Aubrey has been learning new things by leaps and bounds since starting preschool two weeks ago. She absolutely adores her teacher but she unfortunately credits Ms. Shayla with teaching her the alphabet song. This is unfortunate because, well…it’s not the alphabet you remember.
To the tune of ABC’s (which also happens to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)…
A U B
A F G
Q U X
E U B
Ebbleyou
Wait
W X
A U B
*repeat 2,700 times
We spent Easter with family and friends gathered at my mother-in-law’s house. I arrived early to help prepare food and Brandon was set to the task of hiding eggs outside for all the kids. We were very fortunate that the rain they’d been calling for all week held off until after nightfall so the kids got to play outside, have an egg hunt and the ‘big kids’ flew kites for a few hours. Then as is tradition, we closed out the day playing a game around the patio table. The game of choice was Catch Phrase and it turned out to be a ton of fun for everyone who played and even for those who preferred to observe.
It was a nice day. We had some excellent food and the kids got a lot of good candy which all the parents will be pilfering I’m sure. 🙂
Easter Egg Drop 1 year ago - April 3, 2010
Who dresses this child?! Oh right, she does.
I’m playing with a technique called tilt-shift which uses selective focus to create the impression of a miniature world. The below photos were accomplished through layer masks in Photoshop because I don’t have a couple thousand dollars just laying around to go spend on an actual tilt-shift lens. This effect is pretty intoxicating though I don’t know if I could justify buying the lens when I can do the same thing through Photoshop. Though if I did have the lens, it would be really fun to create a video! There are some amazing videos on YouTube using tilt-shift lenses. It’s worth a look.
I spent last night playing with an EF 50mm f/1.2 L. I realize that’s probably gibberish to most people but to me it’s enough to get me all drooly and twitterpated. Luckily I had a willing subject to point it at. Prehaps someday I’ll actually spring for one of my own, but until then the lovely folks at Borrowlenses.com have lent me one to fall in love with.
Aubrey loves streaming various animated shows on my phone using the Netflix app. It began with Dora and Diego. Much to my surprise it branched out into a love of Futurama. I didn’t realize it at first but in the car one day in a quiet moment between songs on the radio I heard the familiar voices of Fry and Leela.
She has watched quite a few episodes at this point and while I don’t know how much she understands of what is going on, something she said to me on the way to day care one morning made it clear that she is creating her own logical explanations of what she is seeing.
She has been under the weather off and on this month. She had a cold followed by a few good days, then pink eye and just as that is clearing up she appears to be suffering from some terrible allergies.
Earlier this week on our morning drive to day care she appeared to be in a fog of sleep and congested malaise. I glanced at her several times expecting to find her back asleep because she had been so silent and bleary eyed. Out of the blue she calls to me from the back seat to say, “I need bubble yasses.”
“You need bubble glasses?!” I replied thoroughly confused and quite surprised by her unexpected demand.
“Yeah. So I can see. And a water binkie and the bubbles come out. That way the water not get in my mouth. But first I need a swimming suit!”
LOL “What?!”
“I can’t go under the water without a swimming suit! That be silly!”
I started piecing things together at this point and began playing along. She had seen characters on an episode of Futurama scuba diving and had been mulling over what she had watched who knows how long ago. Not knowing what things were called she used things in her world that she was familiar with to explain what she was seeing. The goggles were clearly glasses shaped like bubbles and what else could a regulator be than a fancy binkie for keeping water out of ones’ mouth while under water?
I just love how her brain works!! She lights up my world.
It was such a beautiful weekend that Aubrey and I couldn’t resist a trip to the park. The gorgeous weather combined with her new affinity for picking out her own outfits mandated the camera join us for some fun.
Aubrey turned 3 on Monday. I can’t believe it’s been three years already! She is such a blessing in my life and a complete joy every single day. She has one of the sweetest and funniest personalities and makes me laugh constantly.
She is becoming even more independent these days which is both fun to watch and saddens me at the same time. She woke me up yesterday morning around 4:30 AM to tell me that she was hungry. I asked if she could wait until “morningtime” and she responded with, “You do that [meaning get chocolate milk] and I go poddy, otay? That be idea?”
That is one of my favorite sayings of hers. “That be idea?” A friend suggested I get that on a t-shirt which sounds so fun but will also be one of those things I never follow up on because life gets in the way. I still make sure I make time for Aubrey though. She is growing up so fast these days I can hardly keep up with her. I don’t want to miss a moment of it. Last night she helped me cook dinner and she actually helped!
We celebrated her birthday on Sunday so family could take part. She woke up Sunday morning and saw a pile of presents from family in Iowa on the kitchen table and was so excited. She ran back and forth down the hall trying to get her dad out of bed and get some pep in his step since I told her she needed to wait for him before she could open anything. She hadn’t had breakfast or let me do her hair yet. Presents were the priority. When I made the comment, “Your hair…” she answered what she perceived as my unasked question with, “Is it kinda beautiful?” See for yourself.
Sunday morning
She got SO excited about getting new clothes from Great G'ma Gieseman!
The aftermath
At her birthday party later that afternoon...dressed as Minnie Mouse
She still hates when people sing "Happy Birthday"
Yup, hates enough to cry
She may hate our singing but she loves icing
On an unrelated note, the fog this morning was insane. I took this while at a stop light that you can’t even see.
I don’t seem to have much to say these days. Or perhaps I don’t have much time to say it. Either way here are some photos.
Snow on the back porch Jan 19, 2011
It snowed for another few hours after this was taken
Sometimes being in focus is overrated
A visit to the neighborhood park April 2, 2010
She has grown so much since then!!
Taken April 3, 2010
Watching the Easter Bunny approaching in a helicopter ready to drop eggs on the crowd
Easter Bunny dropping eggs for the "egg hunt"
Auby and Gramma
A Day In The Life 