Paper or plastic

We tend to eat dinner on paper plates, less clean up that way. The other night we were sitting down for dinner and Aubree told Eli she needed her heart plate. Eli asked her what a heart plate was, so she jumped down went into the kitchen and came back with this: The heart shaped cake pan. She said she needed to eat dinner on it because she wanted too, who could argue with that so that's what she did. Whatever keeps her happy and gets her to eat.

These boots are made for walking...

Last week when Gran was here we went to the mall to get Aubree some new shoes. When we got to Payless Gran found these cute boots and Aubree immediately wanted to put them on. They were so cute Aubree called Papa to see if he would by them for her, he of course said yes. We told him we would take a picture of her in them so he could see them. It took a little while because I needed to put her in the perfect outfit, so here they are:

Mable, get off the table

Hayley was having a hands on day, meaning she wanted to be with me at all times. I needed to make Aubree and I sandwiches for lunch so I put Hayley on the counter in her bumbo. Once Aubree saw Hayley on the counter she wanted to sit by her. Aubree was so excited to get to be by Hayley that when I asked her if she wanted to get down she said she needed to sit next to Hayley and finish her sandwich and then her and Hayley would be ready to get down. I really think they have a special bond.

Terrible two's not three's, right?

I have felt like time-out isn't always the most productive way to parent. I think that it is a good way to separate the child from the situation, but what do you do when you ask if they need time out and she says yes? Taking a page out of Necia's (my sister) book we have decided to do a jar of cotton balls. Necia does marbles, but with Hayley we are doing cotton balls, (thanks Alyssa). When Aubree does some thing that she has been asked to do with out complaining or being asked twice she gets a cotton ball. Aubree has also gotten them for taking her meds for her cough fairly well. So far so good, when she is doing something she shouldn't and I say if you do that again I will take a cotton ball away she stops so hopefully this will be very successful.
Keep you posted.

Droopy Wings

Aubree has really enjoyed her dance class. On Monday mornings first thing after she wakes up she wants to put on her ballet aka her leotard. This week as we were waiting to go to dance she was playing around and she walked over to me sad, when I asked what was wrong she looked at me with puppy dog eyes and said, " my wings won't say up". Well we couldn't have that so we had to pin them and that made everything so much better. We can't have droopy wings.

Roll, baby roll

So I have no pictures of this great event and there is a good reason for it. Today Hayley rolled over back to front for the first time. She has been really close all week, but with Eli out of town I wished she would wait. Every time it got close I would tell her to wait. Today, Eli put Hayley on the floor and she started to move, she wasn't up on her side yet so I didn't hesitate to answer the call from mother nature, ( I know gross, but that's what I was doing) then as I was indisposed, Eli called to me and said get in here she did it. I walked in and she was on her tummy. I made Hayley wait all week for Eli and he couldn't make her wait 30sec. Oh, well technically Eli was reading something and when he looked back at her she had rolled.

Higher, Gran higher

Why is it that people can get your kids to do things that you can't? Last week Gran was pushing Hayley in the swing for her first time ever. (P.S., she loved it!) Aubree, however, has never liked or wanted to swing in a baby swing at the park. While Hayley was in the swing, Aubree asked me if she could get in. I was so taken aback by this request because she has never wanted to before. (She will swing in a regular swing.) Anyway I told my mom that this was the first time Aubree had gotten into that kind of swing, blah blah. My mom looked at me with a strange look and told me that when we have been in Utah with my sister's kids, she puts all the cousins in the baby swings and pushes them. Needless to say, another first I missed. Oh, well so did Eli. I think.

Some habit die hard

When we are in Utah, Papa always does cookies and milk before the kids go to sleep. This week Gran was at our house because Eli was gone on business. Before bed a couple of times guess what we did... cookies and milk. It made us miss papa, so here's a cookie for you papa.

B is for book, baby, and bannana

We have started a co-op preschool and this week I got to teach. We learned about the letter B. The girls seemed to have fun and I think they learned something. We made boats and for some fun we blew bubbles. I think this has been really great for Aubs she has started to ask us what words start with. If we ask her what words start with the letter ... she is starting to be able to tell us. She is growing up so fast.

Driving along in my automobile

Aubree has never been a fan of riding rides at Chuck E Cheese, let a lone at the mall. That was until we went to Utah last time, when my sister Necia was able to show her they aren't scary. I had tried this before, but sometimes it just take Necia she can get Aubree to do things I can't. Whatever! At the mall today Aubree asked if she could ride a ride. I thought sure why not, I have some quarters she could ride a few. Psh, the ride was .75 cents a piece, that 's rediculas so this the ride she rode. These are the rides she just wanted to sit on, my little girl is growing up so fast. She was fasinated by the Cat in the Hat's Hat.

She was so cute pretending to stir the 3 wheeler, she defiantly is ready for Pizmo.

When you're the best of friends..

Hayley has got a new best friend, a stuffed duck that quacks. We won it at a family reunion raffle years ago and Aubree was never very into it, but now it has a place in our family. Hayley was upset and I was trying to get her to just survive for a few more minutes while I was finishing a task, and low and behold she LOVES IT. She loves to hold it, suck on it, and listen to it quack. When Hayley cry's now Aubree asks where her duck is and try's to get it to her. I love that Aubree cares so much. She had posed herself so cute right before I took this picture but she decided she wanted the duck in her mouth.

Where is Aubree, where is Aubree...(tune to where is thumbkin)

With Eli out of town again, my mom came to visit. Gran is so much fun and the girls really enjoy her being here. Aubree decided to dump all her stuffed animals out so Gran decided to cover her with them. Aubree had so much fun, she would hold very still and then right as her face got covered she would try and not laugh. Then she would wiggle and make them all fall. She made Gran do this multiple times before deciding it would be fun to cover Gran, I didn't get a picture of this because after two animals on Gran Aubree decided it was a lot more to get covered than to do the covering and gave up.

Last week was Aubree's first day of Joy School. We are doing a co-op with a few friends from church. Aubree was so excited, the night before we got her back pack ready. She needed to take a show and tale item that started with the letter A, she chose a stuffed apple that Eli won at the county fair. She calls it her "true loves kiss apple". We also put crayons, a glue stick, and scissors in her back pack. As Aubree was putting the scissors in she looked at me and told me she would be beary careful, and that we don't cut her hair. Eli loves her hair and wanted to make sure she understood that we don't cut our own hair. How cute is that. She loved it and can't wait to go this week.
Aubree and her cute back pack from family friends John and Karen.

Daddy, you in TIMEOUT!

The other night Eli was getting Aubree ready for bed and accidentally scratched her nose. Nothing more happened about it until the next night. Eli was again getting Aubree for bed when they both paraded back down stairs. Eli asked where timeout was and Aubree pointed to the wall. Apparently the previous night with the scratch Aubree told Eli he needed timeout because of it, but she was already in her bed so they would do it the next night. Eli had to sit in timeout for 2 minutes and then go to her and say sorry. It was so cute I had to take a picture.

Sisters, Sisters there were never such devoted sisters

The other day I put Hayley in her Bumbo, Aubree walked over and sat right next to her and said to me that she just needed to be by her. They really enjoy being together. I hope they always stay this way.

I spy with my little eye

For Labor Day we went to visit with Grandma Vickie and Grandpa Robert. A couple of years ago we all managed to get Grandpa Robert magnifying glasses for fathers day, not planned. We all have laughed about it but it was defiantly a good thing on Labor day. Aubree calls them a "spy" she likes to try and look for bugs outside with them. It was cute. All was fun and games until Eli and Uncle Kaleb decided to kill ants with them. -As a side note I didn't think people really did that, guess I needed an older brother.

Visitor at the front door

They other day we were trying to kill time waiting for Eli to come home from work. Eli usually calls us when he is leaving so I can pretty much guess when he will be home. Aubs was stir crazy and I told her that we would go outside and play in the courtyard while we waited for daddy. With Hayley asleep in my arms I opened the door to this:

Gross, I don't usually have a hard time with bugs or insects but this lizard was HUGE! I didn't know what to do. The tail fell into house and it didn't move, so I couldn't shut the door. I was worried if I tried to push it out it would scatter into the house instead. Aubree saw it and didn't like it, and did what she does when she gets nervous which is climb up on the couch. She just keep saying, "I don't like the lizard". I decided that I couldn't deal with this on my own and so I called Eli. I told him about the lizard and that it was the biggest lizard I had ever seen. He told me he was close and he would deal with it when he got home. When he got home the first words out of his mouth were " oh, wow it really is big", I think he thought I was just being girl but now I proof that it really was huge. Eli had me get the broom and softly push him off the step, after I did the lizard didn't even move. I told Eli good luck and closed the door. Eli softly helped move the lizard over to the dirt and when we went back outside to leave the lizard was gone.

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream..

We have really enjoyed living this close to Hollywood for many reasons but one of the best is the EL Captain. Eli and I have enjoyed watching some classic Disney Movies that have had a panel discussion with some the talent who played the characters and or animators. They have been so much fun and really interesting. This time it was Sleeping Beauty, due to Eli being out of town we missed the panel but we were able to go and have breakfast and this time take the girls. Breakfast was wonderful, they had our tables assigned so when we got there they new us by name and took us right to our table.

Disney is so great and defiantly make things worth the price we paid to attend. We got to get our picture taken with Sleeping Beauty once as a family and once just Miss Aubree. Sleeping Beauty took a few moments to get on Aubree's level and have a conversation, it meant a lot to Aubree. They also had a few crafts for the kids to make, Aubree chose to make a crown with lots of sparkles:
After breakfast but before the movie, we were sitting at our table when a man was right outside the window looked familiar, we thought he looked like someone on tv but were pretty sure it wasn't him.
The El Captain has a VIP section, which means that it is a reserved seat, a bottle of soda, and a bucket of popcorn. We try to always due this so we don't have to try and get a good seat we are sure we will, besides movie theater treats are expensive. Aubree had a really good time and we are totally going to do it again.

PS. inside the theater I saw the man from the window and asked him if he was who we thought he was, and he was. We saw and I talked to Carlos Bernard AKA Tony Almeida from 24, which just happens to be one of our favorite shows. He was really nice and a lot smaller than he looks on TV.

Why do we bother with expensive toys?

While Trey and Hope were at our house, Hope borrowed some finger nail polish. I hadn't got it put away when I could hear Aubree playing when I walked into the living room from the kitchen this is what I found. Sorry little people you've been replaced by fingernail polish.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home reprise

If you read the last post you understand why I cried when I saw Eli, for the rest of the night it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. We went to CPK to celebrate Eli coming home and the picture is pretty much how all of dinner went for Eli, both kids wanted daddy. Later, I finally just had to go to bed because when I thought about the last week I would cry. Needless to say I slept like a baby for the next few nights. I know that the Lord blessed me that week because I was able to keep it together and not feel tired. I am so thankful to Grandpa Robert and Grandma Vickie they were so great to step in when I couldn't do it all.

starve a fever, feed a cold...

Little did we know what hours after the dance recital would hold, during the recital Aubree seemed pretty much like herself, but right after naps it hit the fan. Usually when Aubree gets up she is ready to play but not this day all she wanted was her daddy to hold her. Eli got a phone call so I picked Aubs up to hold her and she was a little ball of fire. We took her temp and the thermometer said she had a fever of 103, granted we don't always believe fevers are as high as it reads but we were pretty sure she had a nice fever. As the night progressed she got worse, she actually threw up a couple of times. After some meds and a nice blessing from daddy we put her to bed. Having a sick kid is one thing but to make matters worse Eli was leaving the next day for a week to CN for work.
Sunday, Aubree stayed home from church and seemed to be doing much better so we drove Eli to the airport and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. Aubree had a few moments of not feeling great but I thought the worst was over boy was I wrong.
Monday, we stayed home and laid around the house.
Tuesday, I woke up a little tired and thought nothing of it. I cut the neighbors hair and when we came home I called Eli and told him I thought I was getting the flu. Eli being my night in shining armor called his mom and she came down to be with the girls so I could get some sleep. When I woke up Grandma took Aubree to McDonald's for dinner, right before they left she handed my Hayley and she felt like a fire ball. Great, at this age what do I do? They had told me if she had a fever or over 101 then to rush her to the emergency room for some serious testing. I took her temp and it was high so I called the Dr. office and they said that because I had been sick and Aubree had been sick and she had had her first set of shots to give her Tylenol and if the fever came down to just take her into the Dr. the next day. Sainted Grandma Vickie came back to my house and took Aubs home with her.
Wednesday, Hayley and I woke up and ran some errands, while I only have one child I needed to get some things done. I took Hayley to the Dr. and he said that she must have caught what we had, but its a good thing that I had it and I nursed her because my body kicks up its immune system which passes to her. He told he to keep her on the Tylenol and nurse the heck out of her(his words not mine). Aubree came home and we spend the rest of the night doing nothing and just trying to get better.
Thursday, 4:30 is early but I figured it was just a Hayley feed boy was I wrong. I fed Hayley and right as I was laying her down at 5:30 Aubree woke up. She was complaining that her mouth hurt. I figured that she must have bit her cheek and put her in bed with me. We picked Trey and Hope up from the airport for a dance comp. and played the morning away with them. Right after naps Aubree woke up screaming about her mouth so I called the Dr. and they could fit her in at 5:30. I then again called Eli who is still in CN and he called his dad who was going to come be with Hayley while I ran Aubree to the Dr. office. The Dr. told me he thought Aubree had canker sores in the back of the mouth and he gave us a perspiration to help. We got home two hours later to Grandpa playing with Hayley.
Friday, finally the end is hours away. I got a phone call from Trey and Hope they were going to come up and get a haircuts, which would give us something to look forward to. They each got a great haircut, if I do say so myself. Then they watched the kids so I could shower, lets just say with as much flu as we had it had been awhile. Then we were off to the airport to pick up daddy.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Our little ballerina had her very first dance recital, it was a Hawaiian theme and it couldn't have been cuter. The girls were supposed to wear a grass skirt, which Aubree was so excited to wear. As soon as Grandma Vickie got to our house all Aubree wanted to do was show grandma the " new green skirt". This was the first time Eli had seen Aubree dance and he was so impressed, don't tell him I told you but he did get a little misty. Don't worry if you want to see it I do have it on video, the dancing not Eli.

Long Time Gone

Note from the editor:
I know I always give my sister grief when she neglects her blog and I have some really good excuses: Eli was out of town again, the girls had the flu, prop 8 has taken over our Saturday mornings, but the truth is sometimes life just happens. I am however going to get everyone caught up so watch out.