Loves To Dance

This girl loves to dance!  In addition to the swim classes that I made mandatory (she loves swim lessons too), Aubree takes ballet and floor gymnastics once a week.  She would go everyday if I would let her! Tuesdays are her favorite day of the week now that she gets to go to ballet.  The kids are all 3 and 4 so you can image the amount of patience that the teacher has!  No matter what they do though, it has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen.  They could all just stand around in their ballet shoes, leotards, and tutu's and it would still be cute.  In last weeks class, I sat in and attempted to take some pictures.  Lets just say these kids aren't still for even a moment.  I didn't even get one good picture of Ava!  Here's the couple I actually liked.

Aubree's Birthday Bash Weekend

Aubree officially turned 3 last Friday, October 12th.  It's so bittersweet because we get to see her become this beautiful little girl who has officially lost all of her baby fat but at the same time we miss seeing her as a baby.  She is not a baby and is quick to remind us that she is indeed a "big girl."  So, since she is old enough to voice her opinion, she chose where she wanted her birthday party despite mommy's objections.  Chuck E. Cheese was the party spot.  She told us for about 5 straight months that her party was going to be there even though she hates the Chuck E Cheese that walks around in the costume (go figure!)!  We did as she pleased and needles to say, there were smiles, laughs, and more than a few tears!  In the end, Aubree loved her party and as soon as we got in the car it was all worth it when she told JD and I "thank you for my party at Chuck E Cheese" in that little, teeny voice that just melts our hearts.  She may be 3 going on 14 but she will always be our baby girl!

Actual birthday began with presents as soon as she woke up!

First stop, mud pie with Ava.  They painted magic wands!

Second stop on Aubree's day of fun, Jumpalooza with Ava

Last stop, birthday pizza with friends and family.  Nap time was 

cut short this day so there were some tears at cake time!

Day 2 was the actual party day at Chuck E Cheese! What a great

end to 2 fun filled birthday celebration days!

It's Finally Begun!

We finally started building our house!!  It seems like it has taken forever to arrive at this point but boy does it feel good.  We are busting at the seams in our now house now, especially with the arrival of Jacob!  Our target completion date is by the end of March with an end goal of having Jacobs first birthday there.  I am going to document the build in pictures so I will try and keep up with my posts so that we can share our excitement!  Here's what we have so far......

The kids had to leave their mark!

R & R in Napa Valley

Although we love being with the kiddos, who doesn't love a little getaway every once in a while?  Our little getaway was in California with a couple of great friends, Clay and Faith.  These guys have lived in Singapore for over 4 years but are finally back in the states.  We decided to catch up with them before we were too deep into our house building and because the 4 of us love wine, what better place than Napa and Sonoma Valley?  We had such a great time relaxing, catching up, eating wonderful food, and best of all, tasting great wine!

First stop in Napa, Frogs Leap.

Clay and JD put up with me taking their pictures in the vineyard

pretty well.  I tried not to make it too painful for them!

Clay and Faith 

This was taken outside of Twomey.  This place had some 

of the best views of Sonoma.

This was taken at a random barn we spotted on the side of the road on 

our way to a winery in Sonoma.  I just had to stop because aside from the awesome 

views, you just don't see places like this often.

Can't go to a vineyard and not take pictures with some grapes!

Life size Jenga at a winery!

Tasting at B Cellars......one of our 6 stops!

Relaxing while at a tasting

Faith snapped a picture of me taking JD's pic next to this awesome barn

5 Months

These days go by so fast!  I feel like I take his picture weekly rather than monthly!  I am so far behind that yet again, Jacob is almost a full month older than this post!  As each month goes by, more and more of his personality develops and it is so fun to see the similarities and differences between Jacob and his big sister.  It's so funny how a baby boy is already so much "boy" at the age of 5 months.  Just today we were sitting at the dinner table and Jacob was in his chair banging his spoon just to hear himself.  We all just watched and laughed as cereal slung around a little and was all over his face.  I looked at JD and said "he is such a boy."  Even when he is playing, he is constantly shaking anything that makes noise.  Maybe he is going to love music like Aubree!