Christmas Part 1

Wow! The entire month of December was like a big whirlwind! It was pretty much shop, shop, shop and then it was over. In between, we did have tons of fun though since it was Aubrees first Christmas where she actually understood (as much as a 2 year old can) what was going on. I can actually say that she put me in the Christmas spirit this year. It was so fun taking her to look at lights, baking with her, listening to her sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer over and over again, and finding "Ed" (our elf on the shelf) every morning. By far, the most fun was watching her take her sweet time to open and adore each and every gift she was given. We had a wonderful Christmas this year and hope that each of yours was equally as great! Here's a few pics to re-cap our December.

First up, Santas Wonderland! Peach cobbler, hot chocolate,

and horse drawn carriage rides through the 2 million lights! Amazing!

There's Been a Change!

Turns out our bun in the oven isn't a Josslyn Faith after all!! It's a boy! And this time, we were able to surprise daddy! So the story goes a little like this.....

I had my regular doctor appt/ultrasound this past Friday. For the first time ever, JD couldn't make the appointment because of work. I told him it was no biggie because it was just for routine measurements and such. So during the ultrasound, the tech asks me if I would like to know what we are having. I tell her that I cheated and had an ultrasound a few weeks ago because I have a friend who is also an ultrasound tech. She says "ok, just don't tell me what it is." Well, Aubree was with me (need I say more) and says "I have a sister!" The tech just says its no big deal, she is gonna look anyway. She looks around a bit and tells me that the baby isn't in position and she will check later. About 10 minutes goes by and she ever so nicely stops the ultrasound, folds her hands in her lap, and tells me "we have a dilemma." My heart proceeds to drop to my feet and my stomach lunges to the top of my throat as I proceed to ask her "what is wrong" while trying to remain calm. She says "it's a boy." At this point, my stomach and heart assume their normal positions, my eyes get a little bit large, and I begin to laugh a teary laugh all while keeping in mind that my 2 year old is right next to me and she gets concerned very easily. I was not upset in the least but asked her at least three times if she was sure because I could not tell JD if it wasn't 100% certain. It was really funny because she felt like she had to prove it to me so she prints about 6 pictures of nothing but "all boy" shots. She tells me, "what else could this be?" I believed her but just to be sure, she calls over the tech in the room next door. She comes in, looks for about 10 seconds and says "its a boy."

Now, the question is how to tell JD?? I knew I didn't want to tell him over the phone so when he asks if everything went ok and if its still a girl, I say "yes." I had some time to waste until he was able to come home, so we planned a little surprise for daddy. I told JD that I had been shopping and found him a late birthday present since I had not gotten him anything 2 weeks earlier. We went to party city, got some helium filled blue balloons, put them in a big box, and generically wrapped the box . We made him open it right away because of course the first thing he wants to do is to look at the ultrasound pictures. The pictures can take it from here.....all I need to add is that he kept saying "are you serious, are you serious?" He was ecstatic to say the least! We are ecstatic! We were ecstatic that it was a girl before but the change/surprise added a whole other level of excitement. We do not have a name yet, but hopefully we can agree to one in the very near future!

Note the color change of his face : )

Baby Boy K coming this April!!!

We're Expanding!

You get where I'm going with this?!

We are expecting our second baby girl this April! Aubree told us the entire time

that she was having a baby sister and turns out she was right!

Josslyn Faith coming soon!

Halloween

Boy, was this Halloween different from last years!! You would have thought that Aubree had been trick-or-treating a hundred times before! She went from door to door like an old pro. Princess Aubree loved seeing all of the other kids dressed up and never even really got scared. We did make it home in time so that she could pass out a few pieces (seriously, she only gave each kid one piece) of candy. Judging by the loot she scored, we will be eating Halloween candy for the next 6 months!

Just because she's 2 now

It had been quite a while since Aubree had any pictures taken so we decided rather than pay someone, I would take them myself. This little girl is quite the ham to say the least! I can honestly say that she had a blast posing and having her picture taken. Doesn't she look like such a grown up little girl already??!! My how time flies!

Kidtropolis

Aubree had a blast at the childrens museum this weekend! The last time she went, she was quite a bit younger and was not able to enjoy kidtropolis. This place is amazing! It is the cutest little kid world where they can shop, go to the doctor, have a job, get a paycheck, and go to the bank. Where was this place when I was a kid?!

Look Who Turned 2!

It doesn't even seem possible that it has been 2 years since our precious angel was born! We look at her every day and are so thankful for all the joy she has brought to our family. She never ceases to amaze us with her humor, her lengthy conversations, her constant singing, and above all, her love and affection. We have truly blessed to have such a beautiful little girl that we get to see blossom right before our eyes. Although it was Aubree who had a party and received all the presents, JD and I are really the lucky ones!

This year we had a luau complete with plenty of leis, plastic coconuts for the kids, virgin pina coladas, tiki torches, and the biggest 2 cake in a grass skirt you have ever seen!

Family Vacation

After JD came back from Africa we took a few days and went to San Antonio on a little family vacation. The three of us had the best time! JD was honestly more excited about this trip than he was for any other vacation we have ever been on. We have been to some pretty awesome places around the world but this trip took the cake because we got to here our little girl tell us over and over how much she "loves acation!"

I took tons of pictures over the 3 days but I don't have the patience to edit and make collages so here are a few of our faves!

Day 3: Riverwalk and outdoor movie and smores

Day 2: Outlet mall and African safari (from the car)

Day 1: Seaworld, Seaworld, Seaworld!

The end of day 3: The question was "Aubree, did you like vacation?" She

gave it 2 thumbs up!

It's Begun

We finally took the first steps to building our new home. It's been stressful yet fun at the same time. It has been amazing the see how the architect takes our vision and puts it on paper. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we stay on track with this whole process that we are about to begin! We are very excited about the coming year and just wanted to share our house journey! Here are the third draft sketches : )

He's Back!!

It was a loooong 15 days but JD finally made it home from Africa! We have never had to spend so much time apart and it was definitely not easy. Our 2 weeks apart had me wondering how military families (with or with out kids) do it. Its a constant worry even though we were able to have brief, broken conversations. Luckily, JD didn't share all of his adventures over the phone. I would have really been a basket case if he had! Regardless, he made it home safe and sound and Aubree and I were ecstatic to see him!

We made a sign for JD the night before he came home from "Afaca"

Running for Daddy as soon as she saw him! We saw JD

before he saw us so Aubree was able to call out to him to get his attention.

Together again!!

Jumpalooza!

We had so much fun jumping with Ava and Angela last week! Aubree absolutely loved going down the slides! Unfortunately, she didn't get the hang of climbing up the stairs right away and lets just say mommy was completely worn out and sore the next day! How sad! She did learn the stairs after a while but still wanted me to follow behind her for comfort. I think we will have to rent one of the bouncy houses with a slide so that she can get some practice at her second birthday party..........which is Oct 8th by the way ; )

Happy Birthday to Us!

Let's see if I remember how to do this.....

The month of August is full of birthdays on my side of the family. I think 4 to be exact. The most momentous of them all was my Granny's on the 17th who turned a very young 80 years old. To celebrate, my family threw her a party complete with food, cake, and acoustic RTR. Aubree shook her bon bon all day (this girl still loves music and loves to dance!). She was especially excited when her "Belly song" (LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem) came on! It is hysterical to watch Aubree light up and dance to this song. We sometimes listen to it over, and over, and over, and over again in my car. She knows that she can't listen to it in daddy's truck so she takes full advantage of her time in mommy's car and she will tell that to everyone she meets.

Top left: The birthday girl

Top right: Aubree "shuffeling" to the Belly Song

Bottom left: All the grand kids....I couldn't fit the pic of the grand kids and great grand kids!

Bottom right: Aubree giving Granny the salt and pepper shakers that she painted

for her with the help of Uncle Micheal and Lauriss. She is showing

Granny her hand print on the side.....too cute!

I also had a birthday this month. I decided to stay low key this year and settled for macaroni from Jus Mac (delish!) on my actual birthday and sushi and Crave cupcakes (yummo!) the day after. Gotta love Birthdays! Thanks to an awesome family, I have some new MATCHING wine glasses, new perfume, a little spending money, and the most special coffee mug ever! Thanks guys!

She Makes us Laugh.......A LOT!!

Things Aubree has recently said or done:

*To begin with, she loves lotion. For dinner we had BLT sandwiches with mayo. To an almost 2 year old, mayo looks just like mommy's lotion. You see where this is going? We look over and Aubree is taking the mayo off of the sandwich, rubbing it between her hands, and applying it on her cheeks. She then just looks at us, picks up her lettuce (or leaf as she calls it), takes a bite, and smiles.

*Aubree was having a very serious telephone conversation with her NaNa. She is in the middle of listing everybody she loves. It goes a little something like this "I lus Mommy, Daddy, NaNa,Grampa, GiGi, PawPaw, Lessy, Kwiss, Mikull, Lawiss, mommy car, daddy truck, n chaca mook. All I can say is, at least she has her priorities in order!!! She must love us a ton because this girl loves her some chocolate milk!

*Issy Pissy Pider! Need I say more?!

*And finally, this picture! We didn't tell her nor did we know she had done this until we looked at the camera. We are considering a Gene Simmons costume for Halloween!!!

Pretty Toes!

This girl has never liked for me to cut her nails! Each and every time she needs a trim, I have to take the time to convince her that it does not hurt. Who would have thought that she would actually sit still for a mini pedicure!? I sure didn't but I decided anyway that she might actually go for it if she saw her mommy getting it done. Well, it worked!! By the time we were leaving, she couldn't stop looking at her feet saying "pretty toes!" I may have created a monster! At least she's a super cute monster with pretty pink toes. ; )

We matched!

It's hard to see but Aubree even has two little flowers on her big toes! When I say she sat

still.....she really sat still!

Did I Really??

So, it hit me one day while driving that I never put anything up for Mothers Day OR Fathers Day! I am doing what everyone said would happen! "Just wait, you won't take nearly as many pictures as Aubree gets bigger." Well, I may have forgotten my camera on Fathers Day but I did manage to get a few pics on Mothers Day. Mainly the Aubree sandwich!

Despite the lack of pics, we still had the most love filled Mothers and Fathers Day! I wish I was an awesome writer like many other bloggers I follow but unfortunately, my talent fell in the science field.....far, far, away from creative writing! Because of this lack of creativity with words, I will have to settle for simplicity to capture the joy that is our Aubree Chelle!

Amazing. Loving. Sweet. Special. Beautiful.

ABC's

She learned her ABC's and I had to share with all our blog friends!! She does leave out "W".......and L-M-N-O-P is a little bit jibberish but sounds so adorable. This video was taken a few days ago so they are actually even better today than they were this weekend! Go Aubs!!

Futterfly Fun!

Aubree Michelle loves futterflies! Very often, she asks us to come to the kitchen to play "futterfly." When this happens, we simply flap our hands, sing the firefly song from Sesame Street that I turned into the butterfly song, and flutter around like butterflies. This is what made us decided to take Aubs to the museum to see the real butterflies. She loved seeing the hundreds of butterflies everywhere she turned. Too bad she couldn't touch them. That would have been the icing on the cake!

Memorial Day Fun in the Sun

The Kesner Family (GiGi & PawPaw) threw a gigantic Memorial Day party complete with food, fun, and music by RTR. A great time was definitely had by all. We are so lucky to have entire families that get along and will invite (and come when invited) to the others events. We truly had a wonderful time with ALL of our family!!

Aubree LOVED the bouncy house! She especially loved having it all to her self at times!

Do you loooove the polka dot bikini??!!!

It wouldn't be a party without a RTR performance. And Aubree and sang a little duet with her daddy!

RTR's Littlest Fan!

It wasn't her first crawfish fest but it was the first she was able to enjoy. Enjoy is actually an understatement to say the least! Aubree was thrilled to see her daddy singing and playing his guitar on a stage. She was soooo tickled and she couldn't stop pointing and telling all of us that that was her daddy! Words and pictures can't even begin to describe how thrilled and incredibly cute she was. I think I watched Aubree more than the band! When I was pregnant, JD and I talked about crawfish fest 2011 and how we could just picture our little girl looking up at her daddy on the stage. Now, here we are 2 years later and it couldn't have been any better for JD to see his number one little fan starring up at him, chowing down on a corn dog, dancing, and all with a giant grin on her face!