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

Amos

Amos had a busy day getting to know his new family and yard yesterday.  He was all over poor Bridget - he kept pulling at her pants and diaper.  She wasn't too fond of that!  He also took his first trip to Petco when we realized that we did not have any dog toys since we have a dog who only likes to play fetch!

Every time we took him out front, Audrey would tap him on the head and yell "Tag, you're it!" and run off.  Sometimes he followed, sometimes he just watched her like she was crazy.  Look at poor Hazel in the background waiting for someone to PLEASE THROW THE BALL!!

I can tell that the breeder spoiled him.  He cries if you leave the room and he sleeps best like this:

He does not like being put in his kennel at all, so he has spent his first two nights in our bed.

 At least someone likes the kennel.  I told Bridget to go in there and go night-night and she went and layed down.  I had to pull her out because I think she really wanted to sleep in there!

Today, poor Mom gets to babysit AND puppy sit. I am taking him to the vet today to make sure he is healthy and tomorrow will be his first day in his kennel while we work.  I have a feeling he will by crying all day.  :(