Date Knight

Aiden took me out to Chic-fil-A's mother/son Date Knight.  Aiden was very excited because Chic-fil-A is his favorite place to eat!  I was looking forward to some one-on-one time with him too.  Jeff got him dressed and evidently gave him a few "pointers" for the date and we were on our way.  He opened the door for me when we arrived.  They had "dressed-up" the restaurant with table cloths, a saxophone player, servers and of course- a balloon artist.  Aiden was very shy when the lady asked what animal he wanted her to make out of a balloon.  I choose for him- a dinosaur, and he loved it!  He was pretending it was eating his nuggets.  He had a color sheet and then we ate dinner.  Aiden watched the balloon artist make other boys' animals and was very impressed.  We split a cookie sundae for dessert.
After dinner we went to Toys R Us so Aiden could pick out a toy with all the money he had earned from doing chores.  I told him about the store; how it was loaded with lots of toys and he was so excited when we walked in!  He had $10, and he knew how to read the prices.  He settled on a Star Wars light saber sword for $9.99.  We found the aisle of Home Depot lawn equipment toys (mower, weed eater, blower, etc.) and these were his favorite; they were out of his budget and I explained that he could save for one of them, but he didn't want to leave empty handed. :-)

Playing in the Sprinkler

Aiden loves it . . .

Ty would rather play in the sand table.

Back for more

Today we went back to the farm for more strawberries!  The boys love picking them and eating them too!

Seeing Baby Brother

Jeff and the boys went with me to my doctors appointment today.  I had told Aiden about the special camera Denise had that would show us the baby and he was excited to see it.  Ty didn't really know what was going on and shortly after we started the ultrasound, he got bored and wanted to play.  Aiden watched for a while and thought the screens where he saw the baby were really cool.  When she got close to the leg area, I saw that our baby was a boy- I knew it before she even said it!  Denise confirmed it, and it can be seen in the last picture.  I love that picture because you can also see our baby boy's two leg bones (thigh).  Our baby was very active and we saw lots of movement!  He was flipping around, playing with his feet and opening his mouth.  I am 15 weeks and he is 3 oz.

We went to Chic-fil-A afterwords to celebrate.  It was fun to bring the boys along with us for them to see their baby brother!

A weekend away

Jeff surprised me for my birthday with a weekend beach trip- kid free!  We spent the weekend laying on the beach, relaxing, eating some really great food, and talking (without interruptions).  It was nice to be together and we had a great time, but I think the kids had even more fun than we did . . .

They spent the weekend with Gram and Chief and did all kinds of fun stuff!  They rode their bikes and played outside in the yard and took a trip to Publix with Gram, and a trip to Lowes with Chief.  Aiden told me, "Chief likes the way it smells in Lowes".  Turns out, they entered on the garden side, and Dad made a comment on the scent of the flowers.  On Saturday, they went to Athens to watch Payton play baseball and then went to go see Aunt Shelley at her work- Longhorn's steak house.  They all shared a yummy chocolate cake dessert after dinner.  The boys went to church on Sunday and then to Chuck-E-Cheese for an afternoon playing games!  I was anxious to see them Sunday afternoon, but I think it was a great trip for all!

Strawberry Pickin'

Today we met up with some friends to pick yummy fresh strawberries at Southern Belle Farms!  All the kids had so much fun, and ate lots of strawberries.  Every time I looked at Clara she had one in her mouth, and for every one Ty put in his bucket, he ate one as well.  It was a beautiful day- we couldn't have asked for better weather.  After we filled our baskets, we let the kids look at the farm animals and had a picnic lunch.  Aiden was especially fond of Gracie and wanted to sit next to her at lunch and share his goldfish with her, but not his little brother. ;-)     

The boys stopped to watch a helicopter fly over the farm.

Egg Hunt

We got together with the Dove family to hunt eggs!  The kids were so excited and eager to get their eggs.  Clara and Ty's eggs were pretty easy to find in the grass, but Aiden and Sadie really had to hunt for theirs.  It took them a while to find the last few hidden in bushes and trees.  The eggs had money, chocolates, and jelly beans in them.  Both Clara and Ty loved opening their eggs as they went to see what was inside.  Sadie and Aiden sat out in the yard, opened their eggs and ate their candy and then Aiden was ready to look for more. :-)  Sweet little Braden (1 week) slept the whole time, but we gave him one egg.  Later, we enjoyed burgers, dogs and fellowship with good friends.

Dreams

Recently, Aiden has been having some unusual dreams and they are just too funny for me not to document.  A few nights ago, he came into our room at 2:30am (which is very unusual); he walks over to my side of the bed and wakes me up, "mom, mom".  When I acknowledge him, he looks at me and says, "there is a lizard in my bed".  I quickly become panicked and wake Jeff up to go check out the situation in Aiden's room.  A few minutes later Jeff walks back in our room and reassures me that there isn't a lizard in Aiden's room and Aiden is tucked back in his bed.  Ten minutes later I hear footsteps; Aiden again at my bedside insisting there is a lizard in his bed.  After asking him about the lizard, he says "I tried to catch him, but he ran down to my feet really fast".  Aiden has never had a big imagination, nor does he make up random stories, so I am growing concerned.  I walk with him back to his room and I check all the walls and baseboards, the ceiling and I shake his comforter thoroughly- no lizard.  I guess he finally fell back asleep and slept the rest of the night.  We are attributing the whole thing to a dream, but I guess we'll never actually know, but so I can sleep at night I will continue to say he had a dream and there wasn't actually a lizard in my son's bed.