A Month of Celebrating

There were some definite benefits of having a December birthday this year. Audrey got to celebrate all month long with lots of family and friends. Her first celebration was on her actual birthday (Dec. 11th) in Amsterdam. Audrey opened up her present from us with the help of her sister: Trying to get a hang of her new toy... She had a few minutes to play with it before our friends came over to enjoy some cake with us. After that Audrey was happy to stay safely on the ground. Audrey was spoiled by our friends in Amsterdam. The only way to get a picture of the birthday girl opening her presents was an aerial view. All the kids were anxious to watch and help! :)The Birthday Hat that didn't last long: What am I supposed to do with this:

She got a hang of it...

Two days later Audrey was able to celebrate in Utah with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents:

Ten days later Audrey celebrated Texas-style with Grandma and Grandpa Michaelson:

Audrey is one lucky girl who has lots of family and friends who love and adore her (and even spoil her). But really, who couldn't??? :)

Home Leave - Part I

Since we decided to extend our stay in Holland a bit we received another home leave allowance. It had been several years since we had been with family for the holidays, so we decided to go home for the holidays this year. Our first stop was Utah and boy did we have lots of fun. The time went by too quickly, as it always does. Here are a few highlights of the things we did while in Utah:

We went to a restaurant similar to Chuck-E-Cheese, but with a pirate theme: Rachel figured out the best way to play skee ball:
Cousin Chase found his favorite spot:

Lots of tickets=lots of prizes - right? We had to laugh as we left the restaurant and walked through the gift shop. Rachel picked out a wand as one of her prizes and it was in the gift shop for 99 cents. I'm sure it would have been much cheaper to buy it at the gift shop... :)
We attempted to get a picture of all the cousins in front of a pirate display and of course Rachel wouldn't cooperate. Since Rachel didn't cooperate Audrey was able to enjoy her first sucker - Rachel lost out! :)
One day while we were there Natalie, Andy's sister, organized a treasure hunt for the kids. They had lots of fun finding the clues around the house and then opening up their prizes at the end. Rachel got lip gloss and Audrey got a play cell phone. A win, win situation! :)

Here's Audrey having fun with Grandma's piano:

One afternoon the kids had fun decorating sugar cookies:

Presley was happy just picking the M&M's off her cookie - such a cutie!

We enjoyed one evening at an indoor pool in Lehi.

Just fooling around:

We headed downtown to the children's museum one day and the kids had a lot of fun exploring.

Grandma and Grandpa Smith bought all the grandkids matching pajamas. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Rachel hanging out with her Aunt Natalie:

Audrey enjoying her first sugar cookie:

One freezing, cold day (okay, they were all freezing) we went on an Elf Scavenger Hunt at Gardner Village. The kids had fun checking out the different elf displays and everyone earned a free candy cane for finding all the elves.

Our pink marshmallow:Daddy is the only one allowed to kiss this little one underneath the mistletoe!Our last night in Utah we celebrated Christmas a few days early:

Having fun with the top to her new sippy cup:

Look at that concentration! We had such a good time in Utah. It's always a lot of fun to spend time with family. And we were lucky enough to be able to see everyone from Andy's family while we were there. We are looking forward to the next time we can be all together again...

It's a hit!

Happy, Happy Birthday Audrey Dear!

Our baby is one today! It sounds like such a cliche, but boy does time fly. Luckily though she's still so much a baby and we're enjoying it! :) She had a check-up yesterday and has gained one ounce in the past month. However, they aren't concerned because she grew 2.5 centimeters. So, at one year Audrey weighs 16 pounds 13 ounces and is 28.15 inches tall. She's a teeny, petite baby and we love it! :)

Audrey has finally figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position. However, she only does this in the comfort of her crib. :) I don't think she's brave enough on our slippy laminate floors. Audrey insists on feeding herself and she's actually pretty good at it. She makes a mess, but she gets the majority of the food in the right place. I love it, because it frees up my time and I actually get the opportunity to feed myself! :) Here Audrey is feeding herself this morning:

Audrey has perfected her gorilla crawl and can get around pretty quickly. She loves playing with just about anything. And recently she has fallen in love with books - particularly pop-up books. Audrey is completely weaned. She was pretty upset for a couple of days, but she's gotten over it. She's not a huge fan of cow's milk all by itself yet; but she loves yogurt, oatmeal or cereal with milk, and cheese. :)

Audrey has brought so much joy to our home in the past year. We love seeing her get so excited when her daddy comes home. We love watching her face light up when she discovers Rachel and wants to play with her. We love when she reaches out and just wants to be held. We love when she bounces on the floor to get places. We love when she scrunches her nose up and looks like a total nerd. We love when some music starts up and she starts bouncing away. We love how she waves on cue to anybody and everybody. Most of all we love that Audrey's healthy, happy, and doing so well. Here's to many more years of joy! :)

Sinterklaas

We celebrated Sinterklaas on December 5th. This year we got a bit more into the traditions than past years. Andy was out running some errands Saturday morning and happened up Sinterklaas making some rounds. So, he came back home to grab Audrey and I and we found the next spot Sinterklaas had moved to. Rachel joined in for a bit on the festivities and with some coaxing sat on Sinterklaas' lap. From the picture below you can tell why I'll never pay for Rachel to sit on Santa's lap! :) Audrey and Rachel both received wrapped gifts from Sinterklaas while we visited him.

Then that evening we exchanged gifts amongst each other. It made a lot more sense to do all the gifts here, rather than haul them back and forth from the States. As we were unwrapping our gifts from each other we heard a few knocks on the door and went to investigate...

The girls definitely had fun. Although Audrey wasn't too into opening her gifts, but Rachel was more than willing to help anyone that would let her. :) We certainly made a mess:
I have decided there are things I like about Sinterklaas and things I don't care for as well. I love the idea of welcoming him into the town and the fun of having the children leave their shoes out for treats each night for a few weeks (kind of replaces stockings). I love how the Zwarte Piets are just milling around town several weeks before the Dec. 5th passing out treats to the kids. It definitely has it's bonuses. I think my only complaint would be Sinterklaas bringing the gifts in the evening. The girls didn't have time to play with most of their toys that evening because it was time to head for bed. But it wasn't a big deal to them, so maybe it doesn't matter... I just remember having all Christmas day to enjoy my toys, so I guess the traditions I'm used to are favored. And the girls have the best of both worlds this year, because Santa Claus will be visiting them in Texas. Next year though, we'll be back to just Santa Claus. The girls have definitely enjoyed playing with their new toys this past week. It was so much fun to see Rachel's excitement with her gifts. Next year I'm sure Audrey will get more into it.