The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly(Sad)

I got Audi's one-year-old pictures taken last week. She wasn't really excited about the whole thing. The photographer was really nice, but Audi just didn't want to show her any smiles.

In the end, there were a few cute shots:

A few chewing shots (I tried to bribe her with cheerios):

A whole bunch of these "average" shots:

And even one or two really sad ones:

I was hoping to get some good pictures of her adorable smiles, but it just didn't seem to work out that day. Instead we got good documentation of just how sad she can look. (She's really going to love that picture when she's sixteen!)

P.S. We miss you, WB!

The Beginning

One year old

Audi turned one on Friday. It seems like time has gone even faster since she was born. Now, she's crawling, cruising, and someday she might get some teeth too! She adores her sister and thinks that almost anything Beemer does is hilarious. She is also a great cuddler and loves to watch everything going on around her (although, usually from the safety of my lap).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDI!

We love you!


The Cake:

Postcards

As I mentioned briefly in an earlier post, Beemer's school is collecting postcards that the students have recieved. The kids take the postcards to class and the teachers discuss the postcard and then mark on a map where the postcard came from. The year is quickly passing by and I know that Beemer would love to get the postcards and be even more thrilled to take them to school. So, if you have a few minutes to send her one from your corner of the planet, I am sure she'd love it! Thanks!

Snow Day

Last week St. Louis had our snow storm for the winter. We've had a few storms, but no snow that stuck around past noon or so. Then last week we got a real storm (I mean real in Utah terms). Two full days of snow. On Tuesday, Beemer's school was cancelled, although Ahenobarbus' was not. So Beemer and I had our own snow day. We bundled her all up during Audi's nap and went out to play and shovel. (Side note: Its much more pleasant to shovel snow when you only do it once a year.) Unfortunately, by the time Ahenobarbus got home that night it had already snowed enough to cover up all of our hard work. Add to that the fact that St. Louis, and really the entire state, has very few snow plows, and you can imagine the mess that the roads were Tuesday night. Not even the freeways had been plowed.

So, on Wednesday, Ahenobarbus opted (at my encouragement) to work from home and we all had a snow day together. It turned out to be tons of fun. Ahenobarbus and some other snowed-in neighbors re-shoveled our drive way and about eight others and Beemer got some great playtime in. By the time they were finishing up, the plow even came to our street!

Notice the lack of snow pants and hat. On Tuesday I had her bundled up like Randy on "A Christmas Story." Wednesday, she and her dad were outside before I realized it. Beemer said she had more fun when she could move!

SLLUUURRRRPPPPPP!

During a recent trip to Dubuque, Audi discovered a new love for noodles and slurping them LOUDLY. Unfortunately, we were at a restaurant and couldn't really encourage her, let alone get a picture or video. So, we promptly recreated the situation when we got back home.