HAPPY ST. PARTRICK'S DAY!

We had an eventful evening last night and morning. We wanted to catch a leprechaun; those sneaky guys have candy and gold. Come on who wouldn't want someone like that? Aeriana was so excited!

We made a leprechaun trap to catch them. Glitter and all things green attract them. Didn't you know?



Aeriana so proud of her and Zoe's (but mostly her) creation.



The next morning we woke up to glitter everywhere and no leprechaun, but we must have scared him quite a bit, he dropped everything he was carrying. Poor guy.

Checking to see if we caught one!



Mmmmm. Green eggs and green milk. :)






All morning long all Aeriana could focus on was the huge mess the leprechaun made. Not that he turned our milk green (resulting in green eggs for breakfast) as well as our toilet water. No she was only concerned about the mess and wanted to clean it up. So that's exactly what we did. What kind of mother would i be if i said no to my child wanting to clean?





And of course after we were all done cleaning it was time to rest with a book.



You see this look... yeah I get the same one from Brett when I bother him when he's reading.



So lets review... loves presents and chocolate (just like Brett), can only focus on the mess (just like Brett), and when reading, which is often, do not disturb (I'm seeing a trend here). Is her being female the only genetic contribution i made? Oh well, maybe Zoe will be more like me.

Then again maybe not...



Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Labels: Aeriana, books, Brett, family, holidays, pictures, Zoe

posted by Erin at 10:29 PM 3 Comments

Even Later :)

This is my late Valentine's Day Cookie Contest submission... unfortunately the other ones fell over as I was about to take pictures. That's what I get for trying to use natural lighting.

Just to let everyone know, if you bump the chair that is balancing a cutting board on a window sill, the cutting board will fall. Stupid gravity.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Labels: food, holidays, pictures

posted by Erin at 4:32 PM 6 Comments

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Labels: Aeriana, family, holidays, pictures, Zoe

posted by Erin at 4:48 PM 8 Comments

Warning: Don't Get an iPad!!!

Seriously, do not under any circumstances get an iPad.

Get two of them. Or maybe three.


For Mother's Day, Erin got a new 64GB WiFi iPad. (Yes, I realize that it's not yet Mother's Day, but do YOU have the self control to wait to give a present like that? I obviously don't.)

When I gave it to her, I told her very clearly "this is YOUR iPad, not OUR iPad. If you want it, you get to use it." That may have been one of the dummest things I've ever said. And that's why I so strongly recommend that, if you're going to get an iPad, get at least two of them. Otherwise you may find yourself typing up a blog post on your laptop, looking longingly across the room as the one you love is being swiped, flipped, pinched, zoomed, and rotated by your wife... um, I mean while your wife is playing with HER iPad.

Seriously though, the iPad is cool. Very cool. Browsing the web is extremely natural, the books we've got on it so far look great, the games are fun, and so far we haven't paid money for a single app - they've all been free (so far, at least).

Check out Erin's reaction when I busted out her Mother's Day gift:



Zoe even got in on the fun. (Aeriana and her two-year-old-attitude hasn't gotten to touch it yet. Maybe in a few years.)


But such joys cannot last forever - look at that sad face! (I'm sure you can imagine the same pain and sorrow on my face when it came time for me to hand over the iPad as well):


Happy *almost* Mother's Day, Erin! You are an amazing mom and an amazing wife and I'm glad you like your new toy.

(P.S. I'm offering monetary rewards for any successful suggestions on how I can trick Erin into letting me use the iPad... unfortunately, suggesting that she take the laptop to read this blog didn't work - she just opened it up on the iPad. ;-)

Labels: computers, Erin, holidays, pictures

posted by Brett at 11:10 PM 4 Comments

Let's Define 'Nutrition' Shall We

My Easter basket had several of these included (thanks Easter Bunny!).



While partaking of one particularly scrumptious egg just now (you know, as an appetizer to my lunch) I noticed that on the back of the garishly pink carton is a section for 'nutritional facts'. I really wish Zachary Confections was legally allowed to have the nutritional section read something like this.





P.S. I may call my congressman and inform him that the mere existence of a nutritional label on this type of product confuses me into thinking that some type of nutrition must be contained therein.


P.P.S. I may also suggest a more appropriate label.

Labels: food, holidays

posted by Brett at 12:16 AM 0 Comments

Still Playing 'Catch Up'

So I have officially been an epic failure when it comes to blogging. But I'm honestly going to try better ... again... And yes i realize i have said this before. Sorry... But I'm almost up to present time. :)


Aeriana and Zoe are the best of friends, and I love it. They play and giggle together all the time and Aeriana can always get Zoe to smile. I mean look how Zoe looks at Aeriana you can just tell she thinks Aeriana is the coolest.


We had a big snow storm and Brett got to work from home one day and they even closed the office the next day! It was awesome! The car was crazy stuck in the snow and we don't have a shovel, so Brett dug the car out with our ice scraper. Yeah... it took him forever. But then I made him hot chocolate to make him feel better. :)


This is a snow man that Aeriana and I had made a few hours prior, when it was only snowing a little...




This is later after it snowed a bunch more. Poor snow man got buried...


My good friend Crystal lives right up the street from me, she took the kiddos out while I stayed inside with the babies. (She had a little girl (Lillie) two weeks after Zoe was born, and Rebekah her other daughter was a month after Aeriana. We like being prego together, what can we say.)


It's hard to tell in these two pictures but Aeriana was having a blast picking up the snow and throwing it in the air.


This is Zoe and Lillie chillin' inside. I love Zoe's face, it says, "Seriously, you licked me. I can't believe you just did that."


We have a baby that loves the bumbo. :) It's awesome! (Aeriana hated it.)

Zoe was super sick for about a month. It was so sad super high fevers and she had a horrible time breathing. She's all better now, but it took her forever!


One of Zoe's favorite things... Eating her giraffe and staring at herself in the mirror.


Speaking of giraffes, Aeriana has a giraffe too! And a pooh bear! And Bubblegum! And her Blanket! - all of which she wants to sleep with every night. I think she's going to be one of those kids with a million stuffed animals on her bed where you can't even see the bed, but they swear it's comfortable.


I tried to curl Aeriana's hair... It didn't work. I think she would have to sleep in the curlers over-night and there is no way they would stay in her hair with the way she sleeps (which is every which way). Any idea anyone?


We started doing a cousin exchange this year and Aeriana got her very first laptop from Evie. She loves it! At first she would walk up to it and say "No, no!" thinking it was mommy and daddy's laptop, but once she figured out it was hers she couldn't put it down.


Here's Zoe being the happy baby that she is... happy but loud, man this kid can make noise! Currently her favorite noise making technique is blowing raspberries. (and yes i know this toy got recalled... I sent it in, no need to send the parent police after me.) ;)


Aeriana loves to read and her favorite book is Dora! Well, she loves anything Dora really. She's obsessed!


But obsessions sure are handy when your friends come into town and you want to play games (yay Agricola!) and not be bothered by a two year old. :) Notice Aeriana in the background... yeah she's watching Dora.


And sometimes Dora is just great, but Aeriana has lots of energy and needs to move around a little while she watches... sometimes she decides to undress herself.


She's starting to realize that undressing, and attempting to get re-dressed, can be fun... and the results can be rather interesting.

Anatomy of an Early Morning Wardrobe Change:

Pants removed - check!
Diaper 90% removed - check!
Pants inside out - check!
Both legs stuffed into a single pant-leg of the pajamas - check!


This is Zoe's favorite position, she does this all the time and the picture just doesn't do it justice. She arches her back in this really weird way just so she can look around and see what she wants to. She tends to use this most often when Dora is on the TV; being placed on the floor facing directly away from the TV is no problem for a master contortionist.


This is her other favorite position. Pacifier and foot!


Here's Aeriana having fun with friends. Hanging out watchin' a movie. Three peas in a fleecy-blanket lined pod.


Zoe, super comfy and totally relaxed... (this mastery of relaxation makes her daddy proud).



I love the bed-head and I can hear Aeriana as a teenager saying "Mom what do you want from me, I just woke up?"



Aeriana got her first hair cut. It was much needed she was starting to look mullet-ish. And I would have none of that!


Pierson and Aeriana hand in hand at the mall. She loves to hold other kids' hands; it's so cute, we see her walking down the halls at church with one of her friends hand-in-hand all the time.


And last but not least! Happy birthday Brett!!! I love you!


Well, that was another long post but no need to worry, there is more to come!

Labels: Aeriana, baby, Brett, Erin, family, holidays, pictures, Zoe

posted by Erin at 5:26 PM 4 Comments

Christmas

To get into the Christmas spirit, we went to Macy's in NY and saw all the cool decorations and met with Santa too! You could tell that Aeriana was loving it!



The big tree in Rockefeller Center wasn't nearly as big as it normally is and the decorations/lights were a bit weak. :( But it was still a fun experience and Aeriana was absolutely dazzled.


For a solid month Aeriana had a daily routine. She'd put on her fun Santa hat and hold on to Uncle Riley's picture super tight and give him hugs because she missed him so much. She'd even walk around asking "Where Riley Go?" every few minutes... What's that? You can't see Riley's picture in the photograph? Trust me, she's definitely hugging Riley's picture here, she just always held it that tight.


We spent Christmas day at Christine's parent's house (my sister-in-law's parents). It was so nice of them to share their home with us at Christmas time. Here are Christine and Zoe looking super cute together.


Jason and Zoe.


Jason and Aeriana coloring and being best friends. "Hey buddy!"


And of course we had packages to open. "Oooooo, what is it?"


Daddy and Zoe had too much excitement and passed out on the couch together. I think Zoe has this effect on people...


"Is it really for me?"


The day after Christmas we celebrated our own little Garner family Christmas at home. We got new pj's and then Santa came. Grandma Etter made the whole thing so much more fun.


"Oooo, pretty necklace." (She still wears this everyday. Best dollar spent ever!)


Aeriana's stocking.


What an incredible and memorable Christmas.

Labels: Aeriana, family, holidays, pictures, Zoe

posted by Erin at 11:21 PM 1 Comments