5 days to go...

Five more days until Christmas! We have taken Audrey to see Santa twice and it was a no-go both times. She screams and will not even go near him. Last year she just gave a mean face while on his lap but this year she can't even get within a foot of him. That is until he bribes her with a candy cane in which she grabs it and bolts.

Last night we went to the "Magical Christmas Forest" here in town. It is basically just lots of different light displays. We went with our friends Carol, Randy and thier son Brandon. The kids had a blast just running around seeing all the pretty lights.

Today was my birthday and it was a very relaxing day. We took the girls to the park and had a picnic. Paul got me red tulips which are my favorite flowers. Also, Paul and I finally finished the toy bins for Audrey's bookshelf. He made the frames for them and I sewed the covers.

Our plans for Christmas day are to go up to the mountains and go sledding and I will be making a yummy Christmas dinner. I have some new recipes I am going to try so we will see how that goes. If they turn out horrible we can always have Denny's right??? Haha

Almost Christmas

I finally took a picture with Peyton smiling! I'm sure there will be lots more to come as well. She is making some cooing sounds and it's adorable! What makes her smile the most is when her big sister is giggling in her face. One of these days I will get it on video.

As you can see from the picture Audrey is loving the Christmas season so far. Her favorite activity has been decorating Christmas cookies. She also liked putting ornaments on the tree. Although with her 2-going-on-13-year-old-attitude she demanded they all go on one branch. So Paul and I just waited until she went to bed and then finished decorating the tree. It seems like this year she really understands what is going on. She keeps telling us,"Santa is bringing my presents soon."

Next week Audrey's preschool is doing a Christmas song night. We drop the kids off in their classroom and then go to the Sanctuary where they will come in and "perform". It should be really cute. I keep asking Audrey what songs they are singing and all she will tell me is something about a bear hunt. Ha! She is so funny. Also next week Paul's work has hired a Santa to come in just for the IFTA employees and their families so we will see what Audrey thinks. Last year she did not like Santa one bit. I will make sure to let everyone know how she reacts. (And of course post pictures!)

I have been very busy signing up for my college classes! YAY! I am going to take 3 classes this semester and see how I do. I am hoping to get my Bachelors in History or English and then a Masters in Library Science. I know, I finally decide what I want to do and of course it has tons of schooling. I really think it will be a great career for me. I tried thinking of something I am truly passionate about besides my husband and kids and the biggest thing I could come up with is reading!

Paul has gone over 1000 hours total time!! I thought that was very exciting! I also thought I would share how much Paul wanted to go chop down our Christmas tree this year instead of buying one. Obviously there is nowhere close to Bakersfield that we could do that so I started asking around my mom's group. Sure enough there is a farm right outside of Bakersfield that grows Christmas trees and lets you pick out a saw and chop one down. Audrey was thrilled because there was a train and Paul got to chop down our tree. It was a great day!

Check out my picasa web album for the rest of our Christmas pictures so far this season.

Time Flies

These are the ASU outfits Dean bought for the girls.

I still need to update and add all the pictures.

Wow I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving already! Christmas is going to be here before we know it. The four of us will be joining Grandma and Grandpa Waller at Aunt Betsy and Uncle Corwin's house for Thanksgiving this year. It will be so nice to visit with everyone and get out of Bakersfield for the day. It seems like it has been so long since we were able to get out of town!

Audrey's vocabulary is expanding every day! She makes me laugh all the time at the things she says. One thing that Paul and I have been teaching Audrey for quite some time is "may I please?" when she is asking for something. Yesterday she and I were snacking after naptime and I reached over to grab some goldfish. As I am grabbing a handful she says, "no mommy! Ask nicely! May I please have some goldfish?!" I about fell over from laughing so hard. But hey, at least she is understanding it right?

Can you believe Peyton is already 5 weeks old?! Today she gave me her first real smile and it made my day. Of course I didn't have the camera in hand so I will have to get a picture another time. She is starting to make more sounds and she loves tummy time. Her hair is starting to lighten from black to brown. Her eyes are also slowly turning to blue. It seems like time goes by ten times faster with the second baby.

I have busy sewing a cover for our glider cushions. I was lucky my mom gave me my Christmas present early this year. It has been a slow process as I am still learning the new sewing machine.

Paul just finished building his latest project which was a fancy new shelf for above the fireplace. We found a picture of it on a website and didn't want to pay $80 for one so Paul went and spent $10 on materials and now we have an even better one that is custom built for the size we needed. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Now Paul is onto his next project which is the storage bins for the bookshelf he made for Audrey.

Halloween 2009

We had a lot of fun for Halloween this year. We went over to Jillian's house and enjoyed a chili potluck with friends. All of us have kids around the same age so it is crazy and fun when we get together. We are all stay at home moms so we try to have the Dad's hang out with the kids while we get a little time to relax and enjoy mommy time. After we ate dinner we all took the kids trick or treating and they were so cute!!

While my mom was still in town (and I was still pregnant)we took Audrey to a local pumpkin patch. Carol and Brandon joined us and the kids had a blast. They wanted to lift the pumpkins and roll them around it was hilarious.

Check out my picasa web album for the rest of the adorable pictures. The website is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/WallerFamPhotos

Jumping on the blog bandwagon...

I said I would never do it but here I am!! I finally decided I need a blog. I tried scrapbooking and quickly realized that it is not one of my talents. I am really good at posting pictures on my picasa web album but that doesn't really update people on what we are up to.

Life has been crazy over the last couple weeks. We completed our family on October 19th with the birth of our second daughter Peyton Elizabeth. I told everyone that I was going to be induced at 9:30 am and she would be born at 10pm. What do you know? She was born at 10pm on the dot! She was 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. Big healthy girl! So far she has been an awesome baby. I think she has cried all of two minutes total.

Big sister Audrey is doing amazing! She likes Peyton but mostly ignores her. She gives her kisses before bed and makes sure she has a blanket but other than that she gives her space. I think once Peyton is a few months old and can smile and look at her things will change.

Audrey is still loving preschool. She goes three days per week from 8am to 12pm. She is always so excited to get there and doesn't want to leave when I go pick her up. She is so smart! She has to be involved in all the conversations. If I try to talk to Paul about something she will interupt with "mommy what you talking about?" Her favorite phrases right now are "what's that?" and "what are you doing mommmy/daddy?" She will repeat it over and over about everything.

Paul is doing great at work. He recently upgraded to the Baron which is a multi-engine aircraft. He loves it. His students are difficult but nothing Paul isn't capable of fixing. For his birthday Paul received some power tools which he has already put to good use. We have new canvas art for the living room that he made, shelves, a refinished dresser, and Audrey is getting a new bookshelf/cubby hole toy holder. After he finishes the bookshelf he will start on some end tables for the living room. I have to say he is really good at the handy man stuff!

After much debate we have decided to stay in Bakersfield for Christmas. Paul's parents offered to fly us out to Colorado and my mom asked us to come out to Prescott as well but we decided it's a better idea to stick around here. With having a newborn and 2 year old we really don't want to risk them getting sick. Especially with the H1N1 flu going around. It will be really hard not having any family with us on Christmas but we are going to make the best of it. I will cook an awesome dinner and we might take Audrey up to the mountains to play in some snow. We will see what our exact plans are as the date gets closer.