March 3

This morning our Sprouts playgroup took a field trip to a nearby aquatic center to go swimming! It was lots of fun! I wish I had taken more pictures. But it's kind of hard to take pictures when you are in the water, and we were pretty much in the water the whole time! So I didn't really take any pictures until it was about time to get out.

There was a nice toddler pool area, and Audrey enjoyed being able to walk by herself and sit down by herself. She did not like all of the spraying water and waterfalls that were a part of the play area. She refused to walk anywhere where it was "raining".

There was also a little lazy river area and a circle vortex. Audrey really enjoyed swimming with me and kicking her feet in the lazy river and then spinning around in circles in the vortex. She keeps talking tonight about how she went swimming in the "rivers" today.

March 2

OK, time for another belly picture. I don't know why I feel the need to document this, but since I took pictures consistently while I was pregnant with Audrey, I feel the need to do the same this time.

I'm 24 weeks now...which is the 6 month mark! At first, I was eager for this pregnancy to go by quickly, but now I'm really ready for time to SLOW DOWN! In 4 months (or less), we will have another baby. And I'm kind of freaking out at the idea of having two kids. I'm feeling very unsure about my ability to take care of two kids without losing my mind.

For those who care to compare, here is a picture of me at 24 weeks with Audrey. I feel much bigger now than I did then...it's hard to tell from the pictures though if that is true or not.

I'm also thinking it is time to get serious about naming this little girl. Right now, I have one name on my list, and Daniel doesn't like it. So we either need to come up with some more options OR Daniel is just going to have to deal with a name he doesn't like! =)

March 1

Wow, how can it be March already? I think it would be great if time would just slow down a little bit for the next few months!

Today, we picked back up with our Letter of the Week theme. This week's letter is C. I keep finding lots of fun C ideas, so we will see how much we get done this week. This morning we were ambitious and made TWO crafts:

A caterpillar C:

And an egg carton caterpillar:

Of course, we also read The Very Hungry Caterpillar after making our caterpillar crafts!

February 28

Tonight the church had a Preschool Family Fun Night. It was at our Southwest Campus, where we hold our Sprouts playgroup each week. Lindsey put together a fun night, and we had a good number of kids and their parents come join in on the fun.

Audrey just assumed we were at Sprouts, so she automatically jumped into Sprouts mode for a little while--which means, she was grumpy and clingy and not much fun to be around. But she got better as the night progressed and was having fun by the end of the evening. A highlight of Audrey's night was seeing her Sunday School teacher, Miss Peggy! It was the first thing she noticed when we got there: "Look, there's Peggy!"

The theme of the night was a Pajama Party, so all the kids were wearing their jammies. This is how Audrey sits during circle time. She is very serious about sitting all by herself in her chair. Though she looks like she is not having fun, I think she really does like listening to the songs and the story! (Again this is Sprouts mode...she's not always like that. In Sunday School, she is great at participating. She does all the dancing and actions to the songs, and she answers all the questions....just not at Sprouts, or any events similar to Sprouts).
This is Anna. She is about 3 weeks older than Audrey, and she was looking very adorable in her PJ's and pigtails, holding her baby doll.

Elliot is always adorable! As a part of the circle time, all the kids got a new tooth brush. They got to pretend to brush their teeth and dance while singing a song about brushing your teeth.
Audrey was very hyper by the time we left tonight and was talking and singing the whole drive home. She has been very talkative lately and just cracks me up with all the things she has been saying. Here are a few things from today that caught me by surprise:

• Today we were reading a book about a dog. There is a page that has a series of pictures of the dog doing various activities. Without any prompting, Audrey pointed to each picture and narrated what the dog was doing in one big long sentence: "Doggie in the bathtub, doggie wearing glasses, doggie go potty on the floor, doggie having a birthday party, doggie go night-night." I think it is the longest string of words I have ever heard her put together.

• This morning, I told Audrey that we needed to clean the house. She said, "Yeah, clean house! No crying, I'm so happy!" She was very excited about the idea of cleaning the house...though the actual act of cleaning and helping me quickly lost its appeal. =)
  
• At the party tonight, Audrey found some chalk and a chalkboard. After scribbling for a few minutes, she said, "Mommy, look! Draw a picture!" I looked at her pictures and said, "Wow! What did you draw a picture of?" Audrey's answer: "A rhino". Of all the things she could have thought up, where did she come up with a rhino??
• Daniel put Audrey to bed tonight (while I listened on the baby monitor). After a beautiful Daddy/daughter duet version of Praise Him Praise Him, they prayed. Audrey thanked God for: Jesus, God, her nose, picking her nose, Miss Peggy and Lindsey. Oh she makes me smile so much!!
  

February 27

Our Oscar party was a lot of fun! We had a good crowd of people come, the rain held off long enough for us to have our red carpet arrivals, many of our guests got into the spirit of the event and dressed, we had fun games and good food, and it seems that everyone had a good time!

Obviously, I have many more pictures, but I'm not going to get them all done tonight. For now, here's a picture of me and Heather--party planners extraordinaire! =) Seriously, it would be a lot of fun to go into the party planning business someday. We just need to find some people who would be willing to pay us to plan a party for them.

February 26

I spent most of the day with my friend Heather, getting ready for our Oscar party tomorrow night.

So Audrey got to spend the whole day with Daddy. It sounds like they had a fun day. They went to story time at the library this morning, where it turned out some sort of literary fair was going on with special activities for kids. Audrey got her face painted! She was very proud and kept wanting to look at it, saying "See bu-fy? Miwor?" Then she would want someone to lift her up to the bathroom mirror so she could look at the butterfly on her cheek in the mirror.

Audrey also had fun helping Daddy put stools together for church, which is what she is sitting on in this picture. I was home to witness them putting the last few together (they put together 6!), and it was pretty cute. After they put each one together, Audrey got to test the stool out by sitting and wiggling on it.

I'm glad they had a fun day together...and I'm really excited about our party tomorrow night!

February 25

My project for tonight: make these Black Swan inspired, feather-ball topiary centerpieces. Heather and I are throwing our 2nd annual Oscar party on Sunday night. This year we decided to use Black Swan as our theme for the night...which means lots of black and white and feathers! We found some black/white feather balls on a stick, and I thought they would fit perfectly with our theme. The problem was what would we do with them? It's not too often that you try to decorate with feather balls on a stick.

So, with a little bit of hot glue, some ribbon and these decorative pails and rocks, this is what I made. I think they look a little sad/out of place by themselves, but in the midst of the rest of our decor, I am hoping that they will look good. Stay tuned on Sunday for pictures of our big party!!