Aubrey Turns Four!

Aubrey's actual birthday was on a Friday, so we went about our usual Friday morning activities. She went to her Broadway Princess class, where she's learning a singing and dancing routine to Let It Go and Under the Sea. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any photos of her doing it! They don't let the parents in, and the glass we watch through is frosted--not good for taking photos.

Anyway, after that we went to my chiropractor appointment and then to Walmart to buy last-minute birthday party items. We had to hurry home because it started to snow! Wasn't expecting that.

A friend from church has his birthday on the same day as Aubrey, and he had his party on Friday afternoon. So Aubrey and I went to that for a couple hours before meeting Nana and Papa at Red Robin. Daniel took the night off Home Depot, so we all got to spend the whole evening together!

We went home and opened presents, and then it was bedtime! And as I'm doing this post, I'm realizing I took only one photo of this girl on her birthday (see above). :( I can't believe I didn't take pictures of her opening presents!

The next day, Saturday, we had Aubrey's party. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come for it, along with a few of Aubrey's friends from church and one from preschool. We couldn't invite everyone because our house is so small, and lot of people couldn't come. Then two kids cancelled the morning of due to sickness! So it was a small group, but that may have been for the best, haha. Four-year-olds are crazy.

The party was High School Musical themed (and it wasn't even my idea!). We started off with some mingling and snacking while people filtered in, and then we went on to some structured fun. First we had a basketball competition to see who could make the most baskets in 30 seconds (with their friends cheering them on with pom-poms). Aubrey and a friend tied with six baskets each!

Then we played musical chairs with the High School Musical soundtrack playing. That's always an entertaining game with little kids.

Aubrey was in the final round with another girl, and I turned off the music at just the right time to make Aubrey lose. Yep, I'm a good mom. (In my defense, it was Daniel's idea.)

After musical chairs, we had a dance party while waiting for the pizza to arrive. Those kids have some great moves!

Pizza came and was eaten (kind of), and then it was cake time. Aunt Kara was super nice and offered to make Aubrey's HSM cake for her! And Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to take it on the plane with them from Texas! And let me tell you, that thing was surprisingly heavy.

Here is Aubrey seeing her cake for the first time...

... and then posing with it.

And now here's the cake in all its awesomeness! I would never have made anything even remotely this cool.

And, because I'm awesome and just assumed we already had four candles lying around somewhere (we didn't), we had to improvise. Luckily, we celebrated my Dad's 62nd birthday here earlier this year, so we had what we needed for a little mathy candle fun. 6-2=4!

Yep, we're classy.

 I love this picture of Aubrey. She looks so sweetly excited.

And then we sang!

As soon as we were done, she had to try the completely edible microphone, of course.

I'd say we made a pretty good dent in it! And then the family finished it off over the next few days. Yum. Cake for breakfast! It was totally a thing.

Anyway, happy birthday to my smart, sassy, funny, silly, imaginative, sweet, and energetic girl! We sure do love you, girly.

"I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to do what I want."

Live and Learn

• She's been learning the basics of telling time. She can tell us what hour it is, which is something!
• She also likes to do math at bedtime. She does basic addition counting on her fingers. It's cute to see her get so excited about learning.
• She kept saying she wanted a violin and Anna doll for Christmas, and my parents got her a cheap (but real!) violin to keep the magic alive. She loves making sounds with it, and I've taught her how to hold it and how to change the note by pressing down on the string. She obviously can't really play, but she looks cute trying!

• She's gotten a lot better at drawing and can even draw recognizable things sometimes! She draws our family a lot (awwww), as well as rainbows. I didn't teach her how to draw people; she came up with it on her own!

Fun and Games

• She loves playing games (yay!), especially Go Fish, Old Maid, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Spot It, Memory, and The Disney Princess Enchanted Cupcake Party Game (or, as she calls it, The Cupcake Game). She got it for Christmas from Mommy and Daddy, and it was the best $10 we ever spent! She loves playing the game as intended, but she also likes building her own cupcakes as well as giving each of her Little People princesses her own designated cupcake.
• She loves playing make-believe with her dolls and figures. She'll play for a long time by herself. I love her imagination!

• She used to always play in the bathroom after using it. One time Daniel went to tell her to wash her hands and come out, and he found her standing in the shower--completely naked--playing with her bath soap. When he asked what she was doing, she said, "Um... washing my hands." 
• Her current favorite shows/movies are anything Tinkerbell, Coco, Luna Petunia, Brave, and especially My Little Pony. Oh man, the My Little Pony obsession.
• She still loves playing dress-up, and one time she dressed as Merida and pretended her chair was a horse she was riding. So cute!

• She always wants to play these specific games when I put her to bed. There's tickle spider, her personal favorite, in which I pretend like my hand has been posessed by a tickle spider that descends from above and wants to eat her ribs. It ends with her grabbing my hand on its second descent and flushing it down her pretend toilet (complete with sound effects). She also likes to reenact scenes from Frozen (the beginning when young Anna and Elsa play and then the scene at the end when Anna gets frozen). She also likes me to reenact the book Love You Forever by crawling across the floor, picking her up, rocking her, and singing the song. There's also pretending the other one is a stuffed animal (to great protest), and holding my arm so I can't leave the bed.

Sour...

• One day she said, "Someone drew a J on the table!" I walked over to find a (admittedly pretty good) J carved in the coffee table, as she said. She used a rock that I let her take home earlier that day. And then she lied when I told her she was in trouble. "I didn't do it! It must have been the people who lived here before." When I pointed out that the table is ours and wasn't here when the other people lived here, she said, "Carter did it!" We had a long conversation about lying after that.
• For awhile there, she would refuse to let me tuck her in at bedtime. Then she would come out of her room--just after I'd gone downstairs--and ask me to come back to her room and tuck her in. If I refused, she'd throw an epic tantrum and refuse to go to bed. If I put her in her room and held the door so she couldn't get out, she'd throw things at her door. Man, I'm so glad she doesn't do that anymore.

... and Sweet!

• Lately she's been eager to help me. I love it! She's still too young to be actually helpful, but I love that she wants to help. She especially loves to help me paint! I think she looks like Cinderella in this photo:

• One day while eating dinner she asked us, "Who is that chair for?" (referring to our fourth chair). Before we could answer, she said, "Oh, I know! It's for our new baby!" And ever since, she's been obsessed with the idea of a new baby. She talks about it regularly and has decided it will be a girl. She says she'll help change diapers and give her all of her old clothes. It's so sweet!
• She loves sweeping! If only she did more than just move the dirt/crumbs around...

• When Carter needs help eating, he often wants Aubrey to help him instead of me or Daniel. She's always so happy to help! It makes me happy.
• Because he's working two jobs, Daniel is of course very tired. As a result, he often falls asleep on the couch. When he does, Aubrey likes to tuck him in with her blankets and stuffed animals.

Notable Quotables

• She has gotten in the movie Cars lately, and instead of calling the main character Lightning McQueen, she calls him "Lightning the Queen." It's amazing. Daniel made a nice "drag racing" joke in response. Haha.
• For awhile there, she would randomly (and constantly) say, "Hey Cool Whip, check it out!" She said she got it from a kid at preschool. I have NO idea...
• "I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to do what I want."
• Aubrey: "Mommy, why did Heavenly Father name me Aubrey?"
  Me: "He didn't name you that; Mommy and Daddy did."
  Aubrey: "Aw, well I wanted you to name me something else."
  Me: "Like what?"
  Aubrey: "Castle Princess!"
• "Mommy, listen to this beautiful song I'm going to play. It's called 'Count on Me... to Destroy Things.' "
• She came in while I was making lunch and said with a big grin, "I put a stocking on Daddy!"

• If I ever say Carter is a buttface (said in jest with love, I promise, haha), Aubrey says, "No, he's a wonderful baby!"
• Daniel: "What did you learn about in class?"
  Aubrey: "Jesus." *pause* "That's it."
• Me: "Carter's saying your name because he loves you."
  Aubrey: "Of course I love him too."
  Me: "And I love you both so so so so much!"
  Aubrey: "And I love you... not so much."
• Aubrey: "I'm talking! I'm in charge! "
  Me: "Okay, if you're in charge, then you need to get lunch ready for everyone and take care of everything."
  Aubrey: "No! That's hard work, and I don't do that!"
• When we went out to eat with my parents recently, Carter threw his food. Then Aubrey followed suit. When we scolded her, she turned to Daniel and said, "I'm proud of what I did." PUNK.