Victor turns 4

Sunday was Victor's 4th Birthday party! It was just me and Aidan this time, since my car is on the fritz. Addie got to hang out at home with Daddy. It was actually very nice to relax and have fun with only 1 kid! Victor had a nice party. I can't believe he's 4 already! Every time Victor's Birthday rolls around, it reminds me that Aidan's Birthday is just around the corner. I can't believe that I'm about to have a four year old!

Speaking of Aidan, I think this is a record for me on pictures taken of him. They certainly aren't portraits, but at least he gave me the time of day!

Here he is hanging out in the bounce house.

This is Victor's adorable little brother, Logan!
This is the look I get when I say, "Hey, Aidan!". He's clearly annoyed.

The Birthday boy opening presents with his mommy!
Aidan is checking out one of Victor's toys. When there are toys around, he has no self control.

Rachel's little sister, Delaney with Logan
And one last picture of Aidan. I can't believe he's going to be four in 2 months! Where has the time gone?

Aidan starts school

It's official, he's my big boy. Aidan had his first day of preschool yesterday! He did great!

We had a little drama in the morning. He was still tired since he's normally a late riser. He's like me, a total grump when tired! He didn't want to wear the shirt we had originally picked out the night before. After a bit of drama, he finally decided on a sweatshirt from last year. It was a chilly day anyway, so we went with it. Once he was dressed and his daddy fixed his hair, he started getting excited. Since the drama put us a little behind, I only got these quick shots.

Doesn't that backpack make him look so much older?!?

Drop off went very well. We just walked into his class room and he went off to find someone to play with. All I got was a quick "Goodbye Mommy!". I guess that was good for me, since a drawn out goodbye would've surely made me cry!

I went home, put Addie down for a nap and next thing I knew, it was time to pick him up. I got a little emotional watching the little ones walk out one by one to be greeted by their parent(s). When Aidan came out, he greeted me with, "Hi, Mommy! I missed you!". I got a little choked up, but didn't shed a tear!

I had promised him we would go to McDonalds (or "Old McDonalds" as Aidan calls it) for lunch if he was a good boy at school. He was, so we had a little lunch date. I had to ask him every question under the sun to find out about his day. Through my questioning I learned....

-He played with Play-Doh, but they only had yellow

-At recess, he played on the pirate ship and it has two slides

-He didn't sing

-He did pray

-He had Goldfish, milk, and a cupcake for snack time

-The kids are nice

-There aren't blocks in his classroom (I actually think there are)

-He got dirty at recess and had to wash his hands

-He's not the only Aidan (that's new to him since he hasn't actually met another Aidan yet)

So funny! I also think he has a little crush on one of his teachers. Last night he was playing with one of Addie's toy phones, and was pretending to talk to Miss Dodge! He was telling her that he would see her tomorrow. How cute! Yup, I'm a proud Momma!

Through Aidan's eyes

The other day, I decided to let Aidan have my old point and shoot camera. It's old and on it's last legs anyway. It was an idea I've been toying with for a little while now, but wasn't sure if he would even be interested. When I asked him if he would like it yesterday, he jumped up and down and got very excited. I showed him some basics....basically to frame up his image and snap the shutter. He surprised me! He loved picking his subject and shooting.

Here are a couple of my favorites that he took (and there are a lot)! I did very minimal editing on them since they are his images. I only cropped a few and sharpened/sized for the web.

Orange Ball. See the Goldfish cracker in the upper left corner? :o) Animal crackersThis is a pic of the TV during a Pop Tart commercial. LOL!This is my shadow! Here's his tricycleThis is my favorite of the bunch. This is his neighbor friend, Patrick, peeking over the fence from his backyard.
I like this capture of Addie. I was letting her sip water out of my glass. But I think he was trying to bust her here. Little stinker getting into the cabinets as always.

This one while I was making dinner. The secrets out....this is what I look like when we don't go anywhere. Nice hat!Here he managed to get a pic of someone I haven't been able to in ages....his daddy! Poor guy got assaulted by the camera as soon as he woke up!
Not too bad for a first timer, huh? Jim and I were pretty impressed, considering he's not even 4 yet! Now he keeps saying that he's a photographer. Silly boy! :o)

Our ever exciting Labor Day weekend

OK, so not really. Jim has been working tons of hours, and truthfully we may have seen him for a grand total of 5 hours all weekend. It's something we're getting used to. So, our weekend was pretty much like any other day. I did get the kids out and about on Sunday. We went to one of our local parks/beaches that we've never checked out before. The kids didn't swim because the lake had tons of seaweed along the beach. Aidan actually tried, but kept saying that he was sinking in the muck and seaweed. That's one thing I don't like about this lake. It really isn't suitable for swimming. It's such a shame, because I love to swim, and I think the kids would too.


Addie had some fun in the sand....

And so did Aidan!

They even had some fun together!

After the kids were done playing in the sand, we went over to another portion of the park. This is a place I've been meaning to attempt photographing them for some time now. It's a cute little pond with fountains and pretty landscaping. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many great shots. It was very hard to shoot and make sure that the other kid wasn't going to fall in the pond. I also really struggled with the lighting. It was just too pretty and sunny...which gave me shadows no matter how hard I tried to avoid them.

I did get one shot of the kids together. I so wish Aidan would give me eye contact! For now, I'll settle with this.

Addie in the gazebo *sigh* If only the lighting was better (or if I at least knew how to work with it!)....

For now, I don't have any to add of Aidan, but this makes me smile. I was trying to get a shot of him by the bridge when Addie started to run off. He took off and grabbed her hand to keep her safe! He really does love her!

I'm really hoping to get the opportunity to go back in the evening hours when the sun isn't has harsh. Maybe even Jim can come and join us! He actually has a day off this week!