A big sister!

I've been meaning to post this for a little while now, but was trying to think of a cute way to do it. Oh, well... Many of you probably know by now that Aubrey will be a big sister this spring! We are very excited and I think Aubrey even understands, to some extent. She'll point to my stomach and say, "little tiny baby hiding". Our due date is April 28, 2007 so I'm almost 9 weeks pregnant. Aubrey will be about 2 years and 4 months older than this baby. We had our first doctor's appointment last week and saw the heartbeat. I'm pretty tired and having a little morning sickness, but nothing too terrible. We'd appreciate your prayers for a smooth pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Observing the ducks at Old Settler's Park
Finger painting in Daddy's big t-shirt
Being "super girl" & flying on Daddy's feet

Being sweet

All Aboard

"This is so much fun!"

Waving to all the people we pass

Sad the ride is over

This morning we went to explore another big park near our house. They have a billion soccer fields, tennis courts, lots of hiking trails, a playscape and a train that goes around the park -- this of course was Aubrey's favorite. It's like Round Rock's version of Zilker Park. There was a huge soccer tournament going on and I think it got Aubrey and Robert excited about the many Saturdays we will be spending running around outside in the years ahead. Here are some cute pictures from the train ride...

First trip to the Zoo

Notice the shadow of a bird on the rhino's back
Looking at the kangaroos at the San Antonio Zoo
Daddy & Aubrey in front of an elephant

Happy Anniversary to us!

We enjoyed celebrating our 4th anniversary last Thursday, August 24, by going out to a nice dinner together. We took this picture ourselves with our camera's timer, so we were pretty far away and it turned out kinda dark. It's better than nothing, though. We realized we don't have many pictures of us lately since were always taking thousands of Aubrey. Anyway, God has truly blessed us in our marriage so far and we look forward to His plans for our future!

Aubrey had an exciting week with friends at our house all for several days last week! First, she got to play with her two little friends that now live in Houston. Then she got to spend some time with friends that were about to move to Baton Rouge. They all liked sitting in the red chair together and spinning around. We already miss them all!

Baby jail

I found Aubrey like this the other morning when I went to get her out of bed. Her poor little knees were stuck and she couldn't wiggle herself out. Thankfully, I was able to set her free pretty easily...

About a week ago, my sister and I went to Dallas for a couple days to visit our brother, our Mom (Aubrey's Nana) and her great-grandparents. It was hard to capture a picture with her sitting with any of them because she was busy exploring everything and running all over the house. At least I got a couple pictures with her great-grandparents in the background!

Aubrey & Daddy in the backyard playing on our latest craig's list purchase. She definitely prefers for Daddy to push her because he pushes "really high"!

Here's Aubrey after she climbed in her doll bed and piled all her stuffed animals on top of her.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Joy

Friday was Aunt Joy's 30th birthday! We took her out to lunch and Aubrey told her, "Happy birday" about 10 times through out the meal. It was really sweet...

1st Astros game!

Even though Aubrey was saying, "Astros" before her 1st birthday, we hadn't made it to Houston for a game until now. She seemed to actually watch the game for quite a while and also stayed entertained by watching the people all around us. She especially liked clapping along to all the songs and cheering for the players. The Astros were leading 5-1 until the 8th inning and ended up losing the game, but Aubrey still had a great time at Minute Maid park!

A day at the "beach"

We made a trip to Houston on Saturday to visit Robert's parents and continued on with Aubrey's eventful weekend. We went pool hopping -- first we made a stop at the neighborhood water park. Aubrey liked going down the froggie slide and jumping off the side of the pool to Daddy. Then, we went to the beach club in their neighborhood and Aubrey had a ball! She loved letting her feet sink in the wet sand and playing with her sand & water toys. It was almost better than the real beach -- no sharks or jellyfish, no seaweed, trash or other debis on the sand & clean chlorinated water...

Fireworks, finally!

Ever since July 4th, Aubrey has been asking to see fireworks at least once every day! She'd say, "Fireworks, fun, many colors, awesome". We decided we'd keep her up late and let her see the Friday night fireworks at the Dell Diamond. We went to the game with the Carrells, so Aubrey had one of her favorite buddies, Mallory, to run around with. Aubrey loved watching the pitchers warm-up -- every time they threw a ball she'd say, "again, really fast". She & Mallory both made it to the end of the game and saw the firework display. I even got some of it tape to show Aubrey when she asks for fireworks from now on.

Fun in the Sand

Aubrey's enjoying her new ladybug sandbox!

Our Social Butterfly

Ryan's "Contruction Site" birthday party
Aubrey waited to swin until after she was out of her swim suit & into her cover-up. Oh, well.

We had a busy weekend mostly visiting with friends. It was great to spend some time with the Pavys Friday night, especially since they are moving in a few weeks :( Aubrey played with her friend Mallory Sat. morning, then we went to our neighbor Ryan's 2nd birthday party in the afternoon. The Dewhursts stayed here Saturday night while they were in town for a wedding -- Aubrey enjoyed running around with Naomi & Mary Sophia. It is neat to see Aubrey really remembering people and forming friendships. She is 19 months now and is starting to use lots of sentences like, "Come on Mommy, let's go." Or, "Hi, Daddy. How are you?" Or at the pool today, "Bye, bye people. See you later." She's our little angel...

"Night down"

Aubrey has been obsessed with her night gowns lately. If she sees one in her drawer or when I'm folding laundry, she'll say "night down" and try to put it on herself (she usually ends up asking for help). Night gowns are her favorite thing to play dress-up in or sleep in. She'd wear one out all day if I let her. Here are a few pictures of Aubrey being silly in her night gown before bedtime.

Caught Red-handed

After finger painting carefully and staying on the cardboard, Aubrey decided to try something new. The second I turned away to get my water, she had both hands in the paint and started to paint her feet. She also painted her legs, my nose and then sat in the middle of the piece of cardboard that she just painted. Oh well, as a former preschool teacher I don't mind kids getting messy while they are exploring and having fun. I think next time I'll move the painting to the back porch so we can hose off afterwards...

Another wedding weekend

We were in Dallas this past weekend my Jessica and Mark Roeser's wedding. Aubrey got to spend lots of time with her Nana and great-grandparents while we went at various wedding events. We did bring Aubrey to part of the wedding reception because it was at the Dallas World Aquarium. Aubrey loved seeing the manatees, penguins, tropical birds, and all kinds of fish. Out of all the brightly colored fish, Aubrey's favorite fish was a tiny white fish that would dig a little hole in the sand and pop out every now and then. She called it the "hiding fish" and asked to see it through out the night. I got to see lots of my UT friends who are now scattered around the state and country. Aside from Aubrey getting a little off her normal routine, it was a very fun and successful weekend!

Aubrey had lots of fun visiting with Uncle Tim over the past several days (even though she may not look like it in this picture -- it's hard to get her to smile on cue sometimes). She liked saying "Uncle Time" over and over again and kept asking him to put her between 2 pillows and make an "Aubrey sandwich"! He's headed back to Dallas, but we will also be in Dallas this weekend for a wedding so we'll probably see more of him (as well as her Nana & great-grandparents). I better get to packing for the weekend...