Christmas fun!

A new tradition that we started this year was an Advent calendar! 

I searched & searched for the perfect one, 

and found this cute felt one that was exactly what I was looking for!

Each day, Aidan would wake up & place a new figure onto his nativity scene, 

and tucked inside each pocket was a piece of paper with a fun activity that we

could do together as a family that day.

Aidan loved his nativity scene, and changed it several times a day.. 

I love that he really understood the Christmas story this year!

Just a few of our activities were:

Making a gingerbread house!

He was so proud of his creation, with a little help from Daddy!!! ;)

Making birdseed ornaments to hang on the trees for our birds!

Play-doh Christmas cookies! 

We used a couple of the days to make treats for Aidan's teachers!

These sock cupcakes were so much fun to make!

..and Aidan's Christmas cookie of choice this year was to make these 

reindeer cookies.. I thought they turned out pretty cute, and pretty tasty!

I can't wait to use our Advent calendar every year, 

and make family memories while counting down the REAL reason of Christmas! :)

Hector's back!

Last year, we jumped on the "Elf on the Shelf" bandwagon, 

..Aidan's elf, "Hector" is back to work putting a smile on Aidan's face this Christmas season!

The morning after Thanksgiving, Hector made his appearance!

The story says that he flies back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa how Aidan is doing.. 

and he hides in a different spot every morning for Aidan to find him!

I love the fun & wonder of it all.. the look on Aidan's face every morning is just priceless!

Hiding in Aidan's little Christmas tree in his room:

While Daddy was on a business trip in Texas last week, Hector took it upon himself to sleep in Aidan's bed for a bit.. since Aidan & Mommy were sleeping together while Daddy was gone!

Hector also loves to play with Aidan's toys..

..or hide out in the kitchen..

.. OR, play little jokes on Aidan! 

Aidan woke up today to find this waiting for him..

Silly Hector!!!

Gotta love our little elf, he's so much fun!

5 Question Saturday!

Haven't done this in awhile.. thought I'd try to start back up again!

1. What's your favorite Christmas cookie? 

I LOVE the good 'ol Christmas sugar cookies, with lots of icing.. they are my favorite!

2. What's your favorite holiday movie & why? 

Definitely Elf!!! 

I absolutely love this movie & how silly it is.. if you haven't watched it, you must! It will definitely put a smile on your face.

3. Is there a gift that you have bought your kids that you wished you hadn't after you opened it? Not yet, but this year.. I got an awesome deal on this for Cyber Monday..

$20 for a box of 1600 Legos!!!

I KNOW that I am going to regret getting it for Aidan, as I KNOW that I am going to step on one of them in the middle of the night or something.. plus, it will probably start a new love for Legos & I HATE how expensive those little pieces of plastic can be! 

4. What is the messiest room in your house at the moment?

Right this moment, I would have to say our living room. Aidan is playing with his toys, and they seem to get everywhere lately!

5. What is the furthest you have driven for the holidays? 

Not very far, we have always stayed in town. I'm so thankful that both of our families live close by! 

30 weeks!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile.. 

I think that it is true that you DEFINITELY don't take as many pictures 

with your second child as you do your first.. oops!

Anyways, I made it to 30 weeks on Tuesday!

I can't believe that I am in my third trimester already.. it's going so fast!

Here's my lovely belly!

Our little girl hasn't been moving very much lately, 

so while at the doctor last week they had me take a non-stress test, 

which we failed miserably! 

Poor little girl just doesn't want to move for Mommy!

So.. we got to take a peek inside & see what she is up to in there! 

She was just fine, the ultrasound tech said that she may just be a sleepy/lazy baby.. 

wouldn't that be wonderful??!! 

(compared to Aidan lately, that would be GREAT!)

Here she is! 

I wasn't expecting another ultrasound, 

so it was nice to see how much she has grown since our last peek!

The only other concern is that I have developed gestational diabetes...

I am checking my blood sugar 4 times a day & Aidan loves helping & reminding me.. 

it's just SO hard to stay away from the sweets this time of year! :(

I go see my nutritionist this week to find out if I need to go on insulin, 

as my numbers are higher than she wants them to be.. wish me luck!

One more thing that I am struggling with is insomnia.. NOT fun!

As I type this, it's 4 am & I have been up since 1.. very frustrated that
I can't sleep & dreading the duties of the morning when Aidan wakes up..
hopefully I'll grow tired soon!

..I would like to thank my mom for being so wonderful over the weekend by
watching Aidan for me while I got some rest during the day.. LOVE YOU MOM! :)

glow stick bath!

Lately, I have been completely addicted to Pinterest.. I am embarrassed to say that I have wasted WAY too much time exploring all the goodness of that website!

Anyways.. I stumbled upon one of my friend's pins.. glow stick baths! 

Once I saw it, I KNEW that we had to do it with Aidan.. 

he LOVED it!

My pictures are terrible, he wouldn't sit still very long.. he was having so much fun!

Aidan was in the tub for a good hour that night! :)

..better late than never!

Yeah, so it's been awhile since I have posted anything..
I have no excuse, except complete laziness! 

We haven't been up to very much around here, Aidan is really enjoying preschool, and I am counting down the days til we have our new baby!
I have been VERY tired lately, and not very ambitious! :(

We celebrated Aidan's 4th birthday at Gull Meadow Farms this year, can't believe he's 4 already!

He had fun running around Pumpkin Lane with everyone, and of course.. the presents! 

We also had a bunch of fun carving pumpkins this year..
Aidan wanted NOTHING to do with the insides of the pumpkins! 

I LOVE this pic of Tony showing Aidan the pumpkin guts.. he looks like he is terrified! ;)

We still had fun carving though, Aidan told us what he wanted & we went to work! 

For Halloween this year, Aidan wanted to be Wolverine! He had fun chasing people around with his fake claws, and loved trying to keep up with all the kids while he was trick or treating.

We went trick or treating in my Dad's neighborhood, I love it because it's where I went as a kid! Plus, the houses are spread out a bit, so Aidan gets tired before he gets too much candy! ;)