Happy happy 4th birthday Aubrey Grace

4 years ago, right about now actually, we were all still sitting around the hospital waiting and waiting and waiting for Aubrey to finally make her arrival =)

I still can't get enough of those kissable cheeks!

Aubrey, you are our smiley-crazy-goofey-tenderhearted-sweet girl! We love you so much and wish you the happiest 4th birthday!!

11 months old

Ainsley Rae, you are 11 months old. WoW!

To get pictures for this month I struggled had to be creative because this wiggly girl had much different plans. But alas, I rolled her onto her back and tickled her thigh just long enough to capture a few good belly laughs =)

 11 months and counting:
* probably weighs about 18 1/2lbs 
* finally moved into size 12 months clothes
* size 3 diapers comfortably
* 2 teeth on top, 2 on bottom
* wakes up 1-2 times a night to nurse still
* pretty good napper (its much harder I've found with 1 in school and a short errand running window in the morning to be as consistent with naps! Most days though she takes a good 1-2 hour nap at 9AM and then naps for 2-3 hours at 1PM.)
* eats finger foods for all 3 meals
* is getting a little more picky particular about her foods. She has favorites and lets you know it! We are still restricting her diet from wheat, egg, dairy and citrus. Recently I found some chocolate animal crackers that fit within these guidelines and Ainsley LOVES them! She digs through the diaper bag in the dining room to find the snack container with them then shakes and shakes trying to get them out. Occasionally I try to trick her and give her the cereal that is in the snack container....she is no fool though. She will push my hand with the cereal aside and reach in herself to grab a cookie ;-)
*Cruising machine!! Ainsley cruising along e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g including the walls. She is getting a little more confident and will take 1-2 steps on her own in between objects. She still sits down almost instantly when you let go of her hands.
* babbles quite a bit now. Ey-ya (Ella), da da, num num are the only ones she consistently says for the correct person/object though

We love you so much little peanut!!!

Easter and sun

Oh my beautiful weekend!! Easter could not have fallen on a more beautiful weekend this year. We enjoyed every minute of our first taste of spring.

Family photo op at the Easter carnival

Crazy lips and soda- just part of the carnival loot

Ella grabbing as many eggs per hand as possible!

Aubrey....I can only imagine she is saying "What ddaaaadd?" given this face ;-)

Ainsley, poor girl. I failed to realize that she had never been in the grass before the day of the egg hunt and just set her right down in it. She was less than thrilled!! I handed her an egg to try to entice her, she sat there a minute holding onto the egg and chewing on it but as soon as she dropped it she was done. I helped her stand up, thinking then she might at least reach down and grab the eggs. Well she reached down, got one feel of the grass and then picked her hand right back up minus the egg!  I tried to set her back down with the eggs but by this time she had reached her limit and when I asked if she was "all done?" she quickly shook her little hands (the sign for all done) and started crying. Mommy really wasn't trying to torture you sweet girl!!

Easter morning...Let the hunting begin! 

 Both girls are far too quick and both running in opposite directions to get very good pictures of the hunting process, but I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like for these characters to be scooping up eggs ;-)

We found our Easter baskets hidden in the washer and dryer.

Ainsley slept through the first part of the morning so she got to hunt for her basket after breakfast.

 

Grandma Marian once again made the girls matching Easter dresses this year. I also got in on the dress-making action =) We have found Project Runway patterns and I have to say I love them! Sorry Grandma for all those years I balked at you making dresses for me =) 

 I am also finding that taking photos of 3 very energetic girls proves to be a bit of a challenge. Here are our best attempts at Easter pictures:

Logan and Quin came over for Easter dinner and an afternoon egg hunt. The sunshine was too much to resist so they put on their swimsuits and jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler....how many times does that happen in Oregon on Easter?!?

Well as I am writing this our sunshine has quickly turned into liquid sunshine, but at least we enjoyed it while it lasted!!! Happy Spring =)

Insta-March

I really love the idea that I can bring the photos I snap on the go into our blog life. Its a great little snapshot into our daily life.

Just love this face!!

Oh the mess!!This would be the aftermath of 2 eager helpers, 1 chocolate smoothie, and an extra powered vitamix. The positive of this situation, both girls were showered and kitchen floor (and counter and cupboards) cleaned by 1PM.

For 1 very long week, our poor dishwasher was out of commission. I never really appreciated the amount of dishes my family of 5 creates in a day until I had to wash each individual item by hand.

Enjoying a little sunshine.

Can't say enough words about the cuteness we have here!!

Cooking is always better with a crown ;-) One of our library books had lots of recipes in the back and Aubrey was so excited to try it out. She hand-picked the lemons at the grocery store in preparation for these cookies. Unfortunately the cookies were a flop in many ways, but hey we had fun making them!

Egg-dying fun with cousin. And surprisingly 99% of the dye stayed on the table/eggs!

Personality abounds

Life with 3 little girls is never short on personality! I keep trying to make mental notes of special moments, funny sayings, etc but I am starting to realize that I have far too much to remember!!

 Ainsley is definitely the baby of the family! I'm still amazed just by how much birth order shows through in personality. Ainsley will be quietly playing by herself with some toys then suddenly realize that she needs some attention RIGHT.NOW. Even though she is super fast crawling or even cruising along furniture/walls, she will sit in one play and scream until someone comes to her rescue. I can't help but laugh because every time it works every.single.time.

 Aubrey. Oh Aubrey just has personality pouring out of her. She has a logic like no other, is the family comedian and just generally has a spunk about her while being my cuddliest girl. Often times, it might helpful to have a piece of paper to jot down notes during a conversation with Aubrey otherwise you might get to the end so confused. This morning for example: Aubrey was telling about her dream last night- a building that got attacked by forks. She is giving me lots of details about the fork attack then suddenly its "this finger nail is long. Can you cut it?" Before we can get to cutting the finger nail she is back to wanting to stir the chocolate sauce. She keeps me on my toes and constantly laughing, even when I shouldn't laugh (like trying to discipline her after she got mad at Ella for biting her when she told Ella to bite her!)

Ella has an insatiable desire to learn. When she first started reading, she loved the idea that she could read so much that she would read at such a fast pace that her comprehension of the material wasn't very high. Now, I find myself jaw-dropping-shocked when I hear Ella explaining a concept to Aubrey and its correct. Ella definitely has the first child perfection gene- she has been known to take 3 times as long as the other kids in class to make sure her coloring is really good or writing-erasing-writing-erasing until the letters look just right. She is my tenderhearted, strong-willed mini-me!!

Ella's Girl Scout poster on how to care for a pony! Fortunately for her, we had lots of real life pictures of her caring for horses thanks to Aunt Kathy and Kristy!!