Aubrey's Birthday, Part 1

Aubrey turned 2 on June 19th, she had a bumble bee themed birthday party the weekend of her actual birthday while we were in Indiana visiting Ryan's family.

I forgot my camera on the trip (seems to be the trend these days), so all the party pictures are on my father-in-law's camera, maybe by the time her next birthday comes around I'll be able to post them :)

She also had a mini party at my parents' house last week while we were in Atlanta visiting our friends, the Carters, who were home from Germany for the month.

Party People:

Kerri & Levi
Mason & Luke
Nana & Aubrey

Aubrey's mint chocolate chip ice cream cake
As you can see, Aubrey is bursting with excitement over her birthday cake

Blowing out the candle
Opening her present from Nana & Papa, a water table
The water table was a huge hit!

It wasn't long before all the splashing required
removal of the clothes
Splashing

Aubrey was having so much fun splashing, scooping & dumping the water she wanted to get in the water table

Turning Two Milestones:

A couple of months before her second birthday, Aubrey's vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds. She can say anything she wants to and makes 3-4 word sentences.

She loves to sing, some of her favorite songs are Jesus Loves Me (which she calls "Bible"), Jesus Loves the Little Children, This Little Light of Mine, and
the Calm & Cool Song (a Daddy original).

Aubrey is a huge help with her little brother,
bringing him diapers, wipes, bottles, toys,
or anything she thinks he needs.

She even feed Levi in the grocery cart
while we were at Publix last week :)

Aubrey and Luke are quickly becoming best friends,
they play together often, usually Aubrey doing
whatever Luke tells her to do.

For instance, this is what they did this morning
while I was uploading pictures & blogging:
I heard them say in passing
that they were going on a trip.
I saw them taking some books out of the den,
but had no idea of the magnitude of toy relocation
this "trip" required.
See why it's been a month since I last blogged?!?


The tantrums have also begun, it's always a very sad day when your sweet little baby hits the defiant,
I-want-my-way stage.


Making a mess, has become one of
Aubrey's favorite past times.

She can empty the diaper basket in 20 seconds flat.
And throw flashcards all over the kitchen floor in the time in takes me to change the baby's diaper.

Aubrey is very independent, wants to do everything on her own, if we try to help her with something she respond, "No! Aubrey do it!".

We love every bit of her fun, adventurous, messy, and independent personality!

Happy 2nd Birthday Aubrey Lynn!

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Five years ago today, Ryan and I made a covenant before the Lord to love, honor, and cherish each other no matter what this life would bring our way.

As I was watching our wedding video today,
I was reminded of a hymn we chose to have played at the beginning of our ceremony,
"Great is Thy Faithfulness".

I started thinking, that describes exactly what God has done in our marriage over these last
five years, show His Faithfulness:

When we were unsure of exactly what it meant to "leave and cleave",
He was Faithful and patient to show us
what becoming one truly means.

When we lost our tempers and
got angry with each other,
He was Faithful to calm us down,
show us humility, and how to forgive.

When we had our first child 18 months into our marriage, and I had no clue how to be a mommy, He was Faithful to encourage me and
give me confidence through Ryan.

When we left Auburn, moved to Birmingham and Ryan had to start his business from scratch, there were many times we couldn't see where the next paycheck would come from, but He was Faithful and always provided exactly what we needed when we needed it.

When we desperately desired
a biblically sound church home in our new city,
He was Faithful to not only direct us
to this church, but provide for us
some strong Christian friends to walk beside us.

When our sweet babies start turning into toddlers who threw tantrums, had attitudes, and didn't always respond to our discipline the way we had hoped, He was and still is Faithful to remind us to be consistent, keep our cool, and be patient.

When we had our third baby in just over three years, and the demands of so many little ones just seemed too much to bear,
He was and still is Faithful to
carry our burdens and give us the strength
and grace to get through each new day
He has given us.


Although we make mistakes daily in how we relate to each other, He is Faithful to forgive us, show us how to communicate with each other, and how to grow in our relationship with
Christ and each other.

God was Faithful in our courtship, engagement, and wedding day, and is still Faithful
in keeping that spark alive,
five years and three children later.

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife;
and they shall become one flesh."
- Genesis 2:24

Photo Card

Initial Impression Teal Baby Announcements

Find hundreds of cute baby birth announcements at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

National Doughnut Day

Did you know that today is
National Doughnut Day?

If you recall, our family loves doughnuts,
especially from Krispy Kreme.

So, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a
free doughnut!


We

had

A

delicious

time

celebrating!

...well, at least most of us did.

Photo Shoot

We had some professional pictures taken of the kids for the first time since Aubrey was 5 months old, the quality wasn't great, but a few turned out okay.

Easter & Mother's Day

In the weeks leading up to Easter, we shared with Luke
what Jesus did for all of us on Good Friday and how we
celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Now every time Luke sees a cross he says,
"that's what Jesus died on."

Although he is still very young, he is learning so much about Christ and God's word!

Highlights of our Easter Egg Hunt



Aubrey decided to go down the slide with her basket in hand and this is what happened:
Digging into the loot

On Mother's Day we had Levi's baby dedication.

Our first priority as parents is to saturate our children's lives with the love of Christ.

It is our prayer that each of our kids would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior at a young age and that they would choose to live each day of their lives for Christ.

This dedication service is simply an outward sign of the commitment we have made to raise Levi to love,
surrender to, and totally depend on Jesus Christ.

Pastor Harry praying over Levi

We wanted the whole family to be together for the service, but Aubrey lasted all of 90 seconds, and then had to be escorted to the nursery.


Since we didn't get an Easter family photo,
we made sure to get one on Mother's Day.

April

As most (hopefully all) of you know many communities, cities, and almost whole counties were completely devastated by last Wednesday's tornadoes.

If you would like to help out in some way, but don't know where to start, please see this post and this one by my friend, Rachel.


Since I don't have time to put together a "real" blog post these days, I've resorted to photo dump posts :)

Here's April in Pictures:

The kids, whom we affectionately refer to as
the 3 baboons

After telling Luke & Aubrey at least a thousand times each to leave their baby brother alone; I decided the safest place for Levi to reside would be in the pack-n-play,
as far away from poking fingers, petting hands, rubbing heads,
and shouting mouths as possible.

And Levi doesn't mind it a bit,

in fact, he seems to love it.

and he knows how to protect himself with a killer left hook if his brother or sister try to jump in the pack-n-play with him.
Aubrey has become a little momma since Levi arrived,
she loves to give her baby a bottle,
change her diaper and rock her.

Luke & Aubrey enjoying some milk,

fully clothed...

or in the buff.

Side note: This post was interrupted by a certain 3 year old who decided to get into some pink shower gel, and pour it all over our bedroom floor, box spring, and dust ruffle.

Have you ever tried to clean liquid soap up off the carpet? All it does is continually foam up.

See what happens when I try to blog?

Back to April:

Aubrey was eating a banana the other day
and had trouble peeling it, so Luke offered to help.

Don't let this moment of sweetness fool you,
there is, of course, many arguments, fights, and tantrums,
but I try not to capture those moments in pictures :)

Levi admiring his big brother
As you can tell, Levi did NOT get
Aubrey's dark hair and bushy eyebrows

Blogging is not the only thing that I don't have time to do anymore, cleaning has taken a back seat to just surviving;

so, I hired some help.
They're hard workers