Aubrey turns three!!!

Our little girl turned three this morning at 4:34 a.m. There is a story I have been meaning to share about my sweet and so very sassy Aubrey. One day a friend of mine came over who had been having a very difficult time. She sat down on the floor to gather some things up, not saying anything at all, but obviously having a hard time. Aubrey was walking by, saw the look on her face, and ran over and gave her a very big hug. For those of you who know Aubs, she is a very affectionate little girl, but is usually reserved at times on who she will give that affection to and when she will give it. That told me so much about my beautiful daughter and the kind of person she already is and who she will continue to be. We love you so much sweetie!!
We had Aubrey's birthday party on September 25th this year, a 3/4 birthday celebration, to ensure that she could have her very own special day. Of course we still acknowledged her birthday and opened a few goodies on her actual birthday, but am so glad we had her big celebration earlier. Goodness knows the day after Christmas is a very difficult day to do that. Please look back at those pictures and enjoy, was a lot of fun!

Christmas photos

The girls were so excited for Christmas this year, it was so much fun!!! I actually had a hard time sleeping the few nights before Christmas, their excitement was really contagious! We made tons of cookies, left carrots out for the reindeer, they sang Christmas carols everywere we went, was really great!
They actually even sort of stayed in their room until a decent hour. Around 5 am I heard them coming out of the room and whispering and then they would run back into the room. This repeated I don't know how many times, I just laid in bed for awhile laughing and listening. I think it what was keeping them in there was my Dad in the front room sawing logs. I think they thought it was Santa making noise and were afraid to disturb him and not get their goodies!
There big gift from us was a doll house, which of course has been a huge hit. It has a flushing toilet and an elevator even!
From my Dad the girls got horses, which are also a huge hit. They really get some air, which you can tell by the way their hair is flying in the picture below! I cannot wait though until the weather warms up a bit and they can go outside. They bounce so hard it makes the house vibrate!
Okay, so one nice thing about being the one always taking the pictures...You aren't in early morning ones were you could have used a few more hours sleep! Sorry guys, gotta capture the moments!
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and cherish life's blessings. There are so many of them!

Polar Express

We watched the movie Polar Express this year with the girls, which of course they loved. After that Corey found out that Mt Hood Railroad does a rendition of it, complete with hot cocoa, going to the North Pole to meet Santa and see his elves, and so forth. The girls had a fantastic time. Sadly the camera was kicked by our little Aubs and temporarily disabled, so didn't get as many pics as I would have liked.
Aubrey was in a mood that day can't you tell, well pretty much everyday anymore =)

Finding the perfect Christmas tree...

Out to our favorite local tree farm we went, on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. Lily was so funny, she found one right at the beginning that was about 8 feet tall and very full. It really was beautiful, but a bit to big for our space. She was insistent that that was our tree. Eventually she got busy running around and feel in love with another, but she really made a good case for herself.

The girls had so much fun running through the woods! They were so muddy by the end!

Hayrides and hot cocoa, such a great morning!

We had stuff going on the day we cut the tree, so waited until the next morning to decorate.

Later that day we made our annual gingerbread house, and of course it was a masterpiece. I found the gingerbread part preassembled this year, which was so nice. I really despise putting the house together, I always end up using a bunch of different cans to hold it up until the icing dries!

And here is the final masterpiece!

A weekend of snow at Dads house

We got to visit Grandpa Harvey's house a couple weekends ago, and they had snow in their mountains. We went up to his cabin that he has been working so hard on fixing up, and played the day away. The girls even got to decorate one of his outdoor trees for Christmas!
They used to be petrified of the 4-wheelers, wouldn't even sit on them! They warmed up to them this summer in Montana, and seriously didn't want to get off of them! Grandpa took a lot of trips down the hill! I only had to make one, was I got Aubs and me stuck I got out of driving anymore!
There was just a small hill the girls were sledding down, but they packed that snow down quick to an ice pack and really got booking. I had to stand at the bottom of the hill and catch them so they wouldn't run into the wooden poles or Dads cabin!