Christmas 2010

Playing in my mom's mop bucket

Bala reading to Aaron

He wanted to hold Cora non-stop

Playing with Papa

New Tiger sleeping bag from Gig and Papa

- he pretended to go 'nigh nigh'

LOVED helping Uncle Luke open his gifts

a toy that was in his stocking

new cousin Isaac Matthew

(A new family of 4)

Just a few pictures of our Christmas 2010. This is Aaron's 2nd Christmas, so he was a little more aware of the tree and lights and presents. He LOVED helping tear the wrapping paper on the gifts and helping other people open their gifts. We had a great time in Melber. Family was great and Aaron loved getting them all to give him chocolate non-stop. He sure does have a sweet tooth. On our way home we stopped to see my new nephew Isaac Matthew Phillips. My brother and sister-in-law had their 2nd little boy. He's precious. Everyone is healthy and happy. I can't wait to see him again.

All bundled up!

We went outside for a while today while daddy worked with Lenny (the horse.) Aaron enjoyed it...even all bundled up!

Walking out to see daddy.

Showing Ra Ra his gloves.

Feeding "Yinny" hay.

Sweetest boy.

A boy and his Ra Ra

"Yites"

Aaron LOVES our tree. He is is constantly going into the living room to see the "yites" and concentrates really hard on which color is which. He gets them right about 50% of the time I would say. I took an opportunity yesterday to take some pictures.

Pointing out the 'bu' lights

cute little boy

more light identification

He actually posed when I asked him to

Anniversary

Today is Mark and my 6th wedding anniversary. This year we decided to take a little trip together. Ra Ra stayed at home with Aaron. Mark and I took off to Gatlinburg, TN for the weekend. We are having a blast, although we find ourselves talking non-stop about our little boy at home. We got here yesterday and will leave tomorrow. Last night we walked around Gatlinburg and ate BBQ. Today we SLEPT IN and went hiking. It has been the perfect get-away for us. I think I have smiled more and laughed harder this weekend than I have in a long time. I thought I would post some pictures. Enjoy!

Abram's Falls

Happy 6 years!

Fun wood bridges to cross

Our room: I asked for one with a jacuzzi!

Little Helper

Aaron has recently been VERY interested in doing whatever his daddy is doing. He always wants to sit with his daddy, work like his daddy, wear his 'boots' like his daddy, and repeats just about every word his daddy says (this sometimes causes problems). He has never really been a mamma's boy or a daddy's boy in-particular , but I can honestly say now that he is a daddy's boy. In some ways I am sad, but it is so awesome too! Watching him follow Mark around trying to 'be' his daddy makes me so proud and thankful for the man he is watching so closely on how to behave. I am so aware of how important my actions and especially Mark's are to how Aaron thinks and acts. So I am left questioning myself: Do I really show Aaron who I try to follow/mimic closely? How well do I know my God? How closely do I follow in HIS footsteps? Wow...parenting is hard sometimes. But SO worth it when you see your son watching his daddy so closely with adoring eyes.

Here are some pictures of Aaron helping his daddy doing some plumbing.

Safety first

working on the pipes

Update before Christmas

So right now things are pretty tough at the Adams house. Sunday after we decided to go to Nashville to watch a Christmas concert with Raich. Matt and Lori came and brought Eli. It was a great concert (By Jason Coleman - great pianist). When we got back to Raich's appartment I started feeling kinda sick. We also got hit with several inches of snow that night. So what would normally take 1 hour to get home, took is 3 hours. I felt horrible the entire way. We got home and I spent the rest of the night and into the morning leaning over the toilet. Thankfully, my wonderful husband stayed home the next morning because I was pretty much not coherent...until 9am when Mark walked in our bedroom holding Aaron who had blood running down out of his mouth. He fell and hit his lip on our coffee table. We took him to the ER because he cut his lip pretty bad. No stitches which we were grateful for; just a swollen, bum lip. Aaron didn't even act like it bothered him. He just kept asking to go 'bye, bye' the whole time we were there. Mark went back to work today and I am at home with Aaron. Still feel pretty cruddy, but at least no throwing up and no early am ER trip. Oh yea, and why no pictures you ask????? Because we can't find our camera. It's been lost for a week now. So whenever we find it, I'll be back to picture taking for the blog. For now, disinfectant spray and Kleenex are my friends. Let's pray no one else in our household gets this.

18 months!!!

So tomorrow Aaron is 18 months old. Where has the time gone???!! So before the new 'list' of what Aaron does now; here is a picture to compare from last year.

Last Thanksgiving at Aunt Sarah's house

(6mo. old)

Thanksgiving 2010 - 18 mo.

Here is what you are up to Aaron:

-You are talking up a storm. Putting words together some to get your point across better. Your favorite words right now are: "niiiiccceee," "GOAL!!!" and "NO!"

-You have started asking to go 'pee-pee' in the potty all by yourself...and you go some of the time! We are wondering what this means for potty training...hmmm. Do children usually teach themselves to use the potty???

-You LOVE attention. As long as people are paying attention to you, you put on a show. And it's super cute - which you are aware of.

- 'dramatic' is a perfect descriptor when it comes to how you express yourself...everything is a big deal.

-Dancing is one of your favorite things to do. Anything having to do with music you're always up for. This includes worship!

-You still take 2 naps most days.

-Your best friends are Elijah 'Yi Yi' and Aiden "Ne Ne". You pray for them every night.

-There is nothing better than riding a horse (ho ho). Dusty and Pepper were your first

horses you knew well. Dusty was your favorite. There is nothing sweeter than watching you and your daddy on a horse together.

-Time outs and spankings happen often, but you are not too strong willed....mommy is thankful!

-favorite food is a P.B.J. "jay jay" and of course Jack Jack's. Let's not forget cookies 'too tees' too.

-you are learning to jump

-Elmo is your favorite DVD to watch

-your Papa is your favorite person EVER. you are inseparable from him when you are together.

-You love to play basketball with daddy and say 'GOAL!'

-Favorite books are 'Jesus,' 'George' and "Chaco.'

-You LOVE your Aunt Rachel (Ra Ra) and 'call' her non-stop on the phone.

Aaron, you are a very passionate and smart little boy. A true joy to be around. We love you very much and can't wait to see what the next 18months will bring.

Horse lover

Saturday night when it was time to go to bed, Aaron 'asked' if he could sleep with this stuffed horse. Mark and I both chuckled and told him that he could. He promptly picked up the horse and his nuzzy (which is also a horse) and went to his crib. This is what we found when we went to check on him. What can I say, The kid LOVES horses.

Willeford visit

Yesterday morning Lori, Weston and Taylor came for an overnight visit. We had so much fun. Weston LOVED to ride. Aaron couldn't have had more fun playing outside with him. Taylor is so squeezable and happy. Here are some pictures from our time that Lori took. She's an awesome photographer! The kids are cute too.

Mark and Weston riding

Aaron riding with his mama

(his face was like this the whole time...I think he wanted to ride with his daddy)

very cute cousins!

Aaron giving Tay a 'hug'

'oosh-es'

ok so Aaron is OBSESSED with shoes. He calls them 'oosh.' He is constantly asking to put his 'oosh' on. Tonite he brought me an bag of shoes that someone gave me before he was born that I still haven't taken to goodwill (I know, everything has a priority- it was going to get there eventually). He insisted on putting on a pair of size 4 white tennis shoes (he wears a 6). So being the good mother that I am...I put them on him. He wore then until it was time for bed.

Trunk-or-Treat

Last night we had to trunk or treat with our church. There were A LOT of people there. I think I was told that we gave out 500 hotdogs. I was happy to meet several people from the community. The kids were super cute. Aaron was a tiger this year...compliments of his Gigi. The only thing he wasn't crazy about was the hood on the costume...but we put it on anyway and could distract him long enough for pictures. Here are a few pics. We do it all over again this Saturday in Melber!

trying to figure out how to carry his candy bucket

with his mama...wouldn't look at the camera

Ready to say 'tee tee'

trying to pull his hood off

Jack-O-Lanterns

We carved pumpkins tonite with our small group! We had a great time. I think my favorite part of the night was hearing little Joseph Berriage say "I love you daddy, you're doing a great job," to his dad. He was watching his daddy carve a pumpkin with the utmost concentration. Aaron was confused by the light inside the pumpkin. He kept sticking his face right ON the pumpkin itself. It was a fun night.

A bat-ghost and 2 faces on our pumpkins

All three in the light...I think the dark is better

David and Becca carving their pumpkin

A curious boy looking at his pumpkin

Weekend

We spend the weekend in Melber. This weekend was extra special because Joel, Andrea and Aiden went with us. We had a lot of fun! Melber was having a guest speaker for a weekend meeting. The speaker was David Mitchell from our church here in Tullahoma, so we all decided to go and be the Tullahoma supporters. The meeting was great and we really enjoyed David's lessons. We also had a ton of fun going to the pumpkin farm, riding horses, and hanging out. I think Aiden's favorite part was the kittens he played with at Baba's. The weekend went by WAY to fast, but we still had a blast. Here are just a few of the million pictures that were taken this weekend.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends. Aaron loved it! There were so many different things for him to do there. We went for a hay ride, got to play on the slide, swing on a tire swing, play in water, and see some farm animals. Aaron correctly identified all of the animals except the pig. He thought that was a dog....We're still working on that one. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Aaron playing in the 'wa wa.'

Aaron mid-slide...he LOVED it.

Friends we met at the pumpkin patch

Ready to pick out our pumpkin!

"BOO"

Cousin Time

This week Lori and Eli came for a visit while Matt went away on business. We LOVE having them here. Aaron and Eli are finally at a point where they can play together without us helping them. Their favorite place to play is in the living room on the blow up mattress. Apparently running really fast and then falling on the mattress while screaming the whole time is REALLY fun. Aaron sure does love his cousin "Yi Yi." He never stops saying Eli's name.

We went to get them out when we arrived at Walmart

and found them just like this....

"High Five" cousins

playing the piano with 'Yi Yi'