Aurora Nicole & Mason Daniel

christmas time

2011-12-17T20:07:00.001-08:00

So I suck and have obviously been horrible about keeping up with this but most people have facebook(hint hint sonya)so I dont really think about it.

Christmas is in a week and Aurora is beyond excited!!! She has been very into decorating everything, baking cookies and doing christmas crafts all day long. Mason is loving all the lights and decorations, especially snowmen. I have really been enjoying the christmas season this year. Part of it is how excited and into it the kids are and part of it is I am loving all of the fun family traditions we have started. We went to another christmas tree farm to cut our tree down again this year and decided that from now on we are going to cut part of the bottom of the tree and make an ornament out of it every year. Both the kids had a blast running around and looking at all the trees. We ended up picking out a blue spruce that was perfect, full and fat and reminded me of my childhood. The kids picked out their yearly ornaments, Aurora a barbie with a tulle dress and mason a space mickey with toodles. Aurora is asking santa for my little ponys and a few surprises and mason a train and a few surprises. The surprise part came from a bernstein bears book=)

We took the kids to meet Santa and it actually went better then I expected it to. They both sat with Santa but you could tell Mason was not 100% sure about it, Aurora was an old pro and told santa what she wanted, got her candy cane and got up no problems. This reminds me that we have an Elf that comes and visits the kids every night. His name is Ander and he likes to hide around the house and have the kids find him. Everynight Aurora has to tell him if she has been good or bad during the day and give an example to him after that she can tell him one thing she would like for christmas. Mason likes to look for him and say Aner Aner are you? Its adorable!!

Now for a little update on the kids are their favorite things at this time so I do not forget. Aurora-My little ponys, little princesses, american girl dolls, crafts. TV shows are jake and the neverland pirates, my little ponys, berenstein bears and barbie movies. She loves preschool, is doing great in swim lessons, is starting to read, loves to spell and loves to add. She just finished her first set of ice skating lessons and will start the second set in jan. She loves breakfast for dinner, vanilla wafers, pretzels and pb with honey sandwiches.
Mason-Is talking like crazy, is still a mommys boy, loves balls, climbing, buzz, mickey, cars, playing kitchen and farm animals(especially cows). He likes to watch mickey mouse clubhouse, jake, they might be giants and anything music. He is such a boy and loves to get into everything and likes to try and fight with his sister. He has a little temper which really flares when he is trying to tell/ask you something and he figures out you understand him but are not doing as he wants. Its hilarious, sad and so cute all at once to see him tantrum about it. He still is a cuddler and loves to read books. A few of his current favorites are jeremy draws a monster, brown bear brown bear, go dog go, where the wild things are. Foods he loves are goldfish, pretzels, pickles, pancakes, pizza, apples and bananas.

I hope this is a good catch up and my new years resolution is to be better about this blog!

Mason 13 months

2011-03-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is to help me remember all the words he is saying currently
Mommy(many variations)
Daddy(many variations)
Sissy
Aurora
Hi
Kitty
Duck
doggy
fower(flower)
ele(elephant)
uh oh
outside
up
Whats that?
right there?
ball
hockey
oody(woody)
vroom
thank you
no
yum
oooh

Halloween 2010

2010-11-19T20:34:00.001-08:00

Its been awhile but here is Aurora and Mason on halloween.

My Monkey Boy and Pirate Princess

Our new family mobile

2010-08-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yep thats right we made the big step and got a minivan. It is a 2011 Toyota Sienna. So far we are loving it.

Mason

2010-08-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Look at these eyes....

My babys in the morning

2010-08-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

LOVE them!

The Dollhouse Bookcase

2010-07-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Mason's first time Eating. July 8,2010

2010-07-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Mason has been showing a lot of interest in food, I mean a lot. Like reaching out for it when gets near him so we decided it was probably time to try. So after a trip to Babies R Us to get some cereal, a new bib and some new spoons for the occasion we figured it was time to try. He really didnt seem to sure about it. He would taste it, swallow some and then cry. I think it wasn't fast enough for him compared to a bottle. The more we tried the better he did, chasing it with a bottle also helped=)honestly though he seemed more into eating his bib and smearing it all over his face then actually eating it. Night #2 went a little better so Im sure he will be a pro in no time and onto better food.

Goodbye Ba.....

2010-07-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

So Aurora has had her Ba(paci) since she was about 30 mins old. She has always been extremly attatched to it. She was one of those kids who could do everything with it in her mouth. She could smile, laugh, cough and even talk clearly without it falling out. At 2 we decided it was time to take it away during the day, it was surprisingly easy and she barely ever asked for it. She still got it at nap and bedtime and soemtimes for really long car rides. At 2.5 we started prepping her for it being taken all the way away when she turned 3. We made a big deal about how she will be a big girl and big girls dont use Ba's and how we would take her to build a bear on her birthday and she would put her Ba in there so that she would always have it and the comfort of it. She loved the idea and would say,"when I am 3 I have no more ba, it will be in Susia's boyfriend. All fine and dandy until it was time to go to bed. She cried and cried and wanted it back. We gave her Hot Lava(her new bear she was so excited about) and she just threw him and said she didn't like him anymore. after about 2 hours she fell asleep, same thing for the 2nd and third night too. The 4th night we decided to take a different approach and talk about how she was sad and we knew it was hard but it would be ok. That has made a lot of difference and each night since has gotten a little easier. Danny doea stay in there for about 5 minutes and "scratch: her arms like she likes, she cuddles with Susia but HATES Hot Lava still. I have hope that one day she will love him again. Here are a few pics of her with her last night of having her Ba.

Happy Birthday Aurora!!!!

2010-07-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little girl is now 3!!!! These have been the best 3 years of my life. She has brought so much happiness to Danny and I, also some laughter, frusteration and a lot of learning experiences.

For her birthday we decided we wanted to start a new tradition and put balloons in her room while she is sleeping. When she woke up in the morning it was a great surprise for her. Then she went downstairs and discovered her new big girl carseat that was pink and grey jut like she wanted. After some breakfast and everyone getting ready we headed to Fair Oaks Mall to Build A Bear(another tradition). She was so excited about going there and picking out a boyfriend for Susia. She went in looked at all the animals and picked a blue one that had peace sign all over it in different colors. He was sitting next to Susia on the wall which i think is why she chose that one. Next step was to stuff him and say goodbye to BA(her paci). She was so good and brave about it, we was very impressed. After he was stuffed she went and cleaned him off. Then it was time to pick out clothes, she picked out 3 or 4 things before she finally settled on a new suit for him. Next and last step was filling out the birth certificate info and picking a name. Her name choice?....Hot Lava. She took him out of the store so proud and excited.

After the mall and lunch we went back home for nap time. Nap time actually went good. It was her first with no BA, again we were impressed. Next was dinner time. She wanted to fo to Outback, she loves steak. So we went and ate there. Food was yummy as always and she ate more of Dannys steak then her own. Lol. We had told the waiter it was her birthday so he and a few of the other waiters singed to her and gave her an ice cream sundae. She enjoyed being the center of attention. Dinner was done so it was time to go home for her favorite part. Cake and presents. She got a princess adn the frog cake made by me, it turned out ok but she LOVED it and that was the important thing. She had a great time opening presents and it was definitly a barbie and toy story 3 birthday this year. Along with those gifts her uncle david made her an awesome dollhouse bookcase that is even better then the pottery barn one.

Thank you very much to Aunt Joan and Aunt Barbara for coming up and helping us celebrate her special day.

Mason's 4 months and Aurora's 3!!!

2010-07-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

First of all how are my kids so old already? Time is flying by so fast, I really need to invent something to make it slow down. We took both of the kids to their doctor appointments since it was check up time.

Aurora is 39" tall and weighs 34lbs. She is 90% for height and %75 for weight. Once they turn 3 they check for so many more things. She had to pee in a cup, get her blood pressure takin, check her eyesite and get finger prick. She did very good with all of the above but cried when she got her shots, they are in the arm now. She was a trooper and only cried for a minute since the doctor promised a lollipop and sticker when it was done. Developmentaly she is at the 3.5-4 year mark. Her doctor was impressed that she know her letters, numbers, could spell and recognize her name. She is definitly very smart, sometimes to smart for her own good.

Mason is so much smaller then Rory at this age, its kinda weird. He is 24.5" and 14lbs 2ozs. So in the 10-15% for both categories. He got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine but only cried for a minute. He is doing really good with his milestones. He can roll back to tummy and tummy to back. The doctor was impressed he was doing both so young. He has great neck control so she said to go ahead and start solids whenever we felt like he was ready and he is obsessed with his hands and picking stuff ip to put in his mouth.

Baby Stew at 15 weeks

2010-06-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

So when Aurora was a baby we liked to take funny pictures of her. One of our favorites was "baby stew". Of course we needed to do the same thing with Mason but this time we had a "cook" for the pictures. We have been talking about this with Rory since we brought Mason home and for the last 2 months on a weekly basis she has asked, "do we get to cook mason yet?". This week the answer was yes. And it just so happens that when we did Rorys picture she was also 15 weeks(honestly we had no idea). Also this is the same exact pot but different spoon. It is crazy how much bigger she is then he is. Also I love the pics from our mini photoshoot, she had a blast and mason was a very good sport.

1 month

2010-03-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

Mason is 1 month today. He now weighs 9lbs 1oz. Aurora was 10lbs 12ozs at 1 month. I can't believe how fast this month has gone by. We have had family visiting for the first 3 weeks and are now having some family time with just the 4 of us.It was an interesting first 2 weeks. I was recovering from my c-section, Dannys mom Eleanor broke her foot ice skating so she was in a cast and then Danny got a concussion when he was ice skating a week later.All is good now though. Mason is a really good baby. He is content to hang out in his swing or bouncer but is just as happy being held. He is sleeping 3 hour stretches sometimes more. He is very expressive in his facial expressions, loves to look around and barely ever cries!!! We couldn't have asked for a better baby. Aurora is loving being a Big Sister. Today she told us to call her big sister Rory from now on, very cute! She loves Mason and has adjusted very well...she has had a few bratty days but that is to be expected with all the changes happening. She loves to help us feed mason and will help try and calm him by saying its ok big sister is here, here is your BA. She is obsessed with books and reads all day!!! Also she is loving the Princess and the Frog and is now starting a collection of princess tiana thanks to Grandma Linda. We are going to start baking one thing every week since she has decided she likes to help in the kitchen. Last week we made a cake this week I am thinking cookies. Everything is going really great for us and we are loving our little family!!!

Welcome to the world Mason

2010-02-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Mason Daniel Fricano was born February 22, 2010 at 12:15. He was 7lbs 11ozs and 19.5 inches. He was the same exact size as his big sister. Dr.Grimm said he had a big head when he was getting him out and made a joke about breaking his finger while pulling him out. Pretty funny. He came out crying and continued to cry while the nurse cleaned him up and got all of his stats. Daddy was taking pictures the entire time and checking on me too. He has been a great baby so far and we are all soooo in love with him. Rory is doing great and loves being a big sister to baby mas mas as she calls him. Here are a few pics.

Mason's Room

2010-02-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

Mason's room is monkey theme. Danny did all of the painting and as weird as blue and orange is together I think it turned out really good. And a few pics of Rory because she is so cute!

Family Pics

2010-02-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

On monday we had our last photos done as a family of 3. We had planned on only doing family photos but the lady taking the photos wanted to take some of just Rory. She was danicng around and posing without any directions...so cute! I think the pictures turned out really well. So here are a few of our favorites!

Dec.19 Big Snow Storm

2010-01-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

We got our first really big snow storm since living in Virginia. We got about 2 feet of snow and they cancelled school for 2 days. Aurora had a blast playing in the snow, sledding with daddy and building a rory snowman. Unfortuantly she woke up from her nap and had a fever so she didnt get to play in the snow for the rest of the day or the next day.

ITT Christmas Party

2010-01-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

This was the first year we went to Danny's work christmas party. It was a lot of fun. This year kids were allowed and it was at the Natural History Museum in DC.

Thanksgiving 2009

2010-01-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we went to North Carolina. Gammy and Aunt Courtney flew in from CA too. We had a great week with everyone! Aurora loves being around all her family and being the center of attention. This year she actually ate turkey and really liked it. She liked eating the turkey mixed with cranberry sauce. We also went to her first parade. She enjoyed it and everyone else was cold. We also got to go and do a 3D ultrasound with everyone. Mason was stubborn and didnt really want to show his face to much but it was still very cool being able to have everyone see him.

Baby Mason

2010-01-16T16:43:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Mason at 30 weeks. He was being very shy and stubborn and didn't want to show his face or move his position. Very different then Rory who was all about getting her pictures even from inside my belly.

Shenandoah National Park

2009-11-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

We had some nice weather a couple weekends ago so we drove the Shenandoah to a easy hike and have a picnic. Aurora liked walking through the woods but was easliy distracted and had to stand on every tree log and sing, "I like chipmunks, I like chipmunks, how about you?" That made the trail seem very long, she also wanted to stop at almost every bench along the way. We started telling her that if we didnt hurry up that the baby bear would come and get us, so we turned it into a game and would "hide" from the bear as we went and when she would "see" him she would run and yell baby bear is going to get me.

Disney on Ice

2009-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

We took Aurora to Disney on Ice Celebrations. Since she is obsessed with disney and all things princess we thought she would enjoy it. We were right. She did so good throughout the whole show and had a big smail the entire time. Her favorite parts were the unbirthday party and minnie mouse as a princess. The show was good and I definitley would like to take her again next year.

Her first pet

2009-11-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

Danny went to the pet store with Aurora and she asked for a fish. So we bought her a tank, purple rocks and she picked out a beach hut to put in it and calls it his "beach party". Out of all the fish she could pick she picked a goldfish and named him sharkbait, the name is from Nemo.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

We did pumpkin carving a few days before Halloween and Rory actually had a lot of fun doing it this year. At first she did not want to touch the "pumpkin guts" but got over it pretty quickly. After that she wanted to carve her own and dig out the guts with a spoon. So cut open one of her baby pumpkins and let her draw all over it and make a mess with it. For actual halloween kristin came and visited us for the weekend. It was a nice visit but very short. Aurora had a lot of fun with her and was making her hold her candy bucket while trick or treating and didnt want us to go with her up to the doors. She did really great this year and got a ton of candy and lasted for about 2 hours. She even went up to some doors "by herself".

22 week belly pics

2009-11-22T12:38:00.001-08:00

Here is Rorys belly and mine at 22 weeks.

Big Girl Room

2009-11-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

We finally finished Aurora's big girl room. We let her pick out the colors and she picked light purple and dark purple. Danny did a great job painting the room. We got her new furniture since hers is going to be used for Mason. She loves her big girl room. We have a few things that need to be hung on the wall but other then that its done. O yea and we painted a chlakboard on the wall behind the door.

Feeding the Ducks

2009-11-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

There is a duck pond that is about a 10 minute walk from our house that Danny likes to take Aurora to. We went as a family and fed the ducks. Here are some pics. Also there is a bridge you have to cross that she calls the troll bridge, in order to walk across it you have to answer 2 questions she asks you. It's adorable.

Helping paint

2009-10-19T19:14:00.001-07:00

We went to Home depot and let Aurora help pick out the paint for her new Big Girl room. She has been saying she wanted a purple room for the last few months so we got a dark purple and a light purple. Here are a few pics of her "helping" paint her room.

20 week belly pics

2009-10-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few belly pics.

Cox Farms 2009

2009-10-19T18:47:00.001-07:00

With it being October and obviously the month of Halloween we went to Cox Farms for a day of fun and picking our pumpkins. All 3 of us had a really good time. Aurora loved the slides this year and even went down a couple by herself. When we went down the dinosaur slide as we got to the bottom she said I want to do it again, so we got back in line and went down again.

She got to go on her 2nd pony ride of the year. She had a big smile on her face when she went around. While we were waiting in line for our turn she was playing on the "troll bridge" and would run up to us and say "I am not scared anymore". We have no idea why but she keot saying it with a very proud look on her face, it was cute.
As always she was a huge fan of all of the animals. She pet a cow and tried to feed it,pet a calf, fed goats and saw a mommy pig and her little piglets. This year we decided not to do the hay ride and do the corn maze instead. As we were walking through it she would whisper to us to be quiet and tell us no talking. The funniest thing was when she turned around, touched my belly and said Mason be quiet. I told her he will never be as quiet as he is right now. LOL. She loved going through the maze and was acting like we were going on an adventure. The only part she was not a big fan of was the room that was dark and like a rain forest and the room that was dark and had reptiles and insects all over the walls(they were plastic).

That day was a junk food day. Their fries are delicious, we got kettle corn and she did not want to share with us at all and she got to try apple cider for the first time.

After we were done we went and picked out our pumpkins. She picked out 3 little ones and a big round orange one all be herself. As we were checking out I saw a little white pumpkin and had to get it. So our pumpkin family as she has been calling it has 5 pumpkins. We let her push the wheel barrow to get the pumpkin and just run around the pumpkin area. It took her a good 20 minutes to find the perfect pumpkin.
Sadly we forgot to make sure the battery was charged for the camera so we do not have a lot of pictures of the end of the day. Here are a few of the better ones.

We had a great time and will be doing this every year!!

Piano

2009-10-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Rory's GG sent her a piano and she absolutly loves it. She sits at it and "plays" twinkle twinkle little star over and over.

Big Sister!!!

2009-10-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

So we found out on Friday the 25th that Aurora will be a BIG sister to a little brother. Here are a few pics of her at the doctor office and then a family pic after we had the ultra sound.

Our 1st Family Camping Trip

2009-09-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

We went to Assateague Park in Maryland for our first family camping trip. Danny has been wanting to go camping since Aurora was a baby so he was really excited about this. We went up there on a Friday and stayed until Sunday. We were hoping that the weather would be good for us and that the rain would stay away, but we were not fully convinced. Thank you hurricanes. When we pulled into the park it started to pour. We waited for about 10 minutes hoping it would lighten up a little bit but no such luck. Danny decided to just get out and start setting the tent up so that we didn't have to just sit in the car. After he was out of the car for not even 5 minutes it stopped raining and the sun came out! Rory decided she wanted to "help" daddy set up the tent but luckily got bored of that pretty fast.

After we set up our campsite we decided we HAD to go to the little convenient store we had seen on the wa in. What did we need so badly? Bug spray and citronelle candles and lots of them. The mosquitos at the campsite were insanely bad! They would land and start sucking right away, there were a million of them and they stung really bad. We got to the store, overpaid for our arsenal of mosquito repellant and headed to the beach. We spent about an hour at the beach since it was already late. Rory loved the beach as usual, played in the water with Danny and dug some holes with me.

After our "beach party" as Rory kept calling it we went back to the campsite and made some dinner. When we finshed dinner Rory and I went to the big house to use the potty and saw the horses walking towards our campsite. I yelled at Danny to grab the camera and take some pictures. It was really cool at first having them walking around and exploring and then one of them found our chips, grabbed them and started to eat them. After that they were looking for food that we quickly put back in our car. When they finally left we got Rory into her pjs and started a fire so that we could make smores. Smores were a hit or atleast the chocolate was. We were a little worried about how she was going to do sleeping in a tent and going to bed before us but she did great. We took her into the tent, she climbed into her sleeping bag and passed out.

The next day we woke up a little early, had some breakfast and got ready to go to Ocean City for a few hours. The boardwalk is a lot fun and has some really good food. We got fries from thrashers, bubblegum water ice, a swirl cone and fresh strawberry lemonade. Looked around at a few stores, took Rory to the castle swingset that is on the beach and then went to one of the old fashion photo places. We did the old fashion phot last year and decided it needed to be a yearly thing. This year we choose the "gangster girl" outfit. They put her in a wife beater, suspenders, news boy hat, flapper skirt, fishnets, shoes, a necklace that she loved and added a garter with some fake money. They sat her on the bar and had her hold a empty bottle of jack. She posed perfectly, smiled when she needed to and didn't mess with the hat at all! The picture turned out great and we both LOVE it.

The rest of the day we spent at the beach where we were camping. The water wasn't to cold so Rory was going in it and saying jump when a wave came and kept trying to "save" her nemo bucket from the mean water. We collected some sea shells for our collection, built sandcastles and burried each other in the sand. At the end of the day we went back to camp and cooked a really yummy dinner. Chicken, steak and garlic mashed potatoes. Rory couldn't get enough steak but wouldn't touch the potatoes. Weird child. Once againthe horses came to visit. We had all of our food put in the car already and had Rory watching Dora while we cleaned up and started a fire. I looked over to check on Rory since the horses were wondering around and one was eating her head. Danny was closest so he went and slowly pushed the baby horse away. That night they were hard to get rid of. They kept going from our spot to the one across from us and back. After a very long time they left for good and we had smores again. This night it was not so easy to put Rory in the tent and leave. She wanted us to stay in there with her so we told her to stay by herself or come back out. She came back out with us and literally passed out in Danny's lap on her way to mine.

The next morning we got up had some breakfast and packed up to head home. We had a really good time and will definitly be going again. My one complaint is that all 3 of us looked like we had a disease with how many mosquito bites we had even with our arsenal of stuff.

Hollywood/Disneyland/San Diego

2009-07-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

On our way to Disneyland we stopped in Hollywood where Aunt Courtney met us. Hollywood was cool. Rory took her picture with a guy dressed up as Alex the Lion. We went to the Kodak Theater Mall which had a really cool fountain area in the middle. She was not a huge fan of the fountains and would only go up to it but not touch it. When she finally got brave and ran through a part where the water was off temporarily it came on and got her in the face and then when she ran from that one the next one got her too. She was crying and not happy! Shortly after that Aunt Courtney got there and she got in a better mood. We went to Grauman's Chinese Theater and took some pics of the hand and feet prints. After that we went to Build A Bear. I have been looking forward to the day I could take her there and she could do it herself. We let her pick out her own bear and clothes for it too. She picked out a bear that looks like sherbert ice cream and named it Susia. She had a good time picking out the bear, stuffing it and naming it. When we were on our way to eat dinner Courtney remembered that Susia means dirty in spanish. So our daughter's bear is named dirty. Thanks Courtney. After Dinner we went to the hotel and went for a swim. Courtney left after that and we got ready for bed. When we were going to bed we kept hearing a loud boom. We finally looked out our window and you could see the Disney fireworks. very cool.

4th of JULY
Aunt Sonya came to Disney with us. Aurora absolutely loves Sonya. We went to Disney and met Mickey again first thing in the morning and then met Pluto right after Mickey. Rory didn't even need to shake hands today. It was like they were old friends at this point. We went on Dumbo, Merry go Round, pirates of the carribean(she was a little nervous of the dark) and gadgets Go Coaster. Then we went to California Adventure. I was told that if you have lunch at Ariel's grotto you get to meet her and talk to her. So we finally get there and decide it will be worth the money since she loves Ariel and she was passed out. So no meeting Ariel for Rory. After she woke up from her nap we went on King Triton's merry go round, Toy Story Ride, Bugs Life water park & rides and Monsters Inc ride. She really enjoyed the water park since it was sooo hot and she liked seeing Boo on the Monsters Inc ride. There was also a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse live performance that we went to. That was really cool for her. It was Mickey Mouses show but with handy Manny, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh worked into it.When we were on our way to one of the rides we saw Woody, Mickey from Fantasia and Cinderella. We went and got in line for Cinderella, which only had about 5 people in front of us when the handler came up to the family in front of us and told them that they would be the last people to see Cinderella until she came back at 4:30. There was nobody behind us or around us waiting!!! Annoying. So we go back at 4:35 and the same thing happens again. We are now a family of Cinderella haters. I even tried talking to the handler, explaining that my daughter just turned 2 etc and she didn't care. Now if you ask Aurora about Cinderella and she will tell you No Cinderella, mean Cinderella. After that incident we met CA Adventure Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Mr.Incredible and Peter Pan. We went back over to Disney so that Sonya and Danny could ride some fun rides. Aurora made until 9:00 when the fireworks started and did very well with them. She wasn't scared of them or terribly interested in them either since she was tired.

San Diego
Sunday-Tuesday we spent in San Diego visiting Sonya and Aunt Courtney. Our hotel was beautiful and right on the beach. The first day we wen t to the Zoo. She loved the animals and we got to see a polar bear eating carrots right at the glass. It was really cool. After the zoo we went and checked in at our hotel. The hotel was beautiful and right on the beach in La Jolla. We spent the evening at the beach and in the pool and then got dinner at a yummy italian restaurant. Monday we had breakfast at The Cottage with Aunt Sonya and Aunt Courtney. Rory got to have her own "coffee" and waffles. After breakfast we went and saw the seals. The seals were a hit and there was a baby one that kept posing, very cute. After that we went back to the hotel and spent the day playing on the beach. Danny, Courtney and Sonya went kayaking for a little while. Rory and I collected some sea shells, we all buried her and Danny and just had a good time playing on the beach. That night we met up with Andrew(Courtney's bf) and had mexican food. After dinner we walked around old town San Diego. Most of the shops were closed but a open market was open, there was lots of cool things but Rory was trying to touch and grab everything. The morning we were leaving Danny decided that he wanted to take one last swim in the ocean. He ran in and then ran right back out. I thought it was to cold but that was not the reason. A tiger shark was swimming by where he was. We met up with Sonya and Courtney for breakfast and to say goodbye. After that we headed back to Sac.

Happy 2nd Birthday

2009-07-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

We took Aurora to Disneyland for her 2nd birthday. We all had such a good time. We started the day by going to straight to Disney's City Hall to get her a birthday pin and a 1st visit pin. When we told the lady it was her birthday she gave us the pins and also had Aurora talk to Goofy who sang Happy Birthday to her. Very cool for a 2 year old. Having the pin makes it where all the employees tell you happy birthday. After that we were heading to the Mad Hatter store when we saw Pluto in front of it. We got in line to meet him but then saw Mickey Mouse coming out so we ran over to Mickey(sorry pluto) and were the second people to meet him. She was a little apprehensive at first but was fine after she shook his hand. After Mickey Mouse we went to Mad Hatter and all 3 of us got ears. Rory got special Birthday ears.

The first ride we went on was Buzz Lightyear. She liked it but wasn't to good at aiming the gun. She was really good about going on the rides and went on all of the rides she was tall enough for. Her favorites were Nemo, Gadgets Go Coaster(she went on it twice) and Dumbo. We had minimum melt downs while waiting in lines which was great. She had a blast going through Minnie's house and Mickeys house. When we went to enter the Princess castle she got really excited and said Princess Aurora's castle, my castle!!!

Since it was her birthday we let her pick out a few toys in the princess castle store. She picked out a Ariel purse, Ariel wand and a lollipop. We let her have the lollipop while we were looking for a place to have lunch. When we took the lollipop away she started melting down. We let her cry while we were deciding on our orders. She stopped crying so I looked at her in her stroller and she was passed out. Adorable.

We took advantage of her being asleep and went to the main store to buy her a couple birthday presents. After she woke back up we went and rode some more rides. She enjoyed going on peter pan's flight since she recognized the characters. We went on a few more rides and then decided since it was 6:30 we would head to downtown Disney and get some dinner. We went to a pizza place where this guy was doing Disney balloon characters. It was very cool, he made Rory a Princess Ariel(noticing a theme yet?). After pizza we gave her her red velvet big Minnie Mouse cupcake. She LOVED it. She ate most all of it and was then bouncing off the walls until bedtime.

When we got back to the hotel we let her open her presents from us and then she took a bath, watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then passed out within minutes.

All in all I think she had a great birthday.

The characters she met were Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse(we waited 30 mins) and Goofy.

Happy Fathers Day

2009-06-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Since it was Fathers Day weekend Danny got to decide what we did. He wanted to go to Ocean City or Virgina Beach but the weather wasn't supposed to be nice so we decided to check out Colonial Beach. It is only a 2 hour trip so we got to sleep in which is always nice. When we got there we set up and ate some lunch. After lunch Danny took Rory into the water to play. She loved the water and was looking for Ariel and Nemo. After playing in the water for awhile she decided she wanted to take a break and look for seashells with her mommy. After that Daddy buried her in the sand and she kept telling him to do it again, until she accidentally got some in her mouth. She really enjoyed letting her feet sink into the sand. She kept doing it at different parts of the shore. We played in the sand, through rocks into the water and went in the water again. Then we decided to pack up the car and take Rory for a wagon ride down the pier before dinner. When we got to the pier there was music playing so she got out of the wagon and was dancing around the pier and spinning in circles. During dinner she was being naughty and only wanted to eat fries. On the car trip home she took a little nap and then got to watch Elmosaurus for the rest of the trip home. We got Daddy a Itouch for fathers day and a picture frame that rory colored. We think he had a really good day!

I forgot to tell about her pooping in the woods. We were on a road that was all woods with nothing close by. She started yelling poop, I gotta poop. We kept telling her to hold it and she said,"I am, I am" and then she says I gotta go, no more hold it. So we pulled over on the side of road and Danny held her in a potty position but she didn't want to go. She said no go, I need potty. After about 30 seconds she went. After she was done she kept saying, yay i pooped in the woods. Funny embarassing story for when she is older.

At home with Daddy

2009-06-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

2 Weeks ago the boy Rachel Nannies for, John, was sick with hand foot and mouth desise. It can be pretty bad and contagious, but its easily avoidable...by seperating them. So Mon-Thur I worked the late shift, until about 1am, and took care of Aurora at home all week. We had a very good time, she slept in for me a couple days which was def very nice. I decided to make it a fun week so every morning when we woke up we came downstairs and watched a movie. Nemo, Madagascar, Bolt, and Kung Fu Panda some of her favorites. About half way through the movies we took a break for breakfast, which was always met by several complaints. Once I convinced her thet the movie would resume after her meal she was generally fine. One day she requested a waffle while she watched her movie. So I toasted a couple waffles and handed them to her. That is when she informed me that I forgot a plate, "Daddy no thank you, plate please, waffle plate please." So I of course got her a plate and she sat and ate her waffle on the couch, under her blanky with a plate. Incedently she requested the exact same meal, the exact same way for lunch.

After the movie was over we generally went up to her room and played for a while. After some play time in her room we would go down the road to the park with the swing. She loves going on the swing so we would usually spend alot of time there. Depending on the time we would then go to the other playground. We spent a good amount of time at the "telephone" talking to each other. Essential its a hallowed pipe that runs under ground allowing people on oppisite end of the park to communicate. That is always her favorite part of the park. We of course made sure we hit up the slides. The park also is home to a creek which we would venture to on some days and wade through.

After outdoor activities we come home and each lunch, we are both pretty hungary by this point. Lunch is followed by a nap, which is great...she naps very well at home with me, instead of her normal 1 hour nap she goes anywhere from 2-3 hours here. After her nap we either played in the house till rachel got home or went out back and had fun!! We brough out her water table a few weeks ago so she played with that. I also brought out the hose so she would play hose and water table. Sh would put the hose on her head and laugh, and then attack me...and she likes when I make her slide a water sldie. One day we played with the hose in her bathing suite, and the otherday we never had a chance to change out of her dress before she became completley soaked...she had a great time!! We even were able to fit in some finger painting time where she she made her mommy a nice picture oh her hands and feet.

Dress Up

2009-06-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday we got home and had a package waiting for Rory at the door. The package was from her Gammy and had some clothes and shoes in it. As soon as she opened the box she put on the john deere boots and did not want to take them off. After taking her bath she decided she wanted to try on her ballerina outfit with the boots. She looked adorable. Here are some of the pictures. Thank you Gammy she loves the stuff.

Summer is Here

2009-06-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

We have been very lucky to have mainly nice weather recently, with a few random thunderstorms last week(she was unsure of the thunder). Nice weather means lots of outside time!

The community center in our town opened a small water park Memorial Day weekend. We took Rory last weekend for the first time and again this Sunday. She loves it!!! Definitley a little fish. The kiddie pool is 1 foot deep, has 2 slides and a whale with a blow hole. She loves to sit on the whale. The first time she went down the slide she was not a fan at all and refused to go down it again, yesterday she was all about the slide. Wanting to do it over and over, taking Danny or I with her saying come on mommy/daddy do it again. Her second favorite part is definitley the fountains when you enter the pool. She sits on them, stands on the whole and trys to catch the water. Danny and my favorite part is the lazy river, after trying to figure out the best way to hold her in the tube with us Danny figured it out right before we left yesterday. When going around the lazy pool there are dump buckets and pipes with water coming out to soak you unexpectedly. When she sees them she starts yelling uh oh, oh no water. It is so funny because she sounds really concerned when shes yelling. We put her in a life jacket to see how she would do floating(not a fan) but she loves the life jacket and kept asking us to put it back on when we would take it off. By the time we leave she is so exhausted she passes out as soon as we get home and naps really well. This is now going to be a weekend staple.

Over the weekend we decided it was time to take out her pool, water table and other outside toys. We also invited over our friend Bronwyn and her son Braedyn to BBQ and play with Aurora. They had a blast together. I had to remind her a few times that we have to share our toys with our friends. Everytime Braedyn tried to play with one of her toys for the water table she would take it or say uh oh mine. After about 20 minutes she was a lot better about sharing with him. After playing with the table we blew up the pool for them, that was short lived but they laid out on their towels and as Aurora put it they were "relaxing or taking a break". Very cute. O yea she likes to mow the lawn like her daddy.

A couple little things. She has been putting her princesses to sleep in our bed and lays with them. She loves soccer balls. She has started drinking from small cups. Obsessed with the hose. Loves Max and Ruby. She can count to 10 and 3 in spanish. She knows her colors but has some problems with red and orange.

Memorial Day Weekend in NC

2009-05-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

Thursday night we drove to NC to spend the weekend there. Rory was really good on the way there and back. She is a excellent traveler, plus the DVD player helps when she starts to get restless.
Friday she went to the hair dresser with Memaw and Aunt Barbara. I wish they had their camera with them because they say she was being very cute! She got her hair "washed", sat under the hair dryer, got piggies done to her hair and chased the dog around. After they got back from that we went to Ikea. I again wish we had the camera. She only had about a 45 minute nap and was well behaved and not cranky despite that. Danny put her in some of the chairs and was spinning her around and pushing her. She loved it. She only wanted Aunt Barbara to push her in the cart, nobody else was allowed to. When we got the kids bedroom section she went crazy. She was climbing on the beds, playing on them and then tucking herself into them. With how much fun she was having it makes me wonder how she will do when she adventually transfers to a big girl bed. We let her pick out a table and chair set for the living room. She ended up with a red/orange table that we are going to repaint and 2 green chairs. She looks very cute sitting at her table.

Saturday Aunt Joan came over. She brought Rory a toy computer, which is now one of her favorite things. In the afternoon we went to Pattersons Farm. They have goats, pigs, peacocks, and chickens. Of course she loved the animals and wanted to pet them but was not allowed to. They have a play area with swings, play tractors, a pirate ship and a room of corn kernals. Think of sand box with dried corn kernals instead of sand! She was so funny in the corn. When she first got in she didn't like it and was walking really funny. After a few minutes she was loving it and letting Danny completly cover her in it. In fact by the end she was making him bury her so that only her head stuck out; she has never sat that still for so long. Next we went on a tractor drawn hayride through the forest. After we were done with the tractor ride we went to the strawberry fields and picked a big basket of strawberries. Rory did a pretty good job but kept picking any strawberry she saw, which meant there were quite a few that were still green. After a little while she went with Memaw to the other side of the Strawberry field and just ate strawberries as she picked them. She was covered in red by the time we left. Probably not the best day to have her in new shirt and white shorts(memaw worked her grandma magic and got it out).

Sunday we spent at Aunt Joans and Uncle Davids. There house was like a huge playplace for her. They have 2 dogs and a cat. Rory tried to love on the cat but it took off for safety after the first to much love squeeze. Pearl would hide from her but Blue was good about letting her pet him. We went outside and she got to feed the fish in the pond. We took her for a ride in the pedal boat, she put her hands in the water and kept pointing at the fish. Uncle David caught her a fish and she touched it but was not a big fan.(She reacted the same way to the frog Grandad caught for her) She fed the fish some more and was trying to drink the rain water while it was pouring like crazy. She got to drive the little 4 wheeler around the pond and kept saying "do it again, do it again". They also have a goat that she kept waving to but could not get near.
All and all she had a great weekend and had way to much fun like she always does when we go visit. She didn't nap more then an hour each day and was so good and sleeping until almost 9 which she never does at home. It was a good practice run for Disneyland this July.

Mommys shirt

2009-05-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is one of my shirts from a couple years ago. Lately she has decided that it's great to wear as PJ's.

Mothers Day

2009-05-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

I had a great Mothers Day. We went to Color Me Mine and painted pottery. I painted a cookie jar with Rory's hand prints on it and her and Danny painted a cupcake. She did a really good job painting and had a lot of fun. Danny took her outside to runa round and climb rocks while I finished up. We went to cold stone and had ice cream. Rory got cotton candy and was a blue mess when she was done. After we got home we took a walk through the woods and played in the creek. She loves playing in the water and throwing rocks into it. On our way back home she slipped and fell in the mud. She kept saying icky muddy. She is way to adorable!!!

Georgetown with Uncle Jason and Daddy

2009-05-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Uncle Jason had business in town in early May. Amidst his busy schedule he was able to get some time at the begging and end of his trip. So I (Danny) took a half day at work and picked up Aurora and met him in Town. We decided we would go to GeorgeTown and see the city and try to make it to the campus before we had to goto Dulles so he could catch his flight out. We started the afternoon in an Irish pub in the heart of George Town for some lunch. The pub was pretty cool, Aurora ate french fries and the home made potato chips. She enjoyed the food, however Uncle Jason and I were underwhelmed. By the end of lunch she was running all over the restaurant ready to go.

We had taken her stroller with us to the Pub, which was a 1 min walk away from from the car. We decided it may be a hassle to take the stroller so we dropped it back off at the car. Then, we had the great idea to walk to Campus, which regularly would be pretty cool except we didn't count on the 5-10 block up hill walk. While the walk itself wasn't that bad, Aurora got tired pretty quickly. We got off the main street as fast as we could so she could walk with out holding a hand. So we ended up by the very old very cool looking town homes. She enjoyed running ahead of us and looking at all of the houses. After a while it was too much of the same thing and she got tired. At one point we were walking along and she sits on the cobblestone side walk and looks at Jason and me and says "Sit, dadda sit, uncle Jason sit." It was funny and cute. Jason tried to put her on his shoulders but she was not a big fan of that.

Once we made it to Campus she was revitalized. I think it was the grass. She enjoyed running around the grass, and it having just rained like playing in the puddles. We walked for a while on campus and admired the architchure and the statues. When we decided it was time to leave we saw a 1 year old playing with a ball by the quad. Assuming she would enjoy the baby and the ball we walked over to him. She got VERY shy an lached onto my leg. It was funny and cute. Very shortly after we left campus she started saying she was tired again, so i put her on my shoulders. It took her a minute to figure out sticking little claws in her daddys mouth resulted in bitten fingers...but once she got it she enjoyed the ride. Once we finally got back to the car she said goodbye to Uncle Jason, since we knew she would pass out within minutes of driving away (which she did).

She really enjoyed GeorgeTown and hanging out with her uncle Jason.

Thomas The Train

2009-05-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

We went to A Day Out With Thomas The Train. Aurora had a such a good time. We met up with 2 of Danny's friends from work and their kids. It was at the Baltimore train museum so there were old trains all over the place, coloring tables, 3 train tables, Sir Topham Hatt walking around, Thomas movies playing and a huge lego city. The ride on Thomas was interesting. It was a 20 minute ride around Baltimore looking at the dump, grafitti and then some nice houses. After our ride we went to dinner with Charlie, Kris, Alex and Chaz. The kids were being funny at dinner and shy with each other until about the last 20 minutes. Then they were booing each other and chasing each other all over the place.

Pictures Just Because

2009-05-02T19:06:00.001-07:00

Aurora and John

2009-04-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Rory and John. John is her best friend and the sweet little boy that I take care of. They love each other and fight like siblings, it's great and very entertaining.

Spring is here

2009-04-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to have a few days of nice but hot weather. We made the most of it over the weekend and spent a lot of time outside. Danny and Charley fixed the fence so Rory and I hung out outside too.
We blew up the pool and pulled out some of the toys from last summer and had a good time playing outside. She kept going up to Danny and asking him to hold her and then she would go up to Charley and try to hand him something or just say Hi. I definitley have an outdoor girl. She loves playing in the dirt but does not like to be dirty, climbs everything she can and enjoys kicking around the huge ball we got her.
My little girl is getting to big way to fast! She talks so clearly now, is very stubborn, way to smart, and very funny. Before we went to the pool I put her juicy cover up on and she walks into the bedroom where Danny is and yells "Daddy look at me!" and now when she sees the camera she says cheeeeeeeeeeese. She is doing so great with potty training. It should be no problem to complete it this summer when I have a few days to devote to it.

Circus Fun

2009-04-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

We went to the Ringling Brothers Barnahum and Bailey show. Rory loved it! We went with our friends and their adorable twins Alex and Chaz. We were in the 3rd row on the floor. Rory sat in Dannys lap pretty much the whole time. We got her cotton candy and popcorn. She loved the popcorn and barely took breaks from eating it. She enjoyed watching all of the performances but her favorites were the clowns, bubbles, elephants and the tigers. During some of the performances she would yell "look look" and "uh oh". We let her pick out her own souvenier and she picked a pink thing that lights up and spins. She was calling it her wand. She is still talking about the circus and can tell you all about it. So next yeat we will have to go again.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday Gammy, Memaw, Daddy, Mommy and Aurora drove to North Carolina. Driving 6+ hours with a toddler who is potty training is not all that fun. She would yell poo poo potty and not want to pee in her diaper. As soon as we got to NC she went potty in her potty and then walked around the house like she owned the place. GB really liked her this time and tried to "hug" her a few times which equaled to Rory falling down and not being sure if she liked the hug or not.

The first night we were there Daddy and Aunt Barbara were giving her a shower and she had the handheld showerhead and was spraying the shower doors and whatnot them turns around and sprays her daddy, yells got you and starts cracking up. It was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen. That shows you a great example of her personality.

Saturday we hung out around the house visiting with everyone. Uncle Richard came and visited but Rory was not a fan of being held by him(she can smell the fear) but enjoyed talking to him, high fives and hand slams. Aunt Joan and Uncle David came and visited too. She liked showing off in front of them and doing her new "tricks". That evening she had a piece of pizza from papa johns. It was only the 2nd time she had pizza that was not organic. She loved it and ate a whole piece. After dinner we dyed easter eggs. She was a huge mess afterwards but had a blast doing it. She was trying to be very careful where she was coloring on the eggs and did not want to put the stickers on the eggs but all over herself instead.

On Easter we woke and gave Rory her Easter baskets. I enjoyed watching her go through everything and then get the basket from Barbara and love the grass the most. Silly girl. During her breakfast she used her new chair from Aunt B and sat by herself eating. Way to cute! After breakfast we got her dressed and wen toutside to search for easter eggs and the big plastic eggs filled with little people. She did really good finding her eggs and kept yelling egg egg...more eggs!!! After she had found them all we were throwing the eggs out of her basket so that she could keep finding them.

After her egg hunt we went to the front yard and took advantage of the pretty flowers in bloom and got some really pretty pictures of Aurora. She was not really wanting to stand still or pose so there is a lot of profile pics.

After being completly spoiled with attention and having a constant audience for a week there was a few days of detox and a lot of asking where Gammy at?, Memaw?, Aunt barbara? But she is back to herself now and still aking for everyone including uncle jason.

Hanging with Gammy and Memaw

2009-04-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Mommy and Daddy took a cruise to the Bahamas so Gammy and Memaw came and stayed with me. They had a really good time and Aurora did really good with mommy and daddy being gone. She learned some new things.....cutesy face, all about worms, the song "my treasure lies under the ocean". They took a lot of walks to go see the wind chime house, collected pinecones and rocks, she was obsessed with her green froggy crocs and had to wear them everyday. Her favorite thing to say at the time was "Go memaw go." Here are a few pics.

Monsters Vs. Aliens

2009-03-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today was mile stone for Aurora. We decided to take her to see her first movie in a theater. We were going to be in Manassas for a few hours with nothing to do and decided why not atleast try. Lucky for us Monsters Vs. Aliens came out yesterday and looked pretty good for her and us. The movie was pretty good. She got a little concerned during some of the fighting scenes and was saying uh oh, oh no and broken. It was adorable. When she likes a part she would say daddy look or mommy look. She sat in her own seat for most of the movie and ate her little bag of popcorn(special treat for a special occasion). The last 20 minutes or so she got restless and had to sit with Danny for a little bit and then was walking from my seat to Danny's seat and spilled her bag of popcorn all over the floor.
Her potty training is still going really well. She poops in the potty everyday and has been peeing in the potty atleast 4-5 times a day. She is great about letting us know when she needs to poop and is getting better with telling us when she needs to pee. After she goes she has to flush the toilet and say bye potty. Last night when she was getting her bath she told me she had to go potty so I took her out sat her on her potty and she went right away, she also has to use the potty before her bath and before we go downstairs for tv and milk. I am hoping if she keeps this up she will be potty trained this summer. Every parents dream...a toddler wanting to potty train at a young age.
We went to see the Easter Bunny today. She was waving to him and saying Hi why we were waiting for our turn. Then when it was her turn and she got about 2-3 feet from him she almost cried and didn't want to sit with him, even with the bribe of a lollipop from the camera girl. We ended up doing a family picture but she still was not to happy with the situation.
The other day she grabbed her bucket of bows, poured them out and then asked me to put one in her hair. Then another and another and another. She is all into wearing bows now and does not take them out. I have been waiting for this since she started getting hair and it finally happened, I now just need to get in the habit of using them.
Her new thing is to tell Danny or I to "Hold me" or "Hold you". I love when she says that, it melts my heart! She is talking so much and is way to smart for her own good. She is working on counting, colors and shapes. Loves to sing Twinkle twinkle, Itsy bitsy spider and row, row, row your boat. Excpet she kind of mashes them all together which is pretty funny. She got to have her own ice cream for the first time. We found healthy kids ice cream with omega 3 in it, she liked it. Her and John have been playing night night. It consists of them laying on a pillow, fake snoring, having me cover them with a blanket and them saying night night to each other over and over. Very cute and funny. I am just curious....when did my baby turn into a little girl?
O yea she has had that black eye for a little over 2 weeks now.

Uncle Jason Visits

2009-03-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Uncle Jason came and visited us. Aurora loves her Uncle and had a lot of fun with him.
On Saturday we went to the DC ZOO. Rory loved the Zoo even more this time. She kept asking to see the monkeys and the lions. I think her favorite animal ended up being the hippopotamus because she keeps saying hippopotamus, swim, ball even a week later. When we saw the hippos she kept telling them to swim and then pointing to the huge red ball. She did enjoy the monkeys and one even got right up to the glass so it seemed like she could touch him and we spent a long time staring at the lion. She would roar at him and say hi. I was really impressed with her and how well she did all day. She walked around 90% of the time and was really good about holding hands and not trying to run off.
Sunday we had a little bit more of a grown up day and went to the Monticello. After the 2 hour drive she was definitley over being still and not being able to wonder around. When we first got there she saw a fountain and wanted to play in it but we had to go and catch our ride to the tour. By the time we got to the fourth room of the house she did not want to be held anymore and was very talkative. As we were discussing one of us taking her outside the lady giving out tour told us she needed to leave because she was to loud. Danny went outside with her and played in the big yard and threw rocks into the pond. After the tour we walked around the yard, Rory threw more rocks into the pond(her fave part of the day), Danny tackled her and we went and saw Thomas Jeffersons grave. After the Monticello we decided to head back home but we stopped at a winery so that Daddy and Uncle Jason could do a wine tasting. While they were wine tasting she was running around and getting into everything. My only saving grace was that there was a very sweet dof that she was fascinated with and kept petting when she could.
Jason watched her on Monday. As far as I know they had a good time and she was in one piece when I got home. She had a lot of fun putting her animals in his suitcase and then taking them out and climbing into it herself. She also learned to call Jason "Uncle Jason" and would not stop saying it for about 5 minutes. She says the Jason part kinda high pitched...it is really cute. I enjoyed seeing them interact and seeing how much fun she was having with him. I was always close to my uncles and want the same for her. We are now being asked daily where is Uncle Jason. Fun times.

Potty Fun

2009-03-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a little out of order since I am having to catch up for the last couple weeks.

Rory is doing really good with pottying on the potty and letting us know when she needs to poop. When she needs to go she says potty potty poop potty. Since Tuesday she has not pooped in a diaper and has peed on her potty multiple times. We are still not actively trying to teach her but letting her guide us. We are so proud of her and how well she is doing. She gets a really big smile on her face after she goes and we are clapping for her saying "YAY".

We had what was most likely are last snow of the season Sunday night. Aurora had a blast playing in it with her daddy and of course enjoyed eating it. She was cute watching the snow from the door and kept yelling look mommy look, snow!

She had her first bowl of cheerios with milk 2 weekends ago. She was obsessed for a couple days after that and wanted to only eat banana cheerios. We took her swimming and she had so much fun. She did really good when Danny dunked her and enjoyed playing in the area where she could stand. She looks way adorable in her tankini too.

A cople weekends ago we babysat our friends 8 month old little boy. Aurora loves him so much and had a lot of fun playing with him. She did a great job sharing her mommy and daddy. She was very helpful giving him his juice, helping give him snacks and was shring her toys with him. One day she might be a great big sister.

She has really been into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse still and yells Mouse when she sees it, loves Dora and Diego right now and her books of Dora and Itsy Bitsy Spider is her favorite song to sing this week. We have been practicing counting and colors.

O yea when the dogs are barking she tells them "No Barking!". It is the cutest thing ever. Also she has been kicking Moo out of her room and saying Moo out!

Valentines Day

2009-02-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

I have to start this post with what happened today when we were pulling into the parking lot of the gym. As soon as we pull into the gym parking lot she says Daddy no daycare, no daycare. Daddy no. Of course she was fine once she was there but it was cute.

Last weekend we bought Aurora a potty. She has already used it a couple times. We are not actively trying to potty train her yet, but since she has been showing interest we decided to get her one and go from there. We also had some really nice weather so we took advantage of it and went to the new park up the street. She had a blast climbing, sliding and running around. She is a little daredevil and was going down the slides head first. Afterwards she passed out and took a nice long nap. Can't wait for summer!!!

For Valentines Day we took a little trip to Baltimore and went to the Aquarium. She had so much fun seeing all the fish and sharks. We got to see a dolphin show. She loved it and actually sat through the whole thing. Her favorite fish that she saw was a nemo fish(thats what she i slooking at in the pic of her head). She was saying nemo nemo and pointing to it. Her favorite thing at the aquarium was these big tubes that have bubbles in them. She was running from one to the next and did not care if there was another kid in her way or not. She kept getting a really big smile on her face and saying bubbles, look bubbles. We let her pick out a toy from the gift shop but she kept dropping one thing and picking up another one so we got her 2 books instead. We went to Hooters for lunch before the aquarium. The service was horrible and Aurora was melting down because she was starving. Luckily she loved the fries and got in a good mood as soon as she got some food in her belly.

Danny and a few friends have been working on building our shed. It definitley has been a labor of love and still needs a few more full days to be finished. Considering the foundation is only almost finished. Once it is done it will be really nice to have some storage. Danny decided to have some fun and put her into one of the wholes he dug for the foundation and of course I had to take pictures of it.

We went and visited Marie, Terran and Quincy on Sunday. We had not seen them in a couple months so it was a nice visit. She had a blast running around, playing with them and coloring pictures with them. She still recognizes their house when we get there which is pretty impressive since she doesn't go there very often. When she was ready to go she started cleaning up, saying bye bye and pushing me saying go mommy go.

We bought tickets for the circus. We will be going with a few of Danny's friends from work and their kids. I am really excited and think she will enjoy it since she loves animals.

Our friend Bronwyn made a really cool wall decal for Aurora's room. We put it above her crib. See photo above.

Snow Fun

2009-02-01T18:29:00.001-08:00

This week we had a snow day and an ice day. She kept looking out the window saying snow, snow. It was very cute. After Danny got home from work we got her all dressed up in her snow gear, that was a mission in itself. We went outside and she loved it! She was walking around saying snow and picking up handfuls of it. She did fall down a few times but was having so much fun she did not care at all. When Danny was trying to shovel the snow off of the walkway she decided she wanted to help and was trying to take the shovel from him. When we went back inside she kept asking to go back outside. The next day Danny took her out for a little bit but the snow was frozen so she was sliding around and falling down. She started calling the ice cookie and we are not sure why. She would pick up a chunk say cookie and then eat it. Silly little girl.

Today we went and joined the gym. We figured that taking her to the gym daycare would be a good way to get her used to being babysat on occasion and give her the oppurtunity to play with some more kids. So we go and sign her in, say goodbye and leave. She looked fine when we saw her through the window so we were excited that she was doing ok. Fastforward to 15 minutes later and my pager is going off. I go see what they needed and she was at the door screaming and crying hysterically. The lady said she had been crying since we left, calling for us and nothing was calming her down. I picked her up and calmed her down, the lady said for me to go and we would try again. I was gone 15 seconds before I realized she did not give me a new pager. I go back in and Rory is opening the door while screaming and crying. The girl told me it wasn't going to work and to take her with me. So daycare was a no go. We waited for daddy to be done and then we went swimming. She loved that and was having a blast kicking her feet and dunking her daddy. She was so exhausted she passed out right after lunch and took a 2 hour nap.

We did a little photoshoot today of her in her tutu and a valentines day shirt. She was all about her sucker and cried when we took it away after we were done taking pix.

O yea Danny went to Atlantic City last weekend with some friends. He did really good playing black jack and came home with $500 after all of his expenses. And he just won $250 from playing super bowl squares from his work. He is on a roll right now.

Such a big girl

2009-01-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

So Aurora has a new thing she does, it is so cute. When she gets a boo boo she will say in a cute little voice boo boo and show her pointer finger to you. Then you have to give it a kiss and say all better. This started when I cut my finger and told her mommy got a boo boo, kiss it better. Then I showed her my finger and she gave it a kiss. She does know where her actual boo boos are but thinks you have to kiss the finger to make it better. Silly girl.

Sunday was Danny's birthday. We went to the community center and went swimming. She had a blast and got dunked a few times. After the first dunk she wanted nothing to do with Danny and that lasted most of the time we were there. We can't wait for the summer and to take her to swim lessons again. After swimming we went to dinner. She of course didn't touch her food with the exception of a few of her fries. Danny gave her a bite of the chocolate cake we got and she actually didn't like it.

Monday she had to get her chicken pox shot. She was such a good girl. Her appointment was at 4:00 and we didn't get in until 4:45.(kinda ridiculous). She played the whole time and was really patient while we waited. When it came time for her to get her shot she was great. She layed down and didn't struggle at all and then when she got her shot Danny popped the paci in her mouth and didn't cry at all. She acted like nothing had even happened to her. She did better then her mommy ever does.

She is back to going to sleep with no problems and not really waking up for more then a few seconds at night. Also she is not really using her paci(ba) anymore during the day. It is pretty much only to sleep and a little bit in the car. We thought this was going to be a lot harder then it has been since she is so addicted to it.

She has been obsessed with madagascar this week and really attatched to her nemo stuffed animal. Her favorite game is hiding under then balnket and she has been obsessed with Alice the Fairy. She also has been learning to sing "twinkle twinkle". She is adorable walking around saying twinkle twinkle little star. That is all she knows as of right now.

The 1st week of 2009

2009-01-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

Aurora had her 18 month appointment on Friday. She weighed in at 26lbs 2ozs(80th%) and stayed at 33.5inches(90th%). This was the first time since she was born that she was not in the 90th percentile for her weight. It seems like she is finally slowing down. Everything else went really well at her appointment. She is way ahead on the amount of words that she knows and that she is already putting sentences together. She is great on her physical milestones as well. Either meeting or surpassing them. She did tell us that we should probably try and start limiting her Ba(paci) time. Cutting it completly out sooner rather then later. But seeing as it is her only comfort item it will probably be awhile before we completly take it away from her. No shots at this appointment but we will have to go back to get her chicken pox shot.

Memaw and Great Aunt Barbara came and visited for the weekend. We all had a fun going out to eat, and having Rory not eat anything off of her plate but eating Mommys and Memaws food instead. She was all about her Great Aunt Barbabra. It was constantly Barbara, where are you? Very cute. We went to Chuck E Cheese. She had an Ok time but it was really crowded since it was a Saturday. She loved riding in a moving monster truck, holding the basket ball while mommy and daddy dunked the other basketballs for more tickets and her favorite thing was putting the tokens into the machines.

Her favorite show right now is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she is obsessed with coloring. Sleep has been interesting since she got in a couple bad habits while we were in Sac. I think she is almost back to normal though. O yea and we got her bangs cut again. The long thing just was not working.

Christmas

2009-01-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

Aurora's second Christmas was even better then her first. She was so into opening her presents this year, it was really fun to watch. She was very careful opening them, never just ripping to see what was inside. She enjoyed seeing the christmas trees and taking the ornaments off. She got to eat some cookies and other treats that she does not normally get to have.

Christmas Eve was busy as usual. We started off going to GGs house. Most everyone was there with the exception of GG, Uncle Randy, Grandpa John and Grandma Linda. She had fun seeing everyone and eating some snacks. After that we went to Buca for dinner with Gammy, Gpa, Uncle Jason, Auntie Ney Ney and Uncle John. She had a really good time eating there. She wouldn't put her bread down until it was all gone. She ate two different pastas and a little bit of rib and chicken. By the time we were leaving she was getting pretty tired and passed out when we got back home.

Christmas morning(part 1) Rory slept in until almost 8 a.m. That was nice and a surprise. We went straight to GGs house so that we would be the first ones there. After everyone got there she got to open her presents. She got a lot of toys, she isn't spoiled at all.....haha! I think her favorites were her shopping cart, polar bear book,aquadoodle and her leap frog caterpillar. After presents was GG2 breakfast. Rory ate bacon and waffles. She loved the waffles.

Christmas morning(part 2) Rory took a little nap when we got back to Gammy and Gpas. After she woke up christmas got started again. She got to open her stocking and then all of her presents. Once again not spoiled at all. She enjoyed opening her presents and was even trying to open ones that were not hers. Her favorite gifts are her vacuum, elmo dvd and leap frog guitar. She is adorable when she is walking around pushing her vacuum.

The rest of the day she played with her toys with everyone and watched some Wonder Pets Save the Nutcracker.

Sacramento Trip 12/08

2009-01-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

So this trip was Aurora's 4th time flying from VA to CA. We were not to worried about how she was going to act on the flight because she has always done so well and she had her own seat this time. She started out pretty good. Looking around, eating snacks, playing,etc. And then she started to get tired but was fighting it because she couldn't get comfortable and there was a lot going on around her. Of course she falls asleep the last 10 minutes of the flight. We landed and had to run to our next gate, barely making it. She was really good for that part probably because she was in a stroller and pretty out of it. We got on the plane gave her some food and milk and then she slept the rest of the trip. YAY!

We all had a lot of fun being in Sac and seeing our family and friends. Rory had so much fun hanging out with all of her family. She got to spend some quality time with her Auntie Ney Ney and Uncle Jason. The way she is towards Courtney is hilarious!!! She totally messes with her but loves her so much. Her Gpa took her to the store to show her off and we took her to her Gammys work so she could show her off to. We went to Uncle Kens and ate pizza, which led to her doing her pizza dance. We visited Uncle Randy in the hospital, she was very well behaved while we were there. Grandma Linda got to babysit her for a little while Mommy and Daddy did some shopping. She loved visiting her GG & GG2, she had a blast pushing her shopping cart around and playing kitchen. She would follow GG2 around, it was adorable.

At Gammys and Gpas she enjoyed chasing all of the kitties around, singing "I know you", playing with the pots & pans and walking to the hallway and saying light. Rofus did make her cry because he hurt her feelings. She went to pet him and he hissed at her. Her bottom lip automatically went out and she started crying.

Rory got to hang out with her future boyfriend Drew and his lovely mommy Corinne and daddy Brad. Drew is so adorable. She was pretty jealous at first because I was holding Drew and not her. When we went out to dinner she started to warm up to him again. She was touching him and trying to share her food. It was really cute. By the end of the night she was giving him kisses and hugs. We went to Adventureland with Kelly and Dylan. The 2 of them had a really good time. They got to climb, go on slides, play in the ball pit and run around the bounce house slides. Dylan was sweet and would hand her balls to play with. They also hugged a little bit. Rory had a pretty good time at Chuck E Cheese also. She did get over playing there pretty quick though. We went out to dinner with her "uncle nick", Olla, Joe Joe and Beca. She was of course being a ham and would not eat her food.

Overall our trip was really nice and fun. We do wish that Uncle Randy didn't have to be in the hospital so much, but that was not his fault.

Christmas Part 1

2008-12-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had a fun week that was very busy. Rory pooped on the potty twice. It would have been 4 times but the first time she was standing in the tub saying poop,poop....but she was peeing so I told her she was peeing and then she pooped. We decided after we get back from Sac that we are going to get her a potty and if she wants to use it she can. Friday we had our christmas eve. It was nice, she was cute opening her little presents. Nemo has become her favorite and she sleeps with him and carries him around in the morning and at bedtime. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas, she liked it. "Christmas" morning was a lot of fun. She did so good opening all of her presents. She is very careful and precise when she opens them. Her favorites are her elmo live and ming ming doll. Danny made blueberry pancakes, sausage and eggs. Yummy, Rory loved the pancakes! Saturday night we went to a light show/winter carnival. The lights were pretty and Rory enjoyed walking around the carnival. We played a few games and got her some lame carnival toys. It was freezing so we didn't stay very long. Sunday we went and had lunch with Danny, Rory got pizza. That is her favorite food at the moment. Next weeks entry will be longer...we will be in Sac with our family and friends!!!

Christmas Prep

2008-12-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

This week was a lot of fun. Tuesday after work we took her to meet Santa. We thought she was going to be okay. While we were waiting she was saying Ho Ho Ho and waving to santa, and then it was her turn to sit on his lap. She was holding onto her daddy and was not wanting to let go. Santa gave her a sucker and she calmed down a little bit and let us sit her next to him on the chair. She almost started crying so in all of the pictures they took her eyes are red. We picked what we thought was the best one, its cute because she looks very nervous and is sitting the same way as Santa. Afterwards we went and picked out her yearly ornament. We got an Elmo one since she loves him so much.

On Wednesday we went and bought our Christmas Tree. It was freezing outside so she was not to happy. She was walking around with her hands in fists, she was scared of the trees and she just wanted to be held the whole time. She did enjoy standing by the fire with her daddy while mommy got the tree. We tried to take a picture of her in front of the tree we picked out but she just cried. We decorated the tree and now she is obsessed with the ornaments and taking them off. This has been so much fun since she does not listen when you tell her not to touch them.

Sunday was picture day. We went to picture people and they did an awsome job. We got a few goos hots of her in her dress but she was really distracted because they were doing her pics in the front of the store. Meaning there was all these people walking by that she wanted to look at. After trying to get a couple family pictures with no luck we put her in her pj's to do the now famous cookie pics. As soon as she saw the cookies she was in a great mood and was hamming it up for the camera. We got so many great pictures of her with the cookies. The guy who took our picture order told me I had to sign a release form for the pictures because he wanted to use them, then the manager said that if they didn't put them up for this year that she would use them for next year for sure. Yes they plan that far in advance. After that every employee was talking abou how cute the pictures were and how creative of an idea it was. We bought a lot of pictures so everyone has some coming. While we waited for them to print our order we walked around the mall a little bit. We went into the disney store. She had a lot of fun in there. She was putting all these little toys in the princess shopping cart, carrying around a Nemo stuffed animal and said goofy when she saw a doll of him. After that we went to nordstroms and got he feet measured. She is in a size 6 now but we were told to buy atleast a size 7 or 7.5. So we got her a pair of really cute pink pumas and uggs. Spoiled?

A few cute things she has been doing this week is saying mommy/daddy where are you? if she can't see us. She has been going into her closet and taking out her rainboots and ladybug wings. She brings them to one of us to put them on her. She looks silly in rainboots, wings and a dipaer. Her book obsession last week was I love you stinky face and The Foot Book.

Picture people pics to be posted tomorrow.

Turkey Day

2008-12-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Well this was a very busy week for Rory. We drove down to North Carloina on Wednesday and she did so good on the 6 hour car ride. She took a nap, hung out and watched Madagascar on the way down. While she was watching Madagascar she was making animal noises, naming what they were and laughing througout the movie. I think that is now her favorite movie.

Thanksgiving day Danny, Aurora and I went to the airport to pick up her Grandma and Grandpa. Luckily she napped the whole way there because traffic was horrible and she was in a great mood when they got in the car!!! She had so much fun running around the house and playing with maddy and gb(big dogs). Not to mention the constant attention she was getting from her Grandma, Grandpa, Memaw, Grandad, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Joan, David, Uncle Richard and Lisa. She sat at the table with us during dinner but only ate mac n cheese and bread. She liked the macaroni so much she was trying to eat it straight out of the dish. David was teaching her how to wink but she would just blink. Very cute though watching her try. It was cute when her Aunt Joan would ask for a hug or kiss she would say yea and then run away. She was acting like it was a game.

On Friday we went to a place called Lazy 5. It is an animal park that you drive through or ride on a wagon to see all the animals. It is Safari style so the animals all run free and come up to the wagon so that you can feed them. She really enjoyed it. Her Grandpa was the only person who got the Giraffe to eat out of his bucket. She loved the swings and going down the slides. Rory got really excited when she saw a duck up close but it was not to friendly and bit her daddy, grandpa and HER. She didn't cry or anything. When we were getting ready to leave she was standing at the fence looking at an emu and that bit her too. Apparently her and birds do not go well together.

On Saturday we got to test out her Jeep Power Wheel (early xmas present from the grandparents). She likes sitting in it but is a little unsure of it when it is going. She did ok pressing the "gas" by herself but does not know how to steer yet. She went on walks with her grandma and played chalk outside until it started raining. She spent a lot of time playing in the leaves, running around the backyard, playing cash register and playing the organ with her Memaw. The highlight of the weekend was her playing in the leaves. There were huge piles of leaves and she kept going straight to them, sitting in them and laughing really hard when leavea were dropped on her head. Saturday night we went to a surprise party for her Aunt Barbara. She was hamming it up for the guests, kept going to her Aunt Barbara and saying Barbara. As a special treat she got to eat some frosting off of the cake.

We left early Sunday morning to try and beat traffic, it didn't work. What should have taken 6 hours took around 8. When we left that morning it was raining so it was the perfect oppurtunity to try out her new rain coat and hat and to take some cute pics.

Storyville

2008-11-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we went to Storyville in Baltimore. This place is really cool and Aurora loved it. She did not want to leave. It is a library/interactive learning site. There are a different themed rooms; water room, construction room, theater, play house and grocery store. Her favorite rooms were the water one and the grocery store, she also enjoyed digging in the garden. She was so cute playing with all the toys and kinda playing with the other kids. She did bully a few of the other kids, even the ones bigger then her. She definitley has a presence about her! Aurora started counting this week. She goes 2,3,4 and sometimes 5. She does know the number one because if you ask her how old she is she says one and puts up one finger. We are all ready and excited about Christmas. Whenever she see anything Christmas themed she says Ho Ho Ho. Very cute. I will have a lot more for next weeks post since it is Thanksgiving and her Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jason will be visiting along with her seeing her Great Grandparents and Great Aunts.

Tempermental=Ouch

2008-11-17T16:21:00.000-08:00

ouchie

Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to story time at the library. The last couple weeks she has started to really get into the song part of the class. She knows all the moves to "If you're happy and you know it" and is doing part of "head, shoulders, knees and toes". It is really cute seeing her clap her hands, stomp her feet and my favorite part throw her hands up and yell Horray!! One of the moms last week was telling me how impressed she was with Aurora since she is only 16 months and knew what to do with the songa and how well she speaks. Of course as a mommy that made me really proud. She is also getting really close to being able to jump and actually get off the ground. Another cute thing she started doing last week is when she is done with bath time she yells "towel". The towel thing she picked up from Danny and I. When we are almost done bathing her we yell towel to each other and we started teaching her to say it last week. She picks up on things really fast. On Sunday we put a closet organizer in her room. She was in a very tempermental mood all day because she couldn't go wherever she wanted and do what she wanted. When she was in good moods she was trying to help us which was really sweet. Danny got a video of one of her tempermental moments, so enjoy it. It is sad and funny at the same time.

Great Falls

2008-11-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

This was a busy week for Rory. She went with us to vote. We got there at 5:50am. She was really good while we waited, waving and talking to the people in the line and even got to be with us while we voted. We forgot to bring our camera so no pictures of that. This week at work she learned how to ride John's power wheel. She loves it and does such a good job on it. They both now fight over it so we are going to have to get her one of her own. Yesterday we she got the second part of her flu shot. She started to cry but stopped before a tear even cam eout. She is not a wimp like her mommy. Since she did so good Daddy gave her a dumdum for a couple minutes. After her shot we went to Great Falls. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for a little walk. It was beautiful there. Rory had a lot of fun climbing the rocks, playing in the dirt, looking at the water(she wanted to go in it) and playing with daddy. Her big things this week have been saying yellow, giving kisses and playing in the leaves. Here are some of my fave pics of the week.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

So for Halloween 08 we decided to have Rory be a ladybug. We call her Rorybug so we thought it would be fitting. First we took her to the mall to trick or treat. That one was pretty lame and she was kinda overwhelmed by all the people dressed up. After that we went home and took her to some of the houses in our nieghborhood. She loved that so much. It took her a few houses to get comfortable with what she was doing. But by the end of the night she was saying Boo to the people at the doors and saying Thank you when she got her candy. She got sooo many compliments on her costume and how cute she looked. After we were done we went back to our house and went to take off her wings but she wouldn't let us until it was time to get pj's on. Danny gave her one mini three musketeers. She liked it a little to much because she now reaches our her hand and says me when she sees a candybar. Here are a few photos of her in her costume.