4 Years Old!!!

To my bestest little friend,

Today you turned 4. What a beautiful, smart, independent little girl you are. I continue to be amazed by how fast time goes, and how fast you are growing up in front of my eyes. You will be starting pre-k in a few short weeks, confirming that you are a big girl now and no longer my little baby.

You are still such a head strong person, not doing anything you don't want to do until you are ready to do it. And although this makes me crazy and causes many power struggles in our house, I admire this quality in you and hope that you never lose it. You are cautious and hesitant to try new things, but then jump in head first when you figure out you like something. Your giggle is intoxicating, and I so much enjoy our bedtime giggle-a-thons. You love to have your back scratched, and so often will use this as an excuse to not go to sleep for "just one more minute".

You are such a smart girl who loves to read books and add numbers, and you know how to write all of your letters and all of our names. You love playing on the computer, and can play your games all by yourself. You love to color and draw, and LOVE music and singing and dancing. You are a big fan of the water and are learning to swim without your floaties, after much coaxing from us. You also love your favorite shows on your favorite channel, PBS Sprout.

You continue to love and worship your Nahnie, and want to play with him all the time. Which means you mostly play baseball in some form or another. You are his biggest advocate; when he is in trouble and sent to his room, you continue to ask if he can get out. You are becoming more social and letting others into your world instead of "ignoring" everyone around you. You make friends easily and enjoy playing with others, but your Nahnie is your favorite friend.

You love the "man in the mask" movie (The Lone Ranger), and when daddy tells you that you are a dirty dog, you say "no I'm not because I like man in the mask". You also like Rocky, and are getting into Harry Potter as well. Daddy reads the Harry Potter books to you and Austin every night.

I am so lucky that I get to be your mommy. You are my best little friend, and I love you more every day. God truly blessed us when He chose you for our family. Happy Birthday my little Aubrey.

Way Back Wednesday #36

So I know when I started this Way Back Wednesday thing it was supposed to be weekly with the hopes that I would at least post, you know, weekly. I will try to do better...

Aubrey 2 yrs ago, right after her 2nd birthday. Hard to believe she is going to be 4. And starting school. My little princess.

One Project Down...

So I think I mentioned that we started a project in the front yard (in April...we move pretty slow around here). A friend of mine over-heard me say we wanted to get rid of the holly bushes in front of our house, and proclaimed that she and her mom could come and "rip those right out no problem". So they came. And they ripped. And they hooked up a tow line to their truck, thinking they would just pop right out and into the back of the truck. I panicked about my yard being torn up. I panicked about breaking a window. I panicked. And when the rope broke, and then kept slipping off the bush ripping all the leaves along the way but leaving the huge stumps, I panicked some more. So when the 'popping them right out" didn't work, they took a saw and cut them all off at the base. And then left.

Nine huge stumps in all. It took Brian and I several hours, a pick ax and two broken shovels to get the bleepin' things out. But we did it. And after saving up a bit at a time, we got our patio put in, some chairs out there, and some planters that still need to be filled. But a huge improvement don't you think?

Before.

During. These are the 9 huge stumps. I wish I would have taken a picture of an actual stump once it was dug out. They were twice the size of a basetball.

After.

And, while we were at it, we cut some branches off our magnolia tree to be able to fit a bench and my pooh bird bath under it. The kids love it.

Swimming

When not playing baseball, we have tried to spend as much time in a pool as possible. On my days off I have been hitting up friends with pools to hang out, and on the weekends we spend a lot of time at our Red Sox friends' house who just so happen to have a pool. I believe it really is the only way to enjoy the Oklahoma heat. And get a good tan as well...

Here is Austin showing off some of his version of "extreme sports" swimming.

And here is Aubrey, ready to go in and watch her 'show' (PBS Sprout, she thinks it is a show and not a televisions channel). "Mommy it is hot out here!"

More Baseball, What Else?

A lot of baseball has happened since my last update. Austin was asked to play in two more tournaments; one with the same team as the first (Raptors), and one with another team (Bulldogs). He has had the opportunity to play different infield positions and decided he really likes playing shortstop. And, both teams have asked Austin to play for them next year.

Tournament ball is fun, but oh so hot!! I am learning the tricks of the trade to keep cool and keep from buying a ton of stuff from concessions (freezing recycled water bottles to keep in a cooler in the car, mister spray fans, fold out chairs to keep from sitting on the 'burn your butt bleachers', coolers with ice water/rags, snacks from home, a ton of sunscreen). It has been a lot of fun. But seriously, summer in Oklahoma? I'm melting...

The Red Sox finished up the season in 3rd place. Not too shabby considering we had a legally blind kid on our team, and a few kids who had never held a bat. This week was the end of season tournament, which the Red Sox didn't play in. There are only about 3 of us from the team who are fanatics about baseball and wanted to play, so we joined other teams who needed players. Austin played with the Bulldogs, who actually ended up winning our division.

Today's temps topped 109 degrees, and the first game of the day went into extra innings with Austin scoring the tying run with a head first slide at home plate. Beautiful. Do you think I had my camera out? Nope. We won the game to send us to the Championship game. Against the Raptors, who came in second in our division. Poetic isn't it? I would like to say we won the Championship, but alas, we didn't. Our boys were spent. But Austin played some stellar ball, and his second place trophy looks pretty good on his shelf.

We have definitely decided not to coach next year. This spring was the end of our Red Sox team. I am sad, and a little relieved. We feel like Austin would learn more from a coach who is not his daddy (who it is too easy to argue with and not listen to), and needs to be on a team with other kids who are as good as he is or better. So now I am trying to convince Brian that he needs to coach Aubrey in T-ball next year. Aubrey has decided (as of right now) she is going to play ball next year, mostly because Austin has told her that he will watch every game. So when she talks about playing, she says "and Nahnie says he will watch every game I play". What a good big brother...

So anyway, we have decided we (and by we I mean Austin) are going to play for one of the teams who wants him. They do a lot of tournament play during the year in addition to the regular season games, and we really like the coaches. And Austin has already corrupted his new teammates to wear their pockets out, which is Austin's trademark-stolen from Manny Ramirez. It was a hard decision, because both teams are so welcoming and the coaches are wonderful, but in the end it was about who Austin wanted to play for. So...Austin is now a Bulldog.

Austin in his Bulldog uniform, with his second place trophy. Seems weird not to see him in Red Sox stuff.

On Wheels

Austin was invited to another skating party this weekend. I think this one made three. He is getting pretty good at skating, although he is easily discouraged after falling on his backside repeatedly. I learned my lesson from the last time we went roller skating and kept my street shoes on. Austin talked Brian into putting on some skates and getting out on the floor, and truthfully it didn't take much talking into. I think Brian was pretty excited to show off his moves. He had more fun than Austin did. Maybe you really can go back...

Brian showing off on his skates.

Austin, getting the hang of things, before bruises.

Whoa! On his way down...

Pouting. Ouch.

Even Aubrey put some skates on and tried it. I was impressed at how well she did.