Christmas Day

We started the day out with Audrey opening her presents from Santa. "Santa" had to stay up until 12:30 the night before assembling the play kitchen - it took almost 4 hours! But it was definitely worth it because she loved it!

Then we went to my parent's house to celebrate. Audrey took a quick nap while we ate and then we opened presents. She got a lot of more great stuff, like clothes, legos, a dancing Minnie and much more. Then we all went over to see Gigi and give her her presents.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve wit Scott's family at his parents house. We opened presents and had dinner. She got a lot of great Minnie Mouse stuff, like a new chair, puzzles, books and art supplies.

Audrey and cousin Billy

She was Uncle Charlie's girl that day.
She kept saying "Uncle Charlie is funny!"

they are usually pretty good at sharing with each other!

Doing the floor puzzle with Aunt Crystal

First Snow of the Season

Our first snow came early and we got about 3 inches or so. So Scott and Audrey decided to go sledding. We gave her one of her Christmas presents early - a new sled! They had a great time.

Visiting Santa at Crown Center

Scott and Audrey came up to visit me at work during lunch and we went to see Santa. She was just as excited this year as she was last year. She asked for a new baby doll from Santa. After she talked to Santa, she played in the play area. Then we tried to eat lunch at Fritz's, but she was starting to melt down and needed a nap, so we just got some Topsy's popcorn instead and she was in heaven.

Audrey with the creepy mechanical Santa -
he's been around since I was a kid!

Annual Cookie Baking

Every year we bake cookies at my mom's house. This year was the first time Audrey was actually interested in helping out. She lost interest pretty quickly, but did help a little with the gingerbread cookies and enjoyed singing Christmas carols with Aunt Mandy. Rudolph and Jingle Bells are her favorites!

Meredith's Birthday Party

We went to Meredith's birthday party to celebrate early since her birthday is so close to Christmas. She had a party for her friends at an indoor pool. Even though it was about 10 degrees outside, it was nice and warm inside. Audrey had a great time playing with Gwendolyn and going down the slide. Only one slight mishap when Audrey went down the slide and Gwendolyn was at the bottom - she knocked her over and G fell on top of Audrey!

Audrey with the Birthday Girl Meredith

Annual Christmas Tree

We went to get our Christmas tree and it was so cold! It was close to 10 degrees when we went out in the morning. Audrey kept running from tree to tree and saying "how about this one?" We quickly chose one and headed inside. This one is a little taller than we usually get, but it was a perfect fit for the space and we were very happy!

Bundled up and ready to go!

The finished product!

A Week of Birthdays!

Audrey's 3rd birthday was Nov. 20th and we had many celebrations for her! We had a party at our house with Scott's side of the family. It was unseasonably warm, so we grilled out and had a great time. Audrey was really excited for her birthday this year and even blew out the candles all by herself. She really loves it when everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to her!

Feeding cousin Lucy

Reading books with Billy and Papa

Opening presents - she loves cards! I've trained her well!

One of her gifts - a race track!

On Audrey's actual birthday, I took the day off and Scott was off work, so we were able to spend the day together. We went to the Aquarium which Audrey loved! Then we had lunch at Grinders. It was a great day! I love to celebrate her birthday because it was one of the happiest days of my life and I love to remember it!

Her final celebration was with my side of the family. We went out to lunch at one of her (and our) favorite restaurants, Salty Iguana. Then we came back to our house to open presents and have cake. She's not much of a cake eater, but again, she loved to hear everyone sing!

 

Cousins Gwendolyn and Meredith