It's official, Audrey is now 3 1/2 years old and we cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by. Yes there were days early on that we wondered how will we survive to 2 months or 3 months but here we are and it has been an amazing, educational and joyous adventure. To see the optimism and the life in everyday objects through the eyes of a toddler is truly amazing. Recently a good friend wrote a blog entry about her daughter and I absolutely loved to read about her likes/dislikes/triumphs and well the real picture of day to day life that many never to get to experience due to time, space and distance. I asked her if I could use her format in an entry about Audrey. Thanks for the inspiration.
Audrey at 3 1/2...
She loves to be silly, creating new words, songs and facial expressions to make all those around her laugh. Such as between each new song she created a little verse, "and the next song, you know the words, so sing with me." She even makes up words and says its the Spanish word for it and then just giggles. We often ask her where she learned alien speak.
She loves to play games...Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, the Lady Bug Game, Pretty Pretty Princess...the list goes on. And to create her own games where she is the only one that knows the rules. Dad usually does pretty good with these and I just get reminded that those are not the rules to listen carefully and try again.
She loves to talk about anything and everything, just be sure to listen and follow along b/c she'll catch you if you don't. :) Whether it be the leaves, the seasons, the day, her mood...she loves to chat about life. And to sing about everything, to Audrey every conversation can easily be turned into a song.
She loves books and going to the library to pick out new ones to read at bed time.
And she loves her daddy time. To see the two of them together is like magic. All eyes are a glow and the world stops around them as they play, create and laugh together.
She loves to act like different characters for the day, whether it be Annie or June (from the Little Einsteins), Dora, or one of the Disney Princesses and we are often corrected when we do not call her by her name of the day. Along with this we are often assigned a character's name as well. I am usually the mom and Len is one of the boys or a prince from the story and we all act in character for the day.
She loves to get on her "cell phone" and call her friends to come over and play. Its usually a different one/group each day but we've had pretty much every Disney character over after rest time for a play date.
When she has something really important to say she always adds in, "I am serious, I am not joking at all." How can one not laugh at this?
She loves that she knows her schedule for the week and gets excited each morning to head off to school, dance, gymnastics, story time or Sunday school. Greeting each day with mostly smiles. As I paint that rosy picture of happy mornings I am reminded from time to time that a toddler's schedule is different from that of mom or dad. For instance, this morning was Wednesday and we were trying to get ready for gymnastics. Breakfast went great and we even had time to play a game but then it was time to get dressed to leave. That was not a stellar moment b/c Audrey did not want to take her slippers off to take her pj's off to put on her leotard and there she was in her bed in tears but still wanting to go to gymnastics. But we made it and the day was great.
And then there was the mall a few weeks ago where we had a true tantrum.
TWO of them. I am not used to this at all. The first was over an outfit at The Children's Place. A party type skirt with a matching sparkly pink sweater top. She told me flat out she wanted it and was not leaving the store until I bought it for her. Well that did not fly and she kept saying "I am not leaving." It was lovely. So we finally left that store and the tears were gone but the outfit not forgotten. And made our way into Build A Bear. When she decided it was Josephina's birthday (the bear she made at a friend's birthday) and that Josephina wanted new fancy socks and had to have them that night b/c it was her birthday. "How can we go home w/o a gift for her mom, she'll be so sad. Mom Josephina will be SO SAD!!!!!!" And again the tears started and the "I'm not leaving." And it went on, even after we left the store. Too smart, she knew I was buying nothing else for her after the display in The Children's Place so she twisted it to say it was for Josephina's birthday which was THAT day, so it could not wait until next time.
But even in those moments you can't help but laugh/smile/grin because she figured out a way around asking for something for herself. She is becoming so independent and strong in her ways. I know at 13 I'll love this trait as well as curse it all over again.
All dressed up.
A visit to her castle.
Striking a ballerina pose with the bunny slippers of course!
36.5 weeks, almost there!
The snow was so deep, it came up past my knees!
Happy snow angel.
The fun weekly appointments have started along with the weekly non-stress tests. For the first test he was overactive and they needed to see that he could calm down and keep a steady slower heartbeat. Which he did after some major relaxing, I almost fell asleep. This week he decided to take a nap at the start of the test that it even after 12 ounces of juice and a chocolate snack he still slept for 20 minutes! No doubt this child is ours, stubborn!! But we are all excited and anxious to meet Audrey's little brother. She just giggles and says "I cannot wait for January!"
"Driving" the train with Grandpa
Baking cupcakes with Nana
Learning to play the drums
Playing outside with the girls
Basement before
After
Halloween this year was a huge week and half long celebration! We had a cupcake decorating social, a trip to the local senior center, a parade, a school party/parade, dad's work party, a friend's Halloween party and then the big night of trick or treating. All of it was so much fin for the kids and parents too. I loved seeing the costumes and decorations at all the events we went to. What was even better was that Audrey wore a different costume for each event. She had it all planned out of what she was wearing to each. She would go to her dress-up bag and select a different princess. However she decided last minute that for Halloween night that she was going to be a Georgia Bulldog Cheerleader, so cute! On Halloween night our little one decided that she is now a big girl and had us wait by the street so that she could walk up, ring the bell and say "trick or treat" all by herself. Such a big girl!! 
Princess Jasmine (Marissa) and Princess Ariel
Princess Cinderella at her school
Ballerina Audrey at dad's work party
Princess Tinkerbell
Go Dawgs!
All of that cookie decorating left Audrey in need of spa treatment. So afterward she set up shop at her craft table. She first asked dad to paint her fingernails with her sparkle/glitter pink polish and then was so excited to see how pretty they looked that she took off her socks to have her pedicure. However, she took over the pedicure herself and did a wonderful job. She was so excited that she could paint her own toes! 
I think I will make an appointment for tomorrow afternoon with her to do my pedicure, especially since I cannot even really reach my toes right now. :)
Yummy! Today we made homemade ghost and pumpkin sugar cookies. Audrey had fun playing with the cookie dough and helping to use the rolling pin to roll out the dough. But most off all she loved decorating her ghost and pumpkin as did mom & dad. Dad had a great idea to make all different colors of frosting and that made the decorating even more fun and our creations very festive!
Audrey also decorated cupcakes at the MOMS Club social on Friday. She is becoming quite the expert on decorating sweet treats to eat. And the more toppings the better!
She loves to be silly, creating new words, songs and facial expressions to make all those around her laugh. Such as between each new song she created a little verse, "and the next song, you know the words, so sing with me." She even makes up words and says its the Spanish word for it and then just giggles. We often ask her where she learned alien speak.
We had another ultrasound today and all looks great. This little guy was very active! He did not like the technician's wand going over my belly at all, in fact he kept hitting at it with his hand, it was quite amusing to us all. He also kept playing peek-a-boo when she tried to get a 3-D picture for us of his face. He kept putting his hands up over his face. Quite the comedian we have on our hands. And oddly enough he seems to be flexible and long, one leg & foot remained near his face for most of the ultrasound. I guess he was thinking if his punching the wand away did not work he would result to kicking. They are estimating that he is currently about 2 1/4 pounds and doing great.
Hi all! Well with almost 25 weeks down and less than 14 to go we are doing great around here. Fall activities are in full swing, including school, gymnastics, dance class, story time, playgroup and many others added in along the way. "Little brother's" appearance has been scheduled to be made on January 14, 2009 around 2:00pm and we are all very excited. We have an ultrasound scheduled for next week so look for "baby bro" pics sometime soon. :) His first blog appearance, roll out the red carpet please. And with Halloween soon approaching we are looking forward to many costume changes and costumed events as well. And I am sure there will be several cupcake/cookie decorating activities planned as well.
This past Saturday was Home Depot Saturday and Audrey got to build a leaf press! Perfect for all the falling leaves soon to come. She has gotten pretty good with a hammer and loves going and getting a new pin for her apron. This was a special Saturday, project days are usually the first Sat. of the month. I highly recommend going and checking it out at your local store (no I do not work for them but Audrey LOVES going!). Your little builder will too. Upcoming for the first Saturday of October is a Fire Truck!
Hammer away!
The finished project and the showing off of the pins!
How appropriate that fall is here and the theme of the last two weeks at school has been APPLES!!! And to go with it they have learned songs about apples, made apple crafts and are going apple picking next week for their first field trip. Audrey is so excited to be going on a field trip where she gets to ride a school bus, pick apples, go on a hayride, and of course, eat apple cider donuts.
We picked 20 lbs and there were still so many apples!
Audrey picking a great one for Nana
Audrey & Nana comparing their picks.
So many pumpkins!
Hi! Today was a thrilling day at school for Audrey. She learned many new songs and could actually sing them to us. That was really cool. She was the "helper" for the day and got to help the teacher with the calender and to hand out the snacks to all the kids. She has been wishing to be the helper since day one. Last Thursday Audrey was the "leader" so for outside time she was the line leader but even better that was fire drill day so she got to lead the kids out of the school and back in. What a big girl. But none of that even compared to her first homework assignment. Audrey was beaming that her teacher gave her an assignment to bring home to complete. And she listened to the directions very well at school because she was able to tell me exactly what she needed to do before I even read the attached note from the teacher. All of the kids were given a large white sheet of paper with a pumpkin outline drawn on it with a black marker and then they were to decorate it on their own. Before I could even ask how she wanted to decorate her pumpkin she told me that she was going to paint it orange with a green stem and once that dried she would decorate it with jewels to make it a princess pumpkin. The painting was completed within 10 minutes of walking in the door from school and the decorating was completed immediately after dinner tonight. She saved the decorating so dad could watch her work on her homework too. We are very proud of our studious daughter. 
Painting the stem green, of course!
The final product, not due until Tuesday!
Yippee!!! Today we went to an indoor gym after story time at the library to play, play and play a little bit more. Story time was lots of fun and we read 3 books. Audrey's favorite was about a mouse who had an apple that would not fit into his mouse hole. How silly! So what did the mouse do? He took bites of the apple of course. According to Audrey he took 100 bites! Now that's one hungry mouse. But the indoor playground stole the show for the day. The girls bounced and played and climbed and literally wore themselves out. It was so nice to be able to sit back some and chat while the girls played and interacted.
Oh no! Audrey & Marissa are trapped!!
Audrey sailing the boat.