Our Famous Son!!!

Here is the long awaited June edition of Parenting magazine! Our beautiful son is on page 110 and is one of the top 50 (out of over 300,000) cuties kids. Can you tell we're a little proud!We have 1 copy at home, in a safe place, and the other one with us at all times. :)

Momma's latest adventure

Some of you may already know that I am starting down a new road in my life. This year, for my birthday, I went to a 5 day training in Nashville, TN, to become a Hypnobabies Childbirth Instructor. I am so excited and I meet so many wonderful women. While I was up there, Anna and Jaiden came up to visit. (We were all not so sure how we would handle the 5 day separation...) Anna discovered, as I have in the past, that it's not so easy to chase a toddler and take pictures at the same time. They had a great time and did all kinds of neat stuff like the Nashville zoo but alas, no pictures. One night, however, after my class, we ventured off into the wild blue Tennessee yonder and found the GREAT park. Since we were all there, we were able to snap a few pictures. After we came home, we found out that it is one of the biggest parks in TN (and all this other cool stuff that I've since forgotten...) Anyways, here are a few pictures of out TN trip...
Love and hugs to all,
Stephanie, Anna, and Jaiden

My beautiful girlfriend!

This wonderful little shed.

We discovered Spinning! :)

So, while we were driving back home, I saw the craziest think in the middle of the highway; Tractors! What a great use of what is usually wasted space! Weird,but cool...

misc bits and pieces

It's been a while since my last post so here are a few random pictures of what we've been up to...

Jaiden, hard at work...
and hard at play...
fixing stuff...

This was at Jaiden's cousins Charoltte's birthday party. It was at Chucky Cheese and Jaiden; had a blast! Of course he had to find the stuff that goes. This is the wave runner but he also found the monster truck. What a blast!

Enjoy,

Stephanie, Anna, and Jaiden

As the personality emerges

Toady, grandma, Anna, Jaiden, and I went the the mall. Before we left the house, Jaiden insisted on putting on a pj top. The catch is, it is a size 4t. (He's just barely on a 2t.) No big deal. We've worn jammies out before but on top of that, he picked up a bucket to take with him. When we got to the mall and put him in his "blue stroller", this is what we found.

Enjoy and happy sunday!

Stephanie, Anna, and Jaiden

the birthday celebrations

As most of you know, this past week Jaiden celebrated his second birthday. In true Anna and Steph fashion, it stretched into a week long event. It all started on Wednesday (Jaiden's actual birthday.) We had a small celebration at work with balloons, cupcakes, and just a few presents. Jaiden was all about the balloons and presents/new trains.

That night, we decided to make a pizza together. Publix sells pizza dough that's just like home made so... we pulled everything out of the fridge that might go good on pizza and it turns out, our son is a pretty good pizza chef. That was one of the best pizza I have ever had.

On Thursday, Grandma came up from Fl. We didn't take and pictures but she brought a present from Great Grandma which was a car-carrier semi-truck that carries 4 monster trucks. Anyone who know Jaiden, knows how appropriate this is/was. As of now, Saturday evening, 2 days later, he can tell you what color each monster truck is, and what make each is, and any combination of the above information. He also had to sleep with the semi-truck portion last night... So Thank you, thank you, thank you great grandma and great grandpa!!! What a hit!

Friday was a bit of a whirl wind. Grandma, Jaiden and I did errands all day long: pick-up groceries, pick-up the cake, pick-up Jaiden's birthday present (which was interesting since he was with us...), and the other usual pre-party stuff...

Today was a great day. The party started at 1:00 and despite all of my worry about not having enough food, there was plenty of food and fun. Everyone had a great time and Jaiden got lots of new toys. For the record, Jaiden did not dive into the cake. He was more interested in the tractor and truck on the top. I'm sure the fun will continue for the next few days while we celebrate our little babies transition into boyhood.

We miss you all and wish you could be here to join in the fun.

Lots of love,

Stephanie, Anna, and Jaiden

Our Beautiful Son

This past week we received quite the compliment. Jaiden got asked to be a model for the Picture People. This is where we usually get his pictures taken but this time, they call us and asked if we could come in for some more pictures for them to use in their advertising. It did not pay anything but a few free pictures but that is enough for me. I don't even care if they ever use his pictures but it was (and is) the idea that someone else thinks my son should be in pictures too. So, to make a long story short, here is the link so you too can see our soon to be famous (and soon to be 2) little boy. They said they would contact us to let us know where they would use his pictures so we will pass on the info but for now, enjoy. :)
Love,
Steph, Anna and Jaiden

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/
email: studio8@mindspring.com
access code: ee9119b4c5
pass word: jaidenlee

Sandals and Seaguls

This past weekend, Anna and I used the excuse of a trade show to go visit my mom in FL. I really enjoyed going to a trade show because I haven't been to one since our lives drastically and wonderfully changed almost 2 years ago. I think Anna had a great time too and I KNOW that Jaiden had a blast. He spent the day with grandma and grandpa who spoiled him ripe. After Anna and I got the business portion of our trip completed, it was time for a little R-N-R. (which I think we achieved quite well.) We were down there for 3 complete days and 2 of them were spent at the beach. By the second day, Jaiden was saying "beeech, beeech". He learned all about seagulls and just how fun it is to chase them; a skill that he and I practiced as much as we could.

(a little background about the wardrode selection - we arrived at the beach full clothed in jeans and a t-shirt and ready to go. The diaper however, was not quite ready. So there went the pants. Then we went back to the car to get the snacks for the birds and Jaiden found out he could wash his feet. So there went the t-shirt. I just happened to have a jacket in the car so, there you go...)

I think by the end of the bowl, Jaiden had eaten more than the seagulls.

Of course, my son had to find something with wheels so we just had to let him "ride". He adjusted the mirror, honked the horn and even shifted gears. His favorite thing to do while he's "driving" is to wave at everyone he sees.

Sunday we went back to the beach and this time Grandpa Guy came too. He brought his casting net so we could fish but it was more like casing practice. Anyways, we had a wonderful trip and Jaiden got lots of gan-gan time. (He can't quite say grandpa but he sure can sign it.) Here are a few pictures to keep you warm.

lots of love, Steph, Anna and Jaiden

Guy's throw...

My throw... (one of the better ones I might add.)

My bounty!!!

The perfect ending for the perfect weekend!