Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

We have never been ones to whoop it up on New Years Eve, it was nice this year to hang out just the three of us at home. We had a blast playing Candy Land and Princess Dominos and eating nachos and little weiners, or as Audrey would say, "They are not weiners, they are hot dogs."

Lots happened in 2011:

Audrey turned 3, love this age!

Welcomed our new nephew Elliot!

Had a visit from Uncle Adam and Aunt April!

Had two vacations, one was the rainiest week of the summer and the other was the hottest week of the summer!

Audrey took swimming lessons for the first time!

Brent ran the Mankato half marathon!

I ran my first ever 5k!

Audrey went from awesome sleeper, to not so awesome sleeper!

We joined our new church and Audrey started Sunday School!

Audrey started Pre-School!

Brent and I celebrated 9 years of marriage, I think 10 years deserves something big!

We look forward to 2012 and the wonderful things this new year will bring!

Do you see what I see?

Audrey got her ears pierced today!!!!!!

My mom always said, if Audrey wanted to get her ears pierced she would take her and get it done. Well, today we were at lunch with my parents and out of the blue Audrey said she wanted to get her ears pierced. We asked her again if she was sure and she said, "Let's Do It!"

Ornaments

I remember blogging last year around Christmas about all the different ornaments on our tree. I thought this year I would do all the ornaments that relate to Audrey, it's amazing how many we have. I love them all!


This ornament we made last year for the grandparents, it was super frustrating, but finally turned out great. I was using the wrong paint and the snowmen hats and scarves kept peeling off.

Audrey got this cross in Sunday School today, she turned the "G" upside down:)

This was her ornament she made in school last year for Christmas.

She picked this out at Michaels this year while shopping, it was full of yummy candy.

My coworker Gene got Audrey this candy cane "A" this year. He loves getting Audrey presents at all holidays.

This is the gingerbread ornament Audrey painted in preschool this year, she wanted to keep it in the box she brought it home in, but I insisted on getting it on the tree.

Lefse Night

Wednesday night we went over to Doug and Bev's and made some lefse while Audrey helped Grandpa Buddy(that is what she calls him now) build a gingerbread house. She totally didn't understand the gingerbread house at first, she thought it was going to be big enough to go inside it. So, after we were done putting it together she asked when it was going to grow, ha. We had a great time!

Turdologist?

This ad came with our newspaper this morning. I guess I have never heard of anyone refer to themselves as a turdologist.

Fashion

Lately I feel like when I go clothes shopping I come home empty handed. I remember a time when I could go to the mall and just buy, buy, buy. I don't know if I am just getting pickier with age or their are just no clothes out there for me. I could not find a thing to wear for my Christmas party a couple weeks ago so I just went with something I already own. Last weekend we went shopping for a new winter jacket for me and I didn't find a thing I liked. Wow, getting old rules!

Elf on the Shelf

Brent and I went to a movie tonight and my mom came over and brought the Elf on the Shelf for Audrey. It's funny, I think it looks a little creepy in a way, so I was wondering what Audrey would think of it. I guess she told my mom they have him at school, ha. The story is, the Elf on the Shelf hangs out in your home until Christmas and watches if you are naughty or nice and reports to Santa every night, so every morning when Audrey wakes up he will be in a new place. First thing you are supposed to do it name your Elf, we have not done that yet. Maybe tomorrow he'll get a name:)

Audrey's Answers

I asked Audrey a bunch of questions , I highly recommend doing this, we had a blast:

1. What is your favorite color? Purple

2. What is your favorite toy? ballerina, like Ariel (Isn't she a mermaid, ha)

3. What is your favorite fruit? colored fruit

4. What is your favorite tv show? Barney

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? hot dogs

6. What is your favorite outfit? princess outfit

7. What is your favorite game? big chalkboard game (I have no idea what this is)

8. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks, like Spiderman and Spongebob!

9. What is your favorite animal? bunny

10. What is your favorite song? Mr. Grinch (we have listened to it over and over on youtube)

11. What is your favorite book? Animal book

12. Who is your best friend? Alexis

13. What is your favorite cereal? princess cereal

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play in the snow

15. What is your favorite drink? water

16. What is your favorite holiday? singing

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? stuffed animals

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? oatmeal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? pizza

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Shrek, and then Donkey (we were all laughing hysterically with this answer, she wanted to make sure we knew she wanted to be Shrek first, then Donkey)

Audrey's First Trip to the Dentist

She doesn't look scared one bit does she? This was after they tried doing x-rays on a 3 year old, why would they do that. This was her first trip to the dentist, she has no idea what going to the dentist involves. I thought that was weird. But , after that whole scare (no, they didn't get any x-rays) Audrey was awesome and let them clean all of her teeth. She was sooooo excited afterwards when she got to pick out a brand new princess toothbrush and sparkly toothpaste. Lets hope for happier teeth brushing from now on!

Audrey kept pretending tonight she was the dentist and putting a washcloth over her face for the mask and putting gloves on, too funny.

A lot alike

Angelina Jolie Always Wanted to be a- Funeral Director

Angelina Jolie's success in Hollywood means she doesn't need a backup plan. But she had one once: to become funeral director.

"It sounds like this very strange, eccentric, dark thing to do but in fact I lost my grandfather and was very upset with his funeral," she said during an interview on 60 Minutes Sunday night. "How somebody passes and how family deals with this passing and what death is should be addressed in a different way. If this whole acting thing didn't work out that was going to be my path." But it did work out, and now the Oscar winner is promoting her directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, which is set to be released in the U.S. on Dec. 23. In her interview with CBS's Bob Simon on 60 Minutes, Jolie, 36, spoke about various topics, including her dark past.

I always knew that Angelina and I were pretty similiar, ha, but why do people think being a funeral director is a really strange, eccentric, dark thing to do? I never thought that when going to school.

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit

We spent our weekend getting into the Christmas spirit. Saturday morning we went tree shopping with Grandpa and Grandma Wood, it was lots of fun. We have a fake tree at our house, so it's still nice to enjoy the fun of going on the hunt for the perfect tree. I think Doug's quote of the day was, "Shanna, I am glad your taste in men is better than your taste in trees!" So, I think you can figure out that we didn't go with the tree I picked.

Saturday afternoon we decked out our house for the holidays, it's looking great. Audrey has a blast decorating the Christmas tree and going through all the boxes trying to find her stocking.

Today we got together with my mom and grandma and baked some holiday goodies. It was a success.



It was so much fun watching Audrey go through each individual ornament, she got sooo excited about each one. She tends to group her ornaments all in one area of the tree. She did the same thing last year. Multiple ornaments on one branch:)

Audrey had a big job of opening caramels for making turtles, do I see one in her mouth? Sneaky!

Audrey goes a little heavy on the decor on her cookies.

So proud of her decorating skills.

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving today with Brent's family and my family. We had lunch out at the lake and Audrey got some cousin Sebby time. It was so incredibly nice outside and they really had a blast playing on the slide and in the sand. We enjoyed supper with my parents and Audrey was pretty much worn out at the end of the day.

Elliot pretty much chewed on his hands all day, except when he was sleeping:)

"I saw Christmas!"

Audrey and I went to the mall tonight and we were walking past Santa's Workshop and Santa was sitting there waving at Audrey and she pointed him out to me and was just staring. We have never taken her to sit on Santa's lap before so I didn't know what she would think of him. After we walked past, she said to me in a super cute little voice, "I just saw Christmas back there!"

Silly Fun

Sick days! Audrey has been home from daycare the last two days with a bad cough and fever. You would never know it from these pictures, we were having fun while she was doing puzzles tonight. I kept telling her to give me her crazy face, these are what I got. Lets hope tomorrow comes and she is fever free:)

Oh No You Didn't!

I sooooooo listened to Christmas music in my car today, ha! I was flipping through cds and accidentally put in the Christmas one and kept it in:) I love it, I am so excited to decorate the tree this year with Audrey, last year was fun so I can only imagine what this year will be like.

Polka Dancing Dan

I completely forgot to blog Brent's Halloween costume, he borrowed my dad's polka dancing get up (sorry dad, hope you are not offended), but Brent did pull off a 3rd place win at work for the costume contest. I think it had lots to do with the polka music he downloaded on his phone and came hopping into work with.

Trick or Treating

Audrey's friend Alexis and her mom and dad came over tonight for pizza and a little trick or treating. The girls had a blast, they had to mention to everyone about their tails, it was hilarious. Glad the girls had similiar costumes to share in the fun!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Today we had a pumpkin carving party at a friends house. A bunch of Audrey's friends from school were at the party, it was a blast. I think the parents did most of the carving, but Audrey definately did her share of helping. We had a great time!


Here is Brent getting started cutting the top off the pumpkin.

Here is Natalie all ready for pumpkin carving, doesn't everyone wear a helmet to carve pumpkins?

Audrey digging right in!

Alexis playing with pumpkin guts

Audrey kept stirring the guts in the bowl and saying she was making muffins. We have been making lots of muffins lately and she has been helping me.

Audrey and Gwenyth eyeing the snack table

Finished product, nice job Dad!

The whole gang and their pumpkins

Gwenyth and Audrey chose to just sit on their pumpkins

Let me take your picture

Audrey has been wanting to take my picture lately. She needs a little work, but is getting better.

I wanted to take Audrey's picture tonight, check out the cute way of keeping her bangs out of her face, it took a lot of convincing for her to let me do this. She is very independant and likes to disagree with my ideas lately.