She's ONE and a HALF!

This ONE and a HALF milestone popped right up on us.  It was yesterday and a marvelous day. 18 months-wow.  When he turned 18mo, I was rounding the 3rd trimester for her. No buns in the oven now...just two sweet kids who warm my heart daily.

Remembering:  12 months,  9 months?  6 months?  3 months?  Just being born?

Lots to celebrate, for sure.

And my letter to Audra Grace.

You add such spice to our life.  You are always moving and rarely doing that what you're supposed to do.  You're curious, inquisitive and don't take 'no' for an answer. You keep us on our toes!  And you know what you want and you're not afraid to ask...err...demand your requests.

You are the welcome wagon.  In the car, you say "Hi dada, Hi dada.." until daddy says 'hi'.  And then you say "Hi mama, Hi mama..." until I say 'hi'.  And then you say "Hi brother, hi brother..." until he says 'hi'. And then you start the entire process over again. And again. And again. You do the same thing when you talk on the phone.  You also say 'hi' to whatever random stranger you find. Anyone you can greet, you will.  Again and again.

Your favorite joke is 'knock knock'.  You come up to whoever will listen and say "Knock, knock".  When they say "Who's there?", you say "Audra" and laugh hysterically.  And then you do it again. And again.

Whatever we give you, you always refuse and choose something else. "No, this.", you say.  You ask "Why" all the time...even with your hand on your hip as you drag the word out to a two syllable phrase. You can say that with quite the punch. 

You love accessories-Uncle Matt's racing medals in particular.  Socks, shoes, hats, boots.  You have more style than your mama. 

Although you spend the majority of your life moving, talking and getting into trouble, you do like a few toys that you'll occasionally play by yourself.  Horses, in particular. Books.  And art stuff-coloring/painting. 

You love your brother.  You follow him around and want to do whatever he is doing.  You also love all the animals and are always gentle with them.  You can do about a dozen different animal sounds on command.  You also are a fan of the word 'udder' and everytime you see a picture of a cow with an udder, you are quick to point that udder out to us.

You are great at winking...which is really blinking.  Sometimes you wink at everyone at the table.

Your favorite things to eat are chips, eggs (you can eat 4!), homemade applesauce/pearsauce and shepherd's pie. 

You're not a fan of going anywhere in the car after it's dark.  During the day, fine, but not after dark.  And you're still not a big fan of sleeping.  Oh well.

All in all, you are a firecracker.  You have spunk. You make us laugh.  You still love to snuggle.  We cannot imagine our life without you.  We love oodles and oodles and oodles. 

This is a dress that I wore as a child. My mom saved it for me, it's your turn.

 And in following our tradition of half birthday mini celebrations, here's her One and a HALF celebration. A cake, something homemade, a couple flowers and a couple (thrifted) finds.  Simple and fun.

 (She, of course, needed to wear all of her metals to the celebration).

Happy Half Birthday, sweet girl!  We love you so!