Christmas in St. Joe

Yet another Christmas celebration - Audrey was spoiled once again. Here she is playing with Aunt Emily's jewelry. She is just like her aunt because she loves shoes, purses and jewelry! Audrey also had fun playing matching cards with Uncle Rod. She now can identify all the numbers and suites. Thanks to Uncle Rod she is ready for Vegas!!

More Holiday Photos

Aunt Megan & Sawyer

That's a lot O meat, hurt so good

Hanging spoons from our noses - stay classy!

Christmas Morning

These are some of Audrey's things from Santa. It was hard for Santa to top Grandma and Papa but as you can see she was pretty happy with her giant princess tent. It came in a very small box so Santa and Mrs. Santa were very surprised too see how huge it was when it was assembled. Play-Dough is always a favorite. She is now learning not to eat or lick it, I know the smell is tempting. She also really enjoys her Cinderella and Winnie the Pooh figurines. I know Daddy wishes they were Star Wars or GI Joe but that will have to wait a few years until Sawyer is bigger. There aren't any pics of him because he pretty much slept through the whole thing. Newborns are soooo much fun!

Christmas Eve

This was just the beginning of our Christmas celebrations. Audrey got a crib for her Bitty Baby from Grandma and Papa. She has enjoyed it a lot. Bitty Baby doesn't usually get to go in the crib though because her beloved Doggy is always in it. She was also very excited about her clock that talks to her. As many of you know, she is very intrigued by clocks. I try not to encourage her but Grandma and Papa don't care.

Audrey is always ready to give "Baby Budder" a hug. I think he is getting used to it. The pic in their pj's is just before bed on Christmas Eve. Audrey said she saw Santa and heard Rudolph on Christmas Eve. Christmas is a ton of fun with a 2 year old!

The Great One

My grandpa, otherwise known as "The Great One," flew in from Florida for Christmas. We are so happy he came to MI to meet his great grandson. You would never know he's 81, we think he has more energy than we do!

He got to hold both of his great grandkids and have a tea party with Audrey. We only wish he got to do this more often but we can't say we blame him for spending his retirement in FL where he can golf year round!

Cookies...The New Addition to the Food Pyramid

Audrey has enjoyed making many batches of cookies throughout the month of December. She has also learned the joy of eating cookie dough! She has become quite the little artist while decorating, very abstract. I think she has eaten more cookies in the past few days than anything else. She will be sad when it's back to fruit and veggies!

Snow Storm

Just thought we's post some pictures of Audrey and Daddy going out to play in the snow. We have about 8 inches but there are drift that are about 15 inches. Zoe gets lost in the snow when she goes outside but I don't think she really minds. It is very windy but Audrey enjoyed her time outside. I thought it would traumatize her and that she would never want to go outside in the snow again but she said it was fun and she built a fort. The wind is about 30 mph but I guess that doesn't bother a hyper toddler!

Ho-Ho-Ho

We are very lucky to live in an awsome neighborhood with great families who all have little kids. Our neighbors had a Santa Party. As you can see Santa came to our party! Very exciting if you're 2 1/2 and very entertaining for all the parents to watch. Audrey showed Santa her shuffle kicks from dance class and her cut on her hand. She was not shy at all! This year she's discovered that Santa is a cool guy.

Santa had a special present for each kid. Audrey got a Magna-Doodle. How did Santa know she wanted that??

How does Anne Geddes do it?

I think the answer to the question is Photo Shop. Here are four of our fifty attempts to take a picture of three kids aged 2 1/2, 15 months and 5 weeks. As you can see it is impossible to have them all looking at the camera at the same time. It was entertaining though.

Audrey and Sawyer celebrated Christmas with Aunt Brandy, Uncle Brad and Tyler on Friday night. Audrey has thouroughly enjoyed her new toys. She loves playing with her doctors kit and styling daddy's afro.

If you are wondering, Tyler is trying to do a sommersault for the camera in the third picture and yes, Sawyer is screaming bloody murder!

Sawyer's First Smile and First Christmas Present

First Smile:Well, the pictures isn't that great but it's hard to try to make him smile and try to take a picture at the same time. Over the past couple days we have been getting some smiles out of him but it does take a lot of effort.
First Christmas Present: We celebrated with the Ward's last night and the bought Sawyer his first Christmas present. He'll have to wait a few months to play with it but we know he will love it when he gets bigger. It has a big mirror, lots of lights, buttons and music - what more could a 1 month old want????

Tiny Dancers!

Saturday was Audrey's first dance recital. It was worth every penny for the dance classes just to get to see the recital. She got to dance on the big stage at the high school. Pictured with Audrey is her friend Abby who lives down the street. I have to say, they are definetly the cutest two in the class! Audrey was a little apprehensive at first but once she got on the stage she didn't want to leave. She ran back out for an encore performance! After her class was escorted off the stage the bigger girls came on for their routine. Audrey thought it would be fun to come running back on the stage. Her teacher had to walk out and get her. I guess she is like her dad and loves to be the center of attention! We can't wait until her next recital in May to see what she will do.

Bath Time and Who's Who

Here are our identical babies. Can you tell which one is which??? Look below for the answer.
The top picture is Sawyer getting his first real bath at 3 weeks old. It is much easier giving the first bath to the second kid, when you actually know what you are doing. There is no where near as much crying involved. The bottom picture is Audrey when she was 6 weeks old. We can't believe how much the look alike!

Life with Two Kids

We are starting to adjust to life with two kids. It is very different and like everyone says, it is more than double the work. We now have ZERO time for ourselves but that will get better with time.

Audrey and I have to find ways to entertain ourselves while staying at home. We are both not used to staying home all day but we will have to learn. We decided to see if Sawyer would fit in his Christmas stocking that Grandma R made him. It was close but his rear end got a little stuck. Audrey thought it was funny but I don't think Sawyer was amused.

I think Audrey thought that her baby brother was going to be a little more fun as a playmate. This is her trying to have a tea party with him. Pretty sad, but he'll be big before she knows it and then he'll be stealing all of her toys and she'll be mad.

Oh Christmas Tree

Last weekend we went on our annual tree chopping outing. Since it was only in the 30s, Sawyer had to sit this one out. Grandma H sat in the car with him while we went and chopped down our tree. Audrey had fun picking out the tree and making snow balls with the little bit of snow that we had on the ground.

The picture to the left is at a small church by the tree farm. We've gone there every year since I was very small. They sell baked goods, hot dogs, and hot chocolate at prices that are from the 1970s. We fed 5 people for $13.00!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here is a picture of our little turkey with our 19 lb Thanksgiving dinner. He likes to keep his legs drawn up to his chest, resembling a turkey.

We had dinner at our house with both sets of grandparents, Great Grandma B, and Uncle Rob. Ben and I lucked out his year and had all the cooking done for us. Great Grandma made 3 great pies that I will be enjoying all weekend! Grandma H brought the big bird that Ben will be enjoying all weekend!

We took our first family picture, besides the ones in the hospital bed. This one is much more flattering, I must say. It was difficult to get the 2 1/2 year old to look at the camera but after many attempts we finally did it.

On Friday we took Sawyer to the doctor for his two week visit. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz when we left the hospital and he is already up to 8 lbs 13 oz. I guess he put on some weight over Thanksgiving too!

Sawyer is Two Weeks!

Sawyer has reached the two week mark! It has flown by. The first two weeks are the hardest so we feel great to be past that. He has been a good baby who likes to be held and loves to eat. He is just like his big sister in the way that he likes to sleep in his swing. He loves his swing so much that he slept for 5 hours straight last night and I actually had to wake him up to eat! Hopefully some day he will graduate to his crib but for now we are happy with any sleep we get so we let him swing away. Audrey is still trying to adjust to her new life as well. She has been a little jealous but very good with the baby. She mostly takes out her agression on us. She also has decided that Band-aids are magic and she requires one every night before going to sleep. Whatever keeps her happy!!

Family Visits

This weekend Sawyer got to meet some family members for the first time. Uncle Ryan flew in from Boston to meet his nephew. Audrey was very excited to see him and although Sawyer won't remember, it was still great to have him come to Michigan! Great Grandma B and Great Aunt Barbie also stopped by for a visit. They spent a couple hours cuddling with Sawyer and he was as happy as could be. He loves being held!

Fun with Photoshop

This just in, Winnie the Pooh has a new friend...Audrey the Pink Poodle!

Grandparents Visit

Grandparents first visit with the Duece...