Bad News...

Well, this is post 500!  Five-stinkin'-hundred.  Blogger said that my blog is now full.

So for those of you sick of seeing my meaningless meanderings this is your chance to be done.  For those of you who crave more (snicker...right....), mosey on over to the new blog at biddulphfam.blogspot.com

Love ya all and see you soon at our new place!

HIYAH!!!

We are lucky to have good people surrounding us at every turn.  Church people, neighborhood people, work people, family people and... some you would never really think would be involved in raising my beautiful man.  This is my village.  All these wonderful people make up my "village".

 

Smeds have watched Aiden since he was a little mite and they have done karate at this nifty dojo for many years.  Aiden has been toted along and has watched 3 years of karate classes from the sidelines. 

 

The time has come to pass the torch.Friday, Aiden had his first ever official karate lesson.  His cousin, Kelle, is a world champ karate lady, so she was the first to put on his belt.  Ceremonial, if you ask me.

 

 

His teacher is one of his best friends and a man who treats him well. Sensai Josh.  Josh is so patient with little guys and really works well with them.  See?  Already he has Aiden holding still. 

 

 

And Josh taught him how to do his push ups really well.  Little man did pretty well for his first time. Except a few gaffs here and there (which, of course, we laughed quietly, but hysterically about...) but he already is doing great.  Can't wait.

 

 

 

Josh, Aiden, and Jeff.  Three best buddies. 

 

Fun Weekend Together... as a Family

Aiden is super interested in what makes a family right now.  So, we have had lots of discussions of different kinds of families and what our family looks like.  So, we had so many fun outings and we decided to go to the zoo while the fall weather holds out. 

 

We went on the carousel...

 

 

Took pics by the rhinos.

 

Scowled like a gorilla...

 

 

Saw the sea lions in their new habitat

 

Watched a tiger get pretty darn mad about something... (he was growling and roaring for about 30 minutes and pacing toward the crowd.  Fun for the kids, a bit scary for the rest of us...)

 

 

Had lunch at the best Chinese restaurant in Bountiful...

 

 

Loads of fun.  Later that day, we watched a movie and enjoyed the evening.  Sunday, we jumped through leaves in our church clothes. Pretty awesome.  This coming weekend, it will snow and I will be sad to see the fall come to an end, but winter and Christmas are right around the corner and it will fun as well.

 

 

Halloween 2012

Check out the past years' Halloween posts here (2011), here (2010), and here (2009).

They are totally awesome.  Each year, I tried to really pick a costume for Aiden that had something to do with his life that year.  Each one had an inside joke attached to it.  This year, however, after the catastrophe that was the robot costume earlier in October, I decided I would let Aiden pick out whatever he wanted to be and let him wear it proudly.

So, for this year, we still stuck with the "something to do with the year" theme by picking his obsession.  May I present to you, Halloween Aiden dressed as.... Thomas.  Always Thomas at our house.  Obsession with Thomas.  (There are worse things, I know... Barney, Elmo, Dora... we are pretty lucky that Thomas is tolerable.)

It was a pretty cute costume after all.  He loved it and looked awesome in his slick hat and his poofy Thomas apron thingy.  We had a blast. 

 

First, I have to say, I have raised Aiden with a lot of help from a lot of people.  This person (Nanana) is one of the most important people in Little Man's life.  She is his favorite people in the world and she has been there from moment #1.  And she is not afraid to dress up in 80's workout gear to go Trick or Treating.  Bless you, Nana.

We started out at Broadview U's Trunk or Treat.  Last year, this was kinda a bust, but this year was MAGNIFICENT!  So many more sponsors this year and he received TONS of candy! 

Afterward, we hopped over to Nana's work at the nursing home and went around to see all the residents there.  Once again, he ended up with a bucket load.  The fun thing about doing this activity with some dementia people, is they would forget that they had given you candy so they gave more and more. 

My little man was one of the few kids that was not afraid of the old residents there.  He loved them.  And they loved him back.  I am proud of my Little Mister for having a gentle heart.

 

After our Candy-fest, we went around the neighborhood where I was raised and enjoyed more candy.  Afterward, we crashed at Smed's house for our annual fondue party and watched Sherlock Holmes. 

 

Happy Halloween from our house to yours!

More Fall Happenings

I feel guilty.  My neice from Rome noticed a sharp decline in my blog postings. 

 

So... here are more of the things we have been up to.  First off, there is a blackmail pic that I am sure Aiden and his wife will laugh about hysterically when he gets older.

 

 

This is it.  I love this robot costume.  It is the perfect Silver Telletubby-Look alike costume.  It was not cute, but it was warm on the night we went to the Dino Park in Ogden with Rays to go Trick-or-Treating.  It was warm and fun and magnificent. 

 

Just for the record, we found a new costume.  Aiden chose Thomas the Tank Engine.  So, therefore, although it isn't as cute as years past, it will be cuter than this Robot costume.

 

 

 

 

Last night, we painted pumpkins.  Aiden's was perfect and super colorful.  I love it.

 

 

 

I also enlisted child-labor to get our car clean.  He loves this vacuum thing.  He is such a big helper buddy.

 

We have also been taking long walks in the mornings that are not too cold.  Aiden is sporting his monkey jammies and his nifty family sweatshirt. 

 

And... we have been taking treats into Aiden's super cool and super secret pop-up Lightening McQueen fort that is WAY too small for Mom, but I managed to kinda get in there and watch Madagascar 3.  Boy it was fun.

Fun Fall Festival



After our cookie adventure (see previous post...) we had a whole day of fun planned.  First off, we went to see Hotel Transylvannia.  We have been guffahing at the previews for so long that we thought it was time. 

 

It was a great movie and he did pretty well through it all.  I know this picture looks like no one was there, but it was packed. 

 

We followed the movie up with some yummy Costa Vida and he got his "Kleesy Kleesy" - cheesy pleasy (aka: a quesadilla)  We goofed off for a bit before heading home and having...

 

A THREE HOUR NAP.   Yup - both of us crashed.

 

 

In the afternoon, Aiden's cousin Shiree and her hubby, Kelly (only the cutest couple on the planet...) came over and we headed to Black Island Farms to the pumpkin patch!!!

 

This is one beautiful boy!

 

We found corn everywhere!  EVERYWHERE!!!

Aren't they so cute?  They are so good to each other.

It was mighty, mighty beautiful.  It was warm enough and so beautiful. 

I remember how much I love the fall. 

Shiree and Kelly (or as they are called at our house: Kallay and Fee) are such amazing people.  I can't wait for them to be parents.  They are both so cute with kids.

I love this boy

 

By the time we got home, we were a little chilly, so we had homemade veggie soup and sourdough bread, watched Sherlock, and enjoyed the night. 

 

What a perfect day!



Spooky Snacking

Wow.  Nearly a month since I have posted.  But I did warn you all.  School and work and motherhood and all that has taken priority.  

Except on Saturdays!  Oh, we live for Saturdays.  Fridays are full of work and heavy-duty chores, but Saturdays are here for fun.  And with a little preschooler who NEVER sleeps in, our fun starts REALLY early on Saturdays.  4am this morning, to be exact.  

We did our farmer's co-op run, some grocery shopping, played with trains, cleaned the car, and made cookies already - and it is only 10am.  

We have made these cookies last year, but they are super fun so we did them again.  And  for those who are aware of my chocolate allergy (even if I touch them...), this is a labor of love.  So, later, the Benadryl will kick in and I will nap with Aiden. 

His favorite part of the process was smashing the food coloring into the frosting.  We chose green this year.  

We unwrapped two dozen Hersheys kisses but only had about 18 - that means a little homie ate about 6 before we got started.   

This finished product - and a cute little man.  (He has given himself the nickname "Frankenhomie")

Now off for more fun for the day.  Pumpkin patch/corn maze, pizza and movie (maybe Hotel Transylvania?)