Busy Bees

Audrey and I have been busy little bees lately, spending a lot time outdoors during the unseasonably warm weather we've been having this November. We take our usual walks around the neighborhood, sometimes going elsewhere to walk and talk with good friends. We have been visiting various playgrounds around town, which we enjoy immensely. As you can see.

Her sign for "all done"!

Static Slide Head!

Also entertaining are the many autumn leaves that have covered our lawns recently.



Hats are a fun accessory these days, especially Daddy's hats.

(Holding her chicky, a.k.a. Kicky!)

There are many indoor activities we also enjoy, one being playing the piano. Or trying to. I will give her lessons one day when she is a bit older. I think she will be a great musician.... her love of music is evident every day, even at this early age.


Another indoor activity is using Daddy as a jungle gym, ladder, stepping stool, or transportation. (My stupid phone settings weren't right when I took this pic, as you can see. *sigh* Too bad- cute picture.)


Something we look forward to every week is our Thursday morning play group. A few months ago I felt it on my heart to start a play group for young moms (Christian and non-Christian alike) with kids of any age (though most are infant - toddler). A few of us girls from meet together at one of our homes or another location (parks, the zoo, COSI, etc.) to let the kiddies play while we chat about mommy hood and life in general. It's a GREAT time for us all. If you are interested in coming, please feel free to reply to this or send me an email (rice.christy@gmail.com). The Lord has really blessed our times; it doesn't get better than great friendships and chats! This morning, we all met at COSI to visit the toddler/kids area. It was Audrey and my first time there, and I must say it lived up to all the hype! We will be going back, for sure. There was plenty for the average kid with a short attention span to do. There were structures of all kinds for them to crawl around in, over, through, and on top of. There were neat contraptions for foam balls to shoot through all over the place. There were lots of buttons that when pushed, produced all kinds of interesting sounds and lights.






Audrey's favorite part was the water room... I tried to keep her away from it but finally gave up. I decided the satisfaction of seeing her joy overrode my concerns about her getting soaked in her single change of clothes. It was worth it.

Yum. Mommy, don't think about the germs
floating around in this water. Just think about how much fun I'm having.

My little girl is the cutest, sweetest little stinker ever. Ever. Really. I can't get enough of her smiles and her sweet disposition. She cracks me up all day long. I have a perfect example from tonight, just one of the many hysterically endearing things she does every day. I was reading her a bedtime story called Yummy, Yucky.


On each page there is something yummy, then in contrast there is something yucky.

As I read I would say "Yummy, MMMMMM!" or something similarly fitting, and then "Yucky, EEEEEWWWW", shaking my head in disgust. After three pages, Audrey started giggling. Not just a light giggle. I'm talking bubbling up from the stomach, full throttle giggle. And she didn't stop. With every "Yucky, EEEEEEWWWW" she busted up into a fresh round of giggles, until we were both laughing so hard she couldn't breathe and I couldn't see through the tears. I cry a bit when I am laughing so hard there isn't a gasp of breath left in me... I got that from my Mom. Thanks a lot Mom! (Hahaha) She kept looking up at me like, "oh, you're laughing too!" (or "are you okay Mommy? I can't stop laughing but you look kind of scary with all of those tears running down your bright red face!") which would of course send her into another batch of giggles. We read it three times until finally the giggling diminished a bit. About five minutes after I said goodnight and turned the lights out, I passed her room in the hall and she was STILL giggling, laying in her crib in the dark. So really. My girl is just the cutest, sweetest, and funniest. Ever.

Trick or Treat?

If you know me, you know that I'm not a fan of Halloween. As a matter of fact, I am against supporting the "holiday" because of it's origins and what "All Hallows Eve" is REALLY all about. On the surface, celebrating this day seems innocent enough, however, All Hallows Eve stems from pagan and satanic origins. I won't get into it here, but I greatly encouraged you to do some research. You may find some things that will surprise you. I believe it's good to be educated about these "innocent" things that our culture embraces, and know, if nothing else, what we are allowing our kids to take part in.

That being said, I have mixed feelings about allowing Audrey to trick-or-treat. Eric and I have decided to participate in it for the past two years, but we may not do it in the future. Once Audrey is old enough to understand why we don't want to support the "holiday", we will certainly replace trick-or-treating with something else that is enjoyable and fun, such as a harvest/Fall party or something that will still be fun and special, something that will not make her feel like she is missing out on all the fun.

Audrey was a chicken for a good part of the day yesterday. At first she DETESTED the costume and threw a sad little fit whenever I tried to put it on her. After awhile, she finally got over her frustration, but it took a few minutes! Here is Audrey and her friends at our play group:

Ava and Audrey were terribly upset about having to wear their costumes, and poor Emma was a little taken aback by all the fuss!

My little chicky :)

Yesterday evening, we went trick-or-treating with our friends. It was a BLAST to walk around together and see the kids enjoy getting treats. (Laura & Ava, Katie & Brianna, Audrey & I, Abby & Nolan)

Nolan and Ava riding in style:

Dave & Katie's neighbors had a massive display of carved pumpkins that the entire street had put together. Many of them were really impressive, like this one of Patrick Swayze...

Good times! Also, there is another new post from today, below. Check it out!

PS - A big thanks to Laura and Katie for sharing the above pictures with me as I am still camera-less!

Autumn Allure

Fall is really turning out to be gorgeous this year. I snapped a few more cell pics last week during an enjoyable walk with a friend at one of the nearby metro parks. (Have I ever mentioned that the Columbus area has AMAZING metro parks?! Much love.) Great conversation, great weather, great pictures, it doesn't get much better!

Audrey loves the leaves and acorns that fall on the ground. She usually finds one that is particularly interesting to her and carries it around during the rest of the walk.

We have enjoyed the fall colors in our own neighborhood as well:

Our sweet neighbor Jo makes beautiful bags, and made one just for Audrey this week. She loves it and likes to wear it on her arm:

A few random pictures that I couldn' t help posting:

Audrey is big enough to ride in the neat little car carts at the grocery store, which she thoroughly enjoys! Here she is excited about some stickers that the checkout lady gave her.

Audrey is into bags, shoes, and sunglasses... my kind of girl!!!!!!!!
(Blurry pic I know. She would NOT stop moving! Haha)

The Beginnings of Fall in the Midwest

Audrey and I took a walk to the playground this morning, and I snapped a few pics on the way with my cell phone. They're terrible, but at least you get the idea. :) I LOVE FALL! The leaves begin turning yellow, orange, and then red, starting from the tops of the trees and working down. It is as if the sun has gently kissed them, sending warmth down through the trees until they are completely encompassed in it.










Here are a couple from a walk we took last week... you can see how much more color there is now as compared to then:

"The Host" coming to a theater near you!

Fun, Nerdy, and Somewhat Embarassing Fact about me: I love the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, the book series that has teenage girls all over the world in complete hysterics, wishing for the reality of their own teenage vampire lover. I don't fall into that category, but I do quite enjoy the books. (No, I'm not a goth or a vampire loving freak with a scary dark side. I just like to read good books.) As a matter of fact, I'm re-reading the series in preparation for the movie New Moon coming out on November 22nd! Stephenie Meyer has a way of drawing you into the story, deeply endearing you to her characters and causing you to turn page after page without being able to put the darn thing down. Since I thoroughly enjoyed that series, I went on to read a sci-fi thriller that she wrote called The Host. Now, I'm not really one for science fiction, although I don't have anything against them. I simply have limited time to read so I choose to read other things. (I think the last sci-fi book series I read were Timothy's Zahn's Star Wars books, back in high school!) However, I completely enjoyed The Host. This thing has like 900 pages and I read it in a matter of days. If you love Stephenie Meyer's writing and can deal with a bit of sci-fi, I definitely recommend reading The Host. It's not as "sci-fi" as I assumed it would be so don't let that tag scare you away (I really didn't think I would like it as much as I did).

Naturally I was excited when I heard that it will soon be made into a movie! Check out what Stephenie Meyer has to say about it, taken from her website:

September 23, 2009

Hey guys, great news! The Host is on its way to the big screen:

Variety.com: "Twilight's Meyer..."

I'm so excited to be working with Nick Weschler, and Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to bring The Host to a visual format. They've all been a dream to work with, so lovely and collaborative, and I feel like we're in a really good place to make a great movie together. And then to have Andrew Niccol writing and directing? Truly awesome. If you've never seen Gattaca, go watch it now. One of my favorite movies of all time. It's such a great example of character driven science fiction, which is ideal for The Host, no? I'm having an absolute blast imagining different dream casts, which I would post if people didn't take my silly blogs so seriously these days. I'm looking forward to seeing the cast lists you come up with in the fansite forums, and if any of them match mine.

So, very exciting. Yay Host!

XO
Steph

Before I conclude this post, I will give in to my nerdy and somewhat obsessive side and share a New Moon countdown, as I'm looking forward to the movie! /nerdmode off.