Christmas 2010

As usual, we spent Christmas Eve with the Hoffman side of the family.  Bridget drooled red M&M dye all over her dress before I could get a picture, Audrey doesn't sit still, and then my camera died, so there aren't a ton of photos from Grandma and Papa's!

Bridget mostly just snacked on cookies and candy that Grandma had out, so she was wound up when we got home!  She had slept in Audrey's bed with her the night before, so we thought she may go to sleep better with Audrey again.  At about 9:30ish, I was in the room with them and told Bridget that if she was still up when Santa came by, he would just bypass our house.  Audrey grabbed Bridget around the waist and said "Lay down Bridget!"  When she wouldn't stay down, Audrey said "Please get Bridget out of here!"  She wanted to go to sleep for Santa and didn't want Bridget to ruin everything!

I love this photo of the girls waiting to go see if Santa came:

They had a good time opening gifts.  Bridget made sure to get every piece of tape off of the toy, then demanded "Open it!"  It started snowing pretty early in the morning and it snowed all day!  This was the first white Christmas in Atlanta since 1882 and it really made the day special!

We spent the afternoon and evening with the Farbotko side of the family.  Audrey got Hungry Hungry Hippo from the Bryant's and I loved watching the kids play it because I remember playing it when I was little.  Ian would grab the balls out of Audrey's side, put them in his and yell "I won!"  :)   Bridget has her little tongue out in determination in this photo!

On Sunday, we got the girls all dressed to go play in the snow.  The dogs thought it was great, but my little Southern girls didn't care much for the snow.  Bridget refused to leave her mittens on, so after about 5 minutes, she came up to me crying "Go in house! Hands cold!"  Not long after I got all of her winter gear off, Audrey came in too.  So much for the excitement of the snow!

Here is a link to the rest of our Christmas pictures: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZM3DRozaNGk8

Sickies

I mentioned in the last post that Audrey was getting a cold - it hit poor Bridget much harder.  She was acting okay, but this is how she looked all day Monday and Tuesday:

It looks like she was crying, but her eyes were just red and super watery and she had the pinkest cheeks.  Even though she looked like crap, we still went over to decorate cookies for Santa with the boys.  I forgot my camera and the only picture I took was the one below.  We looked down at something moving on the table and this poor ladybug was walking along, covered in flour!  The kids thought it was so funny and kept trying to put sprinkles and cookie decor on the poor guy until Tina finally rescued him and washed him off in the sink.  :)

I have been battling their little cold but have been able to keep most of it away with sinus tabs and Advil, so let's hope we are all healthy for Santa.  It is forecasted that we are going to have snow on Christmas Day - how exciting!

One last picture:  only my kid would have Ariel and a T-Rex holding a conversation about Ariel's mommy:

Weekend Guest

We had a little visitor spend the weekend with us.  I was a little worried about how Ethan, who is 2 weeks younger than Bridget, would adjust to staying at a new place, but it didn't seem to phase him at all!  The girls had a blast playing with him.  Audrey was particularly sweet - at one point on Saturday she gave him a big hug and said "I love you!"  She also said that she wanted him to be her little brother or her cousin (because she doesn't have enough boy cousins I suppose!).  Here she is picking him up and showing him ornaments on the tree:

She also let him see her iPod:

I thought he would a little clingier with me since I am a Momma, but he stuck by Andy's side the whole weekend!

Grandma Mary came to watch Audrey's final ballet class of the session on Saturday and then stopped by the house to eat lunch with us.  I will post pictures whenever I get them off of the camera.  When she left, Audrey made sure she also gave Ethan a hug and kiss!

Audrey and I then had to go to her boyfriend Andrew's birthday party.  When I tried to get her to sign his card, she said that she needed to draw him a snowman.  :)

About an hour and a half into the party, she started holding her tummy and coughing that seal-like croup cough, so we headed home before pizza and cake.  Andy set up the little tent in the living room for the babies and I had Audrey sleep with me.  The poor thing was up with coughing fits every hour or so but seemed to be feeling better in the morning.

We are headed over to make cookies for Santa with the boys this evening, so there will me lots of cute pictures soon!

Big Girls

I am slowly working on thank you notes from Audrey's birthday party.  I want her to sign her name to the notes.  The first one went well, even though it took up the whole card.  :)

On the second note, she wanted to write Bridget's name instead of her name.  She wrote a B, then did a big A on top of the note card with some scribbles.  On the third card, she decided that she wanted to draw a rainbow for Andrew and by the fourth, it was just some more scribble, so we stopped there for the night!

Audrey was very excited to bring brownies to daycare for her birthday on Tuesday.  For her birthday dinner, she wanted me to go pick up Chik-fil-A and bring it home. Luckily for me, Tuesday's are free kids meal nights at our local restaurant! :)

Over the weekend, she decided that she did not want to wear Pull Ups overnight anymore.  The first two nights went well, but the next two did not.  I have been doing lots of laundry!

Andy decided to try round two of putting Bridget in a toddler bed this week.  He only has to stay in her room with her for about 30 minutes before she falls asleep, but she wakes up in the middle of the night and comes down the hall crying every night.  I tried to put her to bed last night and she kept talking and then she just got up, went to the door and said "bye bye Mommy" and took off!  Last night, Andy ended up dragging his sleeping bag in there and he slept on her floor for half the night to keep her in her room.  He thinks she is rolling out of bed in her sleep and then getting upset.  Andy has to work late tonight so I am on my own getting them to bed, so wish me luck!

Birthdays!

We had such a fun weekend!  The festivities kicked off on Friday when I decided that although Audrey's long hair is beautiful, it is only beautiful for about three minutes after you brush it, then it looks like a knotted train wreck.  Bridget needed her bangs cut as well - the last time I tried to stick a barrette in her hair, she came up to me about 10 minutes later with the barrette in her hand.  She said "NO IN HAIR!" and slammed the barrette on the table!  So after work, I scooped up the girls and Grandma Mary and went and had about 5 inches cut off of Audrey's hair!  It looks so much better and is much easier to manage!

Grandma bought some rainbow colored nail polishes at the beauty salon, so I did Audrey's fingers and toes before bed.

After ballet on Saturday, we went straight over to Tyler's Indiana Jones themed 7th birthday party.  Tina had the basement all decked out and a bunch of clever games that went along with the movie.  Audrey was still playing with her "Indian Jones" treasure bag when we got home.

We finally got around to decorating our first real Christmas tree.  This is the first time that Audrey has been really into the holidays, and she loved helping put the ornaments on.  We have every ornament we own on the tree and the bottom branches are sagging from Audrey's decorating.  She kept saying "We are making the tree SO pretty!"  I didn't have the heart to fix her branches, so if you see a goofy looking tree in our pictures, know it was done out of love!

I was worried about Bridget and Amos around the tree, but Audrey is the one constantly rearranging the ornaments and taking them off to use as play figurines!  Bridget hasn't even touched anything and Amos only grabs the ornaments that fall or that Audrey has on the couch or table.

Yesterday was Audrey's birthday party at Monkey Joe's.  This was the first time that she has seen her classmates outside of daycare and she was SO excited!  We had about 13 kids total and everyone had a blast!

Audrey got a little weirded-out while everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her.  She made this face the whole time:

This little guy is her friend Andrew from daycare.  She talks about him all the time and I think he likes her too!  They hung out a lot at the party.  He came up to me at one point and I thought he was looking for his mom.  He said "No, I'm looking for Audrey.  She keeps getting away from me!"

We brought the gifts home to open with the family and between the Disney Princess stuff, Zhu Zhu pets and her very own iPod touch, she was in heaven.  She went to bed last night with a stuffed Tinkerbell, Rapunzel and her horse and 4 Zhu Zhu pets!

I have a ton of pictures to load on shutterfly and will post the link when I'm done.  I can't believe my baby is going to be four tomorrow!!

Rolling Stones

The week before Thanksgiving,  I started having a little bit of abdominal pain.  I attributed it to the stress of hosting Thanksgiving, plus Audrey's birthday and the holidays coming up.  Finally, the Tuesday before Turkey Day,  I went to the doctor.  The PA I saw told me that she thought I had a UTI and gave me some antibiotics to go ahead and start while we wait for the test results over the holiday weekend.

Monday rolled around and she emails me at 5 pm saying that I don't have a UTI, so to come back to the office.  I made an appointment with a doctor, who after listening to my complaints and feeling around on my belly, referred me to go get a CT scan. 

I had that done on Thursday and was a nervous wreck waiting until Friday afternoon to get my test result.  I was on Google all day looking stuff up and convincing myself that I had all of these terrible diseases, even though my blood work turned out perfect.

So... long story short,  I have 4 kidney stones, 2 in each kidney.  They aren't obstructing anything and they are not too big, so they want me to pass them on my own.  Since they are still in my kidneys and not in the urethra yet, the pain isn't too bad, but as I chug down glass after glass of water, I anticipate the pain of them working their way out.  Ouch!!

In kid news, Audrey's daycare director gave me a big compliment on her yesterday.  A's teacher had to leave for a couple of hours for a doctor's appointment, so they shuffled the kids around to different class.  Audrey ended up in the Pre-K class and the teacher said that she was so well behaved and polite and played nicely with the kids in the class that she wished she had 20 Audrey's in her class!

I asked Bridget's teacher if she talks much at school since she can be a chatterbox at home, and she said that the only time B talks is when she wants a baby doll or when she needs a diaper change.  She said that B comes up to her and says "I wet."  I wish she would do that at home!

I am running on four hours of sleep today.  Between 9 and 11 last night, Audrey threw up three times and had a nasty poopy in her pull up while she was asleep.  Just as I got settled to bed, Bridget woke up and barfed all over me while I was trying to rock her back to sleep.  She didn't totally fall back asleep until about 3 and then Amos woke us up at 7.  Neither one had a fever, so I thought maybe they ate something bad.  They were both a little tired and clingy today and Audrey has been passed out on the couch now for almost 3 hours, which is amazing since she never naps.

Next weekend is Audrey's birthday party (and Tyler's), so let's hope we are all healthy and stone free by then!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!  The turducken turned out ok.  Andy really liked it, but I didn't think the turkey was moist enough and the Cajun oyster stuffing wasn't too good. 

Bridget almost had me breaking the wine open early.  By 3 o'clock, she had already:

• Flushed the toilet multiple times while I was showering,
• Drawn on her face with eyeliner,
• Put face cream on the puppy,
• Slipped and landed in puppy pee in her Thanksgiving dress, requiring a bath and outfit change,
• Poured a half of a bottle of hard wood floor cleaner on the dining room floor, and
• Had a poopy blow out diaper during her nap, requiring another outfit change!

This is outfit #1.  She took my camera after I shot this picture and it didn't work for the rest of the night.

 It ended up being in the mid-60's, so the kids were able to run some energy off in the yard which was nice!  It was a little strange having the windows open and then having to turn on the air conditioner on Thanksgiving though!  After dinner, the kids reluctantly sat for pictures:

Yesterday, I took Audrey to see her first movie at the theater.  We went to see Tangled and she loved it!  She was a little wiggly in her seat, but that was to be expected.  Luckily she was sitting next to another little kid, so it didn't matter too much.  It's been a long time since I've purchased food at a theater and I now know to sneak some in next time.  I paid $8 for a small coke and bag of candy!  As we were walking out to the car after the movie, she said "I can't wait to watch The Little Mermaid at the movie theater!"  I told her that it wasn't playing at the theater and she said "When it is, you can buy us tickets."  :)

It was so nice and warm on Thanksgiving, but right now I am sitting in front of a nice toasty fire as the temps are supposed to dip into the 20's tonight.  I wish Mother Nature would just pick a season already!

Miscellaneous

Andy just returned last night from a hunting trip - Amos' first one!  Amos wasn't super interested in the birds, but I think he had a good time running around in the woods with Andy and Hazel and Andy discovered that the little guy isn't gun shy, so that's good.  I guess he can officially call himself a huntin' dog now.  :)

I let Audrey sleep with me for the two nights that they were gone.  This is about a quarter of the number of stuffed animals that we had to sleep with each night:

Here are a few pictures from my phone.  Bridget put these glasses on, handed me my phone and said "Chee!"

And big sis had to join in of course!

Bridget has decided to enter into her terrible two's a little early.  Her favorite phrase is "NOOOO!" or sometimes "NO WAY!!"  If she doesn't want to change clothes, she holds her arms down to her sides really tight and twists back and forth so you can't grab her and don't even try to put on shoes that she doesn't want to wear!

This was Amos' first bath.  Bridget thought it was pretty cool; Amos did not!

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house tomorrow and Andy decided that he wants to try to make most of the meal ourselves.  He went out and bought a turducken to bake (which sounds gross to me, but whatever) and we will spend the evening tonight cleaning and grocery shopping.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Similarities

We decided to try leaving Amos in the yard with Hazel this past week while we were at work instead of crating him up in the house.  He is small enough to fit through the fence, but he rarely leaves Hazel's side when they are out, so we figured he would be okay.  Sure enough, when I got home from work, I was greeted by a little face peeking out at me.  I had to snap a picture because he was sitting in the same spot where Roscoe used to sit and wait.

 When Roscoe was a puppy, he had a stuffed sheep that he carried around every day until Hazel shredded it.  We named him Sheepie.  On Thursday, Amos found a little stuffed sheep that goes with one of Bridget's baby dolls.  She never plays with it, so I let him have it because it also reminded me of Roscoe.  :)

He had his puppy check up on Friday and has gained 6 pounds in the past three weeks!  At this rate, he is going to be a big boy!

Speaking of similarities, Bridget has picked up on one of Audrey's habits.  She now has a posse of dolls and stuffed toys that she carries around with her.  She doesn't really have specific toys that she likes, but she has to grab everything in eyesight and take them downstairs in the mornings.  The other morning, I was trying to change her diaper while she clutched two dolls, Elmo, a sheep and a baby penguin!

I had a lazy birthday weekend.  The weather was wonderful, so after ballet on Saturday, the girls and I loaded up the wagon and headed to the Greenway.  It was close to nap time, so we weren't there long, but we had a good time.  Audrey wants to bring Amos next time, so we will have to get Andy to come with us.  He didn't want to risk missing kick off for the Georgia game, so he and the dogs did not join us.

On Sunday, Audrey surprised me with a signed card in the morning.  This may make me sound like a bad Mommy, but I had no idea that she could draw letters.  Every time I would try to work with her on letters, she would get frustrated and say "I can't do it!"  Andy had her write "Mom" on the envelope and sign the inside of my birthday card!  He said that the only letter that he had to show her how to do was an "M."  I love how she signed it "Audrey F." :)

We had kind of a lazy morning and then headed over to Mom and Dad's for a birthday dinner/Thanksgiving dinner since everyone else is going out of town for Turkey Day.  Before dinner, the kids made Oreo turkeys.  Here is Papa helping Audrey with hers:

And here is the final product.  Tina was telling Audrey to say "cheese," so that is what she is doing here!

And finally, here is a rare picture of Mommy.  Bridget has the turkey head (malted milk ball) in her mouth.  Her turkey didn't last long!

Ballet, Birthday Party and Baby Shower

This past weekend, Andy was away at camp, so it was up to me to drag the kids to all of their events, plus deal with little Amos.  I think potty training a puppy is worse than training a toddler - that little guy pees every time I turn my back!  He has also developed a love of stuffed animals, so I am trying to get into the habit of shutting the girls bedrooms doors.  He sure looks cute and innocent!

Bridget started the weekend off with a cold on Friday.  Luckily, Grandma Carol didn't have any plans, so I dropped the girls off at her house when they got up so I could go into work for a couple of hours.  On Saturday morning, we went to ballet class and then had to run home, eat lunch, let Bridget nap, then head to Madeline's first birthday party.  I didn't have my camera, so the pictures are from Jenny's camera.

The girls had a good time at the party.  Audrey was  Jenny's little helper and followed her around most of the time.  Bridget decided that she wanted to test out Madeline's high chair.

She also had everyone giggling because she was so clean and dainty with her cupcake.

And here is Audrey swinging with some boys.

Mom and Dad came up for dinner on Saturday night and Audrey wanted to go home with them, so once Bridget went down for the night, I grabbed a glass of wine and actually got to sit and read a book! :)  I was spoiled again on Sunday when Andy returned from camp right around Bridget's nap time, so I got to go to Amanda's baby shower by myself (Audrey didn't want to come home from Grandma's).

Well, the official word from Jason is that my laptop is dead, so it looks like I am computer-less for a little while.  Of course this happens right before I have to spend a ton of money on all of the family birthdays and Christmas.  Everyone be warned: Do not place drinks near your computer and back up your computer often!

Halloween 2010

Sorry for the delayed Halloween pictures, but we have not had much luck with electronics lately.  In the past three days, my hair dryer broke, Bridget deleted a bunch of apps from my iPhone, Amos ate 2 iPhone chargers and Audrey spilled a drink on my laptop and killed it.  Jason is going to see if he can fix it or at least salvage my stuff so I can reload it when I get a new laptop.  I must admit, I get a lot more done at home without the distraction of the laptop (I am at work right now.. shh...).

A couple of weeks ago, we met a little girl in our neighborhood who is Audrey's age.  Her mom invited us to a Halloween party and to go trick or treating with them.  This is the first year that we have gone with other kids (I usually just run the girls to a few neighbors to show off their costumes), and they had a blast!

Audrey ran to each door with the other kids and yelled Trick or Treat.  Sometimes, when the people would ask who they were, the kids would just yell their names - "I'm Audrey!  I'm Maggie!"

Little Bridget even got caught up in the excitement.  I had to carry her to each door because by the time she got there on her own, most of the kids had moved on to the next house.  She would stand there with her Elmo bucket until she got some candy, then turn and come back to me.

A little over half way around the circle that we did, most of the kids were tired and were riding in the wagons, but Audrey and one other girl were still hitting every house.  After a few more houses, Audrey finally hit a wall (figuratively, not literally!), climbed in the wagon with Bridget and said "I want to go home and take my costume off." 

She had just as much fun helping pass out candy at home.  Every once in a while she would ask if we had any more customers coming to the door.  :)

Sick Mama

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I have been battling some kind of sinus infection/sore throat/every-part-of-my-body-aches kind of bug.  My doc gave me some antibiotics on Friday, but I am taking myself off of them because they are making me sicker than anything.  If your doctor ever prescribes a Z-Pac, just say no!!

Andy deserves a medal for stepping up and handling our busy weekend.  Last week started off with Bridget wanting to walk the puppy.  They walk pretty well together now, but she only has a couple more months before Amos starts dragging her down the street!

On a side note, Bridget has been using lots of little sentences lately, like "Where did Audrey go?"  and "Daddy, puppy bit my toes."  She is becoming such a big girl!

I thought I was feeling better on Saturday, so I took Audrey to ballet/tap.  This was the final class of this session and the teacher brought some old recital costumes and let them dress up.  I saw a red one and thought Audrey would pick that, but she found one that had multicolored ribbons and told me that she was dressed as a rainbow.  When we left, she told her teacher "I like your rainbow dress."  I think she was secretly hoping that Miss Jessica would give it to her!

Here is a quick video that I shot through the door.  I love how Audrey has to go over and dance by the mirror!

I felt like crap by the time we got home from dance class, so Andy took Audrey to her buddy Emma's birthday party while Bridget and I napped.  Audrey had a great time and even brought her sister home a crown that she had decorated for her.  Bridget wore it around saying "Yee haw!"

I missed our annual Burt's Pumpkin Farm trip due to my stupid illness.  This year they went to Jason's aunt's cabin in Ellijay and cooked out afterwards.  It sounded like everyone had a good time while I layed around the house feeling sorry for myself.  :)

Here is a link to the Burt's pictures.  The cool pumpkin photos were taken by Audrey!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZM3DRozaNGjT