First Snowfall of 2013

This past weekend we finally got enough snow to play in (maybe an inch, inch and a half?) and it happened to be Aubrey's very first time in the snow as well. The kids, well the older two, were super excited to get out and play in it. Me? All I think of is the 30 minutes of having to bundle them up and then all the mess to clean up afterwards, but they had to go out and they had to go out early before it had the chance of melting! So we all got bundled up and headed out for some fun!

 

 

 As soon as we got outside, Aiden was off!

 And Aubrey was trying to figure out what the heck was going on, but she seemed to like it.

Emma decided right away that she wanted to be the one to pull Aubrey in her sled.

 

 

 

Aiden wanted to have a snowball fight as soon as he saw the first flake fall from the sky, so the boys got right on that.

 

Aiden then saw that the trampoline was covered with snow!

While he was jumping, it gave me a chance to pull Aubrey in the sled. As you can see, she loved it!

 

Next it was time for snow angels, or snow princesses if you're Emma.  Aiden was too fast for me and was done his by the time I got my camera ready.

 

 

Emma doesn't usually like to get her hands dirty and she thought it was funny that her hands were covered with snow!

It was starting to get really cold and Aubrey started to just stare off into space and not move.  Could have been that it was nap time, could have been that she was starting to freeze. I decided that it was time for the little miss and I to head back inside, but before we could go, Aiden wanted his turn to pull her around the yard.

 

 Of course before we went back inside, it was time to get a quick picture of the kids together in the snow. The first several weren't so great because Em wiped her eye with her glove, causing drama because she got snow in her eye. :-) I think we finally got one that will work for our Aubrey's 1st snow/first snow of 2013.

I knew Aiden would love the snow, he always does...

but I wasn't so sure how Emma would feel about it. Turns out she loves it too!

Here's to hoping we get just a little more to play in again before the season is over.  Afterall, we did go out and buy new boots...

Chatty Baby

Aubrey has recently discovered 2 new loves.

1. Herself.  She loves to look at herself. I'll put her in front of the mirror. Smiles.  I'll hold my phone camera so she can see herself. Smiles. She loves checking herself out.  I can't blame her. She is a cute little thing.

2. Talking.  I love it. She is constantly blabbering now.  A lot of it is Dada this and Dada that.  {I refuse to believe that it means Dada as in Dada. Sorry Patrick, but it doesn't count as her first word until it's Mama.    :-)} So her "talking" involves a lot of dada's and some screams, along with raspberries.  Adorable.

Here she is checking herself out and talking.

This girl makes me giggle everyday. <3

5 Month Comparisons

Ooops!! I just realized that I never posted the kids' 5 month pictures and stats and Aubrey will be 6 months Friday.  I know. Sniff Already.

I'd be lying if I said we even weighed her this month. Oops! Things have just been busy around here and the blog is one of the last things I get to. When I get a moment to myself, this just doesn't even come to my mind, but since I'm doing this for myself and the kids to remember things, I gotta try harder!

**Turns out when I went to look at Aiden and Emma's 5 months stats, I didn't do theirs either.  5 Months must be a busy time, everytime! At least I can still compare their cuteness!**

Aiden:

Emma:

Aubrey:

What do you think? I just see lots of chubby cheeks to kiss on! :-)

Miss Ghetto America 2013

It's that time of the year again people. Miss Ghetto America time! This is something that my family and I have gotten together to do for the last 7 years. Wow! It's hard to believe it's been that long and yet I've only brought the darn crown home once!! You can read about other years here and here.

We received our official paperwork a few days before the event.  If I weren't so lazy, I'd scan the paperwork so that you could see it.  It's hilarious! There's a write up about each contestant. I think mine said something about not being afraid to take a bitch out to bring that crown home with me. {And by the way, I'm not!} It really is funny.  We also get a schedule of events for when the smack talk can officially begin, the pig fest starts, when the draft starts, everything.  It really is a ton of fun.  Of course the smack talk starts way before we actually get to the party.

Every year, there is drinking.  This year there was lots of drinking! One of the rules is that your wine glass must never be empty or you get a penalty shot (jello shot). There were a few violator's of this rule this year.  Slackers! Other violations of the rules (equaling a shot) losing your sash pin (oops...guilty...I still claim I was robbed!), not putting on your provided slipper socks before receiving your local title and crown (guilty again), call a jello shot a "liquor shot" (come on Kaye, you really don't know what they're called by now!), Miss Delaware moving on or being eliminated (not so much a penalty but we have to support our state!) and any other reason we see the need for someone to have to take a shot.  And there's always a champagne toast before we officially get down to business.

First things first though, we had to get our local titles and crowns!

Little Miss America. 

Miss Will-Work-For-Beads

Miss Never-Gonna-Get-It (She's responsible for this whole thing and has yet to win!)

Miss Double Trouble

Miss Boxed Wine Beauty

Miss Paypal Princess

 When we all had our crowns, it was time to pay up with some shots...

Then it was time to pick our girls.  I was up first this time and it didn't help. 

Kaye takes this stuff VERY seriously. Homegirl comes with notes every year on these girls and uses their first name like she personally knows them.  I believe at one point she got a penalty shot for this! Hahaha! When it comes to the draft she is known for being all up in your space.  I think she uses this tactic to get all up in your head.  Not this year! I had to give her the stiff arm to back up!

Glammy Grammie gave everyone a pretty bracelet to celebrate the night. I promise I'll try to not lose this one, especially if it'll cost me a shot!

Kelly modeling our new bracelets

And to add to the fabulousness that we already have with this something was added this year.  The winner now, not only gets the crown, sash, Bow Down Bitches t-shirt, but they get this fabulous cape as well!

 

If you read the others posts, you know that we have a board where we put our girls that move on to the next rounds to keep track of who's still in and how many girls they have in. 

Watching the top 15? 16? Doesn't matter, I didn't have many!

 

So I'm at the top, you can see that this was bad for me from the start.  Two girls to last through like 3 or 4 more cuts? Yup, not likely. As our girls get cut we take the hearts off until it's down to the end.  First ones out get the coveted Cool Whip crown aka the Loser Crown. 

And...it was a tie for the first ones out...Aimee and I. Booo!!! Aimee, fights for this crown every year! :-) 

Clearly, I thought this was crap!!!

Aimee wasn't happy about it either!

This was Miranda's aka M&M's first year to come to the event and it just might be her last.  Out of the top 5, she had 2 girls, as did Kaye and Kelly had 1.

The top 5

All my penalty shots, wines, and  champagne make it hazy, but I think Kaye may have lost one girl next? Not sure, but I do know that Kelly aka Lil' Mama was the next to be devastated.

The suspense was killing us! Besides the bs that M&M still had two girls and The Shiz (Aimee) and I were out a bit ago, would Glammie Grammie (Kaye) take the crown for the third year in a row.  She was told several times if she won again she would have to dress up as a turkey next year or she would just have to stay the hell home so the rest of us would have a better chance at winning.

It was finally down to the final 3 (yes, Miranda still had 2 girls in it.  Crap! Her invitation is getting lost in the mail next year!!!) and Kaye was eliminated!!

So it was beginner's luck M&M took the grand prize and 1st runner up.  Which is crap if you ask me! 

After the competition the paparazzi steps in to take group photos. These are always fun because most of us are bitter. Hahaha.

Congrats to the reigning Miss Ghetto America 2013.

Until next year bitches!   

Christmas 2012

(First I have to say, our kids are awesome! They are both usually very impatient and Christmas morning they were so great!)

Patrick was the first to wake up Christmas morning. He woke up suddenly and realized that he had forgotten to put a gift (an easel) together from Santa.  Darn it! He told me that he was gonna run downstairs and hopefully get it put together before the kids woke up.  If they woke up while he was building it, it would just have to be from us.  You can't sneak downstairs long in this house before one of the kids comes to find you.  I swear, they must have a radar in their rooms or something.  Yup, Aiden busted him.  Surprise!  I was actually up before all the kids too.  This never happens.  I guess I was just too excited! Once I was up, I heard Aubrey start to stir and then Emma rolled in.  Normally, kids would want to race downstairs and start ripping the paper off the presents.  Our were awesome enough to wait for us to feed Aubrey first.  I told them I didn't want to miss them opening anything because I was feeding her and they were good with it.  I told you they were awesome.

Once she was done it was time to head downstairs and see what Santa brought! (**Disclaimer~our kids are super spoiled and lucky, I know.  We just can't help it. And? I try to start early and then forget about things I already bought. Oops!)

 

 

 

We always start with stockings. So that was up first!

 

 

Then it was onto presents! You know that I took no less than 300 pictures so I'll just try to include a couple of the kids favorite gifts they asked for. :-)

Doc McStuffins Toys

Yay! Minnie toys

Showing Aubrey how to rip the paper

She got her princess undies! This is what she told everyone that asked what she wanted. :)

That's a happy boy!

The Krusty Krab something or another :)

One of my favorite parts? Getting Aiden's gifts from the Secret Santa Workshop at school.  You should know what that is, I remember it from when I was in school.  Your parents send in money and you get to pick special things for them. They wrap it up (in a nice plastic bag) and you give it to your family on Christmas.  I just love to see the thoughtfulness that the kids have when it's all on them to pick and choose things that you'd like. <3 And they are so proud of the gifts they choose. It just makes me smile.

He picked a football for Patrick b/c he knows he likes football. <3

Emma attacked him with a hug when she saw hers. :) I think she loved it!

A beautiful necklace, ring, and pink crayon eraser for Em

Showing Aubrey the "chew toy" as he calls it, that he bought for her

She play with that star for awhile!

He chose a pretty purple ring for me <3

Emma and I modeling our rings from Aiden

I love that boy. I will cherish that ring forever.

Next, it was presents from Mommy and Daddy.  These presents are mostly clothes. Boo! They just mostly get thrown over the shoulder.  At least from Aiden. Em was excited about some of them.  :)

Once everything was opened for the kids it was time to opened Patrick and I's gifts to each other.  Patrick did amazing this year! He picked out a bunch of clothes and not only were they cute, but they all actually fit! I don't think that's ever happened! Good job, babe! :-)

Then it was time to get down to opening the toys and playing before we headed to my grandmother's for dinner.

Aubrey getting her check-up from Doc McEmma

Aiden getting a little help from Daddy with his new DS game

Teacher Aiden...and "Joney" was being naughty and got his name on the board

Talking to Spooky, the electronic fish.  Awesome! No food required! :)

Playing with her new octopus

The naked chef

One krabby patty coming right up!

Finally, it was time to get dressed up for Christmas dinner at my grandmother's house.  Before we could leave, we had to take a few pictures in front of the tree. 

 

 

 

 And the girls Christmas jammies, because they're too cute not to share!

And Aubrey had a surprise for us once we got home..

Pausing to nibble on her finger

And over she went! 

She's quite proud of herself!

 I hope that your family had a wonderful holiday as well!