That Aiden

Tonight Aiden was telling me about wolf spiders.  

I asked him, "how do you know about wolf spiders?"
His reply, "I read about them in a book.  I know things.  Duh mom."

He's awesome.  

Adley Lynn - 8 months

 Miss Adley is sure growing up fast...a little too fast but what else can we do about it?  She is such a happy little girl.  She is crawling around all over the place.  After we put all the brothers to bed, she will happily crawl around the family room and wear herself out.
 

She can also sit up, she's quite the big girl.  She will crawl around, sit herself up, then go back to crawling.  She even has pulled herself up to her knees. 

Love this little sweet face. 

She is quite the chatter box.  Adam swears she says dada but I'm pretty sure she is just making little gibberish baby sounds.  

She's been holding her own bottle for quite some time now but she also loves to hold her baby food pouches and is starting to feed herself puffs.  


These pictures just make me laugh...she is such a happy girl!

This cute dress is from Target which I spied on forever waiting for it to go on sale when I was pregnant with Adley.  But when it finally did, it wasn't in the size I wanted.  Then one Sunday, I see another cute baby girl sporting the cute dress.  So I (in very tacky fashion!) ask the mom if I can have it when she's done.  It worked out well for me since she not only gave me that dress but many other adorable clothes for little miss.  (In fact half of her wardrobe comes from them!)

And this cute little sweater jacket was mine as a baby that my (2nd?) Cousin Harriet crocheted for me when I was a baby.  I love it, I need to try the sweet little bonnet on her too, but I wanted her to wear her Halloween bow before Halloween was over.  

Trunk or Treat

Friday night was our church's annual chili/soup dinner and trunk or treat.  We had such a great time.  I gotta say my favorite part was just walking around at the end and getting to talk to everyone while the kids were getting candy.  Plus now we have 4 bags of candy to enjoy until the real deal!

So here are the boys...

Damon is the Heisman trophy...yes I painted (and spray painted) him gold!

Can I just say this was a lot harder then I thought it would be! AND he had gold tennis shoes but did you know that when you spray paint tennis shoes they get really hard and don't fit like they used to?

Ninja Xavier

Yes a white ninja...I don't ask questions I just make the costumes.

Skeleton Aiden 

My only child who wants to be something scary!

T-Rex Grayson

Grayson wanted his face painted like the others so we had to paint him pink since his face was actually the mouth of the dinosaur...so yes I did smear lipstick all over his face.

Kitty Cat Adley 

She did not enjoy her costume she was pretty sober the whole night.  

Football

Damon and Xavier were on the same football team this year.  They had a great time and won every game but one.  (The season isn't technically over yet, there is one more game but D & X won't be at that game but I'm sure they will pull out a win.)

Cross Country

Xavier participated in Cross Country this year and really enjoyed it.  He loves to run and will often run on the treadmill for fun.  He had a great time participating in Cross Country and has big plans of only doing it next year and not all of his other activities.  It is a great program that the club does and he was excited to be apart of it this year.

The Happiness Project

Yes its Book Report time!

The Happiness Project

The author dedicated a year to different projects with the main goal to increase her happiness.  She found what worked and what didn't work (for her, because everyone's happiness project will be different).  I found it very interesting to see what she felt were important aspects to work on.  I really enjoyed it and found it was very inspiring.  I dare you to read January and not feel inspired to clean your closets.  

Here are her "rules" that she established throughout the year to help keep her focused.  

12 Commandments

1. Be Gretchen
2. Let it go
3. Act the way I wnt to feel
4. Do it now
5. Be polite and be fair
6. Enjoy the process
7. Spend out
8. Identify the problem
9. Lighten up
10. Do what ought to be done
11. No calculation
12. There is only love

The 8 Splendid Truths of Happiness

1. To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right in an atmosphere of growth.
2. One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; one of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
3. The days are long, but the years are short.
4. You're not happy unless you think you're happy.  
5. I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.
6. The only person I can change is myself
7. Happy people make people happy, but I can't make someone be happy, and no one else can make me happy.
8. Now is now

Secrets of Adulthood

• People don't notice your mistakes as much as you think
• It's okay to ask for help
• Most decisions don't require extensive research
• Do good, feel good
• Its important to be nice to everyone
• Bring a sweater
• By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished
• Soap and water remove most stains
• Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch
• If you can't find something, clean up
• You can choose what you do, you can't choose what you like to do
• Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy
• What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while
• You don't have tot be good at everything
• If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough
• Over-the-counter medicines are very effective
• Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good
• What's fun for other people may not be fun for you - and vice versa
• People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry
• You can't profoundly change your children's natures by nagging them
• No deposit, no return

When making a choice about what to do, choose work

Buy anything you want at the grocery store; poking is always cheaper then eating out

The chapters were on different aspects of her life along with the resolutions she wanted to accomplish through the month.  

January - Boost Energy - VITALITY

• Go to sleep earlier
• Exercise better
• Toss, restore, organize
• Tackle a nagging task
• Act more energetic

February - Remember Love - MARRIAGE

• Quit nagging
• Don’t expect praise or appreciation
• Fight right
• No dumping
• Give proofs of love

March - Aim Higher - WORK

• Launch a blog
• Enjoy the fun of failure
• Ask for help
• Work smart
• Enjoy now

April - Lighten Up - PARENTHOOD

• Sing in the morning
• Acknowledge the reality of people’s feeling
• Be a treasure house of happy memories
• Take time for projects

May - Be Serious About Play - LEISURE

• Find more fun
• Take time to be silly
• Go off the path
• Start a collection

June - Make Time for Friends - FRIENDSHIP

• Remember birthdays
• Be generous
• Show up
• Don’t gossip
• Make three new friends

July - Buy Some Happiness - MONEY  (I thought the money chapter was fascinating!)

• Indulge in a modest splurge
• Buy needful things
• Spend out
• Give something up

3 factors that shape the signficance of money to individuals

• It depends on what kind of person you are 
• It depends on how you spend your money
• It depends on how much money you have relative to the people around you and relative to your own experiences

One person’s fortune is another person’s misfortune.

When money or health is a problem, you think of little else; when it’s not a problem you dont think much about it.  Both money and health contribute to happiness mostly in the negative; the lack of them brings much more unhappiness than possessing them brings happiness.  

August - Contemplate the Heavens - ETERNITY

• Read memoirs of catastrophe
• Keep a gratitude notebook
• Imitate a spiritual master

---Story of a Soul by Therese Martin

September - Pursue a Passion - BOOKS

• Write a novel
• Make time
• Forget about results
• Master a new technology

October - Pay Attention - MINDFULNESS

• Meditate on koans
• Examine True Rules
• Stimulate the mind in new ways
• Keep a food diary

November - Keep a Contented Heart - ATTITUDE

• Laugh out loud
• Use good manners
• Give positive reviews
• Find an area of refuge

December was a recap of trying to live all of her resolutions.  

Can't wait to read the follow up book, Happier At Home.

Adley Lynn - 7 months

Adley is now 7 months old and is starting to crawl!  There is a video at the end.  And sorry for the picture overload, but its really hard to pick!

She used to sleep through the night but she has recently started to wake up in the middle of the night.  Luckily we can just hand her a bottle and she'll go back to sleep.  But its still super annoying at 4am.  No baby is cute at 4am.

She is starting to get some hair...its not much but its there!

She is also sitting up really well.  She will sit up for a couple minutes all by herself.  She is really close to going from laying down to sitting up.   

She loves her toys, (and her brothers' toys) and will scoot or roll to wear she needs to go to get them.  She loves to just be on the floor playing.  She prefers that to anything else.

Here's a video of her crawling.  She was starting to crawl towards her ball and then she see's Grayson on the iPad and started to crawl towards it.  

Aiden and Grayson

 Aiden and Grayson are two of the funniest kids.  So here are some funny things they are doing and saying...


Here's Aiden with Rose (a friend from church) dancing at Orange Leaf.  I think Aiden is quite the charmer.

The other day a girl had made some mean comments to Aiden on his way home from school.  She is in his class and they all walk home together.  He came home very upset, telling me all about it.  I said, "You should tell her to be nice or you won't be her friend anymore."  He said, "No I'm not going to say that.  She's too pretty.  I want to be her friend.  She is so beautiful!"  I think we are in TROUBLE!




Right when I took this picture Grayson put his arm around Aiden and said, "Best Friends!"

A friend gave us this old halloween costume, it has provided a lot of entertainment.  Aiden and Grayson both love it.

Grayson almost always gets a new car when we go grocery shopping (he's my big helper).  And he loves school buses so he was so excited to see a hot wheel school bus.

Grayson now says, "You silly" all the time.  He will say it to all of us and its adorable. "You silly mama, you silly."

He will also hold his finger up to his nose and say, "I mustache you a question."

Also if you call him something, like the other day I called him Cool Dude, he will say, "I not cool dude, I Grayson!"  "I not stinky boy, I Grayson."  "I not funny boy, I Grayson."  Whatever it is, he will always correct you with his name.

Adam's Birthday

For Adam's birthday we had dinner at home and I then had cookies and ice cream sundaes.  I know it was lame but there just isn't much to do on a middle of the week birthday!

 

He got new dress socks and cologne (cologne came later)

 Adley loved the plastic sacks  (I promise we are good parents)

On the next weekend one of Adam's brothers came to town so we were able to celebrate with his parents, grandma, and Kevin and Lisa.  

KSU Football Game

 A friend of ours gave us his football tickets for a Saturday evening game.  It was Damon and Xavier first time to go (not counting the time we sat in the luxury box and Damon was 18 months).

I had been gone all day for Skirt parties and had to hurry home so it made for a long day.  But we had a great time!

Labor Day

Adam had a bunch of days off during Labor day weekend so that gave us plenty of time to play and get some things done around the house.  

Adam washing the car...isn't he cute...

On Labor day we went to Pillsbury Crossing.  I've always seen beautiful pictures taken there and everyone always talks about how pretty it is.  I think we missed something.  We walked around for a bit but there wasn't much to do.  Here's the boys playing in the water.  After we went to Applebee's for lunch.  Adam has had a gift card from a client forever that we finally decided to use.  We went at the perfect time because kids ate free most of September.  So we still have plenty on the gift card for another trip.  Gotta love that!  (Didn't love the stomach ache I got though! )  I don't think we have been to Applebee's in at least 5 years so it was like a brand new experience.  We just don't eat out at chain restaurants too much.  

 Xavier is in the back...he was having fun exploring!