Thanksgiving and New Stats!

Last week we had a really nice Thanksgiving! We left Madison on Wednesday after Mitchell got off work and headed north to a little town called Shawano (pronounced "Shaw-no") that's about 40 miles north and west of Green Bay. A wonderful family lives up there that I grew up with in California! The kiddos are all grown up now but I used to babysit them all the time! We had a nice, relaxed and fun weekend with the Easters! Audrey sure enjoyed being the center of attention and I loved the break! Several times I would look around and say- where's my baby? Inevitably she would be off having a great time playing with one of the kids. It was a win-win if you ask me! One of the sweetest things was when John (the 15 year old) got out his most favorite bear from when he was a kid. It is just a small bear but you can tell it was loved. He let Audrey play with it and she must have felt the love in this bear because she took right to it. John ended up giving Audrey the bear and she now cuddles up with him when she sleeps. We call him Easter Bear and it is the first stuffed animal that Audrey has really cuddled up with. So cute!

This was one of those times that I realized I hadn't seen my child in a while. I went down to the basement to find her playing happily with John and a pile of plastic vegetables. (You can see Easter Bear to the left of Audrey's slippers)

We all enjoyed a great game of Ticket to Ride. Jeff and Maddie tied for first! Maddie rocked it without help and did awesome for only being 8 years old!

Kyle was a little shy when the camera came out but we got an awesome showcase of his mad drumming skills! He really is very good!

Maddie got out her old doll house and Audrey loved it!

Audrey went to see the pediatrician yesterday. She is doing great! Here are her latest stats:

Height: 27.5" (93rd percentile)

Weight: 16lb 3oz (44th percentile)

Head Circ.: 41.2cm (11th percentile)

She is growing and getting stronger all the time and doing all the things a 6 month old should do! I can't believe it's been half a year already! Time sure flies! She has really gotten efficient at the army crawl and she motors all around getting in to everything she can reach. A few days ago she pulled one leg up and got one knee involved in the scooting, it's only a matter of time before she crawls on her hands and knees! She babbles all the time and puts some consonants together to say, "mamamama" "yayayaya" "dadadada" or "babababa." She puts everything in her mouth! She loves paper and I try to intercept before she swallows any but when I fail I find it a few hours later...better processed than before. ;) She puts everything in her mouth that is, except food. She doesn't seem to like food too much. She is mostly indifferent and would rather play with the strap on her highchair than anything else. Oh well, we just keep trying.

I took these 2 this morning. She is so stinking cute! I love her silly grin.

In her pretty church dress looking coyly to the side.

Mitchell and I are very pleased and it looks like we moved out of Utah at just the right time! Wisconsin (also known as the forbidden frozen tundra to anyone out west) still doesn't have any snow! We are going to make it to December without seeing ANY snow here in Madison! I think Utah is on their 3rd blizzard of the season... :) We have loved the weather here so far! Summer was warm with lots of lovely humidity to keep our skin and nails looking their best, we had a long fall that was breathtakingly beautiful and so far a mild start to the winter. I'll take it! I do have my plane ticket already purchased to spend a couple of weeks in CA come February though. I am doubting that the mildness will last much longer!

Since it is supposedly going to get ridiculously cold here we decided to do what the locals do and shrink wrap our windows. It helps seal off drafts and also adds a layer of extra insulation on the windows. It's an interesting process that involves double stick tape, thin sheet plastic and a hair dryer.