Happy 1 1/2, Audrey!

Okay, this is going to be a month late because today is actually her 19 month day...but I will cheat and date it for last month! 

Audrey Diane is 1 1/2 years old! We celebrated with a half a birthday cake at Mom and Steve's house. The cake was delicious. In fact, the night before her half birthday Rob, Tiffany, Andrew, Steve and I ate the other half of the cake. 

Audrey has been cutting molars all month and she was very mad about that! I'm glad to be able to report that she has all four of her one year molars now! Total she has 10 teeth...half way there.

She is still tiny, 19.5 pounds. So tiny that our pediatrician wanted to get a second opinion on her growth. After a visit with the pediatric gastroenterologist, we were able to confirm that she is perfectly healthy, but just taking after me in the size department.

She is very active and expressive. I love her. She is starting to talk a lot more now too!

She loves trees and her Anna doll!

Our weekend

Andrew went to Boston this weekend to visit some friends from law school, but we kept busy thanks to our Canes obsessed family! On Friday we went to Fort Lauderdale to hang out with Dad and Kim at the hotel they were staying at. We had an awesome time and made some fun memories with Grandma! Like broken snow globes and late night swims! Also, the girls will look so fashionable during the holidays this year thanks to the fancy dresses Kim picked out! 

On Saturday morning we went to the Storybook festival at the library and it was fun. Audrey had a hard time sitting through the story telling aspect of it, but Addison loved it. And they got to meet Pete the Cat, Cat in the Hat, the pigeon from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Red Ridinghood, the Big Bad Wolf, and Froggy! Frog and Toad were not there, which was a huge bummer for me because I love those stories (we saw pictures of them there last year). All the characters were high school volunteers and they did a cute job. I can definitely picture Addison signing up for that volunteer opportunity in high school! 

Saturday afternoon Scotty, Amanda, Colin and Madilynn came over! Scotty and Colin went to the game while we played at home and at the playground. Madilynn and Audrey share a lot better with older kids than they do each other! Haha! A battle of the babies of the family! Addison adores Colin and Colin is such a fun older brother and cousin! Can't wait to spend more time with family over Thanksgiving week!

Enjoy this video of Addison practicing one on one with her coach at SoccerTots:

I think we need to start practicing more at home! I love how careful she is though!

The Fair!

Right outside our neighborhood there is a fair each year around this time. Addison ooh and ahhed over it each time we drove past it (which was every night for a week). So when she filled her marble jar this week we took her! It was her first fair. She rode on the ferris wheel, a little car ride, and we all rode on the carousel.

This is before the man stole our money basically. Typical fair scuzball. Andrew popped 5 balloons too! Instead of getting angry at the man, Andrew took the girls to Toys R Us for a stuffed animal. haha.

First carousel ride for Audrey!

Okay, get ready to see the cutest thing you've seen all day:

Addison's first time in curlers! I'd love to have an after picture too, however Addison got a little too anxious and couldn't wait for her hair to dry in them. Next time I may try having her sleep in them, but that may be a disaster.

Audrey's first time using a pillow in her crib! She's not too sure how to keep her head on it though!

Tonight we grilled shrimp, lobster, and mango for the first time! Yum!

Today was a sad day in the animal kingdom...

Earlier this week we found an injured goose behind our house. It must have been hit by a car because its feet were completely black and it could hardly walk. After talking with the Wildlife Care Center, they suggested to bring it in. So I loaded up the girls and the poor goose (in the dog crate!). Everyone at the office was so appreciative and kind. Today we found out that the goose didn't make it. One foot was completely black and the tissue was dead and the other foot was almost dead too. It couldn't walk and didn't even try to fly.

This morning the girls and I were walking the dogs and found a small, gray dead mouse on the sidewalk by our mailbox.

This afternoon, as we were leaving our neighborhood. we came across a dead iguana in the middle of the road (clearly hit by a car) and a live iguana on top of it as if it were protecting and mourning it. We called the clubhouse to send someone to clear it from the road.

Each of these deaths made me so sad today and made me cry. Addison asked if animals go to heaven. I told her I wasn't sure, but that we'd find out one day. I told her that God created animals and asked us to take care of them.

We just have too many distractions while driving, myself included (ask me about how I ran into the garage door last week sometime). I think I was so emotional about it because it (in conjunction with the garage door incident) was a real eye opener. The speed limit in our community, where these animals were hit and killed, is 25 mph. That should be a slow enough speed to prevent this type of thing if drivers would obey it. We need to slow down and become more patient drivers. We need to plan ahead and leave enough time so that we don't feel as rushed to get to our destination. We need to put our phones out of reach and pay attention. We need to move back to Chicago and sell the cars....(ha, I wish).

This is a weird post, but I find myself feeling so much more protective and emotional now that I have two precious babies in the car and on the sidewalks of our neighborhood.

Addison what are you thankful for?

This morning I asked Addison what she was thankful for and here is what she told me:

• Daddy because he loves me
• the trees and the plants
• peanut butter
• poo poo, hahahahhahah just kidding (let the bodily function jokes begin!)
• Elsa
• my beautiful dress

Sooooo, either I need to do a better job pointing out what to be thankful for each day or she's just a silly 3.5 year old without a care in the world!

Happy Halloween!

This is actually a new pumpkin. Our other one was completely rotten.

We carved the new pumpkin this morning. Addison made me wait until she changed into a dress so she could be fancier. Then she scooped one handful of pumpkin guts and went to wash her hands.

Audrey liked the pumpkin guts!

We left our candy (yes, I caved and also got some lolly pops), water, and glow bracelets outside while we took the girls out. Please admire the awesome spider carving I did! It was a super thick pumpkin and took forever! Addison loved it though.

Olaf (yay! he got home in time!), Anna, and Elsa

Sven (I was having major antler problems!), Anna, and Elsa

For those of you who do not know the characters who are taking over our lives, here they are:

The girls had so much fun trick or treating tonight! Addison did the quietest knocks ever. Audrey held her candy bucket the whole time and it was pretty heavy. When we got home, we came inside to eat some candy and heard a big group of teenagers at the door. I went out to get some water and the loot was gone. Ugh. Darn teenagers! I don't want the girls to grow up. 

It's almost Halloween!

Addison picked out our pumpkin and it's huge. We will carve it tomorrow!

I love these pictures of her. She wanted to pose with the pumpkin! She usually hates taking posed pictures.

We made some spiders and hung them in a web in the family room...the girls run under it screaming "spiders". It's awesome.

Last weekend we went to fly a kite. It wasn't windy enough to keep it up very long, but we had a fun time. Perfect day.

Today Addison was allowed to wear her costume to ballet!

 She also insisted that Audrey wear her costume. Look how big she looks sitting in that chair reading a book (upside down book!).

Addison is so excited about Halloween this year. This will be the first year trick-or-treating in a real suburban neighborhood. We will be "that family" this year as Andrew put it. I decided to buy water bottles and glow bracelets instead of candy to hand out. We eat enough sugar as it is.