Decking the Halls!!

Finally getting around to putting up the rest of our Christmas decorating photos. I should have taken pictures of the mess around us as we were "decking the halls". But, I thought I would save my self some dignity. :)

Ryleigh was such a big help this year. :( She pulled the garland and ran away with it (after it was already on the tree), and took just about every ornament off as we were putting them on. She also thought that the round ornaments made great basketballs.

This morning Aiden came into our room with a piece of paper and he told me it was his "list". I asked him what for. He said it was his list of people who were good and who were bad. When people were nice to him he would put them on one side, and if they were mean, well, they would go on the other side. I told him that was Santa's job this time of year. His reply was he was going to help Santa out. So be on your best behavior around Aiden! I went on the bad side of the list this morning.......I saw him write my name down.

80 YEARS!

This handsome young man turns 80 years old today! Happy Birthday Granddad!! I know you don't like to make a big deal out of birthdays, but I hope your day is special in some way. You and grandmom always did a lot for our birthdays growing up and helped make each memory a good one. I have many great memories with you throughout my childhood and thanks to you I can rake leaves and wax buses with the best of them!! :) I hope I am as active as you are when I am 80, you are the poster boy for your age! We look forward to seeing you in just a few weeks!! Lots of love, Erin, Jason, Aiden, Kyle and Ryleigh

Somebody........

.....left the bathroom door open. At least it wasn't the toilet this time.

Happy 23rd Birthday Joe!

I can not believe it had been 23 years since Grandmom picked us up from school and told us we had a brother! Finally a boy to balance out the 3 girls. :) I remember I was so excited that I, (at the tender age of 7) made all the phone calls to let our parents friends know that you had arrived. :-) You definitely have handled having 9 sisters better than anybody I know (not that I know anyone else with 9 sisters......) and continue to do so! I love hanging out with you and enjoy our conversations. Jason thanks you for your AE influence. LOL (actually I thank you for that!)

We love you Joe, you are a great brother, friend and uncle! I look forward to many more memories with you in the years to come. Have a great birthday!!

Love, Erin, Jason, Aiden, Kyle and Ryleigh

(I'm keeping it simple this year, with just one picture and immediate family only on birthday blogs. Something has to give..... :-) )

Tis the Season to be.....grumpy??

It was a nice warm day of 73 degrees when we went to get our tree! Nothing says time to pick out the tree like shorts and flip flops. :)
Kyle played with his action figure while we debated on which tree to get. He also kept hiding the toy in trees and getting upset when we couldn't find it. As we were leaving it fell out of our tree and someone pointed it out to me as we were walking out the door.


We found it!! Aiden wanted to get a white tree. I told him they don't sell those. He said "Yes, they do, I saw them at Wal-Mart!" Sorry buddy, not this year (or ever). :)


I think this is when Kyle put his toy in the tree.

Apparently my children did not get the memo that this is the season to be JOLLY. Aiden and Kyle fought all week. Ryleigh, who was sick all last week with a sinus infection, is better, but extremely spoiled from being held for 5 days. She thinks my arms are her new permanent home. She had a wake up call on Saturday morning. :( It was just a weekend that matched the week. Everyday the kids woke up in a bad mood. How do they do that after getting almost 12 hours of sleep?? I believe it was from something called "too much grandmoms". But things took a turn for the better Sunday afternoon when we announced we were going to get the Christmas tree. Suddenly the Christmas spirit filled the air and we had very happy, cooperative children. Maybe it will last the whole time the tree is up! Wishful thinking, I know. We headed out to the tree lot to pick out our tree, we pulled up, looked at the price tags for just the smallest tree and decided to go to Lowes. :) Lowes had great prices and beautiful trees. Of course the boys were more into trying to get the penny's out of the fountains then pick out a tree, but we had fun.

Sitting quietly, eating cookies. This lasted, I'd say, about 1.5 seconds.I let the kids pick out the Christmas tree decorating cookies (an Aguilar tradition, along with egg nog!), I usually like to get Christmas looking cookies, but this is what they wanted!

Ryleigh LOVED the singing penguins and snowman from Aunt Debbie! This provided brief sitting down time for Ryleigh at different intervals throughout the day.

Ryleigh enjoyed getting into all the decorations.

And of course we have the normal craziness with the boys. Because we all know that Christmas ribbon is used to tie your brother up and drag around the house.

More pictures later, Ryleigh is screaming at the top of her lungs at my feet! :)

Happy 29th Birthday Chelly!

Happy Birthday Chelly!!! I am so glad we are sisters! It is easier to get through some of the long days when we talk. It almost feels like we see each all the time because we are such a big part of each others daily lives. I can wait until next year when you are in your 30's! hehe You won't be able to make fun of me anymore. :) I wish we could celebrate with you. We love you!

Erin, Jason, Aiden, Kyle and Ryleigh