is..........we can sit forward facing! YAAAAAHHH! No more struggling trying to flip you around.

Promise post some pictures this weekend....I'm gonna attempt to take some around the Christmas tree.....wish me luck!

Budget

As we roll into the new year begins the assessment of the new budget. Nothing makes me happier than seeing balances go to zero.

Since we have refinanced our 1st payment of the new mortgage is due 1/1/11. Highly suggest if you can pay this off in 15 years. Do it! I still can't get over how this payment is smaller than my apartment rent! CRAZY!

Luckily, my hospital bills were PAID OFF this month! YAH! Thank you extra money! I thought this day would never come, but so thankful the hospital allows you to do a payment plan with no extra fees. If you have hopsital bills I would definitely look into asking for payment plans...because it's like getting a loan with 0% APR...so why not do it?! That way you don't have to front that money.

Oh, there just went another car payment. Thanks to my work on the sweet discounts and my 0% APR those payments are pretty dang low. Totally worth every payment! I couldn't ask for a better car! Plus having the maintenance plan takes the worry off our back. Look it up Ford Fusion SEL. You will fall in love!

As I go through our list of bills I know there are areas where they are not a "must haves" but more of a "want" (like Direct TV), but it's the ability to afford those types of luxury make me feel blessed. I know there are many people out there who can't afford things like that. Small reminders to keep us grounded and thankful. But the reason why I go for things like Direct TV, is nothing is better than curling up with the little one and hubbie to watch a show or movie on weeknights. Plus, I think Aiden would cry if he couldn't watch The Wiggles while mommy gets ready in the morning. lol That kid LOOOVES that show!

So look at your budget...is there anything you should be thankful for?

Christmas in the air

Before I start talking about Christmas...doesn't Aiden look adorable in his Thanksgiving outfit. Don't worry he did have pants on...this was post nap hence his sleepy eyes in the 2nd pic. lol Aiden loves his ride on/walker we got him. He was a pro on the first try.

So Clark Griswold has visited our house! We got our tree saturday at the tree farm after taking our Christmas card pictures...I can't wait till next year. Aiden will be big enough to pick the tree then Wes can get to work chopping it down. haha! Awesome holiday tradition right?! It was fun decorating the tree and pulling out all the ornaments that have memories attached to them. Plus it was nice to finally put all the present under it and out of the office.

Since this year we are spending Christmas at my parents I still wanted to display our stockings....but Aiden is WAAY to curious to hang them off the tv console. I can just imagine the HEAVY stocking holders crashing on his head. So next best option get those 3M hangers. Just perfect! See our version of Elf on the Shelf.....and our permanent tv channel, Sprout TV. Aiden LOOVES all the preschool shows.

All weekend we spent hanging lights outside. Gosh, I can't wait to see the lights grow as the years go by....I want to wrap every tree...and get more things for the yard. Maybe deer? Oh and our lights on the house are icicles....well they are suppose to be icicles but for some reason they wouldn't fall straight. But they still look cool. I think we inspired the Christmas spirit among the neighbors because those who didn't do it last year did this year. YA!! Well that's all for now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! I leave with some of our Christmas Card shoots.

Holiday Card

Free Holiday Cards ordered! Ya!! Successful day of getting pics and a tree!

Peppermint Dots Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Black Friday

Today was an amazing day! We had a lovely lunch with the family...then the much needed nap after. So there I am passed out on the couch with Aiden in my arms just toasting me up. lol He becomes such a hot potato! That is what I call a perfect thanksgiving! I think Aiden got the turkey coma too. He was a big boy and ate turkey, sweet potato, sweet peas, and green beans.

I think the rain had something to do with it. We got home at 4pm and slept till 6:30pm. OMG! I was worried Aiden wouldn't be able to go to bed at his normal time, and by 7:30 he was ready for bed. Thank goodness!

So all week I've been seeing all the Black Friday ads and commercials. I will not be one of those crazy people at the store at 4am. However, then I saw a commercial from Walmart about jackets. So I was like hmmm I guess I can go at 12 to check that out. I arrived at 11:42. Conquered and outta there by 12:15am.

But let me tell you it was CRAZY! Literally, I wasn't in that store that long, but saw people going crazy over toys and dvds! I can't even imagine what it will be like at 5am with the Electronic sale. OMG! I saw two women fighting over a Buzz Lightyear and men being bodyguards to carts while the women fought the crowds. Insane! Thank goodness I was only in the clothes isle and with not a single crowd. I got AMAZING deals!!!! I think all the people were going to hit up the clothing door busters after the toy hunt, because I was able to find multiple items in the sizes I needed without having that "panic" mode on. haha

5 jackets, 2 pj pants, 1 pj set, 1 fleece outfit, 1 flannel, 1 pair of jeans= $52!!! Definitely can't beat that!!Yes, you are seeing right I got "Glee" pj pants. OMG! I was gonna get just normal ones, but as soon as I saw them I was like yes those are mine! So everyone in the house has a new fleece jacket and pjs.

I can't wait to decorate for Christmas and take our Christmas photos tomorrow!!!!!! Goodnight!