playing catchup

--since we got back from all our travels this summer, we spent some time getting back into a routine. then we were settling into a new school routine, since aidan goes to school five mornings a week now.
--he loves school. they have music class, spanish class, computer time, and every wednesday they all wear a certain color. they learn a letter, number, and shape each week, and every thursday is show-and-tell with the letter of the week. he has new friends this year, because he and only a few others switched from three afternoons a week to five mornings. within the second week, he told me sophia was his girlfriend and he has to hold her hand. actually sophia told me aidan was her boyfriend. when i asked him about her he said she was his new girlfriend, but jarah, ella, and asha are still his favorite. (he didn’t say favorites…he said favorite. guess it’s an all-inclusive kind of thing!)
--last week we went on a field trip to hunt club farms. we rode on the hayride, the kids played in the massive mountain of hay, and each brought home a pumpkin. it was pretty fun. the weather was absolutely perfect. the next day was the second birthday party we’ve gone to for a classmate. (no longer just birthday parties for mommy’s friends’ kids…) it’s funny to see aidan with his classmates. they act all goofy, and have a blast. plus, he’s half a head taller than all of them!
--sierra’s more than two handfuls these days. when she’s not climbing on something, jumping off of something, or dancing in circles, then she’s taking off her clothes. in addition to enjoying being naked, she must be the one to dress herself in the morning. not just picking out her clothes…and she’ll get all dressed and then change them again…but she has to put them on herself. granted, she doesn’t do that quite right, but it’s a learning process. i let her pick out what she wears for the most part, and just have to ignore the fact that she’s wearing stripes on her shirt, flowers on her pants, and carebears on her socks. she’s still adorable, and it makes her feel good.
--she’s talking up a storm these days too. she tells me exactly what she’s thinking, and it’s rare that i don’t understand. potty training is going pretty well. she wanted to start eight months ago or something, but i wasn’t ready. i let her do it when she wanted to, but i didn’t push it at all until we got back from our long long drives this summer. didn’t want to hear “mommy, i ready to potty” every half hour on a 17hour drive!
--kids make things to send to daddy all the time. it could be a picture drawn on a restaurant placemat, something colored at school, or a craft we do together. we painted new jersey shore sea shells and mailed them. we also made frames to send…though i might be ruining a surprise for dad, since i’m not sure they’ve arrived at the ship yet. they get to talk to him every so often, and sierra usually just sings when it’s her turn. and every day they have a “kiss” from dad: a hershey kiss from daddy’s jar that they get to enjoy every day...sometimes a few a day. :)
--halloween was fun. we carved pumpkins with our neighbors kelley and roger. aidan wanted to supervise. he didn't want to get his hands dirty, but had no problem telling us what to carve...he was quite specific with roger's bat dimensions! :) ours was a spider...but of course i forgot to take a picture of them before they started to rot and fall in on themselves. oh well...next year. trick-or-treating was cool. sierra was minnie mouse and aidan was spiderman. they picked out their costumes themselves and were really excited about it. aidan did great...wasn't scared of anything. though sierra was a bit scared at times. i ended up carrying her for most of our mile-long trek around the block. still they got loads of candy...and we got several comments on their cuteness, but also on their manners. both said thank you to everyone! good babies!!

northern exposure -- aug 2009

--our trip north was excellent. it was lots of driving, but totally worth it. we started in manasquan, nj, with billy’s mom and stepdad (grammy and poppy). at some point in our week stay there, we had all of their kids there (minus, billy): uncle ryan, uncle greg, aunt alison, uncle jim, aunt leah, and cousins riley and griffin.
--we spent most of our days outside at the beach, or in the back area playing in the sand. there were neighbors, in addition to all the family, to play with too. aidan and sierra loved the beach, though aidan did better with the water than she did. for whatever reason, those waves there could get really big…and the tide changes were more extreme than i’ve ever noticed on the coast. still it was great fun.
--we stayed in the same house that the family used to rent when the kids (as in the aunts and uncles) were small. apparently it hasn’t been updated since…which added to the flavor and nostalgia. it was strange not having billy around, but it wasn’t weird without billy there…if that makes sense. we fit right in, so it was great.
--we went to dinner one night, another night went to pt. pleasant for dinner and to walk the boardwalk with rides and games. we also met aidan’s godfather, steve, and his wife sharon there. it was good to see them, as it had been a while. and one rainy day we went to a farm to feed the animals and out to lunch. one night, leah and i walked six miles up and down the path talking nonstop…eventually had to go in because it was bedtime!
--we left manasquan after a week and headed to long island to see my dad (pawpaw) and joy, and emily. had another great visit there. we went for long walks, on boat rides, fishing off of the boat, and aidan even jumped off the boat into the canal. we went to fire island one night for dinner, and jones beach another day for a relaxing afternoon.
--after long island, we travelled to glen rock, nj, to be with billy’s dad and stepmom (grandma and grandpa) and devlin. we swam a lot in their pool, went to the museum of natural history in manhattan, to the land of make-believe, and a park/zoo. aidan and sierra found some playmates down the street. they played at grandma/grandpa’s pool and even down at their house. they had a son aidan’s age, a daughter sierra’s age, and an older daughter. they had a good time with them.
--devlin and i went to new york one night for dinner and a show. we went to see “rock of ages,” a musical about the making it in the music industry in the 80’s. we laughed and sang the whole way through. dinner was fun (before and after the show), and we got to have some fun conversations.
--after nearly three weeks on the road, with only six days home between down south and up north, we made it home. kids are awesome travelers…couldn’t ask for better. since then we’ve gotten back into a regular routine and aidan has started school. he loves it, of course.
--sorry this is super late, and a little skimpy on the details…

my kids are rockstars!

--kiddos and i just got back from our trip south. we drove 12 hours from va beach to athens, al, on the 19th. we stayed there with my aunt carroll and uncle larry at their house on the tennessee river. the first day we were pretty spent, at least i was. aidan and sierra were so happy to be out of the car, they ran around for a long time after dinner before i had to drag them to bed.

--the next day we went out on the boat on the river. aidan hadn’t been on a boat since he was 18months old…at least not a “personal” watercraft. he’d been on the touring boats out of the inlet in virginia. he loved going “big fast,” which i took as “really fast.” sierra wasn’t too sure at first of the speed, but ended up loving it so much i was holding on the back of her lifejacket as she leaned over to see the water go by. aidan liked looking at the “wave path” (the wake) that the boat was leaving behind us. :)

--we spent another night there, and the next morning we went to the nasa space center in huntsville. since aidan (still) says he will be an astronaut when he grows up, i thought it’d be a great place to take him. they both really liked it. so did carroll and i too…i hadn’t been there since i was about twelve or something. we toured the outside part with all the rockets, missiles, helicopters, etc. sierra climbed on everything that had a “do not climb” sign on it. i guess i shouldn’t be surprised by that, considering i found her this morning sitting inside her top (four drawer) dresser drawer putting all of her ponytail-holders on her fingers as rings…and no other drawers were open. how does that happen?? she must have pulled it out, done a pull up, and climbed right in. and she’s fast. i pretty much came in there right after i heard movement in their room. crazy girl...guess she's enjoying being back in her room?
--after the outside section, which also had a replica of the moon surface, we went inside. aidan and i did a simulation ride of a rover on the surface of mars. we looked at the different exhibits, many of which the kids didn’t care about…unless there were buttons and switches. they got to play in a replica of the space station, and each got to try their hand a landing the shuttle. after that we went to a 3D imax film “fly me to the moon,” about three flies that pack their suits and get in the helmets of the astronauts that first landed on the moon. pretty cute. it was the first film sierra sat through for the most part. she even let me hold her glasses on her head and she jumped nearly every time something came near her and tried to reach the flies. cute.
--after our film, we had lunch in the café and then took off on our five hour drive down to mobile. got there at dinner time and spent time with my mom and stepdad. we spent most of the rest of the week in mobile hanging out with them, my aunt connie, and going to lucedale to visit my grandparents.

--in lucedale we played inside and out, the kids loved the swing set and the dogs. sierra liked telling the dog “no, dog!” although one of the dogs got that from all of us. deedaddy and aidan played baseball, and they all looked at the cows when they came trekking through the first pasture.
--saturday, we packed up and went to dauphin island…the southern-most part of alabama. there’s a fort on the island (ft gains), with a sister fort (ft morgan) in gulf shores, that guard the entrance to mobile bay from the gulf of mexico. the whole “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” thing was at the battle of mobile bay. anyhow, we had a house on the bay side, and three condos on the gulf side…yes, my family is huge, although we still were missing many of them.

--aidan spent most of his days swimming in the pool or beach at the condos, and fishing (he tried to catch a fish for two days) and playing/wrestling with my cousins at the house. he was younger by at least five years, sometimes more, but he held his own,…minus two busted lips. i was glad that it didn’t seem that they were just accommodating him, but actually wanting to play with him and have him around. one naptime during the week scott and matthew showed up at the condo wanting aidan to come out and play. that was cute.

--sierra spent her days getting in and out of the water at the pool or beach, running around the house on the deck, trying to climb upstairs to the big kids, or playing with my cousins’ boy. that was cute. jackson is seven days older than sierra. after they got over their original shyness, they were following each other around and even competing for deedaddy-lap-space…which as a former competitor myself, is know to be valuable real estate! :)

--i spent the time chasing children, but mostly letting other people chase children while i hung out with my family, helped cook, got sunburned, read three books, and swam occasionally. one morning i went fishing with deedaddy and four of my cousins. we didn’t catch as many white trout as the group the day before, but we held our own. they were yummy the next night for sure!!
--after a week on vacation with the smith family, which i haven’t been able to attend in six years, the kids and i packed ourselves into the stuffed car and drove 950 miles home. it took 16hours to get back, but my kids are troopers. i got the occasional “are we almost there?” from aidan, and we had to stop every couple hours, but never a complaint out of the back seat. sierra cried for about 10minutes at around 9pm that night when she woke up and couldn't understand why she was still strapped in her chair in the car. we had been traveling since 7am (eastern time). so, in all fairness, i guess i understood her frustration!

Dropping off Daddy

--the kids and i spent a good family day with billy before we took him to the ship. we all got to go onboard and see where daddy will work and live while delpoyed. aidan and sierra enjoyed all the hatches and ladders, twists and turns, helmets, hoses, and lights.
--we helped billy take the last bit of stuff to his stateroom, and got a tour of the spaces he uses day in and day out, and the view off of the deck. then we had our sad good-bye and left daddy to "defeat the bad guys."
--his ship email is: suppo@ddg75.navy.mil; and he can receive mail/packages at:
LT BILLY HUNT
SUPPLY DEPT
USS DONALD COOK, DDG-75
FPO, AE 09566-1294
--will keep everyone posted on any happenings.

June 09

--short and sweet: with june came LOTS of company. we had a good visit with grandma and grandpa, grammy and poppy, and paw-paw and joy with emily and jordan.
--we had sierra’s 2nd birthday three times, and she opened LOTS of presents, and sang “happy birthday” to herself for over a month…in fact, she’s still singing it these days. “haaa birrrday ah rarah, haaa birrday ah me!” she also got her ears pierced. i always swore i wouldn’t make a baby get her ears pierced, she at least had to ask for it. she has really been into my earrings lately, and said “for me?” so i took her. she did great. she got scared when i had to hold her still…that’s reminiscent of getting shots, which she fights with all her might. she cried at first, but as soon as i got to let go of holding her head, she was fine. she didn’t like me cleaning them at first, but she put up with it. and she looks precious. she called them her “pretties” for a while, and now calls them “earwings.”
--she can say anything she wants these days, and lately all i write down are long and/or interesting phrases she comes up with. some include:
* “dee end. i get a-no one” = the end. i’ll get another one. (book)
* “i see a airpane!” = i saw an airplane!
* (did you have fun outside?) “no. ew, ew. i see a bug. it bite da finger. yuck!”
* “one two free” / “fie sit” / “a nigh ten” = her counting…not in order, but those sequences are right
--aidan is a water boy these days. and he swims now. we went to the pool with asha and yogi early in the month, and he decided he could swim. he jumped off the side and swam!! he swims underwater, but has to stop and rest, so as long as he can reach the bottom he’s good. (next we’ll work on treading water.) after that, at the beach, he barely comes out of the water at all. he goes out to waist/chest deep and rides the waves in or jumps over them. granted, he gets swept away and has to continuously come trotting back to be in front of me so i can watch him…but he’s having a ball, and he just gets better.
--billy joined his ship (uss donald cook) and has officially taken over as the suppo. they were super busy with inspections and are now prepping for a july deployment. i think he’s excited and nervous all at the same time…though he’ll do great, and he seems to thrive at sea with the always-involved-environment, that suits him.

May 2009

--may was busy, but not. billy was gone pretty much the entire month, until memorial weekend. we did, however, drive down to athens, ga, to see him for a long weekend. it was cool to be back in athens, which is where we got married, and wander the town. it is very walkable, and we love the main drag of shops and restaurants. it was great to see billy, though the kids didn’t understand why we couldn’t go back (another 9hours) to see him the next day after we got back!
--i read a book called outliers, about successful people. it was very interesting, but what i took from it concerned the way americans learn math, versus aisan cultures. because of the counting system used, the typical american four-year-old can only count to 15, while the japanese/chinese/etc four-year-old can count to 40. that basically means that by age four we americans are already behind in math…and it just compounds throughout the rest of the school years. didn’t really like that, so the next day i asked aidan to count as high as he could. he got to 15. who wants to be “average” anyway? so during our long morning walk, we memorized one through 20, using our weird counting verbiage. the next day we went to 30. he did great once he figured out the pattern…and the day after that, he went to 40. so, (after six months of pre-school, where aidan maintained his average-ness,) in three days, we had aidan all caught up with the asian four-year-olds! ;)
--more aidan progress: he used to have trouble singing along with something (tv/radio/me). the words he knew, he’d say at his pace, no matter how far behind the real melody he got. now, he hums the words he misses along with the song, and sings the parts he can with it. it’s pretty funny to listen to…but at least he’s keeping up!
--sierra’s vocabulary is incredible. she talks all the time, and it’s pretty clear what she’s saying most of the time. it’s rare that i have absolutely no idea what she’s saying. her latest sentences include:
* “ha fun, day-dee, otay?” = have fun, aidan, okay? (when we’d take him to school)
* “where day-dee dough?” = where’d aidan go?
* “i go aaaa-go ni-night!!!” = i’m going night-night in my diego (dora) sheets!!!
* “hurry, hurry, ess dough!” = hurry, hurry , let’s go!
* “ahh-mow home, mama!” = almost home, mama! (as soon as we’re on our street)
* “one, free, one, free” = 1, 3, 1, 3 (her counting practice)
--for the past few months, she has been potty-training herself. i’m not pushing it, and i’d actually prefer that she wait, but i’m not deterring it either. i just know in a month or so, we’re going to be doing lots of driving…road trips south and north…and i’m not sure i want to hear “i potty, mommy,” and stop all the time to avoid an accident. so, i’m keeping her in diapers, but taking her when she wants to go. she rarely lets me change her pants without first letting her sit on the potty. she always goes before her bath, and she tells me when she’s already gone, sometimes even before she goes. i’m just letting her do it if she wants to, but there’s no pressure to get out of diapers…i’ll start “training” her after august.
--when billy came home, we had friends (rob and justin) come down again for the long weekend. we went to a pool party, where aidan swam around the pool in a life jacket (cause after a day at the beach, nobody wanted to get in with him), and even jumped off the diving board. we thought he might get scared, cry or something, but he jumped off before anyone was ready with the camera! he obviously did it over and over after that.
--that same weekend, we had our own memorial weekend party. invited nearly everyone we know…cause, yeah, we go all out! started at 2pm and went until nearly 2am…cause, yeah, we go all out!! not everyone came of course, but those that did, i’m pretty sure they had a good time. and as we went nearly 12hours, not everyone was there the whole time or all at once…so it worked out. it was lots of food, friends, and fun.
--the next weekend, as “hotel hunt” had officially opened for the season, more friends (mike and leslie) came down. we had another great weekend at the beach, mini-golfing, a concert on the beach, and with another mini-gathering of our regulars! more food, friends, and fun!!

April 2009

--april’s showers bring may flowers, right?? well, we definitely had some showers, but we just sort of skipped the nice weather and went straight to 90degree temps. granted, that’s cooled down a bit (along with some more rain), but i don’t remember actually having spring. even without the weather, we went ahead with easter and spring school performances. we also drove down to athens, georgia, to see billy. he is down there for five weeks before reporting to his new ship in june. we had a good time touring around athens again…lots of fun shops and restaurants. (and billy is doing well in his class…as expected!)
--aidan’s class had an easter party. they had an easter egg hunt and then bunny-inspired snacks. siblings were invited, and sierra enjoyed being totally overstimulated by the classroom…and of course the cookies. after snack-time, there was a little time left before school let out, so the kids came back to the classroom and sang all the songs they’ve learned this year. aidan really likes going to school…he talks about the things he does, counts and knows his colors in spanish, sings songs (ALL THE TIME), and asks if today is a school day.
--his class also put on a show for all the whole school and parents. it was a prayer service, and the three-year-old class did the singing. it was really cute. some of the kids got really into it…mostly the girls, and some of them were really out of it. one girl was running up and down the stairs of the chapel, and one boy was hitting himself in the head. i got it all on film too, it’s great! after the first song ended, sierra screamed, “YAY!!” all the parents thought that was funny.
--the easter bunny left some goodies for the kiddies, and an indoor egg hunt. both of them were having a ball finding eggs. and they just looked adorable in their easter outfits…got some great pics!
--here are a few of the fun things aidan talks about these days. the second one, we were driving home from athens (a 9hour drive), and he spouted off this crazy story…what an imaginiation! i grabbed my pad and tried to write what i remembered down, then asked him to tell it to me again. he did and (it was exactly the same and) i filled in the gaps in what i wrote down.
* “why does my teacher love me?” (she loves all children.) “but she doesn’t know everybody’s name!”
* “sometimes sun booms into my land at the right spot in the fence, and a door comes in my backyard that takes me to a land with wolves, a unicorn, and trolls, talking sheeps, and tiny indians on my nose. i have a pet komodo dragon that helps me hide from the trolls and i ride on the unicorn. he runs because he doesn’t have wings. the trolls are faster than me, are really bigger than me, but i can defeat them. they won’t be dead, i just push them back under the bridge, but they will come back. all the animals and the tiny indians watch me defeat the trolls.” crazy, huh?
--sierra’s still all over the place. she’s constantly getting on top of a table, climbing stairs, opening doors, climbing out of bed, throwing things in the sink, taking things out of the garbage, picking flowers, singing songs and dancing, calling everything purple, and sitting (or standing) on the arm of the couch.
--latest verbal accomplishments include:
* “um ear, day-dee, ess dough” = come here, aidan, let’s go!
* “i shoe on, mama, ah white” = i want shoes on, mama, alright?
* “ree” = green
* “boo” = blue
* “pup-pul” = purple
* “horry, day-dee” = sorry, aidan
* “rarah” = sierra
* “shoe on, mama, pea” = please put my shoe on, mama
* “i go run” = (what she says as she runs in circles trying to make herself dizzy)
* “ha-huh” = ah-huh (as in ‘yes’)
* “hep me” = help me
* "wah-chow" / "buum" / "pah-chew" = her fighting noises ('buum' = boom)
* “ahh don duice peas, mama” = my juice is all gone, can i have more please, mama :)