Buddies

Nayah says hello!Jackson and Aron snacking

As many of you know, I began watching some kids in our home early this summer. Morgan and Keegan are back in school, now and Aron misses them a bunch. But we have had plenty of fun with miss Nayah and our new friend, Jackson. Jackson only stays with us on Tuesdays, but he and Aron can cram a whole lot of fun into just one day! They are all about trains and cars.....and eating! Doing childcare like this was never something I considered until a friend introduced me to Nayah's parents. I am so, so glad she did, though! It has been such a blessing sharing life with these adorable little people and Aron has learned and grown so much from the experience. This will be our last week with Nayah as she and her family are moving back to California. We sure will miss having her around. Who wouldn't miss a face like that?

Big Boy Bed!

Aron's new Cars bedding was a gift from Aunt Cristi and Uncle TJ! Boy, was he excited to see Lightening McQueen and Mater on his pillow! He was a little wary of the transition from crib to toddler bed, but we had a very special bedtime and he adjusted just fine, sleeping until 7:30 a.m.! These are days of big changes and they are bittersweet for Mommy and Daddy. But, nonetheless, we are so proud of our big boy!

Our trip to Chattanooga

We had a great time in Chattanooga, TN before I incurred my injury! There is so much to do in this super-family-friendly town! We cannot wait to return! Here we are being silly at Rock City, Rudy and Aron in front of the Lover's Leap Fall, and Rudy and I after our ride on the Incline Railway car. We had a wonderful visits with our friends Cathy and Blake and hope to make it a tradition to meet them up on their trips East every summer! Aron had lots of fun climbing around and thinks his souvenirs- a bag of polished rocks and a wooden nickel-are super cool!

Mammaw visits from Texas

My mom came out for a visit in July and we had a great time together. She even brought Spurs shirts for everyone from San Antonio! Aron learned that Mammaw brings lots of goodies in her suitcase including a shake and go monster truck and some Disney Cars dinnerware! My sister Cristi and her husband TJ also joined us for a few days and we had a good ol' Texas time BBQ-ing and pitching washers in the yard. Uncle TJ even made a smaller version of a washer pit just for Aron! Yee-haw!

CHEESE!

Boy have we been busy! And with our recent move, a house full of kiddos, visitors and social events galore I have neglected to keep our blog updated! But, here is a recap of our eventful summer. We are settled into our new home and loving it. Aron has lots of room to run and play. The wrap-around porch even enables outdoor play in the pooring rain! We are so happy in our new neighborhood and really enjoying our new church family and friends. Aron is not lacking for social connections and our calendar stays pretty full. A few snapshots from the past few months are listed below. Enjoy!

Summer Fun for Aron

Hanging out at the park

WHEE! A fun slide at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville

Gabrial visits from North Carolina....she and Aron were like two peas in a pod!

Aron on his new Go Diego scooter! ZOOM!

Aron, Frankie, Emma and Jeremy enjoy a snack break poolside

Little Squirt

Aron has discovered the joy of squirt guns! He and his friend Jeremy had a great time cooling off one evening in our backyard. "Jemy" is one of Aron's new favorite people and he asks to play with him almost every day. Our little guy is becoming quite a little social butterfly and we are so glad he's adjusting so well to his new environment. It will be sad to move from our current house at the end of the month, but we know there are plenty of little ones in our new neighborhood for him to play with there as well. I hope they don't mind getting wet!

Berry Sweet

Tennessee is full of fun things to do in the Spring! What could be sweeter than picking strawberries? Aron's friends Casey and Cody!

They are just two of the many new friends Aron has made here and we love that they are part of our new community! The berries we picked were a little small as we missed the peak of this crop. I ended up pureeing them and serving the sauce over Blue Bell ice cream. Oh Well!

His Own Road

It seems that when Aron is given the choice, he likes to do his own thing. Here he is, heading the opposite direction of the rest of the crowd at our church egg hunt. I have noticed this about him in several settings, at the park , church, playgroups. He tends to stay on the perimeter and be the observer. I have always said he is a pensive little boy but it will be interesting to see how this part of his character develops in the future...my little Robert Frost.

Two Easters?

One warm, one cold! I took Aron to an Easter egg hunt held by our church last weekend at Oak Lawn, which is a gorgeous civil-war era mansion in Spring Hill. It was a warm spring day and Aron ran around in his short-overalls having lots of fun. But by the time Easter morning came, we had overnight temps in the 20's and Aron was hunting eggs in the backyard in his fleece pull-over! Ah, but Easter is not about the weather as we all know!
We had a lovely lunch here at the house with some new friends from Rudy's job. It was so nice to have a houseful! Aron was in rare form, showing off for everyone. He is our little performer!
He would say, "I so fast!" and then take off running out of the room. It's all fun and games until your 2-year-old wipes out on the wood floors. Nothing a little chocolate bunny can't fix.
Hope all of our friends and family had just as lovely a day!

Peek-a-boo!

Sometimes you catch a shot that just says it all. This IS Aron at 29 months of age. Curious, playful and oh so much fun.

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

Ladybug, Ladybug

All things are new through the eyes of a child. I am amazed as I watch him learn and delight in the world around him every day. This tiny Ladybug is just an example of the purity of his interest in the things around him. I often hear people describe this age as the "terrible two's". There are difficult parts of each stage for sure, but I would never say they are terrible. He can communicate now, brush his own teeth and gives the most genuine, unsolicited hugs and "I love you"'s. Terrific, touching, thoughtful, truly amazing, maybe but never terrible. It just goes by too fast. Aron is such a gift and I am so, so thankful for these sweet years.

Spring in Texas

Aron and I headed home for what I am calling our Tour de Tejas 2007 a few weeks ago. Whew! We put a few miles on mom's car while we were there, but it was worth every one! We saw some old friends, played with cousins and even spotted a few of the early Blue Bonnets. We were also able to attend the Christening of one of our newest friends, Nathan Church in Houston which was a very special day. It was a good trip all around.

my funny valentine

Aron is my little shadow these days. He wants to do what ever Mommy is doing: cooking, cleaning, scrapbooking.... "I wanna doowit!", is a phrase I hear daily. I try to encourage him when I can so I thought a good way to satisfy his need to "do" with Mommy would be to make some Valentines for Daddy while he was out of town this past week. Oh, the fun we had! He would stop suddenly and hand me a scrap of paper and say, "Happy Vawentimes, Mommy." Daddy got a very special card this year complete with Diego stickers and a personalized "message" from Aron and I got a very special memory with my son.

SNOW DAY!

Well, apparently in Tennessee, two inches of snow is enough to shut down roads, schools and civilization as a whole! But it also affords a lot of fun for a two-year-old boy who has never seen snow! Snoballs, snowmen, and sledding! Oh, happy snow day!

Christmas Fun in Las Vegas

The Christmas Village at Opportunity Village is full of adventures for a two year old. Here are Aron and Casey peeking out of Frosty.
The Clark County firemen are so friendly! They hand out candy canes AND let you sit in their firetrucks! What else is there?
We are really going to miss our friend Casey! We had a great visit back in December and made a few last-minute memories to take with us. Little did she know the adventures of our roadtrip across the southwest lay ahead!
Aron was in a happy place on the carousel! Lights, music and horses! Yee-ha and Merry Christmas!

All moved in...

Aron was a very curious boy as we packed up the house in Las Vegas. He would add toys to some of my boxes and then sometimes undo the packing I had just done. Needless to say, I got as much as possible done during naptime!
But, we are here in TN and really liking it so far! It has been very cold, which is an interesting change from those mild winters in Las Vegas!
I will be wearing my sweaters a little while longer it seems.
Aron seems to be adjusting well and he likes our new church as well as the class he goes to at the church where I am working part time. For the first few weeks, anytime we drove up to the house, he would say, "Aron's new house!" But, I guess the newness has worn off a little, because now we are just "home".

Pick Pocket

If you leave your purse unattended, Aron will investigate it. On this particular afternoon, he found his Mammaw's glasses particularly appealing. I , of course, ran for the camera to catch the moment.

Look who's 2!

We kept our celebration very small this year, as we are preparing to move, but it was a very special one. Aron's Mammaw was here to help celebrate and boy, did he have a good time! He made out like a bandit: dump trucks, Thomas the train, play doh, Curious George, pirates....all things little boy! But best of all, there was CAKE!

Meeting Maverick

We were so blessed to be invited along with some friends to meet Maverick, one of the dolphins down at the Mirage Hotel. Aron would have gone in there wihtout me and really enjoyed the experience. He tossed fish into Maverick's mouth, rubbed his back and kissed him on the lips! What an amazing memory! I don't know how much he will remember as he grows, but even a week later, if you ask him about Maverick he will tell you that he is "so cute" and that he gave him a kiss!

Learning every day!

Wow! Stingrays in the desert! You have to look a little harder, but there really is more to Las Vegas than the strip. At the LV Natural History Museum, Aron learned about sharks, stingrays...even dinosaurs which are his new fascination. This was a very memorable outing for our little family!

Chocadit!

Chocadit, as Aron calls it, is his favorite treat. He may not look much like me, but he's my boy! We made a cake with our friends Kristen and Maddy and Aron had so much fun licking the beater that when I turned around to get the cake pans he was double dipping! Yum!

Family Time

Wish we had more days like this! So much fun to be all together. On this day we helped our friend Maddy and her Daddy celebrate their shared birthday a little early. Aron was thrilled to sing Happy Birthday to his best buddy....he doesn't quite get the words right but has the melody aced! Then we clapped and cheered as she blew out the candles on her "happy cake"as Aron calls it. It was a good day for our family and so fun to share life with the friends God has blessed us with.

Camping Trip

Aron was a natural on our recent weekend trip to Mt. Charleston. You'd have thought he slept in a tent every night! He loved to crawl in and wave to us, "Hi, Mama, Hi, Dada!"
We had an amazing time in the beautiful outdoors. We saw a small herd of wild horses, lots of birds and chipmunks and really enjoyed breathing in the fresh air. Our 6mile hike of Bristlecone Trail was one to remember! Especially when someone takes a nap through 75% of the trek and the other two hikers have to take turns carrying 24lbs of dead weight. But that person shall remain nameless.

AWESOME

July was a busy and fun month for Aron. He turned 20 months old and we are just in awe of how much he has grown and changed in less than two years! He had a great time with his Mammaw during her week here with us. Of course she came bearing gifts and the Thomas the Tank Engine toy was enough to keep her at the top of Aron's favorite people list! Aron is talking and singing all the time and learning to count! We love to hear him say new words or phrases. The other day, Rudy came home and I was in the middle of preparing dinner. He said, "Wow, it smells awesome in here!". Aron emphatically said, "AWETUM!" These are such sweet days!

We Love Mt. Charleston

A 45 minute drive is a small price to pay for fresh air, cooler temperatures and an amazing view! Mt. Charleston is a nearby escape to the mountains which we enjoyed last week while Mammaw was here for a visit. Aron had a great time hiking with Daddy, tossing pinecones and rocks into a running stream at Deer Creek and got up close and personal with some hummingbirds at the Mt. Charleston Lodge. We loved it so much we are planning our return: a weekend camping trip later this month!

"Oh, Beautiful...."

Aron and Maddy are ready for the 4th! My friend Kristen and I took the kids down to the Bellagio's Atrium which has been decorated very patriotically for the upcoming holiday. There were miniatures of several national monuments and even some fairy tale scenes. But best part for these two kiddos were the little electric trains, locomotives and trolly cars running throughout the scenery. They made it pretty easy for us to catch some smiles on the camera.

Playdate with Madeline

Madeline is one of Aron's very best friends. He calls her "Ma-the", which is as close as he can get to Maddy. They have know eachother since they were in utero and have a very sweet relationship. This particular afternoon, the stairs were the stage where they made mommies laugh by kicking their feet and later hugging eachother. Adorable.

Our Family

Here we are at Rudy's brother D.J.'s graduation in Bryan, TX during our last visit home. We had a wonderful time celebrating with family and Aron was able to visit with his uncle, grandparents and cousins. Texas is a wild and wonderful place, as Aron is learing. We saw trains and cows, too!

Da Bee, Da Bee!

This is what Aron said when we asked him if he was ready to go to the beach each morning of our vacation. This time together was a real blessing and we are all tanned and refreshed. Playa Del Carmen is home to some of the most amazing of God's creation and the water redefines the color blue! Playing in the sand, jumping in the waves, sunning by the pool, exploring the Mayan Riviera, Aron did it all. He is such a good traveler.
We even worked on his Spanish a little. He now looks for the moon and tries to say "luna", though his version sounds like "mee-nah". We did discover that he loves cartoons en Espanol and caught him trying to count in Spanish along with Plaza Sesamo (sesame street). I swear I heard him say "ocho"!

Easter Buddies

This Easter was one to remember. Aron mastered the art of picking up eggs and pitching them into the basket in no time! We went to a wonderful egg hunt out at Lake Las Vegas with our friends Leah and the Cohen's. Maddy and Aron had a great time "hunting" eggs and then enjoyed the petting zoo afterward. We did another hunt back at the Cohen's home and then enjoyed a beautiful lunch with our friends. Aron and Maddy were so worn out they each took a 2 1/2 hour nap while we enjoyed desert and the quiet!