Incredibly cute....

...if I do say so, myself!

Is he not the most adorable Mr. Incredible you have ever seen? Yep, I am proud! Aron is really starting to grasp the fun of the holidays and I am having a blast watching him enjoy the fun. We are still working out a few kinks, though. The other day, while shopping, he asked for a toy. I told him we had better wait, since he has an upcoming birthday and then Christmas not long after. He got very excited and asked, " Mommy, is Santa Clause coming for my birthday?"

Little Photographer

Ok, so it is not the highest quality portrait, but this is what you get when an almost 3 year-old is behind the camera with his finger over the flash. It is centered nicely, though! And I did not crop it. He took several others...one of Rudy's shoe, a few of the corner of the table...another of Rudy, and he very cleanly cut off his head. But, I thought I'd share his best work!

Sweet Motherhood

I am so grateful to be a mother and do not wish for one second
to have any other job in the world. That being said, there are
days, as we wave good-bye to the terrific two's and head into
the tremendous three's, when my patience is tested and I am forced to take a deep breath and remember that Aron learns from EVERYTHING I do. His new favorite game is to disagree just for the sake of the arguement. If I say, "Oh, it is windy today." He will almost surely say, "No it's not." Or even when I announce that Daddy's home, he'll say, "No he isn't." Yes, lots of deep breathing, folks. But, if I am patient enough and remember to look at things from his perspective, we get through these head-buttings and then my sweet boy is giving me the best of all blessings...his love.
Parenting is the most beautiful and challenging experience of my life, and I pray that it continues to be! I prayed for Aron and God answered that prayer and I want so much to do the best I can with the gift I have been given!

With my prima

Visiting Daddy's side of the family in Bryan, TX is always a blast because Aron has lots of cousins who just think the world of him and they all play together so well. Here he is with cousin Anneliese, "Leesy". She is a lot of fun to play with...especially in Wela's lift chair. Who needs a carousel? Aron was so happy after this visit and talked about his cousins with a big smile on his face for days.

Just Like Old Times!

These two go way back... as in, mom's met in birthing class! That's about as far back as you can go when you have yet to celebrate your third birthday. Zaiden and Aron picked up right where they left off when we went to Austin last week. It was a great time watching them play and imagine. It was a blessing to sit with my friend Kalena and just take them in. We reminisced about days when these two still breathed through their umbilical cords, when they were barely crawling, when walking seemed like the biggest thing they would ever do.... So much life has happened in less than three years, and every day of it is precious.

Choo-Choo!

Aron on the rails

One of the Steamers

Laura, Tom and Sammy

This past Friday we had a great outing in nearby Columbia, TN. The MidSouth Live Steamers is a club whose members build and run these miniature trains and take them to meets all around the country! What a neat hobby! Part of their meets here in Tennessee involve opening up some of the trains for free public rides! We took advantage and the boys had a blast....as did the moms!

Meet Mouse

"Mouse" (named by Aron), is a 4 week old Dwarf Hamster, and the newest edition to our family. She is teeny-tiny and so sweet! Aron, my little animal-lover, is thrilled to say the least! He baby talks to her and says, "Don't be scared, Mouse, Aron's here!" He is quite concerned about whether she is hungry, tired, scared or wanting to play. Such a good little pet-owner!

Surprise!

Rudy was baptized at our church's celebration pic-nic last night! And he didn't tell anyone he was thinking about doing this! What a special evening for our family!
"One day when the crowds were being baptized,
Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit , in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy." Luke 3:21-22

Run, Daddy, Run!

Aron and I headed out to Murfreesboro, TN on Saturday morning to see Daddy run in the Inaugral Middle Half race, a half-marathon! He did great, finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes! We were so proud!

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!