Aurelia Marie » Sarah

Aurelia is 4!

Sarah — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:35:20 +0000

We had a rainbow party for Aurelia’s 4th birthday. We invited just a few of her closest classmate friends from daycare, Jackson, and then we had some older children that are friends from other connections that came, as well. They all played together really well and had a great time. For food, we grilled hamburgers, had orzo salad, colorful veggies and fruits, strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing, and homemade strawberry ice cream. With help from some special friends who arrived early and helped me finish setting up, it all went smoothly. The birthday girl had a great time, and she received some really enjoyable presents.

A rainbow dress to fit with the party theme. The dress has french seams on the strips and the bodice encloses the skirt edge, so there are no exposed edges (I love it when I can figure that out – such a nerd, I know.)

Aurie opening her presents! I was almost too busy to take pictures until some of the guests left, but here are some pics of the ones that stayed later. Marcus and the boys hanging out/on! at the table.

Angie and Ivera helped so much with clean-up. There wasn’t anything left to do once they left!

Birthday girl having a pageant to try on her new dresses. The older girls helped her change, would announce the new style, and had her all decked out!

The guys played some video games and then Marcus showed how to play one of his favorite computer games.

Playing with new toys. The bubble scepter was a big hit, and made great bubbles – you never know with those types of toys. Jackson gave her some puzzles, and she set to work right away putting them together once the house was quiet. She could do the Winnie the Pooh puzzle all by herself!! It has 25 or so pieces.

Momma’s little girl

Sarah — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:27:24 +0000

This is a bit gratuitous, but I wanted to post a picture of Aurie finally wearing her “mini me” shirt that I made for her last summer. I guess I might have to make myself another one, because my original was a maternity top.

Mommy a couple of days before Simon was born at the bottom of the Devil’s Millhopper sinkhole, and Aurelia finally wearing her shirt the next year.

Our busy, busy girl!

Sarah — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:19:15 +0000

Back in April, we finally made it down to Ocoee (Orlando, basically) to visit the Farleys. Aurelia had such a great time! The kids played dress-up, complete with Tori fixing her hair. The kids had a little pageant to show us their dress-up outfits. Aurie was in princess/ballerina heaven, because she got to try them all on (and Tori was pretty excited to play with her life-sized doll.) Tori read books to her, we had grilled lunch and strawberry shortcake, and we went for the first COLD swim of the season. As we were walking back to the house from their neighborhood, I just had a take a picture of the three of them holding hands – so very precious. I especially love Bennet’s Spiderman floaty suit. The downside is that we want to go down there nearly every weekend, now.

She loves to feed her little brother. Also, that dress is now her official favorite – I need to hurry up and get another spliced-t-shirt gator dress made up, because this one is getting too small and has paint on it. So much to do!

Aurelia loves to dress-up. She has gotten a lot of wear out of the lion suit, which I made for her second Halloween. Look how short the sleeves are! Last weekend, we made a castle from one of those foam rubber kits. She had a great time decorating it with Mommy. The other night, I was doing some hand sewing to finish up a bag, and she really wanted to try it. So, I set her up with a scrap of material and a large needle. She got the in-and-out motion going pretty well. I need to get an embroidery hoop so that she can practice more easily. I love it that she is so curious about trying everything that we do.

Eating a sun-butter and jam sandwich after blueberry picking. Eating our first watermelon of the year! She and Simon both dug in! We’ve also had some really great cantaloupe already. These pics are not from the same, day, but she has been wearing the “berry picking” shirt a lot, lately. She originally wanted to wear it picking so that she wouldn’t get lost – love it!! Now, it is in frequent rotation, probably due to the memory of a great day of picking.

Birthday Trip to the Aquarium

Sarah — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:56:29 +0000

For Aurelia’s birthday, we took her to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Aunt Tabitha came down for the weekend to hang out, too! We had a great time seeing all of the fishes and then letting her play outside in the splash park. The pictures below are in reverse chronological order. There are more pics on Aunt Tabitha’s camera to post later, as well, including some cake eating on Friday. They will be up soon, as well.

Riding a sea turtle.

Riding the sting ray. She was especially fascinated with these in the tanks, too.A brave girl putting her head in the alligator’s mouth! Looking up, up, up at the swim-over section of this river aquarium. The bear had front row seats to most of the fish. She wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything. The dress is a new pillowcase-style dress that I finished up for her at about midnight before the trip. We went to some friends’ house for dinner, so sewing go pushed later and later in the day.

Trabajamos juntos

Sarah — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:13:26 +0000

On Sunday, Daddy and Aurelia put together a new chair for Mommy to use at her sewing table (to replace the metal folding chair she was using). Aurie had watched Handy Manny that morning, and she was really stoked about “fixing” something. Marcus let her really get to use the tools, put in screws and such. She was a sweet helper. We get that from her sometimes. :)

Also, here is a secret belly picture that I didn’t realize Marcus had taken of me. I was making a curtain for the kitchen cabinet with the door missing. Once I get the other one up over the window, I’ll take some pictures. They have cute pleated ribbon on them and scalloped edges. I kind of fill all of the space here…

That reminds me… the other day, we were both trying to pass through a door, so I instinctively turn sideways against the doorframe to let Marcus pass me. We both got a good chuckle as he couldn’t squeeze through the space between my belly and the doorframe. I guess I’m bigger than I realize!