Are we seriously 20 months???

Audrey is 20 months old.  What??  My baby??  How did that happen exactly?  Maybe it seems beyond belief because the petite little squirt is still in some of Natalie's 12 month size clothes.  Maybe it's because she's still grunting and pointing (mostly) to get her point across.  Or maybe it's because she just started consistently sleeping through the night only 2 short months ago.  But whatever the reason, it just doesn't seem possible that we're approaching 2.

She's just delightful. Except when she's not. Then she's the opposite of delightful. But, thankfully, she's mostly delightful.

She's now saying Mommy, Daddy, Nahne (Natalie), DD (TV), mo (more), bahbe (baby), meow (kitty), blahblie (vitamin, if you can believe it), doh (done) and up (up)! She's also saying NO. It was so sweet at first. A little nasally "no" accompanied by a shaking head. It's not really a little NO anymore but, instead, a big, forceful, end-of-discussion-you're-not-going-to-change-my-mind NO! It was only a matter of time, I suppose.

She loves books, baby dolls, coloring, goldfish crackers, slides, kissing goodbye and goodnight, brushing her teeth, emptying the dishwasher (she actually puts the tupperware away herself...and does it very well), picking and eating oranges in our backyard, playing in water, cuddling the cat, taking baths, dancing, singing, and seeing airplanes fly overhead.

She's not so crazy about bugs, getting her hair brushed, getting her face washed, keeping her shoes on, or being kissed when she's not in the mood (she wipes them off!).

 Audrey's bed head.

 This kid has GREAT bed head. 

Notice the perfectly straight bangs amidst all the other surrounding tangled frazzle!

Don't think I don't notice that most pictures of Audrey feature food on her face.  She's not incredibly cooperative when it comes to pictures, so I have to snap a photo when she's willing...food face or not!

 I think Audrey is Natalie's favorite subject to photograph. 

She makes this house noisier, sweeter, stinkier, stickier and happier!
And we love her for it!

Balloon Beauty

Last weekend, Corey and Natalie ran into the balloon guy that we invited to her birthday party last year. He's so talented and can create almost anything requested. Natalie asked for a mermaid. Specifically, Ariel, of course. This is what he made her...

So cool.

Smarty Pants

We're continually amazed by Natalie's creativity and wit.  Often she'll create things and one of us will say, "go get the camera!" and other times she'll say things and we'll direct the other to "go get a pen and write that one down!" 

A few conversations of note recently:

Me: Look, Natalie, Audrey brought you your sunglasses! How kind of her!
N: There's so much love around here today!


And because we seem to keep going from one holiday candy palooza to the next...

N: Can I have a piece of candy cane, Mommy?
Me: (heavy sigh) I just hate candy!
N: Well it's not for you, it's for me!!


Corey decided to start reading Natalie Where The Red Fern Grows. I think it's a wee bit over her head but he's just so excited to share his favorite childhood book with her. She fidgeted through the first chapter and was much more interested in the woven yarn bookmark that's lived in this particular paperback for 25 years than the actual story. When he closed the book at the end of chapter one she said,

"Daddy, can Mommy read me a REAL story now, with pictures?"

This morning I caught her taking scissors to a wicker dresser trying to cut free a sequin she saw hiding in the crack. The dresser top now looks like a small animal chewed on it. I told her how disappointed I was that she chose to damage furniture for a sequin. She said,

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I don't think anyone will notice, though. It's not the end of the day!"

And with a glue stick, pen, small rocks and flower petals she made these little fairies the other day. All on her own. Such a creative little bug.

Snuggles

Just some cute pictures of the girls snuggling the snuggliest stuffed animals I've ever seen. They received them from a special family friend a few days before Christmas and they've dragged these not-so-little furry friends all over the house ever since. I wouldn't mind sleeping with these lovelies (the critters, not the kids)...but we'd need a bigger bed, for sure.

Rocker

Santa left Audrey some musical instruments under the tree. A xylophone, a pair of maracas, a tambourine and a jingly jingle jingler of sorts. When combined with Natalie's singing talents and microphone, a harmonica gifted by Aunt Kristen and the recorder that some cruel preschool parent gave us as an end of the year gift last May, it's a one way ticket to a migraine around here. No, it's actually very sweet to hear their music. Even when Audrey plays alone she gets very into it. I think it's the 80's rocker hair she's sporting right now. She's just playing the part. I have no idea what to do with her hair. She will not tolerate hair accessories, pig tails or a trim. I'm truly at a loss here.

Table for Two

Natalie made an outdoor dining table for herself and Audrey out of unused landscape stones.  About 4 wobbly stacked stones make the table and one on each side serves as seating.  She takes her afternoon snack out there every day and Audrey joins her. They each take their places and dine "al fresco" in a corner of the backyard just under Corey's office window.  It's very sweet. Natalie even made a printer paper table cloth to dress it up a bit.  Then, within minutes, she spilled hot chocolate all over it and said, "well, it's a good thing I had this table cloth down, isn't it, Mommy?" 

Snow Day

Natalie's annual preschool snow day was this week.  You know when the local weatherman talks up a coming storm and everyone goes out and stocks up on bottled water and generators and then the storm actually comes and it's only a few flurries?  Well, that's a fitting comparison to this preschool snow day.  Lots of hype...we're asked to dress them in snow gear (only thanks to hand me downs from Reno do we even have snow gear!), bring a change of dry clothes and stay to take pictures.  The morning is buzzing with excitement around here as we dress Natalie in snowpants, search for a hat and gloves, pack a change of clothes and find fitting snowman making facial features like a carrot nose from the fridge and some rock eyes from the yard (totally her idea...so cute). 

We get our excited snow bunny to school and this is what we find....

Now, to be fair, this was taken after school and the outside temp as about 75 degrees so the snow didn't really have a chance.  But I don't think the starting product was all that much more impressive.  As sad as it looks, these desert kids were totally thrilled!  They could have been wearing shorts and t shirts but it's hilarious to watch them file into school that morning dressed as if they're about to hit the Aspen slopes!

Family Pictures

We had our first family portrait shoot a few months ago.  I love the pictures but I wanted to wait to post them until the grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and cousins  unwrapped their Christmas presents.  Wanted the picture gifts to be a surprise, you know! I found a great local photographer through Groupon and Corey found the perfect park that offered the desert setting we were after.  Such fun.  Natalie is a total natural in front of the camera and posed perfectly, as usual.  Audrey had to be caught in action nearly every time.  Luckily, this photographer has little ones of her own so she wasn't opposed to chasing the kids around to get good shots!