February

February in photos:

This picture was just too cute. I found this in Ben's room. It's his little Baby Bear on a little bed he made for it on the floor. So stinkin' cute!

 We are a fort making family and this is one A&B made. So proud of them!

 In February we celebrate Daddy's birthday. I made a yummy caramel cheesecake that turned out awesome! Cheesecake is Drew's favorite. We had a lot of fun with him going to dinner one night, celebrating with his family another, and my side another. We like to stretch out birthdays as much as we can!

 Aria's artwork. I absolutely LOVE how she draws and what she draws! She has such an imagination and is so clever!

Me, Aria and My Mom went to go see Beauty and the Beast at our local high school. It was so much fun! Aria was fascinated by it. She loves princess things, Belle and music. It was perfect. It was just a little too long for a 3 year old, but she made a friend that she played with during. At the end she got to meet the girl who was Belle in the play. She was very excited, but nervous. :D

 This little handsome man!     

 And this little sweet angel!

 More fun times with Daddy!

 Lots and lots of snow days. We played in it a lot. Aria wanted to run out and catch snowflakes quick!

  And these two little sweethearts on Valentines!

 I've got this weird lung issue so I've had to take some time away from running and exercising. I was sad to miss my favorite race, but got to go watch my running buddy/motivator/brother-in-law Lance run it! Got some great shots of him!

 

Birthday Girl

We have a 3 year old now!

Aria turned 3 on the 1st. It's been pretty crazy since then and I'm finally able to blog about it!

Earlier in the week she was getting so excited about it! Birthday week started off with excitement!

A few days before her birthday she got her first card in the mail for this one! It was from Grandpa & Grandma Spencer (Ben's Birth Mom's parents) That was so sweet of them! It added to Aria's excitement immensely!

On the day of her birthday we had a party with her Birth Families.  It was so much fun! Aria had a lot of fun loving on her little Birth Sister Dezi. It was too cute. It was so neat being able to spend this special day all about Aria with them. I know they loved seeing her on this special day too. They gave her some awesome gifts! Dezi and Ben got to help Aria open gifts too!

I tried to get some cute posed pictures from her - but being the sweet, energetic, excited, active girl she is, this is how they turned out! She is such a beautiful girl.

The party set-up:

She loves cake!

2 days later on the 3rd we got together with our families to celebrate. Loads of fun again! It was so sweet of everyone to come and such sweet gifts too! For this party we did a princess theme. Aria wanted a Princess birthday party so bad - and generally I steer away from character related party themes like that - it's what she wanted and it's her birthday after all! We got her a few princess things and it seems most of the family knew of her princess obsession and she made out!

She go a little shy and Peggy had to coax her out from under the table. I love this picture!

Her main gift from mom & dad was a new bike! She's been so excited for this since Christmas! She looks so old on it, it's crazy.

She's such an awesome girl! Happy Birthday Rie Bear!

M is for My Son's Birthday

Yesterday was my Benny Boy's 2nd birthday. Saturday we celebrated it with his Birth/First Family in Idaho. It's always so great to see them. Everyone that could make it, did! Sunday we had a family dinner with my side of the family to celebrate the April birthdays (we have 6. What's 9 months before April? Sheesh!) Afterward, we celebrated with Drew's side of the family. Ben Jam got 3 parties for his birthday this year!

It was so much fun. He got so many awesome gifts from family and friends! Thank you all!

Ben Jam's almost 2!

We have a birthday boy coming up in a couple weeks! So excited!
Here are some things about Benners:

- He loves singing songs. The Wheels on the Bus and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.
- He loves bath time. Loves it!
- He is SO VERY ticklish! I think even his teeth are ticklish.
- He is very social. He is never afraid of people and often wants strangers to hold him.
- He loves his "babies." A little bear he's had since he was a baby and a frog Granny gave him at placement.
- Loves giving hugs and kisses!
- He's getting really playful. Sometimes he gets so wound up - especially with my mom. It's so cute to watch him be so intense with playing!
- He loves copying Aria. If she screams, he screams and then they both get running around screaming (for fun, not mad) and it's so funny! Drew and I just laugh!
- He calls himself Aria. If he sees a photo of himself or looks in the mirror he yells "Ayaya!"
- He says I love you so cute! Sounds like "Aye You!"
- He loves giggling. If he hears anyone laughing, he immediately joins in.
- He loves being outside. The days that are too cold are so hard for him. The only good thing about a mild winter (in my opinion) is that the kids have been able to play outside a lot!
- He weighs 31 lbs
- He's learning so much! We are working with Kids On The Move and he's doing so well!
- He sleeps through the night like a champ every night!
- He babbles a lot. He can say a lot of understandable words, but mostly babbles. A LOT of it!
- He loves animals. Mostly from a distance.
- He is such a mamma's boy. He is usually found about 2" from me at any given time.
- He loves playing with Daddy. He gets so excited when Daddy gets home from work! He's really good and playing with Benny Boy all the time!

Party Time!

Lately Aria has been quite focused on her birthday. She tells me often that it's her birthday today. She usually tells me who is coming to the party (and it's quite a list!) what she wants for decorations (usually balloons) where she wants it (often she says at Misty's house) and that she wants a cake.

Sunday we had my parents over for dinner. That morning when I told the kids what was going on for the day, Aria got really excited and asked if Grandma & Grandpa were coming for her party. I said YES! Following her lead, my mom brought a "party" with them!

We had a tea party with my mom's little tea set, blew bubbles outside and ran around. Birthday dessert, and even a present from my parents for the kiddos. Ring Pops! It was a lot of fun!



Jinx even got in on the action - she kept jumping up to catch the bubbles. Hilarious!

Aria's party & 2 year old stats

Aria's party was a blast!

She got to share it with so many family members and her birth families too!

It was a lot of fun!
She's growing so much too!

She is now 37" tall - 99th %tile
She is 26.2 lbs - 54th %tile

For her birthday we got her a big kid bed! She looks so little in her twin sized bed. She did great adjusting to it. It was good timing and she wanted it. I think we check on her more now just to see her cute little body sleeping in that big bed.

She also kicked the pacifier habit a few weeks ago. That went better than we thought too! She had only been using it at bed time since about 18 months old, but was VERY attached to it.

Her favorite toys are still her babies.

She is wearing size 24 month to 2T clothes mostly (some smaller stuff if height or length doesn't matter like shorts). Size 4 diapers, size 5 shoes.

She's an awesome eater - not many if any things she wont eat.

She's an awesome sleeper too! Sleeps all through the night, about 11+ hours straight. Takes a 2hr nap each day.

She's no longer a baby! She's a little girl. And, she's such a treat!

Happy 2nd Birthday to My Sunshine!

Today, Aria is 2.

What a wonderful 2 years this has been. She's such a light in our lives.

She has such a sweet and loving demeanor, and yet at the same time a very intense and strong-willed personality. Something I admire in her so much.

She has so much about her that I treasure - such as her confidence. She's 2 and she already has so much. She is such a daring girl too. She loves to climb on things and do risky things to show she can. Oddly enough, I don't get too nervous about it - she wouldn't do it unless she thought she could. Obviously, if something is dangerous, I would stop her.

If I could only use one word to describe her, it would be Capable. She is one of the most capable kids I know. She has such a problem-solving mind. She doesn't let things hold her back and amazes us constantly with all she can already do.

She loves to help. She likes responsibilities. She's a hard worker. She will help Daddy pick up sticks (something we have to do each week before mowing - darn birch tree...) and really helps! He's commented many times how she makes a difference. This is something I really admire in her too. I admire hard-working people in general and the fact she is already at 2 years old is flat out amazing.

She's fun to be around! We really enjoy spending time with her and playing. She is developing quite a bit of humor and keeps us laughing! I still get excited every morning and afternoon when she wakes up and calls for me. It's like the life of the party just woke up!

Tonight is her party!
Here are some photos from the last year.

Sept. 1st 2010:
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011 (and yes, I do know she wore this shirt a lot! It was my favorite)
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011 (I love this photo. Daddy and Rie had just danced in the rain. /sigh)
I love you Aria! Thank you for making life lovely.
Love,
Mom