Bald Eagles!!!

On our way to the store this morning, Aaron wanted to take a little detour to follow a train. I am SO glad I did what he wanted because we got to see TWO real, wild bald eagles!!!

Both eagles in the tree.

I've only seen wild eagles one other time almost 2 years ago, but this time was even more exciting because 1) they were sitting still in a tree not too far from the road, and 2) I had my camera with me! I got several pictures, including some of each of them flying away. We must have watched them for at least 45 minutes before they left.

The first eagle flying away.

Lone eagle

The second eagle leaving

Now that I know we have bald eagles that visit so close to where I live I will be watching for them more regularly...and keeping my camera with me just in case.

Aaron's First Snowman!

Earlier this month, we finally got our first real snow of the season. I was so happy that it happened on a weekend because I got to take Aaron outside and build his first snowman with him! He wasn't really interested in rolling the big balls of snow, but he did watch me do it with fascination. He put them on top of each other with me and he did such a great job of getting little handfuls of snow to fill in the spaces.He had a lot of fun eating the "snowman", which is what he calls all snow now. I also found out that he is very good at snowball fights. While I was taking his picture next to the finished snowman, he took a handful of snow and threw it at me...with no prompting from me at all. (Maybe this is one of those inborn traits in boys.)We stayed outside until his teeth started chattering. Once we were back inside and cuddled up on the couch under warm blankets and drinking hot chocolate, we were excited to look out the window at our snowman standing in the front yard.

New Stages

Aaron has come into some new stages the last couple of months. His vocabulary and diction are improving so much it catches me by surprise sometimes. He sounds so grown up and then I turn around and see this little boy standing there. He's also picking up on a LOT of expressions I didn't even realize I was using.

One of his favorites lately is to look at me with a bit of a scowl, head tilted down ever so slightly so he can look up at me through the top of his eyes and say, "Gosh, Mom!". He says it with the most disgusted tone in his voice, too. Sometimes it grates on me a bit, especially when I have no idea why he's frustrated with me. Most of the time I can laugh it off.

He's also gotten quite good at throwing fits; although, he doesn't typically get loud when he does it -- at least not in public. His primary method is to roll his eyes into the back of his head, turn into a flopping rag doll and just kind of fall down in the most dramatic way.

Ah, my boy. So stinkin' cute and so stinkin' frustrating at the same time. I don't know how God was able to roll so many opposing characteristics into one tiny little being, but I'm sure glad he did.