Getting Bad at This

I'm getting to be a terrible blogger . . . since Trick-or-Treat, we've been busy, although it doesn't really seem like we've done anything . . . anyone else ever feel that way?

We went ice skating one Sunday afternoon with some kids from our church and our friends Brooklynn and Elliott.

We had a nice day in early December to pick out our Christmas tree.

And we even got to visit Santa . . .

We hope you all have a Christmas filled with blessings from God as you celebrate the best gift we've ever been given!

-A

Trick-or-Treat

Trick-or-Treat time is one of Aubrey's favorite times of the year.  She loves candy so much!  She always wants to buy her costume the first day that she sees costumes in the store.  I got her to hold off until the second time we saw them in a store this year, and she chose to be Ariel.  Of course, Ariel has red hair, and Aubrey's is brown, so we had to get a wig to complete the outfit.  After less than 10 houses, the wig was way too itchy and I had to carry it for the rest of the time.

Aubrey's cousins came to trick-or-treat with her, Andrew didn't like his costume at all, so he stayed at the house with Papaw and Mamaw.

Last weekend, we also went to see Disney on Ice . . . it was a fun day and Aubrey took her friend Greta along.

 Yesterday, Aubrey and I went to see the Cat in the Hat in Centerville. We had a great day!

-A

Laugh of the Summer

While we were on vacation, we waited at the front desk of our hotel to ask a question.  Standing in front of us was a man with a bottle of wine in a bag, see the picture below . . .

After seeing this, Aubrey told me, "Mommy, his goldfish died."  She was very sad about this and it took all we had for my mom and me not to laugh!

-A

Violin Lessons

Aubrey has decided that she's going to take violin lessons and she had her first very brief lesson last Sunday, check out the size of her violin!

-A

The Great Darke County Fair

Aubrey loves the fair.  We visited a few fairs this year to watch Grandpa Wulber's horses race and I usually only let Aubrey ride rides at our fair.  (She did get to ride rides at Montgomery County Fair this year!)  Aubrey's favorite ride is probably the Viking Ship, although she rides just about everything she can.  This year she even rode the egg roll (or whatever they're called now).  She also frequented the dragon roller coaster!

Aubrey was in the Little Miss Darke County Fair Pageant and won 4th place!

Can't wait until next year!

Happy 5th Birthday, Aubrey!

Ok, so this is a little late . . . I know.  I went back to work the day after Aubrey's birthday party and I'm still trying to catch up.  Of course, it doesn't help that the fair started that Friday and she seems to think that we need to live there!

Anyway, I can't believe that Aubrey turned 5 this year!  I can still clearly remember the days right before she was born when I was cleaning out my classroom at MV and figuring out how I was going to take on a new job and a brand new baby.  I guess both are going well. :)

On Aubrey's actual birthday, we went to Jumpy's and Aubrey took her friend Myra along.  Although in this picture, it is questionable whether Myra was having fun, they both had a great time.

Aubrey had a water-themed birthday party this year - complete with water balloons and the slip-n-slide.  I still have a nice reminder of the slip-n-slide in the middle of my backyard.

 Aubrey's birthday cakes have all been show-stoppers and this year was no different.  Her cake was an "inflatable pool" and we had sea friends to go along with it.  Thanks, Aunt Alma!

So, if you remember when Aubrey was born, you remember that less than 2 short weeks, she visited the fair for the first time and she's been loving it ever since.  More to come about the fair in a later post - I have to load the pictures to my computer first!

-A

Vacation!

This past week, we had a great time on a beach vacation to North Carolina.  One of my mom's brothers lives about an hour from some very nice North Carolina beaches, so we drove down last Saturday/Sunday and visited my uncle, as well as a cousin and his wife and son, and then on Monday we headed out to the beach.

We stayed in Wilmington, North Carolina and visited their Wal-Mart a few times :)

We first went to Wrightsville Beach, the waves were very rough on the day we went there, but there were lots and lots of shells.  Aubrey came home with several of them!

The second trip to the beach, we decided to try Carolina Beach, which was just 15 minutes down the road.  The waves were calmer on the second day and the sand had less shells in it.  Aubrey played in the sand quite a bit and there were also rides on the board walk.  I thought they would probably be open all day, but after I told Aubrey we could ride, we found out they weren't open until 5.  That meant that we spent the entire day on the beach, I was sun burnt by the time we went in that day!

We skipped the beach the next day, but went back to Carolina Beach again on our last day.

We hope you are enjoying your summer!

-A

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today would have been Ryan's 33rd birthday.  We went out to dinner tonight and Aubrey prayed that Daddy was having a good birthday and that we would have a good supper.  I love the innocence of children!

After supper we had to drive to the "car deals" in town so she could look for a new truck.  When she gets older, she going to have 3 cars - a black truck, a van, and a smaller car, she needs all those because she's "probably going to have a big family."  Sorry Ryan, she picked out a Ford - I told her that you wouldn't be happy.  I guess there are worse things!

-A

Cowgirl

I have a cowgirl on my hands.  We returned on Sunday from Aubrey's first trail riding adventure.  We went to Brown County State Park with the Wulber family and we had a blast!

We arrived at the campground on Thursday afternoon and Aubrey could not wait to get on top of a mule.  She wanted to know when we were going to ride, she continued to ask this until we took off on our first trail ride.  After being on the mule for less then five minutes, she decided the ride was too bumpy and wondered when we would return to camp!

Aubrey rode behind Auntie Rachel on her own little buddy seat.  She rode Cody, which was Ryan's mule.  Here she is trying out her seat.

Becky had knee surgery on Monday before we left, so she did not ride, so I got to ride Gretchen, who is Becky's mule.  Good thing that Aubrey did not ride with me, I took a dive off of Gretchen on the second day that we rode because she got over too far in the mud and slide into a big mud puddle.  I had to bail!

By the end of the trip, Aubrey was "helping" carry water and give the mules a bath.  I think that she mostly wanted to get wet, but oh well!  She is below helping Josie (Uncle Russell's girlfriend) carry water and then helping Grandpa and Uncle Russell give one of the mules a bath.  I think Molly, but maybe Ellie Mae.

On Saturday, Mommy needed a break, so Aubrey and I went into Nashville and shopped a little with Becky.  It was a warm day, but we enjoyed a puppet show and lunch in a coffee shop, special things Becky picked out for us to do on her previous trip into town.  

I had to come home and present a workshop yesterday so I was a little tired, but I think we're going riding again another time - Aubrey needs some new boots, a cowgirl hat, and a riding helmet!

-A

Play Ball!

If you know me, you know that I am not very athletic.  I enjoy playing volleyball, but am by no means great at it.  Aubrey enjoys playing sports, so she's starting her first organized team sport this year with tee ball.  Ryan enjoyed playing softball, so maybe she has a little talent, I'm not sure . . .

She has finally gotten to play a whole game, and although she wanted me to keep coming out in the field with her (I did not), I think she enjoyed it.  She is a pretty good hitter and so far she hasn't had to use the tee to get a hit.

Here are a few pictures of her and her friends Brooklynn and Elliott.

Around the Wulber House . . .

We are so busy, that we're hardly ever here!  I've been kind of waiting to blog until after Aubrey had her first t-ball game because I wanted to post pictures, but it got rained out this weekend, so it will be another week before they get to play.

My dad went to the orthopedic doctor last Tuesday.  His fractures look about the same and he has to wear his back brace for another month before they begin to "wean" him off it.

His eye is still bothering him, he isn't seeing normal out of it.  He goes to see the eye doctor next Tuesday.  We are praying that the doctor will check things out and give ideas about how it is healing.  I'm sure he'd like to be able to see without covering his eye and/or squinting.

Thanks for prayers!

Last Monday was Becky (Wulber's) last concert.  She is retiring at the end of this year, I think I heard she has 9 days of school left!  It was great to watch her conduct and she shared the family with the audience.  Aubrey is looking forward to possibly taking some violin lessons and piano lessons in the near future.  She's also looking forward to going mule riding and camping with the Wulbers, the second weekend in June.

-A

Updates on My Dad

My dad had surgery a week ago Friday on his left eye.  He is definitely opening it up more than he was able to before, but his vision is still blurry and sometimes doubled.  The doctors said it could be up to 3 months before it was completely cleared up.  I am sure it is frustrating to not be able to focus on things and use both of your eyes.

He is in less pain around his back and ribs, he was cleared by the trauma doctors this past Tuesday - for his broken ribs and bruised lung.  He will see the orthopedic doctor for his back and the ophthalmologist for his eye this coming Tuesday.

As the weather begins to get nicer, I'm sure he'll be itching to get outside.  I remember the year Ryan got his arm caught in the auger and wasn't supposed to be using it - he couldn't wait to get outside in the tractor that spring!

Thank you all for your prayers so far!

-A

Prayers for My Dad

I know that everyone who reads this blog does not know my dad, but I'd like to ask you to pray for him.  This past Saturday, he was in the woods pulling down some trees, and one flipped towards him and hit him, instead of falling on the ground like it was supposed to.

He was on a tractor and the tree hit him in the back, bruising his lung and fracturing his L1 and L4 vertebrae.  He is able to walk and all scans so far show that his spine and bones are in alignment, and the bones are not pressing on his spine.  He has to wear a hard plastic back brace that makes him uncomfortable, for probably 4 weeks or so.

The impact also pushed him into a lever on the tractor and he fractured the bones around his left eye.  He is currently seeing double in both of his eyes and will be having surgery this Friday morning to hopefully correct that.

He was in the woods alone and managed to get up to the house and call my mom, who was in town with me at the time . . . this was very scary for us, but it is clear that God was watching him and we now prayer for a speedy recovery.


Easter Blessing to you and your families!  Jesus rising from the tomb was surely a miracle of his power and strength and our family feels we've seen another of his miracles this week.

-A

Absolutely Incredible Kids Day

I just recently read in a magazine that the third Thursday in March is Absolutely Incredible Kids Day.  This year, that day falls on March 21.  I have decided that starting this year, I'm going to write Aubrey and note and keep them for her until she's old enough to read them.  I challenge you to show your kids how incredible you think they are!

Mama's Heart Swells

I feel like I fell off the blogger wagon.  It has been a long time since I have posted anything here.  It seems that we've been really busy, but we haven't really been doing much of anything!

Aubrey made me really proud the other day and I have to share it here.  I generally ask her the best and worst things about her day when I pick her up from preschool.  One day a couple weeks ago, I asked her those questions - I don't remember what she told me the best part was, but the worst part was that one of her friends, Zach, had to turn his card to red and he had a bad day, and she was sad that he had to turn his card.  When she said that, my heart was just bursting that she was able to show that empathy.  She gets her big heart from her daddy!

Aubrey has been taking gymnastics during the day at the Y since she began going there in the fall.  After the last session, she was moved up to the next class, which meets on Monday evenings.  I generally am teaching on Monday nights, but last night was the first class and Wright State was on spring break, so I got to take her.  She was so excited that she was going to "night" class and that her friends Lauren and Ashlyn were in her class.  It was fun to watch her learn and practice the skills and interact with her friends.

We have been doing some fun things this past month.  A good mom would have been snapping pictures of all these events to post, but I kept leaving my camera in the room or in the car . . .We went to Sandusky to stay at Castaway Bay (indoor waterpark) over President's Day weekend.  We took Papaw, Mamaw, Kaitlyn, and Camryn with us and we had a really good time.

Last Sunday, Aubrey went roller skating for the first time, at a real roller rink.  She has roller skates that she skates with at home, but it was different going to the skate rink and using real skates.  I have deiced that roller skating is harder than ice skating!

I have been busy with work - doing a lot of out of county professional development for teachers and teaching a class on Monday nights at Wright State.  Aubrey has been spending Monday evenings with her grandparents, alternating between the Wynes and the Wulbers.  She is having a ball and doesn't really seem to mind that I'm not there.

A few weeks ago when she was with Grandpa Wulber, they stopped at Ace Hardware in Versailles and saw some friends there.  Aubrey told them that she would get to spend a lot of time with Grandpa that day because Mommy had class, and her classes are long!

We are looking forward to spring coming soon here.  We are ready for the grass to get green and the flowers to start blooming.  Aubrey enjoyed a little time playing outside yesterday with our neighbor, Chloe, but we need more time to get outside and burn off our energy!

-A

Happy New Year!

I love snow, so it is a great time to be living in Ohio.  Last Wednesday was not a good day to be out driving, but it created a nice snowfall to play outside in - Aubrey got a new sled for Christmas and was able to sled off of our porch because the snow was piled up so high.  She did have a little trouble getting back to the porch in the midst of all the snow in the middle of the yard; I had to go out and carry her!

This past Sunday, Aubrey and I went ice skating with mom, Camryn, and a few kids from church.  Aubrey has been skating before, but she got brave enough to skate a little on her own.

Aubrey and I went bowling on New Year's Eve with my family and she stayed up until midnight!  I think she actually stayed up that late a couple years ago when we went to the Spencer's, but she didn't remember that and was very excited to stay up late this year.

We have really enjoyed our Christmas break this year.  I am now in the process of taking down all of our Christmas decorations; it may take me the rest of the week!

We hope that each of you has many blessings in 2013 and that God's peace and love surround you each day!

-A