Happy Birthday Aubrey

And just like that our oldest baby turned seven. Seven just seems old! Of course I say this every year, but really seven is a big number, especially when it describes one of my babies ages! These years are just flying by before my eyes and although I am thankful for where we are and all the exciting things that happen as our kids grow up, a part of me wishes I could hop back in time really quick to get a little cuddle from my big girl when she was just a baby. I am so very proud of this girl though, and how much she has matured, how kind her heart is, how she is willing to help me out a bunch and how she is truly just a great big sister to all of her littles.

 I think Aubrey had a pretty special birthday this year. She got to wake up with a houseful of cousins! They left after lunch so she still got to celebrate a bit with them which she loved! We had a "relaxing" morning around the house, with a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs and a bunch of fruit. She got to open a present, play with her cousins and then on to lunch at none other than Pei Wei of course. She still has Pei Wei picked as her favorite. Some things never change.

Her present from her siblings.

All the cousins before they headed out.

 Landon loves Korben. He hugs him and wants to be around him all the time. It's pretty cute!

Everyone saying goodbye. This made the birthday girl a little down but we tried to save the rest of the day for some fun family time.

We came home and let her open a couple of presents. One of them was a new Lego Friends set so we knew she would want to spend some time building and playing with her sisters.

After some lego building time we headed to the pool of course, and packed a picnic dinner. However as we got loaded in the car and drove away we saw the super cloudy sky and heard the thunder. They have a pretty strick thunder rule at our pools, so every time they hear thunder the close the pool for 30 minutes. Ugh! When we got to the pool we thought we would pass time by playing at the park and we kept hearing thunder. We ate our picnic dinner by the pool, and then to pass the time even more Jeff made up a ring toss game that kept them entertained for awhile. Finally after probably an hour and a half they let us in the pool! Normally we would not have waited but the poor birthday girl really wanted to go swimming!

Passing time at the park. Landon wouldn't stop long enough for a picture.

Then passing time with pool chair ring toss.

I managed one picture once they got to swim.

And a pretty big milestone happened that night as well. Aubrey and Adalyn decided to face a fear (no idea why they were scared because they both are great swimmers) and go down the water slides alone. Of course now they love it and want to do it the whole time we are at the pool.

 Aubrey's dessert of choice was a homemade apple pie, so we came home for apple pie, ice cream and presents. It was definitely a full day!

 The famous birthday spankings.

We love you so much Aubrey Claire. You are such a special sweet girl, and a treasure to us. I pray for you daily, that you continue to have such a great desire to learn more and more about God and that one day you will learn to follow Him with all of your heart. I am so very proud of the young lady you are becoming and you really are so great at being the biggest sister. We love you sweetheart! Happy 7th Birthday!

Another Fun Visit with the Cousins

A couple of weeks ago my sister and her family came down for a visit and to celebrate the big girls birthdays. It was just a great weekend, an exhausting  weekend, but so much fun. Saturday morning we headed out to East End Park, which is just behind our neighborhood and meets up with Lake Houston, and we did a nice little walk/hike through the woods. 4 adults, 8 kids. So it sounded fun in theory, but keep in mind it was August... in Houston... and I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time. Oh dear! Also, this pregnancy has been a lot harder than the other 4. I have been pretty uncomfortable for weeks now, plus I have contractions all throughout the day. So walking through the woods, with a rather large baby inside, with the incredible heat and humidity plus contractions was probably not the best decision I ever made. But I survived and it was a funny memory! But it didn't stop there. We came home and ate pizza and then headed to the pool. Landon and I stayed behind for a bit so he could nap, then it was home to make tacos for dinner (it's quite the process cooking and making meals for 4 adults and 8 kids!). We had a little "party" for the girls on Saturday night. It worked out well since we didn't do a birthday party this year, and I kind of think 8 kids celebrating you is pretty much a party! Here are the very few pictures that I got while they were here.

 Opening presents.

 When the girls were giving thank you hugs, Landon decided to join in and hug everyone as well.

 Cake time!
They wanted a "Frozen" cake, so I ordered one from a friend of mine that makes cakes, but then the figurines didn't really fit. Oh well, it was still cute and delicious!

Our Two Six Year Olds

Every year we have to get a picture during these nine days when our big girls are the same age. It's tradition and it's always a fun few days. Now that the girls are getting older they really love it and  like to pretend they are twins. Ha! Here are our two 6 year olds, for a few days.

Avery wanted a picture with her big sisters too.

Love these girlies of mine! Can't believe there will be another little girl so soon!

Happy Birthday Adalyn!

Our cute number two turned 6 last week! I can hardly believe it. I really feel like she just grew up all of a sudden. Just yesterday she was my cute little three year old, saying the funniest things, I could carry her around on my hip and her little chubby cheeks were just too much! And now here we are, watching her turn 6 and starting 1st grade. This girl is such an incredible little girl though. She is a bright spot in our family and still always has funny things to say. She is shy as shy can be around other people, but when it's just our family she is a crack up. She has a great imagination, she loves music and love to sing and make up songs, she loves to make up stories and tell them to Jeff and I, she DOES NOT like to write (this is new since starting school apparently. She tells me every day "I do not like to write!"), she loves to be outside and riding her bike and her very favorite thing to do is swim. She has become a pro swimmer this summer, especially for not having any lessons. I mean the girl has amazing form! She is also such a great helper most of the time, and often asks me what she can help me with. She actually enjoys putting laundry away and emptying the dishwasher (not sure how long this will last so I'm just going to enjoy the fact that right now, she does). She is most definitely a little people pleaser like her mommy and in fact takes after me in most of her personality. Funny story... at church on Sunday when they printed off her name tag, they also printed off a "Happy Birthday" sticker. After church Aubrey told me that she took it off and threw it away before she got to her class because she didn't want anyone to know it was her birthday. Ha! I seriously can't stand to be the  center of attention. It stresses me out. My wedding day, wedding showers, baby showers, even my birthday when I was young were very stressful to me. Just makes me laugh that this little girl can be so much like me.

So on her actual birthday all that she really requested was that she wanted to go swimming. Because I was 34 weeks pregnant and don't really enjoy taking everyone swimming alone, we waited til later in the afternoon when Jeff could go with us. We spent our morning playing at the indoor park at a nearby church (always a favorite), we came home for lunch and then while Landon napped all three girls played with legos for probably a good two hours. She got new legos from her sisters and it was apparently a highlight of her day. Then we headed to the pool and even ordered pizza at the pool for dinner per the birthday girls request.

She begged and begged that morning to open one present, and she wanted to open the one from her siblings. How could we say no, so after a yummy breakfast of bacon and egg tacos made by Daddy, we let her open that present.

 Lego Friends! It's a new favorite over here.

 Telling her siblings thank you.

 Landon has one thing on his mind when he wakes up, and that is food. He wasn't too interested in what was going on with his sisters.

Then off to the indoor park.

I didn't really take many pictures swimming because, well, we were swimming. So here's one!

Then we came home for dessert and presents. She asked for a key lime pie this year, but then she didn't like it. I felt so bad!

Oh and she did open one more from us before we went swimming. We got her a new cd player for her room which made her very happy!
 

 Getting some birthday spankings from Daddy.

 Happy Birthday!!

 Jeff and I with our birthday girl.

 We love you sweet Adalyn Ella. Happy happy birthday!