The Human Swiffer

Audrey has figured out her own little way to get around. I have to laugh, because when I was a teenager I babysat a little boy who got around the exact same way Audrey is. I used to think this little baby boy was so odd to just not crawl. Well, I guess your thoughts come back to bite you! It's okay though, Audrey's happy and her own unique style is pretty cute. She definitely prefers the laminate floors and moves around quite a bit on them. She doesn't move around as much or as quickly on the carpet upstairs. I think we're finally going to have to purchase that baby gate... :)

First Jack-o-Lantern

Sunday night we (well, really Andy and Rachel) carved our first ever jack-o-lantern. I'm not a huge fan of cleaning a pumpkin out and we just haven't ever done a jack-o-lantern. Andy and I can't remember the last time we carved a pumpkin, but it's been years. We've decided to change our ways though. Rachel's getting older and getting more into the holidays. So, this year and for many more years to come I'm sure, we carved a pumpkin. Rachel really got into. I was surprised at how willing she was to stick her hands in the pumpkin and pull the icky stuff out! :) Audrey enjoyed watching the festivities from her high chair.

I then got sick and Audrey got fussy, so the girls took baths. Audrey was put to bed, and Andy and Rachel finished up the project. They did a great job and hopefully next year I'll be able to participate other than snapping a few photos and videos. Rachel gets so excited every night for us to light the candle in the pumpkin and then she loves to blow the candle out before going to bed! :)
Rachel and I have had fun all month making decorations for the house. We've made bats, spiders, ghosts, pumpkins, and a witch. It's been fun to do crafts with her and she's had fun decorating the house. Rachel loves cutting, pasting, and painting. Next week we'll have to get started with some Thanksgiving decorations... :)

32

We got to celebrate Andy on Monday as he turned 32! :) It was a pretty low key birthday since I had to get pretty darn sick on Sunday night. Luckily Andy isn't too demanding and claims it was still a great birthday. He decided this year to carry on the Dutch tradition of buying birthday cake for his co-workers. So, at work he enjoyed some Dutch cake. Then later that evening the girls had a blast helping Andy unwrap his presents.

Andy dutifully counting all 32 balloons that Rachel drew for him:

Can we help you with that tape Dad?
Loving the ribbon:

Blowing out the candles on his cheesecake (Rachel wanted to do a group of 3 candles and then a group of 2 candles for 32):

Andy was on the phone the majority of the night, he got lots of cards and emails, a soccer ball, a subscription to Consumer Reports (getting ready to head home and make some big purchases!), some clothes, and some cash. Overall a very nice birthday. I didn't get any pictures with the birthday boy, but I wasn't looking too hot on Monday. We were supposed to go out to dinner, but our date is postponed until I feel like a meal out so we'll get a picture then.

Audrey, Rachel, and I enjoyed celebrating the day with such a wonderful father and husband. We couldn't ask for more. He takes such good care of us and continually surprises us (in a good way!). I hope he knows and realizes how much his three girls love him.

Just in case you're wondering...

Andy helped Rachel last night put together her Christmas list. He even wrote down direct quotes, so here it is:

RACHEL'S CHRISTMAS LIST 2009

1. One more lipstick - "I have only one; I need two."

2. Dress-ups - Cinderella, Belle

3. A pink tree to play with
4. A pink spider like on Teletubbies
5. Teletubbies - "I want one at my house, okay?"
6. A little house with a little kitchen (sounds like Grandma Michaelson's set-up)
7. Octopus
8. A key

Not too sure about some of the items. I don't quite understand the obsession with Teletubbies - I can't remember the last time I had to endure us watching one of those shows. But I do know Rachel's been adamant about needing dress-ups just like her friends. Not too sure about the octopus and key, but hey maybe she has some grand plans. :)

Passing it around...

It first started with Rachel last weekend, then hit me on Tuesday, and now Audrey's got the bug too. The cold is making its rounds at our house. Luckily Andy has escaped the nasty cold and hopefully he'll continue to do so... We need someone healthy around here to hold things together. Rachel's doing quite well, I probably have a few more days, and we'll see how quickly Audrey is able to recover. It's no fun being sick and having sick little ones. Although this afternoon at about 2 PM when Audrey fell asleep as I was holding her on the couch - it was nice. Audrey's not a cuddly baby, so I enjoyed the few minutes we had. I would have prolonged it but then I realized that me coughing every 5-10 minutes wouldn't allow her much of a nap. So, Audrey went to her crib and luckily Rachel was still down for her nap (thank heavens for a 3-year old who will still nap) and I was able to get a little nap myself. Hopefully we'll all be better next week and have some fun adventures to report on! :)

10 months old...

Audrey is 10 months old today! We actually don't have a doctor's appointment this month - one of the few months we don't, so no stats this month. She is still our petite, bald baby. Audrey is doing well. She still isn't crawling, but she gets around when she really wants to by scooting, bouncing, rolling, reaching, and army crawling backwards. She has been getting up on her knees more often, but she hasn't taken off yet. Maybe she'll be like her mother and not crawl until she's 12 months old. No worries, I turned out okay (well, some may argue that). Audrey is our little chatterbox. She often has something to say, sometimes to someone in particular and other times to no one in particular. We love watching and listening to her babble. We are still working on the sleeping-thru-the-night trick. Some nights she surprises us and other nights she's up once or twice. She no longer is fed when she gets up in the middle of the night though. It usually just takes 5 minutes of soothing her and then she's back to sleep. She has become a bit of an early riser though, she's usually up by 6:30. Audrey still takes two naps a day. She has learned quite a few tricks in the past couple of weeks. She loves to clap and will clap on cue when you start singing, "If you're happy and you know it...". Audrey also makes a very cute smacking sound. The other night after family prayer she just starting smacking away, because she knew kisses were next. She doesn't really give kisses, but she makes the smacking noise. :) Tonight Andy was working with her on blowing kisses and she does a pretty good job of that. Audrey loves to play with Rachel's kitchen stuff. She's good at pretending to mix up food, feed herself, and drink from a cup. Depending on how messy I want mealtime to be I'll just let her take charge and she usually enjoys feeding herself. This afternoon she was having fun trying to stick her mac-n-cheese on her fork. Audrey is a busy little baby and we wouldn't have it any other way. We definitely love this precious baby girl to pieces. :)

"I'm going to beat you up!"

Rachel surprised us a few weeks ago when she was racing Andy and informed him that she was going to beat him up. We quickly asked, "What?". She meant to say, "I'm going to beat you", but for some reason got it a bit mixed up. We've tried to correct her numerous times, but she still says it. Last night she was going to beat Audrey up (meaning finish her dinner before Audrey finished hers). Too funny! Luckily when she threatens to beat one of us up, it's usually in our own home. I wonder what people would think if they overheard her out in public... I love when kids get things mixed up. And as we continue to correct her; she'll figure it out. :)

Delft

Yesterday we went down to Delft and had a good time, despite the wind and rain. We checked the weather beforehand and knew it was supposed to be windy and decided to chance it on the 20% chance of rain. Well, it rained and we didn't exactly plan very well. Audrey and Rachel had hoods, we had forgotten the rain cover for the stroller, and Andy and I had nothing. Oh well, we survived and it was fun exploring Delft. I enjoyed my first made-right-in-front-of-me "super stroop wafel". It was delicious and I even shared some with Andy! When we first got there we came across an antique fire truck having some fun for the kids, no worries they were just using the water from the canal: The main square in Delft:We really didn't take a ton of pictures, maybe because of the rain and the wind. Here's the only group shot Andy took:
One of the many streets in Delft:
A wanna-be firefighter:

So, we decided to use the free toilets at the DeNuccis and they gave us more than free use of their toilets. Amy offered to watch our kids while we went to the Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles (Royal Delft Factory and Museum). So, we took her up on her generous offer. At the factory we were taken on a guided tour and were able to see how the pottery is made and see many of their antique pieces.

Not sure how much something like this would cost, but we did see a plate that would just set you back about 2,000 euros...:

Dutch Royalty: Exploring the factory:

After our tour of Royal Delft Pottery we headed back to the DeNuccis to gather up the kids. They offered to let us eat at their place before we headed home, so we picked up some pizza from around the corner and boy was it a treat - great pizza and company! :) Rachel, Chase, and Talynn were much happier playing with toys than they would have been going to see pottery. Audrey and Bailee enjoyed the tour with us and we are very grateful for the DeNucci's hospitality. Now Allison and I are ready to head down to Delft during a Thursday Market Day - anyone want to join us?

On Her Soapbox

A few nights ago Audrey was waving her arms and talking to our computer. I pulled out the video camera and of course she stopped. However, she was more willing last night to keep on going when Andy pulled out the video camera (we figure she is multi-lingual...this is a mixture of Russian and Dutch):

We have come to the conclusion that Audrey is much more vocal than Rachel was at this age. Probably for two reasons - no pacifier and she has to get some attention somehow... She sure does make us smile. :)

Joy School Fun

It was my week to teach Joy School this past week. We started a unit all about the Earth. The girls are having fun learning about nature and it was suggested to take them on a nature outing today, so we did just that. We invited along another friend as well and the four girls did well together. We went to Elsenhove, which is a child-friendly farm and it has a playground and picnic area as well. The girls all started out really brave petting the goats:

We were supposed to link the last unit with this unit, so the girls were supposed to recognize the five senses they used today. We heard a lawnmower, smelt the stinky pigs, felt the goats and the sand, saw lots animals and green things (the color of the day), and tasted our picnic lunches. The girls had each made "nature viewers" on Wednesday to help them see and explore nature today, and of course, in the future:

I brought some bread for the girls to feed the ducks and Hannah decided the bread was good enough for her to eat. Rachel was quick to inform me Hannah was eating her bread instead of feeding it to the ducks. Silly girls! :)
At one point Ashely fell behind the group and Rachel was so cute to go back and get her and help her catch up - I love moments like these: I did learn one thing to day - how quickly fear can spread. When we first arrived at the farm the girls were totally fine with the goats. After walking around some and having to return back to the goat area (because that was the only way to get to the other side of the farm), we came across some goats that were quite friendly. Well, I'm not sure who started it but one of the girls freaked out and so the rest followed suit. I got quite a few looks as I tried to shepherd upset girls away from the goats.

Luckily they calmed down enough to each get a picture taken on a lamb statue:

I then attempted to get them to go into the barn to see the cows, a few more goats, and some pigs. They weren't too thrilled about the idea... Once I convinced them that the animals were all in their pens, the girls were a bit more comfortable. So, we had fun checking out all the animals and talking about nature. After exploring nature the girls had some time to play on the playground and in the sand:
After some playtime the other moms and babies (thanks Allison for taking Audrey!) joined us and we all enjoyed a picnic lunch. And luckily the weather cooperated - we weren't too sure, but it worked out. Definitely a fun week at Joy School - at least for me - I think the girls enjoyed it as well. It's fun to watch them learn and grow.

Best Buds

Rachel is such a good big sister. She is often willing to play with and keep Audrey happy while I'm trying to get something done. Rachel will go over to Audrey and pet her bald little head and tell her everything is going to be okay. Rachel will give Audrey cheerios, play toys with her on the ground, and take her sippy cup to her. I am definitely grateful for Rachel and her ability to be the "older sister". One day Andy came home from work this past week and the girls were busy playing in the picture up above. I think they were so busy they didn't quite notice Andy was home (which is a rarity, because usually they are both quite excited when they hear the door open and close). It was a cute moment to catch on camera. I'm glad that most of the time they are both really good buds. I wish it could last forever, but I'm sure there are days and moments ahead when they won't be as kind to each other. We shall see though, maybe we'll just be lucky... :)

Bubble Jungle

Today the weather was crummy and so we met up with some friends at an indoor play area called Bubble Jungle. Luckily we've had a very nice summer/early fall, so there hasn't been a huge need for the indoor play areas. The girls did have a lot of fun today, so it was worth the expense (just not something I like to make a huge habit out of). Anyhow, we went to Bubble Jungle last July and I really felt like I wasted my money, because Rachel wasn't old enough to be independent enough to enjoy it and wasn't big enough to do a lot of the activities. But 15 months later there's a huge change. She loved it today and we definitely got our money's worth... Here are some pictures and videos of our adventures today:

I was impressed that Rachel braved the above contraption. I think jumping on the trampolines was one of Rachel's favorite things. When she talked to her daddy this afternoon, it was the first thing she mentioned.

Rachel had a blast going down the big yellow slide - although it wasn't possible to really slide down the slide...

So much fun to spend time with friends!

Audrey would not look at or smile at me to take a picture, so these are the best I could get...
Yeah, she was screaming at this point. She was very upset that she couldn't move the octopus's' arm out of her way!
A bit of a smile as Rachel and her hung out in the "house" we built. :)