Monday, July 14, 2008

Guard Drill Visitors

A.J. and Shana
Aubrie in the Baby Swing
Up close
Having fun with Mom
Abbie Grace

It was a fun weekend in the Fort for the Durham-Peerson crew. We went up with Phillip for drill this weekend and had the chance to visit with his sister, Shana and her son A.J. and of course...cool uncle Mike. It was so nice to be able to hang out together. The kids just love each other and it's so nice to watch them play and laugh and run around like crazy making memories for a lifetime. They are just the right age to really play and get to laughing together so that they fall on the floor over the silliest things. I love that Abbie has a cousin so close in age. Aubrie was their little shadow all weekend. She wanted to be right where they were at all times. The kids did a great job of watching out for her. AJ was so cute about making sure that she wasn't eating any of his toys because "she might choke on the little pieces." They were diligent at keeping harm at bay. Great helpers those two...We stayed at the Holiday Inn Convention Center which was so nice (as always). The neat thing about this particular location (aside from the fact that it's not a dump like the Ramada always was...) is that in the lobby they have a 4 or 5 story cascading waterfall. When we first stayed at this hotel, Abbie was about 2 years old. At the time we were deep into Dora country and Diego had just come on the Nickelodeon scene. For those who don't know, these are pre-school targeted TV cartoon characters. In one of the first episodes with Diego, he and Dora have to save Baby Jaguar (his animal sidekick) from falling over a waterfall. Well, here we come into this beautiful hotel lobby and Abbie just stopped dead in her tracks. I remember she looked at me with those big blue eyes and said, "Momma! Is Baby Jaguar up there? We have to save him!" All weekend we kept a close watch on the waterfall to see if we could find Baby Jaguar. We were relieved when we didn't see him. This time we went I told Abbie that story and she thought it was so funny that she thought that Baby Jaguar was actually up there. It was fun to tell her about that but bittersweet too because it reminded me that my baby isn't such a baby anymore. Time goes by so quickly... The pictures at the park are from Ben Geren Park right around the corner from the base. We were swinging when the new A-10's flew right over us. It was way cool. Abbie loves to watch her Daddy's loud airplanes fly by. She's his biggest fan. We had to go pick him up from the base and when he came out of the door in his finest camo outfit, she said, "Wow, Mom! Dad looks so cool in that outfit!" From the mouths of babes...I couldn't agree more, that boy is Handsome!

I love Chick-fil-A !!!

Abbie, Eric and the Cow
Eric and Abbie Grace as "Cow People"
The Chick-fil-A Crew on Dress-like-a-cow Day
Eric and Abbie goofing off...
Abbie up in the tunnels

Sister's

Checking out the baby in the mirror
Look at my tongue
Hey Sis!


I have to admit this upfront...I have a profound love and perhaps an obsession with something that is not my husband. It's Chick-fil-A. I know, I know...fitness instructor and fried chicken should not be this passionate a couple but it's a weakness. I can't pass up an opportunity to go and get a chicken fix. It's pitiful really but I'm woman enough to own up to it. As an enticing bonus, my kids LOVE the playground and I LOVE that it's air conditioned fun for the summer. Bummer that it's all the way across town but beggers can't be choosers... Abbie and Aubrie were at the Chick two times last week but I only had to pay for one trip because Friday was Dress like a Cow, eat for free day. So we donned our finest cow attire and proceeded to hightail it over to WLR with Tracy and Eric and have ourselves at little Chick-fil-A party. The kids were so cute...as you can see in the pictures. It was a challenge getting everyone there and dressed in costume but it was so worth it. Abbie was so cute when we were getting ready. She is finally to the age where she want's to be sure that she's not the only one doing something. She doesn't even necessarily need for everyone to be doing it but as long as she's not the loner kid with her parents doing something crazy she's cool. As we were dressing in her Cowgirl outfit from Halloween (made by me by the way) she asked if anyone else was dressing up. I assured her that her buddy Eric was and that there would be other kids there dressed up too and that was fine with her. Once she knew that she wasn't alone in her cow get-up she was all about getting ready and looking like the total Cowgirl. Aubrie did the best she could do considering I didn't have a perfect costume for her. She looked cute in her black and white polka dot pants and black and white bow. What a doll. The food was tasty as always but I will say, when it's free, it's even better!

Pinnacle Mountain Playdate

Sister's
Checking out the bee's flying in the building to the hive...
Kaden and Abbie being alligators...
Ranger Sarah and the kids
Mrs. Becky and Aubrie
Abbie in the tree
Elaina and Abbie by the River
Abbie with Cypress "knees"


Last week we packed up and headed South and West to Pinnacle Mountain. We went to a demonstration they were having called "A Worms Eye View." It was so much fun. The Ranger that was there was so sweet to the kids. It was open to any and everyone but the only ones there were Tracy, Becky and I with our respective "crews". So we had the place to ourselves. The kids got to draw on the ground and then they crawled around as Ranger Sarah showed them what a worm might see when it crawls through the grass. She showed them how the blades of the grass look different from each other and how different grasses look different from say a clover patch. She also scared up some bugs in the grass that a worm might see. The kids loved every minute of it. When we were done with the demonstration we walked the Kingfisher Trail. Ms. Becky knew of a cool tree that the kids could get in and have their picture taken while they were inside the tree. It was a major hit with all of them. We also went to the Visitor's Center and explored up there. The kids (and the mom's) were impressed by the honey bee display that was there. It was cool and freaky all at the same time. They have a hive (I guess that's what you'd call it) and the bees fly in from outside and this thing is COVERED in bees. So creepy...one of us, I won't say who but her name starts with a "T" and ends with "racy", didn't love the bee display. At the end of our adventure we headed over to Chick-fil-a for a playdate with food...no better way to end a day...Friends and Food....

More with the Birthday Girl...

The Birthday Boy
Birthday Buddies

Aubrie's Birthday Cake...made by Mom

Mom and Brie...early morning...about the time she was born...
PawPaw and the birthday girl...without her dress since it was time for cake...
Waiting on cake...
Delicious!


Here are some more pictures of the birthday party. Aubrie had already tasted cake before so she knew she was in for a treat when the cake came at her. She didn't blow out the candles...I don't actually know if she knew that she could or not but regardless her Big Sister Abbie jumped right in and took care of the giant flameing #1 candle. Aubrie did enjoy all the claps and cheers. She loves to clap for herself or for anyone else for that matter. When we blew out the candles she was a happy girl and and was ready for her cake. She was actually very polite considering she had free reign on the cake and was content to take it in small bites. We then turned to the other birthday of the day which belonged to Daddy, aka: Phillip. He had a delicious peanut butter & chocolate pie for his birthday. For their collective day, I created a timeline for them in pictures. I had pictures from every month of Aubrie's first year (it's going in the scrapbook...) and I did one of Phillip from baby to Daddy. It was so much fun putting those together. It was neat to look back on Aubrie's first year and she her change from newborn to baby. There is such a difference to me...when they are born they are so tiny and such little infants...I never think of them as "baby" until they are bigger. Now she's officially one and is so much fun. We got her a neat walking toy for her birthday and she is using it to "walk" across the room...usually chasing after Abbie or the "dat" (penny the cat). She has had such a wonderful first year. We look forward to all the fun things she'll do in the next 12 months. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for her and for us as we adjusted to life with two kids. She has been such a wonderful blessing...our sweet Baby Brie...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Aubrie is ONE!!!


I can't believe that my little baby girl is already one year old. It's gone by so fast! We had a party for her on Sunday and had her Nonnie and Pap, Aunt Shana, Uncle Mike, AJ and PawPaw come over to celebrate with us. She had so much fun eating her strawberry cake and opening her presents. I'll post more pictures tomorrow but I wanted to get at least something on the blog about her Birthday. What a blessing she is to our family!!!