Suprise! No...Not Really.

Aiden just got his 'start of summer' super short haircut. He also got his first black-eye, earned by whacking himself in the eye with a toy. He's also in shorts constantly now that the weather is regularly 70ish or warmer. All of these things combined make him seem like he's grown a ton in the past week. His big boy buzz cut, a purple-blue shiner and impossibly long legs sticking out from last years shorts.

Also, the things that come out of his mouth lately leave me flabbergasted (and occasionally wishing I watched my own mouth more carefully).

We were in the yard and a very old, very loud car drove past. Aiden made a face and muttered "beater car". It cracked me up. Sean and I always refer to junk cars as "beaters" and I guess he was listening.


Yesterday he came up and showed me a little red mark on his leg and promptly declared "A pimple! I got pimples all over!". This made me cringe a little since he's obviously heard either Sean or I complain about our skin (not that we really have pimples all over, but I know I can be oh... a LITTLE DRAMATIC when I do find one).


Perhaps the funniest thing he's started saying is "SURPRISE!" and then telling me what wants.
"Surprise! You let me watch a movie!" or "Surprise! You give me chocolate now!". I sure wish surprises worked that way.

Sean's Birthday

Yesterday was Sean's 24th birthday. I had decided that this year Sean was going to have a party, with friends, and a big, big cake. He deserved it. He's an amazing husband, father and friend and he's been working so hard these past few days/weeks/years.

Last year I bought him a birthday present that broke within weeks, threw him a birthday breakfast that went totally awry and drove him to his birthday dinner 45 minutes late. This year I needed to redeem myself. Also, Sean never makes a big deal out of his big day. He never asks for any gifts or requests any special treatment but you know what? Sean deserves to have everyone make a big deal out of him once in a while.


His two friends from college, Owen and Mikey came to stay for the weekend. The boys all got to hang out and do man stuff, like assemble Sean's new grill. Saturday afternoon we had a big cook out (or cook in since the grill was in the garage and we ate inside, out of the pouring rain). More of our friends came over and it was a really fun party. Aiden even managed to behave himself throughout, except for trying to sneak a worm into the house inside a toy pickup truck.



By Sunday afternoon we were both totally exhausted. Sean came away with a lot of thoughtful gifts, a refrigerator stuffed with party food and hopefully, some good memories.

Garden Party

Now that the weather is getting warmer, Sean and I have been trying to fix up the seriously neglected yard and gardens around the house. We haven't been able to do much of anything with them for the past two years so this year, now that we're all actually home, we are making up for lost time.

Last week Sean had three days off and we spent each day trekking to Lowe's and back, car trunk full of topsoil and mulch, and working outside. We've been wanting to plant a vegetable garden and finally worked out exactly where everything would go, but it required replanting several plants (by several I mean A LOT). i have never done much (okay, any) gardening in my life that wasn't under the direct tutelage of my mother or aunt so I've been kind of nervous about undertaking what seems like a rather large project.


Overall, everything seems to be going according to plan, if not slightly slower than I'd hoped it would. I'm finding that while I don't particularly enjoy the process (especially the way spiders and worms seems to pop out of nowhere) I really love the results which makes it worth it.


Aiden loves to help. By help I mean that he likes to take a sand shovel and rearrange topsoil or pick up worms and carry them around like a pet. It's been a fun family adventure and hopefully this summer we'll have a nice little vegetable garden to show for all the work.

Wishing You...

...a little peace on earth.