Mashed potatoes

Aubrey has been working on learning how to feed herself with a spoon lately. So far, she's been most successful with mashed potatoes, since they tend to stay on the spoon, even when it is flung back and forth through the air! Gotta love it!

Scooping up potatoes

Got some!

Made it to my mouth! Yum!

She hit her forehead, chin, and cheeks too, but did manage to get some in her mouth!
Silly baby girl!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest '09!

This weekend, we made our annual trek down to Woodburn to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, under sunny, 75 degree skies. It was a gorgeous day so the place was packed, but despite the crowds we enjoyed the scenery, the activities, a picnic lunch, and some fresh air. Oh, and we managed to capture a few photos along the way, too. About 100 on our camera, and over 500 on Grandpa's. Here are a few of our favorites...

Sweet Aubs

I know I've said this before, but it seems like Aubrey takes giant leaps in her development every so often, and it seems as though she's done it again. Just in the last week or two she has really started to seem like a little girl, instead of a baby.

Her personality is bursting out of her, she is expressing her opinion in all sorts of fun (loud) ways, and is showing us that she has quite a sense of humor! She has been walking, walking, walking all over, talking up a gibberish storm, and spontaneously showing off skills that she didn't have just days ago. But really, I think it's the pigtails that push her over the top. There is just something about a tiny girl with "real" pigtails (not the stick-up-on-top-of-your-head type) that just makes her seem so grown up all of a sudden.

One of her latest "tricks" is to smile a giant, 3-toothed grin and say, "Cheese!" when she gets her photo taken. It makes us all roll with laughter, which of course fuels the fire. She gets so proud that she sometimes will then clap for herself. :)

As she gains new skills each day, we are reminded how fast time is flying by. Today at brunch, we reminisced about how one year ago, I carried newborn Aubrey around in a baby sling all of Easter day. This year, she was toddling around, gathering eggs, and making us all laugh with her antics. What a difference a day, week, month, (let alone a year!) makes.

Happy Easter!

We awoke this morning to eggs all over the house and two overflowing baskets! The girls had a great time collecting the eggs. Although Aubrey proved herself to be a natural sorter, just like her mama and sister, she's going to have to work hard next year to keep up with her sister, who collected 3x the eggs she did!


Later in the morning, we had family over for brunch and an outdoor egg hunt, which we managed to squeeze in just before the rain hit!

A few family pics...



Don't they look sweet???? (Don't let them fool you...it's really just all the candy they've eaten!) ;)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Lately

Lately, we've been extraordinarily busy. It seems as though we've had some sort of event every night, and every minute of our weekends have been scheduled. Here's a sampling of what we've been up to when we have been home...

Walking everywhere!!!! Aubrey is becoming a more independent walker every day, but she still loves to walk around gripping her big sister's hands. :) Her newest skill is standing up unassisted from a sitting position. She gets into what looks like a football 3-point stance, and then pushes herself up and toddles off...

Celebrating Daddy's birthday. He turned 32! Camryn insisted we wrap his gift in Cinderella paper!

Dyeing Easter eggs

Making and delivering Easter egg nest cookies to our neighbors

Enjoying snack outside on this spring's first sunny day!

Watching Dad mow the lawn. It's been awhile, so it's almost like a new form of entertainment! Aubrey watches him from the windows and doors, beats on the glass and yells, "Dada!"

MS Walk

This weekend we had the opportunity to join our good friend Sandy, along with many of her friends and family for the MS walk downtown. She was diagnosed just over a year ago, and has since then amassed quite a following, raising money and awareness about the disease. In fact, this spring, in only her second year participating, her team raised almost $5,000. Very impressive!

The morning started out cold (like 36 degrees cold), so we bundled the girls up like it was December again. Poor Aubrey couldn't sit up in the stroller for all the layers she had on, and Camryn sipped on hot cocoa while we waited for the race to begin.

By the time we made our way from Pioneer Courthouse Square to the Eastbank Esplanade, the sun had come out. Camryn walked, galloped, and ran most of the way from the Steel Bridge to the Hawthorne, and then hitched a ride on Daddy's shoulders for a bit. Aubrey ended up sleeping for most of the walk, which ended up being a good thing for everyone involved. :)

I love that we were able to show our girls that there are many ways to help people, support our friends, and show teamwork. We are very proud of our friend Sandy, and her ability to make lemonade out of the lemons that life has tossed her way. Clearly, many others feel the same way.