Kevin the Elf

First, here are a couple more pictures from decorating the tree.  Here is my pretty girl:

Here she is hamming it up for the camera:

Putting the angel on the tree:

Bridget wanted Daddy to hold her up to put something on the tree too, so he had to hold her up to put an ornament up high:

We got one of the Elf on a Shelf toys a couple of years ago and this is the first year that we've actually put it out.  I think we chose the perfect year because while Bridget doesn't really get it, Audrey is really into it!  Meet Kevin the Elf (he is named after our friend who gave him to us):

He arrived from the North Pole yesterday morning and the girls discovered him in one of the stocking holders when they got up.

When Audrey got home from school, she checked to make sure he was still there and was really well behaved all evening.  At one point, Andy asked Bridget something and she said "No."  Audrey said "Bridget, it's more polite to say 'No Ma'am' to Daddy."  :)

First thing this morning, Audrey ran into the living room to look for Kevin.  She came into the kitchen and said "Mommy, Kevin is gone!  Oh wait - there he is!!  How did he get up there??"  He was in the handles of the cabinet above the stove, looking down on the kitchen.

I think if she continues to behave for Kevin, he is going to have to stay here all year long!  I plan on taking a picture of him every day so the girls can have a little photo album of Kevin's adventures.  :)

Here are some more funny kid quotes:

Audrey, while chasing Bridget around the house "Come here you crazy love hawk!"  I have no idea what that means but it cracked me up.

A:  "Do the teachers sleep at the school?"

A: "I am not going to wear pants anymore.  I am only going to wear skirts and dresses like Taylor Swift."  If you think about it, have you ever seen a picture of Taylor in anything other than a skirt or dress?

Andy: "Audrey, who is cuter, you or Bridget."  Audrey:  "Bridget, but I'm smarter."  That's my girl!

Bridget:  "I have super powers.  I can fly like a penguin!"  You sure can, Bridget.  ;)

Playing Catch Up

It's been a while and I honestly can't remember all of the funny stuff I was going to blog about, so here are some pictures from my phone.  Last weekend, the girls and I went to Madeline's 2nd birthday party, which was Olivia themed.  Here are the cute little Olivia's:

Audrey is the same age as the little boy that she is towering over - my Amazon girl! Those two hit it off well and ran around together for the whole party.  (Side note: Audrey is sitting here while I am typing this and just said "I am so bored in that picture."  I thought she had a good time...!)  Bridget loved her piggy nose party favor

 

Audrey was off of school this week, so the girls got to spend the night out on Tuesday night.  Andy and I took advantage of our kid free evening by doing absolutely nothing.  Instead of Christmas shopping or cleaning, we caught up on some DVR'ed shows, went to bed early and actually got to sleep without a third and fourth person sneaking into bed!  When we picked the girls up on Wednesday, we stayed for dinner at his folks house.  Andy was trying to get Audrey to clean her dinner plate, and he told Audrey "If you don't eat dinner, what are you going to poop out tomorrow?"  (nice, I know...)  Without missing a beat, Audrey said "Glitter."  Everything really is glitter and rainbows for her!

We spent this Thanksgiving with the Hoffman side of the family.  We tried to get a photo of all of the kids together, which was quite an effort!  This was the best of my photos:

My drama queen didn't want to sit for a photo and Tyler and Ryan were wrestling the whole time.  We should have just taken photos of Bridget and Jack.  Here are some of the other pictures:

I think in this one Audrey is saying "Please get me out of here!"

"Will these people please stop trying to take pictures??"

The girls ate most of their turkey, which was impressive.  It was also cool that the kids got to Skype with Great Grandma.  While talking to the twins, I heard her say "They are supposed to be twins??"  She thought Tyler and Ryan should have been twins.  :)

We got our Christmas tree up today.  Audrey was so excited when Andy brought the decorations up and was pretty helpful in unpacking the boxes.  She loved putting the ornaments on the tree and although the tree is a little ornament-heavy on the bottom, we love it!

Birthday

First I wanted to share this cute picture of B and Aunt Tina.  She got to go to the outlet mall with Aunt Tina and Grandma Carol last week while Audrey was in school and I was at work.   She kept admiring the train, so Aunt Tina gave in and rode it around the mall with her.

 I forgot to mention in my last post that after I arrived home from getting my hair chopped, Audrey greeted me at the door with "It looks pretty!"  while Bridget wrinkled her nose and said "Your hair look messy."  Thanks kiddo!  Here is a not so great shot of my hair - also, I think my nose is getting bigger as I get older!

On Sunday, we dropped the girls off at Mom and Dad's so we could start our Christmas shopping and also go the AT&T store and order me a new iPhone 4s for my birthday (it just arrived today and I am activating it as I type this!).  While there, Andy bought himself an iPad (Happy Birthday to me??).  When we got back to the folks house, Andy gave the girls a present to give to me (a Wii game that I picked out while we were at Toys R Us - Just Dance 3).  Audrey comes running in the kitchen yelling "Mommy!  Don't come in the living room.  We are wrapping your gift.  It's a new video game!"  Note to self: Don't tell Audrey secrets!

While Grandma Carol was finishing up dinner, we tried the game out.  Here are Tina and the kids dancing:

Andy also played around with the goofy picture app on his iPad.  Don't the kids look creepy??

On my birthday, we went out to a new restaurant called Marlow's Tavern.  Audrey thinks it's cool to eat at restaurants and gets brave with her food.  She tried calamari and liked it!

After I read her the kids menu, I asked her if she wanted her usual chicken fingers and she said "No, I want mini cheeseburgers."  She rarely eats hamburgers so that was a big deal.  Poor Bridget fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant and never woke up.  I ate with her sleeping on my lap while praying that she wouldn't go potty!

I think my new phone is done activating, so off to play with that!

Miscellaneous

Last Wednesday, Andy had to go out of town for a few days for a conference in Connecticut.  The night after he left, Bridget was asleep in my bed, Audrey was almost asleep, and I was watching TV when I heard and saw something fly over my head.  Audrey shot up and said "What was that?"  It was a little bird that the cats must have brought in.

He didn't look injured at all and he was just as scared as we were.  Audrey started to panic a little "Call the police!  Don't let it get on Bridget!"  I ended up closing him in my room, opening all of the window and removing the screens and chasing him around with a broom until he finally flew out.  It took about 20 minutes because he kept flying everywhere but out!

Here is what the bed looked like most nights.  We fit in there somewhere...

Andy ended up having to stay in CT longer because his company was contracted to help with snow storm damage while he was up there.  He wasn't sure exactly when he was coming home, and when he finally booked his flight, he thought it would be cute to not tell us and surprise us.  The only problem was that he got home at 11:30 pm on Monday.  I was awoken by the sound of the basement door creaking open and the dogs running down the stairs barking.  I was reaching for my phone to call 911 when I realized that the dogs were not barking anymore and that it was probably Andy. He gave me a heart attack!

It's starting to get a little colder here, and just like Audrey at this age, Bridget does not like to wear jackets.  She will, however, wear this fuzzy white vest.  This is the picture I got when I told her to smile for the camera:

Big sis wanted to wear her hair in a side pony tail like the girl on her shirt, and these are the cheesy shots that she took:

They get their inability to smile normal for the camera from their father!

This picture was taken when Bridget was mad because we were out of Oreos:

Tomorrow I turn the big 3-5!  I'm starting out this new year with a sassy new haircut and I am on a mission to update my wardrobe.  At my old job, I was usually by myself in the office so it didn't really matter what I wore.  I realized at this new job that most of my work clothes are from back in my Lucent days, so my 35th year will be all about style!  No more frumpy mom clothes!  Happy Birthday to me.  :)

Trick or Treat

When I last left you, I thought Bridget was on the mend from her little bug, but on Monday, Grandma Carol called me at work to let me know that B's fever was back.  By the time I got home from work, it was up to 102.4.  Mom had to go straight to Tina's to watch the boys, so she took Audrey with her so I could take B to the after hours clinic.  Before we left, Audrey asked "Is Bridget going to see Dr. Uggless?"  "It's Dr. Douglass and it depends on which doctor is at the clinic."  "Well, if it's Dr. Douglass, please tell her that I got some new pink cowboy boots."  Audrey knows what is important!

Bridget just ended up having a viral infection and I had to call in to my new job for the first time to stay home with her on Tuesday.  That was the first time we've ever spent the day just the two of us.  It is much easier with one kid! :)

The rest of the week was a whirlwind of activity.  Audrey had her class Halloween party at school on Friday and then the girls spent the night at Grandma and Papa's while Andy and I had an exciting evening of watching TV and sleeping - woo hoo!  I had to run errands on Saturday morning, then we had a neighborhood Halloween party/pig roast/hay ride.  Andy had my camera in his truck and my cell phone died so I don't have any pictures from that party.  We learned that Audrey is terrified of creepy masks - one of the guys put one on and ran out to scare the kids and poor Audrey was hysterical and wouldn't go outside for about 30 minutes.

On Sunday, the girls and I had brunch at Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate Aunt Steph's birthday and then came home to clean and get ready for Halloween.  Here is my favorite photo of Snow White and Rapunzel:

Andy left work early on Monday and carved pumpkins and had dinner ready and then the girls and I went trick or treating with a couple of little girls from down the street.  Bridget wasn't that into it - she went to the first few houses by herself (with the big girls), then she would make me hold her hand, and then she just wanted me to carry her.  After that, I just kept her at the curb with me.  She wouldn't even ride in the wagon.  About half way around the neighborhood, she started saying that she wanted to go home, so I called Andy to come and pick her up.  I went to our neighborhood haunted house for the first time expecting something silly, but these folks put a lot of money and effort into it - it was really good!

Here are the rest of our Halloween photos.  Enjoy!
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