Last day

Today was Anna's last day of preschool. Mommy had to hold back tears just like she did on the first day of preschool. It's been a wonderful experience and I'm so sad that Anna has to leave it early. She got to bring home her cubby name tag, carpet square, and a scrapbook about her class. Her teachers have been great. Below she's sitting with Mrs. Camella whom she talks the most about. She's very nurturing and it's obvious that she has 4 kids. This is the lead teacher Mrs. Syneseal who is also a Purdue grad. Yea! She's had a great time playing on her carpet square this afternoon. She's sang songs, dismissed her students to line up at the door, sang the calendar song while pointing to the wall, etc. She's quite the teacher imitator.

Look out the window...

"Look out the window, look out the window, see the snowflakes fall..." Those are lyrics to a song my mom used to sing to us kids when we were little and now I sing it to the girls when it's snowing which it's done plenty of lately. Something about snow gets them so excited! Daddy wasn't too excited about it when he had to shovel 6+ inches of it off the driveway this morning in his dress clothes before leaving for work. :) He then had to shovel again when he got home from work. I think he would like a snowblower for his upcoming birthday. A few weeks ago Anna was out playing in the snow and poor Audrey had to stay in and watch out the window. Thankfully Audrey was content to watch Anna entertain her through the window. It's much more fun to get snow thrown at you when a window is blocking it. :)

Pretty "Braves"

Anna calls them "braves" but they're also known as braids. I french braided her hair for the first time last night and she loved it. It makes her look so grown up. Can't believe how big she's getting. Next Tuesday she's going to get her hair cut with mommy in the salon for the first time. Her hair is getting long enough and it's just enough curly that it's getting hard for me to trim straight so I decided it was time to get her her first real haircut. She is soooo excited! I'll be sure to take pictures. Don't worry Grandpa...it's just a trim! :) We couldn't leave Audrey out of the fun so we decided to give her her first sprout. Too cute!! Gotta get her used to pony tails and hair bows now so that she's not pulling them out in a few months. :0)

Home in WV

In a few weeks this will be home. Michael has accepted a job offer with his previous employer and we'll be heading to West Virginia. We're excited yet sad to leave family and friends. God's hand has been very evident in all of this and He's given us a sense of peace in knowing that this is His will for us. We went house hunting last weekend and after two intense days of looking at many houses, we decided this was the one. It's in a nice neighborhood where many of the houses had swing sets in their yards so hopefully that means playmates for the girls. We also visited a church we really liked while we were there so we're looking forward to going back to it. Anna keeps asking to see a picture of our new church. :) Won't be long and she'll be seeing it in person. Thank you to those of you who've been praying for us as we've faced some difficult decisions over the past few weeks. This has been a whirlwind and we've begged God for His wisdom and guidance and praise Him for answering our prayers. It is so comforting to know that "God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9) which happens to be the verse this year for Anna's preschool.

On the go...

Here's another video that's not sideways. :) She gets faster each day...

Purple!

Anna is all about the color purple right now. She wants a purple room, almost always picks out purple clothes to wear, etc. Here she is with her new purple pony wearing a purple shirt and purple pants. It's obvious what her current favorite color is. :)

She's Walking!!!

Audrey is walking! She's gotten closer and closer each day and now she's really taking off. She pulls up to things, gets her balance, and then walks away. I still can't believe my eyes when I see her make it all the way across a room. Here's a few videos...sorry I had the camera turned the wrong way. I'll try to get a video soon that you'll be able to see better.

10 Months Old

Wow - 10 Months old! That sounds so old to me. She's double digits now. As I was holding her tonight before I put her to bed, I was in tears thinking about how fast she's grown. I read a quote the other day that said, "the days are long but the years are fast". How true is that! I thought of the very sweet time we had with Miss Audrey in the hospital after she was born. She was so content to sleep in her little crib, she nursed well, and she didn't cry much at all. Then we brought her home! Her reflux troubles really made for some rough months and my heart breaks when I think of the many difficult times we've had. Overall she's not been a happy baby but who would be when you have acid burning your chest and throat. Oh, how I pray that if we do have another child, he/she does not have GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) as the doctors call it. Thankfully we've got it under control now and she's much happier and rarely spits up. She's very close to walking, has taken 3-4 steps on her own and cruises everywhere as long as there's something nearby to put a hand on. Now that she's feeling better and over her cold/ear infection, she's been eating and napping better but we're still struggling with sleeping at night. She wakes up usually once and it seems to be separation anxiety related because she's not happy unless mommy goes in. We also have a hard time getting her back to sleep without feeding her. I keep telling myself that this too shall pass and one day she'll sleep at night again. :) She will happily clean out any cupboard you would like her to, drawers as well. Here she is waving "hi" at me before she moves on to the task at hand. Thankfully she likes her bed during the day...just not always at night. :0)

Christmas Pics

Here are some random pictures from Christmas. I didn't take nearly as many as I usually do but it was hard with Audrey being mobile and into everything. At least we've got some that turned out. All dressed up...so snazzy! 4 Generations New outfits Siblings Audrey with her new Cookie Monster. My grandparents with the girls. My mom made each of the grandkids their own fleece blanket. They are so soft and each is sized accordingly to the kid. You can imagine how much material it took to make the older kids!

Eating her baby

Audrey got her first baby for Christmas and she LOVES to chew on it. The poor thing is always soaking wet. She's hugged it a few times as well which is so sweet to see. She's also started giving open mouth kisses on our cheeks...so nice to be slobbered. :0)

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

On Thursday, Anna's preschool class celebrated her 1/2 birthday since she has a summer birthday. She was so excited to take pink sprinkle cupcakes and be the helper of the day again.

Yucky Colds

It's been a rough past week at our house. Both girls came down with colds and ear infections last weekend and have not been sleeping, eating, or playing well. Mommy and Daddy also have colds so we've had lots of grumpiness hanging around. Not fun! Thankfully everyone seems to be on the mend although the coughing and congestion is still not completely gone. This was a nasty cold bug that's lasted longer than usual. Audrey has been way clingy and seemed to be content as long we held her and she could lay her head on our shoulders. Quite the change from the busy body she usually is. Anna preferred to cuddle instead of play as well. By the end of this week we started seeing their pretty smiles again...what a blessing!