Bethany-Boo

Beth had her first birthday. She had a pretty great day. We went visiting to some families in our church in the morning. In between we went to Toys R Us to look at some toys. Then the kids had naps in the afternoon and I made Beth's cake. 

She had a lot of fun busting into her cake. Aubrey was pretty upset that she didn't get to break into the cake right away, but we did let her join in eventually. I did get a video of it, but it's too long to upload. So I'll have to see if I can figure that out. We ended up all breaking into it and I think Aubrey even danced in it! It's a fun little tradition for our family. 

Beth did get a chair to match her big sister. They have really enjoyed sitting together. They both love their signing time. 

These two are pretty adorable. Beth had a good birthday and we are thrilled that she was born!

June with the Harrison Girls

Aubrey is really into shoes right now. She is surprisingly good at walking in mommy's shoes, which she loves to try on. 

You may also notice her short haircut and cool new glasses. She is growing up really quickly! She helps with the silverware.

Beth is starting to feed herself. She wants to grab the spoon all the time and took to the sippy cup with no problem. I was dreading introducing it because Aubrey was so resistant to it. I should know by now that these two have their own personalities and do things their own way!

Grandma Janis sent a Little People Ark to the girls and they love it. They both play with it almost everyday. It has given us a reason to teach Aubrey the word, "Peacock."

Aubrey loves "Signing Time" and she has learned a ton of signs. It has really helped boost her confidence with communication and build her vocabulary. She watches it (at least) once a day. 

She loves cuddling in blankets and cocooned herself here even though we have the AC going non-stop. 

We once got a book from the library about a cat who made a train out of colored chairs. That was months ago, but I guess Aubrey remembers it because she has been making trains with her colored chairs. 

Climbing Beth

Beth really loves finding little spots to stick herself. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, so she has now moved on to a lot more adventurous spots. She is a big climber and, unbeknownst to me until it was happening, learned to climb the stairs. Luckily our baby gate had never even been put away from Aubrey's unsteady climbing period. 

My Girls Playing Together

This scene doesn't always play out like this, but it is getting more frequent. These little girls are learning how to play together. As you can see they are great at making messes. Aubrey can be a little possessive of toys and her space, but she likes making Beth laugh and trying to help her with eating and other things that she thinks she needs help with. Beth is fascinated with everything Aubrey does and always wants to be right where she is. They are pretty sweet with each other most of the time and bring a lot of joy to our family. 

Coo-KIE? Coo-KIE?

I found Aubrey just like this one morning. She had pulled a chair up to the counter, opened this container, and was just standing there looking when I discovered her. She clearly knew that she had hit the jackpot based on that smile. But she hadn't touched the cookies at all. I took a video of her showing me the sign for cookie and after that she did start to dig in. 

Best Picture Ever

This is probably my favorite picture of Aubrey ever taken.  

It pretty much captures her whole self. She loves seeing what everyone is doing. She loves pretending to cook. She has the most darling little sideways glance. And the funniest smiles. She also likes the little apron Grandma LaVaun made her. 

These are some more pictures. Aubrey loves little spots that just barely fit her. She likes to hid in here and play peek-a-boo. And she's actually getting really good at cleaning up after herself. 

Library

What kind of Librarian-turned-Mommy would I be if I didn't take my little boo-boos to the library every so often? Not a very good one! So I decided to document one of the few times we get out of the house. 

Our library branch has a great selection of board books. 

Aubrey likes the fish tank. 

She climbed right up on this couch after she found a couple books she liked. It was the cutest thing. Except for how she was singing her delight at the top of her lungs. It activated my shushing reflex and I had to tell her to be quiet since there were a bunch of people working on computers behind her. 

Aubrey loved this carpet with letters and numbers. She can identify almost all the letters and calls every number 2. I call her a genius. She just turned two and she can practically spell! Too bad I can't really take much credit for it. She learned it all from SuperWhy!

We even found a book for Beth!