Fall....

Just a pretty fall day here in Atlanta and a cute little outfit to go with it!! She was very excited to finally get to wear her tights today since the weather finally turned cool!

Aubrey learned the Pledge of Allegiance at school today and I must say it is pretty precious to hear her pronouncing all those big words! She also went to the doctor today for her big 4 year old checkup and she is 36 lbs. and 40 inches tall and just perfect!

Aubrey's Party at the Children's Museum

We had a great birthday party for Aubrey at the Children's Museum in Downtown Atlanta!! She loved having all her friends there and everyone had a fun time!! She is so excited to be 4 years old now.........she loves to tell everyone that she is a big 4 year old!!
Here are some favorite pics from her birthday weekend.........

Happy 4th Birthday Aubrey!!!!

Well, I can't believe it, but today is my baby girl's 4th birthday. How is it possible that 4 years have already passed? I will never for a moment forget 4 years ago today and how excited and emotional and just how blessed I felt for this little girl that came into our lives. These past four years have been so amazing as we have watched her grow from a colicky, crying, fussy, but always beautiful baby into our independent, strong willed, smart and ever so beautiful "big girl". I could not be more proud of her and how simply amazing she is.

So that is all my mushy stuff for today!!!

Now to tell about Aubrey at 4 years old.........

She is a princess through and through. Favorite color, pink. Favorite clothes, dresses. Nail polish, tea parties, ballet, allllllll girl. She still loves to dress up in all her princess costumes, and thanks to her grandparents, has managed to collect every princess dress I think they make!

She still also loooooves horses and unicorns. She has quite a collection of horses; plastic, stuffed, with real hair, life size, you name it. But there is not one that goes without getting played with daily. She entertains herself for hours just imagining and creating stories with these horses and princesses and acting them out. She has such an amazing and vivid imagination.

She has really started to love to draw and paint as well. She loves to draw her friends and family and make up stories about all of us. She loves her friends and family. Every night we say our prayers and she spends a good 10 min. going through the list of everyone she loves.........she has a big soft heart.

She was very excited to wake up and be 4 today! We took pink cupcakes to school and celebrated and tomorrow we will be celebrating with all her friends at the Children's Museum in Downtown Atlanta, one of her favorite places. Pizza, more cake and lots of fun. I will be downloading all the fun pictures tomorrow after the party, but couldn't go to bed tonight without a blog to mark the big birthday today!!

We love you Aubrey Michele Katz!

Happy Birthday baby girl.........

First Day of School!

Last Tuesday was Aubrey's first day of 3 year old preschool. Very exciting!! She is now going 5 days a week and absolutely loves it. This is her second year at her school and she is having a blast and making many new friends.

These are just a couple of pictures daddy took before school (which explains the funny faces....) and a little video of her new favorite song she learned at school. Recognize the tune???

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!!!

5 years ago, on Aug.30, 2003, Jon and I were married! It was a picture perfect wedding with everything exactly the way I had dreamed of. It's hard to believe that 5 years have already passed us by. In the past 5 years we have lived in 3 different states, Jon has been promoted, we had our beautiful little girl, and have most recently been making ourselves at home here in Atlanta, GA.
I just want to take a moment to say thank you to the most wonderful husband I could have ever wished for. Every day I am so thankful that you are by my side and taking this journey through life with me. You are such an amazing father and I am so blessed to have you and Aubrey to share life's special moments with. I love you very much!
Happy 5 years and here's to many, many more to come!!

Happy Birthday Jon!!!

Happy Birthday! Yesterday was Jon's 31st birthday and unfortunately he celebrated it in Charlotte, NC without us!!! But he is coming home tonight and we look forward to celebrating his birthday, and a wonderful year to come!

We are so thankful to have such an amazing husband and father and we love you sooooo much!!!

Hilton Head!!!

We just got home from an absolutely wonderful trip to the beach!!

We went to Hilton Head, and stayed in Sea Pines (courtesy of the kindest boss ever, Rob Sayer!) :) We had a blast. We got there and went straight to the beach where Aubrey entertained herself for hours just playing in the waves and digging in the sand and making friends all along the way! Aubrey and Daddy spent some time making a sand castle which they named their "Meatball Castle".........it was quite a hit with another little beachgoer who then decided it would be fun to destroy it with his dumptruck! Aubrey got into it too though and they both had just as much fun destroying it as building it I think!

We had dinner in Harbour Town and enjoyed the view of the ocean while chowing down on some yummy shrimp and seafood!

Our next day was of course spent at the beach.........all day........and what a beautiful day it was! We had perfect weather the whole time. We ate at Red Fish that night (our favorite!) while Aubrey slept through the entire meal in her stroller........all that fun in the sun wears you out!

We continued our pattern of beaching it, eating and falling asleep early and enjoyed every minute! Our last night we went back to Harbor Town to hang out and eat ice cream and listen to a man by the name of Gregg Russell, who sings songs for the whole family under the big oak tree. All the kids gather up front to hear him and sing along and if they are really lucky he chooses about 5 kids to come up and sing for everyone. (About 200 people or so out there listening!) Well........he picked little Miss Aubrey! She raised her hand and went right up there and did a smashing rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"........it was so precious. Her first performance! She did her mother proud.

So all in all, we had a perfect time.

Here are a few favorite pictures!! And also the video of Aubrey's performance......

:) Enjoy!

Aubrey riding a pony at Lawton Stables!

The Summer Recap!!

As we just got back from our summer vacation I figured it was a great time to do my summer recap! Which really just means that I got behind on my blogging this summer and need to do some catching up!! What can I say?
It has been such a fun filled summer! We have had so many visitors to our home this summer and we have loved every minute of it.


We started off with a visit from our very good friends from Tampa.......The Williams Family. Mickey, Amy, Barratt and Leah drove all the way up to Atlanta to spend some time with us and then head on their way to North Georgia for some camping! Aubrey and Barratt are the same age and have been friends since they were 6 months old......they picked right up where they left off (after not seeing each other for a whole year) and had a blast! They played and swam and we cooked and talked and just had such a wonderful time. We also got to meet and enjoy the precious little Leah! Amy was still pregnant when we left so this was our first time meeting little Leah..........who isn't little anymore! We celebrated her 1st birthday while she was here with some chocolate cupcakes........ :)


Here are a few of my favorite pictures from their visit..........

We miss you guys!! We are so happy you came to visit............ :)

After that Aubrey did her first week of swimming lessons and did great! She still loves the water like she always has......over the course of the summer she has turned into quite the little swimmer! We have a water slide at our neighborhood pool and that is her new favorite thing to do the water slide all by herself! Such a big girl.........

We spent the Fourth of July with the Evans Family and friends up in Braselton, GA. Robert, Kristin, Elizabeth and Jackson hosted a wonderful party and some really great fireworks!! We grilled and the kids played and a wonderful time was had by everyone...........Kristin is one of my oldest and dearest friends, we have been friends since we were 11 years old! That is one of my favorite parts of living in Atlanta.......spending time with all of my friends.

Christa, Jamie and Kristin!

I don't have any pictures, but we also enjoyed a visit from Jessica Brokowsky in July! She came and stayed with us for the night and we enjoyed a girls night out to the W in Midtown and some dinner at The Spice Market! Aubrey enjoyed playing with "Jessie" too...........we had such a great time and it was so good to see her!

That same weekend we enjoyed a surprise visit from Mimi and Aubrey and Mimi had a slumber party! Then next day brought a visit from Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Scarlet and cousins Aiden and Ethan......Aubrey loved playing with her cousins! We went to the pool, went to play at the Jumpy Jump and played here at the house while enjoying some yummy meals and relaxing outside on the patio........

Ethan, Aubrey and Aiden........

The following weekend we had our biggest crew ever at the house! My sister and my nephew, her friend Sarah and her son John, and my cousin, her husband and their three kids all came to stay with us!! Yes, we had a house full, and yes it was a blast. The first night we all went to Stone Mountain and enjoyed an afternoon of climbing up the mountain (okay, not really, we rode the skylift to the top!) and took in the beautiful views from the top of the mountain....then we went and got our spots on some comfy blankets and watched the laser show on the big lawn. Emily and I used to go to the laser show with our parents when we were little girls so it was really special to us to take our kids there! The kids loved the lasers and the fireworks. The music is great and Aubrey enjoyed shaking her booty and dancing! Although she wore herself out and fell fast asleep right in the middle of the fireworks at the end of the show.........but we all really enjoyed it. The next day we all got up and braved Six Flags on a hot, summer Saturday! It was hot and the lines were long, but we all still had a great time. Aubrey rode a roller coaster and that made her day! I rode a few too and realized how old I have gotten since I couldn't believe how "jerky" and "rough" the coasters were..........guess I never noticed it when I was a kid!! Ah well..........

A few favorite pictures from the weekend with the friends and family..........

Austin and Aubrey

Austin, Cole, John and Hunter

Emmy and Aubrey, Sarah and John

And that concludes my summer recap! After that we layed low for a couple of weeks and then headed out for our little summer vacation to Hilton Head! That post to come very soon.........

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer..............we are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and to be able to enjoy special times together!!!

Just.........

a beautiful picture of my baby girl...........I couldn't resist posting. She is going to be 4 soon and this summer she has just grown so much! Everyday something new and usually hysterical comes out of her mouth! She loves to paint and draw and lately has been very into portraits of herself or her mommy and daddy or her friends..........they are quite funny!

She just finished summer camp and is looking forward to school starting back. We are going to get in a couple of quick vacations before all that though........so many more pictures and a "summer recap" soon to come!!

Until then, hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as we are!!

Fourth of July!

Thank you Kristin for having us over for your 4th of July Party!!! We had a blast!

The fireworks were sooo much fun...........

Just a few pics!