Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was Valentine's Day. It started off with a delicious breakfast buffet at The Rushes with Steph, Brian, Linda, Steve, and Taylor. Aidan was in heaven. He had some pancake, sausage, bacon, and lots of fruit. He sat so well and really had a good time. It was a yummy meal!

Later in the day we dropped Aidan off to play with his Mom-mom and Pop-pop and we headed over to Meagan and Colby's to pick them and Lauren and Timmy out for an afternoon of local wine tasting. Lauren, of course, was just along for the company since she's expecting, but I think she had a good time anyway.

First we headed to Auburn Road Vineyards and enjoyed eight different wines there. Sean and I got a yummy bottle of Rosalita to take home with us. There were also crazy icicles hanging outside the window we were near.

The next stop on the trip was to Cedarvale Winery. We tried at least six wines there. It was smaller than the last place but quite cute. We got a bottle of peach wine there.

Our third stop was to Wagonhouse Winery. They don't usually do tastings, except for on Wine Trail Weekends, but it was a lot of fun. The couple was so down to earth and totally fun to hang with for a little bit. We tried a ton of wine there, including two that haven't been bottled for public consumption yet. I can't wait until late May when their "Shore to Please" mango-peach wine comes out. That was so delicious! We got three bottles there-Fallen Quaker, Jersey Girl, and Sundance. They were so fruity and yummy.

It was a really great day with awesome company.

My thoughts on life right now:
Our family is great.
So are our friends.
Love is so important.

The snow is so frozen that Toby is walking ON it!

Snow Day! {and my escape artist}

Thanks to another snow storm I got a snow day today, which meant time at home with Aidan {and Sean, but he works}. Aidan slept in until 10am which gave me time to shovel a potty spot for Toby out back and take care of the first round of shoveling the sidewalk and driveway out front. Huge appreciation to the neighbor who used his snowblower to take care of the bottom of the plowed in driveway. Once sleepyhead was awake it was a day full of books, cartoons, playing, and running around. We had breakfast and lunch, and even made banana muffins. We made a lot of trips upstairs to see "Da". He also had fun in the ball pit that I was finally brave (or bored) enough to open. Aidan would like to thank Aunt Meg and Uncle Colby for being crazy enough to get him that for Christmas. He had a lot of fun throwing all 120 balls out and then running around to pick them up and throw them back in. Thankfully he cleans up after himself. Tonight after dinner he emptied it and then was doing flips and rolling all around in it! It was pretty funny.

The snow today wasn't just snow, which stunk because it was less pretty to watch. It was a mixture of sleet and rain and then snow. Which makes for tough shoveling since it's so heavy. I went out twice and Sean went out when he was done work. Hopefully it will switch to all snow soon and won't be as heavy.

So tonight I had to go into the attic to put away a couple of small Christmas decorations/gifts that were lingering and get the Bumbo for a friend who'd like to borrow it. Since Sean was out shoveling I figured the safest spot for Aidan for a few minutes was his crib. I put him in and he was interested in what I was doing with the pull-down steps (he can see them from his room). He was pretty content for the few minutes I was up there. As I'm at the top of the steps figuring the safest and best way to get down them carrying the Bumbo, out of his room pops a very happy and excited Aidan. Yes, you got it folks, he climbed out of his crib. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. Quite hilarious really. It was the biggest smile in the world. He even threw his arms out like "Here I am Mom! Look at me!" I couldn't believe it. All I could do was laugh. I asked him if he climbed out and he just replied with a smile and a "mmhum". I put him back in the crib to see if he'd do it again and even took video on my phone. No climbing out though, just an attempt. So, do we switch the crib to a toddler bed now? Or do we just hope it won't happen again for a while? What I do know is before he goes to bed tonight I'm really making sure his room is safe just in case he gets out.

My thoughts on life right now:
I love snow days.
I hate making up snow days in June.
My 21 month old climbed out of his crib!!! Holy crap!

My 1st Blog Award!

Toni over at Jack Attack nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger award and I'm so touched! I met Toni through a local Nest board. We eventually connected through Facebook and even met up for a walk to the local coffee shop. Hopefully we can get together again soon! She's got an absolutely adorable son, Jack, who is so darn photogenic. Thanks for the award Toni!

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself.
5. Nominate 7 bloggers.

Seven Interesting Things:
1. Aidan was born the day before my 26th birthday. He was the best early birthday gift anyone could ask for. I was due on May 1st but delivered him via c-section a week early due to high blood pressure and the fact that he had no intentions of coming out any other way. He was born on April 25th at 5:18am at 8lbs, 9oz.

2. Sean and I were married August 4, 2006. I love our anniversary date, 8/4/06. We met through mutual friends even though we went to the same high school together. Our first "date" with the mutual friends who were dating at the time was in Ocean City on July 9th. Five years later to the day he proposed on the same beach. It wasn't just any proposal though, he rented one of the banner planes and had "Staci Will You Marry Me?" on the banner. The funny part is that the sign was upside down! To top it all off, he had music he had picked played on the speakers on the boardwalk so we could hear it. He had friends hiding and taking pictures. Everyone who saw clapped when we returned to the boardwalk. Unbelievable and fairytale like.

3. Sean's turning 30 and rather than throw a party for him I'm sending him away to Phillies Spring Training in Florida. It's something he's really wanted to do for a while and I knew he'd love that. He's really excited. His reaction was so sweet...he said he was excited but felt bad that Aidan and I wouldn't be joining him. {He's going with his dad and brother-in-law.} Maybe we'll tag along next year! We're a Phillies loving family!

4. I was a $10,000 winner from iwon.com. Seriously.

5. I rode in an Intercollegiate Horse Show Association national show in Ohio during my last year of being an undergrad. It was a beginner class but still, I was in a national horse show. Pretty awesome. {I didn't place...I was always in it for the fun, not to win}

6. I've got an Associate of Science degree in Human Development, a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood and elementary education, and a Master of Education in Special Education. I'm certified to teach Nursery-Third Grade, K-5, and Students with Disabilities. Oh, and I've got a crapload of student loans. SallieMae owns me.

7. My family is very important to me. They're a little crazy at times, but without them I wouldn't be the person I am today.

My Nominations:
I don't know that I'll be able to nominate seven. I don't follow that many blogs and don't have that many followers, plus the two blogs I read the most just received this award. But, here goes...

1. Crystal at A Day in the Life. Another lovely lady I met through the Nest. She's got an absolutely adorable daughter, Julianna who is so fun to read about.

2. Eva at The Fourth Door. I love reading about her renovations. My fingers are crossed that everything works out for her the way she wants.

3. Courtney at Courtina. Another Nestie and quite a strong lady to have dealt with not one, but two premature babies in the NICU. When Aidan was just three months old she took his pictures at Jenni's house while doing a maternity photoshoot for Jenni. They turned out adorable and priceless. She has an adorable daughter, Lily, and recently was able to bring her precious premie twin boys, Asher and Boden, home to complete the family.

4. Kate at Lime Design. My sister introduced me to this blog. She's a teacher at the high school I went to, the sister of a guy I went to high school with, and an expecting momma. Her designs are awesome and her photographs of her home ideas look like something straight from Pottery Barn. She does it all very inexpensively though and it looks fabulous!

5. Renee at My Special K's. What an awesome woman. I only wish I could be as strong and as good a mom as she is. She's amazing. My sister introduced me to her blog as well. She met Renee when Renee's daughter was a patient at Shriners Hospital where my sister does PR. Her husband is in the army, they had four children of their own and then opened their arms to a beautiful daughter who they adopted from the Ukraine. If you get a chance read their story. It's quite amazing.

sideways snowplay video-enjoy anyway!

I can't keep him out of the snow! :-)

12.7.10 Snow Play

Over the weekend we had yet another big snow storm. This one was so crazy they called it a blizzard! The wind whipped around on Saturday and the snow fell throughout Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Sean and I each took a turn shoveling, but Sean definitely had the heavier stuff. He did a great job of clearing our driveway and walkways.

Sunday we all ventured out for a little play time in the snow. Cait even came over and joined us. Aidan absolutely loves the snow! He was so happy to be outside, and even happier to be able to help shovel. Unfortunately at one point he was helping Sean clear a path to the drain in the street to get rid of the huge puddle at the end of our driveway and ended up falling head first, in slow motion, into the puddle. All we could do was laugh, and immediately remove his dripping wet hat and mittens. Luckily we had reserves and put them on right away so we could continue the fun.

The picture of Aidan is him standing just past where snow has been plowed to the side of the culdesac. Our neighbor cleared a path with the snowblower because no shovel was getting through that easily at all. He thought that was the coolest hiding place ever! After a little walk we put him in his sled and let him sled down the plowed snow hill at the edge of our yard. He wasn't sure about it at first but had fun. He really enjoyed throwing the snow at us!

My thoughts on life right now:
Yesterday was fun!
I wanted to be productive this weekend but it was more fun to hang with my boys.
We're expecting more snow this Tuesday/Wednesday. Might be a lot! Fun!

Got Milk?

Acme around 5pm. Ridiculous. All because of a little snow.