Aedan's 1st Jack-o-Lantern

Aedan "helped" carve his first jack-o-lantern. Actually, Grandpa Howard did most of the work, but Aedan sure was interested once the candle got inside! He loves "turning it on" each night. He tells everyone the teeth are funny and are his favorite part!

DeMoss Pumpkin Farm

We took a trip to the DeMoss pumpkin farm...it's hard to believe we made our first trip over a year ago. The kids LOVED the animals and the tractors, and I've promised Aedan he can ride the tractors when we visit Grandma Dorothy.

Trip to Grandpa and Grandma Howard's

We took a quick trip over to Ames this weekend. The kids got to spend lots of outdoor time. Aedan helped Grandpa Howard "fix" the tractor and the kids probably spent 2 hours riding up and down to the river on it! I'll post the pumpkin farm pictures next.

Updated pics of Aedan and Alana

It's been over a month, and it's amazing how quickly these kids change! Here are some update pictures.

Last Update Before Steve's Home!

Steve, this is the last update I'll make before you're back in Alaska and I get a chance to see you! I can hardly believe it. I finally took some pictures of Alana...I wanted you to see how big she'd gotten. The monkey backpack she has on is the same one we used with Aedan for our Alaska vacation last summer...can you believe it?! She loves that thing and wants to wear it around every day...go figure!

Can't wait to see you. Have a safe trip home!

Aedan's 1st Birthday Party

Aedan and I went to his first birthday party on Saturday. It was for a girl from his Kindermusik class. Aedan had a lot of fun even though he was the only boy there! They had it at a great park, and Aedan played continuously...he even missed opening the presents. I knew you would LOVE the video of him scooting up the climbing wall :-)

Camp-out pictures

These were taken at the Howard Camp-out last weekend. We stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Nathan, AKA GG, but I didn't get any pictures there....as you can see I didn't do a very good job of getting any pictures at all!! But, there is a video of Aedan fishing with his Grandpa Howard, and one of him out for a paddle boat ride with his Aunt Tina. Both kids LOVED the water.

Misc pics

These are some dinner pics of the kids that I thought were particularly good, and some pics of Aedan getting his new sleeping bag ready for the camp-out. He was sure proud of that thing.

Basement fun

We had another tornado watch and had to spend some time in the basement. The kids took full advantage of it and played with all the toys they could find, danced, and played dress-up. It was quite entertaining. Ok, the go-go boots may be over the top, but Aedan kept hamming it up because we kept laughing!

Aedan Mowing

Steve, Aedan won't be riding in the backpack anymore while you mow. He now wants to do it himself! This is how he and Grandpa Ray mow the lawn!

Aedan's Last Band Concert

Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long! These are a couple of videos of Aedan's last summer band concert. He found another group of kids and they ran around and danced the entire time. It was so fun to watch!

Kids in front of the lilies

The lilies are in bloom in the backyard, so we posed the kids in front of them for some pictures. And Aedan has learned how to blow bubbles. It's still pretty messy, but fun to watch!

Happy 4th of July!

Steve, Aedan's class made you a card for the 4th of July to thank you for your service. It is the sweetest thing! I probably won't mail it since it's about 2 ft by 2 ft...and because I think it will make a neat keepsake for Aedan. I took a close-up of his hand prints so that you could see where they were at in the card. What a thoughtful gift! I'll post some pictures of the kids later today or tomorrow.

4th of July Concert

Grandpa Ray and I took Aedan and Alana to the weekly municipal band concert...and of course it was a 4th of July theme this week. The AMVETS handed out flags to all of the children (Aedan got a picture with one of them), and then they had a children's parade around the park. My filming isn't that great because I'm trying to hold Aedan's hand and film the other kids at the same time...but he had a lot of fun and loved getting to march by the band! The other video is of him jumping around inbetween eating popcorn. Believe it or not, he does that for the entire concert!