Play time

Now that Will is getting a little bigger & older and can run, he's doing a better job keeping up with his sister. Everyday, they love to chase each other in circles around the house with lots of giggles and squeals. Here they are having a little tickle fight...

More tickling...

Parks are more fun for Will now, too -- He can navigate pretty well around a play scape these days. I thought my second child might be a little calmer/less active than my first, but I was wrong. Will is just as much of a climber as Aubrey and LOVES climbing on top of the couch, the coffee table, on dining chairs, on top of the computer desk, etc... I can't turn my back for 2 seconds or he'll be ascending the brick fireplace or some other piece of furniture.

He loves the trains he got for his birthday! Anytime he sees a train (and sometimes even any type of truck) he gets really excited and says, "choo choo". In this pic, he's right in the middle of saying "choo choo" to his Thomas.

Will is a huge fan of the cardboard box. Once he gets his hands on one, good luck ever getting it back!

This was our first trip to the neighborhood pool this year. Will did not like the big pool b/c the water was cold, but he was fine in the warm baby pool.

I think he had more fun with the box than in the water...

Happy 31st to my Hubby!

Aubrey singing "Happy Birthday" to her Daddy. Of course, she insisted on everyone wearing party hats.

Will had one little bite before getting down to run around and explore.

It's all about the icing for Aubrey!

We had a nice, relaxing day today and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Robert has been traveling the last 3 weeks, so a low-key day was great for us. We're looking forward to a date night tomorrow night to celebrate some more. Happy Birthday Robert/Daddy -- we love you!!!

Last week

Fun in the Sun. Thanks for the cute suit, sunglasses & sandals, Lauren!

Playing with the balloons from his b-day

I had a great (but quick) trip to Dallas for Amy's shower! This was my first time to drive to Dallas & back in one day.

Will is enjoying the view much more now that he is forward facing!

Tagged

My friend Crystal has tagged me! So here are my lists of 4...

4 jobs I've had:
-Waitress at On the Border in high school & summers during college
-Nanny all through college
-4s & 5s (Pre K) Teacher at Westlake Bible
-Stay at Home Mom -- by far my favorite job!

4 Movies I've seen more than once:
-Princess Bride
-Clueless (I watched this a zillion times in high school)
-Waiting for Guffman
-Pride & prejudice -- the BBC version with Colin Firth

4 Places I've lived:
-Dallas, TX
-Garland, TX
-Austin, TX
-Round Rock, TX

4 TV Shows I watch:
-American Idol--I heart David Archuleta the most, but I really like all of the top 4, even though Jason's performance was pretty bad tonight :(
-Friday Night Lights -- my favorite show! I didn't love it when I saw it for the first time, but after seeing a couple episodes, I was hooked. It's also filmed here in Austin...
-The Office!
-Ugly Betty -- silly, but entertaining

4 Places I've been:
-LA -- Robert & I got engaged on a very windy day in Malibu, overlooking the Pacific Ocean
-NYC-- I love to visit the Big Apple, but would not want to live there.
-Alberta, Canada -- We went to the Canadian Rockies for our honeymoon & it was the perfect escape from the Texas heat in August. Banff, Lake Louise & Jasper were all amazing!
-Maui, Hawaii-- Where we went on our "babymoon" before Aubrey was born. Loved it!

4 Favorite Foods:
-Pizza
-Chips & guacamole
-Watermelon in the summer
-Pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread in the fall

4 Places I'd like to visit:
-New England in the fall to see all the leaves (since we don't have a "real" fall in Texas)
-Italy
-Greece
-Whistler, Canada -- I loved Canada in the summer & want to go back!

4 Things I look forward to in the next year:
-Watching Will learn to talk more & more
-Taking a weekend getaway with Robert sometime this summer
-Hopefully meeting at the beach with a couple close family friends again this summer
-Spending time with family for the holidays

4 Friends I'm tagging:
-JLP
-Lauren
-Lucy
-Stephanie

More birthday...

We had a small party for Will on his actual birthday with fajitas from Chuy's and birthday cake. Will had a great time and I think he realized the whole thing was about him when everyone sang happy birthday to him. He definitely enjoyed his cake, as you can tell by the pictures!

He's one!

A year ago...

Today, on his first birthday!
Happy Birthday, Will! We love you so much!

Saturday at the camp

R & A swinging on the porch at Robert's parent's cabin

Aubrey's first canoe ride at the camp

Hiking through the woods together

Checking out the campfire.

We went to the camp where Robert's parents spend a lot of time volunteering this weekend while they were helping out with a retreat. Both the kids loved being outside and exploring all the rocks and sticks they could find. Aubrey also had a big first for her -- her first night to spend the night away from home without me or Robert! She stayed with Robert's parents Saturday night and they brought her back to us Sunday morning. The only other time I'd been away from her overnight was when I was in the hospital after Will was born & my mom stayed with her at home. All in all, she did great and had fun roasting marshmallows and playing with Grandma Pam & Grandpa Isaac!

Since A only naps once or twice a week these days, this is how I often find her room after her hour of "rest time" or "quiet play time" -- she loves to take everything out of her shelf and set up a zoo or school all over her floor.

Aubrey wrote "Will" all by herself!

Making a napkin hat at dinner

Love the mohawk!

The Zoo

We went to the zoo last weekend for a friend's 5th birthday. We hadn't been back to the zoo since A was 1.5, so she really enjoyed it...

Climbing the gate with the goat in the petting zoo area. She loved feeding the animals and didn't mind them nibbling at her fingers.

Riding the zoo train with her good buddy, John.

Admiring a peacock

Favorites

Will is showing his likes (& dislikes) so much more lately and I'm really enjoying watching his personality grow & develop more & more each day. I just wanted to record some of the things he likes and what he's up to, so I don't forget!

-After being fed for so long, Will now loves to feed me food off of his tray. After eating a few cheerios or whatever, he'll start holding them out for me to eat.

-He loves bringing me things I ask for -- if I ask him to get a diaper, he'll go get it & bring it to me. Also, if he finds Robert's glasses, he'll bring them to him & try to put them back on. Or if he finds one of Aubrey's bows around, he'll try to put it on her head like "Hey, I know where this goes".

-If I ask him to point at my eyes, nose or mouth, he gets it right! But when he points to my eyes, he keeps trying to stick his fingers right on my eyeballs, which isn't very comfortable...

-He definitely prefers real food now over baby food. His favorites are lasagna, grilled chicken, pasta & cheese. He's still a great eater and eats all his fruits & veggies, too. He likes to say "mmmm" while eating and "ahhh" after taking a sip of his water.

He always wants to go outside! He likes to play in the gravel, sand box, swing, peek-a-boo in the play house, etc... If we get anywhere near the back door, he'll start saying "out" and pointing outside.

-Some of his new words are "eat", "ruff" or "woof" for dog, "upt" (combination of up & out he sometimes uses), & the funniest new one is "aa-A-oo-ya", which is "Alleluia". We sing "The Doxology" a lot and after we sing the Alleluia part, he'll start saying it over and over again!

Will loves the stacker now that he has mastered it! Working hard to get the ring on...

He did it!

His other favorite toy is the ball popper -- he'll drop the balls in over & over & over again...

Banging on things that make noise is still a hit -- the AC vent is still his fav!

Poor baby's had a fever virus for the last couple days, but thankfully, it hardly slowed him down. He's still been eating, playing, smiling and pretty much his normal, happy self. His fever has been lower today, so I'm hopeful that he'll be over it tomorrow and we can enjoy our weekend more. Right now, Aubrey & Robert are on a Daddy/Daughter date to dinner & the first RR Express game (with fireworks -- Aubrey's favorite). All winter, she's been asking to go to the baseball game to see Spike (the mascot), so she was super excited that she finally got to go! I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Fun weekend

We had a great time with some good friends who came to visit from Louisiana last weekend! Here are the girls enjoying some ice cream after dinner on Friday night.

Pretending to drive a bus at the park on Saturday.

Playing dress-up and listening to music at home.

We just ordered pizza on Sunday night and ate outside while the kids ran around & played. These are 5 of the 7 kids -- the other 2 are only 5 and 7 months old, so they weren't in on the Barbie Jeep rides...

Park pics