Catchin up on the weekend...

The kids are really getting excited about Santa's big visit. They've been keeping track of his arrival with a little countdown calendar on the fridge as well as by removing paper chains from an advent calendar Olivia made at school.


Thursday night was a cookie exchange with these girls:



Woke up to almost a foot of snow on Friday morning and had a snow day. Did lots of shoveling, snow plowing and even had a little fun starting to make a snow fort with Aidan. As you can see in the photo it was still snowing just a little bit.




Saturday, we had a VIP arrive in the mail!



After visiting my cousin Brenda in Minneapolis last month, we realized that we had left Aidan's favorite blue teddy there. He finally made his way back home via Priority Mail. Hope you had a good vacation teddy!





Here's a quick e-mail exchange between Aidan and Brenda:

-----Original Message-----
From: Erin
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 1:10 PM
To: Brenda
Subject: note from Aidan

daer breda did you have a grat time with my tete bare did you play with tete aftr shcool and did you play dresop with tete he likes dresop and1 thing that you sod alwase sod do is wos him rite nou he is cold so i am going to snogl him with the tete from dads wrck prte i cant wat entel we visit you in minasota mare chritstmas love aidan



Merry Christmas Aidan,
Thank you for the note!! I am so glad that your bear found his way back to you. I am glad that you are going to snuggle with him -- he sure missed you.
See you soon!!
Love, Brenda

My morning so far...

and of course a few pics. Pictures aren't from this morning...but their cute & I'd like to share!

THIS BOY:



--woke up with a sore neck this morning
He actually sat on my lap this morning and let me rub his neck for a little while. Not sure how much longer he'll want to sit on my lap. Need to soak in these moments while they last.
--is getting so big (so quickly!) Last night he asked how tall he'll be when he's 8. He's planning ahead for a trip to Disney. I'm sure he's concerned if he'll get to go on all the rides!
--pretty self-sufficient in getting himself ready for school



THIS GIRL:



--wanted to dress herself this morning. She would have been fine, if we'd had an extra 5 minutes to spare. Threw a little fit when I tried to help her. Needed to rush out the door to get to school on time.
--had organic honey puffs for breakfast. She picked them out at the store by herself. I guess I can't complain about paying a dollar more for cereal (compared to Fruit Loops!!!) for something WAY healthier!
--actually wore pants today!!!
This may not seem that noteworthy, but even her preschool teacher mentioned "pants today" as we walked in the door. She is definitely a dress-wearing kind of girl.

Looking back on first day photos.

1st grade(2008)



Senior Kindergarten (2007)


Junior Kindergarten (2006)



I didn't realize it was our tradition to take a picture in front of the big tree until Ryan mentioned it on the first day of school this year. Looking back, I think Aidan looks pretty much the same. Taller, of course. And a couple less teeth this year!