Fortress of Fun

If you look at Jen's decorating blog then you know that we've been making some changes to our kitchen recentely. (Check out the progress here, here and here.)

One of the biggest changes is clearly the giant new island that occupies some prime real estate right in the middle of the room. As we envisioned the new island I think that we were looking forward to it being a centerpiece of many a great meal, and family gathering to come. Little did we know, however, that all we were doing was just creating an extra large fort in which Aiden could romp.

Yep, he has pretty much adopted the whole area as his new private playground. And whether he his hiding behind it, running around it, or crawling under it there is no doubt that the island is a full blown success with at least one of our household residents.

Observe...

Incidentally, Jen loves the huge new expanse of counterspace and I discovered recentley that the island makes for a great home-brewing center, so I guess it's a win all around!

Just Loungin' around

How was your weekend? Things around here were (as you can see) pretty relaxed...

Ikea Excursion

Being cooped-up at home is usually a nice break from everyday life. When the weather is bad its nice to be able to just hunker down, stay warm, and enjoy some time on the couch. However, at some point there can be too much of a good thing. After a week of snow, cold, wind and more snow we decided it was time to get out. We needed to go somewhere... anywhere. Today the oasis for our precariously maintained sanity was none other then that bastion of scandanavian furniture and meatballs: IKEA.

Even though they were out of stock of the one item that we actually intended to buy, it was still the ideal escape. The store was as empty as we've ever seen it, Aiden could run and climb at will, and we could meander the labyrinthine pathways at our leasure. Perfect.

Thank you IKEA, thank you.

Party Time

On Saturday we were glad to have the opportunity to celebrate Aiden's second birthday with our parents, grandparents, and siblings. Things can get a little cozy at our house when we have big gatherings, but everyone had fun time and (as usual) Aiden enjoyed being the center of attention.

Although we tried to keep things a little more low-key then his birthday party last year, Jen did make the house look festive for the occasion. True to from, Aiden especially enjoyed the numerous balloons.

When it came to gifts everyone exercised some (much appreciated) restraint. Aiden still has Christmas presents that have hardly seen the light of day, so it was a relief not to be inundated with a new wave toys and gifts. He did, of course, enjoy opening the gifts that he did get, and he put on quite a show of tearing into each new gift wrapping with reckless abandon.

Birthday cake (in this case cupcakes) of course made an appearance at the party. Decorated by Jen, they fit right in to the loose "letters" theme of the party.

Aiden kept his cool during the singing of Happy Birthday (a change from last year's party if you recall) and managed to blow out his candles. When it came to eating his cupcake he seemed to relish the chance to plunge his face into the copious amounts of sugary frosting, and he took to the rare opportunity with great gusto.

While all the cupcakes were safely digesting Aiden spent some time playing with his new toys, and having fun with his aunts and uncles.

Thanks to everyone who braved the cold to come and enjoy Aiden's birthday with us. We had a great time, and we know that Aiden loved having everyone there to celebrate with.

Also, thanks to everyone who has wished him happy birthday on this blog during these last few days. It has been two years (and exactly 300 posts) since we started this blog, and although we created it primarily to share pictures and stories about our son it has given us the unique opportunity to connect and reconnect with some great people. We love being able to sit down at our computer and share whats going on here with loved ones in California, and Arizona, and Massachusetts, and Virginia, and Maryland and all over Pennsylvania, and even UGANDA! And on top of that we love being able to read about all of you too.

So lets keep it up!

Here's to another two years and beyond!

Aiden 2.0

At 8:30(ish) this morning Aiden turned two years old.

To say that the last two years have flown by seems a bit of an understatement. A whole lot has happened in the last two years, but looking back now it mostly seems like one lightning-fast, Aiden-themed blur. Times like these make this blog seem pretty worthwhile as it allows us to go back and "ooh" and "ahh" over every little moment from Aiden's babyhood till now. We have a weekend ahead of us to celebrate Aiden's birthday with family and friends, so I'm sure I'll have more opportunites to wax poetic about how precious our son is to us. But for now let me just take a step back and share some pictures with you from Aiden's birthday morning.

This morning we went upstairs to get him from his crib, and at first he seemed a little puzzled about having both parents (plus a camera) present for his morning wakeup. He warmed up slightly however after repeated parental declarations of "Its your birthday!!" and "You're TWO years old!!!" He seemed to pick up pretty quickly that this day was all about him as he repeatedly began exclaiming "Happy Birthday Aiden!"

When he came downstairs he found, much to his delight, a smattering of balloons on the floor for his early-morning enjoyment.

After he was done playing with balloons he enjoyed some birthday pancakes.

And finally he opened up his birthday present...

Turtle slippers!

Taking the turtle slippers for a test drive.

Balloons+ new slippers+ Elmo= one extremely happy birthday boy.