Annie and Audrey

Audrey loves Annie. Well, she loves any dog, but Annie is the one we can pet. Annie is a very patient dog that allows Audrey to follow her around and give her "hugs" (which is laying on the dog when she is sitting still) and "kisses"(imagine what a one year old child offers as a kiss).

Tonight when Annie went outside, Audrey followed her to the door. Audrey waited there for a few minutes and when Annie started begging to come in, Audrey pulled up toward the window in order to "touch" the dog. She was so excited to be on the same level as the dog. If you didn't know better, you would have thought Annie was equally excited.

Girls Week Out

Olivia, Audrey and I made a trip to Denver when my nephew was born. It was a great girls trip and we had a lot of fun visiting all of our cousins. Olivia and Malorie had a great time playing with each other. One of their favorite things to do was to play in the gazebo in the backyard. Olivia would carry the owl(which is intended to scare away birds from building unwanted nests) around as though it was her baby. I am not sure what she was imagining but every time I looked out the window to check on them she had the owl.

She thought she was the cat's meow when she was able to stay up as late as Mom each night. Although we were usually in bed by 10:00, she would spend the last half hour asking how much longer until we went to sleep. Then she would find things to do, such as wearing Uncle Matt's shoes, while we were waiting to go to bed. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open, but she wanted to prove herself as a "big" girl.


We had a great trip. It was a nice time to bond with each other and to see our extended family.


Oh, and we loved seeing baby Thomas!!!

Jog-A-Thon

The boys participated in a Jog-A-Thon fundraiser for the elementary school. They were to get pledges for each lap that they ran and then they would run as many laps (1/8 of a mile) as they could in 30 minutes. Carter ran 13 laps and Tyler ran 14 laps. I was very proud of them.

Swamp Monster Trail

We headed out this morning with a great idea to go to Swamp Monster Trail on Tiger Mountain near Issaquah. It was a beautiful morning with sunshine and a mild temperature. We started down the trail to find the "swamp monster" but when we came to a fork in the road, we took the road more traveled and ended up on the wrong trail. We ended up meeting up with the trail again, but we had missed the "swamp".

We took some great pictures and had a fantastic time, even Olivia is asking when we can go back to Swamp Monster trail.The leaves were huge on these plants. We felt like we were in a far-off rain forest.

We came across one of the granddaddy's of the forest on Tiger Mountain...this tree was 25 feet in diameter.

Near the end of our 3 mile hike, we came across a bus that had been stranded in the forest. There were huge trees all around it and it made us all wonder how it got there. Later, we learned that there used to be a logging road through there and that it was abandoned in the early part of last century. It was still quite a site to see.

Joy

Who wouldn't like Nutella on a Saltine?

Olivia says...

Olivia has been saying such "grown-up" things lately. She is sure that four years old has made her into an adult. Here are just a few examples:

A few days ago, Olivia and I were shopping together. It was just her and I and so we decided to take advantage of the time alone. We were at Target and somehow worked our way into the accessories and hats. I tried on a wide brimmed hat and asked her if I looked good in it. She rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated huff and told me no. I put the hat back and grabbed another one which was not quite as wide brimmed. I again asked her if this one was better and, once again, she shook her head and told me no. As I turned around to put the hat away, I heard her say in a sing-song voice, "My mom is crazy!!"

Olivia is fluent in "Chinese". She can translate any word, just ask her. She will often ask me how to say something in Chinese, for example, "Mom, how do you say 'towel' in Chinese?" "I am not sure." "It is Nee-how." Then she will say, "Mom, how do you say 'purse' in Chinese?" "I don't know." "It is How-nee." It is always a version of the same few word sounds.

Today she asked something about how they speak in Mexico. I was thrilled as I learned Spanish and I can remember some of the basic words that I thought she might ask about. She said, "In Mexico they say 'Who-la'." "Do you mean 'hola'?" "No. I mean Who-la. And Mom, I know the Mexico song." "You do?" "Yep," and she started singing, to no tune in particular, "Mexico. Mexico. Mexico. Mexico." It was really a wonderful rendition.

Olivia and I spend all day together every day since she is not in preschool and neither one of us has much of a social agenda. Tonight she came down after dinner to dry the few dishes I had to wash by hand. She pulled the stool over to the counter, grabbed a towel, and climbed up and said, "So, how was your day today?".

She is learning so much. It is fun to watch her experiment with phrases and words. She is a joy to have around.

Audrey's First Birthday

Audrey is ONE year old. We went to Grandpa and Grandma Eden's house to celebrate her birthday.

She opened some great gifts. She got a universal remote which has turned out to be a favorite, not only of Audrey, but of her siblings as well. (Why were we spending all the money on baby toys all those years?) She likes to push the buttons and watch them light up. She will then hold the remote up to her ear to talk to somebody. We won't tell her yet it is not a phone.

She also got a stroller/walker with a doll in it. It is a great gift that she will be able to grow into it as she is not walking yet. She loves the doll and will often go and give her hugs. Olivia is often seen pushing the stroller around the house and showing Audrey how it works.

Audrey is a great addition to our family. She is a very patient girl who melts our hearts with her sweet personality.