Welcome Back

So I haven't blogged one time since before Christmas in 2013, but I'm going to try to go back to this regularly again.  Aubrey and I have been busy doing normal things, not much major stuff has been happening, but we are enjoying being able to do things around home, and spend time with our families.

Near the end of December a lot of my mom's family was together to celebrate my Aunt Pam's birthday.  It was nice to see some relatives that we haven't seen in a while.

In January, I finally got brave enough to take Aubrey to the sledding hill outside of New Paris.  It was so much fun.  She is very independent and was very brave and went down multiple times all by herself.

In February, we went to the Newport Aquarium on a no school day, we had a lot of those, but I think this one was actually scheduled!

In April, we colored Easter eggs (Camryn and Aubrey did, while Andrew (my nephew) watched).  

 Easter was a lovely day and we enjoyed time outside Easter egg hunting, but also a little time on the couch visiting with family.

At the beginning of this month, Aubrey and I went to a tea.  She was such a big girl and we had a lot of fun.  We went with my friend, Angie.  She's our new science specialist at work and she's become a great friend.

I have been growing a lot this year.  I've been pushed to get outside of my comfort zone a bit and it has been good for me.  Music has always spoken to me, and one of my current favorite songs is "How Sweet the Sound" by Citizen Way.  Part of the chorus says:

You were healing in the pain,

You were shelter in the storm,

Hallelujah, you restored my soul . . .

In the past few years, God has surely been those things to me . .. 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

I hear you singing over me.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

It covers every part of me,

And it's a beautiful sound.

I hope that God's grace is a beautiful sound to you and that your spring is blooming with joy! 

Hope to blog more often in the coming months!

-A

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