Down to just days...

Its beyond crazy to me to think that we are to the point where we are counting the days and not weeks until our newest little girl joins our family! This past Wednesday marked the 38 week mark. So now we just wait!! I've made more trips to the store this week than I'd like to admit trying to make sure that everything is stocked up- diapers for the baby, summer clothes for Ella, shoes that fit for Aubrey, and then of course a few groceries to make sure that we don't end up coming home from the hospital to an empty fridge ;-)

In my travels, I can't help but be beyond shocked/baffled/amazed at the comments complete strangers so freely make. I wish I could say that people are inconsiderate with their comments about my size or something of that nature. But its not! Instead, the comment I seem to get FAR too frequently is, "So is this a boy?!?" Followed by, "Well are you going to try again and hope for a boy?" I'm not sure, strange person, why you feel the need to assume that I am somehow disappointed that I am added another little girl to our family! Before having our 3rd little girl, I had no idea that people would assume that any additional child would be merely a hope at having the opposite gender. The thought has crossed my mind more than once to create a little necklace to wear in public that says, "Yes its ANOTHER girl. And for the record, we couldn't be HAPPIER!" 


I'll step down from my little soap box now ;-)

So now we will just continue to happily wait the arrival of our 3rd little bundle of pink, frilly, princessy joy to make her appearance! Her big sister Aubrey is getting a little antsy and asks at least twice a day when the baby will come out.

{{{{{Stay tuned for pictures and a name for this little lady}}}}}

Our last vacation as 4!

We decided it would be nice to get away for a few days for a little mini-vacation before we are back in the routine of life with a newborn. Don't get me wrong, we are very excited for our little miss to join us, but as with everything, a new person creates a new dynamic and new norm! So we thought a few days when we could give Ella and Aubrey lots of undivided attention would be fun for everyone. And off to Great Wolf Lodge we went!!

Now we thought that if getting away for a few days would be fun, surprising the girls about the entire thing would be even more fun! Well, the best laid plans don't always turn out exactly how one expected =(

Before we left town, I tried my hardest to get the registration and DEQ taken care of for our new van. We had been waiting for the title to arrive so we could start the process and in the meantime, we were driving around looking like we had a hot van! (No plates, no temp tag [too cheap to pay $20 for less than 2 weeks!!] and not even a dealer logo where the plates should be.) I was getting a little nervous to drive to another state with a vehicle looking like this. Aubrey and I set out Wednesday morning feeling like we could easily do DEQ and DMV before it was time to pick up Ella from school, after all it was a random Wednesday morning in the middle of the month. WRONG!! Us and 50 other people were at DEQ this Wednesday morning. Then at the DMV it only got better. We had to leave DMV 2 numbers before our turn to get to Ella. Bummer! After lunch, we were able to pack the car very inconspicuously without the girls even noticing. Everyone loaded up under the assumption that we were off to DMV. As I walked into DMV, I knew our quick stop was not going to exist! I left earlier with 2 people ahead of me...now there were 35, and only 2 people working!! Long story short, after over an hour at DMV with the girls waiting in the car with Neal, we were off for our vacation.

Due to the extra long delay getting out of town, neither girl slept or even rested in the car on our way to Great Wolf lodge. Ella began whining she wanted her bed, Aubrey was so tired she just cried....it wasn't the surprise we had hoped for!!! Fortunately when we got there, the girls got excited that we were actually staying at Great Wolf lodge and not just driving by it ;-) Again, we had figured middle of April in the middle of the week would be a great time to go up there-spring breaks were over and it should be fairly empty. WRONG again!! Seattle has spring break extra late we found out so the place was packed. But we had finally arrived, surprised the girls and this was going to be our fun mini-vacation before the baby comes!!!

Without further ado, our vacation photos!

Evening storytime with Violet!

Aubrey didn't like the purple slide much, she said it was scary. However, the yellow slide that was longer/faster/and spun her around backwards was FUN! And she is such a ham for the camera =)

The lily pads were tons of fun for Aubrey the monkey! Daddy helped keep the lily pads stable but she worked hard too. And just like her sister, she LOVED swimming and playing in the wave pool.

Ella liked going on the really big water slides, but I wasn't able to get the timing down for a picture on those. She humored me and went down the red slide so I could get a picture! These were a select few photos that I was able to get her to slow down long enough to get a picture of her smiling face instead of the back of her head ;-)

Ella did really well on the lily pads, she even got to the point where daddy didn't have to help hold the lily pads much!

Storytime on night 2 with Wiley and Oliver.

Each time we passed Sprinkles the bear (which was every time we went to the water park!) we had to stop and take a picture!

Daddy even made a stop with Sprinkles!

On our second night, the girls slept together on the pull-out bed. Then Ella read Aubrey a story before going to sleep!
{Insert melting Mommy's heart!}

Family time!

Aubrey and Ella sliding together =)
Ella and Aubrey both using their magi wands to make the creatures of the lodge come to life.

Great Wolf Lodge Vacation 2012

~~A time to celebrate~~

Aubrey didn't ask for much to celebrate her 3rd birthday. 1st of all, she wanted a caterpillar cake. This is the gold standard in her book when it comes to birthdays. Each party we attend, she asks if they will have a caterpillar cake! Now, this isn't an extremely special cake by any means. Its a Costco white sheet cake with massive colored frosting circles formed to make a caterpillar! But she had one for her birthday last year, and has been patiently waiting for her birthday to roll around again so that she could have another caterpillar cake. 

Next Aubrey wanted her friends to sing her "Happy Birthday." That's it. Her birthday wish list was complete! It took a little more prompting and suggestions from sister to work out the rest of the details. The plan was a family evening at Chuck E. Cheese on her actual birthday with cupcakes at home, then a party with her friends at Papa's Pizza (I don't have any pictures from this because I forgot my camera! Thankfully Amah came to the rescue and took some pictures, I just haven't got a copy yet.)

Cupcakes always make a girl smile!

Yay for new dresses!

Aubrey is always looking to Ella for ideas on what to do next ;-)

Happy Happy Birthday Aubrey Grace!!

We love you so much!

What did you say?

There have been more than one occasion in my few mommy years where the girls have done something that appears to be the exact opposite of what just told them NOT to do!! I ask myself, did you not hear me?!?! Recently we joined into the minivan family world. One of the features on our new van is the compass on the rearview mirror. In addition, we also now have a external temperature display. Ella loves to give us a moment by moment commentary on the ever-changing temperature and direction of travel. One day, after dropping Ella off at school, Aubrey started commenting on the direction we were going. However, her comments left me puzzled. "Mommy, are we going West or leading?" Huh??? "We are going East, Aubrey." Throughout the rest of the day and even week, Aubrey would continue to ask the same question, "Are we going West or leading?" I have to admit, I didn't know what in the world she was talking about. Then one day she starting singing a song to herself...."Star of wonder, star of light, start of broyal beauty bright. West or leading, still proceeding, guide us to the perfect light!" Christmas may have been 4 months ago, but Aubrey still has this song playing in her little head! And of course, the actual words and Aubrey's interpretation of the words seem to be just a little off but make sense if you don't know that those words are wrong ;-) So now I know, she hears me...its just a matter of what she hears that is the true question!!

Ella, on the other hand, listens very closely and intently. "Why did you say that next Tuesday we are going to go ___?" I may have been talking on the phone in the other room while she is dancing around, but she hears EVERY word. Her new favorite thing to do is ask a million and one questions about everything, including things that she knows the answer to! Case in point, this morning we were having some "pop'ems" (mini donuts).
Ella is eating a pop'em, looks at the box and asks "What is a pop'em?"
"Ella, do you know what a pop'em is?"
"Yes, a donut."
"Then why did you ask me if you know the answer?"
"I just wanted to see if you knew the right answer."
She is very quick to correct you if you answer incorrectly also! Oh I pray this is a stage that doesn't last too long. I don't mind answering questions, its just the ones we already know the answer to and that go on for extended periods of time start to wear on this momma ;-)

Onto other random happenings in the Kerner household. I'll let the pictures tell the stories.

Ella's puppy Sparkles ended up getting a bit of an owie. Her back where the stuffing got put in split open. At first Ella was devastated!! But soon she grabbed her animal doctor kit (coolest $4 IKEA toy!). She hooked 2 of the band-aids together to hold the hole closed, put the little cone around Sparkles neck and made sure she didn't scratch or rip off her band-aid. When we took Sparkles back to Build-a-bear, the workers thought it was the cutest thing they had ever seen!! A few stitches later and now Sparkles is back to her normal life =)

 A trip to the park

Aubrey brought her chick to the park and soon realized why stuffed animals and bark dust create a big mess!

Ella is getting pretty good at the monkey bars! Its amazing how strong she is =)

Ella is our fashionista in her own right! She insists on picking out her own outfits. It started out where she was good at wearing the outfits that were bought together and put in her drawer. But she has since started branching out. During the winter, mom has certain rules, like arms and legs must be covered when it is 30 degrees outside! Well those requirements led to some more interesting outfit ensembles.... like pink sweatpants, purple summer dress and red preschool sweatshirt ;-)
 

Ella has an imagination that never stops. She is almost always the one leading the play, going on a treasure hunt, being princesses at the ball, creating a fairy house like the one she read about in a book.... That girl is always using her head!! One evening before dinner, she came down with her purse and headed out to the garage. She found the 2 disks that had been cut off the end of the Christmas tree that both girls insisted on keeping. Next she headed to the playroom for her magna-doodle. She created a sketch and now needed help. "I can't use my saw that Grandma Rick bought me by myself, so can you help me." She was on a mission to make a trophy for her friend Nathan.

Ella the tinker fairy hard at work!

Ella's finished product!

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our random musings!

Happy 3rd Birthday Aubrey Grace!!!

Our sweet Aubrey Grace is 3 years old today! 

Its amazing to think that is has been 3 years since we first saw these chubby little cheeks =)

Aubrey- your personality, cheeks and smile continue to grow! We are constantly amazed by your sweetness, sass and genuine love for everyone around you. You can make us laugh with your logic: "When I grow up, I am going to be a grown up and go to driving school!" "Raisins come from grapes, craisins come from cranberries, blueberries come from cow teeth!" You have an independent streak, you love the many things you can do as a big girl, but are quick to pull out the line "I'm just a little girl!!" whenever it seems beneficial (like getting tucked into bed one extra time at night ;-)). Your love and adoration for your big sister shows of a bond that will only grow more as you and Ella grow.

We love you to pieces sister! Happy happy birthday Aubrey!!

Happy Easter

Easter weekend was a BEAUTIFUL weekend! Oh my, the sun was shining (and actually warm!), we were able to enjoy an Easter egg hunt outdoors and just have lots and lots of fun overall. 

*Small confession* I took my camera to the Easter egg hunt/carnival, carried it around and did not take a SINGLE picture! But trust be, the girls had lots of fun doing sack races, inflatable slides, egg hunt, cotton candy, regular candy and more!

Dying eggs is always a fun way to spend the afternoon. And despite the mess that could have been made, most of the dye ended up on the eggs only!

The girls were as excited to go down and hunt eggs on Easter morning as they were for Christmas morning =)

Aubrey didn't find as many eggs as Ella because she enjoyed just following Ella around the room ;-) But Aubrey enjoy her new bubbles and chapstick that were in her Easter basket.

Ella proudly collected then tossed her eggs into the basket as she went onto the next egg. She quickly dug into her Easter basket of goodies and started reading her new book right away. (By the way, she has turned into a reading MACHINE!)

I'm not sure who has more fun with the bubbles, the girls or Tyson!?! He loves to jump in the air to pop them and occasionally gets carried away and jumps into one of the girls.

Yay for warm mornings and new bubbles!

Grandma Marian once again made the girls their dresses. They turned out cute as ever! Both the girls were told multiple times at church how pretty they looked, to which Ella would reply "I know. See my shoes?!"

Aubrey and her cheesy smile!

Matching sisters

Ella with her pretty dress and sandals! She was obsessed with those sandals ;-)

Such sweet sisters!

Happy Easter!

Spring and other things

Spring arrived with more snow than we've seen all year it seemed! 

The girls had been disappointed with our few dustings of snow throughout the winter, especially the fact that it melted before it could be played in! They made sure we ate a quick breakfast and got dressed before the great melt happened.

Aubrey liked shaking the tree branches to "make it snow"!  

Tyson is terrible at fetching, unless you are throwing snow balls for him! Then he tried to eat Ella's "snow castle".

Cutest snow bunnies I've seen ;-)

Ella and her imagination never rest. One evening when Amah and G-Daddy came over, Ella was pretending that G-Daddy was her prince and Amah was the invisible queen. What does an invisible queen do you might ask? She sits back and watches the prince and princesses dance ;-)

Aubrey dances in a style all of her own, its a cross between monkeying and swinging!

Ella on the other hand takes her dancing very seriously and pulls out her best dance moves.

A little spin at the end for effect!

Spring has proven to offer us very few dry days for jumping on the trampoline. The girls are such good sports about it though. It just takes a small break in the rain clouds and they head out with beach towels in hand to dry off the trampoline long enough to jump until it rains again.

Last week I was feeling like I really needed to spend some one-on-one time with Ella, especially before the baby comes. With Ella in school, I have been able to get that extra time with Aubrey without much effort. So one day at nap time, I laid Aubrey down then Ella and I headed out to Build-a-bear for a special time together. Although these girls have more stuffed animals than one could possibly need, it is something they both love and its always more fun to make your stuffed animal. Ella, being the thoughtful sister she is, wanted to make sure that Aubrey got to go make her own stuffed animal too =)

Aubrey with Minnie and Ella with Sparkles.
Aubrey loves to do exactly what her big sister does! She wanted nothing to do with any of the stuffed animals that weren't exactly like Ella's ;-)

Ella loving her puppy

Puppies love jumping as much as the girls do.

And that is our spring update for now ;-) Again I am trying really hard to get this ol' blog caught up so stay tuned for Easter pictures and before we know it, another baby girl!