practicing for "fear factor"

little girls hate bugs...right? not ours. we have a bunch of little bugs that i bought a couple of months ago, they have made their way from the toybox to the bath tub. aubrey spends the entirety of her bath "tasting" each one and sticking them on her belly. she does this with all of them except for the lady-bugs which she merely holds in her hand and shakes her head "no," because i have deemed them to small to put in her mouth. nice mother.... let her suck on a centipede or play with a roach but don't let the poor child put the cute little lady-bug in her mouth.

(late) easter post.

i should have posted these a long time ago...
aubrey's first easter she could hardly sit up. this year she got to join in all the fun.
easter egg hunts (in icy cold temperatures) playing with her cousins and getting to eat a yummy easter dinner (thanks mom and dad!).
aubrey's grammy, na-na and gigi were a lot better then mom this year. i totally forgot about doing an easter basket. but luckly she didn't miss out.

personally i love this picture of pappy in the bunny ears. i was going to post the close up of him and aubrey. but i think he would have killed me. but this one gives you the idea.

all the little babies are getting so big. even brooke participated in the festivities. sort of.
i loved looking back at last years easter post to see how big they all have gotten.

if they are being quiet, they're up to something

i heard her go into the bathroom. i heard her talking to the mirror.... then i heard nothing. what's the worst thing she could be doing? the toilet paper was almost out (she had pulled it all off the roll the other day). the cabinets were all shut (she usually doesn't pay attention to them unless i am in there). she's probably playing with her bath toys, right? a few more moments go by, ok, i need to go check this out.

this is what i find.

nice.

No!

i am amazed at how fast your kids grow up. i remember my mom saying "it feels like just yesterday that you girls were...." aubrey is almost a year and a half, and my how the time has just flown by. i cannot believe i am the mommy of a toddler. new parenting "opportunities" are arising each day, as her awareness of her independence grows. i have now come to the point were i have to say "it's time for a nap" or "it's time for lunch" instead of "do you want lunch?" or "do you want to go to bed?" which is met with a miniature "no" from my toddler. now that aubrey has mastered the art of walking (aside from the running into things and falling over stuff).... she is now reverting back to her former passion in life, babbling up a storm! except now it's a little different then a few months ago. the babbling actually resembles words. she tries to repeat things you say and comes out with the darnedest stuff. yesterday the surprise word of the day was "i-pod," now there is a sign of the times, eh?

spring...come back please!

matt, aubrey and i spent lunch at the park. (this is back on that 70 degree day, where we thought spring had finally arrived....lies, lies i tell you!) cannot wait for it to warm up again. there is something wrong with it being this cold in april.

we ran into some of aubrey's little friends...and enjoyed the sunny weather together.

it's so much fun having friends with kids around the same age. i love seeing them interact, especially since just a few months ago they could all be in the same room and have no idea the other one was there.

family fun day

who knew the local feed store could be so much fun. baby chicks are so cute! mommy wants some for our new house (when we get it). we'll see...

shoe fetish....

every girls dream is a closet full of shoes. aubrey just happens to be starting her shoe fetish a little early. most days she will pick out which pair she would like to wear herself.... (and if they match) i usually give in. matt caught this scene while i was in chicago. he and aubrey sat in her room for over a half hour putting shoes on aubrey and her bear.

thank you philadelphia...and GOODNIGHT!

pop pop would be proud aubrey-girl! i mean, he's been playing for a long time... but i doubt he started at the age of one. between rick (he's the silly one in the photo), greg, aunt teri and your pop pop, you are destined to at least have the opportunity to take a whack at playing the drums (pardon the pun). you've got rhythm in your blood!

non-toxic, i hope.

so i have heard that the rule of thumb for painting with toddlers is "vanilla pudding with food coloring".... well, that doesn't sound like any fun. i mean, it's easy to wash off. you don't have to worry if they eat it. we decided to go for the real deal.... blue crayola paint. it was just as fun and she ate it anyway. the washing it off part was a little bit more difficult. the bath water was blue. but it all came off and we had ourselves quite a little adventure.