Birthday Cake!

Drum roll. . . . Here is the video of Auston and Audrey eating their birthday cakes. You can see that Auston had no problem figuring out what to do, Audrey was a little more timid. But, after the video was taken Audrey really started to dig into the cake as you can see in the pictures below. (Make sure you pause the playlist on the side)

A Christmas Blessing

Well, tonight we were the recipients of a Christmas blessing. We took the kids to see Santa Clause at the mall (pictures to come later). And decided to grab some dinner at Chile's. We were seated by an older couple. Nothing really seemed special. We ordered and were talking while helping Auston and Audrey to eat some snacks before their favorite meal arrived, grilled cheese. Anyway, Auston and Audrey always seem to draw a crowd, and a few people made comments to us, of course the standard "Are they twins?" and "Oh! Boy and girl twins?" The older couple leaned over and talked with Kristen for a little. They asked how old the kids were and commented that they were beautiful children. The lady talked to Auston and we tried to coax him into saying "Hi" but he just stared at the lady and smiled. We noticed the couple leave and it seemd like the older gentleman was having trouble or something with his credit card because he took the server aside and was talking to her about his credit card. Kristen was about ready to offer to pay, but they got it figured out and left. When we asked for our check our server informed us that the couple had taken care of our meal and told her to tell us "Merry Christmas!" We couldn't believe it and wanted so badly to say "Thank you". It was so amazing to see the potential for good we have. We felt truly blessed and were impressed with the spirit of the season that motivates all of us to give gifts, whether big or small, in rememberence of the Ultimate gift.

The Big ONE!

Happy Birthday Auston and Audrey!!!!!
This past Monday, Auston and Audrey turned the big One!!! We were so excited, but also sad that our sweet little babies aren't so little anymore, so it was a little bittersweet! Last Saturday we celebrated their big day by inviting a bunch of our friends over for their Mickey and Minnie birthday party, where we watched Auston and Audrey blow out their candle (with a little help from their mom and dad) and then dig into their Mickey and Minnie cakes, making a huge mess! As soon as Auston got the cake, he knew just what to do, he started mashing, kneading, and smearing it everywhere! Audrey was a little more like, "what is this pink blob in front of me", just kind of pinching at it with her thumb and two fingers, but after a while of watching Auston having his fun, she decided to have some of her own, and also made a huge mess! During the mess-making, everyone else had a cupcake and ice cream, and then we made "gingerbread" houses, only with graham crackers, and then I made the icing and we had all sorts of candy to decorate, (which is so bad, because we now have all sorts of candy left over, and I'm forced to eat it all). It turned out really great and we really appreciate everyone who came, it made all the more fun! We crammed almost 30 people into our little house, so it was a bit tight, but we like to think of it as "cozy" (although those of you who were here might think otherwise :) ). Now that our babies are one, they've moved on to bigger and better things and are growing so big, so here are their stats:

• They are now riding in their booster seats! Yay!
• They are now completely off formula and bottles and totally on sippy cups and whole milk
• They're favorite food, as we just found out, is a sun-dried tomato pasta salad. We seriously couldn't get them to stop eating it, they ate so much! It was crazy!
• Auston is 20 lbs and 29 and 3/4 in long
  
• Audrey is 23 lbs and 30 in. long
• They both had their first ear infections this week. I took them in for their 12-month check, and they had runny noses, and were a little cranky, but not bad, so I just thought they were teething. Turns out they have ear infections, so we'll have to go back next week for shots, once they finish their antibiotic. I felt so bad, because I didn't even realize they were sick! It was funny, though, because it seemed like once the Dr. said they were sick, it was like they were given the ok to act like it, so the past several days have been awful! They weren't near this cranky at all before. Hmm, strange how that happens... J/K! They're doing really well now, though, thank heavens!
• Auston got his first haircut, and now he looks like a little man!
  

So this week has been a little crazy, and add in the fact that Steve's been studying for and taking finals, and I was just called into the Primary pres., we haven't been able to get a lot done, so I feel bad that I'm just now getting around to doing their birthday blog, or updating our blog, period. Anyway, just to do a quick update, my parents and my grandma came out for Thanksgiving, and it was so much fun having them here! My mom and I made a big dinner, Steve really hurt his ankle at a Turkey Bowl game, we did the whole Black Friday thing and got some great deals, and we went to Springfield and saw the Lincoln Museum, (which was so awesome), and the other Lincoln spots. We loved having them here, and can't wait to see them in a week! Anyway, onto the meat of the post, the pictures! There's also a really funny video at the end, so don't miss it : ) Enjoy!

Our Gingerbread house

The Noonan's winning house

The Parry's Bomb Shelter (Jack smashed it)

The McCubbins' cute house

The other Rogers' cute house

The Bednar's cute house

All tuckered out after a big dayThanksgiving

Auston is our stairmaster
Audrey loves to play peek-a-boo with her shirt

Us and the Lincolns

Steve's ankle injury, it was swollen for almost two weeks, crazy guy wouldn't go to the dr

This is a video of Auston and Audrey riding this airplane thing we got them for their birthday. Audrey screams everytime she's on it like its a roller coaster, it's too cute! Auston gets mad, because he likes to have it all to himself, and so, it's begun.