o christmas tree

thought you might find some enjoyment seeing aubrey help pick out our christmas tree this year. she was quite fascinated with the process... but cried when mommy had to help pull daddy and the tree through the front door.

we had this wonderful idea to buy a "balled" christmas tree to plant after the season was over. little did we know that...#1 - it is suggested that they only be inside for 8-10 days. #2 - it is suggested that they be stored in the coldest room in the house. #3 - they weigh like 8,000 lbs. not really, but they are pretty heavy. we bought our tree last weekend.... meaning it will be inside at least 25+ days and it is standing in our family room, which is probably the warmest room in our house at any given time.

all this to say, most likely the tree will either die (probably not, we've just provided the ultimate green house)...or it will come out of dormancy. meaning i will have a live GROWING tree in my house. neato! anyway.... it's in, it's decorated and it's beautiful.

fun with friends and tree hunting

saturday we decided to spend the day with the mcintires and go tree shopping. after a great breakfast with friends the 6 of us headed out to bethany farm (around the corner from matt's parent's house) to look for trees. we did have one stop at briar rose green house before hand... to pick up poinsettia's and show brian and lindsay our friendly neighborhood green house. (i call the guy who owns it jimmy stewart because i think he sounds just like him... it makes me smile.) anyway... breakfast, briar rose and then on to bethany farm. it was fun spending time with friends and really got us excited about the next coming weeks and christmas coming! our tree is now "planted" in our family room, but we have only managed to get the lights and topper on it as of saturday.

an early birthday celebration

we decided with all of the craziness that will be going on in house the next few weeks that we would celebrate aubrey's 2nd birthday a little early, while the family was out and could celebrate with us. it's humorous to watch a 2 year old figure out that birthdays are special and they are for YOU. at one point aubrey said "i birthday" to which she was corrected with "my birthday" well, she thought that grammy was saying it was her birthday, not aubrey's and flew into a crying fit. neat. i didn't know the terrible twos started as soon as you brought out the balloons.

you may be wondering why my daughter is wearing a fairy costume??? well, she's my daughter, that's why. just ask my parents and they will tell you... i spent most holidays in my underwear because i had to try on everything that i got. before the fairy costume, it was a a feather boa....and before that a hello kitty sweatshirt. like mother like daughter.

thanksgiving

...phew! it's over. i cannot believe we pulled it off. we had 16 people and 3 dogs at our house on thanksgiving day. my parents got to our house bright and early that morning to put in the turkey and help us prepare for the day. my dad is sort of a turkey connoisseur... much like the dad in "a christmas story." so he had to make the turkey and it was much easier starting it here then transporting it from nj. we watched some of the parade on tv. i burned the cinnamon buns...oops! but come 2:30 everything was ready and everyone was here. i know pictures of food and table settings are probably boring... but our first thanksgiving in our new home needed to be documented. maybe i can find one of aubrey to throw in there...



the highlight of the day though was when it started storming and we had to bring all three dogs into the house. at one point they smashed over the gate and and came running through the dining and living rooms where everyone was starting to eating. we thought it was going to be over right then and there... it truly would have been like "a christmas story" with the dogs running off with the turkey and us ordering chinese for dinner. they were easily caught though and corralled back into the family room.

it really was a wonderful day.... and we do have so much to be thankful for.

proof

i realized later as i drove closer to downingtown that not everyone got snow this monday. seeing as my photos of snow were from the mountains, and i didn't want you all to think i was crazy... i had matt take a picture of our house when he got home "with snow".

my dad used take pictures when it would snow a lot when i was a kid... he would always take a photo of our house or our street or the backyard. problem was you were never quite sure when exactly the picture was taken. not that it mattered... they all started to look the same after a while. dad's are funny.

snow

it's kind of strange to look out the window this morning and see snow covering the rooftops. but it makes me smile. i am looking forward to the holidays and spending them with my TWO little girls. perhaps leah will make an appearance before thanksgiving (i doubt it.... but she does seem set on torturing me for the next few weeks.) we are getting ready for thanksgiving dinner at our house this week. both my family and matt's will be here. it's very exciting to be able to entertain in our new home.



we spent last weekend in the mountains.... it was a wonderful time of r & r with carla and greg and matt's parents. mostly we napped and read, played a couple of games. aubrey had so much fun. it is the first time that she has been there and could really enjoy it. i think that the last time she was only about 11 months old (last year same time). while we were up there it snowed a little (i guess a sign of things to come down here in chester county.) aubrey was ecstatic. she made us go outside every chance we got. she would just run and run.... yelling "i running!" the whole time. we couldn't keep her from laying down in the grass (mommy was a little concerned about her getting wet and cold.) it was so much fun to watch her little face enjoying God's amazing world.



i am excited to see the look on her face this morning when i bring her down and show her the snow outside.

i hear her now.

trick or treat.... smell my feet (again!)

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2007

wow! it has been a year already since aubrey's first halloween. the kids are all getting so big, so fast. it's hard to believe next year we will be adding even more children to what has become our annual halloween event. i am starting to think though that the whole event is really for the grown-ups. although i have yet to convince them to dress up too. (chris lagarde did where a fake tattoo sleeve on his calf in an attempt to be... well, i don't know what. ) we kept the kids up way to late... the mclaughlin kids actually asked to go to bed. then we went through the bags and took out our favorites.

i am not sure that aubrey grasps the concept of halloween yet, but she was ecstatic about spending a night with friends and the chance to chow down on candy. (mommy was too!)

it's fun to see the kids interact. they are starting to develop friendships and that is neat to see.

when i was young my parents used to hang out with a group of friends who all had kids around the same age. to this day those friends as close as family. they were more then just "the norbeck kids, the winter's, the newell's etc." they were people that i love desperately to this day, even though sometimes the occasions that i see them are few and far between.

The Little Princesses 2006

(well one is a chicken, but a princess at heart.)

The Little Princesses 2007

stay friends little girls...

mommy and me

just looked at the countdown today. only 48 days left until baby leah's due date. this leaves aubrey and i with such a small window of "mommy and me" days left. wanting to make the most of it i attempted to take us to the "Hands-on-House" in lancaster, pa. we did get lost for a half hour and decided to take a trip to mcdonald's and regroup. i sat there in the drive-thru hoping that i didn't drive all the way to lancaster to buy fries.

....but by God's grace, we did find it and the two of us had a blast.


i think my favorite area was the supermarket. it was just like a real supermarket with checkout area and stocked shelves..... they had little grocery lists and baskets to carry their purchases in. they even had a little deli area to make your own pretend sandwiches. i was amazed at how unbelievably smart my little one is.
at one point i pulled a grocery list and read her what we needed. two tomatoes, two apples, one pear. she pulled them all out of the bins and counted them. she pointed out the "circle" lunch meat and the "square" cheese. she even dragged her little basket to the cash register and said "check it" then swiped her purchases on the counter, just like the lady at the store does. as i stood there in disbelief at her little imaginative mind..... she floored me again by running out of the supermarket area and grabbing a stool she had seen in another area. she put it behind the cash register..... she was having trouble reaching the buttons at the register. she had just problem solved.


our other favorite area was the dress up area. i liked the costumes, but aubrey LOVED the puppets. on a typical day her puppet is usually her sock that she pulls of her feet on the way to church. once i get to where i am going, i usually find her sitting in the back seat with both of her socks on her hands saying "puppets mommy".
now she got to play with real puppets.


the whole day ended with a trip to highland orchards for cider doughnuts and apple cider. mommy was having a craving and had to get them before returning home (even though they were about 20 minutes past home).

all in all.... a wonderful day minus the rain, the traffic, the getting lost, the traffic.....
but what did we girls care..... we had NO AGENDA and we had each other.
what a great day!

the writing on the wall

i came upstairs to clean up the bathroom after aubrey's bath. this is what i found. i think matt is really enjoying aubrey's bath crayons.

sacred

this house is a good mess
it’s the proof of life
no way would I trade jobs
but it don’t pay overtime

I’ll get to the laundry
I don’t know when
I’m saying a prayer tonight
cause tomorrow it starts again

could it be that everything is sacred?
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes

the children are sleeping
but they’re running through my mind
the sun makes them happy
and the music makes them unwind

my cup runneth over
and I worry about the stain
teach me to run to You
like they run to me for every little thing

when I forget to drink from you
I can feel the banks harden
Lord, make me like a stream
to feed the garden

wake up, little sleeper
the Lord, God Almighty
made your Mama keeper
so rise and shine
rise and shine cause

everything is sacred
and all this time
everything I’ve dreamed of
has been right before my eyes

what a difference a year makes...

well, looks like we may have started a tradition. highland orchards for apple picking, apple cider and cider doughnuts (mmmmm, mmmmm). i looked back at our post from the same time last year and could not believe how big aubrey has gotten. our little baby is now a full fledged, walking, talking toddler. aubrey picked her own apples this year. she fed the goats all by herself, she even climbed up and down the steps that the pumpkins were displayed on. we feasted on all the wonderful fall goodies that highland orchards could cook up.

it's hard to believe in just a two months (76 days, give or take!) aubrey is going to be a big sister. these past 2 years have just flown by. next year our (almost) 3 year old will be leading us around the pumpkin patch, while we tote little leah on our back just like we did with aubrey the year prior.

i always marvel at the fact that God has already set a path before us. that he knows what our little family is going to look like, even though we don't. i am so excited for what is to come.

happy fall everyone!

the x-files

saturday afternoon and we've got nothing better to do. isn't that a wonderful thing.

83 days to go.....

Sorry our posts have been so silent about our 2nd little bundle. I don't even think we officially announced that we are having ANOTHER GIRL! Yeah! I told Matt it was going to be Barbie central in our house.... just give it a few years. We have decided on the name Leah Angely. Leah was picked by our good friend Dan (who has been waiting patiently for years for us to have a boy so that we could make Daniel the middle name.... choosing Leah's name for her was the next best thing). Angely was a little girl from the Dominican Republic that helped me out with Aubrey the one day I got to be one the work site. She was so sweet and we wanted so badly to take something home with us from the DR and make it a part of Leah's story.

The past couple of weeks have been busy ones with appointments and such for our little girl. Happy to say she (and I) are doing amazingly well. I will post our most recent ultrasound pictures for you to enjoy as soon as I can get to a scanner.

3 am "potty break"

please forgive the blurry picture. we were just a little bleary eyed at 3:30 in the morning. this is when aubrey decided to wake us up for a 3 am potty break. last night was a little unexpected to say the least.... our little munchkin woke up crying and while trying to console her she started saying that she wanted to go to the potty. at first we thought this was a ploy to get down and "play" in the middle of the night so we shrugged it off. we then tried to put her in our bed, which never works, but it was stinking 3:30 in the morning and at least WE would have gotten to crawl back in bed. she insisted that she wanted to go to the potty and in a last ditch effort we gave in. the result..... AUBREY USED THE POTTY! sure, she waits till 3 in the morning for her "eureka" moment, but we were proud all the same. we gave her a little snow white princess, which she has deemed "white one".... in any event, we all made our way back to bed and had a wonderful night sleep. parenting is hilarious.

don't need anything

matt and i returned from bar harbor late monday night. it was an amazing weekend! we had so much time to rest and relax, we enjoyed just being able to be together. we arrived in bar harbor on friday night and made our way to thurston's lobster pound.... i would say our favorite place to eat. it was chilly and a little rainy, but perfect. we sat in the candlelight next to a fire and devoured our wonderful meal. by 9:00 we were in bed, after a full day of driving we both welcomed sleep.



saturday it rained.... "perfect maine weather" matt said. he was right. you cannot go to maine and not have a cold and rainy day. we got a chance to go shopping in bar harbor and hit some of our favorite shops. sunday was beautiful, warm and sunny. we went hiking in the morning and did some sight seeing in the afternoon.

it was back to thurston's for one last "hoorah" and then off to bed.



we are back home and have reentered LIFE. tons of appointments this week, matt's back to both his jobs and we are both running in different directions. we are hoping that lord willing it all slows down soon.... but we are not complaining.

we are happy.

don't need anything
by: Glen Phillips

I've got gardens growing, got quiet days
clothes on my back, food on my plate
got friends to help me if I call for them
don't need anything I don't have

got eyes to see this beautiful land
feet to take me where I want to stand
if there's work to be done, I've got these two strong hands
I don't need anything I don't have
I don't need anything I don't have

some years the rains don't come
some years floods clear out the plains
but if those waters wash this town away
I would still have enough if she was with me

I've got a roof overhead, stars if I choose
but I've no need to fly, I've got no itch to move
got almost nothing, but I understand
that I don't need anything that I don't have
I don't need anything that I don't have