Wintertime Fun

We've had a lot of fun the past couple weeks, mainly enjoying the "perfect" winter weather (in my opinion!) It's been sunny, and in the upper 20's to lower 30's for a while now, and it's great weather to spend outside.

My dad got an 8 foot toboggan from a coworker a couple of weeks ago and we decided to take it out to a hill a few blocks away last week. Audia LOVED it. Everytime she went down the hill, she said "Wee! Wee!" over and over. She must have made Chris drag that damn thing (it is HEAVY!) up the hill at least 20 times before we finally managed to get her interested in doing something else (namely, playing in the snow at the bottom of the hill). She got soooo upset when we left, and every day now points outside and says "Wee! Sled! Wee! Sled!" I think maybe we'll try to take her again tomorrow or this weekend.

On Sunday afternoon, we had our second Snow Bocce Ball game this year. We had a much better turn out this time around; I think a total of 13 or 14 people showed! Audia, of course, wanted to be in the middle of the action playing Bocce Ball too, but she got over it eventually.

I think John is her new best friend (next to Autumn, of course!); she really took a liking to him! It is so fun to see how social she is with everyone. Everytime someone would arrive, she would immediately bring them one (or 5) of her toys; she is such a giving little girl :-) Trying on John's sunglasses

Audia looked at the back of John's iPhone and said "Apple!"

Yesterday we decided to get out of the house and took Audia to Como Zoo and Conservatory. I absolutely love it there, and it is such a great place to bring Audia because there is so much to see, and we can let her run around without having to worry about her getting hurt or getting into anything unsafe; it's totally kid friendly. She loves looking at the fish and birds and bugs in the Tropical Encounters exhibit, and smelling the flowers in the Conservatory gardens. It's the perfect place to escape for a couple of hours and let her wear herself out :-)

She has become so incredibly vocal the past month or so, it seriously blows my mind. What is crazy is that over the past few days, she's begun to talk to us about things she's done in the past. She still only says one or two words together at a time, but she'll name people or things she saw previously. She was saying "Aumn Bye Bye" ("Autumn Bye Bye") randomly until Tuesday, after seeing her on Sunday! Or she'll say things like "gabba gabba dasy dasy" (Gabba Gabba Dancey Dance) after we watched an episode of 'Yo Gabba Gabba'. I know every mom thinks so about her own kids, but I think we have a little genius on our hands :-)

Our Little Comedian

Audia's always had a great sense of humor, however in the past it was more her laughing at us than it was laughing at herself. In the past month, though, she's really become quite the comedian. She loves to tease us and my parents, and she lets out this huge, hearty laugh when she does something that we find amusing. She is such a clown and such a ham, I can't help but wonder if she'll be into theater someday. She certainly has a knack for it!

Milliseconds before dribbling milk all over herself on purpose.

So proud of herself for making a mess!

Eating her own foot

thinking she's pretty hysterical for eating her foot.

laughing

Such a sense of style!

Mish Mosh

So, I've been feeling pretty artisanal lately. Regardless of feeling somewhat limited in my crafts by finances, I've been pretty darn productive the past couple weeks, if I do say so myself. Mainly, I've been in a card-making frenzy. It seems as though the majority of my friends and family have birthdays between February and June, so I've been preparing for that. I'd show you those cards, but I make most of my birthday cards specifically for the person in mind, so I don't want to spoil the suprise. But I have also made a bunch of Valentines, seen below.

I also found a cool pattern for a CD holder, which I've made a couple of (one example below). Due to our financial limitations, we've been doing a lot of hand-made gifts this year, and mix CDs are a great inexpensive, personal gift, in my opinion.

But, I must say that the thing I've made recently that I'm the most proud of is these yellow cupcakes with chocolate ganache frosting. I found the recipe on cooksillustrated.com, which requires a subscription to access it, so I won't post it here. But if you want it, shoot me an email and I'd be happy to share it. My dad turned me on to Cooks Illustrated years and years ago (he's had a subscription to their magazine since I can remember), and I really love their magazine and cookbooks. They are very thorough about going through recipes and doing them over and over to find the best way to prepare this, that, or the other thing, and they actually explain why something works better than something else. It's a great resource for anyone who really wants to learn how to cook versus how to make one specific item. These cupcakes are by far the easiest cupcakes I've ever made, and also the most succulent, moist, rich, and most delicious cupcakes I've ever made. There is no turning back. This will be my go-to cupcake recipe from here on out. My only complaint is that the chocolate ganache is a bit too chocolately. It overwhelms the flavor of the cupcake, which could be eaten without frosting because it is so good. Next time around I'll either do a cream cheese frosting or a chocolate buttercream.

In other news, today is the 7 year anniversary of Chris and I meeting! 7 years ago, I was filling out transfer applications to the U of M, I was done with boys, done with AZ, done with ASU, and ready to get the hell outta dodge. On a complete whim (probably because I was so done with everything), I agreed to meet this tall, dark, and handsome guy who I met on, of all websites, hotornot.com, at a bowling alley in Tempe. My roommate came with me (which is a MUST when meeting people from the internet for the first time!!! You hear me, Audia??), and when we left the bowling alley that evening, she and I both agreed that Chris and his friends were the type of people we could see ourselves being long-time friends with. A few months later, I was convinced Chris was the man I would marry. And sure enough, I did! I couldn't have ever asked for a sweeter, more caring, fun, loving, silly, understanding man to share my life with. I love you so much, Uber!

Haircut

I'll be completely honest here. I am terrified of cutting Audia's hair. And it's not just that I am scared to do it myself, but I am scared to have anyone else cut it as well. Now, I am not blind. I am well aware that her hair has passed the 'disheveled' phase. She is well into Keith Urban hair territory. I have been asked by numerous people when we are going to cut her hair. But here's the thing: I don't wanna!

Now, some of this fear is justified. I had a terrible haircut as a kid. It was AWFUL. See proof below. I had full, thick, not-at-all-flattering bangs that went straight across my forehead forever. And I recently found evidence of when those terrible bangs started, which is around the age that Audia is now. I had horrible hair until I was old enough to understand that it was horrible (which was much later than a lot of my friends), at which point I asked if I could grow it out. Thankfully I had supportive parents who let me do pretty much whatever I wanted to do with my hair, within reason. But that doesn't make up for years of photos of me looking like this. When I ask my mom what she was thinking with that cut, her response is always the same "I took you to a professional!" Which only reiterates that even a professional doesn't necessarily know what the hell they are doing. And so, I am hoping that I am not making a mistake by just letting Audia's hair grow. I figure a few months of bad pictures is better than a few years, right? And I can always put it in pigtails or a ponytail when we're going out in public.

Dear Audia, please don't be mad at me for letting you look like a disheveled mess for a few months. I am doing it because I love you. And besides, you are cute no matter what. Love, mom