more winter weather

I snapped some photos this morning through the window of the snow and sleet coming down and since then it has more than doubled AND it is still a snow storm out there. Hours of snowing and not supposed to stop until midnight. We may have to actually get the sleds out tomorrow! This makes our sixth snow day off from school this year which I think makes the last day of school June 9th so far. (Of course for me- my last day is whenever Annie arrives in May!). But it is crazy that we've had so much snowy weather this winter. Poor Audrie is stuck inside, but praise God we haven't lost our power and can snuggle up in the warm house until this all passes.

everyone needs an intern

For some reason the University of Arkansas trusts me enough to send me a few student teacher interns every couple of years. Either they think I am a qualified mentor... or they are desperate. :) But I'm not complaining- I love having these young ladies doing my job for me for awhile. It takes me a day or two to convince them that sixth grade boys are not really pure evil, but after these interns get the "snap and glare" perfected then they are off and running. Earlier this year I had Bethany and she was one of the best interns I've had in a really long time. The kids and I were sad to see her leave! This semester I have Pam and she is already doing an amazing job after just a week with the kids. She is really sweet and extremely patient with the students (maybe I'll learn from her)!And I appreciate the UA sending me interns at a time when I need to be off my feet more anyways. This baby belly is already starting to give me some real aches and pains. So I'm more than happy to let these interns get some classroom teaching time while I sit back and fill out their evaluations (aka- browse the internet for nursery decor ideas)! :)

weekend tidbits

Nothing too terribly exciting going on around our house this weekend. Just enjoying the simple life and anytime when we can get outside for a few minutes to soak up the sunshine. Friday we took Audrie for a walk in our neighbor's wagon. The temperature was in the 60's! So random. But we loved it!

Saturday morning Audrie demonstrated the proper attire for coloring...

And that afternoon I actually got out by myself to do some shopping and finally use some Christmas gift certificates. It was so nice! I bought some cute maternity clothes to help lift my spirits about my expanding figure. (I didn't buy this shirt, but I thought it was pretty funny...)

This morning Jamie requested blueberry pancakes for breakfast and in my sleepiness I kind of forgot that you are supposed to "fold in" the blueberries at the end and instead I dumped them in with all the ingredients and stirred away. Creating some very lovely purple pancakes! But they still tasted great. :)

After church Audrie played her favorite self created game called "jump on daddy". Fun for hours (well, at least for Audrie...)!

She really likes this photo frame my mom gave her that has a recorded message on it that Audrie pushes over and over. Sometimes we think Audrie's taking a nap and suddenly from her bedroom we hear "I Love You" repeating nonstop.

Anyways, we had a great weekend just hanging out.

This time of year is my least favorite weather. We've already had our snow and hot chocolate fun and now we are getting little teases of warm sunshine. So I'm ready to break out the sandals and enjoy some beautiful spring weather!

we are winners!

Wow! What a day. Today Jamie won the lottery. Yep! $6 in Powerball. (And he also passed a tough test he's been studying for work! Some type of new license or certification or municipal bond... finance... honestly I can't tell you what the guy does for a living... I just try to smile and nod in all the right places when he talks about work.) And, me, I won my first blog award (thank you, Erin). And Audrie? Well, Audrie went ALL day today without being sent to timeout. I'd say that is a pretty great day for the three of us. Hope your day was just as wonderful!

22 weeks

I'm sure by now you're tired of seeing pictures of my bare pregnant belly, but I just couldn't help but share this comparison...
I had a doctor's appointment this morning and she said everything looks great. Annie's heartbeat was 145. I have to do my glucose test next time so Dr. Ford gave me the juice to drink. I also took Audrie with me this morning (and this is the same doctor who delivered Audrie) and she was happy to see how big Audrie had gotten and was surprised how blond her hair was (since Audrie was born with dark hair). When Dr. Ford put the heart monitor on my stomach to listen to the heartbeat, Audrie kept saying "baby, baby". Dr. Ford thought that was pretty cute. And when we were leaving the office the elevator doors opened and a lady stepped out as Audrie was trying to walk in, so Audrie said "excuse me" nice and politely... and the lady said "aw that's just the sweetest thing ever". I was pretty pleased with how well behaved Audrie was being... until we got to the parking lot and she screamed her face off because she didn't want to hold my hand. I don't know what I'll do when I have two little girls screaming at me... guess I won't go anywhere! :)

powder her nose

Audrie has been growing up so much the past week. She let me paint her fingernails... so cute! I couldn't believe she actually was still enough to let me do it. And she has always liked watching me get ready in the morning (well mostly she likes to empty my toiletry drawer into the floor) but this morning we were getting ready for church and she decided to help me with my make up...

And of course a little powder for her own nose...Also in big girl news... we finally got rid of her pacifiers! Whoo hoo! Jamie and I were playing with her in her room a few nights ago and she decided to get all her pacifiers out and play with them. She had them all in her hands and Jamie started telling her how she was a big girl now and going to be two in a few weeks and it was time to say bye-bye to the "popy" (as she calls it). So we told her to go throw them all in the trash. AND SHE DID. Just ran right into the bathroom, chunked all her pacifiers in the trash and came back to play. That first night at bedtime was pretty rough- she cried for about 45 minutes off and on, but we kept going in and rubbing her little head, singing her songs and telling her it was going to be ok, etc. The second night at bed time she only whimpered for about 10 minutes and then tonight- no crying at all... just went to sleep!! So I really think she's over it. She might ask for it a few times over the next couple nights but I am pretty proud of her (and us). Such a big girl!

lemonade out of lemons

If you haven't heard what happened to our friends Jim and Emily's lovely home you can read about it HERE on their blog. It's very sad, but I do have to say that Audrie has thoroughly enjoyed getting to see more of their son, Ben, lately! I mean, he IS quite the stud muffin...! And he and Audrie have a total blast playing together. "First comes love, then comes marriage..." ...then comes Ben with a baby carriage?? Now go make me a sandwich.

No really, Ben is a sweetheart and they are very cute running around the house together seeing what trouble they can find. And though we hate that Jim and Emily are having to live out of hotel this week- we did get to enjoy their indoor pool! :) The hot tub wasn't actually hot- just warm. So we let the kids practice their olympic diving techniques...
Some after dinner music... A lovely duet! :)

I'm not sure what magic age girls decide that boys have cooties but I hope that Ben and Audrie's friendship will prevail!

it all makes sense now

Every time Audrie goes to sleep we always play music for her. I like creating different playlists for her naps and bedtimes. Lately I've been playing her a mix of classical piano sonatas. So anyways, today we were walking into Hobby Lobby and Audrie starts saying "night night" over and over. It took me a minute to figure out that she was talking about the "Fur Elise" piano music that was playing in the store! So even before the age of two I've already taught my daughter that classical music puts you to sleep! Great. Maybe that's why so many people think that style of music is boring... because their momma's put them to sleep with that music! (Just to be fair I guess I need to create a recording of a Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman lecture for her to learn to fall asleep to, right Jamie??).

her first photo shoot

Yesterday we had our official 20 week ultrasound and got to see how big Annie Beth is getting. They took photos of her brain, kidneys, heart, bones, etc and said she looked perfect! She was a beautiful model (Jamie commented on "how pretty" she was!). I managed to keep my tears in check until I saw her little face up close and thought about how I couldn't wait to kiss that sweet face and feel that tiny soft nose against my cheek! The doctor gave us a few wonderful photos from the ultrasound and so here is a sneak peek of the young lady who will be entering our life in a few short months...

snow days

Just in case you were wondering what we do around our house on a snow day...

Play outside in the snow, of course!

Throw snowballs.

Build a snowman.

Make snow ice cream!

(Eat snow ice cream.)

Put the snowman's eyes back in when they fall out.

Throw more snow at mommy. (Wonder who taught her that..?)

Go to the mall and ride the carousel.

Go to Jump Zone and bounce to your hearts content!

And slide! (sorry for the blurry phone camera pics) And when the toddler is all worn out and napping... read a book and drink hot cocoa! I could get used to this!! :)