Sweet Berry Farm

Amber and Naomi arranged an outing to Sweet Berry Farm last Monday. I went ahead and took a day off work so I could tag along.

The farm was about a 45 minute drive from our house, making this the longest family road trip to date. We decided to use this experience as a 'test drive' for what coming to Houston over Christmas would be like.

About 10 minutes from the farm, Audrey puked. A lot. She was pretty much covered in it. We made a pit stop at Walmart to buy her a new outfit and clean her off. She seemed fine, and we were so close to the farm that we decided to press on. That ended up being the right decision, as she was in good spirits the rest of the day and didn't have any more episodes.

It was *really* hot at the farm, but we all had a good time nonetheless. Audrey, Jace, and Kaedon went through a corn maze, painted pumpkins, saw some goats (Audrey preferred just observing, not touching or feeding), rode in tractor trailer, and picked some wildflowers. Ethan slept through most of the visit. Overall we had a great time and I think we'll be back.

On the way back, Amber and I decided to start looking at new cars. Cramming two adults and two children along with all the accompanying accoutrements into our Matrix for over an hour made is realize how cramped it really is. Even though our cars are getting on in age, they're both in good shape so we'd been reluctant to buy a new car, but now I think it really would make us more comfortable. I'll keep you p to date on what we decide, but currently, we're leaning towards the Honda Odyssey.














Audrey painting her pumpkin.


Daddy and Ethan hot and tired :)


Audrey drinking water like a big girl :)

Ring Around the Rosie

Both Kylie and Audrey know how to play "ring around the rosie", so in a stroke of genius, we got them to play with each other.



As an adult, ring around the rosie is surprisingly exhausting after the 900th time. Especially the 'all fall down' part. Mommy does a streamlined version that omits this step.

Incidentally, wikipedia says the theory that this rhyme is based on the Black Death is discounted by modern folklore scholars. Guess it was an old wives' tale after all.

Audrey's 2nd B-Day

Audrey's 2nd birthday was this past Saturday. We really appreciated all the gifts and well-wishes, and especially all the family who made the long trek from Houston. Audrey had a great time.


The party was Kai-Lan themed, after Audrey's favorite TV show, "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan". We decorated with Kai-Lan party goods and had Chinese food--orange chicken, egg rolls, pot stickers and lo mein. Mommy also made chocolate-dipped fortune cookies with sprinkles.


The centerpiece of the spread was a beautiful cake Mommy and Christy made.


Audrey couldn't quite figure out how to blow out her candle this year. Mommy had to do it instead. I hope she remembered to make a wish.


I'd never seen toddlers devour a cake so quickly. I think this is the only time Amber's made a cake and there hasn't been leftovers. Daddy barely got a piece.


Mommy made Audrey a special plate to eat her birthday cake on every year. Last year's got damaged, so Mommy had to re-make it this year.


Mommy also made Audrey a shirt for the special day. She ordered a custom iron-on online with Kai-Lan, Audrey's name, and a big number two.


There were so many gifts opened so quickly that we could hardly keep track! Audrey is stocked up on toys for quite some time :) Thank you so much!!


Daddy got her this swan palace.


..and Mommy got her an etch-a-sketch. Mommy even drew on it ahead of time :)


The B-day girl hangin' with her friends.


It was really fun to see Kylie and Audrey together again.


Parties are so exhausting! I felt the same way when it was all over.

Mr. Smiles

Ethan is a big smiler. He cracks a huge smile all the time now, at pretty much anything. Here's a few pics from back in September:

Audrey's First Haircut

I took the kids over to Christy's house to play today. We were only there for about 15 minutes when she said, "Leave Ethan here and take your girl to get a haircut! There's a place right down the street.".

I took her to a kid's salon called Kaos. I had actuallly been there before with Christy's kids. I thought Audrey would be an absolute terror. All week I've been chasing her around trying to cut her bangs with no luck.

This lady, Jacqueline was fantastic. Audrey cried for the first few minutes and kept trying to grab onto me and get off of her motorcycle, but I stepped out of her reach and things slowly got better. They put on Dora the Explorer for her to watch, gave her a sucker, and a book. The hairdresser was really sweet with her.



This little boy's mom works there. He came over when Audrey was crying and started spraying himself in the face with a water bottle. Then he gave it to Audrey so she could spray him too.

Ta-da!

Then we went back to Christy's house to play. She got to paint her first picture!

Silly Audrey

Audrey: "Mama?" (in a super sweet voice, looking right into my eyes with our faces almost touching)

Me: "Yes, baby?"

Audrey: "ROOOOOAAAARRRRR" (She lets out a devilish roar then laughs hysterically)

She loves this game. I don't know how she came up with it on her own.

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We're hanging out in the living room and she goes and stands near the kitchen, pointing at nothing, and saying "I waaaaaant". Then she goes into the kitchen and sweetly says "Come here." while she beckons with her hand. I finally get up so see what she wants and she takes off running and giggling. Several times a day she insists on playing chase in the kitchen, running around the island and the table. She never gets tired of it. This is her way of starting the game.

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Finally, the day I've been waiting for! Audrey will randomly sneek up behind me, hug my leg, and say "Mama, I luh you".

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When Audrey wants you to sit next to you she pats the chair she's sitting in and says "chair". I guess she's confused, because she also says this when she's in our bed, or when she's sitting on the floor. She doesn't want to get in her highchair now so when she sees me with her food she pats the floor, says chair, and wants me to sit with her there while she eats.

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Sometimes when Audrey wakes up in the morning she says "Mama, I happy." It's a lovely way to start the day.

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The words Audrey knows best are "bite" and "more". If she sees you with food she always wants some. Usually she'll take a bite, run around the island, stop for another bite, and repeat.

Pics!

Audrey and her cousin, Kylie. They are so cute together. Audrey kept looking for her after they went home. She'd wake up from a nap or in the morning with a big grin and run around the house trying to find her.

Jen and I created masterpieces at Painting with a Twist.

Grandma with her babies

Perry knows how to win over this little girl. All it takes is a fancy I-Phone and Kai-Lan videos

Swim lessons

Ethan smiles now

Audrey won't go up to bed without giving her little brother a kiss.

Two of her favorite things...climbing into boxes and not wearing clothes.

Audrey climbing into Ethan's bouncer. The back is supposed to be about a foot off the ground, but she exceeded the weight limit long ago.

It eventually flipped over.

Chris got me a wine of the month club subscription to celebrate the end of pregnancy and nursing. My first bottle, a new wine glass, and a corkscrew I can finally use. It's called "screwpull".

He's growing so fast! His last check up was two weeks ago and he weighed 12 pounds.

There's a Party In My Tummy

I've been feeling guilty because since Ethan's been born I haven't been cooking much. We've just been eating crap. The sad thing is that I really do enjoy cooking and I think one reason why Audrey is such a good eater is that I've exposed her to so many different kinds of foods (Well, the Indian Dahl I made last week didn't go over so well. First time she ever spit out her food!). I just got a new cookbook to motivate me and I've already made several recipes. It's called "The Mom's Guide to Meal Makeovers". It's full of food that most families like to eat, but made in a healthier way. Tonight I made Mama's Amazing Ziti. It tasted like a really good hamburger helper and didn't really take any longer to make. It was also healthier than the boxed stuff. I was going to type up the recipe, but decided to google it instead, thinking maybe someone had posted it somewhere and I could just copy it. Instead I found the entire book posted on Google Books. Hmmmmm....I don't know what's up with that. Anyway, here's the recipe (and the rest of the book). I also made the chicken nuggets, the cauliflower with cheese sauce, and the broccoli.

Mama's Amazing Ziti