White Christmas

Last year we had snow in Dallas, so for the second year in a row we had a white Christmas - this time in Virginia Beach.  It started Christmas night and lasted through about midnight on the 26th.  It was a record snowfall - about 10 inches accumulated but probably got a bit more that melted.  Today the sun came out and we took Aubrey outside to play. She had a few giggles in the snow but is definitely a southern girl and likes the warmer temps!

Christmas Eve

Before church on Christmas Eve. It sure is hard to get a decent family picture with a toddler!

Opening her new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve!

New slippers to go with her new jammies!



"I came that you might have life, and might have it abundantly."

Merry Christmas from the Michael Family!!

Santa take two!

Yesterday Gram and I took Aubrey to see Santa at the mall. She let us know she feels the same way about St. Nick as she did a few days ago:)

We told Santa we wanted a few pics and to hold on to Aubrey if she tried to jump!

Poor Aubrey she just couldn't handle it!



Mommy please come get me off this scary man!



She was happy two seconds later playing with her Gram and the goodies Santa's elf gave her.

Santa

This morning we took Aubrey to "Story Time with Santa" at the public library. The picture below will tell you how Aubrey feels about sitting on Santa's lap........

 I am going to give it one more try with the mall Santa but I have a feeling we are going to get the exact same reaction:) She actually loves to read about Santa and point to his beard in books but when it comes to real Santa she would rather look from a distance!!

Babies!

Aubrey and I visited three babies last week, it was great big sis practice! First we went over to our friends Mike and Rian's to meet their newest addition, Landon, who was born on December 1st. Landon looks EXACTLY like his Daddy, I don't think I have ever seen a baby look so much like one of his parents than Landon does. He is such a sweet baby and Aubrey loved looking at him.

We came over right after stroller aerobics but I have no excuses I always look like this!

Then we met the twins, who I posted about here. Jess is back in Virginia Beach and Pete will be home from deployment very very soon!! The girls are just precious, Sophia was awake while I was there and I was very impressed with how alert she was, she is already holding her head up and gives great eye contact, smiles, and coos! Aubrey loved pointing to all of the twins body parts and giving them kisses. She is going to be a great big sister, she is very interested in babies and wants to help with binkys, blankets, bottles, toys, etc.

Sophia, Sarah, Jess, Aubrey, & big sis Zoe!

Sarah ( I am coming back soon so I can hold you and see you awake:)

Sophia, just as I was about to leave she feel asleep in my arms.

I was a little sad after leaving both of these houses because both families will be moving out of Virginia Beach in the next few months. The Navy is sending all of us to new duty stations that are in different states and coasts. I know our paths will meet up again soon, I have a feeling in about three years we will all be back together again! In the meantime we plan to visit each other all over the U.S!

19 Months

Aubrey Lynn turned 19 months yesterday. She is growing like crazy these days and loves learning about the world around her. I wish I could keep her at this age longer (I say this at every stage though!). Her new thing this week is kissing everything goodnight and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING. The strangest things are the Christmas tree & the fire in the fireplace (she must be a future pyro like her daddy:)

Being crazy in the bath!

Trimming the Tree

Last weekend we set up our first Christmas tree at Tall Pines! We got thru it with only three broken ornaments -- the culprit pictured below :) We are excited to start some family traditions in this house!




Happy Meal with the Grands

My mom found out I have not taken Aubrey to McDonalds and decided to make it her personal mission to give Aubrey the Happy Meal experience. So a few days after Thanksgiving Nana and Gram packed Aubrey in the car for her first trip to Mickey-D's! She got the chicken nuggets and apples instead of fries which Daddy said wasn't the true Happy Meal experience but Aubrey didn't seem to mind! She ate those nuggets up and had lots of fun with her Nana and Gram. The playground was a little "old" for her but she still had fun checking it out and watching some other girls play.

Trying out the chicken nuggets!

I'm Lovin it!!

 

It's play time!

Thanksgiving in Texas

We are back home from our Thanksgiving travels! We had a great time at Pap and Nana's property in Garwood, TX, and we spent Turkey Day in San Antonio at Aunt Jenny & Uncle Joe's.  At first Aubrey was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and animals but it didn't take her long to start stomping around in her cowgirl boots and acting like she was a true Texas girl. She LOVED being outside playing with all the outdoor toys and animals. Her vocabulary really picked up on this trip-- she learned some family member names (dogs too), lots of other new animals, and how to gobble gobble like the turkeys!  Mom learned that it is not easy traveling with a toddler and being 21 weeks pregnant:) We had tons of fun and I know Aubrey can't wait to go back to the country!

First day trying to figure out the John Deer.

Kissing the stray goats (they showed up on Thanksgiving evening!!!)

Aubrey's new favorite animal -- DONKEYS!   Had to watch her close or she would run off on her own to find them!



Aubrey's favorite thing to do was ride in the gator with Momma (or whoever would take her).




Aubrey would play in the gator....



...then sit and wait for a ride-- again!

Setting up Santa with Pap.

Daddy made it to Texas just in time for our Thanksgiving dinner!! Nate got to my Aunts while Aubs was napping so when she woke up she was a bit confused but once she realized it wasn't a dream, this girl was excited!!

My Aunt set up a tea party for Aubrey and her second cousins on Thanksgiving. Brenna was so sweet to Aubrey and loved feeding her whip cream!



Tea Party action shot.

 

Nana took Aubrey on a fire truck ride on the way to the airport:)

Sisters!

Well crazy vet lady was totally off. We found out today we are having a GIRL! Nate and I are really excited that Aubrey and baby will get to share the bond of sisterhood. I didn't have a sister and always wanted that best friend that you can't get rid of:) Here is a picture of our little miracle.

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.
-- Isadora James

A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams.
-- Author Unknown

Weird Vet Visit

So this afternoon Aubrey and I took Reba to the vet to get her yearly shots. It was chilly outside so I wore my huge winter jacket (this will be important later in the story) and you can't tell I am pregnant when I wear this jacket and I never took the jacket off in the office (again this adds to the strangeness of the story).

The vet was giving Reba an exam on the floor and Aubrey was playing around with them. The vet then looked up at me in a very weird way and this is how the conversation went:
V:  "Is Aubrey your only child?"
Me: "Yes, well no, we are expecting baby #2 in April."
V:  "I KNOW you are pregnant I just didn't want to say it up front, you are having a boy aren't you?"
Me: "We don't know yet, the ultrasound is actually tomorrow."

She then proceeded to tell me that she has NEVER been wrong and she has a power and can sense when ladies are pregnant as well as sense what the sex of the baby is.  She said as soon as she walked in the exam room she sensed I was pregnant with a boy. Weird. She hardly even looked at me and I was wearing a huge coat. I did have several people tell me when I was pregnant with Aubrey that I was having a girl by the way I was carrying (but I already knew the sex by that point).

I guess we will find out soon enough if the crazy vet is right! The ultrasound is tomorrow morning. If she is right I still won't believe in her psychic abilities but it was a funny pregnancy story I wanted to share.

Since Nate is gone we plan to have the ultrasound tech put the sex in an envelope and open it together on Skype later this weekend. I am really excited to find out, I am ready to start planning:)

18 Months!

Aubrey turned 18 months on Monday. I just realized I never did a 17 month update, oh well. A month never went by so quick until I had Aubrey! She had her baby well  apt yesterday and everything looks great! She was so good for the Dr. and he was very impressed with how calm and sweet she was to him. I know she misses her Daddy and having a man give her attention made her very happy I think. One thing she learned this week is how to count to THREE! I almost fell out of the glider when she did it the first time. I don't think she really knows what she is doing but we have this counting book we read a million times a day and she caught on and loves to count the animals, she proudly says ONE, TWO, THREE. Way to go Aubs you are one smart girl:)
Weight: 25 lbs 13 oz
Height: 32 inches

Here are a few pictures I took this morning to mark her 18 month birthday:)

One last beach trip!

I was able to score a free photo session for Aubrey with Kelley Stinson Photography (Thanks Patty for hooking us up!). Kelley is a fellow Navy spouse and a very talented photographer. I was a bit anxious about the beach shoot because it has been a few months since Aubrey has been to the beach.  Nate and I finally got Aubrey loving the waves by the end of summer but I was afraid she would regress and go back to being scared since its been awhile.  For the shoot she wasn't terrified of the water but she didn't want to play or really go near it. The water was very cold so that probably had a lot to do with it. I hope next summer she remembers how much fun she had playing in the waves this year. Anyways, back to the pictures....

The Aubrey point! If you are around her for five seconds you will see it!!

Picture overload!!! With the free photo session I got a CD of all the pictures Kelley took so it was hard not to share a lot of them!

So excited!!!

Daddy is coming to San Antonio to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! He only has 2 days off but we will take what we can get. I always show Aubrey a picture of Nate before bed, tonight I used the computer and found this picture....Aubrey jumped out of my lap onto the computer desk, grabbed the monitor, and kissed the screen. She kisses every picture of Nate but she almost broke the computer today:) We miss you Daddy!



Dress up

Aubrey has an obsession with shoes. She started trying on my shoes before she could walk. Every morning while I am getting dressed she goes into our closet and plays with my shoes. I should put them up on the shelves so I don't have to keep picking them up every day but she enjoys it so much I just deal with the mess! Today I caught her and snapped a few pics.

I said "Where are Mommy's shoes" and she pointed to them:)

Trick-or-Treat!

Aubrey and I had a blast trick-or-treating, I just love our neighborhood! The kiddos were out in full force and our neighbors went all out with decorations and really made it fun for the kids. At first Aubrey was a little scared to go up to houses with all the commotion but once she realized  people were giving her treats she was all about it! I never got her to say "trick-or-treat" but she did say "thank you" and "bye" at each house. Oh and I let her have her first piece of candy, a sucker, and she LOVED it! I think she has her mommas sweet tooth:)
I didn't get very many pics and none were that great but here are a few to remember our first trick-or-treating by. Next year Aubrey will have to show her bro or sis the ropes!

Checking out her loot!

Walking up on her own (with her first sucker)!

Checking out some of the cool Halloween decorations while gnawing on some candy still in the wrapper. The car she is in was the best trash picking I have ever done (well its the only trash picking I have done), we use it everyday!

Back home and still sucking, "Mommy why haven't you given me a sucker before?"

I took it away finally, she hardly made a dent in it!