The Big 5

Dear Aubrey,

Today you turned 5. I continue to be amazed at what a bright, independent, head strong (which is a fancy word for stubborn), beautiful and funny little girl you are. Your giggles make my heart smile. You know what you want (or don't want), and convincing you otherwise is nearly impossible. You are sensitive and kind and have a tender heart.

You are learning to read, and can read simple books all by yourself! You love school and you love to learn, and you are very much looking forward to Kindergarten. And your Pre-K teachers loved you so much, they both sent you Birthday greetings today! You are much more social than you used to be, and actually acknowledge people now...most of the time. You make friends easily but can be a bit bossy with them at times. I prefer to believe that this is because you are a leader.

You love to swim, and are so proud of yourself that you don't need floaties anymore. You love to dance and twirl, and you love to sing "my songs". You love horses, and wish we could have one in the backyard. Your favorite movie is The Black Stallion. You are in love with Harry Potter, and you and Austin spend many hours casting spells at each other and reading the books. You love to play on the computer, and Mario Kart on the Wii. And you can beat mommy every time! And of course, you also love baseball (really had no choice). I think mostly because your brother loves baseball so much, but you are learning the game and falling in love with playing it. You are turning into a pretty good athlete.

You still worship your brother, and still call him Nahnie, which is what most of your friends, his friends and our friends now call him. You love to be with him, even if it means playing the 500th game of 'front room' baseball or watching him play baseball on the computer. He still makes you giggle the hardest. You can be screaming and tattling on him one minute, and hugging on him the next.

Your favorite thing is getting your back scratched. Your favorite food is still Mac and Cheese, and your favorite color is still green (like mommy). And my Oklahoma Girl loves her sweet tea. When you are tired you still pick at your top lip, and you still love to fall asleep with your hand on mommy's face.

You are my cuddle bug, and I cherish every hug and kiss from you. I am so very proud of the little girl you are.  

 How old are you today?

Blowing out the candles on her home-made baseball cake. She and daddy made it together.

More Swimming...

Aubrey jumping off the diving board...notice no floaties and I am not in the pool. It took all of 10 minutes in the pool with her daddy to get the confidence to swim all by herself. Now there is no stopping her!

I finally got one of Austin going in the water. His dives are getting pretty good, and he can get some pretty good air too. He is now trying to master flips, which resulted in a painful back-flop...

Bulldogs

Austin's first official season with the Bulldogs is over for the summer. It was a fun season overall, and we are all a little lost without practices twice a week and games every weekend (not to mention Aubrey's practices and games thrown in there too). The boys played about 35 games and traveled to 5 different towns around Oklahoma, including Tulsa. Austin played great ball, and I always love watching him play. I think I am always more nervous than he is though. He has made some great friends, and so has his mommy. And although Brian almost threw his shoulder out pitching to the boys every game, he had a great time too.  We love the Bulldogs!

Here are some pics from the season:

Bulldogs, resting between games.

The coin toss. Pockets out...which Austin started. He has been doing this since he started t-ball, thanks to one of his favorite Red Sox players-Manny Ramirez. Every teammate Austin has had has been converted to a pocket out kind of player. 

Down and ready, eye black on.

Stepping up to the plate.

Pitching a shut-out, no runs allowed.

Sparkles

Aubrey's first season of baseball has come to a close, and I am not sure if she had more fun playing, or I had more fun watching her. She had a really good time, learned a lot, and did amazing! I am so proud of my other little ball player. I have to say that being a coach was a lot of fun, (other than dealing with other coaches in the league who took t-ball WAY to seriously), and I really enjoyed all of the little girls. They were always smiling, even when we were playing in 50 mile an hour wind with dirt blowing up their noses. And after every game they always asked "Did we win?". In which the answer was always "Almost".

Here is my littlest ball player...

Heading towards first to make the out!

Watching the runner...who is almost twice her size.

It's a base hit! (photo courtesy of Gpa Dave)

Standing on 2nd base (photo courtesy of Gpa Dave)

Aubrey and her first baseball trophy. (Thankfully all t-ball players got trophies!)

Wonders Never Cease

I have a clean house!

Not the "my parents are coming in 12 hours I have to hide the filth, spot clean and make it look like we don't live this way" kind of clean. I am talking about the "move the furniture, wash the base boards, wipe down the blinds, I can't believe I ever let it get this dirty again" kind of clean. Whew. Feels so good to have a clean house. I had to tell you, because I know you know what a huge achievement this is for me, especially during summer. And it only took three days (probably only a few hours total, but I have to rest a lot and watch TV and play board games with the kids to stay motivated. This probably has something to do with why my house doesn't get this clean very often). And sidenote...the laundry is caught up, for 5 minutes anyway.

Oh crap, the kids are up. That lasted 12 hours...

Summer Fun

Last time I updated, we were consumed with baseball again...still, always. Both of the kids' seasons are over now, at least until fall (posts to come soon). So now we are focused on spending as much time in the pool again as possible. Luckily we have two good friends who both have pools, so we are able to invite ourselves over at least once a week somewhere to get some sun and fun in the water. Both the kids are getting pretty dark, even with the 50 sunblock I lather them up in. And I have finished peeling, for now. Aubrey is now able to swim without floaties, although she is still scared to do so in the deep end. She swims underwater to get diving sticks in the shallow end though. As soon as she gets the nerve she will be swimming all over. She does go off the diving board, if mommy is there to catch her. I then have to shove her towards the ladder before she drowns me, but she is able to do it. So proud of my little water bugs. 

Austin in mid dive. He is getting pretty good. I tried to get him going in the water but always missed the shot...

One of our friends has a huge bull mastiff named Matilda. She is huge! But such a sweet dog.

Matilda's head is twice the size of Aubrey's. Crazy.

July 4th

What another fun 4th of July we had! We started the day by going to a parade. The kids were excited to go until it took too long to get started ("how much longer until it starts?"), and then took to long to get over ("when is this gonna be done?"), and then it was too hot ("I am sweating!"). All by 10am.

We spent the rest of the day doing a lot of nothing, and then went downtown to watch the fireworks. Aubrey enjoyed them a lot more this year, we were far enough away for her to not be too scared by the loud bangs. We walked around downtown some as well, which I don't think we have done since Brian graduated. They have added a lot of cool stuff. Here are some pictures of the day.

They started out waving at all of the people, and firetrucks, and horses, and clowns...

but quickly got tired and sat down. Aubrey tried to find any shade she could.

Watching the fireworks

What gorgeous kiddos. Standing in front of some new structure downtown.

The structure. Not quite sure what it is, but it is pretty.