Poppers!

Daddy gets lots of packages! Almost all of them are filled with "poppers." Audrey loves to open all the packages with Daddy and jump on the poppers. Yesterday Daddy got a ton of packages and one of them was bigger than Audrey, and it was filled with dozens and dozens of poppers and who knows what was actually in the box. Audrey had a great time this morning body slamming all the poppers and playing in the box they came in. Why does she have all those toys if this works so well?

Love Letter

Audrey is very interested in writing letters to her friends. She writes one at least 5 times a week, and they are often addressed to the same person....William. Here she is working diligently on perfecting her most recent letter.

Dear William, Love, AudreyPerfect!

Snow Day

We had our 2nd "snow day" this year and this time it actually snowed. We got about 3 inches and of course the greater Charlotte area was closed for the day. It was a nice surprise since the oh so accurate weather people said that we might have a few flurries and they would not stick to the ground. Audrey was very excited and ready to go first thing in the morning! The dogs (or zany canines according to Fancy Nancy) were thrilled to get some snow in their paws. We had the neighborhood to ourselves until the older kids rolled out of bed a few hours later. Then it got a little complicated. Note to neighbor kids: do not attempt to herd my dogs, especially when they are not bothering you. This resulted in a rather harsh collision between Audrey and Murphy and further resulted in Motrin, a blanket, the couch and tv for a few hours. Anyway, we had a great time and are now ready for spring.

Ready for anything. Not sure what the umbrella is for, but just in case...
Murphy and his snow 'stache.
Who knew the Barbie jeep had snow tires!
Exploring with the boys.

Quote of the day

"Mommy, can you turn that vacuum down so I can hear my show?"
-Audrey

Superbowl Sunday

We had some friends over to "watch" the game and eat lots of food Sunday. Audrey's boyfriend, William came over to play and I think they had the most fun of everyone. They built lots of block towers, houses, and bridges and after a costume change for Audrey she and William practiced their football dance. They had to dance until the football stopped spinning. It was quite entertaining. We all watched the 3D commercials with our fancy glasses. Audrey is very excited that all of the glasses are still here this morning for her baby dolls. Guess she has some sort of 3D adventure planned for them today. Anyway, that's that. A good time was had by all.

What goes up....
must come down.
Football dance = dizzy kids
Bill, Julia, and Patrick in 3D

Quote of the day

"Mommy, can boys eat girl cheese sandwiches?"
-Audrey

Quote of the day

"Mommy, you're getting big."
-Audrey

Big Sister Tour

We had our sibling tour at the hospital this afternoon. There were several big sisters and brothers that got to learn about what Mommy is going to be doing at the hospital. Audrey had a lot of fun learning how to correctly hold a baby and how NOT to ever try to walk with the baby. She also got to see the room where the baby will be born and got to take a ride on the automatic bed. Audrey also got to look at the new babies in the nursery and then see where Mommy and baby will be for the rest of the hospital stay. It was a lot of fun, and as you can see Audrey got a lot of great accessories and now refers to herself ans "Dr. Audrey."

Learning to hold a baby

New Dr. hat

Trying out the automatic bed

Showing off the new loot

Weekend with Grandma and Papa

Grandma and Papa came to visit last Friday and we were all sad to see them go. They helped finish some things up with the nursery and entertain Audrey. I am not feeling very "bloggy" this week, so I'll let the pictures tell the story and keep this text short and sweet.

Baking with Grandma

Taste testing

Quality control on all ingredients requiredIt is exhausting being a princess!
Showing off the new outfit Grandma made
Cheesing for the camera
The new quilt Aunt Barb made for the nursery

Practice makes perfect

Audrey is of course obsessed with babies right now, and she finally found one to hold! This is baby Quinn, her good friend Rory's little sister. Look how excited she is to be holding a real, live baby! Great practice for the little brother.

Super Hero Man!

While we were snowed in today we decided to hit Build A Bear and use a gift certificate we got a while ago. Audrey decided to build a bunny for baby Ben. His given name (on his birth certificate) is Super Hero Man, but she has decided just to call him bunny. I think his super power is that his shoes fall off a lot and that the real super hero (Mommy) has to put them back on all the time.

Snow Day

The rumors were flying everywhere yesterday....2-6 inches of snow...100% chance. Low and behold our weatherman came on late last night and changed his story a bit. The story changed to a light dusting or maybe a few inches. Anyway, we got about a half an inch, which was enough to cancel school and of course, pre-school too. Audrey got out early before everything melted and turned into mud and played in the snow with the dogs. There was enough to appease her though, and she had a great time. Here are a few shots of Audrey with the dogs and the "winter advisory."

The boys

Audrey trying to scoop enough snow to do something with
Catching snowflakes on her tongue

30 Weeks

Here I am at 30 weeks. A side by side by side comparison shows that I am a little (a lot) bigger and carrying higher than I was with Audrey. Feeling great though and about to hit the home stretch.

30 Weeks pregnant with Baby Ben

29 Weeks pregnant with Audrey

Is that....

Hannah Montana? "No, it's me, Audrey." I don't think Audrey has ever seen the Hannah Montana show, or has a real clue who she is, but she sure like to wear the wig. Audrey loves the cards that play music at Hallmark and Target and there is always a Hannah Montana singing card that she picks up and will let it play as long as possible. Today Audrey was rockin' out HM style with her guitar and wig from Christmas.

"It's me, Audrey."

Work in progress...

Ok, so as promised here are a few pictures of the nursery. The bedding is Audrey's old stuff recovered by my mom. Kudos to Jeff for getting the chair rail up in a timely manor, and good luck to me getting the rest of the details together in the near future.

Bouncin' Ballerina

Well, she's actually going to gymnastics dressed like this, but she still says she is in her "balleting" outfit. I was trying to get a picture of her super-poofy-80's-perm-looking hair that was achieved via the blow dryer this morning. I blew it dry once last week and now it looks like I'll be doing it every day from now on- she loves it! If your not careful though, the curls will take over! But, Audrey would not sit still long enough, so we have bouncing pictures. Not too much going on this month so far. We are getting the nursery ready, and I should have some pictures of that later this week. Audrey is very excited and really, really wants to dress baby Ben up in his clothes. She has already practiced on all of her baby dolls. I can only imagine that she will literally smother him with love. Oh, and I'll try to slip in a new belly picture soon- after I attach my wide angle lens, that is.

Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone! Our family spent New Year's day in the car for 10 hours on the way to Grandma and Papa's in FL. The weather was beautiful there and we had a great time playing outdoors, but most of all seeing our family. Audrey got to spend a lot of time with her cousins, Ana and Isabel and Tia and Uncle Eric too. Audrey had the thrill of opening a second round of Christmas gifts, going to the beach, fishing, and baking gingerbread people with Grandma.
I've got several picture to share, but will need to wait for Grandma to send me some of hers to share everything, but this post will get you off to a good start. I hope you all had a wonderful start to your year too!

Sittin' on the dock of the bay with Daddy

Checking out the fishing prospectsA kiss from Mommy

Apparently there was an unwritten rule that all Berry women must cut their hair in 2008.Sandy sweetheartPlaying in the sand with IsabelChasing the seagulls with AnaWalking on the beach with huge MommyHow do Grandmas do it?3 jealous girls all in one lap