Thanksgiving.......

Aubrey and Sarah

This year for Thanksgiving Day we headed over to our dear friends, The Foster's house to share some lunch and good times! David and Janice Foster are good friends of my parents and I have known them since I was 11 years old. They are such wonderful, caring and gracious people!!

Chris and Sarah Foster are some of our best friends that we love sooo much. They love our girls so much and we love any chance we have to be with them! Their son Davis is about the cutest thing you have ever seen! He is just like his daddy but with his mom's beautiful brown eyes. We're hoping to arrange a marriage between him and Eliana!! :)

We are so thankful for such wonderful friends to share special times with!!

Thank you to the Foster's for sharing your home with

us and for a wonderful day!

Eliana loving her toys!

Davis......soooo sweet!!

Afternoon at the Zoo....

We have enjoyed some quality family time this year during our "Staycation"........Jon is off work and home and so am I and we have just been hanging out at home together as a family and having so much fun!

Yesterday we took a little afternoon trip to the zoo and had a blast. The weather was gorgeous so all the animals were out and it seemed everyone in Atlanta was gone b/c the zoo was nearly empty! No complaints here! We had a great time and especially looooved seeing the pandas!!! Not so excited about the new reptile exhibit and all the snakes Aubrey and Jon made me look at......

Dothan Thanksgiving

Aubrey and her cousins...Jaci, Sophie and Abby-Leigh

Every year the weekend before Thanksgiving we head down to Dothan, AL (my birthplace!) to spend time with our family there. This is the "Jones Family" which is my mom's side and there are quite a few of us!!! I think there were at least 40 of us there, eating, watching football, watching the kids play, and just enjoying each other's company!
We went later that night over to my cousin Jinnifer's house where they have 6 acres and Aubrey ran and played and ran and played for hours! It was so nice to have so much room to run around!! We made a big bonfire and a low country boil and had such a great time.
Eliana enjoyed being passed around from arm to arm the entire time! Everyone wanted to hold her and she was more than happy to oblige. She is such a cuddle bug.
We love spending time with our families.......this was a great weekend and a great start to the holiday season ahead of us!!

My First Tooth!!!

So finally at 7 1/2 months Miss Eliana has gotten her first tooth. Can you see it??? Bottom right, pearly white.
Her precious smile is even cuter now!!!
Our little "Ella Grace" is still the happiest baby on the block.........sitting up all by herself now and playing with her toys, trying her best to crawl and loving her new teething cookies! She squeals nonstop, especially when her big sister enters the room.
We love every moment of her........
:)

Blue Ridge 2009

The first weekend in Nov. we took our annual trip to Blue Ridge with our friends the Young's the the Miller's!! This was our third year in a row and we had a blast. This year we were on the Toccoa River and the setting was just beautiful. The leaves were gorgeous, the weather was perfect and we all had a nice, lazy weekend up in the mountains. We visited Mercier Orchards of course and got some yummy apples and jams and various other goodies and came home and ate, watched football, and ate some more while the kids played, and played and played. The kids made smores which was by far their favorite part, with the nighttime jacuzzi extravaganza coming in at a close second. Eliana enjoyed her first trip to the mountains! The first night she was a little scared I think, not being in her own bed, but she enjoyed the fresh air and loooves watching the big kids play! She squeals everytime they do anything in her direction.
We love our yearly mountain trip and love the friends we have to share it with!!

October Fun!

October has been a crazy, but wonderful month!!

It started with a wonderful girls weekend with a bunch of my high school girlfriends..........they all came to my house and we shared a great weekend with good food, good talks and some shopping! It was so great to be with them. Even though it has been a long time since we have seen each other, it seems like we just pick up right where we leave off everytime. It was a special weekend and I look forward to doing it again next year!!! Thanks Katie, Leigh Ann, Twila, Amy, Kristin and Christi for an unforgettable weekend!

(missing Leigh Ann!! :)

The next weekend we celebrated a birthday........Kate's! We headed down to Decatur to eat some mexican with the Hinkel's and had a great night.......Kate and I have been friends since we were 11 years old and I am thankful for every year that we celebrate another birthday together!!! We love Kate, Trent and Jake and are so happy to have them in our lives!!

Our next adventure was a trip to my parents house in Lousiana.........Aubrey was dying to go to her Nana and Papa's!! And we had to get down there to watch our Football Rockstar nephew play some ball!!! Austin was amazing, they won their game and it was so cool to watch him throw down and tackle these boys that were twice his size with no fear!! He is fast and just awesome. Look out NFL!!!

We had a great time with the family and the girls just loved their time with their grandparents and Aunt Emmy. We love our family!!

So October went out with a big bang.........Halloween! Of course it was a week long affair.........dress up day at ballet, fall party/dress up day at preschool, birthday party the day of halloween for a good friend of Aubrey's and then the big trick or treat night!! Except it decided to rain and drop about 10 degrees here in Atlanta just in time for trick or treating so we settled for a garage "haunted house-eat all the candy-stay warm and dry" kind of evening!!! We celebrated with our wonderful neighbors and had a blast in spite of the awful weather. The kids didn't seem to mind, especially when they realized they could keep the candy meant for the trick or treaters all to themselves!!!

We are thankful for a wonderful month, wonderful friends and a beautiful start to a Happy Fall!!!

We are looking forward to the holidays and more special times with our families and friends.

Eliana Grace - 6 months old!

September 28, 2009

Six months ago today my 2nd baby girl was born! It is absolutely impossible to believe that 6 months have already passed since she came into our lives, but at the same time it seems like she has always been here.

Eliana is truly the sweetest, happiest, easiest baby that has ever been. She smiles with her whole entire face and just fills me with joy everytime I see her. She loves her family and especially her big sister.....everytime Aubrey comes home Eliana starts laughing hysterically at her.

So at six months old, Eliana is a champ on her belly......you can't put her down for 2 seconds without her flipping over to be on her belly! She is just starting to pull her knees up underneath her and can push herself up on her arms really well. She's not quite sitting up yet, but she'll do it for a few seconds at a time. No rush for me!! I am so not ready for her to crawl or be mobile yet. I want her to stay my little baby for a little longer......although I can say for sure that I have enjoyed every second of her little life thus far. It's definitely easier the second time around......less worries and uncertainty, and more enjoyment of those early days and months that go by so fast.

Her official 6 month doctor visit is Fri. so I will have to update her stats then..(and here it is! 17lbs and 27inches, 95% percentile for her height!! My girls are going to tower over me one day)....but she is eating solid foods, sitting in her high chair, and putting everything within reach right into her mouth! No teeth yet, but she is definitely teething (and drooling!!) But she never complains. The only time she cries or fusses is every 3 hours or so when she is ready for her bottle.....other than that she plays and watches her surroundings, talks to herself and her toys, sleeps like a champ, and is just happy. Happy, happy girl. She truly brings such joy to our lives.....she is just a dream. She sleeps 12 hours at night and wakes up with a big old smile on her face.

I can't wait to get to know this little munchkin more and see the amazing little girl she is growing up to be. How I got to be so blessed with my girls I will never know, but I thank God everyday for the miracles that they both are.

Happy 6 month birthday Eliana Grace Katz!

We love you sooooo much!!

5 years old......

Sept. 19th, 2004........

Aubrey Michele Katz came into this world weighing 7lbs, 6 oz., 20in. long and screaming her head off!!!!

And has brought such joy and love and amazement to our lives every day since.

On Saturday, Sept.19th, 2009 (this year at 38lbs, and 44" tall) we celebrated Aubrey's 5th birthday! She wanted a "doggie party" so we rounded up every dog decoration, craft, cake that we could find and made it happen! 2 hours and 25 crazy kids running around having a blast.......she loved it and we all had a great time. We were so busy though we didn't get too many pictures!! :( But I am going to try to get some from friends that were there and will post them as soon as I do.

Now onto the mushy, mommy stuff.........

So incredibly hard to believe that 5 years have already passed since we had our first baby girl. I will never, ever forget the day I found out I was pregnant with Aubrey......in our little apartment in NYC, completely and totally shocked!! And thrilled.......and I will also never forget the day our doctor told me that we were having a little girl. We were so excited.....a beautiful baby girl.

So now that baby girl is 5 years old going on 15 for sure!

She is fiercely independent, strong willed, determined, creative, loving, and hands down the best negotiator I have ever seen at such a young age. She is a tough one sometimes though and I find myself praying for patience all too often! But I love her for her strong spirit and I know it is going to serve her well as she journeys through life. Someone recently told me that "God does not give strong girls to weak women....." I love that. Let's hope I stay a strong woman to help guide this amazing little girl!

She loves to sing and dance and play with her animals. And by animals I mean the 50 stuffed animals and probably 50 more plastic animals (horses, dogs, cats, unicorns, whales, coyotes, you name it) that she rotates through every day. She can entertain herself for hours at a time just talking and creating stories and games with these animals. Every night when she goes to sleep she surrounds herself with about 10-15 animals (the selection changes daily except for a few favorites) and when she sneaks into our bed about 3am every morning she brings them alllll with her. So we usually wake up with a sweet little girl and about 10 various stuffed creatures in our bed every morning! It is precious.

As independent as she is though, she has moments where she wants nothing more than to snuggle and love on her mommy and daddy and baby sister. She tells us daily that she is never going to get married and never going to college.....she wants to stay with us forever!!! I am going to remind her of this when she calls to tell me she is on a plane to China or France or wherever that spirit takes her. I know better! But I can say for sure that if she did want to stay here forever I would love it! :)

I am so proud of Aubrey and I love her to a million little pieces. She is my big girl, but still my precious baby and always will be.

Happy 5th Birthday Aubrey!!! I know this year will bring many wonderful moments and smiles and times to treasure to all of us.........

We love you Aubrey!!

Hilton Head!

We did our annual trip to Hilton Head, SC over Labor Day weekend and had a blast. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed some much needed R&R!!

Every morning began with a trip to the beach where we stayed most of the day! Aubrey loves playing in the sand, jumping in the waves and making new friends. Eliana was happy as she could be to lay on a giant towel in the sand on her belly and just enjoy the cool ocean breeze. We played in the pool a bit and then headed out to yummy seafood dinners everynight! Every place we went had live music so we sat outdoors and Aubrey danced to the various entertainers and had a ball. We went to Lawton Stables so Aubrey could ride a pony.......her favorite thing to do every year! She still loves horses and can't wait until she is 8 years old to go to horse camp!!

It was a wonderful weekend........so nice to just be there and enjoy some quality family time with our girls!!

Already planning and looking forward to next year!

1st Day of Pre-K

Aubrey started Pre-K on Monday!

She was soooo excited. She keeps telling me that Pre-K is not the same as school........it's for big girls. And right she is. I am so proud of her. I asked her what she learned at school today and she said,"that it is not nice to tell someone that you don't like their dress. That would hurt their feelings." So lessons in manners it is! But she assured me she was going to learn to read tomorrow so we shall see......(she always tells me she is going to do or see or learn something tomorrow, it's her favorite word these days).....I am pretty sure the year will begin with some letters and numbers before the "real" reading begins, but she is so excited to read!

It truly seems like yesterday I was in NYC at the corner of 57th street when I found out I was pregnant with a little girl.............and now here she is. I couldn't be more proud or happier for her and all her accomplishments in the past 4 years.

I love you Aubrey Michele!!

:)