On the way to my mom’s house, it had already started to snow, so Aidan had to catch a few snowflakes.

And bust a move, of course.

Little Brody opening presents.

They found the candy stash.

This wasn’t from Christmas Eve, but it fit today’s blog post theme, so here it is. The infamous gingerbread house, courtesy of yours truly + Aidan. Not too shabby, if we do say so ourselves.

Of course Aidan had to have a little taste.

Then it was Christmas morning. I have to start by saying that last Christmas was fun. It was the first year that he really “got” the whole Christmas thing, but this year was on an entirely new level. There was so much excitement this year, and it was amazing to watch. Unfortunately, our lives have been super, duper crazy, and not in a good way. Lots of chaos going on, so there wasn’t much time or energy to even spend on Christmas, but that morning when he opened his gifts was magical. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so excited….

Mostly because of this guy….

And this guy….

Oh yeah, this guy is totally his favorite. We’re a little obsessed with Toy Story 1,2 and 3 about now.

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season with the people who mean the most.

PS   My baby turned 4 today. More on that soon! Happy birthday, Aidan.

All photos were edited with a fun little ap called ShakeItPhoto.

Without further ado…St. Thomas, San Juan, the Bahamas, and Grand Turk!

First up was Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. The beach was incredible. I really want to take Aidan back there. I think he would LOVE it.

The food was actually pretty good!

Dan’s…

Arriving into St. Thomas…Dan was talking to Aidan, who stayed with Dan’s parents in NYC while we were on the cruise. It was SO hard to be away from our little guy.

I love St. Thomas. I think I want to move there.

Most of our trip to St. Thomas was spent snorkeling and riding on a Catamaran and having a few cocktails. I don’t have pictures of that. It was one of the best days of my life though, I’ll tell you that!

This was when we were arriving into San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We went on an excursion into the rainforest. It was incredible.

We climbed the stairs in this tower….

And it was so worth it for this view. It was spectacular. I think I need to print this big and hang it in our house.

Our crabby bus driver who told us nothing about the rain forest. Oh well.

On the way back, we had the driver drop us off in Old San Juan. It was really interesting to be there, if only for a couple of hours. The lunch we ate there was…well, incredible.

Our last stop was in Grand Turk, Turks + Caicos. It was beautiful, and the beaches were incredible. There were conch shells everywhere. We weren’t supposed to take one, but I snuck one in our bag because I really wanted to show it to Aidan. He was thrilled to hear the ocean in the shell. He is definitely going with us on our next vacation…I didn’t take many photos in Grand Turk because Dan and I spent most of the day just snorkeling on our own, searching for sand dollars. And getting burnt. But it was SO worth it. Best. Vacation. Ever.

Yes, he is related to The Hulk. Thanks for asking.

Yes, we forgot his basket, so the poor guy had to rock a Target bag. Oh well.

I love this picture of Aidan.

My sister’s dog, Casey. She’s so annoying.

Daddy…Chilaxin…

Finding trucks + candy in the eggs!

After all that, the lil man desperately needed a bath. Thanks, Nana, for hooking him up!

And here’s my big 3-year-old guy. He still has that sweet baby face though.

And then there’s his fascination with sports. My sister, Tanya, tried to tell me that Dan + I did it to him, but I don’t think that’s true. We may have introduced sports into his little world, but he has taken it to a completely new spectrum. For example, in our home, we have every single kind of sporting equipment you can imagine. Football – check. Soccer ball – check. Volleyball – check. Child-size hockey sticks + pucks – check. Child-size golf clubs + balls – check. Basketball (regular size) – check. The list literally could go on and on. We even implemented a rule that no sports may be watched in the morning or right before bed – he just gets too excited. Frantically excited. He’ll say, “Aidy play hockey now on ice.” (The ice is our kitchen floor…because the puck slides better than on the carpet.) Then he’ll say, “Aidy wins! Best player! Where’s Aidy’s trophy? Stanley cup?” No joke. This comes out of his mouth on a regular basis. He has 2 of his own little jerseys, but he’d rather wear his dad’s “real” jerseys, even though they look like dresses on him.

It gets even worse. When I take this child to the park, he doesn’t want to play on the playground – he doesn’t care about the swings or the slides too much. He wants to run the bases on the baseball field, or he wants to play soccer in the real soccer net. He would literally stay out there all day if we let him. Yesterday, I took him to a local park to play soccer with me, and we were there TWO HOURS. I had to make him stop and take drinks. And he didn’t want to leave. So, this is my world. I’m not going to be a soccer mom. I’m going to be a hockey/football/soccer/baseball/etc mom. Try that on for size. I can only imagine what our future holds. In the short term, he’s been enrolled in swimming lessons and gymnastics for many months. When we get back from our vacation to NYC in a couple weeks, we’ll be moving on to soccer. Wish me luck.

A few pics from our trip to the baseball field. Oh lordy.

(And please forgive his, um, outfit. I think he must have picked out his own clothes that day!)

But she made it. She survived, and showed everyone how brave + strong she is. I’m so very thankful she is able to walk this race with us – that we could celebrate this triumph together. Because I truly don’t know what I would do without her. And I find it quite ironic that the race in St. Louis is always held either on or near her birthday. Fitting, eh?

So here she is. My mom. The survivor.
Love you!

Putting Tanya’s number on….

Aidan got a “In Celebration Of” paper, too.

In that enormous crowd, we just happened to find the super nice woman who signed us up at Mid Rivers Mall!

I think they estimated about 60K people there…This was the view in front of us.

And the view behind us…

Here she’s killing time reading People Magazine.

I still have to trick him to take a photo of them. He’s really over the camera. Now he always says, “No more mama’s camera!!!!” I’m hoping he outgrows it soon because my camera isn’t going anywhere.

Dan and I took Aidan to a Cards game last year, but it was just for a few innings. He really didn’t enjoy being confined in a seat. This game probably would have been similar, except Aidan didn’t get a nap and was exhausted. It made for a much easier time for mom and dad. LOL. We made it through about 6 innings and then had to leave, but Aidan still talks about the game. “Member went to baseball game?” he asks. Oh yes, I do. It’s so great to experience these moments with my son. Even though the stadium is new, the experience is the same, and I always loved going to baseball games as a child. Sitting there with my wonderful husband, my amazing little man, eating hot dogs and enjoying an afternoon Cardinals game….What more could I ask for? Not much, I tell you. That’s my kind of day. Especially when the Redbirds win! Go Cards! And congrats to Tom!