Life With Aubrey

Wannabe Baker

Every year, I have delusions visions of grandeur when it comes to my holiday baking. I picture all of these different cookies and treats, packed up in the Christmas tins I've collected over the years, after a weekend or two spent buried in favorite recipes and covered in flour.  I see cookie & candy trays, wrapped up creatively for friends, co-workers and neighbors and a three-tired dessert stand on the island when family comes over for Christmas dinner. And most of all, I see all of these wannabe memories-in-the-making, with Aubrey and I slaving over the mixer and sampling goodies fresh from the oven.

But every year... I "run out of time". Things at work get busy. Weekends are consumed by travel to one holiday event or another. And I spend the evenings in between telling myself I should be baking, wrapping or finishing up our Christmas cards before it's too late, but relaxing in laziness on the couch wins out every time. SO TIRED.

This year, though... this year was different. I didn't quite get my tins filled and the majority of the desserts we baked ended up crispy or dried out as we still experiment with our stupid oven and figuring out its intricacies, but.... we had cookies!! And a gingerbread house! And the memories to boot.

(You might not know this, but every good baking session breaks for a little dancing intermission. And if said dancing session is accented by a pair of airplane slippers recently gifted by one's traveling father... all the merrier.)


 

We made sugar cookies (which Aubrey decorated all herself) and the Gingerbread house came from a kit. This was the first one I'd made one in my lifetime, so it was a cool first-time memory to share with Aubrey (and my Mom, who happened to be spending this particular weekend with us!)

 

There were no bar cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Peanut Chews or chocolate-covered anythings. No chocolate chip, no peanut butter blossoms and no snickerdoodles. But... it was a step in the right direction toward my wannabe holiday baker dreams and next year, I'm sure we'll share even MORE laughs, MORE stolen cookie dough bites and MORE colored sprinkles on the kitchen floor as a result of our efforts. And I am looking forward to every moment!

A Merry Moppet Christmas

When I was growing up, every time my Mother would say to me "Ugh! Get your hair out of your face", I'd grumble and moan and swear that when I had kids, I'd let them wear their hair however they wanted.

Well, fast forward a "few" years and here I sat--at Aubrey's Christmas Program, watching my child that nearly had an emotional breakdown beforehand because I wanted to clip part of her hair back--thinking "Ugh! I wish she'd get her hair out of her face!". And when I wasn't silently bemoaning the fact that static cling from winter temperatures and a velvet dress had a good portion of her follicles literally plastered to her face, I'll admit--sadly--to whisper-shouting to her from the front row... Aubrey!! Stop playing with your hair!!

Wouldn't you know it though... if it wasn't the hair she was constantly messing with (out of nerves, I'm sure of it)... it was her tights? Itch, itch, scratch scratch. So much for the comfort of microfiber!

Eventually I decided it was useless doing the whisper-scream thing that all mothers seem to do when their kids take the stage doing odd things like eating their hair and pulling their dress up to high-heaven... and resigned myself to the fact that... well, it is what it is. After all... kids are only kids once. So feeling guilty for my picking on her, I shut up, sat back and enjoyed the show. 

And enjoy the show, I did. Every single sing-song moment of it. Because in spite of the less-than-perfect hairstyle and the itchy legs... it was still pretty darn fun to watch. And since she actually SANG her songs this time around, we often found ourselves entranced.

So I won't chastise myself too much for projecting some semblance of perfectionism onto my budding performance artist there at the beginning... all Moms do it (or so I've seen). And besides... I still draw the line at licking my finger when wiping her face (though I've often been tempted!)

(Love you, Mom.)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Aubrey took special interest in decorating the tree this year. She insisted on doing the whole thing herself and with each ornament she pulled out of the box, she had to know to whom it belonged, where they got it and how old it was. I think she was impressed with my vast knowledge of the history of each one, too... if I do say so myself. What can I say? I love ornaments. Probably 95% of those on my tree have been gifted to me or to Aubrey and Ryan and I can tell you who got me each one and when. It's a sickness, really... or perhaps a scrapbook in the making. Anyway, it was a fun process this year... sharing those "ornamental" memories with her and then watching her delicately place each one on the tree--all of them within one branch of each other, right smack dab in the center. Needless to say, as soon as she went to bed, I re-positioned the vast majority of the ornaments so that my tree wouldn't look so naked outside of her "sweet spot" and she never really noticed. (Hmmm.... I wonder how long I'll be able to get away with that one!)

The tree decorating process actually took us two separate evenings. One night to assemble the tree, layer by layer, strand of lights by strand of lights. By the time we'd fought with that (oh the adventures we could relate about this ridiculous, formerly pre-lit, nightmare of a tannenbaum) we were exhausted. But we had Aubrey's Christmas program at her school coming up over the weekend and we had to have SOMETHING decorated in our house by that time! We started on a Thursday, finished on that Friday. 

And I type all this to explain (for posterity stake) the reason why she's all dressed up with her hair free-falling in these pictures. And that would be because Miz Thang (girly-girl that she is) could not WAIT to get dressed up in her Christmas dress for her program. So we compromised. She agreed to take her shower and have her hair dried earlier in the evening than usual and go to bed on time and I let her help me take over decorating the tree in her Christmas dress.

Now, what ended up happening was, she'd take out an orament, ask about it, decide that it was now "hers", put it on the tree and then proceed to dance around the living room for a couple of minutes before returning to the ornament box for the next one.

So what could have taking maybe 15-20 minutes, evolved into a long, drawn out decorating process/dance recital. And we just watched and smiled, laughing to ourselves (because honestly, she's just so darn funny.)

And the way she'd carry herself in that dress, daintily lifting up her skirts as she'd twirl around... adorable.

And when the job decorating the tree was done, we applauded the dance moves and as she disappeared, we waited for her to return, half expecting her to come back with some sort of ballet move and a song.

But instead, we got Ariel.

O Tannenbaum... meet oh-so-random.

Ahhh.... never a dull moment. ESPECIALLY during the holidays.
Why am I not surprised?

 

Santa Train

Anyone who knows Ryan's dad (whom Aubrey calls "Popo"), knows that "Popo" loves trains. So this year, we headed South to the Santa train in Lebanon...

  

It was a cool, rainy day. Personally, I'd have rather had some snow so it really felt as if we were headed toward the North Pole with Christmas spirit just oozing from our pores, but... alas, Mother Nature just wasn't cooperating this year!

Who needs snow though when you've got on your fancy patent leather shoes, your favorite outfit, and a cute little ladybug umbrella to boot? Snow shmow... who needs snow? We boarded that train and headed to see Santa!

 

Aubrey was SO.EXCITED. I mean, could not wait to see Santa and to get that train a-movin'! After having watched the Polar Express several times, she was anxious for the conductor to come and punch holes in her ticket!

 

But for someone that excited to see Santa... this girl was as shy as could be and wouldn't even hug him or the Mrs.! Talk about a fickle pickle, that Aubrey-girl.

But she got her silver bell for being a believer, regardless of having thwarted mommy's photo op, and we headed to the snack stand for gingerbread and hot cocoa. Aubrey colored pictures in the tent while the rest of the train's passengers waited in line for the North Pole couple.

 

Then we boarded the train once again to head home, while an elf entertained the masses with balloon animal tricks and cheesy anecdotes.

 
 
 

It was a great day... a wonderful afternoon... rain and all.

Thanksgiving 2011

The kids in Aubrey's school start learning their Thanksgiving and Christmas songs towards the end of the Summer. So in our house, the evenings are spent listening to her share some of those songs with us over and over, August through November. Sometimes, we'll even get lucky enough to watch her put some of the hand motions with the words and they're just so darn cute. She LOVES to perform for us and quite honestly, we enjoy every single minute of it.

But the more comfortable she gets in singing her songs and doing the motions, the more comfortable you'd think she'd be during the performances, right?

 

Wrong. While the other kids were up there in front of the class, belting out their Pilgrim songs, that little turkey was all clammed up and nervous... not singing a single word! She goes in phases with her stage fright... we've had Thanksgiving programs where she did the same thing and others where she was the one singing so loud you could hear her voice above those of the others!

 

But regardless of the performance (or lack thereof), these little Turkey dinners we get to have each year with her at her school are such a special experience for us. The parents all bring a dessert of some kind and the school provides the rest. We come in during their lunchtime, where extra tables are set up and after they get up and sing their little songs, we all share a traditional Thanksgiving meal together. It's so much fun and they just get the biggest kick out of us coming to share a special part of their otherwise routine day.

This year was a little more difficult though, as after the meal, while everyone was clearing out and getting ready to leave, Aubrey just held on to me and would not let go.  And it broke my heart because I've been struggling with this whole working mom thing since Day One. At the end of the day it always comes down to needing the extra $ to pay down debts and to cover small bills and that being the best move for our family for right now. Knowing there's a justified reason for my having given up my biggest dream of being MOM and having the ability to stay home with her, doesn't make it any easier though.

And when your child clings to you, crying, begging you not to go back to work or at the very least for you to take her with you.... there are no words for that. I can't fix that. I can't change that. And I hate that.

But it is what it is.

And so we continue as we've been doing for the last 6 and a half years. Fighting this emotional battle, this struggle, surging forward to do what we feel is best for the long haul, knowing all the while that kids are only young once. And that's terrifying. But again... it is what it is.

So when my kid comes home singing songs about the Pilgrims and Indians, I listen. I smile. I watch her glow with each private at-home performance and I laugh with her and I clap for her. And it no longer matters whether or not she sings in front of others because I know that working mom or stay at home mom, she will always sing for me.

Little Lucy

Kids don't care if a holiday's over... if they've got a favorite holiday show they care to watch it, they'll watch it over and over and over again regardless of what time of year it is.

Such was the case of Aubrey and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (which just happens to be my least favorite of the infamous holiday programming featuring everyone's favorite blockhead.)

But... Aubrey liked it. One afternoon while Ryan and I were working around the house, Putchie Lou decided to get crafty.  And without very little assistance from us, let alone giving her any ideas on what to make or how to make it... she surprised us with this little getup she made all by herself...

Now, if you're at all familiar with this particular program, you'll recognize this little number as being a direct knock-off of Lucy's green mask + sheet + witch's hat costume she wore as the Peanuts gang went trick-or-treating.

She cut out the holes for the eyes and mouth on the mask, taped it to fit her head, cut and taped on the pointy nose and then came upstairs asking for one of daddy's white t-shirts. The next thing we knew, our own little Lucy had grabbed the broom from the kitchen and was traipsing around the downstairs with an evil laugh and an adorable grin.

Ahh... a child's imagination... it never ceases to amaze. :-)

 

Howdy Halloween!

Inspired by her role in May's Tap & Tumble recital last Spring, Aubrey decided she wanted to be a cowgirl this year for Halloween.

 

Biased though I may be, I think she made for a pretty darn cute cowgirl. From the fancy glitter-trimmed hat leftover from the fair to her pink galloping horse, to her leather boots--she giddy-upped her way 'round the neighborhood for a good.... oh... 15 minutes before she petered out and had had it with all things Halloween.

In her defense, we crammed in a lot of Halloween over a two week span in October. First we had our annual Halloween shindig at Aunt Bean's house where Aubrey, Eli, Hayden and Mark paraded around the backyard for our makeshift trick-or-treat session in Greenville...

 
  

...and the post-parade pumpkin painting.

 

In addition to our Halloween hoopla at Bean's, Aubrey also had her Halloween party at school, where the kids dressed up again to parade around the school gym. Plus, there were several afternoons in between these events where she spent hours traipsing around in her costume playing cowgirl. So, by the time we got dressed up again to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood on Halloween night, she was pretty much done.

To be perfectly honest, though... we weren't complaining. We'd made it around to the house that passes out hot dogs and hot cocoa each year so supper was taken care of, and it was so darn cold that when she'd given up we were all pretty much frozen to the bone. Besides, we needed more candy in the house about as much as we each need another 50 lbs.

All in all... it was a good Halloween. It was fun, Aubrey was a doll and we didn't spend the next four months reminding her that she was only allowed to have one piece of candy every day after supper. :-)

She's now been a pea, a kangaroo, a mouse, a pirate, a doctor and a cowgirl. Wonder what's on the docket for next year... hmmm...

Leaves & Leed's

(If I were to tell you that I took a couple of days off with the sole intention of catching up on my blogging, you probably wouldn't believe me. So... I guess I'll just have to prove it, huh?)

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Autumn. The cooler temperatures (especially after a hot summer), the colored leaves, the long-sleeved shirts and sweaters... all of it. This year, even though the weather was unusually warm and the long-sleeved shirts just barely necessary, we still had fun continuing some of the new traditions we'd started last year. You know me and tradition...

 
  

Aubs was really looking forward to jumping in the leaves this year, but man... it took FOR-EVER for those suckers to finally fall to the ground enough to make a pile of them! This year, we waited a little longer to clear the leaves from the backyard so there'd be more to rake together when the time came, so we had quite the big to-do for her and she was in autumn-heaven.

The one on the left--the one that doesn't have all those wispy hairs blowing in her face--is Madison. She lives next door. Madison's a couple of years younger than Aubrey, but Aubs ADORES her. Like... BEGS to be able to go out to play with her anytime she sees her outside. And they get along SO WELL it's pretty darn cute.

Well, after the two started playing in the leaves, they were running around, carrying on so fast my camera and I could hardly keep up, so my pictures turned out a lot like this...

All I can say is... at least the leaves were in focus. Hello, shutter speed.

So anyway... jumping in the leaves seems like such a rite of passage for little kids. Apparently, it's not acceptable for winter to make an appearance until you've had said experience. And it's the joy in such little things like playing in yard waste that make me smile, remembering the leaf piles my brother and I would make. I remember building tunnels and mapping out blueprints for our cardboard refridgerator box houses with rakes and leaves. Good times.... good times.

Based on our experience last year, and all the fun we had starting new traditions, we made plans to head back to Leed's Farm for another fun-filled day at the Pumpkin Patch.  But Ryan ended up sick (Vertigo) and Aubrey... well, let's just say she was in a MOOD.

Yeah... try cracking a smile out of THAT face. Whoa.
So much for "happy trails" on the banana bus this year...

 

Know what turns a frown upside-down every time though?
A jump on the pumpkin pillow/trampoline.

Well, that and your mother telling you you'd better shape up or ship out...
Being tossed rolled around in a giant tube seems to help, too. Amazing.

 
 

Once the mood lightened, it was back to laughing & smiling with the burlap sack slides, the ziplines, the and the hay bale playground.

  
 

How much taller this year vs. last year?

 

Two whole hash marks taller, that's how much.
Yes folks... she's taller AND sassier (if I do say so myself.)

But she's my girl.
And a chip off the ol' block--moody and all. Right, Mom?

 

Every day's an adventure... Can't wait until next year, Putchie Lou!

A Hair-Raising Good Time!

Aubrey's Five.

Would you believe that emotionally, I had a harder time accepting that Aubrey had turned five than I did at that milestone first birthday years ago? Back then, it was hard accepting that my sweet baby girl was no longer a "baby".  But with the crossover from four to five, it was just hard accepting that she was growing up SO FAST and that the first five years had gone by far too quickly and that the next five would pass before I knew it!

 
And this year, my budding five-year-old had elected to have a "Tangled" Rapunzel party to celebrate. And celebrate, we did! She picked out a costume dress to wear for the party and gasp!--her mother even braided ribbons and flowers into her hair! Ooh la la!

So we made a Rapunzel themed banner and glowing square lanterns, framed a movie poster we found, and carried the theme to the end, with food served in cast iron frying pans and a cake that was as much fun to eat as it was to make!

At the time we were planning the party, Aubrey had recently made a picky eater's monumental breakthrough and decided she was a HUGE taco fan. Usually we alternate between a barbecue and deli sandwiches for birthday fare, but when asked which she preferred this year, her answer was adamant--I want tacos!! So tacos we shared (her and Bryan at their own little table at the party--yet another tradition she looks forward to each year.)

 

After lunch, we moved to the living room to open presents, where Aubs unearthed new clothes, books, games, movies, a purple mini pillow pet and a brand new "big girl" bike, 'cause every little lady needs a spiffy two-wheeler.

 

And then it was time for cake and ice cream!

 

That there's a painted PVC pipe, wedged into a semi-circle of floral foam and decorated with moss, ivy and flowers to match Aubrey's dress and her hair (which she herself picked out). The top is four layers (for height), and decorated (albeit somewhat sloppily in areas) with homemade buttercream yumminess! It was delish, but next year? Cupcakes. End of story.

By the end of the day, after family had headed home and we sat eating leftovers and birthday cake for supper, Aubrey popped in the Barbie Rapunzel movie she'd gotten and nearly fell asleep in her bean bag chair--pooped.

When her actual birthday rolled around, we partied in style with a trip to Boston's (birthday girl's choice) and more presents (of course). She got yet another Barbie movie and a Princess sleeping bag--complete with a tap-light nightlight and a sleeping mask, which she got the biggest kick out of!

 

She also found a great big care package from Florida on the front doorstep and happily carried in her birthday haul from my grandparents and aunts.

Cards, clothes and new books with pre-Kindergarten exercises!

 

To wrap up such a milestone birthday, we allowed Aubrey to invite a handful of friends over for a little party. We had snacks, cupcakes with ice cream and put on the movie Tangled.

 

Inspired by something I'd seen on Pinterest, I'd made these little movie tickets for the invitation to her friend party. They turned out so much cuter than I thought I would and Aubrey LOVED them, so it was a double bonus for me!

These were friends Aubrey's known since she started school at age 1. They're SO darn cute, but boy were they a wild (but good) bunch!

It all started out watching the movie, but later evolved into a wild exploration of Aubrey's books and toys where they proceeded to romp around and play together much like we imagined they do every day at school. Seeing them in an environment like that was really fun to watch because as a working parent, you always kind of wonder what it's like for your kid and their interaction with friends at school.

That being said... this was one of my favorite moments...

All in all, I think it was a really good birthday for Aubrey and she's already planning out next year's shindig--a princess party. She got to spend time among family AND friends, got some great new books and movies to occupy her time and we're still telling her she's all grownup-like. But me? Oh... I'm still trying to get over the fact that she's five.

Five.

Whew. My lil' girly girl with the long blonde Rapunzel-like hair is letting her hair down and growing up in so many ways! What am I going to do when she turns 6? Ugh...

Soccer 2011

I think I'm going to have to learn more about the game of soccer, because... this girl is darn good. It's not baseball/softball, but it's a sport... and she loves it. So you know what? I'm all for it!!

Here's a few highlights from this year...

  
 
  
 
  
 

Guess who still sticks her tongue out while she plays...

  
 
 

And what's the best way to top off a fun & successful season?! Why... with sugar-coated soccer ball donuts, that's how!

Looking forward to next season (this spring!)