My girl

I love this girl! Over the past couple of days, I've had a few glimpses of real maturity in Aubriella. They are such little things, but because they all happened within 2 days they touched me.

First she didn't finish her dessert. Aubriella isn't a big eater, but when it comes to dessert she polishes it off (I have no idea where she gets that from ;-). She left some of her brownie and ice cream and said she didn't want to be too full and wanted to save it for the following day. That is not something you'd usually hear her or I say!

The next day she let me know she was tired and asked to fall asleep on the drive home for a bit. She asked that I wake her up when we got home and then she would go to her bed.  My first thought was she must be sick because Aubri and naps do not mix well.

Later that afternoon she yawned and said, "Wow. I guess I should have taken a longer nap, huh mom?" (BTW every one of her questions or statements is punctuated with "huh?") .

I think it was that evening we were playing outside and she volunteered that we should go inside since it was getting cold. She then added that since Ezra didn't seem to think it was cold, if I wanted to stay outside with him that was ok. HAHA!

I  just love how my little girl is thinking things through and making wise choices!

Here is a bit of what Aubri has been up to (at least with an iphone) the past month.

Queen of the funny face and selfies

 Here is a sampling for the 100 pictures i found on my phone one Saturday morning. She is such an early  riser, so for me to get a bit longer in bed I gave her my cell phone to play games.

 First haircut! She's been pleading to go to Whipper Snippers forever. Even though a bit of me was scared she'd lose her curls, I wasn't opposed to it and we finally found a time. She loved the experience (and the curls remain!).

 PRETEND! Aubri has such an imagination. And I love her for it. But it also challenges me. I dressed Barbies and princesses and played with their hair. Aubri wants to make stories of them, and BE the princess. These pictures were from a pretend trip to Disneyland. I had to be excited to go on rides (spin on the rocking chair) and take a picture with Minnie.

 What's a trip to Disneyland without a funny faced self portrait?

 Crafts! She can't get enough. This was a fun activity (Pinterest) that we did. A mixture of flour, water and baking powder makes "paint". You microwave it and it comes out puffy and dry!

 She is all about headbands right now. And wearing them like Rambo. Jose isn't a fan, but I let her wear them how she wants. It helps that we are suddenly seeing ladies everywhere wearing headbands like this!

 Picking her own clothes. She is actually pretty decent at matching (usually)! We did have to take off a red/orange skirt she tried to wear over these pants.

 Here is that orange skirt. She started nap time in a shirt and jeans, and came down with this colorful ensemble. It took all I had in me to not laugh!

 Different trip to Disneyland.

 She is also very into playing "pretend hair cut place". She will brush and "do" my hair forever. She also thinks I can pull off the Rambo headband thing.

 She isn't really mad, that was another funny face.

 Music! She is all about singing and making up songs. I LOVE IT! She goes around singing made up worship songs. And a few weeks back at bedtime she prayed, "Thank you Jesus for letting me sing songs to you." When we told her that Jesus loves her praise, her night time prayers include, "Please help me to not stop singing to you." YES! Lord let her have a heart of worship!

 Sweet girl getting dropped of at Sunday School.

 Evil Knieval quad riding.

 So excited to ride the Trolley after Farmers Market! As we were riding, I asked her what her favorite thing we did that evening was and with the biggest smile and eyes that I hope I'll never forget , she looked at me and said, "Right NOW!"

 She insisted she wanted to see the Easter Bunny. She's been giving herself pep talks, and even though we told her she didn't have to (she isn't a fan of costumed friends) she wanted to. Once we were close to him she wasn't so sure, but still wanted to pose for a picture. She was trembling, but I was so proud of her!

She has a new love for puzzles (and an old love for funny faces)

EZRA IS #1- football party

*UPDATE:Hello Pinterest friends and Dietpepsi.com ! I didn't know anyone but my family looked at this little, neglected blog. I've been blown away by the daily number of readers checking out this post. I've added a few more pictures of the little projects we did for fun (warning not the best photo quality!)

So long sweet baby, hello big boy!  One. Year. Old. I can't believe it. "Ezra is #1" (as we like to chant)!

Ezra's actual birthday was kind of a boring day. But he did get his first ice cream!  And really he had no idea what was up. ( I wonder if he'll be like his big sister and give me a detailed list of what he wants for his second birthday.) But his party was awesome (if I say so myself ;-).

I had so much fun finding ideas on Pinterest!  Jose  helped me make a lot of our decorations, and since we are kind of football fanatics we already had a lot of the supplies!

A few of our projects:
$3 thrift store ugly picture turned chalkboard menu, Concession Stand sign (AKA the picture pinned 1000 times on Pinterest, and featured on dietpepsi.com)

Jose made the field goal with a couple of dollars of PVC, and spray paint we had on hand. The banners were all from Ezra's room!

Football field table cloth was out of an astroturf carpet and white duct tape

I bought the carpet at Home Depot, and used poster board letters for the end zone. 

The food table didn't get much photo love. It was pretty basic, but we did have football themed plates, napkins and cups. The silverware was in vases I wrapped in scrapbook paper and white tape. 

 Inside the house, I replaced all our regular art and pictures with pictures of Ezra (mostly football related).

A view of the mess the night before! The signs were on our walkway and door. The bags were for the piñata candy.

Jose really wanted to get Ezra an official Nike jersey. It was almost like a gift for Jose more than Ezra! Fortunately it has fit him all year so he's got plenty of use from it. We are hoping future babies will use it too. 

 I worried all month about the weather. We never know what we will get in March! The month started as one of the warmest we've had in awhile (and driest!) which convinced me it wouldn't last until his party on the 21st! Fortunately all projected rain didn't come, and the day was beautiful (but windy, which meant I couldn't put all the centerpieces outside).





I ordered football popcorn boxes and the suckers from Oriental Trading. Easter was around the corner so I filled football eggs with candy, and used pictures of him from throughout the year that were football related.

My sister in law provided the super cute football cake pops, and we made the field stand out of styrofoam.  The cupcakes were made by our niece and tasted and looked great! My mom made football rice krispie treats, and the football strawberries were made by an aunt. I was so grateful for all the creative baking help!

The desserts were probably my favorite part! 

We asked guest to wear their team colors, and I loved how everyone got into the football theme! 

Poor Ezra did not sleep well the night before his party and had a fever. The day of his party he was not himself, and preferred to be carried. I was bummed that he wasn't running around playing, but I think he still enjoyed himself. He ended up getting sicker the next few days. Poor guy was miserable, and couldn't sleep for a week.

The next couple of pictures may be hard to believe....Raider and Charger fans getting along??

 He LOVES to wear the mini foam fingers!

 He of course loved his cake, but hated having his hands dirty!

I made his high chair banner out of fabric remnants from his nursery. I just printed the letters out from my computer and traced them onto the fabric.

Glimpse of the football bounce house.

 Love the team spirit!

My boy and I!

Can't have a party without a piñata! 

It was such a fun day! Everything came out great, and it was fun celebrating with 75 of our closest family and friends (CRAZY!).