Christmas

Audrey crafted her own letter to Santa this year, though she changed her mind on Christmas Eve as to what she wanted...that doesn't really work for Santa. But, she had been wanting a bell like the little boy on The Polar Express receives, and Santa was able to find one for her and one for Ian, much to the kids' excitement. We are very blessed to have Audrey help bring us some magic for now six Christmas holidays.

Turning 5

Sigh.

It's happened. Another year has flown by.

We started the day with Audrey being showered with love. And the first snow of the year (yes, the year). We had each chosen something special for her as a gift (even Ian). We headed out for breakfast, and Audrey gobbled down her breakfast of choice - oatmeal with brown sugar. Apparently 5 year olds have quite the appetite. We then headed to the Children's Museum and almost had the place to ourselves. Apparently 5 year olds are also big enough to go down the Ginormous Yule Slide by themselves, too. And to beat their daddy and brother in a race down the slide. We headed to school for her class Christmas party and then to Red Robin for dinner.

A special day for a special little girl. We can't wait to see what Year Five has in store for us.

Polar Express!

Though initially scared, Audrey eventually fell head over heels in love with the movie, The Polar Express. Last year, I lost out on scoring train tickets for this awesome ride from Fishers to The North Pole (aka Noblesville), but I had learned my lesson and was one of the first to buy tickets for this season. We kept it a surprise from the kids until last night, and they were, of course, over the moon. The train ride was awesome and included Santa and the Mrs., hot chocolate, cookies, and lots of carols. My favorite part? When we started our return train ride, Audrey asked, "Are we back in Indiana, yet?"

Sign us up for next year, too!

Halloween

Well, hello Gretel! Everyone thought she looked so cute! 

Lead role!

Audrey had the lead role in the play, "The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat". I'm shocked that she seemed to like taking center stage. :)

Our respective jobs

Audrey's job is to feed Isabella. Since Ian really wanted a job, too, his job is to open the door for Isabella to go outside. Audrey realized yesterday that she hadn't gotten her allowance yet, which meant we were a day late (probably will never let us forget that one). Eric had traditionally been the one giving her allowance since he's also working on helping her learn to count money.

Audrey: "Hey, can I get paid?"

Me: "Yes, but you can wait until daddy gets home since that's his job."

Audrey: "Well, my job is feeding Isabella. And Ian's job is to open the door for her. And daddy's job is to pay me. What's your job, mommy?"

Me: "I don't have a job. Just the way I like it."

Audrey: "No, mommy. I know what your job is. Your job is to tell everyone what their job is!"

Yes, she's got it! And she also announced to Eric when he got home from work: "Your job is to give me money!"

First day of kindergarten

Nothing like starting kindergarten in October...

Pumpkin patch

In pictures. A few of my favorites:

We each picked one gorgeous mum

Waiting, patiently

Our ride is here!

Enjoying the ride to the pumpkin patch

Look at these awesome pumpkins we scored!

Three of my favorite people

Kindergarten...here we come?!

Eric and I had a parent-teacher conference today with Audrey's pre-k teacher. With no concerns with her academic development, I had one question in mind: how does she do with the other kids? Well, before I could ask my question, Audrey's teacher told us about how top notch she is in her current classroom, and how bad she feels that Audrey already knows the curriculum, and of course is the only one in the pre-k room who does not nap.  So, Ms. S asked if we had thought about moving Audrey to the jr. kindergarten/kindergarten class. Well, noooo. But, we thought about it. How she is reading and wanting to do addition and subtraction whenever there is downtime. And mostly how her main group of friends had moved on to the kindergarten room back in August. And we decided it was a good idea for Audrey. As sad as that made me. Especially since it meant she would be at school 5 days/week. No more Mondays at home with her. :(

Oh, and I did ask my question. Clarifying that I was wondering if Audrey is too bossy with the other kids. And I added that she could be honest with us...Ms. S's response? "Audrey has great leadership skills!" Ahh, just as we suspected! :)

Reading

Audrey is reading! Really reading! She had been recognizing sight words for the past year, but we had admittedly become lax at helping to foster her reading development. Dr. M recommended the Bob book series since she knew Audrey's phonological skills were strong. Audrey loves these little books! They don't necessarily have the best storyline; however, they do a good job of helping to recognize high frequency sight words.  Audrey had also started reading some Dr. Seuss books such as 'Go Dog Go'.  Eric said she also read the Jack In The Box sign. Definitely reading the important stuff! :)

I knew it would happen, but it doesn't mean I didn't tear up over it! Audrey lost her first tooth yesterday. She had fallen in the kitchen about 6 months ago and had knocked her top two and bottom two front teeth loose. All had tightened back up except for one of her bottom teeth, and after the dentist took x-rays, she said that she was probably going to loose a tooth soon. Audrey had been closely monitoring it for days. I told Audrey the night before that I had no idea how it was still holding on, so we took a picture and kept our fingers crossed that she would wake up with all her teeth! She did, and successfully made it thru breakfast, but her tooth was no match for the peach she later bit into. She was soooooo excited that the Tooth Fairy would be coming that evening. Turns out that the evening takes a reaaaaaaaaallllllllly long time to get here when you want it to come fast! But, evening eventually came, and she tucked her tooth under her pillow and went to sleep like a pro. I was in our room this morning and when Audrey woke up, she came waltzing in with swinging her dollar bill. She was very excited. Especially since the day prior was her pay day. Two dollars in two days. Not bad for a 4 year-old! She's now working on getting her other teeth lose so she can break the bank!

The park. In pictures.

The Zoo

Eric and I switched days this week so the kids and I decided to head to the zoo. We had the most amazing weather and since school had just gotten back into session, we almost had the zoo to ourselves! The funny thing is that we ran into two of my coworkers and their two little ones so we ended up spending the day as a group of 7. Most of the animals spent their morning cleaning themselves but we got a close up view of a tiger, giraffes, and a cheetah was pacing just in front of Ian. When we got to the lions, both were asleep. Audrey announced to the group:

"He must have been up with his kids last night. That's why he's so tired today."

I have no idea where she hears these things...

State Fair

Audrey had a fabulous time at her first State Fair. She enjoyed playing some carnival games, meeting some animals, and riding on a ferris wheel (just like Fern in Charlotte's Web!). Oh, and there was the fair train!

Not sure things went as expected from Eric's perspective. His wife (and the primary dinner cook in the family) walked away from the experience a vegetarian!

Vacation car trip entertainment

Vacation!

We had not been vacation since Audrey was a year and a half old so we headed up to Michigan last week for some fun in the sun.  Despite a hot summer thus far, we had absolutely beautiful weather, though the riptides kept the kids and Eric out of Lake Michigan until the day before we were to head home. The highlight for Audrey was definitely heading to the beach to put her toes in the sand and finally get in that great lake.We also made it to several carousels and great restaurants, including Silver Beach Pizza, where they give the kids pizza dough to entertain them while waiting on the food. I imagine she will be talking about that place for some time. We are very blessed to be able to take trips with the kids to get away, even if it wasn't so far from home.

Grand Marina Resort

On our way to dinner

New Buffalo Beach - Lake Michigan

Windmill Island Gardens - Holland, MI

Carousel at Windmill Island Gardens - Holland, MI

Oinks! - New Buffalo, MI

Superman flavor ice cream - Oinks!

Silver Beach Carousel - St. Joseph, MI

Silver Beach Pizza - St. Joseph, MI

A serious conversation with my daughter

"Mommy, why do you sometimes say, 'Damn it'?

"Oh, honey. I don't say that. When would mommy say that?"

"You know, when daddy puts the dishes away in the cabinets, and they fall back out. You say, 'damn it'.

Leave it to Audrey to provide a specific example.

I was lying in bed with Audrey, talking with her after having read to her and saying her prayers. When it was time to listen to her songs, I started to get up from her bed, with her books still spread out on her bed, when she says:

"Can you put my books away since you don't have anything else to do?"

"Audrey, I always have something to do!'

"Well, you know, sometimes you don't have anything to do."

"When is that again?

"You know, like when you go to work!"

Working on daddy's card

With all the excitement of Ian's birthday weekend, I failed to get a picture of Eric with the kids on Father's Day! So, this picture of them working very diligently on his card will have to suffice. They make a great team!

Lounging

"You have to get a picture of the two of them before they don't do this anymore!"

I heeded Eric's advice and got a snapshot of Audrey and Ian on a typical non-school day, lounging after breakfast to watch the latest Super Why episode. They get along like gangbusters when first waking up! And usually thereafter! :)

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day which included sleeping in, an awesome brunch which included a mimosa and great conversation, and a little quiet time which included shopping. My favorite part of the day was being presented with two flowers picked fresh from the side yard by the two cutest kids. I loved that Audrey's flower was almost dead. Of course I didn't say anything but that I loved it, but she commented, "See, mine's leaning. But he'll be fine with some water." She always makes me smile!

Easter

Audrey of course was all about Easter this year! She loved helping to decorate eggs and showing Ian the ropes. On Easter morning, Eric and I had decided I would hide eggs around when we left for and returned from church; however, Ian was sick so we ended up not going to church. We didn't realize the problem with getting the eggs hidden until we were all awake and getting ready to head downstairs in the morning. I mentioned to Eric that I wasn't sure if the Easter Bunny had a chance to come to our house yet. He off the cuff said that maybe we should give the Easter Bunny a minute because he may want to make us some coffee, and thought maybe I should go downstairs to see the status of things.

To which Audrey replied:

"Well, that bunny better not get up on our counter! Right mommy? I mean, that would be like an April Fools joke!"

We decided to come up with a Plan B and all worked out fine. Audrey was so excited to later discover some hidden eggs. 

I wonder how long we'll be able to stay one step ahead of her??!!