How to eat a donut:

Step 1: Introduce donut!

Step 2: Take the biggest bite possible.

Step 3: Enjoy yummy messy donuty goodness!

Step 4: Repeat, repeat, repeat until...

...Almost done!

The imagination...

...on this kid...sometimes surprises me....ok- lots of times, surprises me...like when this picture came through the phone when the boys were grocery shopping.  Aiden has just grabbed the bag of broccoli Aaron put in the cart, puts it under his head, and says, "Ah- a soft pillow for me."  

Where does he get this stuff?!?  

I don't know, but thank God for it!

Pool fun with Tio and Tia!

Tio and Tia came for brunch and pooltime today after our rained out Strawberry church day.  Thankfully, the skies cleared- both for the festival, and also for our favorite after church pool time!  Today was extra special because Aiden was particularly bold and brave...or maybe he was just showing off for his Tio and Tia!  After a bit of our showing his bubbles and jumping in and kicking, Aiden decided he was going to do "swinging" at the steps.  He would hold onto the top step, push away and then kick back to it- most of the time holding on.  Well, I think the magic started happening when he pushed a bit to hard and lost grip of the step and really had to kick to get back to it- sometimes I would give him a little push, but a few times he felt himself let go and knew he had to work to get back!  Then, he didn't want my help- so he had a few big gulps of water when he pushed away too hard and went under as he lost his grip- but never was it traumatic- it was such a fun game that the coughing a sputtering was more painful for me than it was for him!  And within about 5 minutes of that "swinging" game, he turned out to the pool and realized that he could do the same thing if he swam out!  Sure enough, it was magic!  So yes, he has his safety seal on, which is keeping him afloat, but really he's gotta work to keep his face up out of the water.  Within just a few tries of doing it "by self," he was brave enough to swim from the stairs to the number 5, and then the next swim was from the stairs to the ladder.  Incredibly brave-and even as I'm writing about it- I still can hardly believe what progress he's made in the pool in just the last few weeks, and really only 1 or 2 days a week!  The greatest thing about today, was that I had to pull him out- he was kicking for "2 more jumps, 1,2,3,4,5 more jumps!"  So wonderful thinking back to the pain and agony it was just convincing him to be in the water last year at this time!  Wow!

Go blue...or baby blue...or something blue!

So Roy tried brainwashing Aiden with "Go Duke!" and of course Aaron's response was "Go heels, beat those devils!"  And the battle begins!

All-Aboard!

Fun times at the Strawberry Festival!  Aiden went round and round on the train all by himself!  

And each time he came around he'd announce, "All- Aboard!"

Why we love Florida!

It's March and we're at the beach!  Aaron has his weekends on Wednesday and Thursday so we try to take advantage of the evenings to do fun stuff together.  Today was a perfect evening for a trip to the beach, as the blessing of it all is that it's warm enough to splash in the water and chase the seagulls on the sand.  And of course the best part is to say goodbye to the sun and thank God for another beautiful day!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

What a fun morning!  All the stops were out this time, since Aiden has really started enjoying (and getting!) some of the humor of these books.  Aiden's got his One Fish, Two Fish shirt on, and of course he had to eat breakfast on his Cat in the Hat plate!  Green eggs and ham was read while we enjoyed the real thing- Spinach Egg Casserole and Bacon was our "ham!"  Thank you, Theodor, for all the wonderful rhymes and times of fun reading and laughing and along with your books- 

and Happy Birthday, our well-loved Dr. Seuss!

Serious snail talk...

As you see, Aiden is a very safe 3 or 4 feet from this little creature.  Yes, we are talking to a snail.  And yes, Aiden is quite disturbed by him.  This was such a funny moment because at first he said hi, as we walked by.  But then I told him to look closely at the snails little eyes as he was watching us pass by.  Oh no, that's when it started.  As soon as Aiden got close enough to see those wiggly eyes popping in and out and up and down, he said very clearly, "I don't like that snail!"  But then proceeded to sit down and tell the poor snail about 10 times, "I don't like you snail.  I don't like you looking at me snail."  And on and on, all the while the snail is hardly moving, and Aiden keeps scooting further and further away.  

Too much funny in all this serious snail talk!