Our Family

Our Family
December 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013

9 Months Comparisons

Being we're almost at 10 months already, I suppose I outta get these 9 month comparisons up here!

Aiden: 21.3 lbs, 29 in (I really need to find the original because this scanned in pic is horrible quality!)

Emma: 20.8 lbs, 29 in


Aubrey: 20 lbs, 9 oz; 29.13 inches long

So funny that the girls are almost exactly the same size at this point, Aubs is just a tad bit bigger! And her rolls in that picture? Love.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Emma's 3rd Birthday


Emma's actual birthday was the day after her party, so we still had a little more celebrating to do!  :-) She slept in since she stayed up late partying the night before. And I actually ending up waking her up just before 9.

(With Aiden and Emma since they were both born during the day, I take their picture each year at the exact moment they were born, at least until they have to be away from me at school.) Here's our sweet girl at exactly 3 years old, May 5, 2013 at 8:54 am.
 

Hahaha! Excuse her party hair/bed head!!

We headed downstairs for breakfast aka cake because it's okay when it's your birthday, and to play with some of her new toys!

 
We laid around for most of the morning being lazy.  After some lunch and baths, we decided to head to the store so Emma could buy something with her birthday money she got from her party.  She had wanted this garden table that she didn't get so we went to check that out or see if there was anything else she might wanted instead.  In the end, she decided to get a sand table, which I'm glad for because I think they'll all play with that longer than the garden table.
We also had to remember to measure Emma on our growth chart to see just how much she grew over the year.  I love looking at it to see how big they've gotten! It's funny how it always seems to be about the same amount in between each year. And in this picture you can see that Aiden was a bit taller at 3 than Emma is.  
We still had one more present for our girl that we saved so she'd have something to open on her real birthday and so she'd have a chance to open something since she refused to at her party.
A bike! Now she can ride like Aiden! We had to go outside once Daddy built it so she could test it out. It's still kind of tricky for her to go and keep going.  I guess riding bikes uses some muscles in her legs that she just hasn't gotten the hang of how to use yet.  She did get going a couple times and was so excited!!
 
We did get her a helmet just to be safe and obey the laws but do kids on tricycles really need helmets? I honestly don't know. She insisted that we get it out because it would help her go.  I just love this big ole helmet on her little head!
 
I still can't believe she's 3!! She's an awesome little girl and I couldn't be more proud to call her mine!


Friday, May 10, 2013

Emma's 3rd Birthday Party

Last Saturday we had Emma's 3rd birthday party.  She decided early on that she wanted a Doc McStuffins party so off I went looking for ideas for Doc parties.  Of course she hasn't been around long enough that they have Doc party plates and all that stuff so I had to think on my own what to do.  Then after I found some ideas I liked, she changed her mind.  She now wanted a Minnie Mouse party.  Luckily, I hadn't bought anything yet, so Minnie Mouse it was!

I looked and looked over the internet and found lots of cute ideas and decided on some decorations and invitations and we set off!

Here's her invitation: (I was too lazy to cover the phone number and address with paper so I just used the computer to "hide" the info, that's why that part is so ugly, I don't really know how to do it.) I found them here on etsy.

And of course you have to have a cute outfit for your party! Here's the outfit Emma wore.
Again both the dress and hair bows were found on etsy.  I love that place!!

All of our kids are pretty shy.  They know who they know and pretty much hide or give anyone they don't the silent treatment.  Emma is probably the most shy of them all and the day before her party she started to tell me that she was scared of the people coming.  Poor girl!

On the day of her party she was pretty excited running around the house, but she did mention again that she was nervous still.  Here she is before her friends came.

My goodness she's a cutie!! Of course Aubrey and Aiden had to wear their Mickey/Minnie gear too!

 
 
 
 

 Once everyone started coming, Emma disappeared outside to play with the kids and she stayed out there most of the time.  After everyone's bellies were full from lots of yummy food, it was time for presents.  Something just told me that Emma was not going to want to do presents because everyone would be looking at her.  Maybe it was the fact that she had told me several times she was scared.  :( I seriously considered just letting her open them after everyone was gone but I know that I like to see how people react to my gifts so I figured our guests might feel the same way.  So we went for it. And? She would not open her gifts.  She climbed in my lap and tried to hide, she sat behind me to hide.  Poor shy girl.  I tried and tried to get her to open something, anything. Take the tissue paper out of gift bags. Nope, she wasn't having it, so I ended up having to open her gifts.  She loved everything, I promise, but if you were here at that time, you wouldn't know it.  She stayed pretty straight faced about everything.
 
 I didn't want to torture her with singing happy birthday, but hey, it's party so we had no choice! :-)
 She handled the cake and singing, way better than the presents! She did ask Daddy to help her blow her candle out, but she sat in the chair by herself and that's a smile there in that picture and that was when people were singing!

Once the cake was done, it was back to playing with her cousins/friends for the rest of the day/night! She had a great time!! She's a lucky little girl that has many people who love her, even if she does try to hide from most of them! ;-)

Of course I have to show the details! I am in no way, shape, or form creative, but I decided I wanted to make some decorations for her party just to give it a little something more! Here are a few things that I made:



I'm quite proud of those things.  Now if only I had something to do with them...that's a lot of work to just throw away.  That's probably why I usually don't make them! :-)

Thanks to everyone that came and helped make Emma's day special!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Questions with Emma (3 years old)

I love asking Aiden the same questions once or twice a year to see the types of answers I get.  I figured Emma is about to the age where she can understand some of these questions so this year I'm starting it with her.
  1. What are you going to be when you grow up?  I'm gonna grow up and drive the car.
  2. What is Aiden going to be when he grows up?  He's gonna be Mario with a red car. Aubrey? Um, she's going to be a Vanellope (Wreck it Ralph) car with everything on her.
  3. How old is Mommy? 5. Are you 5??
  4. How old is Daddy?  I don't know 
  5. What is your favorite place to go?  Chicks ole (Chick-fil-A)
  6. What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Build puzzles
  7. What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  Play squinkies
  8. What is Mommy's job?  You change stuff, or you wreck stuff  Hahaha 
  9. And Daddy's?  Uh, he work with Halloween Mommy
  10. What is your favorite toy?  Barbies (Doubtful. She's own 1 and hasn't touched it since we bought it!)
  11. What is something Mommy always says to you?  You're going to time out. (Lol! God, some days I feel like it! These kids make me look like a big meanie all the time!!)
  12. What makes Mommy happy?  Making funny faces
  13. Who is your best friend?  Aiden <3
  14. How do you know Mommy and Daddy love you?  Because you're my best friend <3
  15. What does Mommy do if you're not around?  Put Aubrey to bed and watch stuff :-)
  16. What is Mommy really good at?  At the store (Hahaha! I have to agree here!!)
  17. What is Mommy really bad at?  Making bad faces
  18. What is Daddy really good at?  Going potty.  Hahahaha
  19. What is Daddy really bad at?  Changing the channel into his channel.  I want mine and Aiden's.
  20. What is your favorite food? Chicks ole (Chick-fil-A)
  21. What's your favorite thing to do outside? Blow bubbles
  22. What is your favorite thing to do with Aiden? Color Aubrey? Um, play
  23. What are you scared of?  I'm scared of creepy monsters!!
  24. Who is the funniest person you know?  Aubrey
  25. Who's the best dancer that you know? Hunter and Me.  Hunter danced with me yesterday. <3
**And some new ones I found on pinterest...
26.  What is your favorite color?  Oh! Um, purple!!
27.  What is your favorite tv show? Mickey
28.  What's your favorite thing to eat for lunch? I want a banna (banana) and a bunny bun (honey bun)
29.  What's your favorite game?  Minnie for my new game
30.  What is your favorite snack? Cheese string
31.  What is your favorite animal? Unicorns and horses and Mommy, I love pigs
32.  What is your favorite song? Call you maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe), also a close second would be This Girl is on Fire by Alicia Keys
33.  What is your favorite book?  Max and Ruby
34.  What is your favorite holiday? Um, Christmas!!
35.  What is your favorite drink? Lemonade ??

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Aubrey: 9 Months

9 months. Wow! I can't believe I've already had to start thinking about your 1st birthday party! Time just seems to be speeding by!!

You are getting to be such a big girl, a tad naughty, but mostly sweet.  And those eyes? Gorgeous! You have the biggest, bluest eyes. You always get lots and lots of compliments on them!
You LOVE to get into all kinds of things!  Your favorite right now is to play in Emma's kitchen.  You go over and pull out the drawer with all the food and then grab down all the plates, bowls, and cups and throw them on the floor.  You also think it's funny to go over and use the light to help you stand up and then smack it over and over giggling while we tell you "no no". After you play at the light a few times, you usually wander over to the cable box and DVD player and smack them or try to throw them on the ground.  You also love to try and pull out the photo albums and reach the chalk or eraser on the easel.  Like I said, you're just a tad naughty.  I think it's funny that you're doing things you know you shouldn't be because you just look at us and giggle and wait for us to come swoop you up!

You love to play with books, a little maraca we had for one of Emma's birthday parties, your walker, socks, shoes, and Emma's microphone.  I think you're going to be into music.  When the microphone starts singing you get super excited and start squealing or yell. You have a beautiful singing voice! :-)

You pull yourself up on everything and occasionally stand up on your own for short periods of time.  Once you realize what you're doing, you drop to the ground.  You can get around pretty well with your push walker.  You'll be up and walking pretty soon! It just doesn't seem possible!!

Actually since writing about you standing up, you've gotten really good at it.  You are standing for longer periods of time.  You sway quite a bit but you are able to keep your balance much better. You even took your first step the night of Emma's birthday party. (May 4, 2013) I didn't catch that on video, but since then you've done several one steps and then falls. I've even seen you go 2 steps before you fell. Daddy said once you did 3 or 4, but that doesn't count until I see it! :-)

You still love to pull hair and try your best to get a hold of faces to rip them off and you love to give big slobbery kisses.  They are still big open mouthed wet ones (sometimes I think you're just trying to eat our faces) and we love it! Still no teeth though, which is good for now, because that would make your kisses hurt! You still babble a lot. Mama has become your favorite thing to say right now.  It seems to happen way more, if only, when you're whining, tired, or upset.  Hey, I'll take it! :-)

You are still a great sleeper and eater.  You're still eating 3 (6 oz) bottles a day, along with stage 2 foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We just tried a stage 3 dinner Monday night to see how you'd do and you made it about halfway before you refused to eat anymore.  You seem to like puffs (occasionally) and the strawberry yogurt melts.  You've also had some table food (cheerios, potatoes, rice, noodles, cake, shredded cheese) that you liked, but don't want too much of it. I'm sure the doctor will tell us to start more real food when we go for your check up at the end of the week.

You're still in size 3 diapers. 12 month clothing seems to fit best because you have some long legs, but we could probably still squeeze you into 9 months as long as we didn't mind your legs showing. You have lots of hair, more than Aiden or Emma had at this point and it's still the darkest of the 3. I really hope you keep that dark hair!

I'll wrap it here because I know that within what seems like a blink of an eye I'll be back here writing your 10 month post! Happy 9 Months Sweet Girl!

Stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 9 oz (85th percentile)
Height: 29.13 in (94th percentile)
Head Circumference: 45 cm (81st percentile)


 
Look at that sassy attitude!! :)


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Happy 3rd Birthday Emma!

Dear Emma,

I cannot believe you are 3 years old!! On one hand it seems like it's flown by and on the other I can't remember what it was like before you joined our family. You are such a sweet and funny girl.  {I like to think you have Mommy's sense of humor. :-)} Some of the things that come out of your mouth make me laugh so hard and other times you are so sassy, I would swear you were turning 16 instead of 3. Boy do I think you are always gonna keep us on our toes.

You LOVE your brother and sister very much! Even though Aiden's been in school for 8 months, you'll still ask if we can go pick him up after he's only been gone for a couple hours.  You often tell me that Aubrey is your baby and you love to make her giggle.  I love watching the 3 of you interact with each other.  Family is what it is all about, sweet girl, so that makes my heart extremely happy.

You've definitely come into the terrible 2's/3's some and are trying to find out just how much and what you can get away with.  At least when you get into trouble, you're pretty good about apologizing and moving on. Like I said, sometimes I think you're turning 16 instead of 3 and I think you do too! One day you had a cupcake with lunch and I told you that you had to finish your sandwich before you ate the cupcake.  Aubrey woke up and I went upstairs to get her, when I came back down, it was obvious you ate some of the cupcake but you thought you could get away with it.  Here's the video I took of your story. (ps. you had a cheese sandwich, no peanut butter in sight)
Yeah, you're gonna keep us on our toes!!

You are such a smart, smart girl and have a wonderful memory. Almost everyone of your stories about something that happened in the past occurred "yesterday", whether is was indeed yesterday or 7 months ago.  That drives Aiden crazy! Hahaha

You still love your blanket and puppy and have to carry them everywhere with us.  If we go somewhere they have to come along and stay in the van.  You recently got a Vanellope doll from the movie Wreck it Ralph and she has joined your blanket and puppy in having to be with you at all times.

You love to be outside and swing or blow bubbles. Your cupcake game is your favorite game to play.  You also love "to watch something", you must ask if you can watch something no less than 2984390 times a day! You love playing in the bathtub, coloring, reading books, playing with Ava, Aiden, and Aubrey, singing, dancing, and going to "rest-tern-naunts" to eat.  Almost everytime we're out you point out a restaurant that we could eat at. I'm beginning to think you don't like my cooking so much! You love to go to Walmart and ask me quite often after dropping Aiden off at school if we are going to a store. :-)  You love to eat pizza, nuggets and fries, pancakes, cheesestrings, soup, lunchmeat, and applesauce.

You are still really shy and get nervous around people you don't really know.  You'll hide behind Mommy or Daddy and whisper "Mama" with a panicked look on your face if you need to hide behind us and you're scared to walk past them.

You keep our days full of laughter and smiles, and a few gray hairs and stress headaches but we love you very, very much! I can't wait to see what you discover at 3!  Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

I love you very much!!

Love,
Mommy