Ahhh....Fall!!!!

We have had the windows open all week and it feels GRAND! We're under two quilts at night and can comfortably walk around barefoot during the day. Love this time of year! I got all the fall decorations out of the attic and spruced up the house a bit. The Yankee Candles are burning. I have all my favorites, including Mulling Spices, Red Apple Wreath, and Cinnamon Stick. Most of the time I burn them all together creating a lovely fall aroma. So yummy!The porch even got a few decorations this year! It's nice to drive up to the house and see a pretty porch. Makes it a little more homey!The pumpkins are all in place adorning window sills, tables, and tops of furniture. I love my new fall tray! It looks so cozy sitting on the dining room table. Aiden learned real quick that it is not to messed with. lol When we have company for Thanksgiving, I will fill the bowls with goodies to eat.The shelf in the dining room is my favorite. Love the leaves (which are also on the tops of all the kitchen cabinets) and small pumpkins and berries.Here are books from "G" week. Not many books about geese, but I found these at the library. Aiden is learning the sounds animals make, so the Down on the Farm book was a big hit!He really gets into art projects! Seriously painting his letter G.It is apparently a lot more fun to paint with two paintbrushes.Next day ... gluing feathers on his "G" goose
It's camping weather and we'll be headed to CampQuest with our church next weekend. Can't wait!!

D-elightful, E-xciting, and F-un

I am finally getting around to updating our blog! The last few weeks have been busy with dentist appointments, a huge Rhea Lana consignment sale (which of course required my attendance several times over the course of a week!), Aiden starting Mother's Day out one day a week at church, Ladies Bible Class resuming, a visit from Monty's parents, and a trip to Hot Springs.

But, we are still having fun and trying to learn a little each day! I am amazed at how quickly he learns. I am constantly surprised by some of the stuff he comes up with. For example, last week I heard the sliding glass door open. I came around the corner to find that Aiden had pushed a dining room chair over to the door, unlocked the door, and opened it! He had decided it was time to go out and play. Such are the adventures of a curious and busy toddler! Reminder to self - Always keep the bar in the doorway so the glass door cannot be slid open.

We played Scrabble this weekend and Aiden kept getting in our laps and reaching for the letters. He'd say, "ABCDs!" as he was attempting to grab them. He may not know the difference between the letters, but at least he understands what a letter is.

Here he is doing one of his new favorite activities. He loves to take things in and out of containers. Whether it's taking things out of kitchen drawers and putting them in the garbage can or emptying and refilling his tub of cars, he is so entertained by moving objects. He so enjoyed burying the animals in the beans and taking them out again. We did it for 30 minutes and he never once took a single bean out of the container. We'd bury the animals and he'd find them. We talked about how dogs like to bury bones and go find them later.Coloring is also something he has recently come to enjoy. I found this great Sesame Street coloring book with all the letters of the alphabet. Anything with Elmo is a HUGE hit these days.Family and football week started with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma got some good snuggles at night while Aiden had his milk before bedtime.Grandpa and Aiden sharing a book before bed.
We made a book with all of Aiden's family. Monty designed the pages. Here is an example of what one looks like:There are a lot of family members that we don't see on a regular basis and I want Aiden to begin to recognize their faces and be able to say their names.

Aiden colored cards for all of his grandparents and great-grandparents.He has gotten really good at putting stickers on paper. Had to share some Sesame Street stickers with the grandparents!Friday night we went to watch Austin play football.Aiden did GREAT!!! He sat the entire time and was mesmerized by the game. He sat with Uncle Perry the entire first quarter and then we just passed him around. Notice him holding on tight to the balloon. Everyone else let their balloons go when the team ran out on the field. He looked at the balloons in the air and then grabbed onto his with both hands!Still holding the balloon ....Still holding on ....Poor baby is SOOOO hot natured. It really was a nice enough night but he just sweats and sweats when he is outside.He just loves his uncles!Had to snap this shot of my lil gangsta baby!

Cars!

Last week we had fun with cars (and trucks!). "Truck" is one of Aiden's newest words and he points them out everywhere! If he hears anything loud outside drive by, he stops, listens, and says, "Truck!". Here are some of the books we read this week. I loved Red, Stop! Green, Go! It was another one of my thrift store finds and is a companion book to Go, Dog. Go! It has flaps to lift, wheels to turn, and tabs to pull. A very fun book! What's a week about cars without a trip to the car wash? Aiden was a little enthralled at first...

Then he wasn't so keen on the idea! I let him get out of seat and he calmed down a little, but I don't think we'll make a return trip anytime soon!

I can't get over how much he loves play-doh. He loves to squish it and pull it apart. Then he wants me to flatten it out so he can push his cookie cutters in it.

He has lots of "little kid" cars that he enjoys playing with. For our week of car fun I pulled out the "real" cars and the car play mat. He had a ball! Now he likes them better than his Tonka cars! We practiced "stop" and "go" while he was driving the cars. Well, mostly he watched Mommy stop and go. He's pretty much just a go, go, go kinda kid! lol

And then there was the painting! Oh the painting ...... !!! He made a mess and tried to eat the paint at first, but once he realized he could put color on the plate, he was a very focused artist!


Here is our final product! It hangs on the fridge and we talk about the words and the colors every day.

We also rolled cars in paint and painted the letter C and had lots of races on the Tonka race tracks. I have a playlist of songs on the ipod for each week. A lot stay the same, but I change others each week. Aiden loves listening to music and now asks for me to turn it on. He's just so much fun!!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Last week we talked about bears and the color brown. One of Aiden's favorite books is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? so I knew he would love reading it over and over (and over and over!). I found this copy of the book at a local thrift store for $0.75! The really cool thing is that is has sliding "windows" on each page that reveal the next animal. It is a great book for learning animals and colors. I try to read an ABC book each day too. Aiden's current favorites are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Dr. Suess' ABCs. He'll bring me one of them and say, "A, B, C!". We also tried our hand at coloring. He did a pretty good job!

We made bear sandwiches for lunch one day!

One thing I love about toddlers is how they learn so much through play. You don't have to have a lot of scheduled activities or projects. They love to explore objects, textures, books, etc. He is really into putting objects into containers and taking them out again.

We made brown bears by dipping teddy bear snacks in chocolate pudding. I knew he would end up just playing in the pudding and that's exactly what happened! :) Who knew pudding would keep him entertained for 30 minutes?!?

Needless to say, a shower was our next stop!

A is for Apple

It's back to school time!! I've always loved getting ready to go back to school and buying new school supplies. As a teacher I loved planning out a new school year, decorating my classroom, and welcoming new students. Every year when Walmart puts out the school supplies, I get a little excited. This year was no different. So, I decided that I would plan out a year of fun (and learning) for Aiden! Every week we'll focus on a different letter and color. Aiden LOVES to read, so I've found books to go with each week's theme. This week we read:
Aiden loved fingerpainting outside. The first thing he did was taste it (it was made of flour and water) and then he played in it.

Foam letters for the bathtub were a big hit. Right now we're learning 1-4. Each week I'll put new letters in to play with.

Play-doh fun with circle and "A" cookie cutters.

Practicing self-feeding skills while eating applesauce.

Making apple crisp with yummy homemade apple pie filling from Grammy's apple trees.

We're having lots of fun learning every day!!