Independent girl

Aubrey has always been an independent little girl. She has a "do it myself" personality. As we waited for our new baby to arrive, I worried about how Aubrey Rose would react. Now that Austin is here, it makes me wonder why I worried at all. I love watching and hearing her play independently. Her imaginary and creative world has become an adorable daily occurrence. It melts my heart to hear her from the other room playing and talking with her babies and her toys.

Anybody want to join her tea party?

How about legos??

Or just good 'ole outside fun??

I put a bunch of ice in a bowl of water for her to transfer with a slotted spoon to the other bucket. She loved it, but loved the outdoor play even more.

Blake's "mini-me"

Austin still looks like his daddy to me. He still has a little bit of jaundice to get rid of and then they might be able to pass as twins....well, just 31 years apart. :)

No wedding bells yet!

Aubrey noticed a picture of Blake and I on our wedding day. I took the opportunity to tell her about our wedding. I told her all about my favorite things from that special day. We talked and talked about all kinds of sweet memories and the best of feelings. One of my favorite days EVER!
Ever since chatting with Aubrey about our wedding day she has been all about getting married. She comments on any picture she sees of a couple on their wedding day. When playing with her dolls or babies she talks about getting married. It is so cute. But, then one day she came out like this...

Aubrey Rose's commercial!

You might remember Aubrey Rose's first commercial for Wawona's PeachTree. Well, this past week Aubrey got to shoot her second commercial. This time it was filmed at SaveMart. We recently started selling our Wawona fruit cups at SaveMart!!

Next time you go grocery shopping, look for Wawona's fruit cups! Look in the FROZEN fruit section next to the ice cream. I promise you will not be disappointed!

Auntie Blair is playing the role of mommy and Aubrey Rose is her daughter. Love it!

Aubrey Rose knows just what to shop for!

Good choice Aubrey!!

There are FOUR different fruit cups to choose from...

PEACHES AND STRAWBERRIES

TROPICAL BLEND

PEACH, PINEAPPLE, RASPBERRY BLEND

SPECTRUM BLEND

Here is a look at the Peaches and Strawberry blend...

These come frozen so you can buy a couple of boxes, keep some in your freezer and put some in your fridge to have on hand whenever you need a refreshing snack. As I mentioned before, you will not be disappointed!!

You can follow Wawona Frozen Foods on Facebook to stay updated as to when the commercial will be airing!

Two kids

Life with two kids has been quite an easy transition over here. I was expecting to go a little bonkers, especially at the beginning. I am sure those days are on the horizon but so far things have been better than I expected. I think it has helped us to have a 3 year gap between Aubrey and Austin. Aubrey Rose adores her little brother. She often tells people as they are looking or holding him, "Isn't he cute??" She constantly is checking on him or asking where he is. She has been so sweet and tender to him. It absolutely melts my heart. The other thing that has definitely helped our transition is those who are near to us, especially family. Aubrey Rose has definitely been loved on from so many directions. She is so blessed. We are so very thankful to each and every one of you who have reached out and helped us in the time special season in our lives. Here are a couple of pictures of our little ones...

Happy Birthday AUBREY ROSE!!

{Aubrey Rose...2 years old}Now you are three years old??!! Where has the time gone? What a joy these past 3 years have been! Aubrey Rose, you light up Daddy and my world, as well as so many others. When I think of you, I think of the sweet Jesus song, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine..." Sunshine, you have this special light that radiates so bright. I pray your heart finds Jesus at such a young age and will never depart from Him. I pray your beautiful light God has blessed you with, will be a beacon of light for others to desire to know more about Him through you.

{Aubrey Rose...3 years old!} My little girl who brings such beautiful light and laughter to our home, you can also bring on a quite a challenge for your mommy and daddy. Your independent spirit, a wonderful and admirable trait when older, is often tricky for us to figure out. You know what you want. You know when you want to do it. You know how you want to do it. And you will try everything possible to do it the way you want to do it. It's a good thing you are cute. (Or "tute" as you would say.) :) Even though it is a challenge at age 2 and 3 (and I am sure for many years to come), we know God has made you perfectly the way you are. We will continue to do our best at raising you to the best of our ability.
Aubrey Rose, you are quite the social little butterfly. You don't mind the hour of the day (or night), if there are people near, you want to be up and playing. You are quite the trooper with our sometimes later nights for family nights or our bible study evenings. You can hang with the best of us! :) The best part about if you stay up late, is you are still fun in the morning!! I am so thankful for that about you. Aubrey, you light up when you get to meet new friends. You REALLY light up when you get to be with your best friends. But the time I see you light up the most when you get to be with our sweet family. You have such a special bond with each family member. Whether grandparent or aunt or uncle or cousins, it is just adorable to see you express your love for them.
You are quite the sleeper. You must have got this wonderful trait from Daddy. Daddy is a great sleeper as well. You usually go to bed about 8 or 8:30 and you wake up at about 7:30am. You still love your naps. You usually sleep from about 2-5pm every afternoon. I really hope you keep this up for a REALLY long time! I can get a lot done during those hours!!

This picture was when I knew it was time for a... BIG girl bed! You moved into this when you were 2 1/2.
Aubrey Rose, you are quite the performer. You like to sing. You like to dance. You like to have lots of attention. :) It is VERY common to hear from you all through out the day, "Mommy, watch this! Watch this, Mommy!" You are our pink girlie girl! You love anything PINK and princess! Sometimes you throw us for a loop and say orange or green or something different than pink. I am sure my eyes bug out in amazement when that happens, since you are usually insist on everything being pink. You love bracelets and shoes and anything that matches. It has to match!
You are an amazing BIG sister!! You have definitely exceeded my hopes and expectations. You have been nothing but sweet and caring for your little brother. You have made us so proud.
Happy Birthday sweet girl! You are officially "free" years old! :)

Happy Birthday BLAKE!!

Yesterday was Blake's birthday!! We celebrated with his family last night, but there is more to come in the celebrations this week!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite guy ever. Blake, there is no one else I would rather do life with than you. You are strong when I am not. You find ways to make me laugh even when I am sad. You take care of me better than I think I deserve at times. You are such a wonderful daddy to our two kids. Thank you for loving me the way you do, no matter what. I love you soooooooooooo much!!! :)

This picture was from last night.
Happy Birthday!!!

Pizza fun!

Recently, I got into a women's bible study group through our church, The Well. Some new friends and some friends I have known for years. We had a pizza party at Jesse and Allie's house. I am so looking forward to be challenged in the Word, in our marriages and life as a mommy. We sure are blessed with a wonderful group of ladies!

First couple of days...

We have been so blessed by such sweet family and friends. All the phone calls, texts, emails, messages, flowers, gifts, delicious meals or just stopping by to meet our little Austin has meant the world to us.
We are adjusting really well. Actually way better than I had expected. Big sister has been a huge fan of her little brother. She has been so sweet, tender, helpful and simply adorable with him. Austin has been just as sweet to us. He is feeding a million times better than I remember Aubrey Rose to have been. He has been sleeping better than I expected. He gave us one night that he thought we should be up from 12-5am, but the other days I haven't even felt like I need a nap! I realize we are only one week into this, so I shouldn't talk too much!! But, it sure has been a nice way to begin this new season in our life. We are blessed beyond words!

Our first night home with our newest addition we had some family stop by. We ate dinner with my parents and Jesse, Allie and Jedidiah.
These cousins are going to grow up to be best buddies. Jed and Austin are 3 months apart. It is going to be so fun watching these two grow up.

Oma and Auntie Allie made cookies with Aubrey Rose. Thank you for loving on our little girl too!

Opa having play time with Jed.

Opa now has 3 grandbabies to juggle his time with. Good thing he does a good job at it!!

Austin at 2 days old

Oma and Opa with 2 of their grandbabies. I still can't believe these babies are ours. How does time fly so fast??!!
Our first morning home, the four of us were out of the house by 8:30am since we needed to get some blood work done for Austin. He had some jaundice, but by Thursday his levels were decreasing. Praise the Lord!!

That night Mimi and Auntie Blair came for dinner. Austin had some sweet snuggle time with Mimi.
and Auntie Blair!

The next night we had some more family stop by. Jon, Andrea and Christopher.

Over the weekend Uncle Gary stopped by.
One of our favorite moments was when Big Papa finally got to meet his first grandson. Big Papa had to fly out the morning Austin was born. He had a busy week in DC, Atlanta and North Carolina. We were so glad for him to be home and for him to meet his grandson.