Father Daughter Dance 2013

Jaime and Jenny went to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance again this year. It is so much fun going out and picking out her dress and helping her get ready!! I hope they will continue this tradition for a long time.

In the side by side pictures, the pictures on the left are from February 2011 (Jenny was 5). The ones on the right are from February 2013 (Jenny is 7).

Father's Day 2011

Dear Jaime,

On the very first day I met you, if someone would have told me that one day you would be the father of my children I would have laughed in their face (no offense). There you were with your long hair in a pony tail, and a carefree attitude. You seemed like you would be a lot of fun - someone to go to parties with and have a great time. Even then, God had a much bigger plan for us!

The first time I saw you with Jenny, I knew you were a good Dad. Everything you did revolved around Jenny. You played with her, you taught her things, you took her places, and most importantly - you put her needs and wants ahead of your own. It was obvious that she meant the world to you, and you meant the world to her. She was a Daddy's Girl, and she had you wrapped around her little finger. I knew from that moment that one day I wanted a father like you for my future children.

On Jenny's 2nd birthday, you had a party for her. Complete with party games, lots of food, music, and a pinata. You put so much time, effort, and money into her birthday party. I remember going shopping with you for decorations and party favors. Every time you picked something up you would ask me what I thought Jenny would think. I remember staying at your house until nearly 4am decorating the house for the party and helping you put together her Dora the Explorer play kitchen. After we were done, I went home and came back a few short hours later to help put the finishing touches on the party. I remember being there when Jenny woke up that morning, and as she came down the stairs to see the party set-up and her new play kitchen. You wanted me to take pictures of her reaction to it all. Really, what I should have done, was take pictures of your reaction too. You were just as excited as she was, but not for the same reason as her. You were excited to see her so excited. I knew then that I wanted a father for my children who would put so much effort into something for his children.

The very first time Jenny fell on the playground and scraped her knee, it hurt you just as much as it hurt her. Not only because she had gotten hurt, but also because she was growing up and getting old enough to have her first scraped knee. You ran to her, and hugged her so tightly and told her that it would be okay. I knew then, that I wanted a father for my children who would kiss boo-boos and wipe away tears.

Unknown to us, God had a much bigger plan. Here we are, years later, and you are the father of my child. I am so glad! God really blessed me big time when he chose you to be Aiden's father. I couldn't have asked for a better person to share a son with.

I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day. Aiden, Jenny, and I love you "all the way to heaven and back" (as Jenny would say). We are truly, truly blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for all that you do for us, you're amazing!

Movies

A few nights ago Jaime and I had the opportunity (thanks to my mom for babysitting) to go out to dinner and to see a movie. Usually we take turns picking the movie, but it had been so long since we went to the movies, neither of us could remember who's turn it was to pick. Since I picked where we ate dinner at (Mellow Mushroom), Jaime got to choose the movie. He chose Thor. I was really thinking I would hate dislike it, but I actually really liked it. Action movies usually aren't my thing, but this one has a love story in it and a good storyline.

I love getting to the theatre a little early so that I can watch the previews for the upcoming movies. I usually always find something I want to see. This time of year is a good time to be watching previews too, because there are always lots of good movies that come out in the summertime. I thought I would share with you a few that I am looking forward to watching....

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

 

These movies are always good. Plus, who doesn't want to see Johnny Depp dressed as a pirate?? I'm a little sad that Orlando Bloom won't be in this movie, but I'm excited to see how Penelope Cruz does in her role as Angelica, a woman from Captain Jack Sparrow's past. This movie comes out May 20.

The Hangover Part II

If this movie is anything like the first one, it is sure to be wild, crazy, and hilarious! I can't wait to see it. The Hangover II comes out May 26.

Kung Fu Panda 2

Kung Fu Panda is one of Aiden's favorite movies. He gets excited everytime he sees the previews on TV for this movie. The first Kung Fu Panda was also the first movie that we took Jenny to see in theatres. While Aiden has already been to the theatre to see Megamind and Yogi Bear, this will still be one of his first movies to see in theatres. This movie comes out on May 26.

Also, how could anyone not want to see a movie with a panda in it? :)

The Green Lantern

While this is probably not a movie that I would want to see, I am sure Jaime will want to see it. The Green Lantern comes out June 17.

Mr. Popper's Penguins

This is another movie that I will probably take Jenny and Aiden to see. It is based on a 1938 children's book, and is said to have a modern feel to it. I have never read the book, but with Jim Carrey in it, I'm sure it will be funny. It comes out June 17.

Cars 2

Besides Toy Story, I would said that Cars is Aiden's favorite movie. Jenny likes it too. I have been waiting for this movie to come out since sometime last Fall. I can't wait to see Aiden's reaction to this movie on the Big Screen! Cars 2 comes out June 24.

Captain America: The First Avenger

This is another movie that Jaime will want to go see. As you can tell, he is very into action movies and/or movies about comic book characters. This movie comes out July 22.

The Smurfs

The Smurfs was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, so I can't wait to see how this movie is. It is going to be shown in 3D which I am looking forward to as well. Although, I probably won't take the kids to see it in 3D (because the 3D glasses don't fit on their faces very well). The Smurfs comes out July 29.

Cowboys vs. Aliens

Once again, this is not a movie I would normally choose for myself, but it is one Jaime will want to see. It has Harrison Ford in it, so it should be pretty good. It comes out July 29.

Unless otherwise noted, all pictures are from Movie Insider.

There are lots of good movies coming out this year! There are many more that are coming out that I'd like to see, but this is a list of the ones that I will definitely probably see. What movies do you want to see this summer?

Valentines Day 2011

We had a great Valentines Day! Instead of having one Valentine, I get to have 3! Jaime, Jenny, and Aiden all either asked me to be their Valentine, or agreed to be mine. Haha. We started the day off early before Jenny went to school by giving the kids their Valentine gifts from Jaime and I.

They each got a balloon, a stuffed animal, a box of chocolates, and a Valentine shirt. I forgot to get a picture of Jenny in her Valentine shirt, I didn't have time to get it before she left for school. Her shirt was cute though, and she got to wear her "high heels" to school.

Aiden's stuffed giraffe and box of chocolates.

Jennys stuffed love bug and box of chocolates.

You can kind of see Jenny's Valentine shirt in this picture.

Aiden's Valentine shirt said, "Eligable Bachelor"

Our Valentine note for Daddy. Jenny drew the stuff in blue, and Aiden did the stuff in orange.

That night, after the kids went to bed, Jaime cooked me dinner and we gave each other our gifts. He cooked chicken linguine alfredo. Yum! We hope you had a great Valentines Day!!



Me & My Guy Dance

Here are a few pictures from the Me & My Guy dance that Jaime and Jenny went to. These pictures are of them before they left the house. Jaime didn't take the camera with him to the dance, so I don't have any pictures of the actual dance. They had a great time though, and it was good for them to spend some time together. After Jenny got ready, Aiden told her she looked like a princess.

Before they left, I asked them if they were excited about going to the dance. They both said they were excited, and nervous too. Jenny's response was, "I'm a little excited and a lot nervous". Haha! Not only do they look alike, they also act alike too. Jenny is like Jaime's mini me.  :)

Dress Shopping

This Saturday is the annual Me & My Guy Dance in Girl Scouts. It is something that they have done for years and years, because when I was in the Girl Scouts (which was at least 15 years ago), they were doing the dance then, too. Although at that time, it was the Father & Daughter Dance, but since times have changed, it is now known as The Me & My Guy Dance.

Jenny is very excited about the dance, and Jaime is too. I think it will be a great opportunity for the two of them to spend some time together! Plus, it will be a lot of fun for Jenny and Jaime, too.

Yesterday, Jaime, Aiden, Jenny, and I all went shopping for a dress for her to wear for the dance. We picked out a few different ones, and then headed to the dressing rooms. Jenny chose her the ones she liked best, and I chose a few that I liked best. Once we got to the dressing rooms, and looked at the price tags on a few of them, we put several of them back without even trying them on. Haha. They were pretty, but also were over $100, and I don't see the point in spending so much for a dress she'll wear once. Lucky for us, a few that we picked were on clearance and were $100 dresses on sale for $20!

This was the first dress Jenny tried on, and it was also her favorite choice (before trying on any of the others). The picture has really bad quality since I took it with my phone, but the dress is actually a nice shade of purple with black polka-dots.

This is the second dress she tried on, which was also my favorite. It is a brighter teal color than this picture shows, and would look better if she weren't leaning against the wall in this picture. :)





We had a pretty hard time finding a dress that would be warm. We shopped at Macy's and they already had a lot of Spring dresses out, and there wasn't a lot of Winter stuff left. Plus, most of the Winter dresses looked too much like Christmas dresses. We bought her a sweater to go over the dress we ended up buying. She and I are going shoe shopping tomorrow, and the dance is Saturday night.

You'll have to check back here for the Me & My Guy Dance post to see which dress she wears! I hope you're all having a great week!

A Busy Week

For the last week, I have been balancing on the line of too busy and slightly bored. I have SO much to do before Aiden's birthday party which is less than a week away! When did preparing for a two year old's birthday party become so difficult? If planning a two year old party is this hard, I don't wanna plan them for him when he's older! I can't even begin to imagine a sweet 16 party or even an 18 or 21st! Of course by then he won't want anything to do with me, so I surely won't be on his party planning commitee. Which means, I have to make each little moment count, even when they are so frustrating I could pull my hair out!

By the way, have I mentioned how much I hate the terrible two's?? In the past month Aiden has changed from a baby into a little boy. It makes me sad, and happy all at the same time. I am sad that he isn't my little baby anymore, but happy and excited about all the new fun things he can do. I will say though that a lot of attitude, free will, temper tantrums, and complete breakdowns have also been on our daily schedule lately. I don't like them, but whenever I start complaining, I always try to think of the women out there who so desperately want to be a mother, or the women out there who have babies with cancer or some other terminal disease. There are women out there who would LOVE to deal with a two year old temper tantrum, and that makes me want to reconsider what I take for granted so often.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday?!? I am in shock. I still can't believe Jenny is in Kindergarten, let alone it's almost Thanksgiving! What are y'all doing for Thanksgiving? This year we are eating dinner at my parents house. Jenny is out of school all week so we have a lot I am hoping to be able to do with her. This is my most favorite time of year, and I love all the things that I can involve the kids in. I'm already thinking of ideas for homemade ornaments, Christmas cookies, and all kinds of other things.

We put our Christmas tree up tonight. With the busy week I have ahead I figured there was really no other time I'd be free to sit and do it. Between Jaime's busy work schedule and Jenny only being here every other week, it's hard to find time to do anything as a complete family. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but I'll post some when I do. 90% of our ornaments are from the Dollar Tree. Since we have two young kids living here, I don't want to spend a lot on ornaments that will just get broken. A lot of the ones from Dollar Tree are plastic anyway, so they don't break as easily. That's a HUGE plus when you have a two year old! I went to Dollar Tree today to pick up a few more things and I came home with the cutest little ceramic houses and buildings! They aren't as nice as I'd like, but hey, they were only a dollar! I'll post pictures of it too, but it's not quite done. I am also thinking of updating our stockings this year. I bought the stockings at Big Lots a few years back and I put the names on them myself with some glitter and glue. I did an ok job, but now the glitter is starting to wear off and they are starting to look pretty rough. I'm thinking we need some monnogrammed ones!

Well, I think that's about all we've been up to lately. Girl Scouts tomorrow, dentist for me Tuesday, the party decorations should be here Wednesday, Thursday is Thanksgiving, Friday I have to clean my mom's house and get ready for the party, Saturday is my great Uncle's 80th birthday party, and Sunday is Aiden's party. As you can see, I have a very busy week ahead. I love being busy, but I don't like it all at the same time. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very stressful.

I hope you all have a great week, and if I don't post again this week, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Morning at the Park

Seeing as how Aiden and I woke up an hour late this morning, we didn't make it to MOPS. I was disappointed that we didn't get to go, but Aiden was a lot more upset than I thought he'd be. Last time we went, he was very unsure about me dropping him off in the MOPPETS program while I went to the MOPS meeting. He cried at first, but stayed there the whole time, and he wasn't crying when I came back to get him. He seemed like he enjoyed himself, but I didn't think he liked it all that much. So this morning when I told him we weren't going to MOPS and he started crying, I was very surprised! So, I did the next best thing! We woke up Jaime, and he and I took Aiden to the park. We were there for a little over an hour, and Aiden had a great time! When we first got there we were the only ones there, but it didn't take long before other families starting showing up with their little ones. It was such a nice day out, I'm surprised there weren't more people there.

Riding in this car is probably Aiden's most favorite thing to do at the park. I don't know what it is about this car, but he usually spends the first 10 or 15 minutes we're there in it, and he will go back to it over and over again. He especially likes it when his Daddy rides in it with him.

Another one of Aiden's favorite things at the park is the swings! He has a swing at his Grandma's house that he loves too. He isn't afraid of being pushed high either! In fact, he prefers it!

Pretty soon it will be time to move Aiden from the baby swings (see previous swing pic) to the big kid swings (like the one shown in this pic above). Aiden is very excited about the new possibilities this opens up for him. He took a test run on one today. Sure enough, he is almost ready! Just gotta show him how to hold onto the swing without letting go. Before I know it he won't even need me to push him on the swings anymore - he'll be pumping his little legs and swinging on his own. That will be a sad day.

I especially love the picture above. If you can't see it well, it is a picture of Aiden and Jaime talking through these tubes. They are actually pretty neat! (Jaime is kind of over in the back corner of the picture, talking into the tube on the other side).

We might now have made it to MOPS, but we still had a great day! I love days like we had today!

The Gwinnett County Fair

Earlier tonight Jaime and I took the kids to the Gwinnett County Fair. I have been going to the fair for as long as I can remember, and it is nice to be able to take Aiden and Jenny now. Jaime and I have been taking Jenny every year since she was two years old. Last year was Aiden's first year to go, but because he was so small there wasn't much he could ride. This year he was able to ride a lot more, and he had a lot of fun! Of course, Jenny had lots of fun too, but I think she is starting to get to the age where she is starting to get bored with the kiddie rides, but she's still too small for the bigger rides.

This was their first ride, and they loved it! As you can probably see, I rode behind them because I was afraid Aiden would try to get off of the ride if he didn't like it. They really enjoyed it though, and I could hear them both laughing as we drove along. Aiden wanted to ride this one again and again.

This was the 2nd time they rode it, this time they rode without me.

Aiden was also very excited to ride this one, because he is so interested in trains right now. As soon as he saw it he pointed and started yelling, "Choo-Choo Train!!". They rode this one twice too, the first time with me and the second time they rode without me.

Jenny picked out this ride. She liked it because she said it was a water ride because the alligtors were like little boats floating in the water.



The swings! These were my favorite when I was Jenny's age (if I remember correctly), and I think they were hers too. I was really hoping Aiden would be able to ride these, especially because I know how much he likes to swing, but he was too short. The adults can ride this one too, but even with an adult riding Aiden was still too short.

The car ride was one that they both really liked. The cars went around on a little track, but when they got to the parts of the track that were curved, it went really fast around the curve. The first time they rode this one their car was parked right before the curve started. So, when it went around that first curve really fast Jaime and I thought for sure that Aiden was going to scream the rest of the ride. But he didn't! He ended up really liking it, and they rode this one two or three times.

This was one of the rides that Jenny rode without Aiden because he was too short. I probably wouldn't have let him ride this anyway, because it was something that only kids could ride. I didn't know how comfortable I would have felt knowing he was so high up and could have possibly tried to come off the ride. Jenny wasn't too thrilled with this one though. She was a little scared to get on it, but then when she got off of it she said it was boring. Ha!

Jenny and I rode the ferris wheel together. She said she really wanted to ride it because she had never ridden before. I was a little nervous to let her ride it because I didn't know how she'd react when the ride stopped to let people on and off and we were at the top. Sure enough, when the ride stopped with us at the top she was nervous. I think she would have been alright, but there were two young girls riding with us and they were acting like the ride was broken since it stopped with us at the top. So of course Jenny thought the ride was broken and we were going to be stuck up there forever. I told her that they were just stopping it so someone else could get on and we would start moving again in a few minutes. She was ok after that, and it didn't take long before the ride started moving again.

Overall, we all had a great time! It was a great way to spend the evening as a family, and it created memories that we won't soon forget. Jenny has already asked me when we're going back again - she knows we usually go at least twice. She is such a smart girl, and doesn't forget anything. =) The funny thing is, we were already making plans to either go back tomorrow or Saturday night. We can't wait!