April fools day!

So this is a short post but I couldn't resist sharing the fun time we had for April's Fool day. So a friend found this super cute idea and I couldn't help but share it with her. We made a cake for dinner - not for desert but it was a reverse dinner - desert first - so the cake was the main meal. It was a cute cake - but there was an even bigger surprise about to happen...



The cake is actually meatloaf with mashed potatoes as the frosting. I colored some of it green and did the piping on it. Jason showed up as I was frosting the "cake". He thought it was a crazy idea to have cake for dinner but decided to humor me. But he wasn't so excited when A-man was hungry and dinner wasn't quite ready. I gave A-man some "frosting" on his tray and let him start munching on that. Jason kept telling me that frosting was not a good dinner for A-man and that I needed to give him some real food. Even A-man played up this game - he usually HATES mashed potatoes but this time he was downing them. So Jason was truly fooled. Finally I calmed him down and told him the truth - actually I let him try some of the frosting. That's when he realized that it was actually mashed potatoes and not frosting. Then he wanted to know what was under the frosting. We told he would have to try it and see...he likes meatloaf so I wasn't too worried.

I thought it was a fun April's fool trick and definitely want to try this one again. Even A-man loved his dinner - especially since he got to have ketchup on his meatloaf cake. Although he got a little carried away with the ketchup. Happy April fools everyone!

A family sealed together with love!

April was an incredible special time for our family - A-man's adoption was finalized and we were able to go to the Salt Lake Temple and be sealed together as a forever family! It was the neatest experience for all of us. One thing was especially special for Jason and I was the fact that we were also married in the Salt Lake Temple almost 10 years earlier. We had the exact same sealer who performed our marriage ceremony perform the sealing of A-man to us. It kind of felt like we were getting married all of over again but even more special because now we were adding our son to our famly.


We all got ready that morning - even A-man got a special haircut for the occasion.




Then mom, dad, and A-man drove down to Salt Lake to go to the temple together. When we got there we went all over the temple and then we took A-man to the nursery. They were so sweet there and he was excited to play. Then mom and dad went to get ready and they would meet up with A-man again when it was time to be sealed together. It was such a neat day - our immediate family were almost all there (we missed a few people but one day we will have them there). In addition A-man's birth great-grandparents were able to be there with us to share this special day. It was wonderful to meet them and have them be a part of this special occasion. A-man was very talkative (which isn't new) and kept everyone laughing at how entertaining he was. Immediately after the sealing Aiden looked up at Jason and leapt into his arms and gave him a huge smile and laugh. It was super special.

After the sealing we took a couple of pictures outside the temple as a family. We didn't take a ton of pictures because it was raining and we didn't want to keep A-man out in the rain for very long. But we took a few special pictures of such a special day!

Easter Time!

A-man celebrated Easter in a special way - we combined it with his birthday! But I'll do a seperate post about that. We started Easter weekend with a huge Easter Egg hunt on Saturday. We went with some friends to the village Easter Egg hunt. Since A-man isn't walking yet we decided not to let him loose with all the other kids -which there was a lot. But the Easter bunny came up to him and gave him a little whirly thing that he loved. He had no idea he wasn't getting any eggs so he didn't notice anything.





Another great thing about the village Easter party was the petting zoo - they had a great petting zoo for kids. We could have taken A-man into the fenced area but again since he's only crawling I really didn't want him crawling in mud and animal poo. Does that make me a mean mom? Instead we stood on the outside of the fence and let him pet the animals there instead. He had fun doing that!



After the morning fun (and of course a nap) we went to Cantigny Part in the afternoon and had a blast walking around the gardens. I will do a seperate post about all the fun we had there but here are a couple of pictures from the visitor center. They do amazing displays there as well as incredible gardens and grounds.






We started another new family tradtion this Easter season - Peep Art. Diana's uncle who lives in Washington does this with his family every year and this year Diana's family & of course us - decided to join in. You take peeps and make a scene out of them. We did movie scenes - Diana did the Wizard of Oz or as we called it the Peeps of OZ or the Wizard of Peeps. Jason did a scene from Monty Python - or Monty Peepthon. We had a ton of fun and A-man loved trying out some peeps - I think he likes sugar - but who wouldn't. I can't wait until he can join in and make his own Peep Art since we will definitely be adding this to our family traditions.


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On Sunday - Easter morning we had a special cinnamon roll breakfast - A-man is loving eating "big people food"! We dressed him in his super cute Easter outfit and had a wonderful day at church. We are going to try to celebrate Easter like this in the future - Saturday is all the fun stuff and Sunday will be the more spiritual side of Easter. But since we weren't doing all that much this first Easter since he is so young we gave him his cute little Easter basket with a few toys. He certainly enjoyed that - although he was a little baffled by the basket but he thought it was funny!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

So it's corny - I know but with a name like Aedyn and living in a city like Chicago I had to go all out for St. Patricks day. We decided to have some fun and take a lot of St. Patrick's day photo's of our little guy. Sure it's not the big day yet but we wanted to make a card and needed the pictures now. So sit down and get ready for some absolutely ADORABLE pics of my little man...

You've been served!

Well - he's only 10 months old and A-man has already been to court and served a summons by the sherriff's office. Yep - he's a little trouble maker all right...well not really but he did have to go to court.


All dressed up with somewhere to go - check out their suits

Last week we took a family trip downtown Chicago to petition the court for our adoption finalization. Our wonderful attorney met us at the Daily Federal Building and Courthouse and we startedm on the next step in this incredible journey. Our attorney had 2 other families there also that we got to know that were also adopting infants.


Watching the sherriff's deputy get A-man's summons ready


Apparently A-man thought it was hilarious too

First we filled out some papers in the adoption family waiting room and signed all kinds of things and then we were instructed to go to the 7th floor - the sherriff's office. We all went downstairs and then they served the babies their papers summoning them to appear in court. I have to say it was adorable!!!! After A-man received his papers the deputy on duty gave him his own sherriff's badge for his memory book.


A-man being served his summons to appear in court.

We then went back upstairs to the 17th floor family waiting room and waited to meet with the judge for our hearing. While waiting A-man was showing off his awesome suit and sweet crawling skills. In addition he was talking up a storm and laughing like crazy. He was so loud that they had to close the outer door to the courtroom because they could hear him inside. Our attorney mentioned that he should go into PR when he gets older because he is such a charmer.

Then it was our turn in front of the judge. Jason held him and let A-man stand on the judge's desk. He immediately started to jump and dance and charmed the judge and everyone else in the courtroom. We talked to the judge about how he was adjusting, how we were adjusting, and all kinds of different things. It all went really well - we had a great judge! The judge mentioned that she could see A-man becoming an attorney when he grew up because he looked great in his little pin-striped suit and like most attorneys he wouldn't be quiet. (No offense to any attorneys out there - it was a compliment) :) That's right he charmed her also! On our way out the baliff gave A-man a sucker which he proceeded to suck the plastic until we took it away...


A-man and his new buddy - his judge!

Then we waited a little longer in the waiting room for things to finish up and then it was over! The judge came out so we could get pictures with her and then we headed out. Now all that is left is for all the paperwork to be finished up and filed. For the first time in court for all 3 of us it wasn't too bad - we actually had fun! Now let's hope that's A-man's ONLY time going to court.


The whole family with the judge who signs the papers to make it all possible.

A few of his favorite things

Well our little man is definitely getting an opinion about things so I thought I would share a little bit about his likes and dislikes!

Favorite thing to do during the day - Explore! He is a crawling machine and loves to go all around the house and practice his new skill. He also likes to take things apart and see how they work. The play mats we have around the house he will rip up off the floor. We made a box out of some of the extras - and he proceeded to put it on and off his head.




Favorite activity with mom - crawling away from her when she is changing diapers. A-man will quickly flip over as soon as the diaper is off and take off as fast as he can - although he turns around to make sure mom is coming to catch him and then starts to laugh.

Favorite activity with dad - bathtime! A-man loves bathtime with dad - they laugh and play and laugh some more. Sometimes I'm not sure who enjoys their time together more - A-man or dad.


Sporting his bubble beard and mohawk compliments of dad\

Playing as the water cascades into the bathtub

Least favorite activity - naptime! Someone is now putting up a fuss when it's naptime - it will last a few seconds and then he is so wiped out that he is out like a light. But he makes sure to let us know that he doesn't want to be going to bed.

Favorite food - carrots, spaghetti, waffles, peaches, and of course his puffs and just about anything else he can put in his mouth.


Feeding himself - as you can see by the mess - this doesn't happen too often.

Least Favorite food - pureed macaroni and cheese - talk about a mess - he definitely didn't like that meal...

Favorite word (at least babble) - ma ma/da da - but it ends up being more like ma ma ma ma ma ma....or da da da da da....

Favorite toy - where to start...he loves his little activity center, and his blocks, he especially loves his musical instruments - I think we have a budding musician on our hands. He also loves stuffed animals right now and anything that he can make noise with. And books! He loves to read his books.

Favorite accessory - ok this is more for mom and dad but he looks adorable in hats! So he has a ton of hats that he wears. The best part is that he doesn't mind them at all - in fact he plays peek-a-boo with his hats.


Playing peek-a-boo with his newsboy hat

Hat time!

Other misc favorites - he loves to skype with his grandparents and aunts and uncles - he recognizes the sound of someone calling to skype and gets very excited to show off. He also loves when we play games together - he gets such a kick out it.

MOM & DAD's favorite - A-man!!! We love him so much and can't seem to get enough of him. Here's a quick video of him laughing while dad plays peek-a-boo...