Good-Bye Christmas Tree

This year Audrey had her very first Christmas tree in her room. She absolutely loved it. Every morning she would say "Good morning Christmas tree" and when it was time to go to bed, she would say "Good night, see you in the morning." Her favorite thing to do during the day, and whenever anyone came over for that matter, was to take them to her room and show them her tree. Like a big girl she would turn it on (with the nifty little foot switch) and then run to turn the lights off in her room so that you would get the full effect. Many "Oohs" & "Ahhs" were followed by this demonstration. Most of them coming from her. "Oh Gosh!" was her common remark. It was clear that she felt like such a big girl to have her own tree in her room. Well, Christmas is now over and I knew that the tree had to come down. I was dreading it to be honest. I didn't quite know how she would react to it being gone. Would she throw a tantrum? I had thought about leaving it up for a while. Why not, sense she loved it so much? Would it be so bad to have a Christmas tree up in March? Finally, I got brave and told Josh that it had to come down. So today while I was out with the kids Josh took her beloved tree down. Before we left the house, I stood with Audrey in her room and told her to say good-bye to her tree. She held onto my leg as we waved goodbye to the the Christmas tree. "Good-bye Christmas tree" she said "see you next Christmas."

Our Little Family - 2008 Rohrer Family Yearbook

Click here to view this photo book larger

It's Good to be Two!

CAN IT BE TRUE?  IS MY LITTLE GIRL TURNING TWO?

As I write these words, I still can't believe that they are true.  It feels like such a short time ago that I gave birth to Audrey, and yet now she is a walking, talking, independent toddler.  Goodness how time flies...

On Saturday, August 22nd we celebrated Audrey's second birthday.  We had a "Backyardigans" BBQ at the house, inspired by Audrey's favorite cartoon.  Like many insane Mom's (you know who you are) I tried to go all out - which resulted in sheer panic the night before the party (see cupcakes down below).  Luckily everything turned out better than I expected and most importantly Audrey had an absolute blast.  She loved being the center of attention and opening all her gifts almost as much as she loved her Pablo and Uniqua mylar balloons.  The party was deemed a success and Audrey went to bed that night with a smile on her green frosting stained face.  Here are some pictures of the party...   

Daniel, Audrey's BFF.  He is only 2 days younger than her!

My Dad holding Oliver.  Can you tell that he is teething?

Linda (Josh's Mom) holding Oliver.

My Backyardigans Fruit Bar 

(a fruit for every character based on their color)

I know, I know, a bit cheesy - but hey!  I stuck to the theme people!

The Cupcakes

Oh, the story I could write about these cupcakes.  They deserve their own blog.  Seriously.  I really wanted a Backyardigans cake to stick with the theme, but I couldn't find anywhere.  So, I thought that I would make my own cupcakes.  I mean, the instructions that I found looked easy enough... how hard could it be?  Ha! I don't know how I could have been so naive!  Needless to say, when I got done at 1 am the next morning I packed them up in Tupperware so that they wouldn't go stale.  Good news is they didn't.  Bad news is THEY MELTED!!  Everything fell off the top.  Josh came upstairs that morning of the party and said (while he handed me my beloved Starbucks) "You need to prepare yourself..."  Once the shock wore off, I threw them in the fridge, and did some damage repair right before people arrived.  

Audrey's Cupcake (Pablo is her favorite)

Her first bite...

...devouring it...

"Mama Messy"

My Mom playing with Audrey.  They gave her one of her favorite toys: a tunnel.

Linda coming through the tunnel, with Jeff holding Oliver.

Our Family Photo for the day.

It Had To Be Done

For those of you who don't know, Audrey HATES to have anything done with her hair.  Absolutely hates it.  For example, whenever I try to just simply comb her hair (so that she doesn't look like a red-headed step-child) she pitches a fit so huge that one would thing I am severely beating my child.  As a result of this behavior, Josh and I have just left her alone.  That is until a couple of days ago.  Audrey desperately needed her hair cut.  Her cute little curls had turned into an uncontrollable mop on her head.  We knew that getting her hair cut was going to be quite the traumatic experience for us all, but it had to be done.  Here are some before, during and after pictures of the event.  Enjoy!

A couple of days before the dreaded hair cut...

Josh holding Audrey down during the hair cut.  I know this sounds bad, but I was laughing as I was taking the photo.  One day when she asks me why I never did anything with her hair I will be able to show her this picture and say "this is why!"

The after picture.  Once the lady stopped cutting her hair she instantly quite crying.  Here she is pictured at home.  She even let us put a bow in her hair!!  

20 Months of Audrey

During my "Blog Vacation" I made the following video for my Mom for Mother's Day.  It is full of video clips of Audrey, who was 20 months old at the time set to a groovy and classic song.  It really was a lot of fun to make, and I kinda always wanted to share it on my blog, so here it is!

Our Salt Lake City Weekend

This past weekend we went to Salt Lake City to spend some time with my family & friends and to have Oliver baptized.  It turned out to be such a good weekend - even though it was a quick one.  We were only in town for 5 days, but what a whirlwind it was!  Every night we had something planned (with the exception of Thursday night, the first night we were in town.)  While I was packing to go home on Monday morning I paused for a moment... I was amazed at all that we had done and all of the people that we got to see and spend time with.  It was a lovely visit that felt much to short.  Here is a recap of our Salt Lake City Weekend:

Friday: A Friendly BBQ

It had been a while since I had been back home (7 months to be exact) and I really wanted to get together with some of my friends.  Everyone brought their loved one and kids (oh, and a dish to share!)  The kids out numbered the adults!  We all seemed to have a good time and enjoy each other's company.  It was such a fun night!

Saturday Morning: Farmer's Market

It's a tradition: every Saturday morning my parent's go to the Farmer's Market in downtown Salt Lake.  The highlight: Carne Asada Taco's from Junior's for breakfast.  There are no words to describe just how good they are... UM-UM, GOOD!

Mom and Kate at the Market

 

Kate, Oliver and Me.

Oliver's Baptism

It was really important to me to have my children baptized at St. Patrick's Parish, the church that I was baptized in, were I went to church at growing up, and the place that Josh and I were married at.  Audrey was baptized there when she was three months old, and now we were returning for Oliver's baptism.  The love and support that we received from family and friends was amazing.  Josh's parent's flew in for the baptism, along with dear friends of ours, Ted and Amy Archer who are co-God Parent's to Oliver.  Oliver looked so darling in his little white outfit.  He was an absolute angel during the service.  He didn't cry once, not even when the holy water was poured over his head!  

Our Little Family

  Oliver is pictured here with his God Parent's: 

Ted and Amy Archer, and Anna and Chris Rogers

 Anna is holding Oliver while I put on his little cap...

Oliver and I after the baptism - look at how wet his hair got!

Sunday: Our Family Reunion

Every year my Dad's family gets together for a reunion at Washington Park located in Emigration Canyon.  The turn out this year was the biggest that I had seen in years!  I had a really good time catching up with all of my cousins and showing off my darling little family.  

One big happy family!

  

 

Oliver and his cousin Gavin (they were born a day apart!)

This picture was an important one for my Grandpa. 

In this picture is everyone that was named after him.

As you can see, to say that we had a busy weekend is an understatement!  At one point my Mom looked at me and said "Boy, you are a lot of work when you come into town!"  We all really enjoyed ourselves though.  It turned out to be a fun and memorable weekend... it was everything that I had hoped it would be.

We’re back…and with a new addition!

Yes, it has been awhile. 5 months to be exact.  Everyday I promised myself that today would be the day I would update our blog… only to remember at the end of the day (often times while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance) that I forgot – Arg!  It is official: I am the world’s worst procrastinator!  So, without much ado, let me tell you what my little family has been up to in the past months (I must warn you: we have been pretty busy!!) …oh, and did I mention that we have a new addition to our family?  We do!

Introducing Our New Love: 

Mr. Oliver

Our precious baby boy was born on April 7^th at 11:14 pm.  He made his way into this world a bit early: I was originally due on April 22^nd.  My water actually broke (seriously, who does that happen to?!)  My labor went really well, and I am proud to say that I was able to have a natural birth.  However, I do admit that there were times that I was questioning my decision against an epidural.  I kept saying to Josh “I WANT DONE.  GET ME DONE!”  After 23 hours of labor though, I was done and our precious baby boy entered the world.  Oliver has been such a delight, and has brought so much joy to our little family.  Audrey is ever the proud sister, wanting to give “brother” constant hugs and kisses.  She is quick to alert me when he cries “Uh-oh… Mama!”  Seeing the two of them interact makes my heart sing.  He coos and smiles and her, and she squeals and laughs at him.  I often find myself thinking “These are my children.  I am a mother of two.  How did that happen?”  Then I smile and think that it has never been better: I feel so complete.

The following pictures were taken when Oliver was 6 days old.

Has It Really Been Three Months?

April gave way to May, and May lead into June.  During those three months we took the kids to the Zoo and Six Flags Marine World.  Audrey graduated from The Little Gym (her gymnastics class that she takes on Thursday mornings) and we welcomed my parents and sister into our home as guests for some good ol’ family time.  It does not seem like much, but trust me: I feel like we have been going a mile-a-minute!  Oh yes, and then there was Disneyland….

Disneyland with the Rogers

The last weekend in June Josh, Audrey, Oliver and I flew down to Southern California to go to Disneyland with my dear friend Anna and her family.  It was a quick visit (two days in Disneyland, one night at a hotel, two flights in as many days) but we sure did have a good time.  It was so much fun to see Anna & Chris and their darling kids.  Coz & Buddy took such good care of Audrey, and it was nice to have another set of adults to tag team the kids.  Even though technically the kids out numbered us, five to four, we showed ‘em who was boss - right Anna?  Just teasing, the kids were angels (yes, even Audrey… with the exception of the flight down there… now that is another story!)  On our last day there right before we were going to leave I couldn't shake the thought that Anna and I were here on vacation with our little families.  I mean, I met Anna when we were 12 years old, and now we are vacationing together?  It felt like such a dream.  A fun dream, but a dream nonetheless. 

Looking Ahead

Alright, I promise to get my act together people.  There are so many fun things that we have planned for this summer that I will be so bummed if I don’t get a chance to share them with you here. Please stay tuned to see what we will be doing next.  After all, you never know what can happen with a family of four!