A normal day in the life of...

I must be in a blogging mood...don't take it as a trend! Lately I have only put up posts when something big happens, but yesterday and today were just too fun not to share! Just normal days in our lives, but we finally took the time to catch it on camera.

Sadie and Maggie LOVE to play outside. They run, chase, and tackle each other to the point where we wonder how there aren't any broken bones. Since it is May in LA it is, of course, already hitting 90 degrees out. The tile floor is nice and cool so it doesn't take long for Sadie and Maggie to plop down and cool off after a romp outside. Here's Sadie...

Last night for dinner we decided to grill out since it has been so nice. Ben thought the yard could use some water so he turned the sprinkler on...then we turned Maggie loose...

Sadie is thrilled we turned the water off. Wuss.

Mommy and Aubrey keeping Dad company outside while he grills.

There's always time to play "catch".

Oreos for dessert since she at most of her chicken and mashed potatoes.

This picture is from today. Every time we go in to get Aubrey after a nap or in the morning Maggie is right there. Aubrey sticks her hands through the rails so Maggie can give her kisses. This afternoon after nap time the usual routine set in and her crib erupted in squeals. Naturally, I wondered what she would do if Maggie shared her crib...she loved it. Sadie was a little disappointed, but we didn't think the crib would hold a 21 lb. baby, 56 lb. Boxer, and a 72 lb. Coonhound so sadly Sadie was left out. Fatty...

Our Big News...

No...we are not pregnant. That seems to be the common theme, but I assure you, we aren't. Instead we bought a house!!! It is a beautiful house in south Bossier City just across the river from all the great shopping! And it is a shorter commute for Ben too, but I am so excited about being close to the shopping! Below are a few pictures we took while we were snooping about. I can't wait to move in! We are going to get to close on June 15th at the latest provided everything goes through with the inspection and loan. Cross your fingers for us! We put in an offer last night at 7 and they accepted by 8:30. Everything always has a way a falling right into place.

This is a partial view of the kitchen.

When you stand at the patio door and look to the right this is what you see.

This view is off to the left.

And this is the view straight out from the house. We have a beautiful Magnolia bush thing off in the back right corner. There is a drainage ditch on the other side of the fence between our backyard and the people behind us so we have a little more space.

Aubrey's/Guest Bathroom. Its a little small, but plenty big for Aubrey :).

This is a view of the hallway leading to Aubrey's new room. The open door on the right is the bathroom from above and right behind the picture is a room the same size. You can kind of see the closet door in between the bedroom and bathroom.

This is a view of our "bonus room". When you walk in the front door this is off to your right. We might use it as our workout room/study for right now. This also gives you a good view of our stamped concrete floors that are throughout the house. I love them!!!

Across from the bonus room is our dining room. This is just to the left when you walk in the front door. I love the chandelier. All the fixtures in the house are really nice and fit my taste perfectly!

Here's the front door! The bonus room is to the left, the dining room to the right, and the little bit of doorway you can see to the left is the hallway leading to the two bedrooms and bathroom.

More of the kitchen with our wonderful realtor keeping track of Aubrey for us!

View of the kitchen from the living room. The archway off to the right leads to our master suite.

The wonderful built-in entertainment center.

A view of the living room from the kitchen. The doors lead out to the backyard.

This was one of Ben's favorite things...the oversized soaking jet tub.

Well, there it is! 1,945 sq ft. 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms and beautiful details.

Aubrey's Birthday/Airshow

This year Aubrey's birthday went on for almost the whole month! My parents came out before Easter and we had a little party for her then. She got to have her cake and open her presents from them. Then Ben's parents came down a few weeks later and we had another little party while she opened her presents from them, us, and Uncle Josiah & Aunt Virginia. On May 1st we had a little party with our friends here and that was when she got to have her Elmo cake. Enjoy! I can't believe our "baby" isn't a baby anymore.

This is her Nene from Grandma and Grandpa Kempen from their trip to Hawaii.

She was more excited about holding on to her birthday card then opening her presents. I'm sure that will change soon enough.

Baby Tickle Elmo...after watching us she was trying to get him to laugh and wiggle. She did figure it out!

Something about kids and the wrapping paper. This was the bow that I put on her present from us. She held on to that bow for everything she had.

Thank you Uncle Josiah and Aunt Virginia!!! I love my tea set! She has already figured out how to open the top and it isn't even out of the box yet!

Grandma is showing Aubrey how to work her phone, but I think she is more interested on chewing on it.

Grandpa and Aubrey drinking together....I promise it is just milk in her cup.

When Ben and I were in Columbus we got a picture of us standing on the wing of a T-6. The only difference was that I was very pregnant. We thought it was only fitting to get a picture with Aubrey outside my belly :). A couple guys we new from Columbus flew in the T-6 for the Airshow we had here at Barksdale a few weeks ago.

I can't take credit for free-handing the Elmo cake, but I can take credit for homemade icing and piping the whole thing by hand!

This is our version of Elmo possessed.

Just the eyes and mouth.

A very tan Elmo. At this point I was asking Ben if I had to finish the red...

Elmo Complete

The morning of her birthday party with our friends. She has her "my 1st birthday" dress on with her pretty bow.

"Mommy, do I have to wear my bow?"

This video is so adorable! At the end it says that the truck is from mommy and daddy, but we got a card from Great Gramma and Grampa so it is actually from them! Sorry for the mix-up! She loves pushing it around. You'll have to excuse my coughing at the end too...a tickle popped up at just the wrong time.

This video is so you can all pretend that you were here to sing her happy birthday!

Whew! Lots of pictures, lots of info, but I think we're all caught up for now. Except for our big news....stay tuned!

Dallas

I know these pictures are really late. I could come up with a really great excuse, but I guess I'll just play my mommy card. :) When my parents were here in the beginning of April we decided to take a day trip to Dallas and visit the Aquarium. It was going to be Aubrey's first visit to see the fishies. Jonah wanted to drive by the Cowboys Stadium and just look through it, but you couldn't do anything without tickets for a tour. After much debate, we decided Aubrey wouldn't really care where we were and opted to tour the Cowboys Stadium instead of visiting the Aquarium. I didn't want to put Aubrey back in the car for another half an hour drive around Dallas either. :) In the next three pictures we were standing in the "cheap seats". These are tickets sold for standing room only and there is a level open for people to stand and watch the game. It was a long way down...Grandma was worried about Aubrey getting dropped, but it all worked out okay.

Here is the view of the field from the standing room only seats. Not a bad view.

This one is for Ian...He knows we are so far from being Cowboy's fans, but we figured we would get Aubrey sitting in the ear-hole of the helmet in the end zone. Needless to say, she is a little small. She wasn't sure about the fake grass and fake dirt (or ground as we used to call it back in the marching band days), but she sat and smiled for the camera anyways.

We figured we better get a picture of her by something neutral so we could pretend it was from Lambeau Field...does this NFL logo look neutral enough?

The tour included not only the field, but also the players' locker room. Marion Barber played for the Gophers when Ben and I marched in the band. It only seemed fitting to get a picture of the one player we kinda like ;).

This was at the end of their visit. Aubrey loved spending time with Grandpa...he gave her cookies.

Easter and Beyond

This is one of those pictures that is worth a thousand words, but it may need a bit of explaining. Only in LA...our neighbors own the green truck and park it everyday on the street between our houses. Ben parks his truck on the other side of our driveway. We had some friends staying with us for a few days (he owns the gray truck), and he parked on the other side of our driveway. Apparently our neighbor didn't appreciate having his "spot" taken so he decided to just park on the sidewalk! Matt and I couldn't believe it! One of those things that warranted a picture.

"Nah-Nah", Grandpa, and Uncle Jonah came down to visit for a week over spring break and we had a little mini birthday party for Aubrey since she was turning 1 in a few weeks. It was a little early, but they had fun watching her open her presents! Little does Aubrey know she is going to be getting three parties! Grandma and Grandpa Kempen are coming to visit next weekend so we will probably have some cake then too! Her "real" birthday party will be the day after her birthday with some of our friends in the area. Here are a few pics of her first bite of cake! She didn't get an afternoon nap that afternoon since she was shopping with mom and grandma all day, so she was really tired!

mmmmmm.......strawberry

"I'm listing to the left mom...must be bedtime."

Easter morning Aubrey came out to find that the Easter Bunny visited and left her an Elmo basket with some toys in it! She wasn't sure at first, but she soon figured out it was full of goodies for her!

Cookie Monster and Abby Cadaby were just two of the characters in her basket. We spent the morning lounging in our jammies before we had to get ready for church. If you look at the post before this one you can see some pics of her in her Easter outfit!

My parents bought Aubrey this walker for Christmas knowing she would grow into it. The front detaches and makes all kinds of noise (her favorite, not mine). She has recently been figuring out how to pull herself up on it and even walk across the living room! I figured it was kind of a big thing and was worth posting a video on the blog so I could brag about my little genius!

Enjoy the video! Sorry it cuts off so quick...the battery on my camera died.

Recovery Room...

This post is dedicated to the crew of the Recovery Room at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. A little birdie told me that the current picture gracing the screen of your computer is "old". This is a picture of our little bug from Easter in her sailor outfit. I swore I would never put my daughter in clothes like this, but what can I say...like mother, like daughter. Hope y'all enjoy!