The Littlest Dancer

Even though Audrey didn't want to dance at her recital last weekend, she and Avery have been dancing all over the house this week with Grandma. At the store today, Audrey asked me if we could buy some tap shoes. I have no idea where she came up with that. Anyway, here's a video of Avery in action last night. I'll try to get some footage of Audrey shortly to post (it's really not hard these days ... it seems she wants to dance all the time now).

Audrey's cute quote of the week: we have some fire escape stairs from our condo that we call the "secret stairs", and she told me yesterday "We can't go on the secret stairs now. They're not available because it's almost winter." Well, there you go. I wasn't aware they were closing, so I'm glad she told me. =)

Audrey's First Dance Recital!

Today was Audrey's first dance recital. She's been in a weekly class with other 1- and 2-year olds, and during the recital today, everyone was dressed in a red leotard and red tutu and 'danced' to We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Here are some pix and video of Audrey in action.

Oh, wait, there's nothing there??? That's because Audrey refused to put on her 'costume' (even for just walking around the house) and didn't want to dance on the stage with her class (even in her 'regular' clothes). So we don't have anything to share. But both girls had a great time watching all the classes dancing, and we'll try again in the Spring. =)

What Happens When You Let a 2-Year Old Dress Herself

Audrey got a new skirt from her friend Elisa yesterday, and she insisted on wearing it to bed last night and then again today. It's freezing outside, so I told her she could keep the skirt on, but had to wear pants under the skirt. She also insisted on wearing her new yellow/pink flower shoes. When I tried to give her pink socks (not even sure those would have matched, but it would have been better), she insisted that the only socks she would wear were her soft red socks. She also had a very strong opinion about which sweater she was going to wear.

So here's the result. I'm sure people at the zoo this afternoon must have thought I was color-blind. Avery, on the other hand, in her bellbottoms, was about the best-dressed 1-year old at the zoo. Here's a pic of the 2 of them after we got home this afternoon.

Suitcases and Dinner

My mom left to go home yesterday and Audrey really, really wanted to get on the airplane with her. We toyed around with it for a few minutes, but decided in the end that this wasn't the best timing. In any event, in exchange for not going to Florida, Mim told Audrey that she could go pick out one of her Christmas presents early ... a new Princess suitcase that Audrey really, really wanted at Target. We went yesterday afternoon and, being the astute mom that I am, decided that two suitcases at our house would be better for my sanity than 2 girls fighting over one. So we bought two. Here they are yesterday, sitting in them ... Audrey was pretending they were carseats and that we were driving to the airport.

The other pix are of some good friends of ours who came for dinner tonight. Since our dining room is so small (and won't easily hold 8 people), we let the kids eat at the small table in the living room and watch Blues Clues while eating. I'm surprised they had time to eat anything, in between all the staring at the TV! The first is Audrey, Avery and their friend Elisa. The second is Avery and Massi sitting in the corner and playing together (well, really, just next to each other). It was so cute ... from the back, they look like twins.

Decorating for Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. Audrey was very interested at first in hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree, but after a few minutes, all they both wanted to do was either (1) take ornaments out of boxes (especially the glass and other fragile ones) and wave them around or (2) take ornaments off of the Christmas tree. We had a great time, though, and my mom was here to help.

Notice Avery's Camelbak ... because you never know when you'll need to re-hydrate during Christmas decorating. Also notice the Mardi gras beads ... they bring their own party in case the one we're throwing isn't fun enough. Now, does anyone have a good suggestion to get a 2-year old and a 1-year old to smile for the camera at the same time (or, for that matter, at all sometimes)??? =)

My Beautiful Niece

There does not exist a cuter 5-month old on this planet!

We're Back ... & We Have News

First, and most exciting these days (in case any of you who read this haven't heard; I'm sure there aren't many), we are expecting Baby McConnell #3 on June 7!! We aren't going to find out if it's a boy or girl, so don't ask. =) We also don't know whether we'll use another "A" name, so don't ask about that either. =)

As for the rest of life, I know it's been a while, but following is a quick timeline of our last month of life:

Oct 21: Put our house on the market (thinking it would take months to sell)

Oct 23: Receive a final contract on our house

Oct 25: Decide we better start looking for a new house to move into for the next 7 months of life

Oct 27: Find another place to live

Oct 28: Decide we have to move in the upcoming weekend because there will be no more free weekends between now and date of closing

Oct 28 - 30: Pack (with a lot of help from 2 little girls, who really like to unpack more than they like to pack)

Oct 31: Move into another condo (same complex, short commute, same big hassle) with the help of some great friends Nov 1: Drive to LA for the day to visit some awesome friends

Nov 3 - 5: Allison goes to NY for a business trip

Nov 7: Try to unpack some boxes

Nov 8 - 14: Super family trip to Hawaii; I get to meet my little 'niece' Addyson for the first time, who is super-cute

Nov 17 - 18: Allison goes to CT for a business trip

Nov 20 - 25: Allison's brother, sister-in-law, and cutest 5-month old in the world, Ava, visit SD

Nov 22: Allison goes to ER for some crazy stomach bug

Nov 23 - Present: Allison's mom visits; the whole family gets sick; Thanksgiving is postponed by a day; Now we're all feeling great!

So I know that was a lot of drama and probaby way too much detail, but I just wanted to prove that I have some legit excuses for being so far behind in blogging. Now the bad news is that in the midst of the unpacking, I am still unable to locate our card reader (so no still pix on the blog today). I'm also sorry to say that I was extremely lax in taking any videos either in Hawaii or from Ava (and B&B's visit), so I'm includng only one video from Hawaii. Thanks to our very cool friends Dirk & Annie for their extreme hospitality (and just overall coolness) during our visit!