Happy Birthday Aubree

I cannot believe my little Aubree is 4 years old. I don't know where the past year has gone. She is growing up so quickly.

At the end of the day yesterday (Nov. 17th, 2008), I was extremely exhausted, had a cold and was just ready to go to bed even though it was 8:30pm. The phone rang and it was BreeAnn. She was calling to wish Aubree a happy birthday. As I talked with her for a few minutes it gave me time to reflect on the precious gift I have been given to be Aubree's Mom.

Rarely do I think about Aubree being adopted. My feelings toward her are no different than my feelings toward Sydney. Once in awhile though, I am reminded that very easily things could have been different. I can't imagine my life without my Aubree girl. She means so much to me. She is such a sweet girl and has brought so much happiness to Scott and I. She filled a void in my life when I ached to be a mom. She also brought new challenges but I wouldn't trade any of them to go back in time when I wanted her so bad.

I'm going to try and give a recap of Aubree's past year while adding some of the things that make Aubree who she is.

This picture was taken at the beginning of the year. I think Aubree is beautiful. She is becoming such a sensitive girl. We are worried about the teenage years because already she has a hard time making through a movie without crying. Recently she was tearing up at High School Musical when they Zack and Gabriella broke up for a little bit. She can't see someone else crying and not want to cry with them. We may have an emotional wreck on our hands just like her mom.

Aubree has loved holidays this year and just couldn't get enough of the festivities.

Playing outside has brought new meaning this year. It seems all we did all summer was go outside or to the park and play. She loves riding her "Pony Bike", jumping on trampolines going to the park (especially the Splash Pad) and playing with Sydney.

Aubree loves when I give her a job to do. She can swiffer-vac the floor, pick up her toys, make her bed, get dressed, put on her shoes, wipe up messes and many more things. She also loves to help out in the kitchen. One of her favorite things is pulling a chair up to the kitchen sink and rinsing dishes then loading them in the dishwasher.

She also like to help make dinner and treats. She loves when we make bread dough and she get to roll her own dough out and make into anything she wants.

When it comes time to eat she loves Macaroni and Cheese, breadsticks, apples, grapes, yogurt, McDonald's kids meals with chicken nuggets, apple dippers, chocolate milk and a toy. She likes steak and usually chicken. Her beverage of choice is chocolate milk. When it comes time to say a blessing on the food we have a fight on our hands. First of all, we always have at least 2 prayers on every meal and Aubree HAS to be first followed by Sydney who usually blesses all her toys and forgets to bless the food. Aubree never forgets to ask Heavenly Father for a new baby and a pet. (I sure hope a new baby gets her before a pet does.)

Aubree loves playing with her cousins. Aub and Ty act more like brother and sister than they do cousins. That's probably because they see each other and spend a lot of time together at least once a week. She really looks up to Abby and Kendall. Someday she wants to be just like them.


Aubree has started dance and preschool this year. I still can't believe she's old enough for either of these things. She loves letters and numbers and is always asking me what things say and finding different letters she is familiar with. She also loves going to the library and getting new books. It's great when Scott gets home and takes the time to read stories to Aub and Syd. Aubree will then do pretty good at remembering the story and "reading" it again later.

Aubree doesn't always like the spotlight and she gets a little shy but recently she'll ask me to say "Attention, Attention Everyone, Introducing Aubree doing _____" Then she'll run out and perform her little talent. It's pretty funny to watch her perform.

Aub thinks she can pull some pretty funny/scary faces. She'll do some face and then ask me if it's scary or not. It' always makes me laugh. This picture is her most famous scary face and Sydney is trying to copy everything her older sister does.

As cute as she can be, she can also be a stinker some times. This is her pouting/I'm not getting my way face. I've even heard her say...."If you don't do this then I won't play with you." Then she'll fold her arms and wait for you to do what she says. What a STINKER! Hopefully this is just a phase.

Poor Aubree has to put up with me taking her picture every chance I get. She gets really sick of the camera but will occasionally put up with me usually followed by her having a turn to take a few pictures. Luckily we have digital cameras now and we can delete most pictures.

One funny thing she did this past summer when I gave her my old digital camera was hold the picture and snap a shot of herself looking down at the camera. When we were looking through the pictures she came across a few of that particular angle and her nostrils were the most prominent thing in the picture and she asked in a very serious way, "Mom, am I a pig?" She didn't think it was funny that I laughed because she was a bit worried. I had to explain we all have nostrils and that's what they look like when you're looking up at them.

I wasn't planning on doing a "friend" party until Aubree announced on Friday (her b-day was Monday) that she really wanted her friends to come over for her birthday. I don't know what I was thinking but I quickly threw something together. Aubree loved delivering the invitations. For most of the houses I would just pull in the driveway and she jumped out of the car and delivered the invitations. She thought it was so much fun.

The party was full on dancing, balloons, playdough, ice-cream and games. I can't even remember but there were 12 or 13 three and four year olds. What was I thinking. They had a fun time and Aubree liked it. I guess that's what matters.

Aubree's cake this year was a princess castle cake. She loved it and couldn't wait for the princesses to come out.....too bad it was just cake on the inside. This morning as she woke up she was laying next to me then she sprang up and said I want to play with my presents. She had a fun day going from one new thing to the next. She's already talking about what she wants for her next birthday.

I love my Aubree girl so much and look forward to the next year to see what new things she discovers and learns.