Spring Days

It was finally nice enough to get out of the house and go up to the park. The swings are still probably Aiden's favorite but he has also discovered the fun of the slide.

Enjoying my lollypop from the Easter egg hunt at the capital.

"I actually didn't get any eggs on my own because there we sooooo many people and I didn't move quick enough but a nice little girl gave me one of her eggs when she saw I didn't get any."

Rockin' my shades

Kitchen Remodel

After 6 years of living with gold fleck counter tops Aaron and I finally decided it was time to replace them. Luckily our friend Jeff does counter tops and said that he would cut us a deal on some new ones. New counters would have been enough for me but thanks to the creative thinking of my husband/in-laws/friends we are pretty much doing a complete kitchen over hall. It is still a work in progress but I am SO HAPPY with it already!!!

Here are a few pics of the work so far - I will keep posting as the progress continues :)

The biggest improvement on this side of the kitchen is that we installed our dishwasher (it was a portable that lived in the dining room). We took out the cupboard next to the sink to put the dishwasher in. We also removed the gold fleck back splash and when the new counters come it will be redone. We are also going to hang a nice pendant light above the sink but still need to run the electrical for that.

This is the other side of the kitchen where we moved the cupboard that we took out for the dishwasher. We took out another cupboard on the other side of the fridge to make room for this one. It is awesome because it really increases the counter space. We are going to hang another cupboard in the empty space but it needs to be altered a bit first.

You can also see my new stove in this pic. It is so nice to finally have a working oven - it has been about 1 1/2 years since I have had a working oven and I forgot how much I really do use the oven!!

The other main thing that we did in the kitchen is remove the old drop ceiling. You can see from the paint how much taller the ceiling is now. We still have to make some repairs to the ceiling and then repaint everything but the extra height makes the room seem so much bigger.

We still have a lot of work to do but thanks to my AWESOME work crew (you gotta love workers who work for beer and wings) we got TONS done yesterday and the kitchen is back to a functional state for the week ahead :)

March

Already a musical genius

Buses - our current obsession.
When he spots a bus out the window of the car he starts yelling "ba ba ba" - then as we drive away it's "bye bye ba"

As far as favorite things, Kindred runs a close second behind buses. He is generally very soft with her - although occasionally there is a little tug on the tail.

Keeping busy while mom cooks dinner.

I always check on Aiden before I go to bed and this is my favorite position to find him in - with his cute little tush right up in the air :)

18 Months

Wow - I can't believe that Aiden is already 18 months !!!

STATS
Height - 32 3/4 inches
Weight - 22 lbs 15oz

Along with being 18 months Aiden has learned lots of new tricks - here are some of my favs

Before bath time if I tell Aiden to take off his socks - he takes them off AND puts them in the laundry hamper.

When we are going out he will get his own shoes off the shelf and if he finds his shoes laying around he takes them back to the shelf (yup we are training a neat kid).

He LOVES to unload the silverware from the dishwasher and put it in the drawer - unfortunately he doesn't always know the difference between clean and dirty silverware.

Aiden knows lots of body parts and if you ask him where his eyes are he will give you a very flirty wink (very cute).

Of course he does TONS of other cute things (and some not so cute temper tantrums).

Here are a few randoms :)


Solid Muscle !!

I was looking at this pic compared to the first pic of him in his crib - He was so small back them and so big now!!

"Mom, I'm done sweeping - can I go to bed now??"

Grandparents

" Grandma you're funny!!"

Reading with Grandpa

Team Shelle ....

....is pregnant!!!

We were very excited when we found out a few weeks ago that were were going to be having another baby. It is still very new (I'm about 1.5 months and due Sept 28th) but so far so good, just a little afternoon sickness but feeling good otherwise. We see the doctor in a few weeks to hear the heartbeat (yea!!) and have our first exam so we will keep you posted!!

Update

Sorry for the lack of blogging recently - no excuse just busy chasing after the little man. YES he is finally walking!!! He had been walking for several weeks now but it was not until this past week that it became his locomotion of choice. He has become really steady on his feet and is toddling everywhere. I will try to get a good video of it but every time I get the camera out he is so fixed on touching it he won't do anything else. Other then that we are doing well - just counting the days until the spring comes and we can finally go outside again (Aiden & I have become regular mall walkers because we get so stir crazy at home).

"I love playing with my barn that Nana & Papa got me last Christmas. I like to put the animals in the silo and watch them fall out the bottom!!"

"Um Mom, I think you may need to reorganize your recipe box"

Who needs toys when you have an old toilet paper roll??

Raise you hand if you like Mom's new chicken chili recipe