Coming down the hall Christmas morning…
First, stockings and breakfast… then present passing. Aiden did a pretty good job passing out presents.
He was all ready to try out his Cars potty seat. Let’s all cross our fingers that it inspires him.
Talking to Mandy while she’s in Canada…
Singing Christmas carols at the Harwoods…
We enjoyed the holiday talking to and spending time with family and hope everyone loved their holidays as well!
The big blue blob is Aiden trying to hide under his covers when I attempted to wake him up. Sometimes it’s just too dang early, especially when the sun is out for such a short time each day. Am I right? I’m glad Aiden and I understand one another. After this week, we’re going to spend a few weeks staying in bed later than normal, and it will be wonderful. Bring on the winter break!
We have been so busy with so many different things, it makes my head spin, but here are a few…
Last Thursday, I got the Christmas bug. As soon as I got off work, I put on the Christmas music. Aiden and I wrapped presents and danced around to the music. When Isaac got home, he very graciously indulged me and put up the tree. We scattered our Christmas decorations all around the front rooms. On Friday, we decorated the tree and put the presents underneath. Aiden LOVED it, and he has left the tree alone since that day; I’m pretty surprised he isn’t pulling ornaments off.
Aiden’s first ornament… and mine.
We are both still taking classes and working full-time. Aiden is still in love with cars, but his love now extends to trains and fish. He can name starfish, jellyfish, sharks, and seahorses. Mostly, I have been consumed with this for the past week:
We have our first yearbook deadline on Monday. The perfectionist in me wants to fine tune every little detail and kill the students who mess up my work. The professional part of me tries to remember that this is a student publication, and I keep my interference to a minimum. This weekend, it’s up to me to get everything ready for our submission party on Monday though… wish me luck!
The Tennessee Snows came out for a visit this Thanksgiving. I was fortunate to have the whole week off after working 11 hour days with parent-teacher conferences the week before, and Isaac had a few days off, so we got to spend a lot of family time together.
We spent a day down in Monterey. Aiden LOVED all the fish in the aquarium. We literally had to tear him away from some of the exhibits; he was perfectly happy staring at the sea life for long periods of time.
After exploring the aquarium, we dined at Ghirardelli Ice Cream, stopped at the beach for a bit, and picked up fresh produce at a local farm’s stand.
We ended the day with exotic burgers and a movie. It was a great day. 
This weekend, I thought I was having a girls’ night for three, scrapbooking at Brooke’s apartment in Oakland. When I got there, I found it was a girls’ night for FOUR because Valerie flew in from Nebraska! Talk about a great birthday surprise! Plus, Isaac packed me an overnight bag so we could have a sleepover!
Not only did I get Monday off for Veteran’s Day, and not only was I spoiled by my mom and dad with a delicious dinner and exactly what I wanted, but I got to spend time with three of the greatest girls I know. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great three-day weekend!
This week I enjoyed some California Rolls from our favorite Japanese place around the corner. I was excited to pull out the beautiful chopsticks I got in “Japan” at EPCOT this summer. Aiden was looking at me with that gleam in his eye that says “Teach me, Mommy!”
So I did.
We may have happened to have picked up a pair of training chopsticks in EPCOT as well. The two sticks are held together by a panda and totally adorable.
They are not, however, as easy as you might think. There’s lots of wiggle room still.
I was really proud of Aiden for being so persistent trying to pick up his bread with chopsticks.
Finally, success! 
We went to Perry Farms to pick out a pumpkin again this year, supporting our local farm (it’s about a mile away from us). This was the first time we were ambitious enough to carve it though… AND roast the seeds, which were super good.
Tonight we went to the ward Trunk or Treat, and Aiden did a pretty good job. He said “trick or treat” at almost every car and always said thank you, even if he had to be prompted sometimes. He didn’t eat any candy there, and after we’d gone around once, he said “Done car treat, Mommy,” and he just wanted to sit in my lap and later my dad’s while we handed out candy. Once he got the candy home, though, it was a different story. He wasn’t very happy to find out that he wasn’t allowed to eat as much as he wanted.
He and Larry were practically car-loving twins.
Bonus points if you can guess our pop culture homage here. I couldn’t pass up an easy literary allusion. I was glad so many of my students figured it out.
