No longer a baby!

Where has the time gone? Has it really been two years?!

Aubrey turned 2 on October 10th. I'm now the mother of a school-age child, a preschooler, and a two-year-old. Not even a baby. She is walking, talking, ornery, sassy, smart, beautiful, and full of hugs and kisses (which she sometimes selfishly refuses to share).

We decided to hold off on her birthday party because a lot of people were doing non-Aubrey things. We had Steve, Natalie, Taylor, and Cecile over for dinner and I made a simple cake. Like from a box. It was a last minute decision but I couldn't deny my baby...I mean toddler...a cake on her birthday, party or not! She opened up her present from us (the stroller in the pictures below) and she wore a dress that her Nana Lafranca gave her. I love it.

This is her "surprise" face. It usually appears after loud noises or dogs barking. Or if I make the face at her.

Don't you love her face?!

Here is my silly girl. Maybe she's pulling an Uncle Bryan with the tongue out?

We all sang "Happy Birthday" to her in our obnoxious, off-key way, and this is the reaction we got. Not even a smile. Not even amused. Probably annoyed. And probably wondering why there was no cake on her plate.

Shovel method.

Just like her mom. Loves to shop.

She must have partied hard. She crashed on Nana.

A few days later, we went bowling. I love the deals I find online. For $30, we got a 2-hour lane rental, shoe rental, 6 burritoes from Costa Vida, and 2 pitchers of soda. We got through 2 1/2 games. Probably would have got through 3 games but the boys didn't want to use the wire-thingy to help them bowl, so instead they rolled the ball. Really slowly. It took forever. But they had a blast. We all did. And the burritoes were amazing. As was all the Diet Coke I drank :) Best of all, Aubrey got to bowl. She was so excited to have her own turn with her own ball. She even learned to say "high five" and wanted a high five after everyone's turn. She was our little cheerleader and it was so cute.

What's up with Hayden's 80s shirt?

My baby is all grown up and wearing bowling shoes!

We need one of these wire-thingys at our house. They had a blast playing on it.

We held Aubrey's birthday party on Monday, October 18th. Everyone seemed to be too busy to come, except for Kory's cameo appearance, so we enjoyed her party with just our little family and Nana Lafranca. I even bought a cake (yes, said "bought" because it's really hard to bake a cake in my mother in law's house!) and the boys drew decorations all weekend. I wanted a "Tinkerbell" cake but Aubrey went crazy over the "Mee Mow" cake. I couldn't resist.

Aubrey's cousin Madelynn (well, technically her Aunt Carissa) sent her a pettiskirt to borrow for her party. She twirled around in it. I think she loves being a girl.

We caught Aubrey sneaking bites of her frosting, but since it was her birthday, we let her go at it.

Me with my sweet baby girl. You can slightly see my haircut. I got it cut two inches shorter and love it!

Why haven't I learned my lesson about blue frosting?!

When everything was said and done, this was Aubrey's face. Not too bad. And yes, Carissa, I took off her pettiskirt for the cake.

Aubrey loves Dora. Or "Dory" as she would say. So she was excited to get a Dora sweatshirt from her Aunt Carissa. The boys tried to look at it and she yelled "My Dory!" So cute, already so possessive of her clothes.

Aunt Celeste got her a Bedtime Dora. Aubrey immediately pointed out her eyes, nose, and mouth. And wanted to brush her hair.

We took Aubrey to the grand opening of Hobby Lobby and she fell in love with this little monkey. Jeremiah (such a pushover!) bought it for her so she'd have something from us to open on her birthday.

Nana Lafranca gave sis some cards to play with at church. I have a feeling that the boys will adopt these. Nana Lynda also got Aubrey an early birthday present, an interactive zoo toy that she loves, so thanks Nana!

Happy birthday to my sweet girl. Aubrey is an amazing girl. She is so smart and so loving and so ornery all at the same time. I don't know how she does it!

Aubrey loves her brothers (she calls the the "guys"), Dora, Mickey Mouse, pasta, playing outside, sitting on someone's lap (aka getting attention as much as she can), cheese sticks, and hoarding toys. We often hear the words "Mine!" although she has no problem taking toys from others. She also begs for my soda and still asks for a bottle of milk every morning. She insists on having her lovey with her at bedtime and cries when we lose it. She loves animals as long as they don't come too close to her.

Aubrey hates getting her hair wet. She panics when water gets in her eyes. She's also not a fan of being left somewhere (still working on getting her into nursery!) and sometimes follows me around all day just in case I take off somewhere when she isn't looking. She hates having the sun in her eyes, getting her hair did (which doesn't stop me at all!), and loud noises.