Gingerbread House

We made our first ever gingerbread house on Christmas Eve. I've always wanted to do this, and thought this year was a great time to start the tradition because Audrey is old enough to help. Since we were staying  in a condo, we didn't have an electric mixer so the icing ended up too runny which allowed for lots of licking.

so much candy

Most of the pictures look like this

Notice the little finger tracks? Hmmm....

She was even dragging Daddy into her icing swiping. Of course he preferred the more direct tube-to-mouth technique.

Ta-Da! The finished product. Like my icicles?

Braxton Christmas

Since we were leaving the day after Christmas, we had Christmas with Grammy and Poppy early so they could see Audrey play with her toys for a few days.

Audrey's big gift from Grammy and Poppy was a princess piano vanity. Let me quickly explain how awesome this toy is. At first glance, it is a vanity complete with a pretend hairbrush, nail polish, eye shadow, etc. Lift the edge of the tabletop and it's now a piano with extra songs and sounds. You can also record your own playing. So neat. Plus, the hairbrush is now a microphone, nail polish a bell, eye shadow a harmonica, etc. It was a huge hit!

Audrey's blowing the polish dry on Poppy's nails.

Disney!

Back in April, we were able to purchase 5 day park hoppers to Disney for a really great price. We went for 2 nights with Summer's family, but left Audrey with Grammy and Poppy (Braxton). Since we still had more visits to burn and since Audrey now loves princesses, we decided to take a no-pressure trip to Disney yesterday with Nana and Papa. By "no-pressure" I mean that we were only going to do as much as Audrey could handle, and only those things she would "get." She's not really ready for a full day at Disney, but she was certainly ready to meet the princesses.
When we first arrived, Audrey noticed Cinderella's castle right away. And a show had just begun.

This is her expression when 3 princesses came on stage.

This is the kiddie roller coaster in ToonTown called Barn Stormers. It was more aggressive than I imagined a child's roller coaster would be, but of course my little thrill seeker loved it.

Next up: Meet the princesses!! We didn't know what to expect from our Shy Girl. She was still shy, but walked up to each princess on her own. And even spoke a few times.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was by far the best princess we met. She was so sweet to Audrey and stayed in perfect royal character the whole time.

Audrey wanted to see Aurora's kiss on her face.

Another ride Audrey wanted to do again. There was no repeating anything. We have never seen Disney so crowded in the dozens of times that we have been.

Christmas Program

Audrey's Christmas program was this morning. As you'll see, she does not have a desire for stardom at this point in her life. Notice how she planted herself as soon as she got on stage as if she were told to pick her spot and stay there. And she's not picking her nose. She's shushing. The kids are singing, "tip toe around the baby." Also notice that as soon as it's over, she is ready to get off stage. Oh, and please excuse the poor filming. I couldn't stop giggling.
Regardless of her performance, she was certainly the best dressed kid in the whole school. (And no comments about her bangs. We are growing them out.... deal with it.)

Snow Bunny

Look at my Snow Bunny!!! She seems to have changed from a baby to a kid right before my eyes. She asked to wear this skirt instead of jeans, and to try out her new snow boots (even though there was no snow). Of course, we had to complete the outfit with her new puffer vest from "Aunt" Cindy. I giggled at how cute (and grown) she looked.

Our First Snow

It has snowed most of the day today, and we've all been so giddy. We now have a long shopping list of water-resistant outwear and a snow shovel to get. We didn't keep the cameras out too long because they were getting pretty wet, but we captured a few memories. One of the memories I hope to forget is when I hit Audrey smack in the face with a snowball. Andy started the fight and I missed on one of my retaliations. It hit Audrey square in the face. Poor thing bawled until we got all the ice out of her jacket and dried her face off.