A Balmy 30 Degree Day, Perfect for the Water Park!

Today we celebrated Christmas Eve with a family outing to Mt. Olympus water park in the Wisconsin Dells! It was a blast! Of course, since it is the end of December and we are in Wisconsin (not Florida) the water park was indoor. I think it was better than the outdoor variety though because I didn't come home with a sunburn! Nor did I have to worry about my little fair skinned red head. It took Audrey a few minutes to get comfortable in the water but once she did it was all smiles and games. When we got out to dry off she even broke loose and ran back toward the pool! Once we were done being wet we changed and checked out the indoor amusement park too! I wasn't sure what Audrey would think of the carnival style rides but I was pleased that she LOVED them! She knows how to sign 'ride' and kept saying 'more ride please'! We stayed until almost 2 hours after her nap time and Audrey was angelic. What a fun day!

*My apologies for the low quality photos, they are all from my phone*

I don't look too scary with my pregnant belly in a swimsuit, right?

There she is with her roof, heating ducts and all!

The teacups were the favorite at the amusement park! We rode them until 2 out of the 3 of us were sick! The other one was just too cute to say no to!

  

Audrey figured out how to spin the cup, I'm pretty sure Mitchell was wishing he had brought along some Dramamine!

White Christmas?

This morning, December 17, we woke up to our first snow! None of us can believe it's been dry this long! It's not too much but maybe it will stick around until the weekend and we'll have a white Christmas. One way or the other, Audrey thoroughly enjoyed playing out in it while Mitchell shoveled the walks. We even let her get some early use out of her Christmas present from Grandpa Tracy. Thanks for the galoshes! 

Also, here's another baby bump picture. 12 weeks along.

Unbelieveable

My belly is growing FAST this time! The scary thing is, I have 29 weeks to go!...or should I say, to grow! Yikes!

Thanksgiving Fun 2011

 My mom and sister came out to stay with us for a week and celebrate Thanksgiving! It was so much fun! We hardly took any pictures at all because we were so busy enjoying each other. We were especially excited for Mom and Eileen to come so we could surprise them with our exciting news! They didn't even know I was pregnant!

I made this shirt for Audrey that says" Big Sis." Audrey wore it to the airport when we went to pick them up. As I predicted, my mom noticed the shirt right away and said, "Big sister? Is this an announcement?" I had her sit down before I handed over the ultrasound. She was so excited to discover that there are 2 babies in there!

We enjoyed a local Mongolian BBQ restaurant that night and mostly enjoyed seeing and talking to each other. For Family Home Evening we went to Mitchell's work to make s'mores. It is a really cool campus and there are themed conference rooms all over. Each conference room has a fireplace so you can build a fire. It's really cool. Eileen reminded us to be grateful and gave a great lesson based on President Monson's talk on gratitude from a year ago. The s'mores were good and Audrey loved all of the extra attention!

Tuesday we took a tour of the rest of Mitchell's work and saw some of the neat artwork and quirky displays, followed by a delicious lunch at the gourmet cafeteria with Mitchell.

Audrey warmed right up to Grandma and Aunt Eileen. It helps that Grandma fed her cookies all week and played new games with her. Eileen spoiled her rotten with attention and fun. Here is Audrey and Grandma playing "Where's Bruce." Audrey turned to smile at Eileen with the camera every time.

Wednesday was a cooking day and we made 6 dozen rolls, 2 batches of stuffing, cranberry relish and fudge. When Mitchell got home from work we headed north to spend 3 days with our great friends the Easters and the Smiths! Cindy made 2 succulent and delicious turkeys and there was more food than we could possibly eat. Not to mention more games than we could play and more football than we could watch. I think we did a great job of observing the 4 F's of Thanksgiving: Food, Family, Friends and Football.

I was a wonderful visit and as always, it flew by way too fast! We can't wait to see you again soon Mom and Eileen!

Double Vision

Coming June 27, 2012...or thereabouts!

Deck the Halls

Mitchell has been travelling this week so I took advantage of my extra free time to sew! I've been hoarding this fabric since last year to make a Christmas tree skirt, and now here it is!! I love it! Can I set up the tree now? I have more of the same fabrics to make coordinating stockings too! I can't wait for Christmas!

Trick or Treat

I didn't think Audrey would get the concept of trick or treating this year. I am so glad I brought a bucket to the church trunk or treat party just in case! Once she figured out people were putting candy in her bucket she was unstoppable! She even remembered to say (actually, sign) thank you to everyone! Cutest little fairy princess ever!

Farm and Corn Maze

Today was a full and fun Saturday! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking since there are a lot. We started the day with a family workout. I ran 11 miles and Mitchell rode along side me on his bike while towing Audrey in the bike trailer. I was grateful for the company and the support! Looks like I am well on my way to being ready for the Haunted Half Marathon I'm running in 2 weeks! Here's my support crew. I wish I had snapped a picture of Audrey in the little trailer too. So cute!

After the ride Audrey was a champ and willingly took an early nap so we could enjoy the afternoon at a (semi) local farm/corn maze/pumpkin patch. It was a blast! Audrey ran around delighted at all of the new experiences to be had. I do NOT want to jinx myself but she is so good natured. It was a long day and although she was exhausted after 3 hours at the pumpkin patch, she was really patient and didn't throw a fit at all. I love being her mom!

I could hardly keep up with her, she ran around inspecting everything in sight!

This picture is my favorite recent photo of Audrey. So cute!

Climbing...of course.

I wonder what sinister plan she had cooked up with that corn husk?

Sad faces (I cracked a smile) because we found ourselves at a dead end in the corn maze.

The whole gang!

We also got to go on a tractor/ wagon ride. Audrey loved it. She also enjoyed the hot apple cider and pumpkin donuts. Isn't Autumn full of charm!?!

Christmas Came Early!

Santa visited our home early this year! I am giddy with excitement waiting for Audrey to wake up and see her new car! She is going to love it!

Communication

Since Audrey was a little baby I have taught her what little sign language I remember. She now knows and uses at least 10 signs! It's great that she is able to tell me useful things. I'm sure that some situations are less stressful for her because she can communicate a few of her basic preferences.

Here is a sampling of her signs. Audrey has modified most of them to suit her taste.

Melanie Harris, RN

I am a working woman now! I got a job as a team nurse at a skilled nursing facility associated with a local hospital. I am really excited! This is my second week of orientation and I am loving the facility. Once I get trained and working on my own I will be scheduled for the PM shift, 2:00pm-10:30pm and I will be working about 20 hours per week. We really lucked out too with our awesome babysitter! She is a friend and Audrey loves it there! I am happy that I still get to be home with Audrey most of the time and the days that I do work she will basically just take her nap at the babysitters and Mitchell will pick her up after work. More updates to come! :)

And because no blog post is complete with out a picture...

Audrey got this pot out of the cupboard yesterday, hefted it up to the table, climbed up and in and watched out the window waiting for Daddy to come home. She is such a joy!

High Adventure 2011

So I (Mitchell) have been called to be in the Young Men's in our ward, which also makes me assistant scout master. Which means that I get to do fun things like this:

The Windy City

We spent the Labor Day weekend in Chicago this year! Saturday was our stake temple day so we decided to take advantage of that and take advantage of the long weekend. It was wonderful. Mitchell and I traded babysitting with another family who brought their 2 adorable girls down. The girls loved it and played at a nearby playground for 3 and a half hours! I love attending the temple it is so wonderful to step inside and leave behind all of my worries, responsibilities and cares of the world for a couple of hours. Not to mention the things I learn and discover through temple worship, I always feel so renewed. Here are some pictures of Audrey with her new friends at the temple.

Later that evening we just checked in to the hotel and relaxed. Audrey was pretty wiped out from playing so hard all afternoon.

It just so happened that our brother in law, who is a pilot for Delta, had a 24 hour layover in Chicago on Sunday! What serendipity! We went to church together in the morning then did some city sight seeing. We went to Millennium Park and saw the iconic giant reflective metallic bean. It was just that, giant, reflective and metallic. A neat photo op and now I can say 'I went there!' when I see in in pictures or a movie. Cool. The much cooler and more fun area of the park was the Crown Fountain. It's essentially an urban chic splash pad. We let Audrey play and slide around in the water even though she was in her church dress. I figured it's not her fault she was all dressed up at a water park. She had a blast! Her favorite game was getting a running start then sliding on the tiles in about 2 inches of water.

This beautiful outdoor amphitheater holds concerts all summer. So pretty!

Of course we didn't think to pose for a picture until it was time to go and Audrey's wet dress was soaking my shirt, she was also crying because she bonked her elbow playing the run and slip game.

We saw this Illinois Department of Transportation sign as we entered the parking garage and all laughed together because we thought it said 'Idiot.' Well, I think it really was there to mock us because parking at Millennium Park was $25 no matter how long you stay! Thank you Leon!

After we dropped Leon back off at the airport we had some delicious Chicago deep dish pizza. Mmm.

Mitchell's grandmother grew up in the Chicago suburbs and we took the opportunity to go out to Lombard, IL and check out the house she grew up in. That was so neat! Grandma's father was an engineer and he designed the home. Her mother was in charge of the decorations. They lived in this house from 1941-1959. So cool! I so wanted to knock on the door and tell the people living there about the history of their house! We also checked out the high school Grandma went to. It is probably one of the neatest looking high schools with it's embossed crests and the castle-like turret. We loved getting to see what Grandma saw growing up in Lombard.

Monday we visited the Shedd Aquarium. This was really cool! Audrey loved seeing the fish. Our favorite displays were the huge Caribbean tank with large fish, sharks, coral and even a SCUBA diver inside! We also loved the Amazon rain forest section. It reminded Mitchell a lot of his mission when he was in the jungle of Peru.

Last, but certainly not least, in our Chicago adventure. I got to do some retail therapy on the Magnificent Mile! If I hadn't had a very tired toddler with me I really could have spent some time....haha, and $$$, on Michigan Avenue. I did get a fun new Chicago outfit to remember the weekend. What a great family trip!