Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here's our Christmas card that's never going to get printed. Happy Green Christmas!
I realize that it's been so long since I've done an entry, which is a shame because there are so many fun times that I could have been documenting. Time just gets away!
We've had a wonderful Christmas season. Aubree is at the cutest age to enjoy all of the fun Christmas stuff like Santa, baby Jesus, presents, candy, and parties. She got to meet Santa Claus 3 times this year. The first time was at the mall and was a disaster:
The next time was a few weeks later at the oil ranch. We were outside so she first saw him from a long distance and yelled out "Hi Santa" but when he invited her to come over she decided that she was close enough. I finally coxed her to get on his lap and she didn't cry but wasn't too happy either.
Last week Aubree met Santa Claus for the 3rd time at our play group's Christmas party. Though she still wouldn't smile for the camera, she did actually talk to him this time and went back to his lap several times during the party.

I really hadn't talked about Santa that much to her except when I was directly preparing her to see him at a party or event so last night I remembered to tell her that he was coming to visit our house and that he would leave candy and presents for Aubree, Taylor, and Brittany. She responded by saying "Where's Jesus?" so I figured she didn't really understand what I was talking about. This morning at 5 am John and I hear Aubree shout through the monitor, "Hi Santa!" It was just about the cutest thing ever and I wondered if Santa Claus really did visit her in her room. Luckily, she went back to sleep right away until a reasonable hour and had a great time later this morning sharing gifts with the family and eating Hershey Kisses for the first time. (Possible caffeine related hyper problem, will update after more research.)
Love to everyone! Merry Christmas!

Happy Easter / Happy Mother’s Day

Belated Happy Easter and Happy Mother’s Day! We have had a wonderful time playing with our extended family over the holidays. We had over 20 family members at our house over Easter weekend, starting with my family and ending with John’s family. My family spent the night Friday and Saturday so the kids could have more time to play and so we could get up early Saturday morning to do a neighborhood 5K. We also had a family picture taken that we had been trying to coordinate for my mom’s Mother’s Day gift from LAST Mother’s Day. Everyone was finally together so here it is:

Our little family had a nice trip to San Antonio to see Brittany’s dance competition. We visited Grandma and Uncle Jim and we went to Fiesta Texas. They actually have a lot of rides that babies can go on. Here’s the baby roller coaster:

Aubree and I joined a local playgroup through meetup.com and we’ve been going to playdates at least twice a week. It is so nice for me to meet other women with babies that live on this side of town. I still have to commute to see most of my friends, with or without babies.

Next we’re looking forward to summer, especially visiting Grann and Grandaddy at the lake house and going to the pool with our cousins!

We Have a Toddler!

We’ve had so much go on since my last update. Aubree is not a little baby anymore, we now have a toddler! She’s not technically walking by herself, she still clings and cruises, but she’s definitely learning to express herself like a big girl, for better or for worse.

Her vocabulary is growing so fast. She’s such a sponge at this age: repeating things she hears, responding to questions, remembering people’s names, mimicking animal sounds. She even says “thank you” when you hand her something.

Even through a couple of illnesses, we’ve kept very busy. We love to dance, read, and eat. We love to visit Gymboree, the zoo, the Children’s Museum, and our friends.