Interview with Auddie Girl

What is your favorite color?
Purple

Who is your best friend?
All of the people

What is your favorite food?
Macaroni and Cheese
Corn dogs
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
All of the kinds

Favorite tv show?
Every tv show

What do you hate doing the most in our house?
Cleaning

What do you love doing most in our house?
Watching tv and doing everything

If you could be any super here, who would you be and why?
Audrey The Super Hero

What do you like best about Becky's?
I like playing

What is your favorite book?
I don't have one

Talk about your dad.
Daddy is so naughty
He's very nice to me but kind of naughty to me

Talk about your mom.
Sometimes she's kind of kind of naughty to me

Talk about Gracie.
Gracie hits me when I'm naughty to her.

Talk about Buddy.
Buddy doesn't have a broken leg but he lost his bone like sissy did.
Talk about George.
Georgie always bites when I pinch him.

Talk about Auddie Girl.
When someone hits me I cry.

Interview with Gracie

What is your favorite color?
Yellow

Who is your best friend?
From school: Ashlynn
From gymnastics: Lindsey

What is your favorite food?
Turkey and brownies

What is your favorite ice cream?
Moose Tracks

What is your favorite TV show?
Jessie or Good Luck Charlie

Favorite event in gymnastics?
Vault and bars and beam

What do you hate doing the most in your house?
Cleaning

What do you love doing the most in your house?
Putting on make up

If you could be any super hero, who would it be and why?
I don't know

What do you like best in school?
Cursive and projects

What is your favorite book?
Betty Wren White books

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Teach kindergarten or first grade

Talk about your dad.
Lazy, couch potato
Like fishing

Talk about your mom.
Yells a lot
Makes us unstack the dishwasher
Pets the dogs

Talk about your sister.
She is naughty
Giggly
Ticklish

Talk about Buddy.
He has never licked me
He bit me when I was little
He's getting really old and sleepy

Talk about George.
Little scamp
Really cute
Really naughty
Bites a lot

Talk about Gracie!
I love gymnastics
I like nicknames
I fractured my knee

Words my Auddie Girl says

I am posting a list of words Auddie says so that we will remember when she is older.  I noticed that I barely remember any of the words Gracie said at this age so I am making a permanent record.

dare - there
nastics - gymnastics
gahnka - grampa
gamma - grandma
Gee-orge - George
Buh-eeeee - Buddy
yeo -leo
nigh nigh -night night
tee-Steve (pop-pop)
mama, I geh up now - mama, I get up now
I care - I am scared
My hair tuck - my hair is stuck ( always in the car seat buckles)
I mitchu - I miss you
I have moothie -Can I have some smoothie?
And my all time favorite - I yuv you mama - I think you know what that means.

Grace Elizabeth Gerten interview 8-11-11

What is your favorite color?
Yellow.  Just like my Pop-pop.


Who is your best friend"
Sam and Sydney



What is your favorite food?
Chicken legs from Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Mash Potatoes.  French style green beans.

What is your favorite ice cream?
 Blizzards

Favorite tv show?
icarly and Good Luck Charlie and So Random

Favorite event in gymnastics?
Bars

What do you hate doing the most in your house?
Cleaning

What do you love doing most in your house?
Watching tv, loving my dogs

If you could be any super hero, who would it be and why?
I don't know

What do you like best in school?
Quiet time and reading and writing

What is your favorite book?
Chapter books

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Gymnastics coach

What was your favorite thing you did this summer?
Dakota County Fair and Valleyfair

Who is your favorite cousin?
Megan Gerlach

Who is your favorite friend in gymnastics?
Marissa and Carrie

Talk about your dad:
He sometimes wears the pants.
He sleeps with the tv on and I don't.
He stays up late.
He likes fishing, a lot.

Talk about your mom:
She sometimes also wears the pants.
I go to bed at the same time as her.
She loves The Tudors.
She doesn't like our cabin.

Talk about your sister:
When I  am at age 12, I want to baby-sit her.
Sometimes I like going on the trampoline with her.
I still love her but I mostly really loved her when she was a baby, you know like new-bornish.

Talk about Buddy:
He started licking me.
He is my mom's dog.
He is overweight.
He loves my dad.

Talk about George:
He's my dog.
He loves licking people in the morning.
He loves chewing banana peels.

Tell me about Gracie (you!):
I love having nicknames.
My favorite animals are monkey and dolphins - mostly monkeys.
I have 1 dog (mom interjected here and said, "no you don't - you have two dogs").
I love athletic stuff.
I love candy.
I love that my parents love me.
I love that they bought me a trampoline.

Happy birthday Susan!

Please note big hair.  And the fact that I was wearing a happy face button as a brooch.  WTH?

Today my best friend Susan celebrates her 36th birthday.  I have known this woman since 1988 when she and I were mere 8th graders at Heidelberg Middle School.  Ah, the memories.  She and I have survived big hair together, being an army brat, finding our place in life, a 9 year separation, getting married, and having children. 

Now we are on to the next phase of our life!  We are hitting our late 30's and making big plans for a cruise for our 40th.  What a way to ring in our 40's!  I love this woman.  She is wise, a great friend and mom, and always giving, giving, giving.  She constantly has offered sage advice and I believe that with her knowledge and advice saved my marriage when it was going through a very difficult time.

Happy birthday Susan!  Sookie!

Audrey Houdini Gerten

                                                                 Photo taken in 2010

This little naughty bird gave her mama a heart attack at Island View Resort during our big family vacation this summer.

Auddie Girl and I were having a nap. She was sleeping in the bottom bunk and I was in my bed.  The other family members were at a movie or fishing so just she and I were slumbering away peacefully. 

All of a sudden after a solid 2 hour nap I hear an unfamiliar male voice yelling "hello" over and over again from the laundry room in the cabin.  The voice sounded quite concerned.  So I rush out of bed and there is a man and two women walking into the house with Audrey.  I'm like "WHAT??".  Apparently while we (I guess I) were slumbering Auddie got out of bed, went outside and WAS WALKING DOWN BY THE LAKE when these three people found her and tried to find her cabin.  Thankfully they had seen her up at our cabin and so knew she was part of our group but when they first brought her back up no one heard them ringing the doorbell or knocking on the door (I was slumbering, remember). 

Finally they went back to the main office at the resort and called the emergency number that my dad had for our cabin.  They had to leave a message there (it was my dad's home phone - not sure how that would help in an emergency I told my dad seeing that his house is 2 hours from our resort - but whatevs).  When they couldn't get ahold of anyone they just decided to come in an look for someone. 

So my baby was safe.  I was a wreck.  All the thoughts that kept going through my head . . . I cried for three hours thinking of the what if's.  I can't even post my thoughts here because any of those things could have happened.  I am so lucky and thankful that it ended the way it did. 

I realize it's all my fault.  I'm the mom - I'm responsible.   But don't think I won't blame this on her when she's older! 

Thank God my girl is ok!

Bittersweet. More sweet than bitter.

                       POST WRITTEN ON JULY 15th, 2011.  Posted on August 2, 2011.  It's how I roll.

 
Today I say good-bye to three characters that have hijacked my nightly reading since December of 1998.  I get to go see HP 7.2 with Dan today at 2:00.  We have gone to each and every movie together.  I've spent endless hours in a movie theater seat dying with excitement.  I was pregnant for three of the movies and suffered quietly just to see this fantastical world come to life.

I cannot tell you how many times I've read the books (each of them numerous times).  I pre-ordered three of the books on-line so that I could be one of the first to read it.  I ran to my door every five minutes waiting for those books and when they finally did come I was a mess of happiness.

I nerded out with my dear friend Kristin.  We talked endlessly about Harry Potter.  We talked trivia, we cleared up any misconceptions we had (ONLY 6 Horcruxes? Whatevs) and just slobbered over the amazingness of the books in general.

In December of 2000, I went to the 8th Floor at Macy's and saw the Harry Potter exhibit.  I was like a little kid in there.  It was amazing seeing how big Hagrid really was and looking at little HP when he was a baby.  Coincidentally that was the same evening Dan went to buy my engagement ring!  He couldt go to the Harry Potter exhibit with me because he said he was busy.  He WAS!

And now I say good-bye.  I'm really sad about this.  Probably too much?  Don't judge.  I have to have compassion about something.  Even if it is HP.   :)

Last day of first grade

Gracie finished first grade!  I cannot believe that this milestone has come and passed.  Here are her last day of first grade pictures:

Sassy

Smile nicely

Auddie girl HAD to be in the picture

On a cold, rainy day

Last Saturday we went to Valleyfair for Dan's work picnic.  It was very fun but a cold, rainy day!

I always thought those people that buy the amusement park poncho's are suckers because there is nothing wrong with getting a little wet.  Well, we are those suckers now because we bought amusement park ponchos so we wouldn't get a little wet!  It wasn't the MOST ridiculous thing we ever bought but it does rank up there in the top 10.

It was a blast even though it rained all day long!

Cold and wet but having a fun!

She smiled through all her shivers!

Royal Tea

Last Sunday we got to go to the South St. Paul Royal Tea.  The candidates for Ms. South St. Paul and the reigning royalty were there to work with the children doing different activities.  They made a crown, they played pin the princess on the castle, they colored and they had punch and little petit fours.  It was really cute!

Gracie met a candidate and tended to follow her around during the tea party.  This candidate was very sweet and we wish her the best!

Gracie and South St. Paul queen candidate, Marisa.