Don't just stand there....

That is exactly what I was thinking!

Dance Makayla, DANCE!
What are you doing???

I could not believe that she was just standing there not doing A THING!

Oh well....better luck next time.

We asked her why she didn't dance, "I don't know, I was just sad, maybe the next dance I will do good."

And she did. She boogied her little heart out for the finale. Unfortunately she was in the back so I couldn't get any video of it.

To Tell A Lie

Our sweet Makayla....she told her first lie last night (sigh...)

Guess it is bound to happen, but we just didn't think it would come so soon.

After putting Makayla to bed for the second or third time, she asked me for the books "behind" her curtain. I looked at her not sure if I heard her correctly, upon moving the curtain back I discovered her box of princess books.

Not sure what to do, I asked....who put that there?

"Daddy did, daddy got the books for me."

Ok Makayla, you can read those books, but no more after that. I love you, good night and STAY in bed.

I left her room and went downstairs where I asked Jamen about the books. Nope, Jamen did not put the books there and did not say she could read them....

Her first lie.

My heart felt sad that my little three and a half year old is capable of this. I know that we all have a sinful nature, I just didn't think we would have to start dealing with this at such an early age.

Jamen went in and talked with her last night and I followed up with a talk this morning. Makayla asked why lying was not OK, and I told her that God does not like us to lie and that she needed to tell mommy and daddy the truth and to not hide things from us. She was quiet, reflecting on my words when she said, "I make yours and daddy's and God's heart sad when I lie (good job Makayla, your getting it!), I won't do it anymore."

This has been a reminder to me about how much our family lives have been impacted by the spirit of lying. I think I will begin praying words of truth over my daughter so that she will not have to live out our generational sin of lying.

Pure JOY!

Teddy Bear Hug

Our daughter is such the performer....

Here are a couple of pictures from her rehersal today.

Monkey!!

This is why I call my child "MONKEY"

The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

I have the most amazing husband! He totally surprised me Saturday when he told me that we would be staying somewhere overnight Sunday...and he even took Monday off of work, WOW! We had such an AMAZING time! The last time we went away overnight by ourselves was when Makayla was Aubrey's age...we were way overdue! The room was amazing, the food was yummy, and the quality time with my man was breathtaking and totally wonderful! Thank you babe, I love you!
The view from our room!
Living Room
Super comfy bed ;)

"Do we really have to go home?"

434 nights....

Well...this is the first night since my baby girl has been born that I have not nursed Aubrey before putting her to bed. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and all I was doing was nursing. So now that I have dropped the night feed that leaves only one more to go...I think we might hang on to that one for a while because I can get a few more hours of sleep in the morning if she has a little snack ;) What a privilege it has been to provide our baby with nourishment for the first 14 months of her life....where has the time gone????

Awwww....

Jamen is working late tonight due to a board meeting, so that means I put the girls to bed pretty early. I push Makayla through without a nap so that she can go to bed by 6:30...it is now 6:39 and both of my girls are sleeping ;) oh yeah, back to the "awwww" moment....

After Aubrey and I tucked Makayla into bed Aubrey was waving to her sister and saying "nite, nite" as we walked out of her room when Makayla replied "bless your heart Aub, I love you."

My heart completely melted!

New Words

It seems like just the past couple of days Aubrey is really starting to repeat everything that we are saying, here are some of her new words...

"Good job Aubrey, you did it!"

With Makayla's words I quickly turned around to find Aubrey about ready to climb onto our bed...yikes! Of course I snapped a picture before letting her know that she should not do that again....

Lake Tahoe

So excited to be on vacation! Jamen would ask "Who is Daddy's girl?" and both would respond with hands raised and a very lound "ME!"

Leaving Lake Tahoe...

So our week vacation in Lake Tahoe did not go quiet as planned with the Allen Family....everyone except for Heidi and I had the stomach flu (thankfully it was very quick moving, lasting only over night). The smoke from all the fires in northern California made the view pretty much obsolite, it was very hot (mid 90's) and we were staying in a house without air conditioning. So we laid low the majority of the time and spent many hours playing the wii! The boys went golfing on Tuesday and Heidi and I spent all day at the spa on Wednesday (massage, seaweed wrap & facial)....this is probably the first trip EVER that I have not thouroughly documented with pictures....

First Slumber Party!

On our way home from Lake Tahoe we stopped by Uncle Jerod and Aunt Sherril's house so the cousins could play together. After returning home from dinner we decided that we would try having the girls sleep together in the same room. As you can tell from the pictures the girls were very excited and that same excitement continued on for about 45 minutes after we turned off the lights....Macey would come out to tell us that Makayla was not in bed (never mind the fact that Macey had actually left her bedroom to inform us of Makayla's whereabouts...;), they took turns singing each other songs and of course there was tons of giggling ;) so cute to listen too. What a fun memory this will be for the girls once they are older!

Sleep Sack

Check out Aubrey's walking ability...

Time Out

Well our little Aubrey had her first official "time out" today. My sweet angel is starting to become very vocal with her feelings...this morning while trying to get the girls ready to leave on time for stroller strides Aubrey decided to pitch a fit. Because I was unable to hold her in my arms (I was trying to help Makayla into her dress) she threw herself back on the floor and began screaming and crying...so after getting Makayla dressed I walked away to let her work out her frustration. Now it was time for hair and teeth brushing...I thought I would start with Aubrey since I can get her done pretty quickly (not a lot of hair to work with yet ;), but she was not having that either. She began to arch her back and SCREAM every time I tried to sit her down on the bathroom counter, after 15 seconds of trying to get her to sit, I declared "TIME OUT AUBREY!" and into her crib she went. Makayla was very concerned and wanted to know why she was in time out and if she truly was in time out then we needed to go down stairs to set the timer....

Makayla is very familiar with this process ;)