Audrey

Audrey is liking school more and more. Her favorite classes are science and PE, but she also loves art, music, dance and drama (all of the cool classes). She has a few good friends in her class, and a boy that wants to be her boyfriend (she does not return the affection). She has learned how to snap her fingers, and to jumprope. She still cannot tie her shoes (I think I keep hoping she will magically learn how to). She knows how to write a few words, including: and, is, and the. She has been taking swim lessons since September, and she recently started to LOVE it, and she is also getting comfortable with going under the water (which is the hardest thing). I am so proud of my little girl! She has been such a great helper lately, and she is so fun to have around. She has a great sense of humor. I love this little lady!

Phoenix

Phoenix is loving school, since he has started he sits in one place better, he will eat goldfish (Hallelujah!!!), and he is constantly improving his speech. He still is not saying a lot, but his vocabulary includes:

Mamma (usually said in a frustrated grunting voice...)

Dadda

Sissy

Thomas

Choo-choo

Doggy

Car

HELP (he likes to use this word in public and he likes to yell it, like for example today in Target... when I was trying to keep him in the cart...and attempting to keep my cool...)

Bath

Fishy

NO! (also likes to use this word as loud as he can, in the most embarressing situations)

Night night

Here you go mamma

Wanna go side? (want to go outside?)

All done!

Baby

He has decided to more or less eliminate his naps, he will take about 1 per week, maybe 2. In some ways it is nice, like how I put him to bed earlier, but in other ways (like how he is way more grumpy) it is not so great. He loves to ride Audrey's jeep around (he sits in the passenger seat and pushes the pedal from there...meaning he does not steer), he still loves trains and cars, he loves to read Clifford stories, he has added Oatmeal to the foods he will eat. He is the funnest little guy, but he still has some whiny periods (when he is sick usually). He is definately loved!

Phoenix and Audrey

Almost a month ago is the first time Phoenix had willingly given Audrey a hug. Ever since Phoenix was born he had a (healthy) fear of Audrey, but I thought he would grow out of it sooner. I think he has...started to at least. They have been playing more together, Phoenix will let Audrey put his shoes on once in a while, and he loves interacting with "sissy" (still can't say Audrey). It makes things so much easier, and it warms my heart (cheesy alert), I am so glad to have these two adorable kiddos in my life!

Halloween Happenings

I had an advent countdown for Halloween, and before Halloween day we had only gotten through about half of them (out of 13), so we somehow managed to fit everything else into Halloween and it turned out great. The kids had a lot of fun, and I was really glad that we got everything done!

Carving Pumpkins, roasted the seeds (did not turn out great)

Delish Pumpkin Sugar cookies!

Posing with a witch (we hung her on our fan so that she was actually flying around the room, the kids loved it!!).

Halloween feast (mummy head pizza's did not look so mummyrific, but the toes wrapped in bandages and dipped in blood (aka ketchup) were a hit).

Halloween Party

Every year our church has a Halloween party. Our ward really goes all out, tons of the adults dress up so it is a lot of fun. Travis went as a silver street performer (a lot of people did not get it...I guess the street performers are a bigger city thing), I went as an experimental insane asylum escape (a lot of people did not get that either, but I knew they wouldn't), Audrey went as Eloise as a Police Office (costume within a costume, her idea), and Phoenix went as Justin Beiber. We had a lot of fun, and Phoenix's costume was perfect for him because he really does not like wearing costumes. Travis won an award. Yeah Baby!

I should mention that Travis went as a Stomp Pest Control Tech Silver street performer. Perfect, dontcha think? Someone asked how he got his hair to stay like this...lol...it's a wig.

Audrey's Field Trip

I got to go with Audrey on her first field trip (for Kindergarten at least)! It was back in October (and I am posting about it now because I still have not caught up). It was a frigid day. Luckily I thought to bring ALL of Audrey's coats, fleeces and sweatshirts because there were a bunch of kids in her class that needed to borrow them. We went to a corn maze, both mine and Audrey's first time. I was hoping it would be great, but after getting lost in the maze with 10 rowdy Kindergarteners for over 20 minutes I decided that corn mazes really are not that great. Audrey was so glad that I was there, and so was I. It was fun to get to meet some of her friends.

Annual Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

We of course went to our favorite pumpkin farm this year. Phoenix is getting to the stage that he does not need a stroller or a leash, it is soo nice!! Every year this farm adds something substantial and new, so it is always a different experience. The weather was perfect and so were the kids. We all had a wonderful time. Audrey's favorite part was the corn house, Phoenix loved the train ride, I liked the hayride, and Travis liked...probably the corn house the best.

Minnie!!

Our friends went to Idaho for a week, and we had the privelage of watching their adorable dog for them. Audrey is kinda obsessed with Minnie, Phoenix liked Minnie, but he left her alone for the most part. It was really nice having a dog around. She slept in our bed every night, and she followed me around (melted my heart). We are definately planning on getting a few dogs in the future (probably when we buy a house). When Jaxon came to pick Minnie up I looked at our kitchen floor and realized I hadn't swept it for a week (anyone with kids knows you have to sweep a kitchen floor about 2 times a day), but that sweet dog had kept my floor clean for me!!

"Thomas World"

I met a few friends last year through Audrey's preschool. I keep in touch with two of the Moms and we get together about once a month (sans kids). One of them has a son who LOVES Thomas, and as many of you know Phoenix loves Thomas as well. My friend gave me the heads up that Thomas was coming to town (meaning to a town 2 hours away). We surprised the kids (and as always Travis let it slip out before we got there). Audrey has been resistant to Thomas, I think she looks at it as Phoenix's thing, and I also think she is a little jealous of all of the trains that Phoenix has (even though he shares very well with her). Well, Audrey was jumping up and down with excitement when we told her that we were going to see the real Thomas.

We got to ride on a train "pulled" by Thomas. He is really more of a prop. We kept waiting for the train to pick up speed, but it never did. Lame!!

Sir Topham Hat was much shorter in real life than he looks on TV. Phoenix was a little freaked out by him (to be honest so was I).

At the end of the day Travis said that it was boring and he would not go back next year. Audrey said it was the best day ever, and she wants to go back to "Thomas world" again next year. I explained to Trav that it was geared towards kids 3-5 years old, and after looking back at all the fun the kids had, Trav agreed that he would go again next year (for the kids sake).

blog bulemia

I had a case of blog bulemia...now I am ready to purge. Brace yourself for the last two months of our goings ons....

Truth be told

So...it has been a while to say the least. It has been a big adjustment with Audrey starting school, most days I am still sad about it...which is why I haven't been in a "bloggy" mood for a while. She is getting more friends, and she is really enjoying her mandatory electives (dance, drama, art, science, PE, and music). She still does not like her teacher (still not a huge fan myself...but I remain positive about him for Audrey's sake). It just breaks my heart in so many different ways. Like, knowing that I am dropping her off at a school where she doesn't feel any love from her teacher, and she is constantly talking about how much she hates school. Her growing up, this is the first major step of her inevitable independence from me. If only this was half day kindergarten, if only I had just ONE more year to have Audrey in the house. If only she had a different teacher (not that her teacher is awful, she is learning things, but he is definitely not the nurturing type)...

I feel a lot of guilt and confusion. I can't help but think of how the situation could be different. I am constantly arguing with myself. Should I try to get her switched to a different teacher? Should we move to a better area to get her into a better school, or would pulling her out of her school half way through the year be more damaging? I know that she would miss all of the extra classes that her school offers if she switched schools, and I know that it is difficult to get students switched to a different teacher with out a good reason (and I know that we do not have a strong case).

There are some good things, like Audrey has gotten praise from a few different teachers about her artwork (which is REALLY good!), her science teacher is wonderful and Audrey loves her, Audrey is always showing me new dances that she learns in school (which is soo cute!). Things are definitely getting better as time passes.

My relationship with Audrey was really strained for the last few months as well. During the summer she started to be more insistent on wearing clothes that she picked out. I love Audrey, but we really do not agree on fashion. She loves to wear the UGLIEST things in her dresser. I like her to wear cute clothes (gasp!). Once school started things got a little out of control. I do not understand where she comes from because I ALWAYS wanted to dress in style, I knew what hair styles looked good, I knew what accessories were popular, and I have always wanted to look my best. Audrey's idea of what she'd like to wear to school is: high water, tapered, faux corduroy, elastic waist, saggy butt, navy blue pants pulled up no less than 6 inches above her belly button (which usually...always...results in a wedgie), paired with her bright pink crocs, and a hanes T-shirt that she painted last year, and she would be totally happy if I let her walk around with her bed hair (rat's nest). Needless to say there were many mornings before school that both me and her would literally be screaming at each other. Things have calmed down significantly, I have started the process of learning to accept the fact that my daughter has...ahem...very different taste than I do (even if I do not understand it) When I was younger I would have loved it if my Mom had made me flower headbands, and hair bows, and earrings, and necklaces, bought me knee high brown boots that make a clicking sound, and of course stylish clothes. I never considered that I would have a daughter that did not appreciate those things.

So in a nutshell, the above is my explanation for my long absence from blogging. My relationship with Audrey is on the mend, and I am feeling much better about that. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.

My Baby!

It is no secret that Phoenix is my baby, I totally coddle this lil guy (I think it is because the rough patch...which lasted for a year...teething...is over and I am so grateful to have this happy lil guy in my life). Well, Phoenix has another Mommy it turns out. Who, you ask? A little girl in his preschool class. When Phoenix walks into class she runs over and says "My Baby!!!", and when I pick Phoenix up from school she is so sad that "her baby" has to go home. His teachers said that they are always buddies in the line (so they hold hands). I told this to Audrey and she said "Phoenix! You should be ashamed of yourself! We don't hold hands until we are married!" I am not sure he got the memo...and also not sure where Audrey got that from. I do remember telling her to save the passionate kissing for marriage, but I did not put restrictions on hand holding...yet. I met Phoenix's lil Mommy's Mom and she told me that her daughter talks about "her baby" ALL the time. It is so cute!

One last LOST post

LOST is over. TV basically is back to normal, new medical dramas every season, and of course the new crime solving dramas. Totally overdone in my opinion. LOST was truly a one-of-a-kind show, and I am still amazed at the originality of it. The final episode left many people unhappy. I was totally satisfied (pretty much). I already knew there was no time for ALL of the questions to be answered, and I knew that the end would be somewhat unpredictable. I have come to find out that a lot of the people that were dissatisfied with the finale did not interpret it the same way I did. I never thought the people were dead the whole time, it was very clear (to me) in the finale that the people (who survived the 6 seasons) went on with their lives, and the alternate reality was a pre-heaven state..."purgatory" as it was referred to in an online breakdown that I read (and highly recommend).

http://screenrant.com/lost-finale-explanation-kofi-61464/all/1/

I think if more people had understood this there wouldn't have been so many negative reactions to the finale. I just wanted to do the show justice and clear up some misconceptions.

Also, there is an epilogue which ties up a few loose ends. It has been removed from pretty much every site that had it posted, but this one still had it up (you are gonna have to suffer with subtitles en francais).

http://videosift.com/video/LOST-Epilogue-The-New-Man-in-Charge

So, after all of this, I don't think people can bash on the finale. It was an appropriate ending to an amazing show. Namaste!

Phoenix's First Day of School

Phoenix is going to preschool this year on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I thought it would be good for him, and I had such a good experience with Audrey last year that I was excited for him to start. When we went to meet his teacher he was very timid and clingy. At one point he thought that I had left him there and he bolted out of the door, luckily I saw him and I caught him. Then he saw the bucket-o-cars and all of his worries left him. I was a little aprehensive on his first day because he was so scared when I brought him before. His first day of school he had to use Audrey's old princess backpack (he did not seem to mind). He was too excited to pose for a picture (shocker!), and he went right into the classroom and started playing with the cars. When we (Trav came to) went to pick him up he yelled "Da-da!" and ran into Trav's arms. It was soo cute! Now that he has been going to school for a few weeks he usually fake cries when I bring him in (because there are a few other kids crying) and then when I leave he stops crying immediately. When I pick him up he is so excited and I can tell that he had a great time. He has made a few pictures, and he is actually eating his lunch! He tries to bring his backpack in the car even on days that he doesn't have school. He is such a little cutie, and I am really happy that he has something that he enjoys so much.

Audrey's Worst err I mean First Day of School

I got to spend a wonderful day with Audrey yesterday, we went shopping for a few new clothes, ate lunch at Olive Garden (she asked for a 2nd bowl of soup!!), and we had a lot of time for girl talk. She picked out the skirt she wore today (her first day of school) yesterday.

You may or may not have noticed, but she is not a traditional poser...

Audrey had her assessment day for Kindergarten last week, and she had fun that day. She bought her lunch (chicken nuggets, broccoli, apple, and chocolate milk), and she made two friends. She had a great time and she was excited to go back to school. Last night was meet the teacher and unfortunately it was NOT the teacher I had hoped for. Audrey was disappointed because she only likes girl teachers and she got the boy teacher (I was disappointed to, but I pretended not to be for her sake...I know, how noble of me!). Anyhoo, when I picked her up (after waiting in the carpool line for 25 minutes) she said that she had the worst day ever. At first she didn't want to talk about it, and then she said that she didn't have any friends and that everyone else was friends with each other, she didn't like her teacher, no one played with her on the playground, and there was "one super girl who was super stylish" (I asked Audrey what the girl wore and it was a Hello Kitty shirt with a vest and a sparkly skirt). I took her to Marbles and made sure that she felt extra special and loved tonight. Phoenix even licked her (which is something I have only seen him to do to me...and every other object he fancies), so that made Audrey feel better.

So...am I freaking out? No, not at all. I have just considered taking out a loan for $6500 to get her into a Christian school for ONE year (um yeah, that is like 4 semesters @ BYU-Idaho), considered moving across the city to the "right" side of town, considered pulling her out of Kindergarten and have her take one more year of blessed preschool and then moving out of state before she starts Kinder, and last but not least, considered bumping up our tentative move to Arizona to...tomorrow. OK, so maybe I am freaking out just a little (you think?!?!?)! Yes, I am worried. What if she doesn't make any friends? What if her teacher really is not that great? What if something happens to make her change who she is, my darling, spunky, sweet little girl with a wonderful (if not crude) sense of humor, a girl who knows who she is, what she likes, and has confidence? Hopefully she will make a few friends tomorrow, start to like her teacher, and get more comfortable. And hopefully I can get a grip!

Awwwdrey

Do you remember Audrey's boyfriend (the first one, not the second one)? Well, a few weeks back we were invited to Andrew's B-day party. Audrey made him a very special card. Seriously...

Andrew has green eyes (only Audrey would know)...oh and he is also missing a tooth (which Audrey was kind enough to black out), and his hair really is that length.
I love this little girl! She is such an artist, and me and Trav are definately encouraging.

(she asked me to take this picture and she held this pose until the camera flashed. Silly girl!)

Ballerina

A few weeks ago a good friend emailed me with an alert of a killer deal for a week dance camp this summer for little girls. I jumped on it (thanks for the heads up April!). At first I was going to sign Audrey up for the Princess week, but she did NOT like the sound of that (she said she wanted it to be Prince week...not sure where she gets this occasional tomboy streak from). So we both agreed on Disney week (which turned out to be very princessy, but Audrey was OK with that). She was a little nervous for her first day, but when I picked her up she said that she wanted to go to dance class every day (that is MY kind of girl!). The dance class was for 2 hours every day for one week. The girls learned ballet and tap. I was so impressed with the demonstration at the end of the week. Audrey had learned so much, and she made a beautiful ballerina.

I am so glad that she loved dance. I still dream about taking dance classes myself (emphasis in ballroom). I am definitely looking forward to watching my little princess take some more dance classes in the future!

Girls Night Out!!

Myself and 3 of my lucky friends were treated to a GNO compliments of our husbands (they surprised us!). Where did we go, you ask? Umm...none other than a Rascal Flatts concert!! Hello!

For a few pictures click here (I look totally hid. so...yeah...blame it on the blasted weather)

We got all of the typical Raleigh weather wrapped into one nice little bundle. When I say "typical Raleigh weather" I mean: rain, extreme heat, even more extreme humidity, intense sun beating down, hot breeze when you want it to be cool, cold breeze when you wish it was warm, and oh yeah...thunder and lightening. Like seriously, it was a blue sky with sun shining down on us and yet we were still getting rained on. Luckily the torrential rain waited until the last 5 minutes of the concert.

Enough about the weather, let's talk about the concert! It was awesome!!! We got there about 3 hours early. We got killer parking, killer lawn seats, and when we wanted to leave the concert we were out in about 5 minutes. We also had some time for much needed girl talk. Sara Evans opened for them and she is totally beautiful, amazing voice...etc. Then...Rascal Flatts totally killed it! The show was exciting, the music was even better than expected, the girls I went with were totally awesome. We decided we would definitely have to do this again (wink wink to all the hubs).

Thanks guys for treating us to such an awesome Girls Night Out!!!

Sister Andrew

A few weeks ago Audrey got an especially excellent lesson from her primary teachers, Heather and Ben. It was about missionaries (to learn more about Mormon missionaries click here). They made all of the students little Missionary tags and Audrey was excited about hers...

After we had dinner we decided to go feed some ducks. Audrey dressed up like a sister missionary, name tag and all!

It was really cute, and even now she keeps her missionary tag in a special place. Thanks Heather and Ben for getting her so excited about missionary work!

Phoenix's B-day part 2

I can't resist having a party...and Phoenix turning 2 was no exception. I threw it together in about a week but it turned out pretty well. I used the Thomas colors as inspiration and I put up some of the decorations in Phoenix's room after the party to help make the blank white walls a little less blank. While Phoenix was taking a nap before the party Audrey did some decorating of her own. She set up his train sets, cars, and other toys that he likes and put them on display. It was so cute that of course I left them up for the party!

Oreo truffles

So far I have taken 2 courses from the Wilton Cake decorating classes at Michaels. I am far from being good, but I will say that the classes have helped me to be able to make an adequate cake.

I cheated on this one, I just opened two bags of white chocolate pretzel flips and then drizzled the party colors on top. They were delish and I would totally do it again.

caramel corn

There was only one other boy at the party besides Phoenix (we had 9 girls I think)...but he didn't seem to mind. I found the two boys chillin outside by themselves, it was so cute!

Thanks to my friends Emily and Megan who helped me put together a bunch of last minute details, Emily took a bunch of pictures with my camera and Meg stayed late to help me clean up! I have awesome friends!