Picture Taking Mood

I must have been in a picture taking mood this last week - cause when I uploaded the pics from my camera - I had a ton. So, like always, here is a photo journey of what we have been up to.

We have spent a ton of time at a little park in the neighborhood with Rachel & Zoe the last few weeks. The girls have fun and we can relax on the bench, some of the time! With both Aubrey & Brooke I have combated the baby blues by spending a lot of time outdoors. It has been really effective. One of the reasons I LOVE having spring babies!

Playing peek-a-boo through the tunnel

Zoe looking super cool!

Aubrey's favorite "big" slide!

When we are not at the park, we've been in the backyard a lot.

We figured out the trick to go faster on the slide - wear socks!

I finally got a decent picture of Aubrey. Lately she won't look up at me or will make a funny face!

I gotta wear shades

The bear needs shades too

And where do you ask is Brooke during our outside adventures? She is usually all wrapped up next to mommy in the mobi wrap!

In Aubrey's room she has a bookcase. But, are the books ever actually on the bookcase? Of course not! If she sees the books put away nicely, it puts her in a reading mood. She'll sit on the floor and look at each book one by one until they are in a huge mound on the floor! I love that she loves to read - but I don't love not being able to see the floor in her room!

Lately Aubrey has decided it's more fun to read to me. Some books she can tell me word for word what it says on the pages! She likes to point to the words and say, "words say . . ." and then tell me what they say. It is really cute. I think she is going to be an early reader.

Showing daddy how she goes down the pool slide.

Right before Jeff took this picture, Brooke was sucking away on her thumb. It was super cute. We just didn't get the camera there fast enough.

Brooke is quite strong for being such a little peanut. She lifts her neck up a lot and really high. She also can push herself around with her legs. I'll have to keep up the tummy time so she can keep her muscles strong. We got her weighed yesterday and she is 8 lbs. She has almost made it to Aubrey's birth weight! I am wondering if she is going to plump up like Aubrey, or if she will stay a little thing.

On Saturday we had a picnic at the Botany pond with my fam. It was nice having a relaxing visit out in the nice weather.

After the Botany pond we went to the playground at Esther & Bryan's apt. It was such a cute playground - we might just have to visit there more often!

Racing Aunt Esther down the slide!

At the bottom of the slide is this big sun. After Aubrey would slide down she would say "Mr. Sun" as she ran and danced on top of it.

She also loved these little microphone type things. There are two and you can talk to each other through them.

Aubrey is still loving her blow dryer. After I did her hair for church, she had to do her dog bingo's hair!

On Saturday I was trying to clean the house a little. As I cleaned the house it seemed to just get messier instead of cleaner. A little elf was following behind me undoing everything I had been doing. I wonder who that could of been. Anyway, I just got more and more frustrated. I tried to get Aubrey to take some things back to her room. Well, she is 2 and is struggling with obedience. I am trying to be firm and consistent with her, but it has been a struggle since I am so tired and do not have a lot of patience right now. Anyway, as I was insisting that Aubrey do what I ask, she was just resisting. It kept getting tenser until Aubrey just burst into tears. I fell into the rocking chair feeling completely defeated and almost in tears myself. I looked up at Aubrey's chubby tear stained face and had an immediate flash of insight that I needed to pick her up and give her a hug. So I told her that I thought we both needed a hug. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around my neck and just sank her head into my shoulder. I rocked her and sang her a song. As soon as the song was finished, she looked up at me with a big smile and said, "Aubrey happy now." That of course melted my heart and took away some of the stress I had been feeling. I am so grateful for those little moments of inspiration!