Long time no blog!

I'm going to catch up in the next two days though. I have a nice list of things to add, and part of my New Year's resolution (yeah, yeah, they suck, we'll all break them, oh well) is to keep up with my blogging! Everyone else should too, so I can properly stalk you online.

Painting Aiden's room

Aiden's room was declared a governmental disaster zone a few weeks ago. I finally got the guts to go in, strip everything out, and start over last week. I had discussed with Aiden what he wanted his room theme to be, and once we saw this, we knew it was perfect. So it began. We still entrenched in reorganizing and decorating, but here is our progress thus far.

Before (dun dun duuuunnnnnnn):

That's his new Ikea loft/desk we got for FREE off Craigslist. Good score on that one.

Step one has been painting his walls blue:





And his shelf green (shelf was also free, given to us by a neighbor:


So that's where we stand now. I need to order the decals, which will be awhile since they're kind of pricey and I need to save up for them. Then I have several smaller projects to complete the room, including painting his toy box to look like an NES and making a wall clock into a chain chomp. All in time!

Letters from Aiden

Yesterday, I had a particularly tough day with Aiden. He was just having typical kid attitude problems; nothing major, but out of character and therefore tough nonetheless. Constant talking back, arguing, that kind of thing.
I finally sent him to bed (he sleeps in my room when Scott is gone, so he went in there) and settled on the couch to watch Heroes in HD and edit some pictures on my computer for some friends. About five minutes later, he comes out, drops this on my lap, and runs back to bed (click to make any bigger):

Translation: Please forgive me I made your bed for you. ♥Aiden

(These are all written on random papers he found in my room, by the way. Rough budgets Scott was working on, packing lists I made, etc)

Another few minutes rolled by, and he came out with another note:


Translation: No or Yes, Loryn You can watch Heroes if you want in the bedroom.
I told him thanks for being sweet, but I needed to get some work done and that I would be in when I was through. So he crossed out yes and checked the no box, which made me laugh when I saw it later, because he did this privately.

Another five minutes, and:


Translation: Yes or No, ♥Aiden PS I love you Loryn If you change your mind you can come in if you want?

I just about died. I just asked why he wrote Loryn instead of Mama, and he said "because that's your real name!"

The back of that one:


This is a recreation of the scene from The Giving Tree where the boy carves "Me + Tree" into the tree. It says "Aiden + Mama = ever." So now, this little turd not only knows that he's getting to me and softening me up with these notes, he's quoting the one book that always make me cry when I read it to him.

Finally he fell asleep, I finished my work and Heroes was over (god I love Sylar!). I went to bed to find one final note slipped under the door waiting for me:


Translation: Loryn You know what when I am a adult I will not move out of the house just for you okay! ♥Aiden
Obviously, this is my favorite. I'm pretty sure I'll be framing it, because it just made me laugh so hard. Seven years old, and he already knows exactly how to try and manipulate me. I'm in for it when he's a teenager.

Easter, or Happy Zombie Jesus Day (I'm going to Hell)

We're not really religious, so Easter isn't a very big deal around our house. Aiden really likes the crafts/candy aspect of the holiday though, so we still do those things for him.
We colored eggs and staged a mini egg hunt in our yard for Aiden and his friend, Brianna.

Aiden refused to take off his Spongebob jammies.


His favorite egg:


My zombie egg (told you I was going to Hell):




BBQed eggs?

The nephew visits

My nephew (Scott's sister's son Gilbert) came to visit for a couple of days over spring break, so we decided to use some passes we had saved up and took the boys whale watching.

Click the thumbnails to embiggen!

The weather was great; we didn't end up seeing any whales, but we did see a pod of like, 500 (no exaggerating, there were that many!) dolphins. We also saw jellies, pelicans (my favorites) and sea lions. It was awesome, though Gilbert got a little bored by the end. He's 10, so I guess that's what I have to look forward to in the future on family outings! I think the boys still had a great time.

Newport:


"Arsty fartsy" pics by me:






Contemplating the vastness of the ocean, or, trying not to get seasick:


Dolphins!


I took the boys to the beach that evening for a little body boarding and tide pooling.





The next day, we took them to Mitsuwa for lunch. It's this amazing Japanese grocery store that has a killer food court and specialty shops in it. It's definitely one of our favorite places, and actually a big part of why we went to Japan, since they have a cheap ass travel agency inside too.

Gilbert had never had Japanese food before, so we ordered the boys Aiden's favorite, udon, which earned rave reviews from them. One of these days I need to head there with the express purpose for writing it up on my food blog.

Here're the kidlets practicing their proper slurping:




I've got more blogging to do today, including Easter and some on my other blog, but right now I have to take Aiden to the pool and enjoy the sunshine!

Blaurgh!!!

I went to change my layout, and with it lost the code for creating the "read more" link. It's pissing me off and I need to step away, so this will be fixed later. Grumbletupidgrumble...

Aiden is the smartest child in the world!

I think so anyway. He recently got an award in school for great reading and math skills. Atta boy!

With the principal:


There is no more, ignore the click. You can, however, click the pics to make them bigger (still proud of that).