Birthday and such

Aubrey's 3rd birthday party featured the Creature Teacher who brought a rabbit, chinchilla, hedgehog, Guini pig, turtle and parrot. I can't remember the last time I've seen so many 2-4 year olds sit so still and attentive. After the creatures we opened up a bag of 4500 live ladybugs and let the kids go nuts. Some did go nuts once the bugs got up their shirts. Fun, fun!

Aubrey got a Tinkerbell costume from grandma and grandpa!

Tracy spent all night making these cupcakes! Black icing = lots of little smeared black faces.

Grandpa tried to show how strong his knees still are. Showoff!

Now some Charlotte news. Charlotte has been standing up for so long we figured she'd be walking early. Turns out she likes crawling. A lot. Aubrey never did. A couple weeks ago Charlotte started standing up with no support. Middle of the rooms stands. Up and down. Up and down. On Aubrey's birthday Friday she took her first tiny little step. Then she sat down and hasn't done it since. Still...first step is a first step. She's also a climber. Again - very different from Aubrey who, at age 3, still sleeps in her crib (her choice...we've REALLY tried to get her out) and has never tried to climb out. Charlotte, OTOH, climbs everything. She can almost climb out of the bathtub. Below we see how she opened up a dresser drawer and climbed in. Fun.

She also loves to get her hands messy. Loves to eat. Squishes it up in her paws and crams it in. Aubrey took one look at her piece of cake her first birthday and started screaming in fright. I don't think we'll have that problem with Charlotte.