And what do Dave and Crystal do with their time?

Dave studies for the Bar all the time. Pray he passes. (Which he will . . . ) Despite always having to study, he's much more available to just hang out now that law school is over. We look forward to the end of July when he'll be done with the test and can just shoot the breeze with us until he starts work in November. YAY!! (By the way, happy Father's Day AND birthday, Dave!)

And, I do everything else . . .

naturally. ;)

I've got something up my sleeve to help my days go smoother. Here's a little link about it. I'll post more about it when I've mastered my brilliant plan. I also have an opinion about that site in general--some of her ideas are pretty good, some not so great, a little weird perhaps, but it's worth exploring. I'm working a lot with Audrey, reading and doing projects, playing. Fun stuff. And I'm reading The Americas Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. And it's great! I never thought I'd actually READ something like this, cover to cover, but I'll write a better review later and explain why. I'm reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Edgar?), and so far it's not too bad. Josie, my sister-in-law, comes to watch the girls for me three times a week for a few hours each time so I can get groceries and do whatever. IT IS SOOOOO GREAT!!! And she babysits one night a week so Dave and I can go out. Really, I'm spoiled rotten right now. Thanks, Josie.

Life is pretty good right now.

"Blabbermouth" and "UH"

Audrey really loves to watch Holly Hobby. Audrey, the little tape recorder that she is, has decided to include some phrases from that movie in everyday conversation. She thinks they're VERY funny jokes. Her favorite is to just come up to us and yell, "Blabbermouth!" Then she laughs hysterically. "I said 'blabbermouth.' That's funny, huh, Mommy. I said 'blabbermouth' like on Holly Hobby." Beaming the entire time. Then she walks away chuckling to herself. Her other favorites include the phrases, "No double dipping!" and "Look who's talking!" She doesn't really know how or when to use them properly. She just thinks they're funny jokes, and then tells us how funny they really are. :) I suppose there are worse things she could be repeating.

Speaking of talking, Jane, despite not really doing any actual talking, is fantastic at communicating with everyone. She says "BA" for bite, and "UH" for everything else. Her hand gestures are quite good at clarifying. If she's mad or frustrated, she clenches her little fists and holds her arms out in front of her, while screeching, of course. If she wants something, she goes "UH" and simply reaches or points. If she wants to be picked up, she grabs your legs and bounces up and down (this time saying "uP," emphasis on the "P" part). She also mumbles "uP" while she climbs . . . which is all the time, as I've mentioned before. She does concentrate very hard when we give her the actual word for things. Sometimes she can even mouth the entire word, but then she usually chooses to go back to "UH." Soon I'll bet she'll be a real blabbermouth, though.

Janey also likes to greet people. Today during sunday school, which is held in the chapel, she roamed from pew to pew, greeting everyone on the end of each row. She'd stand at the end of the pew, look up, smile, say "UH," put her head down, move to the next pew, and do the same thing . . . until every row had been visited. Funny girl. It just makes it all that much cuter that she is bow-legged and pigeon-toed, so she, in all her deliciuously cute little-baby-girl-ness, has a delightful little waddle to match. (Which we'll be seeing the doctor about soon, she'll probably have to have casts or something. Pigeon-toed, bow-legged little girls stop looking cute when they waddle . . . eventually. More on that later.)

Oh, yeah. Audrey loves to share her opinion about things. When I suggest things we might have for lunch, she says, "Oh! Chicken noodle soup!? That's a great idea!" Or if I ask her to NOT wear her church shoes to bed, she says, "No, I just have to wear them," or "No, I don't think so." As defiant as she is, this new attitude of Audrey-knows-best is a little frustrating sometimes. But very very cute.

Holy Cow

I AM FINALLY CAUGHT UP BLOGGING!!!!

I'VE BEEN BLOGGING ALL STINKING DAY!

Whew.

Please excuse any typos or lame things I've said. My brain is fried.

There are almost 40 new posts. So don't miss out. Yes, I said 40.

Sickies

I spent some time in the emergancy room with Audrey this weekend. It was so sad. She got the flu and couldn't keep anything down and had a very high fever. They had to push two bags of fluid through her before she could come home. Poor little girl. She did not like it one bit.

Then Jane got sick. Which, thank goodness, it wasn't so bad at all. It only lasted about a day. And David and I are still just fine. So, we survived, but it was a very rough weekend.

Fortunately, Jessica and Chandler were here to make it a lot better.

Pictures from Aunt Jessica and Uncle Chandler's Visit: Part 3

Jane and Aunt Jessie! Now you see why all my kids have red hair?

I love this!! :)

Look at that belly. So cute.

Silly girl.

This was basically just a Janey photo shoot. She's got so many fun expressions. In real life, though, I think Audrey's faces take the cake. :) If I can get her to keep her finger out of her nose maybe I could catch some for you some time.

If you give a baby a cookie . . .

. . . she's going to do cute things.

And she's going to make a mess.

Which she won't want to clean up at all.

I LOVE that grin.

This is why we call her monkey face.

Pictures from Aunt Jessica and Uncle Chandler's Visit: Part 2

Jane climbs everything . . . ALL THE TIME!

Glamorous.

Jane used Dave merely as a means to get to the bag of jewelry Aunt Jessica made . . . which the girls broke about half of. :S

She's going to pull his hair . . . you can see the wheels turning.

Why do all dads do this?

Assuming all dads do this . . .

At least she likes it . . .

Pictures from Aunt Jessica and Uncle Chandler's Visit: Part 1

Last weekend my sister and her husband came to visit. We had a BLAST!!! We made homemade ice cream and went shopping and played games and talked. It was definately fun. Jessica took TONS of pictures. I thought I'd share. Thanks, Jess!

Sugar . . .

AND spice.

All these outfits Audrey is wearing were worn on the same day. Her default attire is definately the Tinker Bell costume.