Happy Valentine's Day!

To make our Valentine's Day a little sweeter, Lyndsay from Educated...Not So Domesticated and I made some pretty cute cake pop treats...yum!

Teaching Commences...

So tomorrow starts by first official day as a literacy teacher at Charles Peck Elementary.  I am teaching short literacy lessons to grades K-5 on Mondays and Tuesdays.  This part-time job was offered to me and we clearly saw this as an open door that I needed to take.  So many blessings in this job: no report cards, no parent conferences, little prep, I get to work with each grade level of kids, and I get to be with the awesome staff at Peck.  Of course this transition will take some adjustment on all of us, but we are excited for this opportunity.  This will be such a great opportunity for me to know whether I should really be a working mom or if my place is to be a stay-at-home mom.  Here's to tomorrow...hopefully it will be a great "first day of school" for me :).

15 Months

Our little girl has been growing a lot these past few months...

She's up to 18.5 lbs!!  That's great news for us and the doctors :) 

She is one curious little girl...

She loves to go on bike rides with Daddy :)

Loves her little red tent.  Great buy from IKEA!

Loves to be more independant when she eats and that means more messes to clean up, but worth seeing her feeding herself :).  She has become more selective on what she wants to eat voluntarily however :(.

Got her first black eye (along with her grandfather one day apart) :(.  She fell off a little rocking chair onto a toy.

Has popped out three molars.  The poor girl has been a mess a lot of the time becuase she's in so much pain.

On January 25, 2012 she said "hi" and then waved to us from her highchair.  We counted it as her first word :)  She can also say "bye" and she even says this when we leave her in the nursery or have someone watch her.  I have to admit...a little bittersweet.

Actually sits through most of a book!!!  Her favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, The Wheels on the Bus, Corduroy, and Five Little Monkeys (of which she does the motions too). 
She also loves to sit and look at books on her own.  Doesn't happen too often, but when she does she sits in her booster chair and holds the book up with legs.

She loves her $3.00 little Magna Doodle too.

She can make some funny animal sounds. Her angry cat sound is the best :)

These past few months have just flown by!  We're currently transitioning our family schedule a bit as mom goes back to work part-time.  We're taking this huge blessing as a way of having a "trial run" of whether or not mom should be a full-time mom or part-time teacher as well.  We're thankful for this opportunity and we'll see what these next few months will bring us :).

Guess Who's Family is Getting Bigger?...

...not our little family but...

Jon and Krystal are having a baby!!!  We are so excited for them!!!  We are also so excited to be an uncle and aunt for the first time and for Aubrey to have a cousin :).  Praying for a healthy baby and strength for the soon-to-be parents.  Can't wait to meet this blessing!!

Happy 2012!

Christmas 2011

This year's Christmas (compared to last year's Christmas) was very memorable.  Not to say that last year's wasn't, but we were pretty sleep deprived :).  This year felt different as Aubrey is a little older and she was just so much fun.  As we set up our Christmas tree, set out Aubrey's stocking for the first time, and danced around to Christmas music with her, this year definately felt special.  It was so much fun to see Christmas in the eyes of a little one and how special that is.  Aubrey made us love Christmas all over again this year.

Christmas Eve evening was spent at our church service.  My dad is in charge of a construction project there and he even made the place look more festive despite the construction going on.  I know that he is my dad and I think that everything he puts his hands on is going to be awesome, but this project has been especially challenging for him at times and it has turned out great so far. He has so many gifts and I am so thankful that those gifts are being used right now.  I know that this project has also been rewarding for him and it has been such a blessing to see him be a part of this. 

Chrismas morning was a special time together as a family of three :).  Brandon had the WHOLE day off and it was great to have some strada and play with our little one together.  She can be such a ham sometimes.

That afternoon we went over to Mimi and Corkey's house for Christmas dinner.  We opened presents and ate a wonderful meal.  We had a wonderful time spending time together.

Brandon's present from his brother Tyler.  Crocheted sweater/turtle neck/long T...something like that.  One word...wow.

We even decorated a gingerbread house together :)

The day after Christmas we got together with the Maz family.  Jon and Krystal drove from Utah that day and Jeremy came on Christmas Eve.  This is the first time that we were all together since the summer :).  We enjoyed a great dinner together and a gift exchange where we picked names this year.  We really enjoyed our time together and we'll have even more time together during the week!

Merry Chrismas and a Happy New Year!!!