Our life recently

Running by the trains in Chattanooga

Standing by the Happy 2nd Birthday Aaron sign!

Looking at the mountains with Opa

Pusch Family 2011 in Gatlinburg,TN

Aaron in Florida 2011

In August I was told about a job opportunity at a church daycare. I emailed the director met with her and was hired. I work 11:30-6 every day. Aaron gets to go to the daycare with me and we get to play outside together. He still is not wanting to leave Mommy but is still having fun playing with friends and learning different things. One of the teachers I used to work with and she came over and babysat Aaron last weekend so Andrew and I could enjoy a night out. It has been nice to get out of the house and enjoy the company of other people! We were blessed with an older car, but it runs great and is fun to ride around in! We have been doing all sorts of fun projects around the house such as painting, building, and rearranging. It is fun to change things up and still enjoy our house! Aaron is still loving playing outside, and digs in the sandbox, drives his cozy coup around, he is learning to ride his tricycle. One of his favorites is going down the slide. He usually wants Mommy to go down with him and laughs every time we go down.
Aaron is still enjoying going to Lowes, and the Depot, he loves to eat pizza and burgers, he loves diggers, dump trucks, trucks, trains ( choo choos!) playing football or baseball. He calls biscuits bickies, and when he says open he says opie. He is a constant source of entertainment and keeps us laughing all the time! He has had some 2 yr old behavior as well but we try to forget that and focus on the fun stuff he does!

VACATION!!

We had been planning on going to South Dakota for the 4th of July, but due to the recent flooding we weren't able to go. We decided that since Andrew already had the time off from work we would plan something else. We searched for some hotel rooms and found one in Blufton South Carolina ( in between Savannah, and Hilton Head) and one in downtown Jacksonville, FL. I have always wanted to go to Florida and never have had the opportunity so I was excited to be able to go! We left on June 30th and headed to Blufton. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get there and we checked into our hotel and headed right for the beach! It was wonderful and Aaron loved the sand and the waves! We celebrated our 6th Anniversary at the beach in Hilton Head and had a great time eating dinner at a hibachi restaurant. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and enjoyed a nice dinner. We headed out on Saturday and made our way towards Jacksonville. We made a stop at Tybee Island and walked around for a little bit. It was busy there, so we hopped back into the car and drove to our hotel. We found the way to the beach in Jacksonville and enjoyed the big waves and blue water! We really had a great time at the beach! We ventured to St. Augustine and did some sight seeing as well as visiting the beach there. On the 4th of July we went to the beach but there were rip tides so we didn't stay too long even though it was our last day there. We put Aaron to bed as normal, but got him up around 9:30 to walk a couple blocks to see the fireworks. We found a perfect location and were able to see two displays on the St. John River. We were sad to leave for home but Aaron was ready to be home. It was a hard adjustment to not drive to the beach, and to have to clean up after ourselves but we are making the adjustment! We are already thinking of when we can go back!

What's the weather....

Sand Box TIME

Easter Outfit

playing with noodles

Oh the weather has been crazy for the past few weeks! We've had extreme heat- temperatures in the 90's and then cold again- down into the 50's. It has been rainy and stormy and even some deadly tornadoes! Two weeks ago there was 3-4 major storm systems that came through this part of the country and lots of damage was done. We fortunately came out unscathed but many lost their homes and some lost their lives.
With all the weather changes it has been hard to keep a certain little boy entertained! Aaron LOVES to be outside. He doesn't really care if it's hot or cold, raining or sunny he wants to go "out!" He gets mad when it is raining and we can't go outside. I try to come up with different activities to entertain him but nothing beats heading outside. Aaron got a new sand box that he loves to dig in, as well as a giraffe pool that he LOVES to splash in. He mows the yard, drives a car around, throws balls, and even shoots some hoops. There isn't too much he won't do outside! He is a great help cleaning up the yard, he will pick up sticks and throw them through the fence. He is a blast to watch and play with!
One of his other loves is "lala" which could be music ( more often than not as he dances and sings to every song) or it could be a light of any type. He almost always has a flashlight close at hand which comes in handy especially when our power went out! Aaron will break out in song frequently and if you turn music on he instantly starts dancing.
This has been such a fun age. He is learning new words and trying to talk to us all the time. He came inside today and instantly started babbling to me to tell me what he had done. Unfortunately I could not understand him but he felt it was important to talk to me! He is a major copycat and will watch you for a minute then do whatever action almost exactly the same way. He is very loving- always ready to give a big kiss or a hug. I am loving this age and helping him learn and discover the world around him!

18 months!

almost always happy!

always busy doing something!

sweet boy playing outside!

Wow I can't believe Aaron is 18 months old now! He is getting soo big and is soo much fun! The past month has been one of relaxing as Aaron has been battling a cold. We hadn't gone to church in 2 weeks so it was a rough time adjusting when we went back! He knows how to make Momma feel good and cries when I leave but calms down quickly and plays the whole time he is there! I hope he is a nice boy to the other kids! He can get kind of rough sometimes! We have been enjoying some amazing warm weather! Aaron LOVES to be outside all the time and hates when we have to go back inside! He is discovering more aspects of playing outside. He digs in the dirt throws balls around, kicks them and gets in and out of his car. It is always an entertaining time while outside!

Last weekend Aaron and I rented a car and drove to Alabama. Daddy had to work so we decided to go for a visit. We made it safely to Nana and Papa's house on Friday and we played and had a fun time! We worked some on Nana's bathroom and enjoyed lots of walks outside. Aaron liked that he could just walk around the streets and not have to worry about the traffic that we have in front of our house! We missed Daddy and came home Saturday evening so we could see him!

Aaron is trying to tell us more words. He used to say yeah all the time and now is throwing a yes and yep in there. He accents the 'ssss' or the 'ppp' its funny! He also is saying ball often and juice occasionally pops out ( especially now that he gets to have Papa's special recipe of juice! thanks Papa! ). He still LOVES Delilah and any animal is a delilah. One of his favorite toys is a flashlight and he now is saying 'lala.' We are working on getting more words out of him every day. He will say something one time and we try to coax it out of him again but he clams up. He has been signing milk and more, more frequently so he is communicating in his own way! :) He loves to sing all the time and frequently hums along.

There are many other skills he is improving on too. He colors pictures frequently. He is starting to run around. He tries to jump, he walks in circles- backwards mostly. He is staring to climb on more things too.

We have enjoyed the past 18 months and can't wait to see what new things he will do or say tomorrow!

Sunny Days...

We have been enjoying some nicer weather after our gobs of snow! Today it was in the 60's and was soo nice to go outside and play! Aaron LOVES to be outside and enjoying the dirt and exploring the yard walking/running around! He loves to get his big ball and try to pick it up and throw it if it doesn't knock him over first! He also has a pretend mower that he tries to cut the grass.

This past weekend we went to visit Kristy and Barry in Lebanon, TN. We went into Nashville to watch Kristy run a 5K race. She did really well and we enjoyed watching the race! We then walked around downtown Nashville to see all the cool spots. We were hoping to see someone famous but no one was around... Aaron was soo upset he fell asleep! :) We went back to the house and just played around. Aaron enjoyed playing with all sorts of new things. He loves to get things off of the book shelf and move pictures around. His favorite picture was either of himself or Emma! Silly boy!

Aaron has been working on expanding his vocabulary. He tries to make more sounds and is now confident in saying "Daddy." Every animal is "delila" which is hilarious. While driving to visit Kristy and Barry we passed some cows on a semi and Aaron looked over and said 'delilah!' hilarious!! :) He is working on Mommy or Momma, even though it was his first 'sound' he doesn't like to call me that often. I know he loves me though as he gives me big kisses often and big hugs! He is such a sweet boy. We are really enjoying him! He does have a few times of screaming when he doesn't get his way which makes it hard but for those times aren't as common as the happy good times! We can't wait to enjoy some more warm weather!

Snowed in!

We were 'blessed' with a lot of snow Sunday night. We got about 6.5 inches or so! It is a record setting snow fall for this part of Tennessee! We ventured out a couple times but the roads were pretty bad! Not many stores were open and we were glad to get our essential items and head home. We played in the snow a little bit but Aaron kept getting stuck and falling because it was soo deep! He loves to see the snow and touch it! He won't try to eat it tho, every time I put a chunk in his mouth he clenches his lips and won't try it. Its pretty funny!

We have been working on our kitchen. First Andrew had decided we needed a different floor as ours was breaking and wasn't a good kitchen floor. When his parents came for Christmas they brought us some tile type flooring. Andrew worked hard to get up the old flooring, there was also 2 layers of old peel and stick flooring underneath what we had down. It took a while and the floor was VERY sticky after he took it off! He started to glue the new flooring down and because of the smell of the glue Aaron and I went out for a little while. We went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and I found some kitchen cabinets that were very reasonably priced. I went home ( 2 blocks away!) and got Andrew and we bought a couple of them. After thinking about it that night we decided we would see if they had the other ones still and they did! We got the ones left and then started planning on how we would design our kitchen. After a while of back and forth ideas we figured something out and set out to make it work! It was a lot of work and I am thankful that Andrew knows so much electrical stuff because it has saved us so much! He rewired a lot of things in the kitchen to make it work! We still have a little work left but it is really coming together! Aaron is such a helper through it all. He tries to do everything his Daddy does which makes things a little difficult at times but it is such a joy to have him!

Aaron laughs all day long! He is such a funny boy. He chases the cats around pestering them. He chases Momma around laughing and carrying on! He makes a mess of the house by dumping his toys out all over! He is just hilarious! Love him so much!