Ahhh, A Break...

Let me paint a beautiful picture for you: Jake is sprawled out in his sweats reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by the fire, Mackenzie is sitting... pantless since we're potty training... in her little rocker reading books from the pile next to her, Aubrey is sound asleep, my kitchen is clean, dinner is ready in the crockpot... yes, all is perfect in my world right now! I'm so excited that for the next four days Jake doesn't have to go to work! He can stay home and relax and enjoy the home and the people that he works so hard to provide for! The past few mornings the first words out of Mackenzie's mouth have been, "Daddy work hard? He come home and play with me soon?" I'm so glad she'll have her favorite buddy (and mine too!) for the next four days to play with her!

Last night Aubrey started to crawl as soon as Jake came in the door! He held her baby out in front of her and she crawled a good 10 paces before falling to her belly and reaching for it as far as she could!

Today we had Hannah, Ella, and Alaythia over for the afternoon. Jen and I did a kid swap and I definitely got the better end of the deal! The toddlers slept the whole time, Alaythia slept for most of it, and Hannah and Aubrey kept me company all afternoon. Aubrey must have played happily on the floor by herself for well over an hour while Hannah and I baked the afternoon away! I taught Hannah how to crack an egg and by the time we were finished with all of our baking, she had cracked a total of 16 eggs! Not bad for a six-year-old! She also peeled and chopped five apples and did tons of mixing for me! I love my little ones, but I'm excited about when they get older too... it was fun having real help in the kitchen!

Alaythia and Aubrey got to play together for a little while this afternoon. Alaythia was a little worried about where her next meal was going to come from though... she kept looking for her mommy... it was really cute!

This was Aubrey trying to comfort her...

I really do hope they grow up to be great friends!

Here are the "big" girls... we had to wake Mackenzie and Ella up from their naps because Jen was coming. They didn't even get playtime together at our house, but it was ok because they had played together all morning at Jen's while I went shopping without them (oh my gosh, it was so much fun to breeze through the aisles, pop in and out of stores, hold a coffee with one hand and still have a free hand for shopping, etc... I say kid exchanges once a week!) In this picture Mackenzie was busy showing Hannah the "Christmas house" across the street. They put up their lights last weekend and Mackenzie loves to stare at it and talk about Christmas! I can't wait to get our lights up!!