I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Tonight, when Eric walked in the door, instead of insisting he get to drive the car, Aaron took Eric's hand and said, "we go shoot!" leading him to the door. Well, who can say no to that? So they took the basketball out back to play (looks like we'll need to get a hoop soon).

After dinner, they played like they usually do. I love it, so much. Seeing them play together just brings a level of joy that I can't describe... hopefully this helps you understand a bit of it:

Entertaining ... To Say The Least ...

Aaron definitely keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing.

When we are in the car, if we go over a bump or take a quick turn he says, "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! You ok?" We then reply, "Yes Aaron, I'm ok, are you ok?" And he says, "Yes, I ok." hahahahaha

Here's a juicy one from this morning. We had pancakes for breakfast. This is the breakfast table conversaiton:

Aaron, "Mama? L-lunch?"
Me, "No Aaron, this is breakfast!"
Aaron, "Oh, bekfast.  Um, Inner?"
Me, "No Aaron ... not dinner. Breakfast."
Aaron, "Oh, bekfast." He then pushed his fork toward me. "Lellow fork?"
Me, "Sorry, your yellow fork is dirty. You'll have to use your blue one."
Aaron, "Oh, blue fork. Sss hot?"
Me, "No Aaron, it's not hot. You can eat it."
Aaron, "Oh, sss not hot. Um ... Mama?"
Me, "Yes Aaron?"
Aaron, "Um, have green beans?"

Ah ha! We finally get to why he had been stalling the WHOLE TIME! He didn't want to eat his pancakes ... he wanted green beans! He is very opinionated about what he wants to eat and will often ask specifically for an item come meal or snack time.

We talked with my parents on the phone today because Aaron asked if we could call them. How cute is that? Then, after, all he could talk about was calling Grams and Papa again! I posted it on facebook and so my mom called back later to chat with him! He really looooooooooves to talk on the phone! He also loves to share his food. He was eating a treat of pretzels and marshmallows when they called so he tried to share his marshmallows by shoving them into the phone. So cute!

Aaron has found a new favorite place to play cars... this is obviously NOT something we have discussed...

Then, this afternoon, I was out working in our yard again. Aaron kept coming up to me saying, "Help you?" So sweet. Well, while I was working, I managed to step in an ant hill! I screamed, flicked my foot (sending my shoe flying ... took me a while to find it), dropped my tools, and ran! I went inside to boil water to get rid of as many ants as possible so that I could keep working. On my way back outside, I found myself wondering how I was going to get my tools! Then, in walks my little hero carrying my tools. My fearless little man who comes running when I cry out to make sure I don't have an ouchie went and got my tools! He then played peek-a-boo behind our Dr. Seuss looking tree.

Aaron and Yard Work

We definitely have our work cut out for us turning our backyard into a yard ... but Aaron is a trooper!
Eric and I went out to work today and Aaron came too. I shoveled rocks, pulled out the fabric stuff under the rocks (the stuff that is supposed to stop the weeds) and pulled weeds. Eric leveled the front yard and carted dirt in a plastic bin to the backyard. Eric then mowed the lawn. And Aaron ... Aaron helped a bit with everything! We are training him early to enjoy yard work like we do!

Celebrating a Gorgeous Week

This week has been GORGEOUS! So much sun! So tonight, for dinner, we went on a picnic!

Aaron was definitely NOT interested in eating ... too much awesomeness to explore!

Aaron LOVED the slide and the swings! There wasn't a basketball hoop, so Eric made one with his arms.

Aaron learned he didn't have to go around every time he wanted to go back down the slide ... cheater.

He also enjoyed playing ball with Eric!

After the park we went home to make cookies.

Aaron didn't quite understand the process:

You have to cook them first!

Our New Home

As I can tell this is going to be a long post already, I am not going to show you the whole house this time. I'll finish in another post. :)

We signed the paperwork for our home on March 20th and celebrated by going out to lunch.

We got the keys on March 21st and this is Aaron and I standing for the first time in OUR HOME!

Then came some crazy moving ... I had already been packing for a month so there wasn't a ton of that to do (or so I thought ... then suddenly there's all the "stuff" that doesn't have a home...)

Aaron had fun with the last bit of packing. He discovered he could make faces in the pots as I packed them up.  He also helped by packing stow aways in the box! 

 We did several loads of moving things that we were worried about potentially breaking using Mark and Ane's van - the first load contained Eric's drum set and we set it up immediately. Look at that smile!

While Eric was at work the next day, I did more loads with the van. This is how I got everything inside. The carpet is brand new so I could't wear my shoes. :) I thought I was clever.

 We also painted the master bedroom before the official move on Saturday. Ane took Aaron for the day and I had a very long trip to home depot. *shudder* I hate hardware stores!  Then I started to paint. I have never painted before and Eric didn't realize this, so he didn't give me any pointers. I totally called him at work to ask how to open the paint and then to make sure the paint all dries the same color - haha. That should have been my clue to do research. Instead, I tried to be economical. I used as little paint as possible and pushed super hard on the roller. It took me 2 hours to do 1 wall. I kid you not. Needless to say, we had to re-paint that wall because it did NOT all dry the same color because it was NOT all even. 

When Eric got off work, he saw how I was painting and patiently told me to use a ton of paint and very little pressure ... The painting went a lot faster at that point and was a lot easier. 

The picture on the right is Eric realizing he dropped screws out the window ... oops :)

Then came the actual big move on Saturday. We were all sick with colds and exhausted but had to push through. We got everything moved over and then did nothing. We crashed. Eric and I didn't even build our bed, we slept on the couch. On Sunday we still weren't feeling well, but I was restless so while Eric and Aaron napped, I unpacked the kitchen. The picture on the left is from when they first fell asleep. Then I accidentally broke a vase - freaked them both out, and then they readjusted and fell right back asleep. No problem. haha!

 Aaron LOVES tools and really wanted to help build our bed!

 A week after moving in, we tackled painting the bathroom and then later the ceiling in our bedroom.  Aaron loved to help! 

I learned a valuable lesson about caulk - I hate it. The end. :)

We installed some wood accents in our bathroom that I caulked and then had to shave off the excess caulk because unlike what the guy at the hardware store said, you cannot simply paint over it...

Here we are after finishing the first coat on the bedroom ceiling. I got paint on Eric's face and he decided to share with me... 

 Aaron came running in to see why the music stopped playing and saw we were taking a picture. He said, "Cute" and then asked for "One more?" haha

Now for some before/after pictures!

This first picture is of our entry way - I don't have a before picture apparently...

Right after you walk in, to your left is the office.

Before:

After: 

Continuing down the hall you have a bathroom on your left as well.

Before:

After:

Then on the right you'll find the garage and then there is a big open living room and kitchen.

Before:

After:

I love the idea Eric had to frame his old band t-shirts over by the drums!

And the empty space between the wall scones is for a clock - each clock I have purchased has either simply looked wrong or ticked too loud. I'm on the hunt.

 Let me tell you about this set up: Eric is SO proud and loves it SO much!

The TV is connected to the computer in the office.

Eric drilled behind the TV through the fireplace and then up from the bottom. Then he drilled in the office and ran the cords under the house in the crawl space (brave man). Eric had to create his own cords for this using CAT-6 cables and HDMI cables. We also have a USB cable running through. This way I can watch Hulu in the living room and Eric and I can snuggle when we play games. It is spectacular.

Then, using the same holes in the back of the fireplace, we ran the cords for the surround sound down and then drilled on each side of the fireplace. 

This will sound complicated, but to run the wires, we took a magnet and broke it. We then hot glued it to the wires. We used a coat hanger to run the wires through the hole. Then from the top, we glued a magnet to a retractable measuring tape and lowered it down. The magnets connect and we retract the measuring tape ...

So, that was a long explanation to show you that, Eric is awesome. :)

Given the length of this post, I will finish by showing you the Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom.

Before:

After:

 I didn't put before pictures of the closet because nothing changed ... I simply am so happy to have space for all of my shoes and all of my jewelry with TONS of extra closet space!

So, in the next post, I'll put pictures of my craft room *squee* and Aaron's room and the play room. I still need inspiration for Aaron's bathroom ... I have no idea what to do with it. And our bedroom seems empty but I think that is because for the last 2.5 years, it has been a bedroom AND an office or a bedroom AND a music room etc. If you have thoughts, please share them!