Gatlinburg

We’ve spent this past week in Gatlinburg, TN at a pastors' conference. It was a terrific time away, and there was plenty of time for sight-seeing and enjoying the mountain scenery.

Our trip started Sunday evening around 8 pm. We headed out with the intention of having two happily sleeping children from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Not so. Kieran slept, but Ayden only did part of the time. Around 11 pm we drove past OSU where Carrie is going to school. So, on an impulse, and since Ayden was awake, we stopped to see her and have bubble tea, a popular Asian beverage. It was a terrifically fun memory, and it put us at our Cincinnati hotel around 2 that morning!

Gatlinburg held many wonderful adventures. One morning we went mini golfing on a black lit course. This was Ayden’s first time mini golfing and he enjoyed it. Typically, he would simply carry the ball up to the hole, place it down, and hit it in. A very expeditious way to play, if you ask me. We also rode the trolley, enjoyed a breathtaking scenic drive, and tried to experience Gatlinburg’s rib and wing fest. This last activity was not such a success. Rib fest was Thurs. evening, and twelve dollars bought you a ticket, entitling you to all-you- can-eat ribs from the various booths at the festivals. Since Josh loves both ribs and wings, he was quite excited to attend. So, we went to the fest anticipating much good food and fun times. Not to be so! There were far too many people crammed onto one of Gatlinburg’s very narrow streets. The lines were not well-delineated, so it was very hard to tell where lines began and ended. It was also extremely hot since we were crammed so close to all the grills where they were cooking the meat. None of this, though, was the clincher. What clinched us leaving before getting our ribs were the characters walking around. You know, the mascot pig and fireman who wander around to entertain the kids. Well, not ours. Ayden took one look at them, shrieked, burst into tears, and declared that he wanted to go home. We tried to calm him down, but the wary eyes that kept scanning the crowd for these evil creatures, plus all the other negative aspects, made us cut our losses, declare this not a child-friendly event, and sent us to TGI Fridays for a much more pleasant meal!

These pictures document many of the trip's highlights.


Ayden and Josh enjoying the hotel arcade.


Kieran decided to go anti-pack-n-play this trip and only slept in his car seat or with us. Attempts to put him in the pack-n-play were met with loud protests.


Playing in the inflatable fort.


Kieran ready for his first dip in the pool.


Kieran zonked in the stroller.

Enjoying the trolley ride.

View from the scenic drive.

Too many for a title

Wow! I didn't realize it had been almost a month since I last blogged. So, we'll highlight three-ish things from our lives. In order of oldest to newest, here goes:

Blown out window
About 8 months ago my parents started going to our church. It's great having them here and Ayden enjoys seeing his grandparents at least on Sunday mornings. Well, one Sunday, my dad had to be at all three services, so my mom came over to hang out at our house. As she was coming in the house and beginning to close the door (it had not closed yet), the back window blew out and shattered glass all over. Nice. Broken window beginning of March. So, we frantically cleaned up and cardboarded the back window until it could be fixed later that afternoon. Tools were needed to do a thorough cleaning as glass pieces were left in the door and had to be extracted. Enter our two-year-old Bob the Builder. He was in heaven! My mom wore gloves to protect her hands, and Ayden eagerly donned his own as he "helped" her out.



Snowed-in
A few weeks ago we had a major snowfall, about 18 inches in our area over the span of 48 hours. The snow started on Friday evening and continued through late Saturday night. Because it was so heavy, church was cancelled on Sunday. What luck! This was the same weekend as daylight savings, so Josh and his praise team, who ordinarily have to be at church at 7:15, were thrilled to not have to get up so very early.

We have a long driveway, and unfortunately, do not have a snow blower. Josh usually goes out and shovels tracks for our cars and paths for us. The snow was so heavy, though, that our neighbor, bless him, took pity on us and snow blowed some of our drive for us. Sunday morning we woke up and I looked into our back yard, and Don, a church trustee, was snowblowing a path from the church through our backyard. For those of you who don't know, we rent from the church, and our property, which is an acre and a half, is directly behind the church. Consequently, Josh walks to work through our backyard. 18 inches, however, is a bit much to walk through for work. Don completely surprised us by blowing a path for him.



Easter colds
This week Ayden came down with a killer cold. His eyes have been sunken and red, he had a temp of 101, and he wouldn't eat anything. Naturally, that means we've been housebound for several days! Yuck!! Anyway, Josh and I have been amazed and the way he (Ayden) freely douses us with his germs. We tried to get him to cover his mouth when he coughed, but he just told us, "No, it's fricky" (fricky=tricky). Okay....so we would put our hands up to cover his mouth. Ayden wasn't always into that as he would sometimes lower our hands.. No protection allowed, I guess. Two nights ago it was the worst, and Ayden had an awful time sleeping. Josh and I would take turns going in to lay with Ayden throughout the night. We scrunched into his bed, often having little room to lie since he insisted on laying in the middle despite the fact that two people were now in the bed. When he'd have to cough, he'd turn towards us hack all over us and then settle back in. Seriously, we feel awaful for the poor guy but find some grotesque humor in how freely he shares his germs.

Josh is hoping he doesn't get the cold as this is a big weekend for those in the Worship Arts field. Yesterday we had our Maundy Thurs. service. For those unfamiliar with Maundy Thurs., as we were until coming here, it's a celebration of the last supper. Josh was in charge of the service and did a beautiful job. He introduced several new things, including a footwashing ceremony as part of the service. It was beautiful. Well, that's us in a nut shell. Happy Easter to all!

Museums, Singing, and Bottles

We recently went to Cleveland's Children's Museum. It was great fun, and Ayden had a blast. They have a water room where kids can learn about levees and dams by building them and rearranging pipes. In order to let the kids play in the water, they provide rain coats for them to wear.


Another popular room was the sand room. Here they recreate an island on which research and excavation is being done. There's a ship to climb on, a research tent to go in, and lots of sand, shovels, and even a jeep to ride around in. Josh and Ayden had a terrific time while Kieran slept in his car seat and I watched.


Kieran is becoming so interactive. We're loving all his smiles and cooing. Unfortunately, right now he's got a bit of a cold, probably given to him by his loving mother. So, he's congested and sleeps in his swing in order to keep the drainage under control. Otherwise we wake up to very pathetic sounds of him trying desperately to breathe through his nose. Hopefully he'll kick this thing to the curb very soon.


I had to go away for a few hours not too long ago, so Josh held the fort down, equipped with a pumped bottle for Kieran. Ayden thought bottles were terrific and was so excited to be able to help give Kieran his milk. He loves taking care of his little brother, but he's not very good at keeping the bottle in his mouth long enough for Kieran to get anything. He'd shove it in, then pull it out right away, promptly declare, "He wants his milk," and repeat the whole process again. Anyway, here's a picture of the two of them as Ayden is getting tucked into bed for the night.


This morning, as Josh was getting ready to go to work, Ayden pulled out his cd player and accompanying microphones and started singing along with the CD. It was so cute as he was always several seconds behind the CD; after hearing the words, he'd pick out the ones he was familiar with and sing them. So, here's a short clip of him singing along with "Come, Now is the Time to Worship." In case you're wondering, he's singing to a Veggie Tales Worship CD.

Baf-ooms and Special Potties

In the last few days, several of our friends have posted various potty training triumphs and challenges stories to their blogs, and so, in an effort to "keep up with the Joneses," I thought I'd add ours to the lot. We haven't officially (or unofficially, for that matter), begun potty training yet, but I think today marked the "Ayden is ready, let's get this show on the road" point. I had to go to the bathroom, so Ayden informed me that he, too, wanted to go to the "baf-oom." So, I thought, "Seize the moment!" We pulled down his pants, took off his diaper and sat him on the toilet. We sat, and sat, and chatted, decided to read some books, decided to include Kieran who then sat on my lap next to the toilet while I read and Ayden sat. Alas, nothing happened.

Ayden was all game to try again later, so I suggested we set the timer and try again in 20 minutes. The timer went off, and Ayden is excited to try going potty again. We go to the bathroom take off his pants and diaper and I start to put him on the toilet. Now, since I hadn't planned on potty training him today, we don't have anything that he can sit on without falling inthe toilet, and so it is a bit precarious to get him seated on our adult toilet. So, as I'm lifting him up for him to spread his legs out over both sides, he mis-guesses and promptly places one foot in the toilet.

"Oh, Ayden," I yell, to which he responds with crying and stressful sounds. Oops. I over reacted, so, not wanting to psychologically damage him when it comes to potty training, I quickly say, "It's o.k. we can clean it up." And I pull off the wet sock and throw it in the sink. Needless to say, he has not sat on the toilet since. He is, however, extremely interested in having his own "special potty," as he's been talking about that a good bit of the night.

I do think we have one other challenge to overcome, though. For about a year, Ayden has associated the word bathroom solely with sitting on the toilet. In other words, he doesn't understand that it's actually the name of a room in the house. This has led to some rather comical moments in our house. For example, I once bought him a new toothbrush and told him to put it in the bathroom. He just stood there and looked at me rather confusedly. "Ayden," I said, "take your toothbrush and go put it in the bathroom on the counter." Finally, being the dutiful son that he is, he took the toothbrush to put in the bathroom. Seconds later I hear the toilet lid open and, horrified, I dashed to the bathroom just as he's about to drop it into the toilet! Some of you might think he just wanted to drop it in the toilet, but, really, believe me, he thinks the word bathroom, in all it's contexts refers to the toilet.

In other news, Kieran is, as I've said nearly every post, growing like a weed. He just went in for a 6 week check up and he's now 12 pounds, 8 oz! He's doing terrific. He's smiling like crazy now and cooing away, so that's fun.

A few weeks ago, the boys both wore ties to church in order to be like dad. Ayden loved doing it and after a while, wanted his tie outside of his vest so that it was even more like Dad (who wasn't wearing a vest that day) and more visible.

Ah, the early morning

Last night was not the greatest in the Kieran-sleeping front, and it was all the more unfortunate because Josh had to be at church by 7 this morning. So, when he got up at 6:15, I decided to also give up on the sleeping thing and enjoy a quiet house until Ayden and Kieran got up. (Kieran, of course, threw in the towel around 6 and is now sleeping like the proverbial baby. Gotta love it!)

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of Ayden's latest adventures with a few comments about Kieran thrown in.

This is a picture of Ayden and his friend Malia. Malia's family has become dear friends of ours. Amanda, her mom, and I get together fairly regularly, and her dad Dan is another pastor at our church. He and Josh spend a lot of time together "talking church." Anyway, Ayden loves their family and their three kids, as do we. So, Amanda, Malia (4), and Jacob (1.5), Ayden, Kieran, and I got together earlier this week at the mall. The mall has an arcade room which thrills Malia and Ayden to no end. Here they are enjoying the motorcycle games.


Ayden LOVES wrestling and bouncing around on the bed. His favorite game is for Josh or I to lay at the foot of the bed while he goes up by the pillows. Then, he jumps on us (as he's doing in this picture), and we pick him up and throw him back to the head of the bed. This game is usually instigated by him saying, "throw me, mommy" or "tackle (i.e., tickle) me" which usually results in him also being thrown.


Ayden loves anything that has buttons and is electronic. So, cell phones and computers are some of his favorite things. Thank-goodness for the Sesame street computer game (or peeung bame, as Ayden says) and child-friendly web sites. Here's Ayden sitting at his table in the kitchen, playing along with Elmo and Big Bird.


Kieran continues to be a joyful addition to our family. He's becoming more alert all the time and is starting to fall into a wake-sleep rhythm that holds consistent for at least several days at a time. He's growing so quickly! Some days I look at him and think he's grown by leaps and bounds over night!

I love watching Kieran and Ayden together. Ayden does a great job with his little brother. If Kieran is crying, he wants to know "whats the ma-ung" (what's the matter) and he's always ready to offer him his "pacifi-ung"(pacifier). (Ayden doesn't quite have the "er" sound down yet, so it's substituted with the sound -ung.) Anyway, here's a typical picture of their interactions together. Sorry it's kind of dark. Not sure if I forgot to turn on lights or what:)

Food, Fun, and Fellowship

About two weeks ago, Josh's folks visited for a few days, and they had a terrific time playing with Ayden and meeting Kieran. We had a great time visitng Cleveland's West Side Market, one of the country's oldest indoor markets. If you ever want to get unusual meats, bakery, cheese, etc, this is the place to go!! The last night of their visit we had my folks over also. We enjoyed a pizza dinner that culminated in a luscious dessert centering around a chocolate fountain my folks gave Josh and me for our anniversary. We dipped graham crackers, pretzels, pringles, bananas, chocolate chip cookies, and marshmallows. It was a terrific treat!


Grammy Foote and Ayden reading


Grandpa Foote and Ayden

Our small group gets together twice a month, and at this particular meeting we enjoyed the leftovers from the chocolate fountain party we had with our families. The group enjoyed it tremendously, especially the kids:)



Ayden taking a break from the fountain.

Kieran is changing all the time and growing quickly. He's lengthening his awake periods, which is really fun. Last night, my mom was over for the evening, and Kieran was wide awake for about an hour! It was great to be able to see his eyes that whole time and, he even smiled and cooed a few times. To top it all off, he slept for three hours at a time last night instead of the two he had been doing! Three hours of straight sleep felt great!


Kieran and Grandma Trickel

Ayden loves his little brother and makes sure he has his pacifier whenever he might need it. He's very generous with his kisses and likes to join Kieran on the boppy whenever he can.

Life with four

Happy New Year! We've been settling into our new life now with two kids. Kieran is a good sleeper, so we get up about every three to four hours. Not bad. Ayden continues to love his little brother and often volunteers to help get him out of his bed if he's crying. I coninue to enjoy watching the two of them together, and it is truly very precious to see Ayden love his brother.

Here are some pictures of our latest "life moments."


Josh, Ayden and Kieran watching Veggie Tales.


Me and Kieran


Ayden holding Kieran.

A few months ago, we had a tree cut down in our yard. Ayden watched with great interest nearly the whole time, and since then, has spent much time pretending to cut things down with pretend saws or axes. Tpically, since he hasn't had a play saw or ax, he would use the remote controller to one of his cars. Today at Target, though, I spotted a Bob the Builder accessory set with a saw and few other tool items. Ayden has been in heaven the rest of today, cutting down some pieces of styrofoam. We have shreds throughout the house, but we also have a very happy two-year-old construction worker. Hope you enjoy the video--when Ayden talks about getting dirty, he's referring to the pieces of styrofoam he's getting on himself.