The rest of the Aubrey news...& her Cousins!

First off, A cheery good day to ya'all!

...Even though we're cutting teeth again to add to the 2 on the bottom that came in several weeks ago.

Usually when Miss Aubrey wakes up she will lay there very quietly for long periods of time entertaining herself with her fingers and toes. Certainly a blessing for this busy Mommy. :)

She likes to do this...

When she is very happy she tucks her chin down and gives an exuberant little shiver and kicks her feet like crazy. :D

There is a video at the bottom of her in her jumperoo with Cousin Lala entertaining her. :)

And now for the Cousins...

We had a houseful of blessings this past weekend! Pretty much the equivalent of having a 5 yr old followed by 3 sets of twins...although technically each one of my kiddos falls somewhere between each of Sjo's.

Aunt Sjo can keep 7 kids under 5 quiet for a long time. :)

listening to bedtime stories. :)

So in age order that would be:

Phi-5yrs

Kate-4yrs

Aaron-4yrs(they're 4 mos difference)

Marcus-2yrs

Elliott-2yrs (3 mos difference)

Julia-1yr

Aubrey-5mos (8mos difference)

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Julia showing her ability to act like a perfect little lady.

Uncle E showing his ability to entertain 6 kids at once. ;)

The wonders of "Angry birds"! :]

A few glimpses of some of the kid fun!

Little Miss Aubrey

Well, Our Little Miss is growin' up way too quickly as usual. :) At 5mos she is 17 lbs and 27in.

I decided to interupt my catchup posts to do an up-to-date post on some of the little changes I've noted in her growth over the past few weeks...

She has migrated to the BIG bathtub instead of the kitchen sink, and she loves "swimming" around in it and splashing. Sometimes I let Miss Kate join her, as long as Kate's not too rambunctious in the wavemaking department. Kate loves to give her sister swimming lessons. ;)

Her eyes are fastened on Kate. :)

On a side note...what is it about bathwater that tastes SOO GREAT!!! Bleck!! My kids are constantly trying to drink it. :[

She found her toes awhile ago and loves to play with them.

She is my most vivacious and enthusiastic baby yet! :D She frequently gets so exuberant that she can hardly contain herself and gives these joyous little whole-body-shivers along with squeals of delight. She also loves to be in middle of the action and be interacted with often.

She also seems to like adrenaline rushes...such as from being thrown in the air, sat up and left to topple in a heap onto the bed, or frightened by a dramatic BOO! When undressing her I grab her sleeves and pull until she drop out on the bed with a flop and a bounce and she thinks that is THE GREATEST! Silly kiddo. :)

She's been practicing the self portrait thing...

...and she's getting pretty good at it! :D

She has been developing a special bond with big sister (or maybe the other way around) now that she enjoys the interaction so much. After the initial excitement of a new baby wore off I think Kate found her to be somewhat boring, but now she is enjoying her more often than not and it is fun to see. Tay-O has always doted on Aubrey but I have no pictures to show for it...I'll have to work on that.

I was attempting to load a video but am having issues so guess it will have to go on a different post.

When November Turned to December...

Although we still had a few cold and clear days, we often woke to heavy frosts that were so beautiful! It almost looked as if we'd had a dusting of snow.

We did our final raking of the leaves for the winter...

The kids were beginning to get the hang of leaf raking and turning into quite the good helpers.

Miss Kate had a much better attention span than her 2yr old brother...

That's not to say there wasn't some goofing around on her part tho.

(I'm pretty sure her brother would have been raked into the leaf pile if intervention had not occurred.)

But she continued diligently raking even when brother left off with the work part of things...

And even when he began playing in her hard work...

she continued on.

After he paced back and forth several times in front of her he was made to fix her leaf pile...

But in reality I think he spread it out even more! :)

So Kate gave up on being helpful and gave in to having fun!

Did you know if you walk around in a circle, passing through a leaf pile, while shuffling your feet...

over and over...

and over again...

changing directions if you start getting dizzy...

and you do it for long enough...

you will eventually get a circle shaped leaf pile!

And if you have a circle shaped leaf pile with a path through the middle there are no end to the games you can play in it!

But all fun must come to an end...even fall fun!

Not to worry though, as winter fun is just around the corner.

And freezing fog is sure pretty to look out the window to.

Then came November...

There was still a little color left in the trees and a few clear COLD days. We enjoyed the benefit of some sunshine and took the opportunity for a chilly day at the park to break up the monotony of day after day cooped up inside.

Sometimes everybody just does their thing and has fun...

...and somtimes they get their imaginations going, and thats even more fun!

Run, we're late for the bus!

The happy Bus driver!

Exit the bus with some drama!And climb aboard again!

Then mix it up and climb UP the slide and DOWN the steps...

The happy passenger!

Time to pick up another passenger!

Also a happy passenger!

And the time to take home little chilly noses and toeses always comes "too soon" for them. :)
We say goodbye to cousin Lala and Aunt Vi as they head back to their house.

And we head off across the park to our house, glad for one more chance to play at the park before we go into hibernation...