Thursday, August 28, 2008

Long overdue.

It has been a reeeeeaaallly long time since I've posted on here...just ask my persistence little brother.

This summer has been quite full. It's typically our busy season at work with Back to School and Holiday projects. This year has been especially crazy with many of our vendors wanting to "sweeten the deal" with extra incentives to our guests and setting up more promotions then ever...thank you economy for that. But enough 'shop talk'.

Unfortunately with the soaring gas prices...we have not spent much time at the lake house enjoying nature...and Highway 371 :) We cherish the time we do get to spend up there even more now.

With a spring storm causing damage to our house and the Jeep, it has brought some other changes. The Jeep was hauled away to the salvage yard after being deemed "totaled" by the insurance company...which means it would cost more to fix it then it's worth. Which actually worked out well since we were hoping to get a more economical vehicle anyway and the Jeep wasn't running the best.


So after A LOT of thought and a little bit of luck, we found a 2006 Hyundai Sonata that is fully loaded! Both Nate and I love, love, LOVE driving this car - which also causes issues when we both want to drive it at the same time but not necessarily going to the same place.



Thanks to the hail storm, we also have a new roof on the house. There are other areas damaged that the insurance company did not take into consideration, so that might mean a phone call to straighten things out. But it also got Nate thinking about the garage he has been coveting for the last three years and five months of his life.

So now, Nate has been pulling together what needs to be done to get his garage built. I'm letting him 'project manage' this job... I really don't care if there is a garage or not... other then to "shut him up". But I'll be happy when I can send him out there when I want to get him out of my hair.

With the garage built and a few other house projects to finish, it is our hope to sell our house in St. Louis Park and move to a larger house with a larger yard for the boys. We are simply growing out of this space. But unfortunately, that will still take some time and the market isn't that great right now anyway. Just as long as it happens before Aiden starts school.

And now onto Aiden...the whole point of this blog.


Aiden is once again...absolutely AMAZING! I don't think I could ever really understand how much I was going to love this child, but do I love him more and more and more and more everyday!

I just spent a few days in Las Vegas celebrating Auntie Caly's 30th birthday. It was a fun few days away and as everyone kept telling me...it's good for me to get away...but it was HARD!

The only thing that really got me through it, was knowing Aiden was with Daddy and Reilly and they are the best people he could be with. But I still missed my boys terribly. They are truly my whole world and I love it!


Aiden...


Aiden is absolutely awesome. He talks in full sentences and can hold a conversation with a stranger on the bus...

We were riding the "city bus" from the State Fair back to our car (the bus ride being his favorite part of the fair). Aiden was chatting up the pretty blonde girl sitting next to him. I couldn't believe it! She was going into her sophmore year at St. Thomas University and she loved how cute Aiden was.

I am raising a shameless flirt...oh boy!

Aiden adores climbing on anything and everything. Uncle Dave has helped him climb trees, the neighbor taught him how to climb the 'rock wall' part of the playground across the street, and he prefers to climb up on the back of the couch and lay there like a cat watching TV...


Although he loves climbing and has no fear of heights...he's scared to death of movement. He'll climb onto one of the riding toys in the mall, he plunks a coin in the slot and then jumps off scared --ghost white-- once the machine starts moving.

During a recent trip to the Como Zoo, Aiden really wanted to ride the merry-go-round. Nate told him we'd stop there on our way out of the zoo. So on our way out of the zoo we bought tickets for Daddy and Aiden. I took pictures...while Nate tried to manage an extremely frightened little boy. Aiden HATED the merry-go-round once he realized it moved. He clung to Daddy and screamed until the ride stopped.



Aiden has also learned to jump into the hot tub (his pool). Not only just jump into the hot tub, but now falling in backward...apparently not worried if someone will catch him or not.

He also loves jumping from the side of the boat into an awaiting Daddy's arms. Now that Daddy has taught him to swim with a lifejacket on, he's all over the lake swimming like a fish...Daddy can't catch this one either!
















With a few up north swimming adventures under his belt, he was ready for a new one...jumping off the diving board at Grandma Toni's pool (a real pool), even after Daddy exited the pool he continued to do it on his own.



I tell ya, this kid is truly amazing...straight from the beginning...and everyday since then.


P.S. He is currently on the way to the lake house with Poppa and Gramma, which is the reason I have a moment to update the blog.