Our Holiday

We had so much fun this holiday. Grant and Audrey are at a cute age where christimas is starting to be fun. Of course we remember our Savior's birth, and our family had fun giving neighbor gifts to friends. We even had the opportunity this year to give Christmas to a family less fornunate. Grant loved rereading Twas the Night Before Christmas over and over just like he did last year. We did travel to St. George like we do every year. This year was an adventure though. About seventy five miles out of Casper we hit a deer. Our car was still driveable, but that poor deer didn't stand a chance. We are all okay, and grateful that it wasn't worse. The impact didn't feel too bad...Audrey was a little scared. We turned around and drove back home. We switched all of our Christmas and bags and everything into the truck, and started again. My biggest complaint is that we wasted two hours in the car with the kids. It's so hard traveling when they are so young. Fortunately, though, by the time we turned around, jammied the kids, and switched cars, it was about bedtime, so the kids slept while we made the long trek to Utah. Audrey slept the whole way. Grant slept off and on. We reached Paul and Robbi's house in Lindon at about 3 a.m. We are so grateful that they let us stay at their house to break up the long drive. It makes such a difference! They actually had a Christmas Eve party at their house. They served delicious food, and most of James' family came for it. It was way fun to see everyone, and to watch Paul and Robbi's kids play and entertain our little ones. I wish we could pack up Sarah and take her with us! We left for St. George at about five. We finally got to my mom's house at nine. We stayed with them for Christmas Eve. It was so fun getting up and watching Grant and Audrey open their gifts. I do have to say though, Santa did a number this year. He got everything and then some for our little ones. It doesn't seem like a lot when you look at each individual kid, but when you put it all out, it looked like a toy store. So fun! Here are some pics of our Christmas:

Grant loved his stand and play rampway. Santa struggled to get this for him, and was relieved when we finally got it under the tree. Thanks again Greg and Lyndi!We intended this rocking horse for Grant, but Audrey was the one who got on it, and smiled big! Grant wouldn't have anything to do with it. Now he does, but I think Audrey has a bit of braveness in her for wanting to try new things!Grant got a tricycle, which we are anxious to have him learn how to ride it. He's really close, and I think Audrey will want to be riding it soon too. Both kids adored the tent with a tunnel. They couldn't get enough. Even little Audrey. Too fun!

Audrey got a little kitchen. All in all, I think they cleaned up this year. We had a great Christmas and look forward to many more to come. Of course, the reasons why we make these longs trips...

Baby Girl is ONE!

It seems hard to believe that one year ago on the 10th of January, I had a brand new baby girl. Of course the whole day I have been thinking about what we were doing a year ago at this time, and I have come to the conclusion that she has grown up so very fast. She was once my chubby cheeked little baby, and she has turned into my chubby cheeked little toddler. she is no longer that roly poly baby who is content playing with her links. When she was a small baby, she used to have a smile for everyone. Now, Audrey is in the Stranger Danger phase. When she gets around someone she doesn't know very well, she will shyly hug into my shoulder. She has to be in a place where she can be entertained. She loves our new basement, and you can tell when she is bored and wants to come down. We love having her in our family, and she has such a sweet spirit, I often find myself asking what we ever did without her. We love our little Audrey!

On her birthday this year, James and I decided to do a family party. It seems like Audrey has no little friends her age. (Well, she did, but they moved! We miss you, Lyndi!) Her day started off with pancakes shaped like a one, since this is the tradition in our house. It was kind of a bummer, because Audrey had been sick on her birthday weekend, and didn't feel much like having a birthday cake. I froze some of it, so she can have it when she is in the mood for cake. We gave Audrey a Fisher-Price Learning Purse, and a Choo-Choo Stacking Train. both kids have so enjoyed playing with her new toys! She desperately needed a dress for church, so she also got one of those. I feel kind of bad for the kiddo! She has her birthday right around Christmas, and has to wait a whole year before she can ask for anything new.

We love our little Audrey! Happy 1st Birthday!

Halloween Scene

I love our ward for Halloween parties. They really go all out for this event, and its fun every time we go! But I am getting ahead of myself. Before we even got to the church, our fun began. Getting them ready was part of it. Grant was soooo excited to be an elephant! He loved wearing his costume. Whenever we would ask where the elephant was, he would point to himself. Too cute! Audrey was our little skunk this year. It's funny how different siblings can be. When Grant was a skunk, he did not care too much for the costume. He did not seem all that wonderfully happy in it, and it was hard to get him to crack a smile! This is Audrey's expression:

Complete opposite! She was so fun. She seemed to not mind her costume, and we could stay for a little while for Grant to do some games. Grant did really well this year. Last year, we had to leave early because it was too overwhelming for Grant. This year, he participated in the games, and seemed to enjoy himself more. We left after Grant played a few games. This was our Halloween! We didn't take kids out trick-or-treating on Sunday. James and I were content to just stay at home with our babies. Grant got plenty of candy, and we stayed warm in our house! Couldn't ask for much more than that!

Something kind of funny: Grant has speech therapy twice a week, and on of the activities she brings is this farm book where you can put your face in the hole and become the animal. Grant is so serious and has yet to smile during this activity:

Where to Begin....

I so need to catch up on my blogging! I have to admit...I have let my blog fall by the wayside. But with my two little ones running around and working part time, when I do have free time, reading a book usually wins out. So I will catch up as best as I can. So here goes...

When Grant gets tired he can just fall asleep anywhere. I envy this talent. This happened in mid July. I would begin to notice Grant getting tired, and pull out the secret weapon: the ending credits and instrumental music at the end of a movie. He would watch the names at the end of the movie, and fall right to sleep. Too cute!

Six months the charm:

These pics were taken when Audrey was just six months old. At this time she had cut her two bottom teeth. She weighed 20 pounds and 8.5 ounces and was in the 100th percentile for weight, and 97th for heighth.

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I still need to catch up on our summer. This past July, after my sister moved to Evanston, my parents surprised me by stopping by and staying with us. I adore the times my family gets to come and see my babies. It is time well spent. They dropped by at about 8 in the evening, and stayed till 10 in the morning. James and I got to serve them breakfast. It was fun to have them in our home to love on our babies. Even though it was a quick trip, it was time well spent.

Audrey Update (Audrey at 10 months):

Audrey loves to crawl. She is everywhere these days. She is such a fun baby! She loves to eat oatmeal, and those Gerber Puffs. She eats them by the handfuls. I think she would turn into one if we let her! She loves to "dance." When we sing a song, or hear a funny song, she will bob her head around to the music. It is so cute! Also, she loves the song The Wheels on the Bus. She can move her arms around like the wheels whenever we sing it. Her brother also loves this song, so it gets sung a lot at our house. It's way fun, and I love it! Audrey is getting more hair on her head these days. When she was eight months old, I started to put little clips in her hair. They barely hung on to the few strands of hair that were long enough to keep it in. She looked way cute in it though:

Grant and Audrey are also playing more together now than they used too. Of course, Audrey was just so little, so now that she is getting bigger, Grant is noticing more this little person with a lively personality! They love to laugh together, which has to be my favorite sound. Now, don't get me wrong, Grant and Audrey don't always get along. Sometimes Grant plays a little to rough, or sometimes he just plain hits her (which he goes directly to Time Out, whenever he does), but when they do play together, it's fun to see. These pics were one of the first few times that Grant decided to have something to do with Audrey:

Now that Audrey is bigger, she is definitely out of the infant tub, so we have been bathing the kids together. I'm sure they will LOVE these pics when they get older:

Cooper and Audrey seem to get a long much better than Grant and Cooper. I think it may be bacause when we brought Grant home from the hospital, Cooper was exiled from our bedroom at night to the living room. I don't think he has ever forgiven Grant of this. When we brought Audrey home, he still could come in our bedroom. Cooper is very nice towards Audrey. He has never pounced on her (well, he never did with Grant either) he just seems to have more to do with Audrey than he did with Grant if that makes sense.

I found some nesting blocks in my old teaching stuff, and Grant and I stacked them up. I think it's funny that he is just the same size as the blocks when they are all stacked! Too funny!

Summer

Yes, kind of way late in the year to finally be posting about summer. Been busy being a mom of two wonderful little ones, and going to work part time...still no excuse for not documenting this exciting time in our lives. I need to be better, and so with that being said, it is time to catch up!

My little Audrey is so fun to take pictures of. This summer was full of fun photo-ops. I have a trillion of them. Of course, at the time these were taken, she was still not sure about crawling around...now she is an avid crawler.

James and I have also noticed that Cooper tolerates her more than he does Grant. I don't know if this has anything to do with him not being exiled from sleeping in our bed when we first brought Audrey home (like he was with Grant). Cooper loves to lovingly lick Audrey, and he is never way over-the-top with it, which I love.

I love Audrey's baby feets. I thought they were picture worthy.

I also love that this summer I got an impromptu visit from my parents. They traveled all the way to Evanston to see my sister, Stephanie, and decided to make the 5 hour trek to come see us. I love any time my mom can come and love on my babies. It was a short trip. They came on a Saturday night and left Sunday morning, but we took tons of pics. I'm lucky to have a family that realizes the importance of keeping in touch! It was way fun to see my mom, even if it was only for a short while.

Grant update:

Grant is now saying a few words. James and I are starting to hear sentences. One that we have heard quite a bit is, "I did it!"

This summer I also bought Grant a table and chairs to work with him on. The developmental specialist in Denver recommended that we up his Speech and Occuupational therapy to every week, so we were able to do that, and James and I have started to see an improvement in his speech, and fine and gross motor skills. For example, he can lace small beads onto a string, color pictures and draw on pages, he is starting to match colors, he can pull and play with putty, and of course, he still loves his books! We have been delighted in his progress, and are excited to see it continue.

Audrey update:

Audrey is now crawling, as I have mentioned before. She is also turning out to be quite the shy little girl! When someone tries to talk to her or offer her a smile, she buries her head into the shoulder of the person who is holding her. Silly girl! She used to have a smile for everyone, but now, you have to work a little harder to get it!

Also, Audrey has decided to wake up a few times in the night. Part of this is my fault. In order to keep nursing, I have to pump at night, so when Audrey would cry, instead of just ignoring her (which is what you are supposed to do, so as not to interrupt important sleep patterns) I would just feed her and go back to bed. Unfortunately, she had been waking up two or sometimes three times a night. Not to worry, though. I have her back on a schedule, and she is sleeping through the night again. I just had to let her soothe herself, and it has proven to work.