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I’m thankful.

Published by Aubrey

I have so much to be thankful for. And with Thanksgiving just passing I didn’t want this opportune time to pass to say “thanks, God”.

My God. His love, grace, mercy and forgiveness.

My husband. His unconditional love for me, his love for our kids and the way he makes me laugh.

My son. His smile, his heart for others, his passion, sense of humor.

My Kaia. Her silly, snuggly self.

My Theia. Her concern for everything, her love for me.

My parents. Their love and commitment to me and my family.

My in-laws. Their support in everything we do.

My job with college students that also allows me to be home with our kids. To reach others for Jesus.

My running shoes. My lattes in the morning made by my husband.

My kitchen aid mixer. I love the green:)

Our home. Our neighbors who love and help us like family. Friends who make me smile.

Mason’s inquisitive mind. He loves to learn.

Mexican food. Vanilla ice cream. Cheese. Pizza. My laptop. A husband that answers all my techy questions.

Two little girls who are constantly making me smile.

The way God created me to be fun-loving, loyal, a little quirky, young at heart, athletic and creative.

There’s so much more but for now…

BIG and small, I’m thankful for a lot.

Thanksgiving morning traditions…Isler/McBurney/Barela style

Published by Aubrey


I’m a girl who is loyal, all about family and loves traditions. There are certain times of the year when I do certain things that I’ve been taught, that have been passed down through the years and that are special to me. There are things that my mom did when she was little or my dad did when he was little. They shared these things with me and my brother and they are some of my best memories growing up. Now I get to share these things with our kids and we are creating our own memories and traditions.

One of these special traditions that my mom passed on to me is a Thanksgiving morning tradition. It’s nothing big or fancy but simple and fun. We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and enjoy egg nog, tangerines and cinnamon rolls. I’m not sure how this came about or the significance of the items (if there is any even) But I can picture my mom as a little girl with her brothers, my uncles watching the parade with a tangerine stuck on her finger, sipping egg nog. I can remember dancing in front of the TV along with the bands as a little girl and eating cinnamon rolls. And now tomorrow I will get to watch my kiddos do the same! It’s a great way to start the day with my family, the ones I’m most thankful for!

just the facts

Published by Aubrey

My mind is focused on many things these days other than blogging. Hence the delay in the posts. Here is what I’m thinking about…in bullet format:)

  • Brian returned from his 3rd and final trip last night. This last trip was 8 days. At times it went slow but overall it went fast and I would say I just didn’t survive but thrived! So thankful to have my partner in crime back by my side.
  • I’ve been busy making a variety of Christmas gifts and ordering others. We will be heading back to Ohio for the holidays in a few short weeks and will be there till mid January. I’m trying to do a little preparation each day so when departure date comes upon us I won’t be a crazy woman. Good chance it’ll still happen but the chances are slimmer.
  • We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with our fellow preschool families tonight. It was great food with great people. Made me realize how thankful I am for our choice in preschool for Mason.
  • For the day of Thanksgiving we are celebrating with friends. We are thankful to share this special day with others.
  • I’m reading Colossians and loving it! I just keep reading it over and over and continue to pick something new out each day.
  • I’m still in love with the season of Fall. The colors are still bright, bold and plentiful here and I’m soaking it in. I know when we arrive in the Buckeye state it will be “not so colorful”. But hopefully we will have lots of snow to snowmobile in! I can’t to take the kids:)
  • I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of an early birthday gift, a kitchen aid mixer. Color: green apple. I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Thanks to both mine and Bri’s parents I will be making some amazing deliciousness in the kitchen soon.
  • Trying to decide where I want to take the fam out for my bday dinner. Decisions. Decisions.

It’s all good.

Published by Aubrey

I stood in church this past Sunday wondering how I was going to make it. I was facing another 7 days on my own. It was only day 1 and I didn’t know what we were going to do the rest of the day let alone the rest of the week. I was already tired, worn down and overwhelmed. Not a great way to start a week of flying with out my partner. Thankfully on Sunday worship was one of the best sets I can remember. Several of my favorites including Mighty to Save. During this song it hit me that the same God who is the Author of Salvation, the Forgiver of all sins, the Conqueror of the grave, the One who can move the mountains and who is mighty to save us all will be with me this week. He’ll be the one to get me up before the kids and who I”ll spend time with in the morning in the quiet of the house, who I’ll give my day to. He’ll be the one who will give me patience, strength and wisdom. He’ll be with me in the tantrums, the times of discipline, when I play kitchen and babies and when I play dinosaurs and superheroes. Thinking through this gave me peace. I felt a sense of security and confidence in the Lord I didn’t have when I walked in the door. I embraced it. I’ve been holding on to it tightly. I know it won’t be easy and it won’t be perfect but I’ll make it because I won’t be alone. I’m so thankful for Him It’ll all be good.

5 on Friday

Published by Aubrey
  1. photo.jpgYesterday Brian planned a date with Mason, Mommy and Daddy. Mason could not believe “the girls” were not coming! It was just him and Mommy and Daddy. He loved having us all to himself. And truth be told we loved spending quality, two on one time with him. Our afternoon date included a much needed haircut to fix my mullet of a mistake. Oops! A walk to the outdoor store to look at the snowshoes. Per request of the little mister. An early pizza dinner and some candy. We topped it off with seeing the movie “Where the Wild Things Are”. We had a great time and soaked up every minute, giving Mason lots of love and attention.

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  2. This week the girls packed their bags and baby strollers and gave us all goodbyes and big kisses. “Where are you going?” we asked. “Canada.” was the simple, matter of fact answer we got. Okay then. Quite the imaginations we have over here. It keeps me laughing.

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  3. In school we learned the letter “I” and talked about fire safety. We learned stop, drop and roll and practiced crawling through a smoky room. The kids loved it! We also took a trip to a local fire station. All 3 kids were very brave and sat up in the fire engine seat, “steering” the truck. Mason was full of questions and asked every single one of them. I love that he jumps right into wherever we are and is all about it. He seems to have such passion about everything! It can be quite contagious:)
  4. I am back to running again. I enjoyed the break I gave myself but when the itch returned to get on the road again I was right back out there. It’s nice to go out and just run. Not think about pace, time or distance. Just run. And it’s nice if I don’t want to get up and run I don’t have to. I think my quick recovery says a lot about how well my training experience went. Sure it was hard and tiring but it didn’t do me in completely. So much so that I missed it fairly quickly. I am thankful for this. Running is my outlet. I need it.
  5. Brian is leaving for the Big Apple this weekend for the Web 2.0 Expo. It’s a huge conference all about social media everything. He is super excited for the awesome opportunity. I gave him one instruction while he was NYC- get my birthday present. It’s just around the corner and yes I do want a birthday present from NYC! He will conclude his week of traveling in Orange County at our Regional Conference. He’ll be home just in time to start a week off for Thanksgiving break. Yeah! Already looking to this week of quality family time and doing not much anything.

Have a great weekend friends!

Our Girls

Published by Aubrey

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I’ve been wanting to do this since the girls 2nd birthday. So without further delay…

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Theia

younger

the queen bee

strong willed

loves books , her night- night and her baby

Mason’s sidekick

cries every time I leave her somewhere but calms down quickly

very smart

observant

a wild woman when she sleeps- arms, legs and blankets everywhere

size 7 shoe

picky about certain things

looks out for her “sissy”

favorite book “Hungry Catepillar”

challenging in one moment

melts my heart in the next

funny

cautious

reminds us a lot of Mason

favorite color is purple

starting to learn ABC’S

strong


kaiastroller09

Kaia

older but still “the baby”

silly

her own person

petite

loves grapes and mac-n-cheese

can take lids off & on things for hours

snuggler

extrovert

brave

inquisitive

loves her night-night

starting to learn ABC’s

size 6 shoe

very particular about her sleeping habits, stays all cuddled up in her blankets

loves to do the shape box

loves animals

sensitive

loves girlie things

opinionated

enjoys playing kitchen

plays pretend

kind

favorite color is yellow





5 on Friday

Published by Aubrey

1. Today we are going to either the zoo or the train museum in Sacramento, depending on the weather. Just waiting to see what happens. Either way I’m looking forward to an outing with the kids, even the 1 1/2 hour road trip. I like adventures with the kids. We are meeting up with my friend Kyra and her 2 yr. old triplets. Guaranteed we will have some fun stories and some great pics!

2. Yesterday I took to the kids to the local “big” park in town. We walked across the bridge and watched the waterfall, we threw rocks, collected leaves and acorns, watched squirrels woodpeckers, we ran and walked, held hands, jumped in the water (Miss Kaia), we talked, asked questions and answered them, we planned an art project with our treasures, we laughed, got dirty. We savored the Fall day. And then we went home.

3. I’ve been learning relearning some new things about walking in Holy Spirit. How it’s a moment by moment surrender of my will, how confession is a must and how it’s hard at times, a lot times, to do but what I’m called to do. It’s obedience. I like what I’m learning.

4. The husband and Daddy of the house has been gone again this week. But we are having a good week. For this I’m thankful! But I will be ready with open arms on Sunday to welcome our King home.

5. Last night we had the best dinner! French toast, turkey sausage patties and fruit salad. I used a recipe from Deceptively Delicious for the french toast. There was butternut squash in the batter and it was very good. I’ve been getting pretty sneaky with veggies and I’m having much success:)

Freedom!

Published by Aubrey


This is what I see in Mason’s face as he rides his bike. FREEDOM!!!
On Saturday, Mason learned to ride his bike without training wheels and pretty much hasn’t stopped since. He loves riding his bike. Circles, and circles and circles he does. Up and down our street. And I love watching him. I loved to see the grin from ear to ear that never leaves as he rides. His independence as he tells me “Mom, I got it. I got it, take your hand off.”  His bravery as he masters the curbs and ringing his bell while riding. I love the chance to watch the pride that swells in his heart as he tells all the passerbys “I can ride my bike all by myself!” I love the opportunity to encourage him when he crashes into a bush or parked car (oops) to get back on and try again. What I love most is the look on his face of freedom. Even though he is only 3 houses down and I’m sitting on the curb watching his every move, he is being a big boy and doing his own thing. It makes me smile. I love raising my boy.