I'm Just Doing my Nails Mom

Aubrey and I went to Wal-mart today. She has been real interested in doing her nails lately, so I wanted to get some of the quick dry polish I have heard about. I found a few that we liked and Aubrey wanted to see one. So, I handed her the red polish to look at and I continued browsing the shelves. I turned back to the cart and what do I see? Aubrey had opened up the bottle of polish and was polishing her nails. After my immediate panic and heart failure, I noticed that Aubrey had managed to not get a single drop of it on her dress. We had gone from a baptism and Aubrey was wearing a beautiful purple velvet dress. Not the outfit you want her to be wearing when she tries to paint her nails for the first time! So, once I discovered that she was clean I realized just how cute it was. She just wanted to paint her nails and was doing a pretty good job at that. She was working on her third nail when I caught her. Of course I had to ruin them because I didn't want any to get on her dress. I didn't have anything with me so I just had to use my hands to wipe off as much as I could. So we both wandered around Wal-mart with red all over our hands. Sometime I'll have to strip Aubrey down and let her polish her own nails!

The only way I manage to get Aubrey's hair done is by watching YouTube videos. The other day I found a clip from Finding Nemo. So we watched that the last couple of days while doing hair. We haven't talked about it between viewings and I think I referred to it as the fish video. She must have caught on to his name from the clip itself because she certainly knows his name. Whenever we go to Wal-mart we have to make a stop at the fish tank. We were looking at all of the different fish. We got to a tank of orange colored fish and Aubrey started saying, "Nemo Nemo Nemo". At first I had no idea what she was saying. But when I finally caught on she was real excited. It's amazing what these little ones pick up and how quickly they pick it up.

This post is brought to you by the number 2!

Aubrey is all about the number 2 these days. It all started with the new story she got for Valentine's, "God Gave us Two". She started to refer to the story as "two". Then we noticed that if we said the number 1 she would follow it with "two". This week she has been finding two's of everything. At the bookfair she found 2 of the same story, she wants to hold 2 sippy cups and have 2 animals to hold. But, the funniest thing was last night. After dinner, Aubrey wanted both pudding and ice cream for dessert. We finally agreed upon pudding. After she gobbled it down she started signing for ice cream. I told her that we only get 1 dessert and she already had pudding. We had this same conversation over and over again. Finally she signed ice cream and before I had a chance to respond with my 1 dessert explanation, she held up both her fingers and in the sweetest little voice she said, "twoooooo". Both Jeff and I started laughing. Which didn't help the situation, but it was so darn cute.

Very much enjoying her pudding!

Like Father like Daughter. You know Jeff has really enjoyed his meal when he licks his plate clean. Aubrey must have seen him do it - because she will do the same!

Aubrey is so over having mommy help her with anything. She must clean her face herself!

Aubrey has also been picking up on colors lately. If you hold two different colors in front of her and ask her to pick out, for instance, the red one, she can do it correctly almost every time. So I decided to up the anti. She had made a huge pile of her crayons and colored pencils. So, I asked her to find a crayon of a certain color. She did really good on blue and pink. The other colors took a few tries. I think all of the options were a little overwhelming. I guess blue and pink are her favs.

She added a new word to her reading repertoire, "baby". One of her books has both words "mama" and "baby" on most of the pages. This book has much smaller and much more text on each page. But, she can pick out those two words on the pages anyway. It's really cute too, because she runs her fingers across the words as if she is reading them until she finds one of the words she knows, and then she shouts it out excitedly while pointing to the word.

We got to go and try out JJ's new trampoline on Tuesday. Aubrey really enjoyed it - even though it was all soaking wet from the rain the night before. She wanted to "bounce bounce bounce" like Tiger and "run run run" like JJ. I was glad when she finally wanted off because my feet were freezing!

All 3 cuties on the Trampoline

Bounce Bounce Bounce

Valentine, Fish, Braids & More

On Wednesday Aubrey got a fun Valentine surprise in the mail from Grandma & Grandpa Buell. She opened it to find washable paints (which mommy is also excited about) and a watercolor book. Of course, Aubrey wanted to start painting right away! She loved painting her animal watercolor book. Thanks G&G Buell!

This weekend we were asked to fish sit Zoe's fish while they are on vacation. Aubrey couldn't be more thrilled. Every time she sees the fish she wants to feed him. I don't think we'll have any trouble this week remembering to feed the fish! Giving him back next week might be a different story.

This week Aubrey finally started saying her whole name! Until now, she referred to herself as "Au". We have been working on the 2nd syllable for a while now and finally we've succeeded. Here's Aubrey saying her name:

This week I discovered something fun. Aubrey's hair is long enough to braid! I have always loved little girls with 2 braids in their hair. I finally was brave enough to try this week - and they actually stay in pretty good and look pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

No matter how many times you have french braided hair, you have never actually experienced it until you try and braid a wiggly toddler with fine yet very curly hair. It is certainly an experience like no other! Luckily we discovered the Madagascar 2 trailer on YouTube and that captures her attention well enough to get those braids in!

After church today Aubrey started kissing and kissing her daddy. It was real cute. Jeff always complains that Aubrey won't kiss him as much as she kisses me. Well, she made up for it today!

Aubrey's New Cousin

On Monday we got to go and meet Elliot & Katie's new baby, Sophie. Well really just Katie's - I don't think Elliot is claiming her quite yet!

I know that she is not the traditional cousin, but Aubrey is quite thrilled that Sophie is in the family! Sophie is a very quiet and easy natured puppy. Aubrey enjoyed giving her treats and kisses.

She even decided to bring over all of the play things from their toy basket to share with Sophie!

I know that Aubrey is going to want to visit Sophie all of the time! Congrats on your new addition Katie! She is very cute and sweet.

My Hero

This afternoon Jeff decided to go back to the church and look one more time for my keys. He figured that it might be easier to spot them since a lot of the snow had melted. He went to the door I went in and looked off to the side - and there lying in full view were my keys!! He came home and put them in a gift bag for me and told me it was a late valentines present! He was determined to find those keys for me - MY HERO!

(For the full story on the keys, see the post below.)

Valentines Weekend

I think Valentines should always be on the weekend - we got to do lots of fun things this Valentines weekend.

Friday morning Aubrey and I went to the library for 2 sessions of story time (like we do every Friday). This is one of Aubrey's favorite things to do. They don't just read a story - they have songs and rhymes and puppet shows. They'll even let the kids come up and see the puppets after it's over. Anyway she loves it so much that we have been staying for 2 sessions of it for the last month.

After story time Rachel & Zoe invited us to join them at FroYo for frozen yogurt. It's a fun place. It's a frozen yogurt bar. You get to make your own - you choose any flavor combo's you like, add any toppings you like and then they weigh it and charge you by ounce. It was yummy! Rachel and I got Aubrey's & Zoe's yogurt and sat them at the table while we made our own. We looked back at them and they were sitting there so cute just enjoying their yogurt. I can't believe how grown up they are becoming!

I only had my cell phone with me - so the pics aren't the best quality.

Aubrey enjoying her chocolate/strawberry/banana yogurt with Reese's and strawberries on top.

That's Aubrey doing her sign for ice-cream.

Jeff brought home a fun surprise of some of my favorite treats. Creamery Chocolate milk is one of my weaknesses. When I worked at BYU, I had it every morning for breakfast - it is divine! He also got Reese's my fav candy and slim jims which I also love. The balloons were for me and Aubrey - cause he knew Aubrey would like them too!

After Aubrey woke up from her nap, we had a quick dinner and then met Rachel, Jesse and Zoe for the early show of Madagascar 2. We knew the girls would like the animals in it. The main characters are a family of Lions, recently Aubrey has been really intrigued with Lions. She was fixated to the screen for quite a while. UNTIL . . . she got thirsty. Usually that is not a problem because we always have a sippy cup in tow. Well, we walked in when the theater was already dark and the minute we sat down, Aubrey dropped her sippy cup. Jeff looked around for it, but couldn't find it. I tried to reason with Aubrey that her sippy cup was missing. That certainly did not work! So, I took her out to the drinking fountain. Which she enjoyed. We went back into the theater and she was still thirsty. After about 4 visits to the drinking fountain and a soaking wet top - I decided that I would just have to find that sippy cup! So, down on my knees I went crawling around on the floor. It was a success - I found the sippy cup - and Aubrey watched the rest of the movie happily. (To her defense, she must have been really thirsty because she drank the entire cup full of water.) So, I learned to always bring 2 sippy cups to the theater - just in case. I may just bring out her pacifier clip and clip the cup to one of us. (well it probably wouldn't hold the weight - but it was worth the thought.)

We got to spend a few hours together Saturday morning. I am not sure where my parents got the idea but they always would ding-dong-ditch our valentines at the front door on Valentines day. It was always a fun surprise, waiting to hear the door ring and running to the door hoping that it was our Valentines. So, I thought I would do the same with Aubrey's and Jeff's valentine.

Aubrey was real surprised to see a present wrapped in Pooh Bear paper for her when she opened the door. She loved her present - a new story and a Pooh Bear sticker book.

Those occupied Jeff and Aubrey while I made Jeff's favorite breakfast foods - Sausage and biscuits and hash browns. And we had some yummy creamery chocolate milk to go with it.

Then I had to rush off to our Primary Activity. I got there on time, had everything ready to go and then went to the Primary closet to get out some supplies. I pulled out my key chain and my entire ring of closet keys was nowhere to be found. I distinctly remembered putting it on my key chain the night before, but they weren't there. Somehow they had fallen off of the key chain either at home or at church. My presidency, their kids and I started a scavenger hunt for my keys - with no luck. It was snowing outside, which made it impossible to find keys that may have fallen on the ground on my way in. I quickly called Jeff to ask him to check in the house, garage and driveway. He tells me that his temporary crown had just fallen off and he was trying to figure out what to do about that. What a moment we were having! Both of us stressed out about something. I never did find my keys - my counselor had to run home for crayons and a member of the bishopric got me into the library for pencils. So, besides the key fiasco, I thought the activity went well and the kids seemed to have fun. Jeff found out he could purchase dental glue and glue his crown back in place. So he ran around to several pharmacies and finally found some. We both returned home at around the same time. He hurried and glued his crown back in place so we could go out on our date.

Elliot & Katie came over to watch Aubrey so that we could go to lunch and the movies for our Valentines date. Aubrey ran right up to them and started playing with them. She did great and even went down for her nap for them without any crying.

We got to go to my favorite place Wingers and my movie pick "He's just not that into you." Wingers was delicious and we enjoyed most of the movie. The movie follows the relationships of several characters. We liked all of the story lines but one. If you have seen the movie, I am sure you can guess which one we didn't like. It kind of put a damper on the whole show. But the other characters and stories we really liked. My favorite character was Gigi. She was hilarious. She just typified the single woman. I though only BYU coeds acted that way - but I guess it is all single women. Too funny!

That evening Jeff & Aubrey went back with me to the church to search for my keys. Jeff was determined to find them for me - like a good husband. He was sifting through snow banks with a shovel and a magnet. He and Aubrey even got on their hands and knees and searched the two rooms I had been in before I noticed my keys were missing. But, still no luck. We'll just have to let the keys go and get me a new set. Oh well, it was still a fun weekend.

This morning Aubrey looked so cute in her red velvet dress playing with the red balloons. I went over to take a picture but she found it much more fun to hide behind the balloons then to smile for the picture.

Happy Valentines Daddy

We decided to make sugar cookies and valentines for Daddy for Valentines Day. Aubrey loves to help me bake.

First we stir the dough.

Then we must sample the dough!

Then we cut out our heart cookies.

Lastly, we must sample our freshly baked cookies!

We can't forget the doggie.

We had Zoe and Rachel over to decorate the cookies. I bought sprinkles since Aubrey loves the sprinkles in her book "If you give a cat a cupcake." They both took to the sprinkles immediately and had such a fun time decorating. They both filled a whole plate for their Daddy's before they lost interest.

After decorating for awhile, Aubrey discovered that sprinkles are quite tasty.

Zoe soon followed suit!

Here's the two cuties with their finished cookies. I love how messy their faces are!

Once the cookie decorating was finished - we moved on to card making. We were brave and even got out glue, scissors, beads and glitter. The beads and glitter were a big hit with the girls.

Aubrey really liked these little wooden hearts that I found.

Both Aubrey & Zoe loved using glue for the first time!

The finished valentine for Daddy!

Happy Valentines Day Daddy! We LOVE you!!

Arf Arf

Yesterday I had to open up the backdoor for a moment. Our backyard neighbors just happened to have let their dogs out and they were barking. Aubrey heard that and came running to the door. She stood there listening to their bark and then barking back. It was really funny. Of course by the time I got the video camera out, she wasn't barking near as much. I think her "arf" sounds a lot like the dogs!

Aubrey's toddler bed has a temporary home in our Family Room. We are trying to make room for it in her new bedroom. Anyway, she has really enjoyed playing on it. Zoe was over the other day and they both jumped on the bed to read stories. I thought they looked so cute sitting there together reading stories.

Our Funny Little Bug

I love putting stories of Aubrey on my blog, since I am pretty much using this blog as my journal. This way I can have a record of the cute/funny things she does. So, sorry if you are all tired out of Aubrey stories cause this post is full of them!!


Sanitary New Pastime

Aubrey has been working on trying the flush the toilet for months. This last week she finally discovered that she could do it by using both hands. She now is constantly in the bathroom flushing toilet paper down the toilet. I am glad that so far it is only toilet paper that she is flushing.

First she puts the toilet paper in.

Then, she thinks the lid has to be closed so she closes the lid. Then she flushes the toilet.

Then she has to hurry and open the lid to see the paper and water get flushed down. We have certainly been going through a lot of toilet paper this last week. Sorry to all of those wasted trees!

Sharing with Baby Brooke

Aubrey has been so sweet and interested in baby Brooke. She frequently rubs my tummy and says "baby" so gently and sweetly. It really seems like she is trying to bond with her sister. At the circus last week, towards the end, she pulled up my shirt a little and said "baby" while pointing to the show. She wanted to make sure Brooke saw the circus too! Luckily the lights were low, so nobody saw the nice view of my tummy! One of Aubrey's favorite things is stickers. Lately, when she is playing with stickers, she will put a bunch on my tummy for Brooke. I just hope she will be this willing to share once Brooke is on the outside!

Toddler Bed

Yesterday we bought a toddler bed from my cousin Shannon. We are planning on trying to transition Aubrey to a new bed and room before Brooke is born. My friend, Rachel, bought Shannon's other bed and was nice enough to pick up both beds for us and deliver Aubrey's to our garage. When we came home from our baptism and pulled up into the garage, Aubrey saw the new bed. I told her it was her new "big girl bed" while I was getting her out of the car. She immediately ran to the bed, jumped on it and started saying, "Ni Night." She laid on it, sat on it, climbed on and off of it. I was having serious trouble trying to get her into the house and it was way past her nap time. Finally I said, "Aubrey we have to go in now so you can take your nap." She jumped on the bed, started pointing to the mattress and said, "Ni Night". She wanted to take a nap on her new bed right there in the garage! Of course I couldn't let her do that!

Thanks Shannon for the cute bed - Aubrey obviously LOVES it!

Learning to Read

As I have put in many posts, Aubrey loves reading stories. All day long I hear "read read" while she is handing me books. Lately, Aubrey has been really interested in the words and numbers she sees on the pages. Last week we were reading her "Eight Silly Monkey's" story and she kept pointing to the words. So, I took her finger and would point to the words as I read them. She got really excited when I read the word "MaMa" on each page. Another day that week we were reading the same story and I said the word "MaMa" again (it has the word MaMa on each page), she got all excited and pointed up at the words as if to say - It says MaMa in those words somewhere. So, I pointed out for her the word MaMa. This morning Jeff was reading her the same story and comes running in to me. He said "look what Aubrey can do". She would turn each page and point out the word "MaMa" while exclaiming excitedly "MaMa". (the word Mama is not in the same place on each page. Some pages it's on the left side, some right, some top and some bottom. She is honestly able to recognize the word and point it out!) We were both so shocked and excited that she could do that. These little ones are so much smarter than I have ever believed. I would have never thought that a 1.5 year old could point out a word in a story. Aubrey never ceases to amaze me!