Snow Days- Let's Catch Up!!!

Well we are on our second round of snow for the winter season 2010-2011. They actually closed my office today too so I'm home enjoying snow and catching up on some things but mostly playing with Audrey. So let's catch up.

Since our last update we've been to birthday parties, Thanksgiving, Christmas, new Years and another snow!

Halloween Audrey was Tinkerbell. She got a lot of wear out of the costume as Halloween was on a Sunday so some places did trick-or-treating on Saturday and some on Sunday. We joined some friends in their neighborhood on Saturday and went to my parent's neighborhood on Sunday. She also wore it to the local nursing home for trick-or-treating with her school and to the fall festival at church. Halloween was a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving was good; lots of family, black friday shopping and good times. My aunt and uncle and their kids joined us for Thanksgiving. Mom and I got all but one of them to join us for black friday shopping at 4:30 am! I was able to get the things I went after when we went shopping so that is always positive. We had so much fun visiting and shopping. I'd love to make it a tradition (hint hint).

Audrey had a singing program at school that was really cute. The kids sang Christmas songs and then Audrey got to show off her classroom to everyone. She was loving it.

Christmas was great as well. My brother and his 2 girls joined us for Christmas. Jamie and I took all 5 girls for a morning of girl activies. It was a lot of fun!!! We loved having them in for Christmas. My niece got to enjoy her first snow ever (or at least that she remembers- she lives in AZ) on Christmas day. The white Christmas was beautiful but almost messed up or dinner plans. Jay and Jamie finally were able to leave their house and join us at Mom's for gifts and dessert. Audrey got lots of nice things from santa and from the rest of the family.

Audrey and I had a lot of fun during her first winter break from school. We went to a kids cookie class which was a lot of fun. We knew several of the girls in the class so it made it even more fun for the girls and all the decorating they did. Santa came in at the end of the class and Audrey actually warmed up to him and gave him a hug and took a picture with him. We were shocked. Until then she was terrified of him. We had a slumber party where we stayed up late and watched Beauty and the Beast. We went to Chuck-e-cheese and build-a-bear. We played with her new toys and games. It was awesome. But alas, all good things must come to an end and I had to go back to work and she had to go back to school. She was in school for 4 days before our first snowfall in 2011 has already kept her out for 2 days now and probably will keep her out a few more. We had a lot of fun playing the snow this morning, napping and playing games this evening.

Audrey has gotten perfect attendance at school for both 9-weeks so far. They give them out in an assembly each 9-weeks so she was excited to hear her name and get a certificate.

Cute story from tonight: I was making some tea when Audrey asked what it was. I told her tea. She said "Do you know how to make that?". Usually my mom makes my sweet tea for me so I don't think she has ever seen me make it. Anyway, I said yes. She said then why does Mimi make it- to which I answered because her's taste better than mine. Audrey then proceeded to ask "Will yours be good?". I had to laugh. The verdict: Audrey said mine was good!

Finally, as I was browsing the newspaper today I noticed that the gentleman that was Scott's mom roommate in the nursing home had died. I was telling Scott and Audrey asked what happened. We told her. She has since been upset about it so we've spent sometime this evening talking about what happens when people die, heaven and Jesus. I think she is still absorbing it all. If anyone knows a good children's book on death please let me know. She has probably seen or talked to James 20 times or so in her life but she was still upset about it which kinda of surprised Scott and I.

Enjoy some of the pictures below. I hope you all had a great holiday and snow (if you got some too)

School, Football and Fall

So fall has finally decided to join us in October and we are ready for the cooler weather. Audrey is doing great in school so far.

August was a busy month for us as we celebrated Audrey's birthday w/ a party at Pump it up. She and all the kids loved it of course.

Audrey started Kindergarten in August and is doing well and loving it so far. She is already learning so much. We will get an official progress report soon but we have already met with her teacher once and she had nothing but good things to say. Audrey loves doing her homework but she doesn't really want us to correct it or help her with it- she just wants to do it. We will keep working on that.

Audrey started Soccer in late September and is really enjoying it. She scored the 1st goal of the season at the 1st game but since then she's just been running up and down the field.

Audrey had her 1st field trip on Oct. 1st to the corn maze here in Chattanooga- Scott went along and said she had a great time. A friend took some pictures but I don't have any to show yet.

Of course, September brought about football too so we've been in full swing watching games. Enjoy a picture of Audrey in her Ole Miss gear below.

We've been busy

WOW- Where have we been. Let's see well May and June were extremely busy months for us. Audrey and Clara (my niece) were flower girls in my cousin, Maegan's wedding in May. It was a beautiful wedding in SC. The girls did so good and had so much fun! Audrey had Pre-K graduation from Primrose. She really enjoyed that school and made a lot of friends- none of whom will go to Kindergarten w/ her : ( She has enjoyed seeing some of them at birthday parties over the last few weeks. She had her dance recital in June and we went to the beach for vacation in June. Things were a little slower in late June and July but we are gearing up for more now. Audrey's birthday part is Friday, her birthday is next week and then she starts Kindgarten. She will be 5 next week. 5- where did the time go? I really do remember when we were scheduling my c-section (especially since I have several friends who have been or are pregnant and we've been talking about it lately!) but seriously- where does the time go?

Now enjoy some pictures from our summer so far. Be on the lookout for more on birthday parties and 1st school days!

I'm Back....

I'm back... Things have finally calmed down somewhat for me at work so I"m back to catch you up. I looked back at my post and I don't remember even telling you all about my work project. Back in early fall I learned that I was accepted into a program at work called ALP (Aspiring Leaders Program). You have to apply and be chosen to serve in this program. It was created to teach you about being a leader. There were only 30 people from our entire company in my class (there are usually 2 classes per year). We had a kick-off seminar in Oct where we get to meet w/ company leaders and begin our learning. We were broken into teams of 6 to begin our team projects for the next 5 months. We were given a real business problem to solve. We had to present our solutions at the final seminar in Portland Maine in March. It was a great learning experience for me. For the rest of the year we are given a mentor to work on self-study materials with. I will start that soon but it won't be nearly as time consuming as solving the business issue with my team.

So I visited Portland ME about 3 weeks ago. It was beautiful- definitely add it to your bucket list if you have never been. It was a lot of fun and work while we were there.

Audrey is doing great. She is learning so much at preschool. They have been taking each of the letters of the alphabet one week at a time to learn to write them well, how they sound, and what starts with each letter. She is on letter "W" this week so they are almost through. They have been learning to count money and tell time this month too. She really seems to enjoy school- which makes us extremely happy. In just over a month from now (May 5th) we will register her for Kindergartner! She is growing so fast....

She is behaving really well for us lately too. The reward system seems to really be working for her (fingers crossed!)

She started this thing lately where she gets really hurried trying to tell us something so I told her a few weeks ago to stop and think about what she wants to say and then say it so lately she start to say something then she'll say "Momma- I'm going to think about it for a minute then I'll tell you"- It is really cute but also a great lesson for her to slow down and think before she speaks!

A couple of weeks ago we were driving home and Scott popped a bubble that scared me and her. She said "Momma- I said, no I didn't say but I thought, that really scared me". It was so cute.

We are so glad spring has finally decided to arrive and I hope it is here to stay. We really enjoy being outside so it is nice to have that option.

Audrey has been to 2 birthday parties since my last post. One was a pottery painting and her lizard she painted turned out great. The other was a swimming party which was a nice party in the middle of winter!

A couple of pictures from my trip to Maine and few of Audrey.

dresses, dressing, and birthday parties oh my....

Saturday Jamie and I took the girls to get measured for their 1st ever flower girl dresses. My cousin Maegan asked Clara and Audrey to be in her wedding as flower girls in May. We are very excited for Maegan and Jordan and can't wait to see their wedding including the flower girls! The girls were very good and we got the dresses ordered. They will be here in March. A few pictures of the girls being measured.




So recently, like within the last week, Audrey has decided she wants to not only dress herself but pick out her clothes. The combinations have been quite interesting. Here's Sunday's Super Bowl outfit.


We also went to Addie's birthday party on Saturday- a carnival theme- and it was fun. We have another party this Saturday along w/ my Mom's birthday and of course, Valentine's day.

Catching Up... Christmas and Snow!!!!!

Christmas was great. Santa didn't go too overboard but could have cut back some. We had fun enjoying Santa gifts all day then we started over at Mom and Dad's with more food and gifts. Enjoy some pictures below.



New Years' was fine. Scott had to work New Year's Eve but was off New Year's Day so we spent some time together as a family.



Since then we've had 2 snow days. The first didn't really produce much snow but we bought a sled just in case. We didn't get to use it. Then this past Friday it started again. Originally they said the snow/ice would be here about 5 pm so I planned to leave work around 2:30 pm. It was about 3 pm when I finally got out of work and by then they said it is here NOW. It was a nighmare to get home. I was a nervous wreck. I called Scott (on speaker phone) to talk to me while I was driving because I got scared. I saw a mustang get sideways and when he finally stopped sliding he was turned around going the other direction but at least there was no wreck. When I got to a 4-way stop that started up a hill a truck (a bigger one not some small pickup) started up the hill sliding around like crazy so I turned down another street that was flat. I made it down that street w/o much sliding going about 10 MPH. I got the end of that street, turned into a strip mall where there aren't really any stores anymore and stopped. Scott came and got me in his SUV that has 4X4. Boy was driving my little honda vs riding in his a big difference. My nerves were completely shot by then but Scott got me home safely!!!

Today we went out in the snow and finally got to use the sled we bought!!! Our backyard had just enough slope to be great for a 4-year old. The first time she went down she said 'Again, Again, Again!!!!' We built 2 snowmen and threw snowballs at each other. Audrey made snow angels too. We pretty much did everything you are suppose to do when it snows!!! It was fun and completely tiring. Maybe more tomorrow. Enjoy some picture

Ready for Santa...

The presents are bought, wrapped and ready. The cookies have been made. Now we are off to eat our traditional Christmas Eve BBQ, then Santa is coming (we hope).

Things here are good. I'm off work until January 4th and have a lot of items on my to-do list before then.

A much longer post will be coming after Christmas but I thought you might enjoy a few pictures of Audrey making cookies for Santa and tasting them too!

Merry Christmas to all!