ri sledding

Our New Years Eve plans changed this morning when poor cousin Kayley and Trevor both got sick and had to head home instead of coming to visit.  Oh well, we hope they feel better soon!  So instead of cooking and having company, J and Aiden went sled shopping first thing this morning.   Aiden came running into the house to tell me about the "snowflakes on his new sleigh" and how he tried them all out with daddy on the floor at Benny's. Then we headed out on the stomped down snow for some sledding action.  It was such a bright sunny morning and there were kids in t-shirts on the slopes.  Both J and Aiden were sweating by the end of their runs.  Aiden liked to lay down in the snow to cool off.  I think it's a toss up on whether he enjoys throwing snow balls more than sledding.  I couldn't help but giggle as my boys cruised past me in slow motion after starting at the tippy top:

science museum

Here are some photos from my dad (thanks!) during our first visit to the Great Lakes Science Center.  Aiden loved the Omnimax movies, Dolphins, Santa versus the Snowman, and Under the Sea.  We covered every inch of that place over our three visits (we're members!)  Aiden said his favorite were the instruments, balls, and space vehicles.  

family

We're home from Aiden's favorite place where bed times are late and pez/chocolate/candy are always available.  

Huge thanks especially to my parents for making the holiday so special for Aiden and for all of us.  Double thanks to all the rest of you for spoiling Aiden.  Highlights included sledding, snowman making, bouncing, wandering around the science museum (three visits!), visiting the choo choo museum, and a new treat with the tour of the chocolate factory!

The winner from the batch of shots that I tried to string together in the little video below - We can't get enough of the rapid fire timer photos:

good list

In addition to santa as an excuse to be good, the good list reached far and wide recently.

Santa Tiger ornament made especially for Aiden from Lizzie - Love it - Thanks Liz!:

Huge thanks to R for the awesome hologram Hungry Caterpillar puzzle - It was great to see you for breakfast at Bob's:

Gingerbread marshmallows dancing in hot cocoa - now they just need peanut butter flavored marshmallows:

Authentic Blue Footed Booby birds from Gran's friend Ev:

 Build Your Own Muppet Puppet - You can build mock ups even without spending $99 on one ;)

Build Your Own here.

Crazy Burger turkey risotto burger which I day dream about from months ago:

first sledding

We took Aiden sledding today for the first time.  We got all geared up with layers starting with a buzz lightyear jammie set, extra space socks from poppop all the way up his legs, and a scarf with "intergalactic" balls hanging off it.  He nearly fell asleep in the car on the way there and Ohio hadn't had a fresh batch of snow in a while, but he managed to have a blast.  He started out with his first run about half way up what he called the "medium sized hill" and then eventually made a bunch of runs all the way from the "tippy toe top" of the hill.  He loved going faaaast!   He made it up and down at least ten times and only his rosy cheeks kept him from going up again.  Thanks J for chasing him up and down that hill and for my dad for taking the fun action shots of them sliding down the hill ;)

First Sledding from LB on Vimeo.

more xmas

Santa showed up with some stick on mustaches which called for this:

Billy lucked out with his Aiden-chosen present - They finished the whole Spiderman puzzle:

The crew at the end of the night minus J who flew out right before dinner time for his conference back in Boston:

A very tuckered out little guy that fell asleep in PopPop's lap with his tie on ;)  He never wanted to take that thing off.

xmas morning

I have more photos than I know what to do with from the last couple days - and that is not even mentioning the video.  There are some classic bits of people unwrapping their Aiden-chosen presents and Aiden discovering the stockings coming sometime. Here are some stills from Christmas morning.

A very traditional photo of my enthusiastic sister holding some sort of culinary related present:

J unwrapping his favorite present from L and D - A Dexter kill outfit (it's a supposedly well-written show about a serial killer which Gran even watches) 

Above: A favorite buzz bowling game and the Dexter model with bed head.
Below: Aiden's coveted Tolee's treehouse and Auntie Pam's Aiden-chosen present, a dino hat

xmas eve

We had a nice xmas eve hanging out in snowy ohio-land.  We spent the afternoon at the science museum catching their Bubblemania show and then going to the huge-screen-that-makes-me-move (aka. the Omnimax) to see the Santa versus the Snowman show.  Yes, they do become friends in the end, but not until after Santa's elves order hot gingerbread men to jump out and melt the snowmen in the snowmen army.  Sounds crazy, eh?  But it was a hit.

Luminaries were lit all up and down the street:

Xmas pizzas were "crafted":

Some expert culinary pizzas were made:

Then the chocolate was melted and pretzels were dipped:

And many, many were decorated:

The good 'ol xmas jammies turned Aiden into a cuddle bug:

Checking Santa's progress on the Norad tracker was running excitement all day. 

Santa had left a voicemail message earlier in the day (huge thanks K!) and he'd asked Aiden to leave him a grilled cheese sandwich.  So, I think a new tradition was born.

Aiden wrote "Dear Santa" and dictated the rest of his note to Santa:

"Thank you for the presents.  I made you a grilled cheese and carrots for your reindeer before you take off. I love you on twice days which are christmas days and program days."

(Program day = the day of his concert at school which must have been hyped by the teachers)