Finger Food???

My little Miss. Independent decided on Friday that it was high time she started feeding herself. As I was feeding her she stuck her hand into the bowl, grabbed a handful of cereal, inspected it for a bit and then shoved it into her mouth. It was too cute. So I relinquished control of the bowl and spoon, grabbed my camera and let her have at it!

It was too cute watching her really trying to figure out this whole eating thing. She would stop to study the food and the spoon from time to time. I imagine her gears upstairs were just working away.

She was really happy to have the control!

Oh how I love her smile - it just lights up my day!

She got surprisingly well skilled at using the spoon.

She figured out that you put it into the bowl first and then into your mouth.

But then she gave up the handful and spoon method entirely and went with the bowl directly into mouth method.

She had so much fun that she wanted a repeat the next day! See how happy she is to have taken over control of the spoon!

It sure is fun watching my little cutie learn new tricks!

Brookie Bug

This week Brooke has been having some developmental growth spurts. She finally started babbling this week and has been doing it nonstop since Monday night. It is so darling. Previously she would make little noises and giggles, but not really any vowel or consonant sounds. Monday night in the tub she started saying "Ga Ga" and "Goo Goo". Then Tuesday she started saying, "Ja Ja". I think possibly because JJ was over and she was mimicking his name that she was hearing us say. Then Tuesday night she started in on, "Da Da." Which her daddy is really loving. Here is a little video of her talking.

She still is not crawling, but we've found her a few times this week on her hands and knees rocking. This is the first she has gotten up on all fours and we think she is finally on her way to crawling. I am happy and nervous about this. She will be thrilled to be able to keep up with the rest of us. But, I know it will be much more difficult keeping her away from Aubrey's stuff now so we'll have to be a lot more careful with little toys and art supplies. She still is using my favorite method of her transportation. We affectionately call it "bum hops." You'll see why if you watch the video below.

Her hair is really starting to come in. It's at a really fun sticking straight up in the air phase. We didn't have this phase with Aubrey because she was born with quite a bit of hair on top and it was curly so it didn't stick up. After I washed her hair the other day it dried sticking straight up like a mohawk. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture before Aubrey messed with it a little bit.

She is still such a great eater. I don't know how she is in the 33% for weight with the amount of food that kid can pack in. We're hoping she has inherited a fast metabolism from Grandma Bagley and Grandpa Buell. I unfortunately did not inherit it, but am hoping it skipped a generation and my Brookie lucked out!

She is beginning to have a mind of her own like the rest of us. If you give her something to try and trick her away from something else, she will just swat it away and keep going for her original target. If Aubrey gets too much into her space she will start squawking away. It's kind of sad because Aubrey loves to give her hugs and kisses, and she is just not having that lately. She's probably a bit nervous it will become more than a hug and a kiss - I can't really blame her. She has decided that she likes Aubrey's toys the best. Especially the ones Aubrey is currently playing with. I am really working on teaching Aubrey to be patient and not have a fit when Brooke messes something up. I keep reminding her that she can just rebuild her tower or put her party back together. I am hoping this will sink in soon as it will be increasingly more difficult to control as she becomes more mobile.

I am happy though that she still likes to snuggle when she is sleepy. She'll let me hold her real close and sing to her before nap and bedtime. It's my favorite part of the day!

Bye Bye JJ

Cousin JJ is moving out of the state tomorrow. We had him over yesterday morning so Cindy could get some packing done. They did so well together and hardly fought at all. Both of them were very excited to see each other.

They were making some beautiful music together!

After the piano concert, I went to put Brooke down for a nap. They were playing pretend so cute for awhile - but it was loud and keeping Brooke up. I finally convinced them to play in the Family Room. I heard them giggling and having a fun time. When I came out from putting Brooke down I found their faces covered in markers. No wonder they were laughing so much.

They also had a dance party together which was darling. Unfortunately by the time I got the camera out, JJ was done dancing.

Aubrey wanted to show JJ her princess show. I thought it was so cute how they sat right next to each other on the couch.

What a cute little pair. It's a shame now that they are playing so good together the Merris' have to up and move.

Aubrey's gonna miss you JJ! I'm glad we could have one last play date.

A visit from the Grandparents

My parents came into town last weekend, so we got to spend some time with them. Aubrey was very excited to get to spend a couple of days with her Grandparents and AunUncles (no that's not a typo, that's how Aubrey says Aunts and Uncles - as if it is one word) and cousins. It was fun as always.

Brooke and JJ having a little fun together.

Checking each other out.

Playing house with Grandma.

Story time with Grandma.

The 3 local Granddaughters.

Brookie enjoying Grandpa's infamous "Donald Duck" voice.

Just chillin' with Grandma.

Messy Face

Even with a face that cute - my Aubrey sure knows how to mess it up!



Mmm Mmm - Lasagna and chocolate cake are such a yummy combo! And look at all that she has saved for later!

"Helping" mommy make candy. She sure has acquired my LOVE for chocolate!



She was sooo sparkly with her face full of Fairy Glitter.

Just this week I was bragging about the fact that Aubrey has never really asked me to buy her anything. I apparently forgot to knock on wood because just a few days later it happened. Anyway, after she used up the above glitter, she told me that she needed some more. Apparently she didn't think her face was quite sparkly enough. When I told her that we didn't have any more she said to me, "You can just buy me some more at the store." I was so surprised I didn't even know how to respond. Then yesterday she wanted something that we didn't have. When I told her we were out of it she responded, "Mommy you go write it on the list and I'll remind you to buy it when we're at the store." Oh dear, I think fun times are ahead for me when we're shopping!

Aubrey's new thing is to start most sentences with, "You know how . . . " It's really quite cute.

Today while I was explaining to Aubrey why she couldn't do something that she wanted to do she said the thing I never thought would cross her lips. She said, "Oh yeah, you're right Mommy." Wow I hope to hear that many many more times (although I'm not holding my breath!)

We are still working on potty training. I am taking a very laid back approach. My nerves can't handle a more intense tactic. Anyway, the last couple weeks Aubrey has done really great. Only a few accidents in the two weeks combined. She has been able to nap in underpants and hasn't had an accident yet. Anyway, my favorite potty training quote from a few weeks back was, "Mommy I forgot to tell you that I had to go pee pee. It wouldn't stay in my bum - It was in a hurry to get out." That kid sure does crack me up.

Another Aubrey funny was when last week she walks over to Brooke and knocks her over and starts messing with her. After her timeout she says to me, "I'm sorry I knocked over Brooke, I was just trying to pick her up and throw her like a ball." Sometimes I just don't know where she comes up with this stuff! And don't worry Brooke was not harmed in the process.

This month in Primary we are learning a new song called, "I Know that my Savior Loves me." It's a really beautiful song. The first verse says:

A long time ago in a beautiful place, children were gathered around Jesus. He blessed and taught as they felt of his love. Each saw the tears on his face. The love that He felt for his little ones, I know he feels for me. I did not touch him or sit on his knee, yet Jesus is real to me.

I have been singing this song to my girls as a bedtime song this month. One day Aubrey found a picture of Jesus with children around him and one sitting on his knee. She shows it me and excitedly says, "Look mommy this picture is just like the song you sing me!" She pointed out that the children were gathered around Jesus just like in the song and that one was sitting on his knee too. It was such a sweet moment. We were able to talk about how Jesus loves the little children and how he loves her too.

FHE

We had a nice Family Home Evening tonight. I adapted it from a Sharing Time I gave last week.

We talked about how we have bodies and Spirits and how Heavenly Father is the father of our Spirit.

I began by showing Aubrey some mittens of all different colors and sizes. We talked about how they looked different, but that they were all gloves. I then told her that they were like bodies. How we all have bodies but that they looked different from each other just like the gloves. Then we sang, "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" to help her understand what her body is and to make it more active and fun for her.

I then asked her if the mittens could move around or do anything. Which of course they can't. I helped her put a mitten on and had her move her fingers and wave her hands to show her that with her hand in the mitten it could move and do all sorts of things. I told her that that was like her Spirit. She has a Spirit in her body that makes it possible for her to move and run and jump, etc. Then we sang, "Do as I'm Doing" to further illustrate what the Spirit enables the body to do. Aubrey loved this song, I think it's the first time she has sung it. Brooke really liked it too she was all smiles and giggles as daddy helped her do the actions.

Then I asked her who was the daddy of her body. She of course pointed to Jeff. Then I told her that she has a father of her Spirit also. I explained that Heavenly Father was the Father of her Spirit and that she is his daughter also. I showed her a mirror and asked her what she saw. She answered, "me". I told her that she also sees a "Child of God" when she looks in the mirror. And that she should remember that every time that she sees herself in the mirror.

I then asked her if Mommy and Daddy love her and how much they love her. She answered, "So so much!" I told her that her Heavenly Father loves her too and that he loves her even more than we do. He loves her so much that he wants her to make right choices so that she can return to live with him again someday.

Then we closed by singing "I am a Child of God."

Aubrey really enjoyed both the learning and the songs we sang. I loved that there was very little prep but that it was a very effective and fun FHE.

And then for dessert daddy made us . . .

. . . delicious homemade donuts! He got to use the Kitchen Aid that he got me for Christmas and enjoyed not having to knead the dough!

Then after the kids went to bed we got to watch 3 hours of "Chuck"! We're so happy the new season has begun!

It was a great night spent with the fam!

My Little Pony

Aubrey loves the Movie "My Little Pony - Twinkle Wish Adventure." We were watching it this morning when she decided it would be more fun to act it out with her My Little Pony figurines that she got from Santa. I was amazed by how much detail she remembered. When we got to the part where the ponies fly in a hot air balloon she asked me, "Mommy what can we use for a hot air balloon?" At first we tried some of her dishes but then I realized it would be more fun to make one. We just used a balloon, paper cup and yarn to tie the two together. It was a fun little project to make with my Aubrey.

Here she is getting her ponies all ready for their flight.

Brookie very much wanted the balloon, so we got her one of her own.



The ponies are in and starting on their flight.



And they're off to Willy Nilly mountain to try and save Twinkle Wish from Whimsy Weatherby. (It's sad how much I know about this movie!)

She had a mountain all made up for the ponies to climb. At one point she even directly quoted 3 lines from the movie. Man she sure has a great memory!

We had such a fun time playing together this morning. It brings me back to when I was a kid!

I had to add in these pictures of Brooke eating blueberries for the first time. She absolutely loved them! I had to fill her bag twice as she was devouring them!

Oh I love her cute, messy, happy face!

My Brookie Bug is 9 Months

Another month has come and gone in the blink of an eye and now Brooke is 3/4 of a year old.

Even though it has gone by so fast, we can't imagine not having her in our family. She is just so easy to love and has such a pleasant personality. I used to think of her as easy going, but I am realizing that may not be exactly right. Although she is very sweet natured she is also very determined. When she wants something that girl goes after it. I am happy to see that about her. It makes me laugh when I am holding her and she is hungry. She will dive head first into side lying position, pull at my shirt and open her mouth wide open. I never have to guess whether or not she is hungry!

She has a major hair fetish. When she sees that someones hair is within her reach, her eyes will just light up and off she goes to get a fist full of hair. Poor Aubrey is usually her victim. (Although it's good pay back for the abuse that she gets from Aubrey!) When we are in church, if their is someone with long hair in the pew in front of us, I really have to hold her down. She will literally jump off of my lap and try to scale the bench in front of us to get at the hair. I have never seen a child with this much passion for pulling hair. This is why I rarely wear my hair down these days!

She loves to blow air raspberries. See the video in two posts below. It is cute and messy. It's hard to keep her shirt dry these days with all of the spitting going on. But I like the cute little sounds and her cute little face all puckered up.

She has two methods of getting around; scooting backwards and jumping forward on her bum. It's really cute to see her doing little bum hops to get around. We have been working with her on crawling and hopefully she will master that soon.

She still LOVES to eat. I have been trying to give her more table foods lately and she it loving that.

She smiles and giggles easily. She wants to touch and manipulate everything within her reach. She still puts everything in her mouth though. I won't be too sad when that part of her exploring fades.

We just love our Brookie Cookie and are looking forward to another fun filled month with our sweet angel!

Fairy Tea Party

It's been over a year since we had Zoe over for a Tea Party, so we thought it was high time that we had another one. Since Zoe LOVES to dress up and Aubrey does occasionally, we decided to make it a Fairy themed party.

Here's the darling little dishes that my MIL gave Aubrey set for their brunch. We had pink lemonade in the place of tea. Aubrey got really excited when we got the dishes and food all out and couldn't wait for Zoe to arrive.

Hurray Zoe is here!

Aubrey sure is in a hugging/kissing mood lately. It's a good thing Zoe is such a good sport about it.

It's finally time for the party! Here they are anxiously awaiting the "OK" to eat.

They were so excited that they got to pour the juice themselves. They did a pretty good job at it. Lots of spills - but mainly because of over filling. We went through ALOT of Pink Lemonade.

Aubrey helped make the cinnamon rolls. She sure was proud of them.



Sugar please. I should have taken a pic of Zoe with the sugar bowl. She was LOVING adding extra sugar.





They are just too cute drinking from the little tea cups!

When Brooke woke up from her nap I had to put her in a tutu too!

She of course was very interested in what was going on and wanted to be a part of it too. Maybe next year Brookie!

But she sure is cute even if she's just a little onlooker!

Here's a couple video's from the party.

We had a real fun time. Thanks Zoe for coming to Aubrey's Fairy Tea Party!