Audrey's New Look

By popular demand, here is Audrey's new look. She gave herself some of those bangs. The hairstylist made some more so it would be balanced. I think we took six inches off. She got the sides and back layered so everything looks more normal now. She chopped off a lot on her right side and there is kind of a hole on her left side. I hope her hair grows fast! She's still my beautiful, cute Audrey. She's just also my very mischievous, sneaky Audrey! :)

Christmas Fun

So here we are in MN and having a great time. We got here Thursday evening and just relaxed. Friday we had Lily and Aunt Lori and Abigail come over. We played downstairs and played for a long time outside. The girls made a snowman and Ben and Uncle John made one wall of a snow fort. We're not sure what the purpose for that is but we have been told there are "plans."

Friday night Aunt Jeanna and I went with Lori to a friend's house for a birthday party for her. It was a girls game night out. It was so much fun. Her friend Denise made lots of yummy food and totally spoiled us. We played Apples to Oranges (I discovered I am not very good at this game), Pop 5 (this is just like Cranium but with a few different rules), and Taboo. I did really well with Taboo which is funny because normally I'm not very good at it. I just must have felt so comfortable with everyone there! Lori has great friends. I really enjoyed the company and evening. We got home about 11:30pm. Yahoo!

Saturday we went sledding with Uncle Andrew and Lily. That was so much fun. It had snowed the night before and the roads were terrible but the snow was great for sledding and the temperture was around 30 degrees. I wore stretch pants and brown pants over those and I wasn't cold at all. Audrey even went down the hill about five times. This is major progress since last year she flat out refused to go and the year before that cried for three hours while the rest of us went down the hill.

Saturday afternoon I took Lori and we got pedicures and manicures at a small salon in downtown Saint Paul. Lori had never had either before so that was super fun. It was her birthday present from me. The salon was an experience. It was small and personal, which is okay. Sometimes I like not having to talk to whoever is doing my nails so that got a little exhausting. Also, they were drinking wine and offered us some about six times. Finally Lori just said, I don't drink. Too funny. After our spa stuff we went to one store for Christmas gifts and headed back home. Lori told me she liked it so much that we need to make it a tradition every time we get together. Truer words have never been spoken before by her. Now it should be clear why we are such close friends! :)

Today Aunt Ellen comes up with her three kids and the house will be very full. Fun and crazy times! The big bummer is that I forgot my camera! I can hardly believe it and am still kicking myself hourly. So I am relying heavily on Lori and Ellen.

We also had a minor catastrophe last night. When I went to comb Audrey's hair out for night time I found that she had taken some very large and long chunks out of her hair. I couldn't believe it. I asked her why she cut her hair and she said "because I wanted my hair short like Alexis'." So she got a MAJOR haircut. It is so short. :( I have only known her with such long hair that it seems weird for her to have short hair. And of course she looks so much older. I promise I will have someone take her picture. Sigh. Alright, no more news or drama for now.

Foley Prom and Gingerbread Houses

On Saturday we had some friends over and we made gingerbread houses out of grahm crackers and all the candy I had in the house. I had a shocking amount of candy and whatever wasn't used went straight into the trash! Hooray it's gone! This is Audrey working hard. She has her tongue sticking out and everything! She covered the entire house and yard. It looked great! Alexis went with a more simplistic house (not pictured).
I think this is the best picture we got of our glamourness. I actually wasn't happy with how I looked but oh well. And do you notice all the little white pieces of paper on the floor? That is curtesy of Audrey and her scissors. She did that while I was getting ready. I had the house all clean too. Oh well.
Another picture. I thought Ben looked great and so handsome. And thanks to his Dad for buying him the tux! It looked great and is nice to own one since we'll be using it every year!

We are off to MN tomorrow for Christmas and will probably be there for a week. I won't post again until we get back and then I'll have a HUGE post!

Christmas Tree and Snow

These pictures are not in order at all but oh well. Better to actually put them on then worry about order today. Last Saturday we went to a small town called Random Lake, about 40 miles north of us, to cut down a Christmas Tree. It was a great place. Lots of trees to pick from. We actually found out tree in less than five minutes and it took Ben one minute to cut it down! The girls were not satisfied with such a short experience so we sent the tree back to the barn and went exploring for 30 minutes. Snow angels and snowball fights ensued. It was really fun and pretty cold out. I think the warmest it got that day was 18 degrees.

The finished product. The girls really love having a tree up. Audrey constantly takes the ornaments off to play with and I have to sweep and water it daily but I suppose it is worth it. It doesn't feel like Christmas to me without a tree up.
At the tree farm in Random Lake, WI.
Pay no attention to the man in the bright yellow jacket. I couldn't have planned it worse!
Ben cutting down the tree. As soon as I took this picture he was done! Fastest tree cutdown ever!

On Tuesday we had a huge snow storm. It was awesome. Schools were closed and we got 8 inches I think. The girls went out to play and had so much fun. It was perfect snowball weather. They went out again when Ben got home. He went out to finish shoveling our driveway (I started but happily and gratefully gave the shovel to Ben) and our neighbors driveway. The girls played with him, throwing snowballs, etc. Alexis told me she was trying to make as big a mess as she could in the driveway! I believe she got whitewashed twice for her efforts.


Great-Grandma Thomas sent Alexis and Audrey Christmas money and we spent some of it on this great tunnel and house playset. It takes up most of the Living Room but it sure is fun. The girls play in it lots and today we had friends over and they played in it for a long time. Thank you Great-Grandma Thomas! We love seeing you in July!
A better picture of the girls. We decided to sent out our family picture from last year with our Christmas card and newsletter. I figure everyone has seen my posts and can get pictures of the girls then. We'll be taking another family picture at Christmas time and I'll post it on the blog then.

That's all the fun we've had recently!

Christmas Pictures

I tried to take a Christmas picture of the girls yesterday to send out with our Christmas newsletter. As you will see in the next few pictures, Audrey was in such a goofy mood. I could not get her to smile normal. In between taking these pictures she was running around and jumping on the couch. I also wanted Alexis to wear a different dress but she couldn't handle the way it felt on her stomach. That is not an unfamilar refrain in our house so I let her wear a dress from two years ago. Amazingly, it still fits. Yipee!


This is the best picture I got so I am going to take another one this week.

As for our Christmas Countdown: yesterday we watched "Joy to the World," an LDS DVD on Christ's birth with the Tabernacle Choir singing in the background. We were also going to go back to church to watch the Christmas Devotional but our van decided to stop working (the power steering went out, battery light came on, and by the time I got home from church it was completely overheated, all the way on the H. But not to worry, I took it to a mechanic literally down the street from me and he fixed a slipped belt and we're back in business). Tonight we are rocking out to Christmas music and the girls are coloring their own nativity scenes (each piece individually) and then I will cut them out and laminate them. We are having a backwards FHE. We are doing the activity now and after we pick up Ben from work (he got a ride to work so I had a working car to take Alexis to and from school--he's so great!) we will have our lesson in the car. We are going to discuss the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. The girls are loving opening an envelope everyday. I am too! I play Christmas music nonstop. It's great!

Countdown to Christmas

Today is December 1st so we start our Countdown to Christmas. Every day we open an envelope that has an activity for us to do. Today we got out the Christmas decorations and put them up around the house together. Tomorrow we are going to watch one of the Church Christmas videos. The girls and I think this is so much fun and they look forward to opening the envelope every morning. I love Christmas time!

Birthday and Snow Storm

Ben surprised us and brought this cake home for my birthday. We celebrated late, obviously, but I didn't mind. He also gave me an awesome birthday present. It won't happen until March but it will be worth it. He got Billy Joel tickets! He got them through work so they are a good price and minus taxes and something else. Good seats too. I'm excited! My wonderful friend Noelle went to a Billy Joel concert with her sisters and they said it was awesome. I know all his songs so it should be great!
We almost had 29 candles! :)

We had our first snowstorm today. You can see in these pictures that it was just starting. That was 12:30pm. I had just gotten home from a Relief Society Service Project and I ran outside and cut down the raspberry bush and picked up a big pile of leaves that I had left out for weeks. It took me an hour and I was freezing at the end but I'm glad I did it. I am sure the cars that passed by thought I was insane to be doing yardwork while it was snowing out. By 3pm we already had around 3 inches of snow. I think we have close to five now and there has been freezing rain and a little bit of lightning. The first snow storm is always so fun.

I had some requests to show a picture of my dress that Lori and I found after eight long hours of shopping. This is a close up of the beads/sequins around the middle.
Don't forget to note the sweater over the dress because it took us forever to find it and it cost almost half of what the dress cost. I think it is ridiculous that such a small piece of clothing is so expensive!

Thanksgiving Fun

We had so much fun this last week. We went to MN for five days. We spent those days with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas, Aunt Ellen, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Janet, Uncle Nicholas, Grandma Wallace, Aunt Lori, Uncle Andrew, and all nine cousins! We went swimming, made Christmas tree candy advent calendars, made cookies, played with lots of toys, and watched some movies together.
This picture was difficult to get everyone in but the outcome was great. Poor Abigail was crying in every picture!
This is Thomas, the only boy out of nine cousins! He sure is cute!

Making cookies in the kitchen.
Alexis and Lily dressing up together.
Making the candy advent calendar.
Alexis, Lily, Meredith, and Allison waiting to swim.

Adelyn stuffing her mouth with cookie dough.
Alexis making her cookies.
Allison spent almost the whole time with her cookie dough. Mostly using the cookie cutters to cut up the cookie dough.
Audrey and I working on her cookies.
Audrey loves to cook. She spent a lot of time making her cookies. She ended up with flour all over herself.

Lori, my sister-in-law, and I also spent some quality time shopping. I really needed to find a dress for Ben's black tie Christmas work party. We spent a total of eight hours shopping to find a dress that was just right. The tricky part was finding a short jacket to put over the dress, since it's sleeveless. That was the biggest challenge. We did it though. I owe it all to Lori because I would have given up after an hour.

We had such a wonderful time and we are so grateful to have family close by. Thank you to Drew and Carolyn (my in-laws) for their food and hospitality. I know it gets a little crazy with everyone over but we sure do have a wonderful time.

Although I didn't get to see my family I thought about them all. I miss and love you all.

Long Night

Audrey gave me quite a scare last night. She woke up around 10:15pm crying and screaming that her tummy hurt. She cried for 30 minutes and then threw up. Then she proceeded to throw up every thirty minutes until 1:30am. Then again at 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, and 8:30. I got maybe three hours total of sleep. So I took her to urgent care this morning because she couldn't even keep a sip of water down without immediately throwing it up. Anyway, four hours later and blood drawn, x-rays, and lab tests, nothing serious is wrong with her. She even perked up a little bit at the office and then as soon as we got home puked up everything she drank over the last four hours. Now she is resting but not falling asleep. She is eating a cracker at a time and asking for chocolate chips! There is no curing her sweet tooth! Ben had to go in to work so I am here hoping that Audrey falls asleep so I can too. Poor Alexis has to find something to do for herself. Daddy played with her all morning and I've got absolutely nothing left in me right now. I could probably fall asleep on a cold, hard floor right now. Well, off to try to have naps all around.

Audrey's 4th Birthday Party

We had Audrey's birthday party on Saturday. It was lots of fun. Ben and I wore crowns and robes and addressed everyone as prince, princess, queen, or king so and so. The kids arrived and decorated their own crowns. Once everyone had a crown we had them walk down the hallway as Ben played royal music and I officially announced them. They had the biggest smiles on their faces. It was really cute.
This is Audrey's castle cake. It is a four layer cake with a quarter of a cake on top. It was supposed to have more of a second layer but frosting was hard and it took awhile so I ditched it and made it simpler. Ben tried to help me too (which he does every year!) but I just opted for a smaller top. I think it turned out great.

This is how Audrey spent the morning before her party: staring at her cake and telling me how much she loved it. It was worth all the time it took to decorate it just to see how pleased she was.
After the kids were formally announced Ben told them the story of The Princess and the Pea. Then we tested each kid to see if they were really a prince or princess. I put all our blankets on top of Alexis' bed and some shoes underneath them. The kids had to lay on the bed and tell us if it was comfortable or not and then they all guessed what it was. Most of them thought it was a pea! :) After this test the girls got necklaces and the boys got shields.
The next story Ben told was The Frog Prince. After the story they were blindfolded and had to put lips on a frog picture. The kids laughed hysterically when Audrey put this blindfold on so of course she hammed it up. After this test the boys got swords and the girls got wands.
After a little snack (because getting tested as a true Prince or Princess works up an appetite) Ben told the kids that there was a dragon in our kingdom that was trying to destroy us! His nest (our huge pile of leaves) is outside of our castle and there is an egg (a balloon) in it that each prince or princess must run and pop. The kids had to run as fast as they could, jump in the pile of leaves, pop the balloon, and run back inside. Ben piled up the leaves high for each kid. They loved this! After this last test they got a cape. The boys got a black and silver cape and the girls got red shimmery ones. Audrey picked these out herself.



Next, Audrey opened her presents (with her cape on). The kids really enjoyed watching this. I have found that every year it never fails to bring pleasure to the giver to see the receiver smile and looked happy as they open their gift. After present opening we had cake and ice-cream.
And the following pictures show you how the party ended. All the children ran outside and played in the leaves for 20 minutes. The parents had a hard time getting their kids to go home.

We had a wonderful time at the party and everyone left happy and smiling. Alexis was a big help during the party. She helped the younger kids with their crowns and waited to be the last one tested for each game. I love celebrating birthdays!