Birthdays, Birthdays everywhere!!!!!

 

 Aiden's friends at school are starting to have birthday parties!

 This party was done at Jump in Roanoke.  They have a really  nice set-up and a staff that makes sure the kids obey the rules and tries to help everyonehave a good time.  They even had a hurricane tunnel and they stuffed it to the brim with kids and let them feel winds up to over 70mph.  The party was very well structured (and yes I was taking notes), They allowed the kids to play for about an hour and then got them to all sit down for a snack, then cake and presents and goodbye hugs.  I think I will take a whistle with me and hope I don't have to use it.

 I also loved how the staff gathered all the kids for a group picture when play time was over and then when it was time to open presents they were all recorded.

Aiden's class has had the opportunity to go to a birthday party for the past two weekends in a row and Aiden's combo party will make a 3rd. We are just gonna get the girls a few dollar store items and Goodwill buys and then make sure to transition them to twin beds asap so they can get a better nights rest.

Poor Aiden got bit and smacked within minutes of arriving at the latest party, but I was very proud of him for coming to tell me and identifying the child asap so that the situation could be dealt with.  ((He was the bigger child too.)))  He did not strike back.  WTG Aiden for making the right choice. He has gotten lucky for the second time and survived a bite without bleeding.  The picture of the ant farm is day two and when you see day three progress you will be so amazed... these guys are really hard little workers.

I am really hoping his party goes off without a hitch.  With all of the recent birthdays and the fact that only two of his classmates have RSVP'ed at this point and I asked them to do so by 3/6 on the invitation it makes me worry that there will not be a very good turn out of kids.  I am a little more at ease that at least a couple of my friends and some of the family have gotten back to us, but with the on-coming snow storm that should get here just in time for my days off I will end up with limited time to tie up all the loose ends and make sure I have the right ammount of party supplies, cake etc.

Sorry about being MIA, but I have collected some pictures and I have new stories to share.....

I have to say I love the convenience of technology sometimes.  I remember when I was young and it was approaching my birthday, Mom would walk through the toy section and I would point out all the things that I wanted and then she would have to remember the things that made me most excited or just wing it when she managed to find time to go shopping.  I started letting Aiden take pictures using my cell phone a long time ago and now when we are at the store and he starts in with the "I want" 's and "I need" 's I hand over my phone and he adds things to his wishlist.  Right now it seems that he is loving some legos, batman, spiderman, andgry birds and arts and crafts stuff.

For the girls we decided to transistion then to regular twin size beds so they have more comfotable beds and a little more space to roll around.  After lots of parusing the web and some local stores in search of bedding I finally settled on a pink Minnie Mouse theme for their room. Since they were born they have had silky Minnie Mouse security blankets and for christmas they got adorable Minnie Mouse stuffed dolls from their Aunt Robbie for christmas, so we are planning on building on the theme.  

Things have been pretty hectic around here btween school for J, work for me, school for Aiden and taking care of the girls.  Plus throw in spending time with family, helping Mom out when we can, and taking Aiden to brithday parties for classmates and friends and this year has started out kinda crazy.

We got Aiden an ant farm for christmas and placed the order online for his ants.  Come to find out ants are sensitive to temperature and so they had to wait until it warmed up a little before they could be shipped out and we finally got them yesterday.  Aiden is very excited to have new pets and is fascinated with watching them make their tunnels. 

The instructions had us start 3 tunnels evenly spaced and two inches deep.  At first the ants were slow going, but once they got their bearings and a good nights sleep they went to work.  It is amazing how fast they have worked, this is their progress after just one day in their new home.

Aiden managed to get his first birthday present out of me today.  He was resistant to get up for school this morning, but he did cave in time ---- if we had been able to find both of his shoes.  Poor kid walked around the house wearing just one shoe for prolly an hour this morning and after searching as much of the house as I could without tearing it to pieces I finally gave up.  Aiden had soem breakfast because he was definitely going to miss breakfast at school and we put some slippers on and went to buy shoes.  After a trip to Wal-mart and some new light up Superman shoes, Aiden was finally ready for school.  ((And I am proud of the little bugger for having an excellent day at school and getting a good report from the bus driver for the ride home))