What's New?

I am really behind in my blog, and I will attempt to catch up soon, but I have been busy setting up my new Etsy store where I make and sell cute clothing for kids. I have been making applique shirts for the boys for almost a year and have started to branch out by making them for other people's children. I am busy creating holiday applique shirts for an upcoming craft sale December 3rd, making sample shirts, shirts for my boys, and shirts for other friend's kids. You can also see samples of my work at Ayden Lee in Ames. Check out my Etsy store, Ayden Lee Kids by Jen or like my page on Facebook or both! More items (especially cute Christmas shirts) coming soon!

Ayden's Kindermusik Crafts

In August, Ayden attended Kindermusik camp for a week in the afternoon from 1:00-3:30 each day. His friend Carissa was in his class so he was really happy about that. He had lots of fun and did pretty well without having naps, but I could tell he was tired when I went to pick him up. They sang songs, made crafts, did imagination things, had a snack, and played in the kids gym downstairs. I'm sure they did a lot more, but Ayden isn't the best at telling me what kind of things they did. Ayden loves music and is always singing and making up songs. I always wonder if that's just his personality or if being in Kindermusik almost consistently since he was six months old has something to do with it? I feel bad that we didn't put him in it for the fall semester, but he started preschool three days a week and we wondered it if would just be too much right now. We might try it again in the spring.

Here are some of the crafts Ayden made at Kindermusik:

Iowa State Fair

My parents came down one day to go with me to take the boys to the Iowa State Fair. We usually go every year. I think Cael enjoyed it a lot more this year than last year :) Unfortunately, it was pouring the whole drive there, and for the first few hours of the fair so we tried to stay in the buildings and look around until the rain let up. Luckily, it wasn't hot, and we had umbrellas, raincoats, and were prepared for the rain so we didn't get too wet.

The boys loved looking at all the baby animals.

Little Hands on the Farm was also a big hit with both of them. Cael loved carrying around the pretend vegetables and putting them into his basket.

If Ayden does it, Cael must do it too! :)

Yes, he knew how to milk the cow!

Both boys loved the giant slide. Ayden went down it at least three times. He couldn't get enough! I was worried that Cael wouldn't like it, but he was smiling the whole time and saying "Whee!"

Ayden and Grandpa going down the slide.

Mommy and Cael.

Ayden and Mommy!

Pinkeye

Ayden woke up one morning in mid-August and his eye looked swollen. I asked him what happened and he said a monster poked him in the eye during the night. HAHA! We called the first-nurse since it was a Sunday and they said it could be that he bumped it or it could be pinkeye. Well, it started to look worse the next day and his other eye was starting to look like the other one. We determined it was probably pinkeye and the doctor send in a prescription for some eye drops for him. Luckily, it cleared up pretty quickly and none of us got it. I was especially worried about it spreading to Cael since they play together all the time. We determined that he probably got it from the pool since we had been there recently and my sister got pinkeye from a pool once a few years ago. Hopefully we don't have to deal with that again anytime soon!

The End of Swimming Lessons

Ayden loved the summer session of swimming lessons he was in. It was the first time he didn't need a parent to go with him. I went to the last class and took some pictures of him. He is getting much better about trying to put his head under water. Ayden was pretty disappointed when they were all over. We signed him up for another session that starts in the middle of October. He's already been asking all the time about when he gets to go. :)

Adventureland

Joel took a day off from work at the beginning of August and we took the boys to Adventureland for the day. We had so much fun, and Ayden was tall enough to ride all the big roller coasters like the Tornado, Dragon, and Outlaw. He LOVED them. He went on each one at least twice, and Joel and I took turns going with them. I didn't go on the Dragon though. I remember when I was younger and loved going on all the fast, loopy roller coasters. I feel old now because when I went on them with Ayden I was glad to get off. They jerked me around so much and after awhile I started to get a headache. Ayden though, couldn't get enough. Cael loved all the rides he was big enough to go on, and there were actually quite a few. We ended the day at the waterpark at Adventureland. It was a lot of fun too! We had to end up leaving around 5 pm so Ayden could get to his swimming lessons that evening, but he was definitely sad to leave!

Ayden still enjoyed riding the kiddie rides with Cael :)

The log ride was another favorite!

Cael loved the baby boats ride :)

I love how serious he looks while "driving."

Wedding Reception

My cousin's son got married at the end of July, and we attended the reception. We didn't want to attempt going to the wedding with two kids (mainly Cael). Cael WILL NOT sit still for anything. He is everywhere so we decided it would be safer to go to just the reception. Ayden is quite the dancer :) He had so much fun out on the dance floor with my sister, Angie. I got some good videos of him that I will try to put up later. Ironically, Cael, who is all over the place, just wanted to be held the whole time. He didn't want to go out on the dance floor much. I think it was just too loud for him. Yes, I'm very behind as you can tell. Better late than never, right?

Ayden even wanted to slow dance with me. Awww... I bet that won't last much longer...

Quad Cities Trip-Niabi Zoo

Before heading back home on Sunday, we took a trip to the zoo. It was a really neat zoo, and we all definitely thought it was much better than the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.

Riding the train.

Cael's expression when we went through a dark tunnel.

Ayden liked feeding the goats.

Cael on the other hand, wasn't too sure about the goats.

Joel and Ayden feeding some birds nectar.

Riding the carousel.

Ayden had to sit on all the statue animals :)

Ayden and Angie.