Aikman's Interview-Age 3

What is your name? Aikman.

How old are you? Three!

What color is your hair? Black.

What color are your eyes? Black. Black, right?

What is your favorite food? Soup, pancakes and corn dogs. Wait a second, pickles too.

What is your favorite song? Fresh Beat Band songs.

What is your favorite treat? A snack like a pretzel.

What is your favorite color? Blue.

What is your favorite animal? Monkeys!

What is your favorite book? Cars!

What is your favorite store? The Halloween stores.

What do you like to do with daddy? Play at the park.

What do you like to do with mommy? Um, I like to play with you!

What is your favorite movie? Cars 2.

What is your favorite TV show? Fresh Beat Band.

Who are your friends? You all are my friends!

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Go play at the park.

What is your favorite thing to do inside? Play with my cars. I like to play outside. 

I did this over a week ago and kept forgetting the paper at home to post. None of his answers really surprised me except for the fact that he thinks he has Dracula hair and doll eyes. When he asked me if he was right, I did tell him well, your hair and eyes are brown, not black really but they are dark. He then told me "oh. I think they are black." I told him he was entitled to his opinion. Lol. Crazy boy. 

Weekend Update

Saturday we went to the West Texas Fair and Rodeo parade! Not only was the parade lots of fun, but it was low 70’s out! Do you know when the last time I felt cool temps like that? Probably like last March, if that. Normally by 10 in the morning, it is 92, not like 72. It was perfect. The sun was still out but it was not hot at all. I didn’t sweat the whole morning. The WHOLE morning. I definitely don’t remember the last time that happened! Aikman and Pippa loved it and Tio and Tia and Adrian went too. We had great seats and didn’t have to park far. After the parade, the kids and I went home to eat lunch and then take naps. In the afternoon, it was still crazy nice out so we went to the parks by the zoo. With the fair and rodeo going on, it was like a ghost town as everyone was out there. We played for a while, walked the track and played near the ducks. Pippa is doing so well walking and walked a lot by herself. We then went to Subway. I thought it was so cute because Aikman will normally get Cheetos, so when Devin asked him what kind of chips he wanted he said “haw-peenyo.” He loves their kettle cooked jalapeno chips but they are pretty hot. He ate over half the bag. I asked him for one of his chips to try and he said “yes but be careful momma, they spicy but they sooooo good!” Precious boy. I also died laughing because he was trying to tell me about some book and he kept getting tongue tied. He then said “oooh cha, I can’t talk tonight!” It was then home for baths and bedtime. Being Saturday, Aikman and I ate popsicles in my bed and watched Toy Story 2. He quotes it so much and it is so cute to hear him. I guess that means he watches it too much but oh well, we had fun!

Parade

Walking at park

This is the tallest slide in the world, I swear! 

Sunday, when Devin got off work, we went to breakfast at Golden Corral. The kids ate so much! We then went and took flowers to Grandpa. Saturday was one year exactly since he passed away. Crazy. It was still really nice out and not hot at all so we took him flowers and of course we had to go see Gigi too. We then went to the park again (a different one this time) and played for a while and then watched the groundhogs in the dirt. We went home for lunch and naps and then we worked on something for Pete for his birthday and ate dinner and then we went for a walk. We took Pips in the wagon and Aikman walked. Apollo came with us too. Aikman said as we were walking “It is so nice to be outside! I love it!” I am so glad he does and we are going to make sure he gets lots of outside time. No more laziness on our part. Both kids love going to parks and had a blast walking. We passed a house that had like 72 dogs and of course they barked like crazy and I heard Pippa making noise and I thought she was whining so I told her it was okay and not to be scared and then I looked back and saw her staring at the dogs and clapping so I shined a flashlight on her and she was smiling and going “ahh! ahh! ahh!” in a high pitched voice. I really think she was trying to bark. She was just laughing and laughing doing it. Wasn’t scared at all! Apollo was really funny too in that he didn’t want any of us in front of him, he had to be in front and you could tell he was just looking around making sure nothing was there. I love so much that he is so protective of the kids. Aikman enjoyed it so much and just talked and talked the whole time. It was dark when we went and so we would shine the flashlight on things we saw and discuss them. I was a little nervous about mosquitoes so made sure I sprayed everyone from head to toe and even the wagon and Apollo! The can of Off Sport I had said right on the front something about repelling mosquitoes carrying West Nile. Money! 

My babies remembering their Grandpa. 

This pic kills me! 

Running from Daddy

She loves crawling in tunnels

Groundhog enclosure. Monks walked the wall and Pippa just walked.  She looks so tiny! 

Sweet Cousins

Thursday night we went to dinner with Tio, Tia and Adrian and then came back to our house to hang out. Pippa was super tired so I put her to bed and then Tia and I bathed Monks and Adrian. After their baths, the boys played in Aikman's room and crawled around on the top bunk. Oh and Adrian is wearing his cape from the party. 

A Letter For My Pips

I had every intention of finishing writing and posting this right after Pippa's first birthday but time got away from me.

Pippa Lous. Pips. Pipsqueak. Where do I even begin? How do I put into words how much I love you? I loved you before I even met you of course, but that love multiplied by the thousands when I saw you for the first time. I knew what to expect this time around so I was more laid back with your birth. You were the prettiest baby and everyone commented on how beautiful you were. They still do! You were a really good baby but we saw some of your personality early on. I remember you would get mad if something wasn't just how you wanted and you wouldn't let up until you got your way. It could be something as simple as a light being too bright or you wanted to eat on the right side instead of the left. Mercy you gave us a run for our money but your cuteness outweighed your attitude and we couldn't help but adore you and give in. I have to be honest it was extremely hard welcoming you into this family without your Gigi. And then add the loss of your grandpa just a couple of months after you arrived and it was beyond crazy. If they could see you now baby girl, they would be absolutely smitten, especially your gramps! Sometimes when I look at you and we lock eyes and stare at each other, I swear I see my mom. You look like her at times and remind me of her and it is bittersweet. It breaks my heart thinking about what could have been or the adventures the three of us would have had. I will keep their memory alive for you though for all your life, I promise. Your first year flew by. I get sad at times since you are my last baby, but you have been so much fun to watch. I love everything about you. Physically you are absolutely adorable. You have a gorgeous face, the sweetest hair that now curls in the back, the most precious little feet and the chubbiest little thighs. I love the way your skinny jeans look on you even if everyone else loathes them. I could kiss you all over and usually do. You love giving kisses too so it's perfect! Your personality kills me. We joke and call you "Diva Pips" since you can be so demanding. You constantly smile and love the camera. You love to wave and blow kisses. You have started doing this thing where if you are in a stroller or basket you put your arm up and kind of cup your hand and wave slowly at things and people. It is really like you are in a parade. You know you're precious and make an entrance. You laugh so much and if someone just looks at you, you get this huge cheesy smile on your face. You love to be tickled and play like we are going to get you. You still love peek-a-boo. You adore your big brother and are always following him around. he loves you right back and I melt every time you are together. He is very protective of you and I pray that he always is. No one messes with his Pippas. He has also made you pretty tough. He is constantly hugging you and loving on you or throwing toys to you, not realizing you can't catch. You rarely cry from falling or being hit and I love that. My little tough girl. You can be pretty mean too when you want to be. I will never forget the time in Kerrivlle when Adrian had your hair and pulled you near the ground and you just bent over and let him do it. Once he let go and you stood up, you seriously turned to him and put your hands around his neck and choked him. It was so cute as bad as that may sound. You get very emotional though and if we put you in your highchair without something to eat, you will cry like we dropped you and as soon as you get food, the tears stop and you look at us with red eyes and wet cheeks and say "yeah!" I have never seen anyone produce tears faster than you and never seen anyone turn them off like that. Drama queen! You recently started walking and are really good at it. The funny thing is you can walk and probably could have before your birthday, but you can be lazy at times. Tio called you "no bones Pippa" for the longest time because when we would stand you up, you just lifted your legs or let them collapse, not even trying to stand on your own. You wanted to be carried and knew someone would carry you! Stubborn sweet girl. You constantly make us laugh or smile. One of your favorite things to do that makes you laugh hysterically is not say momma. I ask you to say mama and you smile and go dada. You will go back and forth with me and when I get louder and faster, so do you. Such a punk! You do it on purpose, i just know it! I have heard you say momma once. Once! It is hilarious to hear you. You love music and love to dance. You even tried singing recently and have this little high pitch voice and just make noises but you do it to the music. You love food and we joke you are the first one we give food to but the last one eating when we have dinner. You eat pretty much anything, but your absolute favorite things include blueberries, bananas, carrots, peas, Nutri-grain bars, spaghetti, bologna, macaroni and cheese and tomatoes. We fall more in love with you as each day passes. I really never thought i could love another baby the way I loved your big brother and then I saw you. You instantly stole my heart and I love you so much. More than words can ever say. You do something to me no one else can and I feel something for you I never felt before.  I love nothing more than holding you in my arms and kissing your sweet face over and over again. We are going to have so much fun together. You are my world Pippa Lous and I thank God everyday that he gave me you. You make me smile when no one can. That is why I chose the song Smile by Uncle Kracker for you. When I hear that song I think of you. Happy 1st year Pippa! You are my sunshine and I adore you.

Love you like crazy,
Momma

Aikman's Party

I am so behind in posting this and I only have a few pictures now, Big Tio and Tia Nett took pics with their camera so when I get them, I will post them. Saturday the 25^th was Aikman’s party. We busted our butts in the evening during the week finishing some last minute decorations. Friday I stayed up until 1:30 decorating and setting everything up so that come Saturday all I had to do was mop and vacuum and get food ready. I even made the cutest capes with each kid’s initial on the back and masks. Our menu was created by Monks and all his favorite foods. We had small sandwiches, sausage on a stick, corn dogs, macaroni and cheese, a veggie tray, fruit kabobs with dip, chips, popcorn, pickles, Captain America and Hulk jello and twizzlers. We also had an Avengers cake with vanilla and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Saturday morning when Devin got off I did not let him sleep, I put him to work and then we got ready to go do some last minute shopping. We ran around all morning and went home about 12:30 and ate lunch and then put the kids down for their naps. We had some presents to wrap and I needed to start on the jello and we had to decorate the cake. Yes, we did it ourselves. Pete came over and helped us. It came out perfect! I loved it. The party started at 5:30 and at 4:35 we heard Monks in his room cough and then he started to cry really hard. We went in there and he was standing up, throwing up. I immediately freaked and started to clean (I hate cleaning puke from carpet, not because I think it is gross but because I don’t feel it is clean until we shampoo it) and Devin took him to the bathroom to clean him up. We began to panic because Adrian had had a stomach virus earlier that week and we ended up keeping the kids home from Tia’s Wednesday and Thursday to be sure they didn’t get sick with the party coming up. This was Saturday and an hour before the party! I told Devin I would start calling people and he said no, just wait maybe he just had indigestion or something and I thought okay, you’re right (wishful thinking). I finished cleaning his room and taking sheets off the bed and I went to finish getting the food ready on trays. He came in the kitchen and saw the pickles and asked for one. I gave him one with a Capri Sun. He took one bite and said eww, I not like this. Devin and I looked at each other. Monks LOVES pickles so much. I was trying to remain positive so had him sit on the couch with his drink. He then ran to the bathroom and puked again. I began to cry, Aikman was crying, Devin was comforting both of us lol and I started to make the calls. It was so sad because he was so excited about his Superhero party and he was upset and asked me through tears when I got off the phone “why you tell people not come to my party?” Poor baby. I was so upset. Mad, disappointed, sad. It just sucked all around. Big Tio and Tia Nett had come in town for it, so I did not call any family. We put Aikman in the room to watch Cars and lay in our bed. We thought we would quarantine him. They all showed up and we had to explain to them what happened. We had all the food out and ready to go (Tio and Tia finished the sandwiches for me) so everyone decided they wanted to stay and still enjoy the party. They also told us to bring him out of the room and he could lay on the couch. He was excited seeing everyone although he would occasionally have to get up to go puke. It was about 5:45 when Pippa woke up from her nap and Devin went in to get her and called me in. I walked in and she was standing up with puke in her hair and all down the front of her dress. Wow. Devin took her to bathe her and Tio cleaned up and stripped her bed. Sigh. Both kids threw up throughout the evening. We still played our “Pin the Chest piece on Thor” but never got around to Mexican Bingo. Monks even ate a little bit. Monks did enjoy opening his presents though. He got the cutest monkey hat, a Magna Doodle, a Cars jacket, a bike, Iron Man and Spiderman figures, books, cars, a gift card to Toys R’ Us, a football and money. He is so sweet when opening presents because he does it slowly and puts all the trash in a little pile. It is like he doesn’t want to tear it.

Everyone left around 8 and we put the kids to bed. Devin and I were in bed by 9 but up from 1-3:30 with sick babies. Luckily Pippa never threw up in the night, she just ran high fever and was miserable. Monks threw up and had fever but luckily by the next morning, neither threw up anymore! They took a four and a half hour nap Sunday and it poured for hours so I think that made for even better sleeping weather. I was off that Monday for a holiday and glad I was as Devin and I woke up sick that day. Big Tio came down with it that day also. Phil and Tia Nett got sick the next day and Pete felt sick that Thursday. Yep, we spread it to everyone. Craziness! I can’t tell you how much I cleaned and how many loads of laundry I did. All that matters is it is far behind us. Tia Nett told me it was official, I was a mom and these things happen. She said you can’t control everything and things can change like that with kids. She is so right. At first I was a little sad still Monks didn’t get to enjoy his party, but you know what? He did enjoy himself. Yes, he was having to go to the bathroom to puke but he still smiled and still laughed and LOVED his gifts. We will have all these memories now. We can laugh about it now. Happy 3^rd Birthday Monkey!    

Pippa feeling miserable at the party. She never just lays still on you. 

This is definitely my daughter lol she looked like the pic above, but when the flash went off, she smiled. 

Sunday morning playing with his Magna Doodle. Please ignore his crazy dirty feet lol

Pippa trying to walk

Silly Stories

My Pippa is officially walking now! She had taken a step or two before but this past weekend, she just decided to walk from couch to couch, Aikman’s room to the living room, from the hall to the bathroom and into the kitchen. She is the cutest thing to watch. She has her arms up some, but not crazy like Aikman did when he learned. I called her for her bath the other night and she walked around the corner into the bathroom and walked up to the tub. Can you say precious? My gosh I love her to pieces!

The other night when I tucked Aikman in bed, we were saying his prayers and talking about my mom and dad. He said remember when Grandpa lived at the airport? I laughed and said he worked on airplanes. He said oh, why he do that job? I said because he liked helping people when their planes broke and he loved airplanes. He said did he use a screwdriver to fix them? I said I would imagine he used lots of tools to fix them. He said oh and was sitting up in bed and looked down at his hands. He then turned to me and said think he got sweaty? I laughed and said I am sure he did, he worked outside and where he lived was very hot. That was an adorable story. I will never forget it.

Monks wears a diaper only at night and he had two sample pull ups so I thought we might as well use them. One was Cars and had Lightning McQueen and Mater. Of course he loved it. The next night, I thought we might as well use this other one. It was a Cinderella one and its trim was pink. I pulled it out of the drawer and went to put it on him. He was standing up and said “I not wear that one with a lady on it!” I said monkey it is just for overnight. It had one of the mice on the butt part and I said look a little mouse and he said “yeah, its brown.” He said it like yeah, not impressed lol. I then said well you are wearing it tonight and you will be fine so put it on. As he lifted his leg to put it on he said “you gonna kill me momma.” I died laughing. He is so crazy and says the funniest things.

Monday when Pippa woke up from her nap, she was playing in the living room. I had the TV on and was watching Jurassic Park but I had it turned all the way down. It was near the end and it was at the part where the raptors were about to get them but in comes the T-rex and saves them and they run out. When that T-rex came in, it caught Pippa’s eye and she stood there watching. She seriously laughed out loud and squealed with excitement. It was hilarious. My little baby girl laughing at this movie. 

Weekend Update

Saturday we were lazy and just stayed around the house. We got dinner and took it to a park to eat. We had fun playing and although it was super hot, the kids had the best time. Aikman fed a “chick-munk” as he says, some fries and loved watching him eat them. He went around to all the little holes he could find dropping fries in so he could feed them. He kept moving and we asked him if he needed to pee. He said “no, I fine daddy” and so Devin said are you sure? You can go in the grass. (we were in a big field playing, not by the playground) and Aikman said “no, I fine, I not want to pee on chick-munk’s houses!! They live there!” We died laughing. He really didn’t have to pee but how thoughtful is that? Lol.

Sunday we went to Target and picked up some things we needed. We then headed out to the Chili Super Bowl in Buffalo Gap. They have a big chili/grilling cook off and the “World’s Biggest Pot of Chili” to benefit a local children’s home. There wasn’t too much to do midday but we still had fun. You had to buy tickets for all the food and it was kind of like the fair, pretty high. We ended up just buying fresh squeezed lemonade and homemade banana ice cream with vanilla wafers in the bowl. It was amazing. We decided just to eat lunch after somewhere. We then looked around Buffalo Gap for a little while and then went to Famous Dave’s to eat. We wanted bbq. Lol. It was already mid afternoon so we went home and put the kids for a nap and then when they woke up we went and got Nikki’s, our favorite little yogurt spot. They had a new peach flavor that was amazing. Pippa wanted some of all of ours so she ate quite a bit. We then went to clean out the car. We vacuumed and cleaned out carseats. There was a crazy amount of stuff under Aikman's seat. Lol. We turned Pippa forward now since she is almost 30 pounds and she loves it! She constantly is laughing when you turn to look at her and moves her ankles in a circular motion. The whole time. No lie. We then went through a drive thru car wash and she got scared once when the brushes went by but we all had fun being silly and smelling the candy (we think the pink, blue and yellow soap/wax stuff you get smells of candy). It was then home to bed! 

Pips coloring for the first time. 

Eating fried pickles!

So happy to be facing forward! 

Monday, being a holiday, I was off. We met up with Pete and Phil so they could get a new fridge. We went to Sears of course so I could hand out thank you cards and we could see people we haven’t seen in a while. It was so sweet as a few people who have not seen Pippa in months said she looked like a little Nancy, especially in her pearls. Everyone is like family there and I always feel some comfort when we go. They got a super nice fridge and the salesgirl was so nice and helpful. I told Pete and Phil mom would be proud. We then went to lunch at Golden Corral. It was hilarious because Phil got a piece of liver and took a bite and was so grossed out and so Pete and Devin had to try it. I had tried liver when I worked at Luby’s in high school so I was not about to eat it again. Pete seriously spit it out and was disgusted. I thought Devin was going to throw up. Lol. You had to be there. We then took the boys home and went to Kid’s Village. They were having a super sale and I still had some left on a gift card from Pippa’s birthday. I got her a super cute Cowboys dress, a pink one piece shorts and top combo, a doll and two ornaments that were clearance to $1! I got one for Dr. Steadman and one for Bushra, my hair lady for Christmas. We then put the kids down for naps and when they woke up we went to the mall to get some more hand soap and to look around. We bought some candy from a candy store and then went to eat. We went to Wholly Cow but they were closed so we ended up just going to Chili’s. I bought a Cooper peeler the other day and one of the things on there was chips and hot sauce from Chili’s so we got them. Aikman could really eat them all day if you let him. He loves it. If it gets too spicy he just drinks some water and then is fine. It was a late night as it was 9:00 when we got home so Miss Pippa was ready to get in bed. We had a super fun weekend once again. 

At Chili's

Our Halloween hats! We look pretty cute!

The sweetest little witch ever!

My perfect babies. 

This one is for Grandpa. If you look closely, she has a toothpick in her  mouth.  Priceless.