Christmas List

Audrey has a looong Christmas list this year (I may be to blame...every time she asked for something in the store I would say, why don't you put that on your Christmas list? not expecting she would remember everything...I was wrong). We went to see the mall Santa last Monday. We never actually get the pictures taken, but he is the only Santa available for Audrey to visit. Phoenix started to cry after a minute in Santa's lap. After the kids were done, we went shopping for a few gifts for other people. I have been eyeing these charm bracelets at Gap Kids for a while (like a year) and I asked Audrey what she thought about them. She immediately fell in love with the bracelets and one charm in particular (a globe). She of course asked if she could have it and I said "Why don't you ask Santa for it?" She was a little distraught because she had already spoken with Santa, so I told her that she could write him a letter. Pretty much the cutest thing ever!

"Dear Santa, I want a bracelet and a charm please. Heart Audrey."

We sent it to Santa.

Quotes from Audrey

Yesterday Audrey said a few funny things I thought were worth documenting...

We were watching Polar Express...

Audrey: I don't want to be a policeman doctor when I grow up, I want to be an elf.

Me: Well, you can't be elf because you are a human.

Audrey: Oh MAN!! I wish I wasn't a human so that I can be an elf!

Later on that day....

Audrey: I wish you would put on makeup so that you could be pretty.

Me: Do you think I am ugly without makeup on?

Audrey: Well...just a little bit ugly.

Me: Well, I guess I will go put my makeup on then.

That night as she was getting ready for bed...

Audrey: I am going to live with you when I grow up?

Me: If you want to, I would love it.

Audrey: Well, maybe I won't when I have babies. But I will visit you.

Lately (as in the past two weeks) Audrey has not been getting the sleep that she needs to maintain her usually pleasant personality, so whenever she says something that is not whiny I really appreciate it, especially when it is cute.

Hate Letter

Dear Winter,

I really, really do not like you. Can you please leave and go back where you belong (up north)? I just don't think its fair that you are hanging around like this in the south. People move here to avoid you. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy snow (when I am skiing that is), but I just don't feel that your presence down here is welcome, or acceptable.

To wrap it up, I hate you (once again, except when skiing), and please leave asap...like yesterday.

Lots of...loathing, and definately NOT your friend,

Rachel

P.S. tell Spring that we are ready and waiting

Leah's Visit

My sister, Leah, came to visit for Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a great time with her here, as always. It was the first time that Audrey had been very noticeable jealous of little Phoenix. Leah couldn't give him a hug without Audrey getting upset. Phoenix is at a really fun stage right now so Audrey is starting to look at him as competition.

I thought Leah would enjoy a cookout cheeseburger (which she did) and we took advantage of the nice weather and ate at a park (it was actually kinda cold and very windy but we all pretended it was nice).

coolest thing ever!!!! You can spin so fast!

When we were little me, Leah, and our sister Michelle used to love to make frosted sugar cookies. The kitchen would be a total disaster by the time we finished. By now I have gotten better about cleaning as I go, and we have gotten better at decorating as well.

The visit was over too quickly (as visits always are) and it left me wishing that we lived closer to family (as visits always do).

Spoiled

Yes, I am spoiled! Blame Travis. He went above and beyond to make my birthday special this year. The day started off with me sleeping in (hello?!? there is no better way to start off the day!). When I finally dragged my lazy butt out of the bed there was a candy trail (Trav's signature play) leading downstairs to a spectacular sight. He brought Audrey to preschool and he returned with Dunkin Donuts in hand.

I have been wanting to take the kids to Marbles (kids museum) for a while but I have been too scared to do it by myself because both Audrey and Phoenix are prone to run off...in opposite directions. So I took advantage of the fact that it was my birthday and Travis agreed to come. We had a lot of fun, Phoenix and Audrey could have easily spent all day there.

They had this hockey rink and you put socks on and it was about as close to skating as you could get without the skates. Audrey even fell as if she was on real ice (she didn't get hurt).

We even had enough time for Travis to give Audrey a few surf lessons. She was getting pretty good by the end of it.

The day before my birthday I asked Audrey what she was going to get me for my birthday. She told me "I can't tell you, its a secret! But I will need some macaroni and some string." Because I have amazing detective skills I had a hunch that she would make me a macaroni necklace. I was wrong. She made me a macaroni necklace AND a macaroni bracelet. So sweet!!

Travis isn't a big cake eater and I have attempted to eat an entire cake by myself a few too many times to want to try it again. So we got cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe. My favorite is Strawberry. Travis got a red velvet and Audrey got a lemon. When we got home they traded

Travis got me a bunch of thoughtful gifts, but my favorite by far was his coupon book "7 Days of Bliss". Basically for the next seven days he volunteered to put both kids down to bed, wake up with them in the morning and during the night if they wake up, clean the house daily, do all of the dishes, and give me a daily backrub (I have a baad back so this is very useful). For all of you parents, you know how good this is. I am definately going to enjoy my week off!! I had a WONDERFUL day, thanks to my awesome hubs. Love you Trav!!

Phoenix - Willy

Phoenix has developed so much in the last few months. He has 7.1 teeth, and he's not afraid to use them. He can say "hi", and sometimes when he is crying for a really long time in his crib or his cage (don't ask) he will say "mama", but he doesn't say it regularly yet. He can wave, clap, do the signs for "all done", "more", "bath", "bed", and "milk". He is picking up on the signs really well so I am going to have to read up on some more signs to teach him. After he was Chucky for Halloween Trav gave him a bath and made him lay down to get the red hair spray out (it was kinda necessary). It traumatized Phoenix and he was terrified of taking baths for at least a week, but I started working with him right away and I am happy to report that the little man enjoys his bath time again. His favorite foods are the Gerber yogurt puffs, the Gerber fruit snacks, and pretzels. He also loves little spoonfuls of frosting that I give him when I am baking. He is fairly cuddly, when he isn't feeling good he just wants to be held (which is OK with me), and when is plays he likes to come up to me and give me a hug and sit with me for a little bit, then go back to playing. It is so cute. He is climbing up on EVERYTHING. He learned how to slide down the stairs backwards and it is really funny to see how fast he goes. He loves to throw toys in the toilet at any opportunity. He is 1000% busier than Audrey was, but he is tons of fun. On Sunday Travis gave me a kiss and Phoenix leaned in to give me a huge, slobbering kiss of his own. He also gave Travis a kiss, but he wouldn't give Audrey a kiss yet. I am totally loving the stage he is in right now. His favorite show is probably Yo Gabba Gabba. He currently has a mullet, but I am not sure if we are ready to give him a trim quite yet. I am considering making it a little more rock and roll.

p.s. We got a DVD player for our car (2 monitors) and it was the best investment we have ever made, Phoenix loves watching the movies!

The Dentist

Audrey has been scared of the dentist ever since Travis got his root canal. I told her that she had nothing to be worried about, but she was still nervous. I made an appointment for her on Monday. Thankfully Travis was able to watch Phoenix while I took Audrey (it would have been a nightmare with the little guy). While we were in the waiting room Audrey insisted on sitting on my lap, which I let her of course. I read her a book about reptiles (her choice). Then she farted. Really loud. She was so embarrassed. I kept my cool and told her it was OK. She buried her head in my shoulder. Then after 10 seconds she got over it and we went back to the book. Finally the hygienist took us back and she wanted to take some x-rays of Audrey's teeth. I had to step out but I stayed close. After a few pictures, Audrey started crying softly because that thing they put in your mouth for x-rays was falling out. The hygienist was very nice and calming (she put the Disney channel on for Audrey). I could tell that Audrey was very uncomfortable while her teeth were getting cleaned, but she was brave. Then the hygienist went to get the Dentist and Audrey asked me if she could swallow, the poor girl must have been so uncomfortable. As soon as she saw the Dentist she started to cry. He calmed her down, looked at her teeth for about 2 seconds and told her she was doing a great job brushing her teeth. Then it was over (she got a lame prize). She looked so small and cute in the big chair, and when she was crying quietly it broke my heart. It is sad to think how fast she is growing up.

Our Halloween

We got into Halloween this year, even I dressed up. Travis had some rule that he must always wear a wig on Halloween. We have this great/nasty mullet wig that he has been sporting for the last few years, this year we switched it up and put the hair into a ponytail. It was pretty much awesome. Audrey had been planning to be a scary kitty cat for a few months (her idea), I had played around with the idea of having Phoenix be a pirate, but I knew the eye patch and the hat would never stay on, I saw a garden gnome costume at Target, and it would have been perfect...except for the beard and the hat. Then inspiration hit. I always thought that Phoenix looked a little like Chucky...and the costume would be easy (another concern was that Phoenix would be too hot in a costume because the boy does NOT like to be hot). I think it worked out rather well if I do say so myself. Travis was a redneck murderer, and I was a dead cheerleader (aka his victim). We kept to gore minimal for our ward's trunk or treat, but on Halloween we got a little crazy.

Nobody at our church even recognized Travis. His scruff totally looked real. It was a combo of real scruff (which thankfully he does not grow much of), brown eyeliner, and brown eyeshadow. I thought the results were realistic.

We used both red and orange hair spray paint for Phoenix. We worked fast...

You can't see them but I also had bruises on my neck from being strangled.

We had so much fun dressing up. I have decided that I LOVE doing costume make up. I can't wait for next year!! Me and Trav are going to try to do better costumes every year.

Dreamer

I pretty much dream every night, and I have ever since I can remember. It is not uncommon for my dreams to be related to the events of the week (friends, TV, movies...). Last night I went to bed early because I have been extremely tired the last few weeks (two weeks of being sick and now I am on the recovery week). I thought that by going to bed early that I would wake up feeling refreshed and energized. But last night I had a dream that was a mix of Glee, High School Musical, Camp Rock, and 24. I was Rachel (from Glee) and Travis was Finn. We were at a summer camp for talented kids that could sing and dance and boy did we sing and dance. Sharpay from HSM was there as well as her brother, I was looking for the Jo Bro's but they never showed up, and after all of the singing and dancing was done we ended up in some warehouse shooting guns like it was our job and being chased. Luckily, because this was the 24 segment of my dream I knew that we would get out of it OK because Jack Bauer always makes it. I woke up more tired than I was when I went to bed.

Family Pictures

Do you have a friend who is both beautiful and super talented? I have a lot of friends like that, but I am going to highlight my amazing friend Emily today. For the last couple of years I admired her pictures on her blog, this girl is seriously talented. She recently started up her own photography business, so of course I jumped at the opportunity for her to take our family pictures this year.

I told her that there isn't enough wall space in my house to display all of the pictures that I want to (seriously like 100). If you are lucky enough to live in the Raleigh area, her business is named funfetti photography.

New Glasses!!!!

I have had the same pair of glasses since high school (aka over 7 years)...they were not in good shape. The prescription was 1 point to weak (kinda a lot in glasses terms), the were literally hanging on by a screw the size of a thread. Can you guess which is the before and which is the after picture?

I am still getting used to the glasses not falling off every time I look down.

Primary Program

Once a year, our church has a primary program. Our primary consists of children ages 3-11. This was Audrey's first year in it. Each child gets a part (smaller ones for the little kids, bigger ones for the older ones). Audrey practiced her part a lot over the last month and she was totally prepared for Sunday. Her line was "I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me cuz they blessed me with my baby brother, Phoenix Willy." I was so proud of her.

Twins!

One of my good friends gave us her daughter's old clothes for Audrey. One of the treasures within was a khaki (or as Audrey calls it "cashew") skirt. As soon as Audrey saw it she got so excited and she wanted us to be twins for church. Luckily I had just gotten a new jean jacket, so we could complete the look.

Pumpkin Farm

My beautiful sister, Jess, came to visit at the beginning of October (I have been a major slacker blogger lately, but in my defense I have been B-U-S-Y). While she was here we had our annual trip to the pumpkin farm. The day we went was hot, and extremely crowded, but we had a fun time. Audrey had her outfit planned out for over a week...at least her accessories. Pumpkin earrings made by yours truly, and a pumpkin hat that goes with an infant pumpkin costume. I didn't have the heart to tell her no, so the hat stayed on. I love this pictures because everyone is so happy in it!

The pumpkin farm that we go to offers pony rides on the weekends, this was the first year that we went on a Saturday so Audrey got to go on her first pony. Travis was kind enough to wait 20-30 minutes in line for her (we were waiting in line to get him a funnel cake and the pony line went faster so we had to get out of line right before we were about to order!!)

Blue sky, green trees and grass, bright orange pumpkins...love the colors!!

Me and Jessie joked all day about how nice it was that Audrey was wearing her pumpkin hat because she was very easy to pick out in crowds. Then we got to the pumpkin part and the hat acted as camouflage here.

Our loot. I already used one of the pumpkins to make this amazing dish that my beautiful and talented sister-in-law Janae made for us last year. I should have taken a picture of it but we ate it too fast! We will carve the rest this week (but I might make the pumpkin dish again with one of them...).

Vocabulary Words

Last week I learned two new words to add into my every day vocabulary. Since I am in the know, I will share my findings with you...

"Monkids"- Pet monkeys that people treat like their own children

"Polig-kids"- Kids that are born into a polygamous family (I learned this one from the reality TLC show Sister-wives...interesting but strange)

Class is dismissed.

Halloween

We love Halloween here in the Andrew home (who doesn't love it?), and October 1st marked the official Halloween season, the temperature has been consistently under 90 degrees, so even Mother Nature has been agreeable.

Last year I got really excited about setting up the Halloween decorations, I talked it up to Audrey to get her all excited and when October 1st rolled around I opened the box marked "Halloween Decorations" and...there were 5 foam orange pumpkins (flat and for crafty projects) and one plastic pumpkin for Audrey's trick-or-treating. Talk about a let down! I try to collect a bunch of decorations at the end of each holiday on 75% + clearance in preparation for the next year (because I am cool like that), but apparently I missed the Halloween clearance the previous year. So I made up my mind to not let that happen again.

1 year later, and October 1st came. Once again, I got Audrey all excited about setting the decorations up (I was at least as excited as her). I was so anxious that I got the box down from our attic all by myself and some how managed to get it down with both me and the box in one piece. I brought the box downstairs and set in on the kitchen table and I called Audrey over so that she could see me open the box. Well, I opened the box and talk about lame dash O! I had like 5 more decorations than I did last year(unfortunately tacky ones I must admit) and of those 5, 2 of them can not be set up this year because we have a certain little guy running around the house that would love to destroy them. How did I let this happen again? Luckily Audrey was still excited. That night in her prayer before she went to bed she thanked Heavenly Father for blessing us with the Halloween decorations ( I would not have thought of that) and right before she said "amen" she said "Happy Halloween!" I am sure that Heavenly Father appreciated that.

So my goal for next week: BUY SOME HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS!!!!

too old?

When I was in high school I was a cheerleader. Me and two of my sisters took a tumbling class so that we could...tumble (go figure). I have a mean roundoff (ask Travis), but I could never mentally get over my fear of doing a back-hand spring without a spotter. Both of my sisters were able to do multiple back-hand springs. I think I was always scared that my tooth pick arms would give out on me and I would land on my head. Instead of getting over my fear I just started doing roundoffs with a high rebound to make it look like I could do a back hand spring if I wanted...but last minute I decided not to (both Travis and Leah basically told me I looked like a fool when I did that, because I would do it at games and performances), I would also try doing a series of roundoffs (I am sure it looked cooler than it sounds...NOT!!!).

Fast forward a few years (more than I would like to think), and I still regret not being able to get over my fear. I brought Audrey and Phoenix to a gymnastics gym last Friday to play around and basically the whole time I was THIS close to asking one of the girl employees if I was too old to learn how to do a successful back-hand spring. But I didn't because I was too embarressed. I don't think I am too old, especially since I have slight experience. I am thinking I might have Travis spot me until I can do it on my own. If/when I can do a legit roundoff back-hand spring I will let you know.

waiting...

I am waiting for Travis to get home from work....counting down each excruciating minute. Do you ever have days where you cannot wait for them to be over? Today has been one of those days (well, not the whole day...usually the countdown begins when Phoenix wakes up grumpy from his afternoon nap), in fact I have been having a string of those days (kind of the whole summer). It is still too hot to play for any length of time outside (umm...hello mother nature! it is almost the end of September!!!), we are more or less confined to the house because Trav takes our beloved Camry most days, and after a few too many creepy encounters in our neighborhood I have decided to eliminate walks (as if it is cool enough to walk outside anyway). Sometimes I hide from Phoenix because for some reason if he is grumpy he will just follow me around and whine and cry...but if I leave the room he is totally cool playing with his kitchen. He is on to a lot of my hiding places.

Needless to say, me and the kids jump up with excitement when Travis comes through the door. Relief for all of us. For me the relief comes in the form of another adult to help with the kids many (MANY) needs...whether it be fixing Audrey her 7th meal of the day, or changing Phoenix's 12th poopy diaper. For the kids, they get relief from their boring (worn out) Mom.

Yay! He just came home!! Excuse me while I pretend that our outing to the mall and to get pizza with the kids is a romantic date with my hunny!

Premier Week!!

Finally the fall premiers are upon us. Here is my schedule for the week...

Monday - DWTS (Dancing With the Stars)

Tuesday - Glee, then DWTS results

Wednesday - The Middle, and Modern Family

Thursday - The Office, and 30 Rock

Friday - Nothing (no good shows are ever on Friday because I think the TV networks assume that most people do things on Friday nights...I am thinking about starting a petition to bring back TGIF)

What shows are you watching this week?

Lake Benson

We discovered an awesome lake a few weeks ago when our ward was having a Pig Pickin in this location. There is a pretty cool playground, a huge field where you can literally let your kids run wild, and then of course a beautiful lake. The bathrooms smell like the latrines from Girls Camp, but that is pretty much my only complaint.

With cooler weather on the horizon, I am thinking it is the perfect time to start weekly outings here.

new shoes = big boy

Phoenix has been walking for a few weeks now. I was just thinking the other day how even though he is walking like a big boy, he still looks like a little baby to me. We went shoe shopping for the little man today, and suddenly he seems so much older with his new shoes on.

(sorry about the mess behind him, I am currently reorganizing his closet..a little bit at a time)