Wild and Crazy

Aubrey and I went outside again to play in the snow. It was cold, but not as bad as the previous day. The snow also packed a lot better, so she wanted to make a snowman. We (me) rolled several balls and put them together for the body. She pretty much just supervised and occasionally helped smooth out the snow. We then had to add eyes, nose, mouth, arms, buttons, scarf, and a hat. She wanted to bring out shoes for it as well, but I convinced her not to. It turned out really cute and lasted for almost a week. She was very sad (to the point of tears) the day that it melted, but I convinced her that the next time it snows, we'll go out and make more. Her goal is to make a family of snowmen - replicas of our family.

Chloe has been sleeping much better, and even sleeps though the night now. She is so funny when you wake her up though. She almost looks drugged, because she'll try to sit up and then fall over. Plus, her hair is always sticking up all over the place. She's usually not very happy about being woken up either, as you can see.

Aubrey and Chloe continue to play together. I convinced Aubrey to push Chloe on the bus (it's usually the other way around). Chloe loves riding on it almost as much as she loves pushing it. They take turns and you can usually hear Aubrey telling Chloe that it's her turn to ride as she attempts to take Chloe off of the bus. Chloe is such a good sport and will just get up and start pushing Aubrey.

This past week I did three Mary Kay skin care classes. Yesterday I did one for Calvin's mom and aunt and then another lady from church. Aubrey woke up from her nap just as we were finishing. She wanted to try some make-up on, so Kathy let her use some of the stuff she had leftover. Aubrey put stuff all over her face. She even tried the cleanser and some lipstick. She was beautiful with her bright lips and rosy cheeks! Needless to say, she again wanted to use make-up today and I told her no. She accepted this and moved on, but she did have a great time yesterday!

How many tries?

Last Sunday, Kathy came over to take our picture for our Christmas card. I was trying not to have extremely high hopes for getting a good picture - I was just hoping for one in which we were all looking at the camera. She took several of the four of us - none of which we were all smiling at the same time, but there was one that was decent - we were all at least looking. I then decided to try and take some of the girls together and then by themselves. I think I took at least twenty pictures to get a few good ones. Oh, well. Like I said before, I need to lower my expectations. :)

Chloe's 9 & 10 month pictures

Last month I failed to post Chloe's monthly picture on the couch, so I thought that I would instead show you her 9-month pictures that we had taken at Sears. She did such a great job! She smiled and sat pretty still. We also tried to have a Christmas picture taken of both girls in their dresses. It turned out okay. Aubrey's kind of at that fake smile stage, so it didn't turn out as well as I wanted, but my expectations were high considering their age.

I did get Chloe's 10-month pictures on the couch. It is amazing to see how much she has grown! She has changed so much in the past few months. I can't believe that she is already 10 months old! Soon she is going to be a year! Time really does fly by!

Let It Snow!

Today I took the girls outside to play in the snow. They had fun walking through the drifts, throwing snow at each other, making snow angels, and trying to build a snowman.

Chloe has started walking behind things lately. Today she "pushed" Sophia and Aubrey while they rode on the bus. It was so cute! She looks like such a peanut when she's walking next to the bigger girls. She's also started standing up on her own. If I put her down in front of me, she will stand up and try to take a step, but she falls down before she even goes anywhere. It's pretty funny! She also likes to voice her opinion about things. If you take something away that she wants, she'll cry. She will also yell if she doesn't get what she wants. She still has no teeth - nothing that even looks like teeth are coming. We keep waiting, but nothing yet. It hasn't stopped her from eating bread, carrots, apricots, peaches, or cheerios though.

Aubrey loves playing with Chloe now, most of the time anyway. She loves to have her come near her, until Chloe takes something that she wants. You never know what's going to happen with those two! :)

The Perfect Tree

On Sunday we set out to find the perfect Christmas tree. We had attempted to go on Saturday to the place where we normally go, but found out that they are now closed and no longer selling Christmas trees. Instead we went to a place in Kankakee. It was a very small place, but had beautiful trees. We were there for about ten minutes and found the tree. We always seem to get one that is too big, but this time we were able to find one that was tall and skinny and fits in our dining room perfectly. Aubrey had a great time riding on the wagon. Chloe also loved being outside. It was a beautiful day, plus it was snowing. What great weather for finding a tree!

Aubrey helped decorate the tree. As we were decorating, I found a tree branch that had multiple ornaments on it. As I took one ornament off to put it somewhere else, Aubrey came by and put another ornament on the exact same branch! Needless to say, I had to move some ornaments around or we would have had all of our ornaments in one place!

Chloe helped decorate too. :)

The finished product

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My grandparents, parents, and sisters all stayed at my house. It was pretty crazy, but alot of fun. The girls loved having lots of different people to play with. My aunts and future brother-in-law and his brother came to eat with us on Thanksgiving. We had lots of good food to eat and left the table stuffed. The next day we went shopping and finally found our bridesmaids' dresses! They are beautiful and will look great with Hannah's dress. I also got some of my Christmas shopping done. I still have a ways to go, but at least I have started.

Great-Grandpa, Great-Grandma, Chloe, & Aubrey

Our Family

Grandma & the girls

Chloe & Aunt Jenna

Busy Week!

The past few weeks have been ridiculously busy! I recently began selling Mary Kay and have been working on my business debut (basically an open house) for the past couple of weeks. Last week I spent most of the week making food and cleaning the house in preparation for my party this past Friday. It went really well and I'm excited to begin actually doing facials and seeing more customers!

Aubrey and Chloe have actually started playing together some here lately. They like to play underneath the kitchen table and look at each other. Aubrey also likes to bring Chloe toys and try to get her to do things, which doesn't always work so well. Chloe doesn't always do what Aubrey wants her to - like that's going to change! :) The past couple of weeks she's been coloring in this small coloring book that I got down from her. She loves to tear off a page, color everything on it a certain color, and then tear out another one. Needless to say, I have a stack of about 10 pages that have been colored.

Chloe's latest things is that she loves to play by the steps. She likes to stand by them and put things on them. I always keep an eye on her and make sure that she doesn't try to go up them. Aubrey's pretty good about making sure to tell me if Chloe tries. She's also gotten so much better about playing and being happier for extended periods of time. I've also gotten her to sleep through the night (well until at least 6:30 a.m.), which is so nice. It's nice to get straight sleep at night.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. My family is all coming here, even my grandparents! Aubrey can't wait for everyone to come either! It will be a busy, but fun time!

Danielle came for the weekend and made a Snow White costume.

Aubrey tried it on - it's just a little too big!

I curled Aubrey's hair for the girls' Christmas pictures.

Aubrey wanted to take Chloe's picture. This is the result.

The girls helped me make food for my party.

Chloe's got some major bed head!

Calvin made Aubrey a little "house" in the basement for her to play in while he works.

She loves it!

Chloe's favorite new place to play.

Chloe actually ate some real food (toast) yesterday. Hooray for Chloe!