Annual Christmas Traditions

We continued our annual traditions and got our live Christmas tree and went to see Santa at Crown Center! We went to Biermann's farm and found a great tree. It was a little smaller than we usually get, but it was perfect.

Scott and Audrey always come down to Hallmark to meet me so we can go see Santa at Crown Center. The Santa there is always so nice and they have a fun play area that she loves. The only thing she asked for this year was a Barbie - the one with the horse!

Christmas School Program

Audrey had her school program this week. They sang Jingle Bell Rock and Feliz Navidad. So adorable!

Audrey's 4th Birthday Party

We celebrated Audrey's birthday with our families this past weekend. We still haven't started having "friend" parties for her yet, but I'm sure that will start next year. In the meantime, we're enjoying having celebrations with just our families. Audrey always loves seeing all of her cousins and having everyone together. The theme this year was, of course, Frozen! She got a ton of great Frozen-themed gifts.

Cake from our favorite place, Nelly's

Cousin Billy got her a life-sized (almost) Elsa

Cousins at the kids table! Gwendolyn, Billy and Audrey

Cousins Gwendolyn, Meredith and Audrey

Babka checking out the cake

All the cousins! JT, Sydney, Lucy, Meredith, Billy, Gwendolyn and Ryan

Somehow we didn't get any pictures of the adults, but all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles were there, too!

Audrey's 4th Birthday

We had a great time this year celebrating Audrey's birthday. On her actual birthday, I took the day off work so we could spend the day together. The three of us had a whole day of fun. We started off at Kaleidoscope, then we went into Hallmark for a bit to see some of my friends. After that we headed to her favorite place for lunch, Panera, followed by a trip to Science City. We all had a blast and especially loved Science City - so much fun! We ended the day with dinner at her favorite restaurant, Salty Iguana. Whew, it was a full day and we were all exhausted, but it was a great way to show our little lady how special she is to us.

Audrey's school pictures

Twice a year, professional photographers come to Goddard to take pictures and they always do a great job! Here are the cute shots from this past time...our curly-haired beauty!

Beach People!

Scott and I love the beach, so we felt like it was time to get Audrey to the beach to ensure that she grows up as a "beach person." We decided to go to St. Augustine, Florida and it was perfect. We rented a condo that was steps away from the beach. We spent the days lounging on the beach, going for walks and relaxing. Audrey's favorite things to do included playing in the big waves with Dada and building sand castles. We mostly cooked dinner at the house and found a place that sold delicious fresh fish!

When we took Audrey out on the beach for the first time, she was a bit skeptical and didn't want to stand in the sand or water, but by day two, she was hooked! We were going on a walk along the beach and she turns to me and says, "Mama, I'm a beach person!" Success! :-)

Heading to the beach for the first time!

Such a fun family vacation. Can't wait to take many more with this sweet little lady!

Transition to the Big Girl Bed!

Audrey made the transition to her big girl bed. We got the old twin bed that I had when I was a little girl back from my Grandma and Scott re-stained it to match Audrey's bedroom furniture. Gaga got her some pretty bedding for her birthday that matched perfectly with the curtains we made for her nursery. It all came together beautifully. And she did a great job sleeping in it for the first time during her nap. What a big girl! She was very proud of herself!

After her first nap in the big girl bed

The finished product