Emma

Emma is our new kitty. We've had her a couple of months now. Phillip loves cats, so he talked me into getting one for Daniel. We had wanted to get him a dog for his 1st birthday but we didn't have a fence, so instead we now have a cat! She is very sweet and good-natured (especially since she has to deal with a toddler every day!). Daniel loves his kitty! This has been a good learning experience for Daniel on how to treat her gently. He's a little rough to say the least. But he's learning. We adopted her from the Fayetteville Animal Shelter. They have so many animals there, so if you're thinking about getting one, check there first! You may be able to save a life!

Josh and Xiaoyu

Here are some pics that Xiaoyu sent me. They are (remember) in Ohio while Josh works on his PhD. They went hiking at a place called Hocking Hill and took pics of the fall colors there. These pics are great so I thought I'd share them!

Memories from the past...

I made this slideshow/video for the high school girls' Bible class that Krystal and I are co-teaching this year at FCS. We've been talking about waiting for God's timing and His choice of a life-mate for them. Anyway, Krystal and I both shared our story of how God led us to our husbands and I put this presentation together to show them some pictures of my pre-married days, my wedding, and of course Daniel!

P.S. If you're getting this post by e-mail, you'll have to visit my blog to actually see the video - http://www.theaudreys.blogspot.com/.

Fall Colors

We've been taking lots of pictures this fall because the trees have been so beautiful!! A couple of weekends ago, we went up to Pinnacle Mountain in Elkins (very close to where Phillip and I lived when we first got married - in a cabin on top of this mountain with a great view!) and took pictures near the old community church. We were trying to get family pictures of all 3 of us, but Daniel was too interested in exploring...

Devil's Den

My mom and I took the kids to Devil's Den State Park today. We have been wanting to take a drive to enjoy the fall colors and thought that Devil's Den would be pretty and the kids could play on the playground there. The drive was beautiful; but when we got there, the play area was blocked off for construction. So instead, we went on a little hike, which was just as fun!! It was very cold until we started walking and got our blood pumping. Probably in the high 40's! Here are some pictures...

18 months old!

Still working on not making huge messes when we eat! :)

What a sweetie!

Loves his shoes!

Here's Catalina (almost 3) in the first dress made from our (mom and me) sewing business. More on that later!

Daniel turned 18 months old on Saturday. What a milestone! :) Oh, and yes, it really is 4:30 am. Daniel was having trouble sleeping so I just got him up. After a while he'll go back to sleep (this happens fairly often by the way...why???). He has never been a good sleeper. At this point, he only takes one nap a day for about 30-45 minutes. Still doesn't sleep through the night. I hear awful stories about some kids who don't sleep through the night until 5 years old and I just have a feeling that's where we're headed. But despite his "problems," he's really learning a lot of new things and getting better at old things. The latest thing that he just loves to do is dip food (chicken nuggets into ketchup, etc.). This can keep him completely happy for an entire meal (yeah!!!). He also loves his shoes and can now say the word. He has just started saying "please." His favorite word is probably "kitty" especially since we got one recently. This story will be a post in and of itself. Let's just say Daniel LOVES his kitty. He's graduated to the Toddler room at church. He'll stay there until he's old enough to go to the 3 year old class. Apparently, he's also old enough to start throwing fits! So, we've been working on that...Anyway, Daniel is not my little "baby" anymore! :( and :)

More pics

Since I'm on a roll, I decided to keep posting to my blog (even though it is 1 am). I just can't seem to manage getting a lot done during the day (can we say..."Daniel"?), so I usually stay up late and do things (like post to my blog, clean, read, or whatever) after D goes to bed. Well, I love pictures and so here are some more of my favorites taken in June.

I love this one because he's really concentrating on sweeping with that broom (see his tongue sticking out?).

Most evenings after we finish supper, Phillip will take Daniel to the park nearby. Daniel loves to swing and climb around on the playground slides. It's hard for me to believe that he's only 15 months and he can already climb up the stairs and then slide down the slide all by himself!

Throughout the week, I try to go pick up Phillip from work and take him out for lunch. We usually go to Wilson park near the university so Daniel can play while we eat lunch. These pics are from Wilson...

Here Daniel is pointing at the sky because he hears an airplane. He loves to watch them fly by and he always exclaims "Oh, wow!" over and over. It's very cute!

Here are some of the fun things Daniel is doing now at 15 months: increasing his vocabulary (but not by much; he's more of a "doer" than a talker), playing at the park, swimming, taking baths, eating popsicles (at Grandma's), going for drives (still the best way to get him to sleep), running (which he's getting better at though he has 2 scraped up knees right now), playing in Pa-paw's truck bed, playing "swords" with sticks, getting into mud puddles (ahh!), giving me kisses (yes!), watching Robin Hood, and visiting family.

Here are some things we are working on: getting him to drink cow's milk (and getting him weaned completely), "expanding" his taste buds, sharing toys with Catalina, not getting frustrated easily (he's not very patient), sleeping through the night, getting him interested in books (he can't sit still long enough for me to read him one), and beginning to train him to obey. :) He's also currently working on getting his 1st year molars. It has been very painful for him so he's been very cranky the last few weeks!!

The 4th of July

We went to the church picnic out at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park this year. It was lots of fun although it was very humid! We got a few cute pics of Daniel and Catalina that I thought I'd share. In the evening, we had a cookout at my family's (Josh was in town for the weekend) and shot off fireworks. Daniel wasn't quite as scared this year of the fireworks but Catalina was!

Catalina at the Farm

I took these pictures of Catalina last week when my mom, my sister and I went to visit my Grandad and Grandma (mom's side). Anyway, I thought these pics of her climbing the fence were absolutely adorable!

Summer Fun

What a good lookin' kid! :)

Daniel's favorite thing to do this summer (besides playing at the park and at Chuck E. Cheese) is swimming. This is his first summer to be able to really enjoy playing in the water since last year he was only a few months old. He could probably play in the water for hours!

Whoops! Copper is drinking the swimming water...Oh well!

New Car!

Daniel got a new toy the other day (I bought it used though). He really thinks his new car is fun, although he can't really make it go yet. When I was little, I used to always want one of these cars but I guess we couldn't afford one. So, I decided I would get one of these for my children since I could never have one. :)

First Hair Cut!!

Well, as anyone can see, it was time for this little boy to get a hair cut!

So we took him to Joann's Barber Shop on East 16 which we pass every day when we go into town. Phillip has gotten his hair cut a couple of times there too. As you can see, I was feeding him "cookies" to distract him from what was going on!

Now she's really cutting away!!

At this point, he was beginning to wiggle, so I had to hold him for the rest of the hair cut.

All done! What fun!!