Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Aidan will be suiting up the ol' UPS outfit tonight and out to find some treats! I will put up photos next week! Enjoy the beautiful weather too!!

Iowa and the newest family member...

This past weekend we went up to Iowa to visit Grandma and Grandpa Van Roekel. Aunt Lizzy came with us too and we had a blast. We left on Thursday and met Luke and Ruthie in Merrell for the tastiest Mexican food ever. Aunt Glenda and Sophie surprised us there with some books and A DRUM (THANKS SARA) for Aidan. He LOVES them. Aidan was soooo glad we got to stop after 6 1/2 hours in the car so of course he was quite the bundle of energy.

Friday we hung around town and took Aidan to look at puppies at the puppy farm where Lacy came from. Lizzy and I took Rude Dog's daughter, Brooke, to High School Musical 3. Dear goodness, I have never attended a movie with A) more kids under the age of 12 or B) that got so excited at every little thing that happened, so excited that there was clapping and shouting. Needless to say, Brooke LOVED the movie. It was cute, but let me just say that Lizzy and I are glad we had an 8 year old along with us :) We got to socialize later with the grown ups for the night and that was a blast!

Saturday we all went to Sioux Falls, SD for some shopping. It was fun, but I can't remember being at a busier mall or Target!!! It must be bad for me to say I AM DONE after just a few hours. So we headed back home since we were meeting up with some friends for Merrell AGAIN that night. Guess that shows just how delicious this place is!! Me, Chad, Lizzy, Rude Dog, Shannon and Kristin, Todd and Laura all went to Mexican that night and had a great time.

Sunday we had lunch and loaded up for home! It was a great visit. Warning, lots of photos ahead.


Grandma made Aidan's day by getting out this wooden train set. I think 90% of the trip was spent by Grandpa and Grandma listening for the train whistle in town so they could speed over to the tracks for Aidan to see the choo-choo train. They found one our first morning there, and from then on, all Aidan wanted was to go see the CHOO CHOO TRAINS!!!!!

Aidan is going through a stage where he is not too keen on clothing of any sort. We had to coax him into putting on this by telling him he had to or he wouldnt be ready when the trains came. Sad I know, but it worked ;)

Oh poor Aunt Lizzy, I know she is so glad she came...

Dad and Aidan eating at the Sioux Falls mall...

And now for the newest addition...

Remember that puppy farm we went to???

"Her name was Lola,

She was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there

She would merengue and do the cha-cha..."

Ok not really, but her name IS Lola and she did come home with us!! She is a Papillon and is 10 weeks old. Lola weighs maybe 3 pounds and is absolutely wonderful. Aidan is so thrilled with her because she can sit on his lap and not squish him to death ala' Lacy. He is very gentle with her and loves chasing and playing with her. She is super energetic.



Lacy's consolation prize was a special haircut ; ) Well I don't think she took it as a prize but she was SUPER hairy and definitely needed some tending so we had her shaved down. I know we are going into winter but this keeps her from shedding and she actually quite likes it. Though if you ask me, she looks pretty annoyed in this picture. But that could be because someone is using her as a pillow.

So it was a very fun and full weekend. You can imagine how packed the truck was on the way home!! We took the Escape so we had 112lbs of Lacy in the far back with the suitcase; Lizzy, Aidan and the other suitcase in the middle row; Lola kind of in between the front and backseat, me and Chad in the front FOR 7 HOURS :) We were all VERY glad to be home, but we did better than we thought on that ride. Hopefully we will see Grandpa and Grandma again soon.

Just to know what kind of Animal House we are facing this week, Rico (my parent's dog) is also visiting with us until Friday. This morning was hilarious getting ready. All I hear from the bathroom is "YIPPPPPEEEE!" from Aidan and a sound that resembled a herd of elephants, Lacy, Rico and Lola running for their lives down the hallway and Aidan was chasing them all for some early morning fun :)

Rico goes home Friday when Grandma and Grandpa Hogue come home from vacation.

Sorry such a long post, it was a busy weekend :)

Kathleen

Another Pumpkin Patch!

We took Aidan to a pumpkin patch two weekends ago. It was such a beautiful day. Aidan seemed ready to go and check out everything when we got there. They had little animals, hayrides, of course pumpkins, and different places to take super pictures. Aidan was dead-set on walking the entire time. Bad idea, buddy. That place was quite large and half of it was uphill. By the end, Aidan was panting and about to fall over but REFUSED to let anyone help him. Just like his daddy I guess : ) Chad and I both said that the pumpkin patch business is the thing to do! They charge by person in the car and you just get to walk around their farm?! How hard can that be!! Anyway, Aidan loved it. He loved looking at the "hop hops" (bunnies) at the barn.
























































Aidan and Dad checking out the tractor for hayrides. Surprisingly, Aidan wasn't interested if you can tell at all by his clinging to dad's leg...


My Two Favorite Guys :)









He clearly wasn't as excited about the teepee as I was.

IOWA!

We are off to Iowa to see Grandma and Grandpa this weekend!! Hopefully it won't be too cold way up there! Aidan keeps talking about sitting in trash trucks and seeing choo-choo trains. He is very excited to see, "Daddy's mommy, mawmaw"

P.S. We have found Aidan's Halloween costume. He is going to be a UPS Man!! It is absolutely the most adorable, hilarious little costume ever. Sorry Uncle Mark, no FedEx costumes : )

National Day of Remembrance

Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance for pregnancy and infant loss. This includes all babies who have died because of miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or any other infant death.

“Jacob, where do you find the strength to carry on in life?”
“Life is often heavy only because we attempt to carry it,” said Jacob. “But I do find a strength in the ashes.”
“In the ashes?” asked Mr. Gold.
“Yes,” said Jacob, with a confirmation that seemed to have traveled a great distance.
“You see, Mr. Gold, each of us is alone. Each of us is in the great darkness of our ignorance. And, each of us is on a journey.
“In the process of our journey, we must bend to build a fire for light, and warmth, and food.
“But when our fingers tear at the ground, hoping to find the coals of another’s fire, what we often find is the ashes.
“And, in those ashes, which will not give us light or warmth, there may be sadness, but there is also testimony.
“Because these ashes tell is that somebody else has been in the night, somebody else has bent to build a fire, and somebody else has carried on.
“And that can be enough, sometimes.”
~Noah benShea

Thoughts and prayers to all. God bless.

Pumpkin Festival Weekend

This is kind of a long one since I have all these super pictures that have been building up and we did lots this weekend. Saturday, Chad and I went to my friend Tina's wedding. It was such a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. We met up with the girls from work. Chad was much appreciated by the ladies for his excellent drink service ; ) He managed to avoid the camera though...





The bride having a good time! Congrats Tina!!
Sunday, we took Aidan to Hartsburg for their annual Pumpkin Festival. Lizzy came along too since she had stayed the night (she stayed with Aidan when we went to the wedding). There were some giant pumpkins!! It was so funny because Aidan didn't want any of the big ones on the ground because they were "ew" (there was dirt on them obviously). The only pumpkin he originally agreed to was a "baby" pumpkin. It was one of those teeny tiny pumpkins you can get and it was the only one that didnt have dirt. We found one anyways that he agreed to and put it in the stroller.

He also rode Jack the pony. We weren't sure if he was going to like it, especially since he had to wear a helmet. BUT, he loved it! At the end of the ride, he didn't want to get off at all.

Here are some pics of his favorite things to do in the evening. He puts on his firehat, backwards of course, sunglasses (also upside down) and rides around on his firetruck. He zooms up and down the kitchen floor.

When we get home for the day, the first thing he asks for are the choo choo trains. He is in love with Thomas trains right now. He is also on a kick where he wants to take his pants and shirt off. We have had to have a few chats in the mall about this ; ) He wants to wear shoes and thats it. He must also have his sword. So he sits in our room in his chair and watches Thomas.

This was on his way to Grandpa and Grandma's on Wednesday. The babysitter is on vacation so Aidan got to go stay with them for a couple days. Notice the backwards firehat again. He wears it like its a baseball cap.

Happy Autumn! We are still searching for his Halloween costume...

2nd Birthday...FINALLY!

So I have finally gotten our new camera working with the computer. Here are pictures from Aidan's second birthday back at the end of August. He loves Elmo, or as he calls him, Melmo. Of course that meant we had to have the "hairy" Elmo cake. I actually think there was TOO MUCH frosting for even Aidan. But he totally loved it anyways.
One of his most favorite things in the world to do is to "cook." He was so excited to see this kitchen. Now, every day when we get home he runs to his room to cook. You can hardly get him out of there!

Of course he about hyperventilated when he went downstairs and saw this Tonka truck sitting at the bottom of the stairs...
He is still trying to figure it out completely but he LOVES it