Family Santa Picture

Tonight we had the opportunity to go to the Markwalter's house and see Santa one last time. It was perfect, because Audrey has been a bit stressed about Santa not knowing what to bring her. The two previous times we've seen Santa, Rachel was the only one who told Santa what she wanted. Luckily tonight we sent Audrey up first to talk to Santa and all is now well in the world! Rachel has declared that this was definitely the REAL Santa because he told the girls to stop fighting. And he would only know that if he were the real deal... We're so grateful for the Markwalters and that they open their home to us every year!

School Holiday Party

This year I am Audrey's room mom. It's always fun to get to participate in the parties they have during the school year. Audrey was thrilled to have me there for her holiday party last week. They had early dismissal that day, meaning they get out at 10:55 am. So, we were sugaring these kids up awfully early in the morning. The kindergarteners had 4 different stations. They made reindeer food, decorated a cookie, made reindeer antlers, and put together a type of trail mix to snack on. Overall that party went well. The great thing about kindergarteners, is lots of parents show up. :)

It's so hard to get a picture of this girl that isn't posed. It's like she knows when a camera is on her... Love her little smirk here!

Cutest reindeer around:

 

I was a bit worried about missing out on Rachel's party. She seemed a little bummed about me not being there. So, when I got a chance to escape for a few minutes, I went to check on her. She was happily playing bingo and definitely did just fine without mama being there. :) A quick hug and she was fine with me going back to Audrey's party. The joys of having more than one kid in the same school, is playing the balancing act...

Bike Build & Delivery

Once again we participated in the Elves & More bike build. This has definitely become a family tradition. Last year just Rachel and Andy went. This year Audrey joined them and I'm thinking next year we should all go. Ian LOVES helping put things together, so I think he'd get right in and enjoy.. The girls definitely had a fun time with their dad on Wednesday night putting some bikes together. 

Lots of bikes!

 

Audrey checking out the cool helmets:

 

Andy also signed up to help with delivery. So, this morning the girls and him went to a elementary school about 15 minutes away and helped distribute some bikes to the children who had earned them by meeting some type of academic or behavioral goal. Elves & More delivered 10,000 bikes this year! It's a pretty awesome program and something that we enjoy being a part of every year.  

Celebrating Audrey

We had so much fun celebrating Audrey's birthday. She went off to school with a huge smile on her face:

Papa and Grandma Michaelson came into town for her birthday. So, we definitely had to take the birthday girl some lunch. We picked up her favorite (Chick fil-A) and enjoyed having lunch with her.

We also dropped off cupcakes for her to give to her classmates. When she came home from school, she was pretty excited to have a birthday crown:

We just hung out in the afternoon and then Audrey chose Olive Garden for dinner. We had a yummy dinner and then came home to open presents. Audrey was definitely spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She was thrilled with every gift she received:

Cake time! Audrey wanted a cake similar to what Rachel had a few years back. So, I bought some fondant and she had fun coloring on her birthday cake:

Making a wish and blowing the candles out:

The inside of her super colorful cake:

After eating dinner out and then cake and ice cream, we were all full. Audrey was one happy girl all day long. It's so much fun to celebrate birthdays with our kids and see their excitement. Audrey definitely makes our life a lot of fun!

Gingerbread Houses

I decided to take advantage of my mom being in town for Audrey's birthday and the next day I had her help us with gingerbread houses. I don't know why I'm such a baby when it comes to putting these together. One day I'll get brave enough to try it again on my own. The one time I did, it didn't go too well. Melting sugar is definitely an art! :)

Everyone enjoyed decorating a gingerbread house. I was quite surprised at how much Ian got into it. He was definitely eating his fair share of candy, but he was also wanting to decorate. Such a happy boy!

It's really nice that the girls are independent enough to do most of it on their own.

Finished products:

We definitely had fun last night and are grateful we had Grandma's help. We are hoping the houses at least last a week, you never know in this humid climate we live in... But really as soon as they collapse, that's grounds for eating all the candy. So, it's not like anyone is really that disappointed.

Six Years Old

Our sweet Audrey is 6 years old today! She is so excited for her birthday. She always gets so anxious to decorate for Christmas and this year it finally dawned on me why, because that means it's almost her birthday. It only took me a few years to figure that one out... :) Audrey is 37 pounds and 42 1/2 inches tall.

Audrey is right in the middle of her kindergarten year. She's doing great at school. Her teacher adores her and Audrey adores her teacher right back. It's a great relationship! Her favorite thing about school is "glitter hands" or getting a jewel on her clip. She loves running up to me after school and showing me her glitter hands, which mean she got caught doing something good. I've been surprised to see how well Audrey is reading and writing. She'll put together simple sentences and I love the way she spells. I don't think Audrey's really found one really close bosom buddy at school, but she seems to just play with several different kids and she seems well liked. One day she'll find that really good friend.

This girl is our dancer. She just finished another semester of ballet/tap classes. She loves dancing, whether it's in a class setting or at home. She's even got Ian trained quite well to dance with her. She also still loves to change her clothes a couple times a day. I thought it would improve with her being at school 7 hours a day; but nope, once she hits the front door she's off to her room to change. She's very particular about her clothes. I'm finding that Rachel's hand-me-downs aren't always well received... She loves doing her hair, painting her nails, and putting on make up. One of her birthday gifts is a treat to go to Sweet & Sassy and get all dolled up. She's going to love it.

Audrey loves to play and make messes, but when it's time to clean up there's quite a bit of drama. She's not a fan of having to work. Although she does enjoy school work and playing teacher. She enjoys do multiplication flash cards with her sister. She's probably going to learn them right along with Rachel... That's the hope, anyways! Audrey loves to watch Disney make-up tutorials on YouTube. This past year at some point she informed me that I could use concealer to cover up the dark circles under my eyes. Thanks, Audrey! She also enjoys playing games on the computer.  

Audrey is a very caring child. She wants to make sure things are always "fair", whether it benefits her or not. She is very loving to Ian. She can get frustrated with him at times, but overall she dotes on him. Rachel and Audrey are still really good friends. They have their moments, but overall they play really good together. I LOVE seeing them having fun together. They are lucky girls to have each other.

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago today, I brought this born-in-Amsterdam girl home from the hospital. We were sent home 4 hours after she was born. It was quite the experience! And she's brought so much love, adventure, and fun into our lives. We are so grateful for our Audrey!

Work Family Holiday Party

Last night we went to Andy's work family party. Once again, we were disappointed by the food and lack of space. I feel like they need to open up another area of the office for the adults who are just there to mingle with other adults. It makes it difficult to feed little ones when you can't find a table to sit down at, because others are taking full advantage of the open bar and getting wasted and are completely oblivious to young children needing a place to sit. We only need about 15 minutes to eat, so those who take a table over for 2 hours are kind of annoying. Ok, rant over.. :)

However, we still had a good time. Before being disappointed by the food, we saw Santa. Ian wanted absolutely nothing to do with him... So, we got some cute pictures of the girls with him:

After eating we enjoyed the other activities. Everyone got an airbrush tattoo and their face painted. It was kind of funny when Ian got his face painted, he was quite disappointed at what the lady chose. I think she was just trying to do something quick, not knowing that 10 days before he sat still for quite the face paint at another function. So, his reaction was a frown, but he got over it... We also enjoyed decorating and eating some cookies:

 

The highlight of this party every year is going ice skating. However, in past years we have felt very rushed. So, we decided to just enjoy the indoor activities this year and we are planning on saving our tickets to go ice skating some time over winter break. The kids were fine with that. By the time we got through with everything, it was bed time. So, we headed home with the promise of going ice skating another day. 

Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree decorated!!! It's been up for about a week, but it was bare. Andy had to cut off more lights that weren't working. He decided to just cut them all off. So, now our pre-lit tree is no longer pre-lit. I am NEVER buying a pre-lit tree again. So, after Andy and I got the lights on, the kids had fun putting on the ornaments:

We are definitely excited for Christmas!!! Ian calls any Christmas decoration "Christmas lights". Everyone has decided what they want from Santa and are looking forward to seeing him this coming week...

Sinterklaas

We continued our tradition of Sinterklaas making a special visit from Amsterdam this year. Once it got dark on Friday night, the kids put their Dutch shoes out on the front step. And we anxiously awaited a knock as we finished up dinner...

  

Everyone was quite excited to go check out what Sinterklaas had left for them!

As you can tell there was some disappointment as pajamas were not given. But Sinterklaas keeps track of these things and when pajamas aren't needed, they aren't given. The kids each got a movie and everyone received a chocolate letter. And there were some other random Dutch treats: stroop wafels, kruidnoten, pepermunt ballen, and zachte schuimpjes. Got that? :) In other words, cookies, mints, and marshmallow-like candies. 

Our crazy holiday season has officially begun!

Audrey's Dance Recital

Audrey decided to continue on with her tap/ballet class this year. She loves her teacher, Miss Kristin. We were debating what class to put her in and where. Audrey was insistent on continuing at the YMCA. They only have 2 classes, one for 3-5 year-olds and another for 6-11 year olds. Miss Kristin said it would be best to put her in the older class. So, Audrey's definitely the youngest and smallest, but she does a great job of keeping up with the other girls. They performed 2 dances and did a great job in each one.

Ballet Dance:

 

Tap Dance:

 

Audrey striking a pose after her performances:

A picture with Mom & Dad:

And of course, Miss Kristin & Audrey: