Little Ham

Just seconds before taking these pictures Aubrie was throwing a lovely fit at the dinner table. The second Chris grabbed the camera she stopped whining. How amazing! He was about to snap and she said "Cheese", smiling very big. Here are a few pictures of her hamming it up for the camera. The second we were done taking the pictures she went back to her lovely fit again. Kids!!

I was telling Aubrie to open her eyes up when Daddy takes the picture. Do you think her eyes are open enough (smile)?

Here she is making some great sad faces. Isn't it funny how they can make such sad faces on demand? That tells you that they know exactly what they are doing.

What a sad face!!

Congratulations Chris!!!!

I know most of you are aware that Chris just accepted a job at a Bank about 3 weeks ago. Which we believe will be a great place for him to work. He was informed by his manager that he needed to take three tests in order to continue working for the bank. The 1st test was just a basic Bank test. He passed that with flying colors. The 2nd test was a little more difficult and required him to study for 3 weeks straight. We are happy to say that he passed with an 80...which is 10 points ahead of what is required in order to pass. He was so relieved to see the ending result. We are all so proud of him for his hard work while studying. His 3rd test is the most difficult. He has some concerns about this one, but has about 7 weeks to study for it. He will be taking a week course to really dive into what he should be studying at a local college. So you can see how difficult this test can be if they are providing a week course. We are asking for all your prayers during the next couple of months while Chris is studying away. Please pray for confidence & a peace to be upon Chris while he studies & takes his test. I will get everyone the exact date of the test later. But I do know it's the 2nd week in September. Which is a few days before Mackenzie is born. I know that he has talked about having a lot of pressure. But I know that Chris is incrediably smart & can do this! Congratulations again Chris!!!!

Here are a few cute pictures of Chris and Aubrie:


You can really see Aubrie's dimples in some of the pictures above. I love seeing them because it shows that she does have a little bit of her mom in that body (smile).

Swimming & Jumping

We reached the high 90's this past weekend. Boy was it hot and humid outside. The last thing I wanted was to be cooped up in our place with only one room to sit in. We have a wall air conditioner which only reaches our living room space. Chris's parents offered to take us over to their neighborhood pool to try and stay cool. We took them up on the offer & here are a few fun pictures of Aubrie really enjoying herself. It didn't take her long to really try some new things in the "big" pool. She was jumping off the side of the pool into the water all by herself. She was doing a great job at kicking her feet while holding herself above water in the inner tube. She is a natural swimmer & I can't wait to take her again. One funny side note: When she would slip on the bottom of the pool and fall completely in the natural thing to do is pop out of the water, right? Not Aubrie. She would stay under water until one of us pulled her out. The good thing was that she was holding her breath, but the bad part is the fact that she wasn't attempting to even pull herself out of the water. Silly girl! She did that 4x's while in the pool. By the 3rd time it wasn't bothering her as much. So it was a learning experience. The pool kept us cool & it was nice to relax for the afternoon.

Here are some shots of her jumping into the pool.

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Most two year old usually take the easy way out of the pool. Like using the stairs or something like that. Not Aubrie. As you can see in the picture below she would get her long leg out of the pool and pull herself up. She had to of done this at least 40 times. By the end of the day she was getting out pretty slow.

Swimming in the inner tube. This is where she was picking up how to kick her legs to get herself to move. I was very impressed on how fast she picked it up.

Kitchen Update #3

Here are a few updated pictures of our kitchen with the new paint on the walls. It's hard to see the true color through camera, but you can defiantly see the difference. I decided to put the orange paint on all the walls instead of just two. The color was perfect next to the cabinets and our counter tops. All my pictures that are hung match up perfectly. We still need to do a few minor things before we can call the kitchen complete. For the most part it's almost done....Yippee!!!!

Here are a couple pictures to remind you of the old kitchen without paint:



Repainted Kitchen:

We painted the pantry door all white which gave it a brand new look. It used to be the old dark wood to match our old dark cabinets. It made for such a sunny kitchen. (smile). This really changed the whole space. Now that I see how nice it turned out with a white door, I am planning on painting or replacing all our doors in our place before we move.

A little color

I bought some finger paints about 3 weeks ago for Aubrie to play with. At first I thought it would be a fun & new thing for us to do together. Then when I got it home I started to think that this could get really messy. So it sat for more than 3 weeks. Just this morning I had the urge to let her go for it. So I put some newspaper on her little table & decided that I was OK with it. I seem to forget that I have a very dainty girl when it comes to certain things. One of those things is when she has something on her hands. She doesn't like to to get it everywhere. So at first she only used one finger to try and paint a masterpiece. But I told her to stick her whole hand in the paint & have a blast. I joined in the fun half way through & that really got her going. Her big "daring" moment was putting paint on her cheeks. I love having such a girlie girl. She makes my life less stressful & crazy. And the whole thing was such an easy clean up. All I had to do was throw her in the tub & she was clean in less than 2 minutes. Needless to say we both had a blast & here are a few pictures of our morning.

Here is the end result....not to shabby!!

Miss 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone!!
We enjoyed our morning of the 4th in a cute little parade taken place over by my in laws house. We attended the same parade last year & had a good time. So we decided to do it again this year. It's so much fun seeing all the kids dressed up in their best 4th of July gear. They have a couple firetrucks, ambulances & cop cars in the front and back of the parade. In the middle are kids riding their bikes, walking, & in strollers. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Aubrie had some cute red bracelets for her wrists and ankles. She loved putting on as much as she could.

Me and Aubrie

Looking pretty festive for the parade.

Aubrie's cousin getting into the festive parade as well.

Chris, Brian and the kids

Here are some cute pictures of some kids who really dressed it up for the parade.

Aubrie & Aidan enjoying the ride through the parade.

Here are a few pictures after the parade:

Our friends Marty & Alison's son Aidan. He is such a ham!
Enjoying a yummy hot dog.

Aubrie and her Grandma

It's a bird....

It's a plane....

It's a big red fire truck!

After the mini parade one of the fire trucks would put their ladder up so the kids could take pictures in it. Aubrie was not into the fire truck this year. When they were raising the ladder she got a little scared. She didn't want to get out of her stroller the rest of the time. All she kept saying was, "I want to go to Grandma's house". So we didn't stay as long as we did last year. I didn't mind to much considering it was so hot and humid that day.


The Family

Aidan & Alison (His mom)

We headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house after the parade. Here are the girls chilling out in some comfy chairs.

Still chilling.

Here's Aubrie watching her Daddy play a game of beanbags. You'll see in the next pictures to come. She looks so excited, doesn't she (smile)?

My father-in-law made a game of beanbags the other day. Here is Chris and his dad enjoying a competitive game. I believe Chris won (he, he, he).

Good form Chris.

My father-in-law & Chris

After a little while of sitting and relaxing the girls had a blast in Grandma's little pool. It was a perfect day for them to be in the water. Aubrie jumping out of the pool. She is such a jumper.

Aubrie's cousin's trying to drink the water. Too cute!

Filling up the pool. Always wanting to help out when she can.

Here is one of Aubrie's cousins.

Splish splash splish....

This is also Aubrie's cousin. Doesn't she have the most beautiful red hair you've ever seen??