G-Grandpa's 75th birthday!

New this week: When asked, "what does the cow say?" Aurelia answers, "moo"! It is so cute! Also new this week...waffles! Ari has decided that she loves waffles, so in the morning, she, Mommy, and Frida all have waffles!

Monday, was the aftermath of our Texas trip...She was so excited to be able to relax and play with her toys and watch her Sesame Street!
Ari Vail is on the go...ALL the time...our daily pictures are getting harder and harder!
On Tuesday, Yaya came up to the Cities to do some shopping and then stayed over for a fun night with us!
We had quite a bit of snow on Wednesday and there was no way we were going to be going anywhere (except work :-( ha ha!), so we had a PJ day!
She really enjoys her breakfast! Especially when it's blueberry waffles!
Friday was a very busy day...we went for our Stroller Strides workout and shopped some with Jaime and Aston, dropped off some items with some friends, and then packed for our weekend in Harmony! Here she is watching Mommy running around, trying to get everything organized and ready to go! On the way to Harmony, we stopped in Preston and visited with Yaya and Papa!
We spent Saturday, baking cookies and getting ready for Sunday. Saturday night, we went to Decorah to celebrate G-Grandpa Cremer's 75th birthday! It was a really nice dinner with great company!
On Sunday, we spent the morning at GG's for our Annual Cookie Bake! It was so much fun! We even got to meet our newest cousin, Dreigh...What a happy little cutie!
It was a great weekend!

Texas...Wuela Julia's 90th!

New This Week: Aurelia is loving noodles, especially with cheese! Making the "ba-ba" sound with her hand and mouth is also pretty new. And her NEW favorite thing is to tell us "no, no" by shaking her head (very similar to her dance move!).

We started out our week with a good workout at Stroller Strides, followed by finishing up our Christmas shopping...it was a bit much for Miss Ari...
Here is Aurelia eating her cheesy noodles...
On Wednesday, we were very busy packing for our trip to see Wuela Julia for her 90th birthday celebration! Here is Ari checking out her suitcase, making sure everything she needs is packed...
while she watched Sesame Street...
We left for Texas, bright and early on Thursday morning...this was Aurelia's 2nd plane ride and 3rd time to Texas. She was an old pro! Here she is looking at her Auntie D on the flight...
And keeping herself entertained with all her toys... We got to Harlingen around 11 and had a great lunch at the Country Club with Grandma Bena, Tia Lena, Tia Fina, and some of our cousins! Then we picked up the Renya girls at the airport and made our way back to Wuela Julia's, so that Aurelia could meet her Great Grandmother! At first, she wasn't quite sure what to do, but I think she knew that Wuela was important...she let her hold her and even leaned in slowly to give her a nice little kiss. It was really sweet! Then Wuela gave her a little Dora blanket that she had made and Ari LOVED it! She just kept patting it and pointing at the little cartoons on it.
We were fortunate to be able to stay with our cousins, Leo and Kathy, the ammenities were wonderful! We all had our own room/bathroom and great food!!!
On Friday, we spent the day with Wuelo, Grandma Texas, and Tio Cheech. We went over to G-Grandma Stephanie's and had some playtime over there. We gave Grandma Texas her chocolates that Ari had picked out for her birthday. In the afternoon we visited more family and Aurelia got to meet some more cousins that all she wanted to do was squeeze their cheeks and kiss them! It was really cute!
Auntie D and Tio Ramon arrived in the Valley on Saturday morning, in time for Wuela's party to start. Grandma Bena, Nuno, and Jesse really did a wonderful job getting the party organized! Everything looked beautiful and tasted wonderful! It was soooo much fun to see most of the family; which was around the 100 mark! We got to see family that most of us hadn't seen in over 10 years! Along with Wuela turning 90, it was also our cousin Lori's (from Cali) 27th birthday! Tio Ramon and Auntie D announced that they were going to have a baby. AND Vanessa announced that she and Demarcus were engaged! So it was a wonderful day to celebrate!!!
Unfortunately, Sunday we had to jet out bright and early. We were fortunate to see Wuelo, Tio Ramon and Auntie D before we left...all in all, it was a fantastic trip, short, but fantastic!!

10 Months...and 1st Thanksgiving!!!

New This Week: Aurelia is now giving (open-mouthed!) kisses and high 5's!

10 months old! Aurelia Vail is in the double digit months! Here she is, waking up from her nap... And watching some Curious George with Mommy, had a nice relaxing first day of her 10th month...
Tuesday, we spent playing...here she is playing with Frida...
And so that her buddies didn't feel sad, she played with Kitty and Piggy too!
Ari had her very first Thankgiving! We spent the day at G-Uncle Tony & G-Aunt Deb's, they had a very nice spread of yummy food and great company with the Wands and the Wuebkers! Afterwards, we drove to Preston and stayed there with Yaya and Papa. We spent the day in Harmony on Friday celebrated Thanksgiving with Grandma Bena and Grandpa Steve. We even got to see Uncle JonJon, who we haven't seen in a couple of months! We ended up driving back to the Cities on Saturday after a nice meal in Preston. It was a nice couple of days and fun to spend time with everyone!
On Sunday, Daddy put up the outside decorations and Mommy put up the inside decorations...including the tree! And then it was time to watch the Vikings with her Daddy...


Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We are truly thankful for our family and feel so blessed to have all that we do!

November Continued...

New This Week: Aurelia now makes fish-lips...on command! Daddy will say "Fish-lips" and she puckers right up! It is so cute!

Monday was Grandma Bena's birthday, so we had a nice lunch in Rochester with her. After lunch, we stopped and visited Auntie Chelsea and got to see Yaya and Papa too! So we had a great day in Rochester! Here is Ari after our little day-trip, enjoying her time out of the carseat!
Tuesday, we did our usual play-thing...Frida must have rubbed her the wrong way...she was just "chewing" her out...Frida = streak at bottom of screen
Wednesday was a PJ day...Mommy was just too busy getting ready for our time in Harmony! But for some reason, I don't think Ari minded!
Thursday, we got packed up and left for Harmony....the day just flew by and we forgot to take a picture!
We spent Friday at Grandma Bena's, with a quick lunch visit with Yaya! Tia Bria joined us after lunch, so we had a great afternoon with the Girls! The day flew and we squeezed in a picture while she took her afternoon nap... GG, Great Grandpa, and the rest of the Cremer gang came over for a nice dinner that night. It was sooooo much fun to watch Aurelia and Chase play together! She just wanted to hug and kiss him, but Chase wanted her to just come after him! It was really great to see them interact! Chase would get the toys out of the toy closet and Ari would go through them...It'll be so much fun at Christmas!!
Mommy had her Pampered Chef booth at the Holiday Festival on Saturday morning, so Aurelia spent the morning with Grandma Bena and Tia Bria...they did some shopping around town and had a fun day! By the time we headed back to the Cities, Ari was so tired, she was crawling into her carseat so that she could go to sleep!
Daddy let Mommy sleep in on Sunday, so he and Ari Vail spent the morning getting ready for a day full of football!

November...

New this week: Aurelia is now saying "baby"! She will look at a baby and say it proudly! Along with Mama, Dada, Baba, she also is saying something that sounds like Gama! We were shopping with Grandma Bena and Tia Bria and she looked at Grandma and pointed and said "Gama"! And then the next morning she said it over and over! We caught it on video! Too cute! Her little photo albums are a hoot...she looks at all the family members and points out the baby (aka, her!)...but I guess saying the family member's titles/names must be paying off, I guess she IS listening/learning!

Monday was a busy day, playing!
Tuesday, Ari decided that she wanted to play in her shoes (thanks, Tio Ramon and Auntie D!!), and chose her fire-fighter boots! And she actually kept them on her feet!!! Okay, so at least one stayed on!
I had to take a picture of her multi-tasking...playing and watching her Sesame Street... I just thought this was too cute...playing so hard and standing alone...
Wednesday...just rolled around...
Thursday, we had a Girl's day with Tia Bria and Grandma Bena...we started the day with some wedding shopping, with a little mall time in the middle...along with some cake-tasting! We had such a full, fun day, that we forgot to take the picture of the day!
She got a couple of treats at the mall on Thursday, that she spent the day on Friday making the intro's to the rest of the gang...Kitty, meet Thanksgiving Puppy...ha ha!

Saturday, Ari spent the day with her Daddy, since Mommy had a Pampered Chef thing at the Convention Center, followed by a fun family night together!
It was a typical relaxing Sunday, Daddy watched football, and Mommy and Ari played...it was a perfect day!

Miss Ari Vail's first illness...

We spent Monday at home, relaxing and playing in our comfy pumpkin outfit! Happy Birthday, Yaya!
Here is Aurelia (and Frida!) trying to figure a way through this gate thing at the bottom of the stairs! Little goofball(s)!
Wednesday was another comfy day...we finally put pictures in her "baby" albums and she LOVES to look at them and point to the family members!

Daddy wasn't feeling so hot on Wednesday and Thursday, so Ari and I tried to give him his space and tried not to share his germs. Thursday, was Mommy's day off, so we did some more relaxing and playing around the house...Here is Ari relaxing in her chair...having her snack!
Thursday night, Daddy ended up in the ER with a very high temp...and by Friday morning Mommy wasn't feeling so well either and had a high temp too! Never the less, Aurelia got our flu and was sick too! As the new parents we are...we tried not to panic, but we did call the nurse line due to her high temp and got some Tamaflu for her. She took it like a champ and by Sunday morning she was feeling fine again. She never really seemed sick, just a high temp and sleepier than normal...not to mention she was very cuddly, which is not normal for her right now! ha ha! Here she is, rocking her flu, like no biggie! Still our happy baby...

1st Halloween!!!

New This Week: Aurelia Vail can climb the stairs!!! She did it all by herself (with Zac behind her of course)! So new in our house is a gate at the bottom of the stairs!
We started our week out by having Aurelia's 9 month check up. Ari now weighs 17.2 pounds (in the 20th percentile) and is 26 3/4 inches long (23rd percentile). She is in the 60th percentile for her head size...which, Daddy is convinced that it's a "Wand" thing, but I'm going with what is inside her little noggin that is making it big! Along with getting current with her size, she also recieved her flu shot. Again, she took it like a champ! Here she is after her appointment...(oh and Frida says hi!)
Her new thing is eating "on her own". She gets soooo excited when she gets to eat her food off her tray, so we try to mix it up...this is Ari Vail, enjoying her scrambled egg yolk, sweet potato puffs, veggie sticks, and shredded cheese...
Wednesday, we spent doing a lot of playing...she has decided that she likes to climb on things and the laundry basket is her number one choice...
Thursday was the start of a series of days off for Mommy, so we celebrated by doing some shopping...Aurelia is a great little shopper!!! Of course her favorite store is Babies R Us...and looking at all the toys!
Friday, we got ready for our first Halloween...a little practice in her Little Nemo costume did us good! Also, on Friday, Mommy and Daddy celebrated the spooky holiday by going on a Ghost, Caves, and Graves bus tour, while Grandma Bena filled in for Tia Bria, watching Miss Ari Vail. We all had a very fun night!
On Saturday, we decided to hit the mall instead of braving the weather outside for some candy that only Mommy and Daddy would enjoy! Ari loved listening and watching the kids at the Radio Disney area at Rosedale and then we did the walk around for treats! I think her balance was a little off at first... Pretty sure she was just showing off her costume... After a while, the fin went "bye-bye" and I do think she was happy with that decision! We think she kind of started to understand the concept of holding out the bag and getting something... A few times she'd check out the bag to see what we got... Almost looks like she was counting the candy! After a while, she was drained and looked like she had had enough! When we got home, she was wide awake and excited to see what she had gotten... Chunky little hand, going through her stash!! Overall it was a very fun 1st Halloween!
We were so excited to see our friends Jake and Melissa and thier new adorable addition, Summer! It was so much fun to get to visit with them and watch the tail end of the Vikings beat the Packers!