Audrey Ann is THREE!!!

Yesterday Audrey celebrated her third birthday!  It was a quiet, but fun day for Audrey.  For breakfast she enjoyed chocolate milk and chocolate chip pancakes, which was a very special treat!  For lunch, she had requested chips and salsa, so we went out for Mexican food.  As usual, she gorged herself on the chips and salsa and didn't have as much room for her actual food.  It happens to the best of us!  Audrey didn't open any gifts, as we are waiting for her birthday party on Sunday.  She did get to assist in the kitchen to make a birthday cake for her daycare friends.  It was a rainbow cake, so we had fun using food coloring to make different colors of batter.  She also loved being in charge of those sprinkles. :)

Our Audrey is a bright, energetic, creative, and loving little girl.  She daily brings us laughter and joy, and we love watching the world through her eyes.  At times throughout the past year we have seen typical toddler tantrums and meltdowns, but within minutes, we also see a sweet, tenderhearted amazing little girl.  She has grown so much in her knowledge and seems to soak up each experience with excitement.  In honor of Audrey's third birthday, she participated in an interview.  I will let her explain all about Audrey at 3 years old.

WE LOVE YOU, AUDREY!!

Favorite Food: Chips and salsa
Foods I Don’t Like: Chicken
Favorite Thing to Learn: Doing turkeys at Dana’s
Favorite Color: Pink and blue
Best Friend: Kayla
Favorite Game to Play: UNO and Old Maid
Favorite Books to Read: Clifford books
Favorite TV Show: Daniel Tiger
Favorite Holiday: Snow Day
Things I Do Well: Cooking
Favorite Place to Go: To Wal-Mart and Fareway—Fareway has the little carts
Favorite Thing to Do With Family:  Play hide and seek
Favorite Thing about House:  Playing cards
Favorite Thing to do Outside: Play in snow
Favorite Chore: Cook
Least Favorite Chore:  Washing my hair
Favorite Song:  All About That Bass AND Peanut Butter Jelly Time
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a: Bear
Place I Want to Visit:  My daycare
Favorite Part of Each Day:  Going to Dana’s
Favorite Drink:  Lemonade
Favorite Sport or Activity to Play:  Old Maid
Something New I Want to Learn How to Do:  Play Baseball
Best Part of Your Family:  Audrey and Kate….Mom and Dad…I love you, Mom and Dad

Happy 11 Months, Kate!

Our sweet girl is almost one!   Kate is becoming more like a toddler and less a baby each day.  Her biggest accomplishment this month was making it the entire month without an ear infection.  Go, Kate!  She has had a runny nose almost the entire month, but so far, it has stayed out of her ears.   The runny nose coincided with three more teeth arriving--one up top and two down below.

Kate is a happy, loud, busy, loving little girl.  She continues to love food and demands her food loudly at mealtimes.  She sometimes gets so excited that she puts too much in her mouth at one time!  She does great with cups for drinking, so some bottles have been packed away.

For awhile this month, she was giving awesome hugs.  She'd wrap her arms around your shoulders and either pat or hold tightly.  She even leans in now to give kisses, so she is turning into one affectionate lady.

We've seen much more interest in play this month.  She holds phones up to her ear to "talk", stacks toys, and loves looking at books.  She and Audrey continue to want the exact toys at the same time, so we can see what is in store for us for many years to come!

Kate, we love you!  Only a couple more weeks, and you'll get your first taste of cake!  We're sure you'll like sweets as much as that older sister of yours.

Here's Audrey!

First Snow

Audrey was very excited to see that this first snow covered the whole ground!  When we got home this afternoon from a weekend away, she was immediately ready to run outside.  When I peeked out at her later, I noticed she wasn't playing alone in the snow.  This is what I saw:

What a goof!

Cold Weather

The abrupt switch to cold weather this week has made us all feel like this...

However, there is something absolutely adorable about seeing little girls wearing their winter hats.

Pumpkin Carving

Our Halloween season would not have been complete without a pumpkin carving experience with Dad!  Luckily, Jeremy did not make either girl wear a garbage sack, which made the experience more fun.  After carving a pumpkin earlier in the week at daycare, both girls were already professionals.  Kate especially loved the feeling of the gooey insides on her fingers, and Audrey enjoyed showing  Kate how to scoop with a spoon.  In the end, we ended up with a beautifully carved pumpkin with Daniel Tiger on the outside and two girls who had a blast with their dad.

With her two front teeth, Kate looks like a bunny in this picture! 

Everyone is listening to Kate's really good idea how to carve this pumpkin!

Here's the finished product!

Happy Halloween!

What a wonderful Halloween we had in our household!  Audrey understood everything this year and was so excited for trick-or-treating, candy, and her party at daycare.  It was such a fun experience to have that kind of excitement here.  The weather was a little chilly for trick-or-treating, but once Audrey was too cold to go on, she was just as excited to pass out candy to the visitors at our door.  Now that the holiday is over, we are living in the aftermath of daily candy counting, carrying her bucket around, and battles over how many pieces to eat.  Audrey asked me in bed Friday night, "What is the next holiday to come?" :)  She was very pleased when she was told it's her birthday!

Here are some pics of our fun night!

Our butterfly and bumblebee

Audrey is ready to go and waiting to see when other kids are out.

It was a busy job arranging those pumpkins and gourds outside.

Audrey's first stop was at our house.  It was good practice for what to say at each house!

After trick-or-treating, Audrey manned the door and watched intently for more kids to come.

Happy Halloween!