Snow Snow Snow!!!

I love snow! I'm not a big fan of winter but I love snow! It's so pretty to watch. For those of you that don't live close by we're supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow by tomorrow. Sweet! I'm a little bit crazy in that I have always wanted to be in a blizzard...watching it from inside my home of course. I want 3 feet of snow outside while Kreg, Aiden, and I sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate inside. Well Aiden may not be drinking hot chocolate but you get the idea. Anyway its snowing right now and it's soooo pretty. The only time I like winter is when it's snowing.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! If only we lived in Colorado so we could go skiing tomorrow! Now that would be fun.

Not far from walking

Aiden is not too far off from running circles around me...not sure I'm ready for that yet. He will crawl to get somewhere but he LOVES to walk. I pulled out a walker someone gave us that I had been keeping in the closet and he just took off. For the past couple of days he has been walking all over the house with that thing. I took a couple of pics as he walked by me the other day, while I was sitting at the computer. Crazy!


This is his very excited face!

Introducing Aiden's new cheesy smile: (Apparently he started this at grandma's house today.)

And please take careful note of the highwater pants...he's stylin I know.

Pantry Fun

Thank you Aiden for helping mommy reoragnize her pantry today! I have been meaning to get to that. What a big helper! (Whatever keeps them busy right??)

My little crawler

Just wanted to post a little proof that Aiden started crawling this week....He made it almost 11 months before he decided he would go exploring.

He's been working up to this for a few weeks now but the official start was Monday evening...since Daddy set up his train set around the Christmas Tree. And since then he has also learned how to pull himself up on things i.e. the couch and his book shelf. He discovered the door stoppers.....loves the sound they make. He also loves pulling all the books off his book shelf, and likes to crawl around and pretend he is eating things off the carpet....i.e. lint (I think I am going to need to vacuum more.) I know the adventures are just beginning.

Aiden helped me decorate the Christmas tree today. He pulled the lights down while I hung them and he helped me pick up the pine needles by eating them. What a sweet little boy I have! Such a big helper! I think he'll be a professional crawler by the end of the week because he wants to pull the ornaments off the tree really really badly.

haha very funny Aiden...aren't you supposed to be napping right now?


Aiden's first Christmas Tree....check out daddy's train!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

I think I can officially mark in the record books that Aiden had a fabulous first Thanksgiving. We headed up to Sharpsville, Indiana Wednesday evening to spend the remainder of the week with Kreg's family. We did lots of relaxing, a little shopping, lots of eating, and LOTS of Wii playing! Yes I have to admit that if we had a Wii here at home I think I would have to consider myself an addict. I didn't think a video game could be considered "exercise" but I understand now...you see I get a little bit more into than I should...and well I am actually sore today. Yes sadly you read correctly. My right arm is really sore. All day I kept thinking why is my arm so sore? Did I really carry Aiden around that much the past couple of days? And then it hit me...THE Wii! At least its just my arm that's sore but I think its time to up my exercise routine to a more vigorous level...I shall start tomorrow (or the next day :).

The Friday night after Thanksgiving the extended Salsbery family has a tradition of celebrating Christmas together. Hard to believe this was already my fourth year to attend the Christmas party. We all gather in Grandpa and Grandma's basement, eat pizza, hang out, and play the $5 gift exchange game. And then Grandma gives everyone their stocking loaded with goodies.

The grandchildren (including great grandchildren) and their stockings.

Aiden had a blast at the Christmas Party (until it was bedtime). He loved playing with his cousin Jack all weekend...well I say "playing" but what I mean is poking, hitting, and stealing toys from each other. I guess we aren't quite to the playing together stage but we still like to try.


Aiden and Jack sharing the car...I think it was Jack's turn to drive :)

And I have to post a few other picks of Jack and Aiden together. They both loved playing the piano (Aiden was just introduced to it this weekend)

Quite the duet...obviously two child prodigy's here. (Jack on the left; Aiden on the right)


We were trying to get them to smile but it wasn't working so we gave them each an apple...not sure how we thought that would help but it's still cute.


And at least they kept looking in the same direction.

Over all it was a weekend filled with more wonderful memories and blessed time with family. Kreg and I are again reminded and truly thankful for the wonderful families we have on both sides. We can't wait to be with them all again for Christmas!

Kristopher and Monica's Wedding

This past weekend Kreg and I made the trek to Chicago for his brother's wedding. Kreg is one of five boys as many of you know and Kristopher is his next younger brother. It was a great weekend....lots of good times with family, the wedding went off without a hitch (as far as I know), the bride was beautiful, and Aiden was a very good boy (even though off schedule and lacking in sleep). The ceremony was beautiful as well and reminded me of what God intended marriage to be and how wonderful it is when Godly families are united through marriage. I always love watching the groom at weddings because in a truly godly couple you can so clearly see the radiance of the bride reflect off of him and its such a beautiful picture of Christ and his Church. It brought back a lot of memories of our wedding. Seeing Kreg for the first time, walking down that aisle and seeing no one but him, the excitement, and the love I felt from all our family and friends. We are truly blessed......I am truly blessed.

Monica with her husband and new brothers! (and my very studly husband)


I stole a quick picture with the bride.


Their first dance....the back of her dress was stunning.

Oh what fun! And now there is another Mrs. Salsbery to add to our numbers! We shall one day take over I think :) Kristopher and Monica started dating before Kreg and I did and I remember walking behind them one night on campus (Kristopher was walking Monica back to our dorm after a special chapel service) and thinking what a cute couple they made. And of course feeling a little jealous that I didn't have a boy to walk me back to the dorm (all in due time). And at that point I never would have imagined we would all be in the same family together...God is good. Monica has been around since I started dating Kreg so it felt only fitting to watch them pledge their vows to each other. I am very blessed to be a part of this family. I grew up in a wonderfully close and godly family and i also got to marry into a wonderfully close and godly family...you just don't see that much these days. Thank you Lord!

Shout out to Deli Workers

Its been a very normal Monday for me...feed Aiden breakfast, feed Kreg breakfast, then my turn; crawl around on the floor and play with Aiden; make the bed; go for a jog (oops forgot this part today.....ok well I didn't forget but I felt lazy); and then go to the grocery store. Lucky for me Grandma Hansen volunteered to keep Aiden while I shopped......yeeessssssss! I grocery shop pretty much every Monday morning and I rather enjoy grocery shopping except for 3 things. 1) Monday morning there seems to be a rather abundant amount of elderly folk shopping for their groceries as well and well lets just say they are quite feisty! Has anyone else had this experience? Some are very funny and when I have Aiden with me just about every grandma that passes us has to stop and smile at him, poke him, or try to make him laugh (always good times). But there are those that are out to get me! Seriously......crazy cart drivers on a mission and they don't like it when I get in their way or when I stand too long in one spot reading labels (again getting in the way....oops). This tends to put a damper on my shopping experience. 2) Ok well the second thing that irks me is the unkind treatment of deli workers! I mean seriously.....its just lunch meat people. You're just going to slap it between two pieces of bread lathered with "stuff" and swallow it. Does it really matter what size the slice is? The poor deli workers have to take a lot of slack and I just want them to know I feel for them. I try and be extra kind to my deli ladies. I don't care what thickness the meat is or if they give me .51 lbs instead of .50. Its ok....I'll pay the extra nickel. So next time you get meat from the deli give the workers an extra smile and say hi. I actually think I've become friends with a couple of the meijer deli ladies and who knows maybe one of these days I can share Christ with them. No more Uncle Scrooges at the deli counter please! 3) Thirdly the plastic bags they have available to put your produce in... I can never get those things open. I think I stood there for 5 minutes trying to get one end of the bag to open up so I could put my grapes in something. I've been trying to think of an alternative but have yet to solve this dilemma. I'm always glad when I have the produce part done!

And those are my thoughts on this routine Monday morning.

Fun Times

Mom, no toy or ball for that matter is too big for me to eat!

The classic bath time pics....didn't we all have these taken when we were little? I had to do it.

Splish, splash I was taken a bath......

Lunch Time Tantrum

Aiden set a new record for himself today. A 25 minute tantrum. I think I mentioned this but he has decided he doesn't like any food besides bread and cheerios (bread being the favored of the two). Although we know this is not true. He has been eating quite the assortment of fruits and vegetables for months now. And has even learned to like chicken some too. We don't want him to think he can just eat bread all the time for the obvious reason that I want him to learn to eat a variety of foods. But we also don't want him thinking he has the upper hand around here. We want to communicate to him that mommy and daddy love him but our no means no and we mean it the first time we say it. But while he sat and cried and screamed during lunch today I realized for the first time how easy it is for parents to go so wrong with their kids. I wanted so much to just give in and give him the bread, make it all better for him, and comfort him but I knew I would be teaching him all the wrong things. But every ounce of me just yearned to give in. But after 25 minutes of serious crying he finally ate his peaches and his green beans. I felt the yearning to give in but I also saw the outcome of obedience. Discipline and consistency work. I sympathize and have more compassion for parents now but I also see its still not an excuse for disobedience. Consistency works. And when Aiden was done he got to eat some bread and then we played and laughed and he still loved me and I of course will always be head over heals for my son. Aiden may not "like" me at certain times but I know he will always love me and even more so for being consistent with him.

A Nice Fall Day

Aiden and I spent the day at home today. We played with paper (loves to tear it up into itsy bitsy pieces), made some more baby food for him, and tried to practice our crawling. He just can't quite figure it all out but I think we're making progress. He thinks it's really funny when I crawl around in front of him to show him how. I'm sure everyone reading this would like to see that too! I also took Aiden to Grandma Hansen's backyard to play in the leaves. I tried to get some cute pictures but I'm not exactly a photographer.

My first time in the leaves!


One of the few smiles we got. For some reason he was really mellow when we went outside.

We also went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner tonight! hmmm hmmmm good. We brought a piece of cheesecake home to eat later tonight (White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle). We went with Mom and dad, Mark and Mindy, and baby Luke. It was the first time we have all been to dinner together since Luke was born. The babies did very well though. Luke was a bit tired but enjoyed a nap in grandma's arms while we ate. Aiden being such a huge fan of bread was occupied with all the brown bread he got to eat. Thank you to Hansen Custom Homes for a such a nice company dinner out!

Alligator Tears and Play Time

Well Kreg and I ate our first dinner with a baby crying through the entire meal tonight. Aiden has decided he loves bread. And when I say he loves bread this is actually an understatement. He LOVES bread. He uses both hands to shovel it in as fast as he possibly can. If there is bread and cheerios on his tray at the same time he pushes all the cheerios off so he can concentrate on the bread alone. The last couple of days we have noticed him whining more when we sit down to feed him well we figured out its because he just wants bread. He doesn't want any of his other food, which he use to like quite well (sweet potato's, peas, applesauce, etc.) So tonight we made him eat his vegetables and yogurt before he could have a piece of bread. Yeah well that did not go over so well. Huge alligator tears. I couldn't even look at him. Kreg held us both strong though and I truly do think it was a good thing. Aiden needs to learn who is in control and he is so cute its hard to not give into him, especially when he is crying those huge tears! He made it through however. He ate his vegetables and his yogurt and was extremely happy when we finally gave him some bread. Hopefully this will be a quick stage and we won't be enduring tears through every dinner.

I have no pictures of the alligator tears at dinner but I did take some pictures of Aiden playing today. He is such a big boy! He has a toy he stands up at and it makes all kinds of music and noise when he pushes the buttons. I think its the favorite toy right now. While playing he discovered he could see his reflection in our fire place so he proceeded to not only try and stand up and push the buttons but also wave at himself...and wave at himself....and wave at himself. I think he waved all afternoon. I am sure he probably thinks there is a little person his size living in our fire place that likes to wave at him. Oh the simplicities of life when you are only 10 months old.


My big boy playing


Playing some more.......


waving at himself.....


and waving some more.....

Football and Apples

Sunday Kreg, Aiden, and I watched a very sad colts game. Aiden wasn't quite sure how to react at mommy and daddy jumping around the room, yelling at the tv. But when he heard us clap or heard cheering on tv he would clap too. He didn't know what was going on but he knew he should be clapping. It was very cute. During the game Kreg decided he needed a snack. When Aiden saw Kreg's choice of snack (an apple) it was instant jealousy. With mouth gaping open he began to "clap" because he really really wanted one too. Aiden clapping and his sign for "more" are one in the same. So we gave in and gave him an apple. He loved it! The apple was almost as big as his head but he didn't care. I bite the apple skin off a few places so he can get to the juice and he goes to town gnawing on it. Today I gave him one and it occupied him for atleast a good 25 minutes! And a heavenly 25 minutes it was.

Aiden and Daddy eating apples.

My little penguin and my cute bear

Aiden decided he would dress up as a penguin (thanks to my dearly missed college roomy!) and trick or treat at grandma's house last night. He was of course the cutest penguin I have ever seen! He wasn't too sure about having such a snug fit around his face but he got use to it and even gave a few smiles. He was even nice enough to share his candy with mommy and daddy! My parent's neighbors gave him a little bag of animal crackers and he hung on to them the entire evening. Then this morning after I got him up it was the first thing he grabbed (they were still laying on the floor from the night before...oops).







Every night after bath time we wrap Aiden in his bear towel, thanks to my friend Sue! Thanks Sue! I thought this picture we too cute not to share. Aiden has made a few big strides in the last week. He is standing lots more (still not crawling however) and he is starting to take steps with his feet when you stand him up (and hold on to him). He also learned to say "more" in sign language. He just started doing it on Sunday. He does it ALL the time now. I'm not sure if he really wants something or if he has just learned to clap. But its really cute none the less. He is interacting with us a lot more and mimicking us. Last night at dinner he kept shaking his head back and forth really fast. So then Kreg and I would shake ours and he thought it was the funniest thing. Today I told him to "shake his brain" and several times he actually shook his head! I can see him starting to understand some language now and it's so neat to watch him learn.




My cute little bear!

Chicago

This past weekend Kreg and I took a little mini-vacation up to Chicago. It was about a 4 hour drive to his brother Kent's house. We picked up his brother Kristopher on the way up so Kristopher and his fiancee could get their marriage license on Friday (Kristopher and Monica are getting married November 17th in Chicago). Aiden enjoyed Chicago and seeing his Uncles but he did not enjoy the car ride! I don't know why but he does not like being in that car seat for very long. And for some reason he was awake all the way up there! The poor guy just wouldn't give in and sleep. We even left Thursday evening because we thought maybe then Aiden would sleep when it got close to bedtime....but no he showed us up and kept those eye lids open.

On Friday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The coolest part for me was the exhibit showing the progression of a fetus in the womb. They actually have real fetus' in glass cases on display. It was sad to see these babies that didn't make it into the world but absolutely amazing to see up close the different stages of development. Kreg enjoyed the farming exhibit. And we both liked the "skiing" similators. Kreg also got to try one of those electronic stand up scooter thingy's (see picture)....no idea what their real name is. We see the security guards at the malls on them all the time now.

On Saturday I got to go to IKEA!! wooohoooooo. It was a fantastic morning wandering through the store. We had two "big" purchases....baby bibes that have sleeves and a cookie jar. Saturday afternoon we watched Kent play softball downtown and then we headed home so we could be back for church on Sunday. It was a nice couple days away. And in less than two weeks we are headed to Florida for a week! I'm so excited!!

Aiden hangin out with the clowns at the Museum

Aiden saw half of the exhibits with his eyes closed.

Kreg hittin the slopes

I'm right behind him

Kreg on the stand up scooter "thingy"

Labor Day Weekend

We had a nice Labor Day weekend down in Nashville, IN with Kreg's family and family friends. We didn't do a whole lot. We went hiking a few times but mostly just layed around and chatted. It felt very strange to be lazy because there is absolutely nothing lazy about motherhood. As soon as I get Aiden down for a nap its off to the races to see how much I can get done before he wakes up. However down there I would put Aiden to bed and then sit...which was a very strange feeling.

There were 3 babies this weekend. They were all between the ages of 6 months and 13 months. As you can imagine all on very different schedules but they all did well. Aiden slept in our room with us and there was only one night that he decided to wake up at 4 am and throw himself a little party. He talked to himself and scratched the sides of his pack n play and talked some more. I think he was awake about 45 minutes. Never fussed...just had a little party. Mommy was invited but daddy never heard him (go figure) so I guess daddy wasn't invited to this party.

Aiden got to swim with his cousin Jack once again. But this pool was very different than Grandma Hansen's pool and colder too! Jack loves to splash but as you can see in the pics Aiden of course took it like a man.

Kreg enjoyed trying out our hiking pack and Aiden enjoyed riding in it. I kept trying to straighten Aiden's hat while we were hiking but every time I did Aiden would turn it back sideways......I guess he wanted to be like daddy....so we let him.

The big news since being home from our trip is that Aiden is now eating Cheerios!! woooohoooo. He loved those gerber puffs but I have been buying them like they are going out of style because he eats so many. But I think the budget is going to be happier with Cheerios.

Whats new with us

So whats new with the Salsbery's you ask? Well let me think...we've been to 3 weddings in the past 4 weeks and now we're in the clear until Kreg's brother Kristopher gets married in November. And silly me I have no pictures from any of them. What was I thinking? I've also been cleaning house a lot. We have had 2 showings on our house over the past 2 weeks. Exciting in many ways but at the same time makes me a bit nervous we may actually sell our house soon. Yikes! And Aiden just keeps growing. He discovered his tongue recently. He likes to stick it out while he is inspecting a new toy or trying to choose what toy to play with. And just to make sure he is truly sticking his tongue out he reaches up to touch it...you know, just to make sure. One of the pictures is Aiden showing you his tongue while trying to grab the camera and the other is him being a big boy in his new Gatlinburg t-shirt from Gpa and Gma Salsbery.

Last Wednesday was the big Salsbery family corn day. Yes you heard correctly....corn day. We shuck, cook, and bag corn for the next year. The boys sit in the back of an old truck and shuck and the girls sit at a picnic table and cut and bag as fast as our little fingers will let us. I love corn on the cob but after corn day...well...lets just say I get my fill all in one day. We cook the corn in a big pot on the grill. This year the boys shucked over 600 ears and we bagged I think close to 150 bags of corn.....should feed 4 little families for the next year (and the bags had to be a bit bigger this year because families keep growing!). However I could never complain because it is great to be stocked up for the year. Being Aiden's first year to be at corn day we let him take it pretty easy but the the guys did manage to get him in the truck with them. I guess they're breaking him in early. Its crazy for me to think this was already my fourth year!

In late August mom and I will have our annual raspberry picking day and I'll freeze those. And then in September/October I'll pick apples and freeze apple pie mixes (I just made one for Kreg yesterday). So let the freezing begin!

Last weekend we were up at Kreg's parents for a baby shower for his cousin. While we were there Aiden went swimming with his cousin Jack. Jack is almost 6 months older so it's fun to watch him and see where Aiden will be in only a few weeks. Aren't these pictures precious! Notice how Aiden's facial expression never changes...he just takes it all in stride. Cracks me up!

The last picture is Grandma Salsbery with her two boys.