An escape to sunnier days.....

Neal and I took our first kid-free vacation to Cancun last week!!! Neal's parents had given us use of their timeshare for a Christmas gift along with childcare if we wanted. The girls had a blast with Amah and G-Daddy for 9 days and 9 nights; when we called, Ella promptly told us "I love you, but I don't miss you!" Cancun was wonderful....low of 73, high of 87-93, swim-up bar, beach-front bar, beautiful scenery, and great company!!! Now I hate to be that person who loads up the blog with vacation pictures, but these are too gorgeous to keep to ourselves =)

Last stroll on the beach outside out villa. 

Beautiful island of Isla Mujeres

Cenote (freshwater sink hole) that was 150ft deep. And we had it all to ourselves =)

Caribbean sunrise over the ocean.

Chichen Itza, Mayan ruins.

Ziplining through the trees!

1st day in paradise

Palapas in front of our hotel

Ziplining was a blast

North shore of Isla Mujeres

Church, circa 1500, Valladolid Mexico

Snorkeling along 2nd largest coral reef

Rob, Gina, myself & Neal
@ our favorite poolside spot from 5-7PM daily =)
Basillio would make sure our drinks always stayed full!

Neal repelling

South shore, Isla Mujeres

Tulum, Mayan ruins

Tulum, Mayan ruins

We had an absolute wonderful time! I could get used to vacations like this =)
Too bad we have only been back less than a week and our golden color is already leaving us....

..::Spurts of spring::..

I know the feeling is mutual...where is our spring??? We get these teaser days of just hints of sunshine followed by what seems to be weeks of rain. Back in April, Neal bought us some passes to the Tulip festival in Woodburn only to get rained out the entire time the passes were valid! Fortunately we were able to find a sunny day only days before the festival closed. Here are some pictures of our fun---

Train ride around tulips, tire swing, duck races and lots of family time!

Aubrey is such a monkey, even at the top of the slide!

Stopping to smell the tulips

Strolling through the tulips

Those are some big shoes...

My tulip family =)

Loving the HUGE slide!

Aubrey could slide all day!

--->>>> Here's to seeing more days with blue skies =)

A week of "2 old..."

Our sweet Aubrey has thoroughly enjoyed her 1st week of being "2 old!" She refuses to say "2 years old", so people often get confused when she answers their question of "how old are you now?" and she says "2 old." But...it has only taken a week for her to learn how to show she is "2 old" with her fingers =)

She will make sure to tell you that those other finger have to stay down ;-)

Last Tuesday evening, we had a little birthday celebration at home on Aubrey's actual birthday. Aubrey wanted to invite our neighbor, Mr. Fleming, over for cake. He was happy to join the festivities; Aubrey acted as if she was an ol' pro at the birthday gig.

Everyone helping frost the birthday cake. (Then mommy realized that we had thrown out the loose candles that were in the drawer when we moved. Before the celebration could continue, Daddy had to make a quick run to the dollar store!)

Aubrey opening her presents. She ripped into her cards and money fell out. When we asked her what was in her card, she replied "Paper.." She even called Grandma Bernice and said "Thank you for paper!" If she only realized how valuable that paper is....

 Aubrey then got tired of presents instantly. She refused to open her last present and instead questioned us, "Where's my cake?!"

"There it is, my cake. Candle!" She was so happy =)

Aubrey blew the candle out without any prompting. She was just on a roll with the party activities. However, she did get a little confused on the next part.... After the candles were blown out, she plucked the candle out of the cake to lick it. Here is where she got mixed up, she licked the end of the candle that had just previously been on fire!!! No, it didn't burn her but it wasn't nearly as sweet as she had expected.

Aubrey had a wonderful birthday on Tuesday, which was verified by the fact that she sang herself to sleep with "Happy birthday to you!" =)

Wednesday brought her 2 year checkup with the doctor. Of course, Dr. DeKlotz wanted to see all the big girl skills Aubrey has acquired... Aubrey wanted to show him her personality! Dr. DeKlotz asked if Aubrey knows her ABCs, so I asked her to tell him. Her reply went like this, "A, B, twinkle! HaHaHaHaHa!!" Yep, she refused to say anything else. He could only laugh, as could I, which has now reinforced this new versionn of the ABCs.

A Mommy side note, our new couch finally arrived and makes it much easier for everyone to snuggle at the same time!

Saturday was Aubrey's birthday party with all her little friends at OGA. She got to jump and play her little heart out. It was a great place for a party, there were 2 coaches that split the kids up into a group of older ones and younger ones. Here are some pictures from the party:

Whats not fun about jumping off a trampoline into a HUGE pit of foam blocks? Aubrey couldn't think of anything =)

Concentrating so hard on running and jumping down the big trampoline!

Time for pizza, a caterpillar cake and presents in the party room. I would love to say Aubrey remembered her lesson about the candles from earlier in the week... but she did not! Another burnt end into the mouth...

Its SIlvermist (from Tinkerbell for those of you without little girls!). I didn't get many pictures of her opening her gifts. We had planned to just open them at home, but EVERY little kid wanted Aubrey to just open their gift before everyone went home. It was sweet, she had a blast and there was a large group of little kids with presents and paper everywhere.

As if this all wasn't enough excitement for one week, we had one more big celebration. 

AUBREY WENT POTTY IN THE BIG GIRL POTTY!!!

She has been trying for the past couple of weeks, and she finally had success. I had told her that as soon as she went potty in the toilet she could wear Dora undies. I'm not so sure that she was that impressed with the pottying part, but she was SUPER excited for undies!

 Ella was so excited for her little sister. It was one of those moments that just gives you those warm fuzzy feelings and you can truly remember how precious our family is!

And that sums up our week =) Happy Easter to all. We have lots of plans for the weekend. Hope your weekend is full of fun too!

[[[[ Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet girl ]]]]

My precious Aubrey Grace... I can't believe that 2 years ago I was still ever so patiently waiting to snuggle you in my arms. The personality that we saw then (stubborn, determined, oh-so-sweet) is growing even bigger today. And your cheeks, those chubby little cheeks, are also growing bigger every day. Mommy, Daddy and Ella love you so much!!! May you have a wonderful birthday.

We are celebrating Aubrey's birthday at home with our family tonight. Then on Saturday, Aubrey and all her little friends will spend some time running/jumping/tumbling at a local gymnastics place. Sound be lots of fun!! Pictures to come...

Disneyland---From the eyes and mouth of Aubrey

Aubrey talked a good game about Disneyland. She knew we were going to get on an airplane, go to Disneyland and there she could meet Mickey Mouse. But she really didn't comprehend what all that meant ;-) She was completely in awe of being at the airport. She spent lots of time just hanging out at the window looking at all the airplanes. 

Watching all the planes =)

After her initial hesitation with the characters, she was all smiles for Disneyland. I was so surprised by her lack of fear for anything! The few times that she couldn't go on a ride, she would stand by saying "Aubrey's turn!"

Riding on the Astro Blaster. Then HUGE smiles on the carousel =) 

 We borrowed the cute little puppy backpack that Aubrey is wearing from a friend. It was a lifesaver because she was able to walk on her own without getting too far away or lost. I was actually shocked at how much she walked versus rode in the stroller. She was a girl on a mission!

That smiling face makes you forget about all the $$$ it cost to get in the gates ;-)

All that excitement definitely takes its toll on a little girl, but she was a great sport and wanted to keep on truckin'.

Her mood perked up drastically when she won Mickey Mouse on one of the pier games. He was quite the arm load but she was not about to let anyone else carry him for her. It was quite cute to see her dragging him home. She remembers where she got him even now...she will say 'Mickey Mouse at Disneyland!"

Aubrey's favorite ride by far was the 'Umi cars' aka Autotopia. One of the cartoons the girls like to watch is Umizoomi, little tiny people who go on adventures in their Umi cars. I guess it makes perfect sense when you are a little girl! 

Anyways, we get in the car and Aubrey takes charge instantly. I have to push the pedal, but other than that I'm not allowed to do anything...especially help steer! I'm pretty sure that everyone behind us was super bummed at how slow they had to go around the track. Aubrey was crashing constantly!! She would run into the center runner whenever there was any sort of turn and we would be tossed around the car all crazy. This, she thought was HILARIOUS!!! ***See the pictures below*** I would tell her, "You are a crazy driver! Who gave you a drivers license?" Again, she would just laugh and laugh! I was bummed that they didn't have fast pass open for this ride, we would have definitely done it again if it weren't for the wait.

Those smiles can't deny the fun Aubrey had in Disneyland!!

Now its been almost 2 months since we got back from our Disneyland vacation. The girls still play 'going to Disneyland.' Aubrey will put on her little pink puppy backpack and say "Go to Disneyland. See Mickey Mouse." =) If it were only that easy! 

Although she may only have the memories of this trip that are associated with these pictures...that in itself was well worth it for Neal and I!! Hope you all enjoyed our trip as much as we did =)

From the mouths of babes::::::

We recently received out Blog2Print book in the mail. I had no idea how much the girls would love this! For each year of their lives I have created a photo book for them, but they are mostly photos with a few captions of what is going on. The blog book, however, contains all of the funny anecdotal stories of their lives....Ella just laughs and laughs at the things she said as a toddler learning to talk. I started thinking maybe I haven't been noting enough of Aubrey's sayings... So without further ado....

As she is doing this she says, "Aubrey funny face!!"

Aubrey is our trouble-maker these days...no 2 ways about it. Lotions/creams/water are her FAVORITE obsession, not to mention HUGE mess-makers.

Last week, Aubrey had pushed her learning table over to her changing table, climbed up one to the next until she was happily perched on her changing table. Once up there, she found a container of vasoline. (With all the snotty noses around here, we have been putting vasoline on their noses to help with the chapped/painful blowing.) She decided that she needed to put vasoline on her own nose. Ella comes running downstairs, I go running upstairs; mess cleaned, Aubrey time-out. I no sooner get to my tasks back downstairs when again here comes Ella, "Aubrey got into the sunscreen in my top drawer!" Again, Aubrey had climbed up onto Ella's bed, reached over the end and into Ella's dresser. This time Aubrey knows she is in trouble. She looks at me so serious and says "I tubble maker." Yes, yes Aubrey you are that indeed!!!

Yesterday in the car, Aubrey is applying chapstick to her lips (I'm supervising in the front seat). I swear I no more than blinked and she was rubbing chapstick from her lips to cheeks to under her chin. I sternly said "No thank you, Aubrey!" She looked right back at me, furrowed her brow and said "EXCUUSE ME!" I couldn't help laugh, I know I shouldn't...I know it just encourages the behavior---but she was mimicking me! I say that all the time when the girls talk back to me.

***Disclaimer*** While typing this very blog, I had to pause in order to go clean up Aubrey's latest mess on her changing table----powder, vasoline and her Bolt stuffed dog!!! She did try to clean it herself with baby wipes, but you can imagine how well that worked ;-)

I swear I do not leave my children unattended only to surprisingly find them wreaking havoc on my house. Only minutes before this happened, both girls had been happily making music upstairs with their instruments pretending to be the Fresh Beat Band!!!

One of my current favorite things of Aubrey's large bank of witty remarks is regarding when Ella takes something away from her. Aubrey has learned to use Ella's words against her...up until recently, Ella could outwit or just bully Aubrey into giving her back whatever toy she wanted. Now we hear Aubrey say:
"ELLA...GIVE IT BACK TO ME RIGHT NOW!!"
Then we say, "Aubrey thats not how you ask for your toy." So then she brings out her sweet, innocent voice:
"Please can I have it?" 

Ella is not without her own witty remarks. It has been raining incessantly this month (the newspaper said that it has rained every day since March 6th with a measurable amount of rain each day!). During one of the brief breaks in rain, Ella went out outside with Grandpa Rick. She spun around in the easement and said, "Awww, new air. I really needed some new air!"

We have also been trying to instill in Ella the fact that she should  not watch Aubrey make all these huge messes, or even worse, help make the messes just because Aubrey did it first. Today, Ella told me about Aubrey dumping some water on the floor; as I was mopping up the water Ella says "Its a good thing I told you 'cause kids can't clean up grown-up messes!"