Corrales Twinkle Light Parade

We had so much fun this evening at the Corrales Twinkle Light Parade.  Corrales is a cute village nearby and all kinds of tractors and old time cars get decorated and travel down Corrales Road.  The evening in capped off by a bonfire, smores, and green chili stew!  We went last year, but with Audrey being 4 months old, it didn't really mean much to her. This year she spent her time looking at all the lights and cars go by. It even started snowing at the end of the parade...which was fantastic!  Audrey got to spend some time with her buddies, which is always fun! What a great way to spend a Saturday night??  Parade, friends, and the kiddos!!

Extremely bundled up and waiting for the parade.

Marshmallow kids who can't move.

Me and Audrey, Brittany and Braylon, Melinda and Tanner

Daddy and buggy

This is the "whoa" face when she saw the lights coming

This was my favorite!

Warming up by the bonfire

Tuckered

Audrey and I posing while Morgan, Melinda, and Tanner pose in the background.

Isn't she adorable???

15 months and counting

So little Ladybug had her 15 month well check and it went very well.  Thank you for suckers because they are a life saver after 4 shots!  Here are Audrey's new stats!  She weighs in at a "hefty" 20lb 1oz.  You can't forget the extra ounce.  This puts her in the 11th percentile.  She has moved up 4 percents since her last visit!! Woot woot!!  She is 31.6 in tall, putting her int he 84th percentile.  Thank you mommy!  And her peanut head is in the 54th percentile.  Thank you daddy!  Overall, she is looking great!!  Her strong sides are her motor skills and problem solving techniques....downside, communication.  She isn't a concern yet, since she is talking and 'jargoning' so we will work on getting her to say more things.  Her newest word: Audrey....Augwee! She is working on 1 molar and has 4 top and 3 bottom teeth besides that pesky guy! I am so proud of all Audrey has accomplished. She really is becoming her own person.  She is very sweet with other kids and very tolerable.  At home she is bossy and sassy.  She loves to read and loves her kitty, Sunny.  She is always on the go and loves to help me clean!  She is one amazing human being!!!

Flyaways are SO IN!

Christmas Spirit

It's Saturday and for 2 years now we have started decorating before the Christmas break.  I love having the lights off in the living room and just the twinkle of the tree glowing!  As Elijah worked on putting the lights up outside (still have to finish tomorrow) Audrey and I started decorating the tree.  We turned on some Christmas music to get festive and got to work. We saw these super pretty ornaments from Sams Club, which were perfect for our kind of household.  They look glamorous, but are actually made of plastic so babies, dogs, cats, ferrets, and the like can not break them!  I noticed them a few weeks ago and they were different from any other ones I had seen.  They were more jewel toned rather than the traditional Christmas colors.  So we went out yesterday to grab them and guess what??? They were sold out!! They had all the regular colors, but not the jewel toned ones.  I have to wonder if they had a sale on Black Friday because they just had a ton on Sunday.  So we settled for some lime green looking ones with red mixed in.  I then called my go to man...dad!  He was at work (next to another Sams Club) and asked him for a favor.  He is not the greatest with color, but I said they look nothing like Christmas colors.  So he calls me a while later and says he found them.  They are "purple" and turqoise.  I had to assume they were the right ones.  He got the LAST package!! BTW the purple is really a pink color.  So today we returned the other ones and I am so happy.  The tree came out amazing!! We also got Audrey's precious little tree up too.  I love this tree as it's about 12 years old and still in great shape.  My parents bought it for me when I lived in my old apartment and now we have handed it off to Buggy.  We still have some decor to add to the house, but the main stuff is done!!

Audrey attempting to help

The Red Eyed ladies.  I like my "thanks for taking a picture, jerk" look.

Gimmie!

Totally unrelated photo, other than it was taken today.  Rocking her new Princess gear.

And me, wearing the Princess crown.

Mini me in the crown.

Also, totally unrelated.  This is supposed to be a Christmas present.  Oh well.

The beautiful tree!!

Look at how pretty these ornaments are!! 

My beautiful "Sandy" angel

Ladybugs pink and silver tree

 These next 2 photos are also completely unrelated, but ever since we painted and took down the big ugly, old mirror, this wall was looking very bare!  They had photo collage frames on sale at Kohls for 55% off today and so we got one!  Elijah and I picked out photos from this past year (plus one prego photo) and put it up.  It looks AMAZING!  We'll get another one next year and do the same thing!

Up close!  Notice the smudges already on the picture of Duke, our ferret.  Audrey adores him and kept touching the picture.

Thanksgiving Cheer

This year we did not cook a thing for Thanksgiving!  All we had to do was bring some pie and get served!! We also had 3 feasts to attend, which was also a first.  We made our way up to my dad and aunts house around 10:30am.  We got to hang out while the meal was being finished.  We were so excited for Audrey to actually eat a Thanksgiving meal, rather than drink all the yummies via her milk like last year.  BUT, Little Miss Picky Pants was not having it and pretty much refused to eat ANY of it except a few morsels of stuffing.  I, however, enjoyed my meal.  After brunch dinner Audrey got to read her favorite book.  This was probably #2/35 for the day.  My dad pretended to read it in Arabic and also told Audrey that the rhinoserous snorted and snuffed just like Grandpa when he used to do cocaine.  Lovely.  I don't think he ever did cocaine, but he likes to pretend.  My aunt did not find that funny!  Then Audrey showed off for my Aunt Fran, who doted on her!  She loved it!  Around 1:30 we headed over to our nieces house to have Thanksgiving numero dos.  At this point I was getting rather sleepy and due to lack of H20 and the heat in the house I started getting a headache, so photos stopped completely.  I'm kind of sad because we didn't get any shots of Audrey playing with her cousin Lucy, which was super cute!  Audrey followed Lucy around and they colored, played with toys and had a great time.  All of Elijah's family was there and he even got put to work by putting up the Christmas lights outside of Racheal's house!  We headed home at around 4:30 where we got to chill out for a big half an hour and I doped myself up with some more headache medicine.  We then took the VERY LONG walk drive to my brother's house.  Okay, it's 5 houses down.  This is where we ended the night.  I totally loved it.  My sister-in-law, Tamara, made her very first married Thanksgiving feast and it was GOOD!!! I love going to their house because we just kick off our shoes and relax.  It was just the 4 1/2 of us.  Great way to end the evening!  I hope that all of you got to enjoy your family/friends company as much as us Cavinders!  Cheers to a great 2011 Thanksgiving!!

Dad reading "Moo Baa La La La" to Audrey

Aunt Nettie telling Audrey "Don't listen to your Grandpa and his cocaine stories!"

Up the nose

Waiting patiently

Aunt Fran watching the genius put her blocks in.

Show off!

Red Light Green Light

This morning Audrey and I met up with some of her buddies at Red Light Green Light.  Let me just say that this place is amazing for kiddos!  There are several different activity stations for them to play pretend and let their imaginations run wild.  This was the first time for us to go and I am sure we will go back!!  Audrey's first stop was at the "gym" where she worked out her legs!

 She then worked up quite the hunger and decided to go grocery shopping...for only oranges.  She is on a very strict diet!

 Audrey then went for a horse ride.  She loved this thing and kept going back to it.

 Audrey and Braylon went for a ride in the truck.  I think they were going to get some ice cream. 

 They picked up their buddy Tanner and proceeded to go get ice cream and then went and saw Happy Feet.

 It's a new generation where the lady always drives!

 Audrey went swimming in the balls.  She loved hanging out in there!

 Audrey and Tanner went off to volunteer at the animal hospital where she took out every single water dish.  What she was planning on doing with them was beyond me!

 The trip was capped off with a make out sesh between Tanner and Audrey....future husband and wife.  Notice Tanner's duck lips.  Audrey wants a different kind of kiss!

 Going in for the kill!

 And a friendly slap to say no more kisses.

 Okay...maybe just one more!

The Meaning of Doves

So tonight is a night filled with saddness and lost memories.  As I'm sitting in the living room I hear something fall and Elijah say something like 'oh my gosh.' I run in there thinking Audrey did something.  Turns out my beautiful dove/egg music box is in tons of pieces on the floor. I know it wasn't anyones fault that it broke...but my heart broke with it.  This little thing has meant so much to me.  It was a beautiful egg with little jewels and inside were two doves sitting on flowers.  It played the song 'Love Makes the World Go Round.' I received this as a gift nearly 10 years ago from my aunt.  It was a gift in memory of my mom.    This is why I'm sad.  The doves have always been a representation of my mom and when we made Audrey's nursery I thought it would be a great accessory.  My mom could watch over my little lady and keep her safe.  I feel like the one big attachment that reminded me of my mom is gone.  In just a few months it will be a decade...God.  A decade since she has passed.  With that comes the lack of memory.  I no longer remember her voice, her laugh, or even the marks on her face. Her memory is fading and it kills me.  I always want to call her or have her here to help me and it's just not possible.  The breaking of the doves just solidifies that feeling.  It's hard to express the hurt or even an understanding from people unless they have lost a parent, suddenly, and at a younger age.  My heart is broken and I just want my memories back.

1 Year Old Giggles

It doesn't take a whole lot to make this little lady laugh!  She is in the phase of copying me and doing silly things.  She thought it was hysterical that I stuck a Mega Block in my mouth and then spit it out at her (yes, I am weird).  So, like the little copy cat that she is, she decides that she is going to do that too.  On this fun day she found one of her Little People and wanted me to spit it out of my mouth.  She thought the noise I made was so funny!  I loved the fact that she was laughing while having the little zoo man in her mouth.  This is one of the many reasons why I love being a mommy to this beautiful little woman.  She melts my heart!