Elbows!

Audra has been learning her body parts over the last couple months, and elbows are her new obsession.  She loves pointing them out... hers, mine, Daddy's, Sophie's, etc.  I think she enjoys the fact that she can say the word.  

(As a side note, Audra seems to be making some big progress with talking recently.  She's tries to say words like blueberry and belly button, though the only reason I understand her is because she's pointing at the object.  However, her "all done", "hi dada" and "hi mama" are quite clear!)

Raspberry Festival

David, Audra and I went to Linvilla Orchards this morning with some friends for a raspberry festival.  And while we were there Audra got to ride a pony for the first time!  She did great the whole time... sitting up straight, holding on tight and asking for "more, more, more" when the ride was over.

There was also a playground area and Audra enjoyed the slides and pretending to drive a truck.

Unfortunately the raspberries were just starting to turn ripe, so we didn't have much luck when we went to pick them.  But we did find some ripe raspberries and strawberries at Linvilla's farm store, so we didn't go home empty-handed!

Little Gardener

Audra loved helping me work in the gardens this past week...

After about a half hour, I watched Audra sit down and take her shoes off.  When she was done she stood up and said "yeah!", then walked off to dig in the dirt some more.  I guess she prefers being barefooted just like her mama!

Independence

Audra is getting really good at using a spoon!

Sophie Kisses

Sophie and Audra are the best of friends, and I love watching them interact!  (Well, at least 95% of the time.  Audra is known to torment Sophie a bit, but Sophie is quite tolerant.)  

Sandbridge

(Please forgive the amateur video skills and all the noise!)

Our last night at Sandbridge was cold and very windy, but I took Audra down to the ocean anyway.  She had enjoyed every moment of being by the ocean, so I shouldn't have been surprised that the cold, biting wind didn't seem to bother her!

Beach Reunion

This year the Crosby reunion was held at Sandbridge Beach, near Virginia Beach.  After our beach reunion at Coastal Charm in 2010, a lot of us wanted to return to the seaside.

It was a smaller reunion than previous years... only a portion of the Howard Crosby family turned out for the event.  Many were missed, though it was still an enjoyable week together!  Here are a few highlights from the week...

David and his baby girl... we are fortunate that Audra enjoys wearing a hat, especially if Daddy is wearing one, too!

Alenna with her niece, Audra, her son, Mikiah and her nephew, Gavin.

Our rental house, Summer Place.

Audra and Gavin holding hands during a trip to the Virginia Aquarium.

Dan reads to Audra and Cora.

A family picture on the beach.  (Poor David had been sick and sleeping most of the day, but he got up to be present for family pictures.  It was the only day that the weather was supposed to be sunny, so we weren't able to move the pictures to a different day.)

My father with his children - me, Alenna, Howie and J.

Hanging out in the hot tub (after getting caught in the rain while we were on the beach).

The last night at Sandbridge... it was cold, but it was beautiful!

J, Lori & Sadie; Alenna, with Seth and Cora in front of her, Dan holding Mikiah with Aiden in front of them; me & David with Audra; Hannah next to Ellie with Howie holding Gavin; Gene and Dad in the front.

Beach Baby

Summer Dress

Finally, South Jersey experienced a warm day this past Saturday!  Audra has been blessed with a lot of cute summer clothes (given to us from various family members in the forms of hand-me-down's or gifts), and I look forward to putting her in those outfits.  But Saturday I decided to put her in a dress that I found on the clearance rack at Old Navy last summer.

Wow... was it just last summer?  A year ago this dress looked huge.  Now it just looks grown up!  I think I need to admit (to myself) that Audra's not a baby anymore, she's a toddler.

So this is what everyone meant about time passing quickly.  And, what's that?  It's only going to get worse?

* sniffle *

Time to cut this post short, go peak at my sleeping babe and try to hold on to more fleeting moments of Audra's baby-ness.

Catching Up (Again)

Life has been passing quickly, and blogging fell to the bottom of my priority list lately.  Sorry to those who have missed the video's of Audra!

Our little one turned 1 at the end of January... and we celebrated with a small family party.  A few weeks later Audra experienced her first flight, when we spent a week with David's parents during their vacation to Orlando.  It was wonderful to get away as a family, and Audra enjoyed getting to spend a full week with her Poppop and Mimi.  We also appreciated that Audra's Grandpa Crosby, Grandma Gene, Uncle Howie, Aunt Hannah and cousins, Ellie and Gavin, came to visit us at the resort where we were staying.

Walking around Downtown Disney on Feb. 18.

In March Audra and I spent a week in New York visiting my sister and her children.  (Her husband was in Colorado on a business trip.)  Cora declared that "Audra is the funniest girl baby I know!"  And I have to agree that Audra seemed to enjoy being a ham in front of all her cousins.  It was a fun week together!

Audra's version of "snuggling" with Mikiah.

Reading books with Seth and Aiden.

Recently we've been getting some beautiful spring weather in NJ!  Cool evenings, warm days and lots of sunshine.  And so we've been spending a lot of time with Audra outside, which she loves!  She's learned almost 30 signs and she is regularly using her sign language to ask for her shoes, jacket and sunglasses so she can go outside.

Audra now says "ba BAH" when she wants to play with the bubbles... which is usually 2-3 times a day.

Seeing my lilacs blooming is one of my favorite parts of spring!

It's beautiful to watch a child discover the world!