11 months (Really Late)

With all of the craziness of the last month and half or so I never got to do Aiden's 11-month blog post.  So I'm going to do it right now.  So just pretend you don't know any of this (such as the fact that Aiden is a walking pro now!)!

Aiden turned 11 months on October 17th (Trent's 28th birthday!).

Here is what he's been up to in the last month (from middle of September to middle of October):

• He is taking a few more steps now.  He recently discovered though that he can push his new puppy from Grandma and Grandpa Knuckles and take a lot more steps.

I love that he just walks until he crashes into something..haha.  He hasn't quite figured out how to maneuver his puppy ;)

• He loves music and usually starts bobbing when he hears it.

And I definitely know the words to all of those songs ;)  Sorry the lighting's so bad.  We were in Aiden's room right before he went to bed.

• He points at everything!  We made the mistake of trying to teach him "Mama" and "Dada" by pointing to ourselves in pictures, but now anytime we say, "Where's Mama?" or "Where's Dada?" he points to any picture he sees, even if we're not in it.  Whoops!

I love his little finger :)

• He's getting tall and is now as tall as the kitchen trash can - meaning he's gets into it if we don't take it out right away :/

Sorry, that's kind of a gross picture of our trash.

• He loves when Briley comes to play.  On this day I actually let Aiden crawl around on the sidewalk (something Trent probably wouldn't have wanted..ha) and he loved it!  He was trying to keep up with Briley :)

• He found the mop the other day and knew just what to do ;)

And that's all I can remember.  My monthly blog posts are usually a lot more detailed because I do them pretty on time.  Here are a few more cute pictures and videos though from that month.

Hanging out with Daddy.  Notice we were watching a Vice Presidential Debate..ha.

I just thought this was a cute shot :)

This is just a silly video.  For a few months now we've done this karate chopping game with Aiden (we usually use our arms) and I finally got it on video.  This time we're obviously using our feet :)  Do you love our sound effects?

Sorry, bad lighting again.  It was in the evening.

One last video.  I just got this one night because Aiden was being really hyper!

Sorry to back track like that.  We actually went to Aiden's 1-year check-up this morning so hopefully I'll get that post up in the next few days :)

A Thanksgiving Post

We got to have Thanksgiving at my parents' this year.  Jill and Bryn drove down from Utah and we also got to have Tiersha, Josh, baby Charlotte, and Tiersha's sister Tahnee.  Unfortunately Tahnee's husband couldn't make it because he was sick :(

I finally got a pic with little miss Charlotte :)

Aiden got a seat at the table this year!

A candid.

Family photo :)

We were so surprised when we realized Aiden and Charlotte were wearing the same shirt (Thanks Amanda!)!  Too bad I didn't get Aiden to turn around for this pic :/

After dinner we played Prize, which has become a tradition for our family :)  Thanks to Mom for getting all of the fun gifts.

Aiden wanted in on the fun!

Mom holding Charlotte.  She's anxious for a granddaughter!

All of the girls before the Whitmore's headed out.  Bummed I didn't get a shot of the whole group.

Aiden just hanging with Aunt Jill.

Mom wanted to get the Christmas tree set up right away :)

Trent had to work Friday (booo!), but that evening we met up with everyone to do a little shopping and get some dinner.  I had to get this shot of my cute boys because they were matching :)  We were checking out Amber's dress options for Winter Formal.

We all made a quick stop at Chick-fil-a before the rest of the fam had to rush off to catch their movies.

Saturday my mom was able to gather some more bikes from the ward so that we could all go on a family bike ride!

She was even able to borrow this one from the Dover's with a baby seat!

Don't mind my summery outfit - it was 80 degrees all week.

Aiden's first bike ride :)

We started off like this...

...but then Trent and I took over the tandem :)

And then Bryn and Amber!  The tandem was the bike to ride..haha.

A quick stop.

Had to get Jen in on the picture :)

We dropped off the Dover's bike back at their place, so Trent, Aiden, and I just walked the few blocks back to my parents'.  Aiden loves sitting on Daddy's shoulders :)

It was so fun to hang out with the fam this last week and we are so looking forward to Christmas and seeing them again :)  

I am so grateful for my sweet little family.  I am grateful that Trent works (and has a great job!) so that I can stay home with Aiden.  I am thankful that we live near both our families and for all of their love and support.  I am thankful that Aiden is healthy and happy :)  And I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Aiden's 1st Birthday Party

Our sweet Aiden turned 1 today!!  He has brought us indescribable joy and such laughter.  It's been a great year and we love him so much!  He is the love of our lives :)

We had a little family party for Aiden this afternoon.  The theme was Colors, not to be confused with Rainbow - Trent was really against the whole rainbow idea..haha. 

My inspiration for the party was this toy:

In the last year this has consistently been Aiden's favorite toy. Anytime we stack the rings up, Aiden quickly comes over and unstacks them again..haha.  He especially loves the red ball on top.  Side note: We actually lost the original red ball in Virginia (it was really dumb of me to bring it), so I had to get a whole new toy.  Luckily it was just 8 bucks, but now we have two of these rainbow stackers and one is just missing the ball on top..ha.

I was very happy with how everything turned out!  I got my ideas for the yarn balloons, fruit kebabs, and rainbow, whoops!, colorful cupcakes from Pinterest (HERE).  

Thank you to my mom and sisters and friend Christie for helping with the balloons!  They turned out so great!

Aiden liked them too :)

I did a trial run with the cupcakes last week, but didn't care for the recipe listed, so we just used a white cake mix this time around.  I did use her frosting recipe though :)  Thanks to my mom for helping me make the cupcakes.  It would have taken me a while longer (it was tedious since you have to layer each color) b/c I'm such a perfectionist ;)

Tanis brought a yummy salad and my mom prepared chicken salad croissants.  It was all so tasty :)

Aiden had a fruit kebab :)

I love the little smirk on his face.

We finished up lunch and were on to the presents!  Aiden sure got spoiled, but does that surprise anyone?!  He's the only grandchild on both sides!

Aiden could honestly care less about opening his gifts..haha.

One of Aiden's gifts from us was this adorable bow tie that I got from a friend that makes them and just started selling them (check out her website HERE).  He also got 3 ties so he is all set to go in that department..haha.

We moved to the kitchen for singing and cupcakes.

Keeping Aiden from touching the flame ;)

Aiden was unsure about the cupcake.  Maybe all of the colors were throwing him.  Or maybe he didn't want to get messy..haha.

He kept grabbing a handful and trying to pass it off to all of us.  He was sharing :)

You could see the colors a lot better on the inside of the cupcakes!

Sharing a bite with Grandpa Knuckles :)

And checking on Grandma Knuckles.

Grandma Christensen cleaning up the birthday boy ;)

I just had to get this picture as I reminisced on how tiny Aiden was at this time last year..tear tear ;)

Winding down.

And we couldn't forget Aiden's card from his "favorite Aunty" ;)  We love Sista Christensen!

I'd say Aiden's birthday was a wild success!  We are so grateful for all of our family and their love for Aiden.  And Aiden wants to give them a big shout-out for all of his new gifts.  He's been playing with them since the par-tay :)