Just Crazy Old Life...

It's official: we sold our home!

We had the closing last week -- money in the bank, y'all.

We are currently packing up for our two upcoming moves.

One across town in two weeks.
And one across country to Cleveland in seven weeks.

Have you ever had to pack up a house with two kids still living in it?!

But enough about packing and never-ending messes.

Here are a few snippets of daily life when we don't have a tape gun and Sharpie marker in our hand...

We have been outside every chance we get!
Mina is not exactly tall enough for the tricycle, but she sure looks cute pretending to be a big girl!

This cutie goes by the name Adventure Girl Aubrey!
Outdoors is definitely her happy place.

While the picture below was taken at midday, this is the same exact face that pops up at 6:58 a.m. each morning (or earlier...) on my side of the bed. Cutest alarm clock ever!
(By the way, she's a drool machine. She has four new teeth to thank for that!)

When Daniel's home, I know where the girls are going to be...

Oh how they love their Daddy!

Aubrey wanted to have a picnic dinner in the backyard one evening, so we did!

Mina was invited to a birthday party at Gymboree and had an absolute blast!

I'm already looking up Gymboree classes in Cleveland.

Daniel flew to Cleveland (20-hour-roundtrip) and miraculously found a rental home for us.

And this is what happens when your husband leans over your shoulder while you're scrolling through recent posts on Pinterest...."WHAT ARE THOSE?! LET'S MAKE 'EM!!" (In case you're wondering, it's a chocolate chip cookie dough brownie bomb, and good heavens above it's delicious.)

And now, to conclude this totally random post, here are two videos that completely encapsulate Aubrey and Mina:

I started videoing midway through Aubrey's latest performance.

Aubrey is full of imagination and dramatic play these days.

Oh how I love this girl...

Mina "SHHH"ing me in the middle of my singing.

She is seriously the happiest girl on the planet. 

I sure do love my crazy life, my crazy husband, and my crazy girls!

Shake, Rattle, and Soul!

Little Miss Aubrey was in her first choir performance at church this past Wednesday!
It was a 1950's Shake, Rattle, and Soul theme.

Aubrey was technically 17 days shy of making the official cut-off for the little kid's choir age group, but the preschool director made an exception. :)

And let me tell you...this girl loves to sing her Bible songs!
Psalm 100:1 "Make a joyful NOISE unto the Lord" seems fitting here.

The performance was held in the church's gymnasium. Here's a quick little clip of Aubrey getting ready to take the stage!

Did you catch the "You look great!" voice in the video? That was Daniel! He left the hospital to come watch her perform and then went back to work after it was over. He's such a good dad. :)

Can you spot her in the crowd?

Here's a very rough montage of two song snippets for the grandparents to see. :)
First song: B-I-B-L-E. Not sure what the purpose was for the ribbons, but Aubrey got pretty enthusiastic about it.
Second song: I'm Gonna Wiggle. This was just a silly song for Aubrey to show off her mad dancing skills. By the way, don't miss her "bow" at the very end. Ha!

It was certainly a fun night and just another event to remind me that my baby girl is growing up on me!

By the way, now that the show's over does this mean I can burn eject the practice CD in the car that I've had to listen to for two solid months? If not, I might just wiggle and giggle and...EXPLODE! ;)

Sweet Child of Mine

It was late.
Daniel was working nights at the hospital.
I couldn't sleep (as usual), so I started uploading some pictures on the computer.

I typically enjoy the quiet, but it felt a little too quiet on this particular night. I surfed over to pandora radio for some background tunes and created a new station: 80's Throwback (90's Comeback).

Ah-mah-zing.
My new favorite, hands-down.
You know every song within the first two notes.
Hungry Eyes (from Dirty Dancing), Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper), Don't You Want Me (The Human League), Free Falling (Tom Petty), Sunglasses at Night (Corey Hart), Sweet Dreams Are Made of These (Eurythmics/Annie Lennox), I could go on...
And on...
I'm telling ya...it's some good stuff.

As I was deep in musical bliss while scrolling through pictures from a random afternoon with my munchkin, a familiar guitar intro played softly through my speakers.

Oh yes, Guns N' Roses: Sweet Child of Mine. Good song...I thought to myself as I continued scrolling.

Now I've heard that song a million times.
But not since I've had a "sweet child of mine"...

What was happening?
What the --
Why the lump in the throat?!
Am I crying?!
To Guns N' Roses?!

Yep, sure was...

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky

Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry

Whoa, oh, oh, sweet child of mine
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine

She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain

Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place

Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by

Whoa, oh, oh, sweet child of mine
Whoa, oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine

Where do we go?

Where do we go now?
(Sweet child)
Ooh, where do we go now?

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, sweet child o' mine

Ooh, sweet love of mine

________________

Note:
Axl wrote this song about his girlfriend (not about a child), which makes sense when you watch the video.
I, on the other-hand, find the lyrics extremely emotional and beautiful through the eyes of a mother.
Apparently. :)

Home for the Holidays: The Day After Christmas

Since we spent Christmas day at Zubie's house, we made our way over to Grammy and Pop Pop's the next day to celebrate with grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins.

I always laugh at the difference in family dynamics between Daniel's side of the family and mine.
The Riherd side is very calm and collected.
As for my side? It's pretty much mass chaos when we're all together.

I think one of the main reasons for this difference is that Daniel's side of the family is so spread out across the US. It is a rare occasion for everyone to be together. On my side, everyone lives in close proximity (except for us, of course); therefore, it's easy to draw a big crowd. So, by default: more people = more madness.

We started out the day with just my parents and sister/bro-in-law, so things were pretty calm at the beginning.

Opening gifts in a reasonable fashion.

Sampling some homemade goodies.

Enjoying some laughter and overall holiday cheer.

Capitalizing on some family photo opps.

Then more family members started to trickle in...

When all of a sudden...
Out of nowhere...
What's that?!

The noise level seemed to rise...
Did someone break into the spiked eggnog?

Oh no!
There's a photo-bomber on the loose!

Before you knew it, nerf-guns started surfacing,
and the living room turned into a WAR-ZONE.
It was every man for himself!

And instead of gathering together to sing Christmas carols,
some of us decided to jam out instead.

All in all, I'd say we had a rockin' Christmas on both sides of the family!

You know what they say about payback...

You know how I've commented on (read: complained about) our neighbors and their noise? Well, as we're packing this place up, rooms are starting to get the "echo" effect. Combine that with Aubrey and her new found love of Mariah Carey, and I think our neighbors are getting a tiny taste of what we've had to endure sharing a wall with them.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one to "repay evil for evil." Besides, Aubrey's just testing out her vocals. I have a feeling, however, that our neighbors don't find her "singing" as cute and adorable as we do.

Music to my ears

I love Christian music. Well, let me refine that statement...I love some Christian music. Sometimes nothing can grate on my nerves more than a cheesy, Sunday School, lame-o, Christian song. You all know what I'm talking about...

Honestly, most Christian music embarrasses me. It's like the artist has a list of words/phrases they feel like they have to use in each song: Jesus, Thank You, Love, Heaven, and Father to just name a handful. These are all good words, don't get me wrong. And to their defense, I guess if they didn't use those words the songs wouldn't really be classified as "Christian" would they?

I'm digressing...instead of complaining, my goal is to actually highlight some CDs that I have been enjoying lately...

Sing Over Me:
Worship Songs & Lullabies

My sister (who is the best, by the way) sent a little package with a CD inside that has, within the first two songs, become my fav.
It's so chill and mellow, yet can really get your heart in a good place. I listened to it while Aubrey was napping, and it left me feeling totally refreshed.

Plumb: Blink

This CD was one I bought when I was pregnant with Aubrey. I read that it was an album full of songs about having a new baby, so I figured it would "speak to me" during this season of my life. And, oh my, does it!
Apparently this is a much different genre for the group. If you notice by the cover of the album, I think they are normally a little more "edgy" -- if Christian music can ever be labeled that.

The Praise Baby Collection

Now, one for the kiddos! Daniel and I bought this 4 CD collection for Aubrey at Christmas, and I think we enjoy it more than she does! It's got all the good "classic" songs on there.
Now, let me prepare you, there are portions where children sing parts of some songs. Normally nothing drives me crazier than kids singing in songs. Please don't get this confused with the Sundays at church when the "Kinder Kids" sing...I could watch/listen all day long. I mean what's better than hearing sweet, off-key little voices singing songs with hand gestures, not at all in sync? Not to mention getting to watch one kid inevitably pick his nose, one just staring into the crowd like a deer in headlights, another child waving incessantly at their parents, and the little girl too busy twirling her dress. That's just good stuff. Anyway...what I'm talking about is the other kind of kid singers. The ones that sound like their parents are already trying to milk them as professional singers. It's sorta up there with the Toddlers & Tiaras for me. Anyway, the little ones singing on these CDs are actually pleasant and not at all annoyingly obnoxious. Wow, that sounded harsh, didn't it!?

Third Day / Mac Powell

And lastly, one for the "grown-ups." I wholeheartedly love Third Day. And maybe more Mac Powell, their lead singer. Think Eddie Vedder in Pearl Jam. If Christian music isn't your thing, try some Mac. It spares you the cheese.

Also, for the holidays this year, you should check out their Christmas album...it's fantastic!

I put some Third Day and Plumb goodies over on the playlist, so feel free to have a listen!