Cookies for Everyone but only if you dare

After we arrived in Kansas this afternoon we headed over to Great-Aunt Karen's to visit with the family. The older cousins were making sugar cookies and generously offered to have the little ones help them.  I am amazed at the patience and love that Kate, Abby, and Sam demonstrated.  The girls had a Fantastic Time!  

Cousin Abby and Phoebe cutting out santa cookies

Cousin Eleanor working hard to cut out her cookies

Cousin Abby and Audra working on their tray of cookies

Cousin Kate helping Phoebe and Eleanor

A turtle tale

One of the items on Audra's Christmas list was "Crush the Turtle" from the moving finding Nemo.  Basically she has been talking incessantly about how she is going to get Crush for Christmas and is SO excited that he is coming to live with her.  Ben and I did not get it for her thinking that someone else would choose it for their gift.  When that did not happen we made a special trip to the Disney store in a nearby town.   The tricky part was purchasing it and getting it home without her seeing it.   We were able to accomplish this with a little white lie about the bag containing something for Phoebe.  However, we were naive to believe that this story would satisfy Audra's curiosity.  Little stinker got up on our bed while Ben and I were making lunch and looked in all of the packages.  Of course I didn't know this until the next day when she pointed to the bag in my closet and asked "Why does Phoebe get a Crush and not me, I wanted him for Christmas".  I guess next year I will have to go shopping alone and hide the presents until I get a chance to wrap them.

Crush "hiding" in the tree

"Hey mom, my friend Crush is in the tree! Can I have him finally?

"I love you my crush"

FYI - Nemo (Audra's previous BFF) has been relegated to the closet - but Phoebe is still not allowed to play with him =)

Little Brown Riding Hood

Phoebe is in LOVE with the basket I use to keep Greta's toys and clothing in (yes our dog has her own clothes). She often empties the basket and takes it to other parts of the house filling it with goodies along the way

Today the basket contained: a kitchen spoon, several kids books, kitty (of course), two christmas ornaments, and a dog bone.  

You never know what I will find there tomorrow...

The truth comes out

I got a voice message from Ben a few minutes ago saying that he checked the blog while at work and noticed the new post about Greta the house cleaner.  Not wanting our friends and family to be misinformed he confessed that HE put Greta into the high chair and then left for work. I am not nearly as impressed as I was when I thought she got up there on her own.  

Now you know...

My house cleaner

Ok so despite my best efforts I am not able to clean up immediately after a meal. This morning I come back to clean up the breakfast things after changing Phoebe and this is what I find...

It appears that Greta has done my job for me.

I had no idea how she even got up into the chair (she is a little dog who CAN NOT jump).  The funniest part about the whole situation was she could not figure out a way to get down and had to sit up there until I came back and rescue her.

Ladies Night

Tonight I was able to steal a few moments (hours) to myself and spend a little time with my fantastic group of girlfriends. We have a weekly play group for our kids but once a month we like to get together and have a little girl time with full conversations, hot food, and tasty beverages.  These ladies have enriched my life in numerous ways and I am so glad and thankful to have them in my life.

Any of you want to move to St. Louis?????

Hazardous to your health

So I have recently discovered that having children can be hazardous to your health, or at the very least my health.  Case in point:  Audra and I were playing in her room last week when she landed directly on my ribcage.  It really hurt but I did not really think anything about it.  Problem was the pain did not go away and was progressively getting worse (I can't even take a deep breath without pain).  So today I finally went into the dr. an sure enough Audra cracked my rib.  Not really anything that can be done except take pain meds and give it time. I am just glad she landed on me and not Phoebe (although Phoebe is a brick house so she would have probably faired better than I did).  The funny part about this is that Audra thinks she "broke" me so she keeps doing little things to make be better, like reading me her favorite books.  It makes me proud as a mom to realize that I am raising a child with such a tender heart. I hope that she always retains her caring nature.  

Clarkin-mas

This past Sunday we had our annual Christmas / Birthday celebration with our friends the Clarkins.  As always we had a great time, we will really miss them when we move to St. Louis.

Phoebe examining all of the "goodies" in her musical drum

Audra showing Nemo his new towels

Way to go Grandma Debbie

On Saturday Grandma Debbie and Papa George "stole" Audra for several hours for an undisclosed reason. On Sunday we discovered it was to make this hand print ornament for our tree. What a nice surprise!

Giving Auntie Becca a Run for her Money

As many of you may have read on the blog Audra has recently become interested in taking pictures using the camera phone as well as our "for reals" camera. On Sunday Grandma Debbie and Papa George gave her her very own digital Camera. To say that she was thrilled would be an understatement.  I don't think the camera has left her side since Sunday evening (when she sleeps it has a special place next to her bed)!  You better watch out Antie Becca you may not be the only professional photographer in the family for long!

Audra examining her brand new camera.

It did not take her long to figure out how to use it... now we can't get her to take a break=)

Picture composition is obviously something we are going to have to work on

Audra is in love with WALL-E (after Nemo, of course).

This is a picture she took of her new WALL-E book

Phoebe is still a favorite subject of hers!

I've changed my mind

In our never ending search to replace Audra's "kids stuff radio" we are trying out various free Internet radio services.  Our latest discovery is pandora.com.  The plus side of this site over my previous favorite is that it does not feature 20 second commercials.  While I type this we are listening to the Christmas station on Pandora.  It has a fantastic mix from classic Bing to Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Plus, the kid stations are great and of course it has my Ani!

No thanks, I'll do it by myself

It appears that all of the recent ice skating success had gone to Audra's head.  Check out her response to Ben's offer of assistance.  

Peek a Boo

You can't see me

Here I am!

Phoebe throughly enjoys playing Peek-a-boo with everyone, including her favorite friend, Kitty-Kitty. It is quite cute to see her hiding from her stuffed animal.

Ms. Independent

This week we decided to go to the ice rink on Friday night rather than our typical Sunday evening.  We missed last week because Ben was on call so this was the only the third time Audra has been on the ice this season.  It is amazing to see her confidence grow each time we take her skating!

"Hey mom and dad, look at this"

We could not believe she initiated this on her own!

Will work for Shoes and Stories

Phoebe will be 15 months at the end of December (crazy!) and has been "getting around" for quite some time.  However, it has been primarily on her seat rather than her feet.  So...Ben and I have been doing a little "physical therapy" with her.  Encouraging her to walk by enticing her with her favorite things, her pink shoes and Sandra Boynton books.

Although she still chooses scooting as her main mode of transportation we are hoping that our "intervention" soon takes hold and she chooses to walk on her own.  I will miss having a buffed floor but enjoy not having to scrub all of her pants!

Christmas pictures...take 53

I was feeling a bit behind on my holiday preparations and decided to take a few pictures for the annual Christmas card.  I had the fantastic idea of taking them outside by our neighbors evergreen trees... the girls found the spot to be less than desirable.

Once we came inside the girls found the process much more enjoyable.

Audra loves to "ham it up" for the camera. She is such a great helper!

Perhaps with this cute headband everyone will finally recognize that Phoebe is a girl!

O' Christmas Tree

We took some time on Wednesday night and put up a few Christmas decorations. Audra helped Ben put up the tree and then proceeded to "decorate it" all by herself!

Audra showing off her decorating skills

Spacing was a bit of an issue as you could imagine

Audra and her "pumpkin"!  

She insists on calling snowmen pumpkins and we are not sure why.

Story Time with Audra

Audra loves to read and she especially gets a kick out of reading to Phoebe.  Here she is reading Sandra Boynton's Red Hat, Green Hat

The Budding Photographer

Audra loves to play with my old cell phone using it to call her friends and take pictures around the house. After taking multiple pictures the other day she handed me her phone and said "these are good ones mom, please post them to the blog".  Because the phone is not one we use anymore I could not post her "good photos" and gave her our "real" camera to take a few shots.  Here is Audra's first official blog post...

Nemo is not only her favorite stuffed animal it is her favorite subject to photograph as well

Obviously subject matter is something we are going to have to work on

Phoebe was not sure what to make of Audra wielding the camera but she made her obligatory photo face anyway (aka this is Phoebe "smiling" for the camera).  I think I will be purchasing a "child friendly" digital camera in the near future... unless Santa chooses to bring her one for Christmas (hint, hint)