11 Months

Wow. This has been a whirlwind of a month. I don't think we took many pictures around here. Bad Mommy. Perhaps it's because (between the fun of the season with preparations like baking and shopping), we've had more than our share of ear infections, croup, stomach flu, head colds, and house repairs. But, in any case, we are finally all starting to feel back to normal. Finally. Knock on wood.

Little Miss Aubrey is also finally back to acting like herself again. She cut another tooth this month. She loves to bop to music. She is quite the explorer and gets into and climbs on top of things we never had to worry about with Tyler. Of course she loves all things off limits and howls for the telephone. She has started holding her play phone up to her ear and babbling into it. She is quite the little "talker" and her favorite "word" is Dada. She plays the game of handing something to you, then getting it back over and over. She is usually an early riser, while we have to wake brother Tyler as he loves to sleep in. She is on the run makes a beeline for whatever she is after, often shrieking with delight. However, she is very opinionated and if she can't have something she will let you know how she feels about it. She is also more opinionated about food than I remember Tyler being. She still prefers finger foods to baby food. If we have any fuzz, small rock, paper, or other such small speck of something on the floor, it inevitably finds its way into her mouth. She is mischievous with the subsequent mouth sweeps and lets you know that she doesn't want to have it taken away with sly grin and a firm bite. She loves to carry a sock...yes, a sock... around and shake it exuberantly.

I'll probably think of more things that I have left out. But I wanted to remember how she is changing...even though I don't have pictures to post for now. Hopefully soon! :)

weirdos

Tonight on our way home, I asked Tyler whether he'd like to drive around and look at Christmas lights. He said he would like to. Then asked if we were going to buy Christmas lights. I said that we were just going to drive around and look at lights.

After a few minutes he said, "won't it be weird if we just drive around and don't buy anything?"
I told him I didn't think so.

A few minutes later he said, "won't other people think we're weirdos if they see us just driving around looking at lights?"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tyler brought this home from school yesterday and it just makes me giggle every time I read it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

New trick

A few nights ago, I was doing laundry in the living room...one of many loads this week. :) Anyway, Aubrey started flinging herself onto a pile of blankets, and eventually onto Tyler's mattress cover. Wayne started filming, and here is a little clip. Enjoy!

What a week

Starting last Monday, November 15, we had quite a week. Tyler has had an ear infection and Aubrey has had a stomach bug (with vomiting - including on herself while she was asleep - fever, lots of diarrhea and sleepless nights). The worst night was followed by the discovery of a broken furnace and broken kitchen faucet that flooded our under-the-sink area. Just when we thought things were looking up, I was taking the kids for Christmas pictures and the garage door opener broke. After two separate photo sessions we couldn't get a good picture of the two of them together. (So if you see our Christmas picture of them, you can just smile and nod knowingly). :) Though, at this point, I was not surprised...it was just fitting. I kind of think of the pictures as representative of the week we had.

On my friend, Michelle's, recommendation I had previously purchased Bag Balm for the occasional diaper rash. (It's originally meant for cow's udders - hee hee - and is only found at Walgreens around here). It does not sting, and works really well. I developed a true appreciation for it this week!

One positive of the faucet ordeal is that I LOVE my new faucet. I didn't know how much I could appreciate a faucet that works...and doesn't randomly turn itself off...or leak for that matter :)

Another plus was that I got to enjoy lots of snuggling, rocking and loving on my baby. (That's what I kept reminding myself of when I was up rocking Aubrey in the middle of the night).  I'm so glad they're both feeling better!

This afternoon Part 2

This afternoon Part 1

T Dubs

Tyler has never let me play with his hair. But, in my opinion, because he sees me playing with Aubrey's hair, he let me play with his hair the other night. We had fun with his little faux-hawk.

10 Months

How did she already get to be 10 months old? The little Love has been changing so quickly, as babies do, and it's a lot of fun.

She has responded to the word "no" and quickly stops what she is doing. I appreciate this, knowing how soon this will change. I'm also glad that she immediately responds because she is a fearless little monkey and can be found climbing (under and onto) all sorts of things when you look away.

One of her favorite spots is under the table. Which is fine, as long as she doesn't stand up to bonk her head...or crawl under the chairs and get stuck...which seems inevitable.

She has been doing a lot of pointing to parts of our faces (and loves to "honk" our noses), as well as her own.

 

Her two upper teeth came in a couple of weeks ago, and we get a kick out of her new toothy grin.

 
 

Yesterday, she wore a Tyler hand-me-down to help her Daddy cheer on the Steelers...that's all we'll say about that game. ;) (Yeah, she loves those blocks too - they are fun to bang together and scramble around).

Silly goose loves to come crawling over to me as soon as I pull out the camera. And, of course, gets so close that I have no idea what I'm shooting. I was amused by this shot that I took "blind." Silly girl.

 

She's been making this silly face to us for a couple of weeks - a mixture of excitement with goofball. We get a kick out of it and have tried to get a good photo of it, but that's hard since the expression often only lasts a split second. We haven't quite caught it yet, but we'll keep trying. :) (The top left is probably the closest).

She started walking a couple of weeks ago. She's still unsteady and doesn't walk too far. If there's something she is really interested in, she gets farther. Here's a brief video I took tonight.



And we'll end with a little dancing with Aubrey from Saturday morning. She loooves music! And Tyler likes to share the limelight as you will see. (You, lucky you, also get to see our lovely stand-in for a gate in front of the stairs. We resorted to this lovely arrangement (since we don't have a normal staircase to put in a gate), after she forced our hand by making it up several stairs when we weren't paying attention - and all the way up several times when we just wanted to see how far she could go while we were right there...silly little monkey).

Tamale Pie

I had not had Tamale Pie until I tried this Taste of Home recipe last week. We all loved it. The heat is balanced by the sweet cornbread and cool sour cream which makes for a nicely balanced flavor combination. It's warm and comforting, perfect for dreary fall days. I even ate it as leftovers twice, which I normally cannot do. (Normally: Leftovers once = fine. Leftovers twice = ewww). We're making it again this weekend. It is so easy and so tasty. :)

Slow Cooker Tamale Pie

1 lb ground beef
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp pepper
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained
1 can (11 oz) whole kernel corn, drained (I used about 1 ½ cups frozen white corn)
1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
2 green onions, chopped
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
1 pkg (8 ½ oz) corn bread/muffin mix
2 eggs
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Mexican cheese blend
Sour cream and additional minced fresh cilantro, optional (but recommended) ;)


In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the cumin, salt, chili powder and pepper. Transfer to a slow cooker; stir in the beans, tomatoes, corn, enchilada sauce, onions and cilantro. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until heated through.

In a small bowl, combine muffin mix and eggs; spoon over meat mixture. Cover and cook 1 hour longer or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle with cheese; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream and additional cilantro if desired. (Which, I thought was a pretty tasty addition but I love both sour cream and cilantro)!

Aubs

The computer I normally post from is still not allowing me to get onto google/blogger applications which has highlighted how much I have come to rely on accessing these...multiple times daily. I hope I can find a solution!!

But, I digress. That is not what I was hoping to post about. It seems that our little Aubrey-Pawbree has been changing so much lately. I think she's been going through a growth spurt and suddenly seems longer. She likes to sit on her knees and bounces, stands up and sits down, "wrestles" us and is usually exploring and moving.

Within the last week, if I'm looking away and she wants to see what I'm eating or saying or perhaps just wants to look at me, she firmly takes my jaw with her hand and turns my face toward hers. I'm rewarded with an inquisitive look or a big smiling grin. Like this:

Melts my heart. This picture was taken a few days ago. She has cut both top teeth since this was taken, so we have two little white nubbies to look at now.

She has been grinding her teeth together, seemingly testing out the new feel in her mouth. She's making expressions like this quite frequently:

 

Kind of makes her look like she's trying to be tough.

I don't know if teething is why, but this week, it's been hard for me to convince her to eat much off of a spoon. She certainly prefers finger foods. She has either refused to open her mouth, or just starts spitting it back out. She does the same thing with Tylenol...this is a little frustrating as it results in a sticky mess down her PJs.

Little Squirt, we love her so. :)

Brief Update...Very Brief!

The bad news - I was, in fact, getting sick Tuesday night. I was home sick with whatever Wayne had yesterday. Tyler was home sick today...pukey puke.

The good news - Aubrey took her first steps yesterday. Some more today. A few at a time. Hoorays can be heard through the house! :)

Rocket

Tyler received a rocket for his fifth birthday from Grandpa Norm. We've been waiting to have the right conditions (and to get us all out to the park to shoot it off) for far too long. FINALLY a couple of weeks ago we went. We took video for Grandpa Norm since he couldn't be here to see it. We shot it off many times.

Here is a video of the first launch. Tyler is first seen picking of burs (or stickers as they call them here). Then he launches it before the end of Wayne's countdown, thus the "What!?" from me. :)




I found it very difficult to film these rockets. We took lots of video...most of it is beautiful blue sky. :) Here is a video Wayne shot that captures it a little better.

Halloween 2010

Last weekend was a good one. Friday we decorated pumpkins. Mine was a pirate skull/crossbones (per Tyler's request), Wayne's was an owl in a tree, Tyler's was a pirate Mr. Potato Head and a bat.

Saturday, Ted and Sue came to watch Tyler's soccer game. Then they watched the kids so we could go see The Social Network (which I really enjoyed), then stayed for dinner.

Sunday was trick-or-treating.

Aubrey was a princess, and Tyler Jengo Fett.

We went with Lisa, Oliver and Eli.

Here are Aubrey and Eli in their strollers.

Oliver and Tyler (Oliver was a Jedi Knight, so they made a good pair).

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Pulled out Dick & Jane tonight and Tyler is reading. This makes me smile.

What doesn't make me smile? Wayne is pukey sick. Boo. Perhaps he got this from Aubrey. Hopefully it ends with Wayne. As I write this I feel queasy. Oh psychosomatic brain of mine. :)

Surprisingly I got some things done tonight. Even a tire rotation and oil change. Thankfully the kids behaved themselves while we were there.

I have lots of pictures to post from last weekend. But I'm too tired again tonight to upload and post them. I promise I will...soon!

Is it really only Tuesday? Ah well, I'll be back soon, as promised.

Kindergarten Halloween Party

Since I planned to be home for the afternoon anyway, I felt lucky to be able to help with Tyler's Kindergarten Halloween party this afternoon.

Here they are making popcorn and candy-corn hands.

Aubrey was content to watch the action from her stroller

And here is the class

How'd she know?

The bank teller gave Tyler a green balloon and as we drove away, I asked,

"How did she know that green is your favorite color?"

Tyler (with sincere excitement): "Yeah! And how did she know last time that yellow is my third favorite color?!"

Soccer 10-23-2010

Pumpkin Patch

Sunday afternoon, I decided to take Tyler and Aubrey to a new (to us) pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, Wayne was unable to join us. But, the weather was so gorgeous, I wanted to enjoy it!

We started out with a hayride (or hay-rack ride as they call it in Kansas) to a "pumpkin patch" and to feed the goats and a llama. There were new baby goats that had just been born that day. They were adorable!

Tyler was pretty nervous about feeding the goats. It took a little time for him to gather the courage, so this was a bit of a triumphant moment.

I tried to get a few pictures of the two of them. Yeah- this is the best of what I got. :)

Tyler's favorite was playing in the big piles of hay.

Tyler took a ride on the "cow train" which was a gator pulling these little cars. Soon after this picture, it looked like a swerving cloud of dust. It took a few wipes to clean up his face after he got back.

Tyler went through the kiddie corn maze a few times before we left.

A happy, red-faced, tired boy!

9 Months

I've had these pictures waiting to post for a week now. Due to computer problems on my work computer (from which I usually post), icky malware or something, I haven't gotten a chance to post them.

Anyway, the little lady is already 9 months old. How did this happen? Her personality is blossoming all the time. She's babbling a lot, experimenting with that little voice - getting louder, growling, and mostly saying "dadadadada" all day.

She is usually looking for something to pull herself up on, and often stands unsupported.

She has a magnet for forbidden items. Any electronic device or cord is on that list. Here she is hovering, wishing for a chance to get a hold of that DS.

She loves her bath, and loves to chew on her comb.

Love you, little love muffin!
(Thanks, Aunt Lynette, for these PJs. Tyler wore them and they're still in great shape)! :)

Streeetching a birthday out...

Last night, Ted and Sue came over to celebrate Tyler's birthday. They came early enough to meet him off the bus so he could tell us all about his day. We went out to supper at the place of his choice, Pei Wei. Then we came back for presents, cake and ice cream.

He was thrilled to open Lego sets from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Hollins and then from Grandpa and Grandma.

They were setting up the game and getting ready to play. :)

Meanwhile, Aubrey was crawling around...

Chewing on the recliner...



And playing with Grandpa Ted.



We had a great evening together. :)

Tyler turns 6!

Last evening, Tyler enjoyed celebrating his birthday with a few friends. We went to All Star Sports and started with mini-golf.

Wayne, with Abe, Leo, Ollie and Tyler

Waiting their turn on the go-karts.

No, I don't know what he's saying. :)



Blowing out candles on his chocolate Spiderman cake.

This was my first attempt at fondant. I tried marshmallow fondant, but I think I added too much powdered sugar, which made it a bit dry. So, I think I'll seek out advice if I try it again. But the cake tasted good, and Tyler didn't mind the flaws, so all in all, it worked out just fine.

Excitement as he is opening presents.