Baby Shower

My wonderfully generous friends gave me a baby shower for little Ian this morning. I was so spoiled with love and gifts. Thanks everyone for coming and sharing such great food and company! I am blessed!

Zoo

Our friends gave us free zoo passes, so our family enjoyed a nice day at the zoo today!At the petting zoo, many of the goats were completely still, just basking in the sun. Made me think of a certain sister of mine (not that you are a goat!).It was a perfect day, cool but sunny, no wind, and we saw lots of wonderful animals.

Learning Letters

Inspired by my friend Beth, I have begun devoting each week to a letter of the alphabet, teaching Audrey the letter and doing activities associated with the letter. She can already identify most capital letters, and so we're reinforcing that, learning lower case letters, and introducing phonics. Last week we learned about the letter A, and this week we learned about the letter B. We cut out and color each letter, capital and lowercase, talk about what starts with the letter, do some coloring sheets, and then some more exciting activities too. Yesterday we had a picnic with our bear friends, ate "bear food" (tuna fish sandwiches, goldfish crackers, and berries) and read books about bears. Audrey was really into this activity, and did most of the set-up while I prepared food. Just wanted to share this highlight of our week! And a bonus picture, Audrey with our Valentine roses from Mr. B.

Happy Valentine's Day

We love you all! Here are some treats we made this morning--Audrey is great in the kitchen!

Must be related to her Aunt Kelley

This video was taken at Callaway Gardens, before a Birds of Prey show (see next post). Audrey was bopping to the music, so I thought I would get a video. Then a new, faster song came on and she bust out with these wild moves, in front of a few dozen people. It was all I could do to hold in my laughter! She even continues to enjoy her chicken nugget while grooving.

Callaway Gardens

Yesterday Mr. B took a HUGE test (he feels good about it; hope he passes!) for his PhD program, and the best place to take it turned out to be at home. So Audrey and I left for the day, heading down to Pine Mtn, GA, to visit Callaway Gardens. The drive was about 1 hr 45 min one way, and Audrey did really well there and back (thank goodness). When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that admission is free this month--cool! We first wanted to visit the butterfly conservatory, where a "Parrot Encounter" was scheduled. We looked around at the butterflies , but they scared Audrey, darting in front of her face. She was really upset. Then the "Parrot Encounter" turned out to be six minutes of a lady talking about four parrots she had brought along. They were beautiful, but the website implied that the parrots would be talking; we discovered these birds don't like to talk in crowds. And the trainer only took two of them out of their cages. It was pretty lame. Here's Audrey feeling very insecure in the butterfly conservatory.
Then we headed over to the Discovery Center where we had just enough time to get lunch before the next event, Birds of Prey. This was MUCH better, and we really started having fun. First of all, while we were waiting for the show to start, loudspeakers played music, and Audrey performed a great dance number for the crowd (see previous post). The Birds of Prey show was really fascinating; this hawk brushed the top of my head with its talons (it didn't hurt). The trainer showed us the hawk, two owls, and a vulture, and they were flying very low over the crowd. I thought it was great. Audrey alternated between entranced and fidgety, but she liked it too. Finally, we went to the horticultural center, which had similar traits to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and Audrey even asked to see a specific exhibit that's only in Atlanta. The picture at the top of this post is from the horticultural center, as is this next one--I've never seen a banana tree bearing fruit in person, nor did I know that pineapples grew in the ground (I thought from a tree!). We also got to feed fish here, see a blue heron eying those fish, see a waterfall, smell flowers, play with sticks, and just enjoy the beautiful 68 degree weather. Fun day!

Our little monkey

Audrey's latest favorite activity: hanging from anything. It works best from the bars at the park, but this little monkey will improvise. Other cute things: This week she started saying "Can I" in front of everything (Can I play with my toys? Can I buckle in the car seat? Can I eat some yogurt?). It's less about asking permission and more her new way to phrase what she wants or is doing, but hey, it's better than whining or demanding! Also, she is quite a singer, loves music. Her favorite songs to sing right now are the ABCs, Twinkle, I am a child of God, Sunbeams, Wheels on the Bus, and Old MacDonald. Old MacDonald is especially fun because she doesn't limit herself to animals. This week she sang that he had a shoe. I asked, "What does the shoe say?" And she sang, "With a walk walk here and a walk walk there..." I am laughing and smiling all day at the things she says and does.

Valentine's craft

This morning Audrey and I made a paper bunny out of hearts. She liked watching me cut out the hearts, but she wasn't into coloring the bunny. She did a great job helping with the glue though! Once it was done, she didn't want it and even ran away crying. It is a little scary looking--oops! I distracted her with a paper airplane made out of the instruction sheet, and then she decided she wanted to pose with her bunny puppet. And her stuffed bunny. FYI, here's a link to this craft and similar ones:

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/crafts.htm

Adventure

Yesterday we went up to Rome to visit Tracy, Carlie and Ellie and had a great time! We had some two year old drama, but we have two year olds, so what can we expect? :) Still, we enjoyed playing outside, playing with toys and playdough, coloring, dress-up, and a yummy lunch. Can't wait to see you girls again!

Mommy, take a picture!

My little princess requested that I take these photos of her. She would pose (with accessories of course), look at the picture on the camera, approve, then pose again. The first request came Sunday, the second request a few days later.

Kids' room and baby name

We've been making changes to Audrey's room to turn it into a room for two. We got rid of the guest bed, got curtains, a changing table, and Audrey's toddler bed. And most recently, I repainted Audrey's wooden letters and did new ones for our boy, who we decided to name Ian. Audrey's letters hang over her bed accompanied by a painted star my mom gave me when I was a child. Ian's letters hang on the same wall, opposite side of the curtains, underneath the penguin painting that Mr. B's mom (Grammy) did. Grammy is almost done painting two scenes from the book Runaway Bunny, which will go on the wall adjacent to Audrey's letters. Then I'll have a few finishing touches, and the room will be complete. It's so fun!