Famished

Apparently our 16+ pound 5 month old doesn't feel
as though she getting sufficient nourishment from her bottle;

she's recently been seen chowing down
on her cowboy playmat.

She wasn't able to get enough bite with the
one-hand method, so she added another hand
for a tighter grip

Caught in the act

Disclaimer: My 5 month old daughter is NOT
showing her cleavage :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ok, maybe it doesn't really look like Christmas yet (unless you

go to the mall or happen to have a neighbor who already has

all their decorations out), but I sure have been in the
Christmas mood since the day after Halloween.

We've had the car radio and "boom box" blaring
Christmas music for weeks now.

I even found a local radio station that's been
playing Christmas music.

The kids have been sporting their Christmas PJ's all week.

I've also put quite a large dent into our Christmas shopping.

I love searching for the perfect gift for everyone,
especially for Luke and Aubrey.

I went to Toys R Us last week to do some shopping...
the only reason I went there is because they had the best
deals for what we wanted to get for Luke. I know it sounds
surprising, but I did my share of researching toy prices, and
Toys R Us beat everyone including Amazon and Wal-mart!

As I walked through the toy isles my eyes lit up
and I could hardly contain my excitement!

There's just something about getting a gift for some one
that makes your heart happy!

Christmas was such a magical time for me growing up,
and I can't wait to see those same feeling in my kids.

Gift giving is a very exciting part of Christmas, but
we want to teach our kids that the real
reason for Christmas is celebrating our Savior's birth.

I've already been trying to explain to Luke that
Jesus was born on Christmas and that's why we celebrate.

We've read the story of Jesus' birth in his baby Bible
and he'll point to the baby and say "baby Sesus"!

I hope all of you are getting into the Christmas Spirit
and remembering the true reason for the season!

Aubrey in her Christmas gear...
yes, those are reindeer booties :)

Flashback Friday

Before we flashback today, I thought I'd share Luke's new "do" with you.

Once again, his hair was getting ridiculously long and was a shaggy mess
if it was not curly(as seen from the photo shoot Friday).
I love the curls, but I don't know if they'll be
back, he might be getting too old for them.

He was chewing and trying to say cheese at the same time...
guess he's not a multi-tasker.

Back to the flashback: Luke's first trip to the beach

Luke and I accompanied my parents and little sister
on their spring break trip to a bay near Gulf Shores.

The trip was in early April and Alabama doesn't exactly
have great beach weather in April, so we didn't make it
to the actual beach much, but I had a great time
dressing Luke for the beach :)

Sporting his ghetto inspired swim trunks...
a little long for my taste, but I guess it doesn't
matter if you're not actually going to swim in them.
This was the only time that summer that
he would keepthe sunglasses on

Sunbathing was not his thing, he could only handle
the sun long enough for me to take a few pictures

He much preferred staying inside and shooting some hoops

Hope that Luke will be able to walk in the sand and
swim in the ocean on our next beach trip.

Sharing

Luke has a new fascination with the word "mine".

We don't know where he picked it up,
(we certainly didn't teach him the word)
but many times during the day he'll pick up
a toy, book, cup, etc.and exclaim, "MINE!".

So, we have used this opportunity to
teach him what it means to share.

I've tried to explain to him
that the toys are not just his, but he is to share them with
Aubrey, mommy, daddy, and any other friends he plays with.

Many times I think the words I say just go right over his head,
because 10 seconds later I'll hear him say "mine" again.

But, there are little glimmers of hope that he is listening
and actually understanding what it means to share.

Glimmer 1:
We were left with tons of Halloween candy due to the fact
that we only had 2 trick-or-treaters!

Ryan and Luke's favorite left over Halloween candy
was Nerds. For about 2 weeks after Halloween they would
eat a box or two of "Nerts", as he calls them,
every night after dinner.

One night Luke was standing at the coffee table
admiring the Nerds daddy had given him,
when all of a sudden he picks up a few,
walks over to me and says, "here mommy, nerts".

I was so excited and praised him
for sharing his nerds with me.

He went back to his table, ate a few more nerds,
and then brought more to me.

After that, every time he was given nerds
he would share them with me.

Glimmer 2:
As I've mentioned before Luke loves to play
with cars and trucks, or as he calls them "crucks".

His favorite thing to do is line them up on a flat surface,
and then one by one push them off shouting "crash".

The other day I walked into the den and found this:

Luke was sharing his beloved "crucks" with Aubrey.

Not only did he line them up for her to admire,
but he sat down with her and told her about each one...
"cruck, cacksi (taxi), car, choo choo train".
Fortunately, for Aubrey's sake, he did not crash his trucks
into her...although he has done that before :)

I have to remind myself that even though it may not seem
like Luke understands what I'm saying to him,
he is picking up on many of the things we are teaching him!

New Pictures

My friend, Ashley, took some great pictures of the kids Friday.

Here are some of the best ones.
Enjoy this last picture of Luke's long, somewhat curly hair

Wordless Wednesday

One day last week I walked in the den and found this:

I guess this is the most comfortable way to watch Mickey Mouse :)

Exersaucer Fun

We got the exersaucer out yesterday
so Aubrey could give it a try.

If you'll remember from Flashback Friday a few weeks ago,
Luke hated the exersaucer when he was first introduced to it,
so we were hoping for a better result with Aubrey.

We put her in and here's what happened:

Complete and utter shock
Amazement
Amusement
Enjoyment

But, no matter what new and exciting toys
we put in front of her,
she always content to watch her big brother

Luke was feeling left out, so he insisted
on joining in the exersaucer fun

A Girl and Her Dresses

If you could see Aubrey's closet, you would think it's ridiculous how many articles of clothing (especially dresses) she has, but I must point out that I have only bought her a few things, everything else was given to her.

Since Aubrey loves to eat so much, she's grown out of several
thingsbefore she ever got to wear them!
I've tried my best to put her in all the dresses at least once.


This is a smocked Winnie the Pooh dress from Big Mama

Since Aubrey was a tiger (Aubie) for Halloween I had to even
things up and let her wear some Wildcat attire.

This was Parker's outfit

Don't think she'll be wearing this Wildcat outfit anymore,
because she busted one of the snaps on it after wearing it for only a few hours :)

This one is my personal favorite...
My mom gave me several of our (my sisters & I)
outfits and dresses for Aubrey to wear. I think it's so neat
that she will get to wear things that I wore as a baby!

This outfit was my youngest sisters; I remeber her wearing it
and couldn't wait to see Aubrey in it!
The tag said it was 6 months size,
so I figured it would fit Aubrey perfectly now.
Boy, was I wrong, I had to pull, push, and squeeze
to get her in it :)
That was definitely the one and only time
she was able to wear it,
but so glad I snapped a few pictures to remember it.

Cookies

Last week Luke was introduced to the art of cooking. Although he's not yet two, I thought he might enjoy learning a new skill, and since he loves "cooookies" that's what we set out to make.

Ready to start cooking
he had just woken up from a nap...hence the bed head
I put all the ingredients in the bowl and began to show him how to stir.

When I gave him the spoon, he didn't quite get how to turn the spoon in
a circular motion; instead he just used the spoon to stab at the dough.
He was very serious about his "stirring"
I don't think he understood why the dough didn't look like a cookie

Admiring his work

Wordless Wednesday

Aubrey's 1st taste of real food