March 31

It was such a beautiful day today. I think the high was around 78! And I should have taken advantage of the nice day and taken a good picture of something outside...but I didn't. Take a picture that is, we did spend some time outside this afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather.

So instead, here's the book I am reading right now. Francine Rivers is my favorite Christian author. Actually she's one of the only Christian novelists that I read. I tend to find Christian novels too cheesy and unrealistic for my taste (now it's been a while since I have read any new Christian fiction, so there may be decent stuff out there that I don't know about). I think Francine Rivers writes more realistically than many others, and I always enjoy her stories. So far, this one is pretty good.

March 30

Today, we tried on Audrey's Easter outfit to make sure it is going to fit on Sunday (it's a bit big, but it will work). To guarantee that we would have a decent picture of Audrey in her Easter outfit, I wanted to take some pictures today as well. Sundays can be hectic, and who knows if we'll be able to get a good Easter picture then. I'm sure we'll take more on Sunday, but here is a little sneak peek for now.

I did get a couple of good pictures of Audrey smiling and looking at the camera. But for some reason, this picture is one of my favorites...even though she's not smiling and she kind of has a funny look on her face. She was signing please, wanting us to help her get up on the stool. The way she is looking straight at the camera, desperately pleading for someone to help her...I just think it's so sweet.

March 29

We were getting ready to leave tonight and had just put Maggie into her crate. I really wanted to get a picture of Audrey squatting down and waving bye-bye to Maggie through the crate door. It was so very cute! But by the time I got my camera, Audrey had managed to get her hands on my phone and saying bye-bye to the doggie was old news.

March 28

Today was the Easter Egg Hunt at church. I think Audrey had a fun time, though she wasn't too interested in finding Easter eggs. There is a pond behind the church, and often there are ducks (actually I think they are geese, but Audrey doesn't know the difference!) in the pond. So Audrey was very excited about seeing the ducks. She kept saying "cack, cack" and raising her hands to ask "where are the ducks"? Then we would run over to the window and stare in awe at all of the ducks, which is what she is doing in this picture.

Oh, and since I bought little baby rubber bands to fix Audrey's pigtails the other day, I decided she needed to start wearing her hair in a topknot. After all, there is only a very short period of time in one's life when it is actually considered cute to have a ponytail sticking straight up off the top of your head!! Daniel wasn't a big fan, but I think she looks cute with her hair this way!

March 27

I don't have a great picture for today, but our carpets did get a much needed cleaning with this machine!

March 26

The Dairy Queen on Wabash opened today! This is big news around here! I never realized how much I liked Dairy Queen until there was not a Dairy Queen around, then I really missed it. Springfield does have one DQ on the opposite side of town. It is not very nice, and we are never on that side of town, so we never go there. But this new Dairy Queen is right in our neighborhood. It is not going to be good for the wallet or the waistline! But I definitely enjoyed my Mint Oreo blizzard today. Audrey got to try her first ice cream at Dairy Queen today as well. I have some super cute pictures of her eating her ice cream that I am getting ready to post on the other blog.

March 25

Audrey and Elliot were best buddies at Sprouts this morning. Elliot even started calling her Audrey...it was very cute!!

March 24

Audrey and I had a good time playing in our backyard this afternoon. I brought out one of Audrey's push toys, and she pushed it around the patio and up and down the sidewalk for the longest time. Then we sat on a blanket and read some books and laughed as Maggie ran around like a crazy dog chasing squirrels and birds. I just love nice weather!!

March 23

Audrey's hair is finally long enough for pigtails...kind of! The back was note quite long enough to stay in the pigtails for long. Plus Audrey was not a big fan of me trying to fix her hair. She was very squirmy, so her pigtails were messy and uneven. But still, they were pigtails...and they were cute!! Another sign that she is now a little girl and no longer a baby!

I have several more pigtail pictures that I will post on the other blog soon!

March 22

Audrey has figured out how to pick her nose...

March 21

This was my dinner tonight...a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Having cereal for dinner is a tradition that started for me in college...when the cafeteria didn't have much selection and I always resorted to cereal on Sunday nights. Plus, we usually have a big lunch on Sunday, and we have snacks at small group, so there doesn't seem to be a need for a big meal. And I just like an excuse to eat cereal for a meal, because cereal is good!

March 20

Audrey was so very happy today. She's had a lot of grumpy days lately, so both Daniel and I were relieved to know that she does still remember how to be happy! All day long, she talked and laughed and entertained herself. She didn't have any major temper tantrums or meltdowns, and she wasn't clingy at all. It was just a great day with Little Miss Audrey!

March 19

We had our third book club meeting tonight. Lisa fixed us a delicious dinner and then we had a good discussion about The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

March 18

At my mom's house, they have a whole room decorated with ducks. There are lots of ducks all over the room, even one flying from the ceiling. Audrey was in heaven! The whole time we were there she would go to the stairs leading up to the duck room and say "cack, cack" (quack, quack). Then she would go up and say hi to all of the ducks. We played this game countless times every day. Before we left this morning, we took Audrey in one more time to say "bye-bye" to all the ducks!

March 17

Today we had lunch at the Schultes. After we ate, all of the kids were playing dress up, and then they wanted to pose for pictures. Of course, I was excited to take their pictures...I never pass up a willing photography subject!! All the pictures turned out so cute that I had a hard time choosing one to post here. I decided on this picture of my friend Jenny's daughter Josie. She did such a good job of striking a pose for the camera!!

Being back in Keokuk always makes me sentimental. For example: I remember how me and my friends used to play with the Schultes' dress up clothes, and now our kids are playing with them (well, not my kid. She was a mess the whole time we were there and Daniel had to take her home kicking and screaming...so she missed out on the dress up time).

Another sentimental thought of mine this week: according to my baby book, one of my favorite words when I was Audrey's age was Heidi...in reference to my friend Heidi. This week, while hanging out with that same friend, Audrey started to say Heidi. I think it's crazy that we were both saying Heidi at the same age and in reference to the same person!!

I also got to speak at Keokuk Christian Academy's chapel service this morning. I went to KCA for 8 years, and it was crazy to think that almost it's been almost 25 years since I started kindegarten there!

March 16

Audrey LOVES her Uncle "Feh" (Seth). We've been teaching her how to say his name all week, and when she got to see him tonight she was so excited. And then when he rode in the backseat of the car with her on the way to dinner tonight, she was even more excited!

March 15

It's another beautiful day today! This afternoon, Audrey and I went over to my friend Heidi's house to visit with her and her 3 kids. Libby, Heidi's youngest, was the only one willing to stand still long enough to pose for any pictures. Isn't she adorable?? Audrey was a bit on the grumpy side while we were there, and kept saying "nigh, nigh" the whole time. Needless to say, she crashed as soon as we got back to my mom's house and is sound asleep right now!

March 14

We are in Keokuk right now. Daniel is leading worship for a revival at my home church this week. Tonight, they had a dinner at the church for everyone helping with revival. There were some St. Patrick's day decorations on the tables during the dinner, and my Grandpa was playing with this hat. So we got a picture of him wearing the tiny little St. Patrick's Day hat...isn't he cute?

March 13

Here is our Hearts at Home group this morning after a fun night at the La Quinta Inn. We stayed up way too late, but it was a lot of fun to sit around and talk and laugh...a little flashback to what life was like before we had kids!

And here's a bonus picture. This was taken around 2 am this morning. We were all still up talking, when Shannon noticed a tiny, tiny little bug on Melisa's Hearts at Home brochure. So she started searching her bed and ended up finding 3 of these bugs! Melisa refused to sleep in the bed and stayed up the rest of the night, researching bed bugs on her iphone. The rest of us chose to believe that the bugs were limited to her bed, and we managed to get a few hours of sleep (though I kept waking up feeling all itchy and gross). I have a feeling that bed bugs are fairly common in lots of hotels and then started to wonder about how many times I have slept in a bed full of bugs. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 12

I'm in the midst of packing. Later this afternoon I am going with some other women from church to a conference for moms called Hearts at Home in Bloomington, IL. I don't feel like I am old enough to be going to a mom's conference, but I suppose since I am turning 30 this year, it's about time for me to accept the fact that I am a grownup! I'm going to leave Audrey at home with Daddy tonight and spend the night there. I don't get to stay for the whole conference though. Tomorrow morning, I am taking the train back to Springfield, then Daniel, Audrey and I are going to Keokuk. Daniel is leading worship at my home church's revival next week. So we'll be spending the week in Keokuk, hanging out with family and friends, and going to revival every night. Who knew that churches even still did revivals?? Well, my church still does...it should be fun times!!

March 11

Another beautiful day! And Audrey has been much happier so far today, so everything just seems better today. We had a really good time at Sprouts this morning, and then we went with Daddy for a quick picnic at the park! It was fun to eat somewhere besides our dining room, and Audrey seemed pretty happy about it. Now I am hoping that Audrey naps for a really long time, so I can enjoy a quiet and peaceful afternoon.

March 10

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day. I think the high was around 68, and it was sunny and warm and fabulous! I would be happy with this weather every single day of the year!! Audrey and I spent about an hour and a half at the park. We walked all over the park, stopped to say hi to all the ducks, and checked out the playground and the swings. The swings were directly facing the sun, so I couldn't get any pictures of her looking at the camera...she kept turning her head away!

The park and the weather were definitely the highlights of our day. The rest of the day was not so great. Audrey has been very tempermental for a couple of weeks now. Some days are better than others, but this week has been very rough. Last night she wouldn't go to bed, then she was up screaming in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep. We finally felt a molar breaking through her skin this morning. Those molars have been teasing us for weeks now, causing her gums to swell and look painful...peeking through the skin but not quite breaking the surface. I really think they are causing Audrey a lot of pain, which is causing her to be so unhappy and angry. I wish they would just come in already. I am hoping that once the teeth are done hurting her, our happy Audrey will come back to us!

March 9

This is how Audrey "talks" on her play phone. She almost always holds it backwards, and she never actually talks into it...and it makes me smile every time!

March 8

My dad and Chris were in town today, and we got to have lunch with them. I forgot to take my camera with me to lunch, so I didn't get any pictures with them. But my dad made Audrey this elephant on a ball balloon. She thought it was funny and was giving it kisses tonight!

March 7

The Oscar party went really well tonight. Heather, my co-planner, was also the winner of the grand prize...this lovely golden statue, which she won for guessing the most correct winners.

I'm glad The Hurt Locker won. I'm glad Avatar didn't win. I have more pictures that I will post sometime soon. Now I'm too tired to write anymore, must go to bed!!!

March 6

I bet this is the first time that you have seen camoflauge pencils decorated with Nazi Swastikas and drops of fake blood (it's actually red nail polish)! I would even be willing to bet that these are the only camoflauge pencils decorated with Swastikas and blood that you could find in the entire world!! My friend Heather and I are getting ready for our big Oscar party tomorrow night. We are using the 10 nominated movies as our "theme" and are trying to pull in as many ideas from these movies as possible. These pencils, as strange and twisted as they may be, represent Inglourious Basterds. It was a strange and twisted movie, so they're a good fit!

Heather and I have decided that we make the perfect party planning pair. She loves to come up with games and fun food, and I love to come up with crafty, creative ideas. We've had so much fun planning and coming up with ideas based on these movies. Some of our ideas may be a little out there (see picture above!), but it's going to be so much fun to see everything come together for our party tomorrow night.

Last night I watched A Serious Man, so I've now seen 9 out of the 10 nominated movies! And just so you know, I'm hoping that The Hurt Locker wins Best Picture...we'll see what happens in about 24 hours!

March 5

This morning I thought it would be fun to go get donuts at Mel-o-cream. We never get donuts, and I don't know what made me think of it this morning. But Daniel had the day off, and I thought it would be a fun family outing. You can't tell by her face in this picture, but Audrey enjoyed her first taste of donut!

March 4

Since the temperature was close to 50 degrees today, Audrey and I took a quick little trip to the park with the Lanters this afternoon to enjoy the slightly warmer weather. First we stopped to feed the ducks at the pond. There were so many ducks...and Audrey said hi to each one of them! The ducks are definitely not afraid of people, and they come up out of the water and walk all around everyone. I wish I had a picture of Audrey feeding the ducks, but I couldn't let go of Audrey. I am pretty sure that she would have 1. tried to pet the ducks or 2. walked right into the pond or possibly she would have done both. So I was trying to take pictures with one hand and hold onto Audrey with the other hand...this one was the best duck picture that I got.

After visiting the ducks, we headed up to the playground for a few minutes. I have a few pictures that I will post on the other blog soon.

March 3

Today I made a big Spring Cleaning to do list, and it ended up being 4 pages long. I went room by room and wrote down all the things that needed to be cleaned, plus all the things that we would like to fix/replace/remodel.

I am really, really good at making lists. I could make lists all day long and never get tired of it. I am really, really bad at following through with my lists. So we'll see how far I get on this list. Fortunately, my husband is good at following through with things, so he will probably make sure we get everything done.

Now I just need some money to magically appear in our bank account so we can pay for all the projects on my list!! =)

March 2

Audrey had a good time playing with Daddy tonight!

March 1

And the Oscar movie countdown continues...I crossed movie number 8 off my list tonight, District 9. I'm not sure that I can really say that I watched it, but the entire movie played while I was in the room. I just couldn't get into this "documentary" about aliens in a giant flying saucer infiltrating our world.

The good news is that Redbox offers a free movie rental code on the first Monday of each month, so I didn't have to pay for this dumb movie!