Trick or Treat!

We had a blast trick or treating! Aidan LOVED it! It took a little persuasion to get the Nemo costume on, but once he realized he could get candy by simply wearing a costume, it was smooth sailing! We took Nemo down the street and then came home to hand out candy, but Aidan wasn't finished trick or treating. Everytime the doorbell would ring, he'd come running with his basket to get candy out of our own bowl. It was very cute.

Aidan is also talking up a storm now. We actually have mini-converstaions with him! He also says his first 3 syllable word---applesauce!

Fun Weekend at the Beach!
We took Aidan for a quick trip to Virginia Beach. He LOVED it! He was a little nervous about the waves, but he loved the sand and birds. He's talking more and more and blurts out new words everyday. Some of his new words are hug, Santa, table and mow. He loves to go for walks when it starting to get dark so we can look for the moon. While we're walking if a tree gets in the way of the moon, he looks back and says "Mommy, more moon". It's really cute. Enjoy the pictures!
Waving to a friendly bird
We built an awesome sandcastle!
Daddy's shoes!
We were at the beach---Of course we had to play with Nemo!
Waving bye bye to the waves
Mr. Cheeseball!
Fun with Daddy!
We found Nemo!
Fun times!
Mommy forgot to pack swim diapers and regular diapers really can't hold much ocean!

Relaxing!

Reading all by himself!

I wish this video would have been longer, but I ran out of room on the disk. This is Aidan and his cousin, Nick, dancing to "Fruit Salad". Enjoy!

A trip to the Zoo

We took Aidan for a trip to the Metro Richmond Zoo today. It was a lot of fun because it is a smaller zoo so there aren't a lot of people and you can feed most of the animals. Aidan had a blast running around and making animal sounds. He loved the ducks and birds. He learned the word zoo and gym on the way there. One of his new favorite words is oatmeal. He loves to eat oatmeal for breakfast and we hear him say "I want oatmeal" about 50 times before it's heated and ready to eat. We're working on patience!

Our Toddler!

Where has the time gone? It's hard to believe Aidan has turned into a little toddler. Brad and I are both amazed at how quickly Aidan picks things up. Seems like he's learning a new word everyday! His newest words are Ball, Juice, Nala and ice. He's even made his first attempt at stringing two words together---"what's this". He can make the sound of just about every barnyard animal. When we were in PA in June, we took a trip to the zoo with Grandma, Aunt Laura and Derek. Aidan loved it! He was running around with wide eyes taking everything in. He was especially excited when we found Nemo in the aquarium. Aunt Laura bought him his very own "Nemo" and he sleeps with him every night.

Bed-time and nap-time are finally an easy part of our routine! Aidan goes to bed about 9p.m. after we read his favorite stories and usually wakes up at about 8am. Then at 1pm we read another story and Aidan picks his favorite book to take to nap with him. He "reads" it for a bit in his crib and falls asleep for about 2-3 hours! He even plays in the crib now rather than crying when he wakes up! It's so nice having a set routine where Aidan doesn't fight sleeping and we can catch up on chores and sleep ourselves!

Last bit of news- Brad is very modest and would never boast about this himself, but since I'm his proud wife, I don't mind. Brad coached another successful season of Spotsy High baseball and was the recipient of 4 prestigious awards. He won:

--High School Coach of the Year (voted on by his peers at Spotsy High)

--District Coach of the Year (voted on by the other district coaches)

--Regional Coach of the Year (voted on by the other region coaches)

--Free Lance Star Coach of the Year (voted on by FLS staff based on stats, expectations, etc...)

I'm sure he'll be embarrassed when he reads that I added this and ask me to take it down, but I'll take my chances.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Aidan's baseball lawn chair
Mr. Crazy
Lunch really made him tired!
Cool dude in mommy's sunglasses!
Helping daddy wash mommy's car!

Aidan is a year and a half!

...and has officially become Mr. Independent. Everything has to be done his way on his own terms. He's also very determined. When he's got his mind on something, he's going to get it done whether or not mom and dad approve. He acts like such an adult now. He loves to do little chores around the house--his favorites are watering the plants and throwing garbage away! He is also an expert animal noise maker. His words now include: Stone, Bush, Ball, Mom, Dada, Papa and Nala. We took him on a little train ride at UMW this past weekend and he loved it. He kept putting his arm up and saying "choo choo". Enjoy your summer!