Mall Rats

For our anniversary, I gave Nick a year of dates.  Each month he has an envelope to open and instructions where and how we are to go on a date of some sort.  I got the idea from Pinterest (where else?) and it was really fun to put together.  Our schedule the way it is, we haven't been able to get the stars to align where we could get a babysitter and go on our first one until last night.

For this date, the instructions told us to go to the mall and eat a progressive dinner (each course at a different spot).  We split pretzel bites at Auntie Anne's, had drinks from Chick fil A, got pizza and Chinese for our entrees and then cheated and left the mall for Bruster's for ice cream for dessert. While we were eating, we were to play "hipster bingo" and people watch.  This was entertaining trying to find "a 1968 Mick Jagger haircut", "ironic trucker hat", "vintage Chuck Taylors" and the like.

Then after we ate (and before dessert), we went on a digital scavenger hunt. It felt sneaky taking pictures of things in stores, but we stayed under the radar! :)  Here are some of the things we had to find:

 Rolling luggage

 Perfume in a red bottle:

A off white blazer:

 An unclothed (and unarmed, apparently) mannequin:

Pink shoes:

A bottle of shampoo over $7:

 And the hardest to find, a volleyball (try finding a volleyball in the mall):

We had a lot of fun on our mall date and are looking forward to next month's!

Lunch out with Grandma

Mellow Mushroom - so much fun (and thanks to G-ma for sitting next to Audrey and picking up her cup 573 times!)!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New words

Here are a few ones she's added in the last couple of days:

• Good girl
• Wow
• Boo (which sounds more like "BAH" and is hilarious - we had her repeating that one for half an hour tonight)

If you ask her for a kiss, she leans in, lips puckered, and says "Mmmmmmmm". She also says this when asked what a cow says and when she is enjoying her food. It's cute in all three circumstances.

Today on the way home from the blood draw, she kept saying "No no no no no no no" in the backseat to herself.  She was evidently reliving the experience of having blood taken, which was TRAUMATIC for both of us.  It reaffirmed my lifelong hatred for phlebotomists. 
 

Public enemy #1

The peanut.  Such an innocent little legume. And so delicious, especially in the form of peanut butter and paired with mayonnaise and banana on whole wheat bread.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. 

Unfortunately, I'm not going to get to share my love of PB&M sandwiches with Audrey.  We went to the allergist yesterday who confirmed with a skin test that she is, very clearly, allergic to peanuts. So we're on crackdown mode on the poor peanut at our house.  Until Audrey is not eating crumbs off the floor and understands that she can't have them, no peanut products in our house. And wherever we go, I will carry an Epipen set and Benadryl. We'll get used to this; it's very scary to think about how such a little item could potentially kill her, but she's in the Lord's hands and we are trusting Him with our precious daughter's health.

Happy birthday, Owen!

Today Owen is one!!! Happy birthday, coz!!

On Saturday, we went to his birthday party, where he got a mound of presents and ate a mound of cake. Audrey was just happy to be somewhere new to explore with new people to look at.

One year pics

Here are Audrey's one year portraits!  I think they turned out well, and I just LOVE this dress that Mrs. D gave her - it's my absolute favorite of all of her outfits.

H

Too fast

Getting a picture of Audrey these days is a bit like trying to photograph Bigfoot. She is way too fast and is either running away from me or heading towards the camera to try to grab it.  But here is some cuteness from the past week or so:

Look at all those teeth and those baby blue eyes!:

 Here I go!!

 Loving her baby:

 Or squishing its head; can't quite tell:

 Snack time (no, I do not dump Cheerios on the floor for her to eat - she does that herself):

Audrey's kitchen

 Audrey has been playing with her new kitchen (our birthday present to her) every day.  She loves taking out everything and playing with all the food, dishes, and utensils.  In fact, it holds her attention longer than anything else. Therefore, it's MY favorite toy too!!

 Silly girl:

Roommate reunion 2012

Two of my Covenant College roommates came and visited this weekend. Kirstin was in town for a conference and Sara took the opportunity to come as well.  We were missing our fourth, Mary, who wasn't able to get away (next year!). We had a great weekend with lots of catching up, laughing, eating, and reminiscing.  On Saturday, Sara and I went shopping at a kids' consignment sale and at IKEA and then picked up Kir from her conference.  We then did some more shopping and ate Mexican food.  We stayed up WAY too late talking, but it was worth it.  Sunday we went to church and then Skyped (is that a verb?) with Mary during the afternoon. Sunday night after church we played the Wii, looked through our college yearbooks and photo albums and laughed our heads off, had junk food for dinner (did I mention the food?!), and stayed up way too late again.  I'm definitely tired today, but it was so good to see them. Nick was a good sport to be on Daddy duty and endure three silly women and their chatter. Can't wait until next year when we do it again!!

Friday Randomness

 It's been a busy week recovering from the birthday party and chasing around a 1 year old.  We celebrated another birthday Tuesday (happy belated birthday, MOM) and will celebrate Barbara's birthday tomorrow (happy almost birthday!).  I call April-September The Birthday Gauntlet in our family - we have 10 birthdays between March and October. July is the busiest!!

We went to the doctor for her one year check up yesterday.  She is very healthy and doing well.  We are going to see an allergist later in the month to check on her possible food allergies. We're praying that it was a fluke or will turn out to be very minor. She got three shots but barely cried and didn't have any reaction. She was 18lb 10oz, and 28 in long, which puts her squarely in the 10th percentile for both.  Small but healthy!!

Playing with some new toys:

I got Audrey's bangs trimmed today - they sorely needed it, even though I don't love the short bangs look.  They grow quickly (that long piece isn't part of her bangs - it just came out of the bow); this is the only way I can get a picture these days - when she's strapped in and distracted by food:

I forgot to post these a couple of weeks ago - I just love these!!!

Amanda trying to butt in, as usual:

This has to be a new favorite - kissing Papa: