Aubrey's 1st Day Back To School

It's that time of year again. SCHOOL STARTS! And the 3rd grade??? Where has the time gone. It seems like she was just in preschool. Aubrey has been extremely excited for weeks now that school is finally starting. She'd be seriously happy with all year round school if they had it or had the choice. It was bitter sweet sending her off to school on the bus. I enjoy having my girls home during the summer days! But I also love knowing that when school starts, she's happy learning and making new friends (and I admit, a few moments of quiet time to myself to clean or read a little when Jocelyn naps isn't so bad either). I knew it'd be harder for 'lil sis' than it would be for me though. These two sisters are the best of buds and watching Aubrey step onto the school bus (as Jocelyn pronounces it 'scuba') and drive off down the street was heartrenching to see the pain on Jocelyn's face and in her voice. "Bobby (Aubrey)......Nooooooooooooo!!" Needless to say, 8 hours later when she hoped off the bus was a good reunion for us all.

Aubrey's New Smile

SURPRISE!!! Aubrey now wears BRACES! She had some top teeth pulled in June that had the adult teeth growing behind so her orthodontist felt that it was best to correct her cross-bite now instead of later. Her treatment will be done in the spring so she won't be wearing them too long. She's very excited that she can pick and choose her bracket band colors and holidays will be fun colors I'm sure!

The New School 'Do' & Animal Sounds

Here's the new hairdo. We took Aubrey in to go get her hair cut before school started. She's been growing out her bangs for a very long time and since they were about shoulder length, we gave her the option of just getting an overall trim or cutting it all to the length of her bangs. This is what she decided on:

Isn't it cute?!?! She loves it--and how convenient it is for soccer now too. It's hard to believe she's almost 9. It seems like just yesterday... :/

***(Please pause blog music at the side right in order to hear the following video)***

I caught a cute clip of Jocelyn making her animal sounds on video the other day. Old McDonald is still one of her favorite songs so she has the animal sounds practically memorized. I'm glad I was able to video tape her laugh finally too. (You'll catch it in the beginning which is the main reason I'm showing you this video-putting my voice aside of course.) I love capturing little moments like this when they're learning and exploring all of the time. I found it particularly funny when I asked her to look at me and she shot me a 1 second glance and then back at it she went. What a stinker! :)

Fun In The Sun & 5 Months

The girls were begging me to take them to the playground and "wing and side" as Jocelyn would call the swing and slide. So before lunch we took a trip to our favorite neighborhood park and they had the best time ever running off their unused energy. Until it was time to go home of course. I have found that Jocelyn is rather picky of where she'll swing. Anywhere else other than this park she refuses to swing at. It's pretty funny. Here's some pictures I took of their before nap adventure. :)

The following photo is of me at five months that was taken on August 8th that I'm just now posting. (sorry for the photo but I didn't particularly like the shot John took of me so this is my half attempt of taking it on my own.) While I'm here sharing the photo I might as well add that this pregnancy has been going really well for me. Aside from the week or so in the beginning of feeling sick, there's been nothing to complain about. I'm still doing aerobics and have gained only about 10 lbs so far. Hopefully things continue to go well. Like I've stated before, this pregnancy is the complete opposite of what it was like with the girls. And "boy" am I thankful!! :)

Pre-Dinner Fun

So I have been putting off making cookies with the girls for a few days now. But when the rain and thunderstorm rolled in this afternoon and at that point decided to ditch John's softball game (sorry honey), I realized today was a great day to finally make them---just me and my girls. It was a little crazy at first because I was following a new recipe and I'm a clean freak and didn't know how best to let the girls help. I finally lightened up and watched them pour, mix, and scoop away. And 48 cookies later!!! Yikes. Maybe next time I'll slice the recipe in half? Looks like John's co-workers are going to be eating some cookies tomorrow. Better them than me. Don't let me fool you though...I'm not sending them ALL with him to work. :)

Ultrasound Results

I finally had my ultrasound done today and we couldn't wait to share our news with you! :)

Here are a few exciting things that we found out:

* Our baby is VERY wiggly - wouldn't hold still for nothing & was all over the place.

* Everything checks out and looks great in baby's development.

* They spelled my last name wrong but honestly who cares! Definitely not a first. :)

* Baby is not only wiggly but VERY flexible. (As seen in photo #2)

* John couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear for the rest of the day - then again, neither could I!

* The girls are way excited!

* Which leads me to tell you that...........we're having a: BOY!!! (As seen in photo #3)

We're HOME!

Well, home away from home that is. Wednesday we flew back to muggy & hot Virginia after being away in the awesome NW for 3 whole weeks. We had the best time seeing family and friends and we were even able to sneak in a little relaxation time at the beach. This of course was Jocelyn's first trip ever to the beach so we didn't know what to expect but we were quick to find out that she's in love with the water and sand and threw a FIT when it was time to leave. She's our little water baby!! Aubrey too! For the most part, we're back to our old routine here at home but I'm still pretty exhausted. I'll have to recap our trip in the next few days but I just wanted to get on here and update that we're all well and doing great. Thank you so much to all of you that made it possible for us to see you while we were in town visiting. Unfortunately we were unable to see everyone that we wanted to see on this trip but we love each and every one of you and we look forward to our next visit back. Hopefully next time around we can catch up with more of you. Right now we're staying pretty busy with getting Aubrey geared up for school (starts Aug. 25th), another season of soccer for Aubrey beginning just around the corner, John finishing up his softball season, Jocelyn (well, she is always keeping us busy) and I will be 21 weeks prego as of tomorrow and have my ultrasound scheduled this Tuesday to find out how the baby's doing and what the sex is. YAY! So I will be back to post some more news soon. All exciting things to definitely keep us on our toes! Stay tuned!! :)

P.S. Here's a few photos from our trip to tie you over until next time.

{Aubrey & Jocelyn playing in Papa & Grandma's backyard}

{The girls with their Mom at the Rose Gardens in Portland, OR}

{Aubrey swimming at Auntie Erin & Uncle Nick's}

{Our family at Cannon Beach, OR}

{The girls with their Dad making a sandcastle}