Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween, Audrey dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I think she made the cutest Dorothy ever! Madeline had a lion costume, but donned it only for pictures at Harolds. On Saturday we took Audrey we our friends the Loban's who have a daughter the same age as Audrey to trick or treat on Main Street. It was a gorgeous 60 degrees and the girls had fun going from business to business. Audrey even remembered to say trick or treat when she went up to the worker and thank you after so got her treat. On Saturday, we took the girls to get their picture taken together at Harolds and then only Audrey went trick or treating to the neighborhood houses. Overall it was a good weekend and Audrey got plenty of candy to last a long time.

Madeline Grace

Madeline Grace Hoff
Born 10/11/10 at 2:30 pm
9lbs 1oz
20.50 inches long

Children's Museum

Brookings is the new home to the Children's Museum of South Dakota. The developers traveled to many of the Children's Museums throughout the U.S. in order to get inspiration for what to put in the museum. Supposedly it is one of the best ones in the nation. We took Audrey there the weekend before Madeline was born to check it out. It was amazing. They had such terrific things for the kids to do. There are separate rooms with activities for the kids to do and discover. There is a water room with all sorts of balls floating in the water and shooting in the air. They have an area where kids can pick foods from the garden/field and take them to the grocery store and go shopping and also checking out to pay for their goods. There's a post office, music area, and room with history of South Dakota items such as a mud house and tepee. There is also plenty of things to do outside as well that includes two dinosaurs that move and roar, tunnels, and fountains. This will be a fantastic place to go during the cold winter months. We were there a couple of hours and didn't see it all. Can't wait to go back!

The Water Room

The Music Area

One of the Dinosaurs

Audrey milking a cow

Pumpkin Patch

One of our friend's in-laws plan pumkins every year and this year we were invited to come out and pick some. So we went out to get some to put on our front step. Audrey enjoyed going from pumpkin to pumpkin to see how big they were and telling us which ones to pick. We all had a great time especially because the weather was great for an October day.

Last Pictures of Our Family of 3

Since our 2nd daughter will be arriving soon, I thought we should take a picture of the three of us as our last picture as a family of three. Also thought I'd take a photo of me at 37 weeks pregnant.

An Afternoon Out

Since Dave was gone for the weekend and it was so nice outside, Audrey and I decided to spend some time at McCrory Gardens checking out the flowers. We had a lot of fun checking out all the different varieties that were planted. Audrey enjoyed picking them...not sure if that was legal per se, but she did it anyway...and smelling them of course.

Summer Fun

We've had a lot outside play time this summer. She loves to swing, go down her slide, play with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and ride her tricycle. She got her tricycle for her birthday and it took her a couple of months to figure out how to pedal, but she is quite the pro now.

Swimming Lessons

Audrey took her 2nd year of swimming lessons this July. She became quite a water bug through the course of them. This year it was more of the same from last year. The main goal is to get the kids to be comfortable in the water.

She liked to "swim" this year. Basically we would hold her up and she would do the motions of doggie paddeling and kicking her feet. She also learned to go under water which she enjoyed. I was totally not expecting her to like that, but she surprises me all the time. Her favorite part was jumping off the ledge to us. On her last day, she did that for a good 20 minutes. She is quite the dare devil.

4th of July

This 4th of July we headed to Georgia to visit Dave's brother and his family. We hadn't seen them in quite some time and it was fun to catch up and let the kids play together. Tiana just turned 8 and Ty is 3 1/2.

The long weekend consisted of playing on the slip n' slide, visting the Georgia Acquarium, and fireworks of course. Audrey sort of got the hang of the slip n' slide, but mostly enjoyed crawling through the water ring and landing in the pool at the end. Her favorite part of the acquarium was watching the penguins. They had a penguin crawl where you could crawl through the habitat and pop your head up through glass holes and get really close up to the penguins. She loved it! We had to go through twice and buy a stuffed penguin at the gift shop on our way out. As for the fireworks, she enjoyed the snaps and sparklers, but not so much the noise of the bigger fireworks that Dave and Troy set off. Maybe next year!

We all had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again soon!

Czech Days 2010

We took Audrey to her very first Czech Days this past weekend. We went to the Kiddie Parade, which is where kids of all ages create a Czech themed entry and walk through the parade route. We saw puppies, bunnies and even a ginuea pig. Kids decorated thir bikes and wagons and motorized scooters. It was pretty interesting to watch. I think Audrey had more fun playing with the rope that blocked off the parade route.

Audrey also go to ride on her very first carnival ride! It is a pretty small midway so there was only 3 rides that were for her age. She loved them and of course threw a fit when it was time to leave. She also kept wanting to go on the ferris wheel, but we thought better of that for this year. She is quite the little dare-devil with no fear. Dave is pretty excited to take her on roller coasters when she gets older.

The Merry Go Round

Having fun on the Purple Car

The race car driver

Our little model in training...what is with that pose!?

Elephant ride

Her cheezy smile...darn sun was in the wrong spot!

Audrey's First Haircut

We finally decided that it was time for Audrey's first official haircut (we don't count the tiny one she got for her surgery). She lasted 2 years and 3 months! I have to say I was very nervous about how she would act sitting in the chair, but she behaved better than she has ever has!! She sat there sucking on her sucker and staring/making faces in the mirror. I was so proud of her and me for that matter...not one tear was shed! I thought that was pretty amazing given all the extra hormones being 6 months pregnant! We took some pictures and some locks of her hair for keepsakes.

The before picure (I need to take an after yet)

Making silly faces in the mirror

Audrey Loves Ice Cream

We have finally found Audrey's favorite food...ice cream! It is only appropriate since I am also an ice cream fanatic. She likes it so much that she asks for it for breakfast. We of course don't give into this, but it is pretty cute when she asks. Normally she shares my ice cream in a bowl or shake, but last weekend we decided that it was time for her very own first ice cream cone, so we headed off to Zesto's. We didn't realize until after we already got her her cone that they had a kids size cone, but needless to say she pretty much topped it off.