Goodnight Maddie

We had to put Madison to sleep today; she was 13.5 years old and had lived a good long life. We will miss her.

Christmas times 3

So we did 3 Christmases, try explaining that to 1.5 & 3.5 year olds!!

Here we are in St. Louis for part I at Eric's Grandmother's house - this is her and several of her great grands - Austin loves to smile huh

Later on, when he was alone with just her & one camera he was a little more camera ready!

So part II, Santa came to the casino where we were staying and brought us stocking stuffers and SNOW!! Here Austin is playing in the snow with Uncle Bunny

Here are some of the family (22 in all) members relaxing and putting together Christmas presents...Ansley is supervising

And then part III, I did not get any pictures of.......when we got back to Atlanta, Eric's brothers & significant others and parents all came to our house for gift exchange.........thus I made a big dinner........while preparing spinach artichoke dip, I was cutting up an onion........Ansley saw it and kept saying apple, apple......I told her it was an onion, so she starting saying onin, onin, bite, bite, so I gave it to her........yep, this is not "photoshopped" the kid is eating an onion like she would an apple............I cannot even begin to tell you how proud Eric is and how disgusted I am!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Ansley will eat anything her daddy makes and her mommy hates.......

potato salad - yuck!

Ansley is going to be a climber...........she climbs on EVERYTHING........chairs, tables, beds, bed rails, boxes, anything her little body can muster up ............


Eric is doing all of the cooking for Christmas..........kidding..........here he is just so proud of himself for smoking a pork shoulder that made us miss Texas :(



Austin is saying hi to all of the folks who still happen by our blog..........sorry to be gone so long

Ansley is starting to gain some weight.......here she looks a little chunky - (more potato salad on her face)

Ansley will eat anything.........here bacon.............

and finally...........Christmas!!!

Eric had to get in the picture as Ansley was not too keen on Santa..........and of course Austin gave his "goofy" grin ;)

We are in the middle of finals and grading.........Austin starts school in a few weeks, just a few mornings a week.........Ansley is OBSESSED with zippers!!!.........Eric did great in school this semester.........and Madison is just plain getting old............that's all the news that is fit to print ;)

Zoo

We went to the zoo today with our old nanny & her daughter; it was a beautiful day finally, so we all enjoyed the sun...........

Austin sort of blends in with the lions ;)

This is our old nanny, Lane, in the foreground with her daughter, Femi.

Ansley, as always, the perfect angel; she sat like this for most of our 2 hours at the zoo, she loves to take in the sights. She did get out to stretch her legs at the playground and had lots of fun there....she loves to go on this little school bus toy, I literally have to persuade her to get off, may be a good sign for days to come ;)

Austin and Femi roaming in the "lions den" ..........have a great weekend.

Boys Weekend

The boys (Eric, Austin, Grandpa B., and Uncle Bunny) all went on a camping trip this weekend as part of Uncle Bunny's work........obviously lots of toys for boys were there and Austin apparently had a blast!!


It seems Uncle Bunny's co-workers did not know he was Uncle Bunny instead of Uncle Brian and that was a HUGE hit for all parties; Brian has come to be fond of the name too, it has taken a while.....

So the girls (An & I) spent the weekend alone.....she had to get her 18 month shots on Friday, 3 immunizations and a flu shot, so she and I laid low all weekend so she & her arms could recover ;)

Happy Halloween!!

So our neighborhood Halloween festivities were in our cul-de-sac this year, and it was fabulous!! Ansley was a flower and we made Austin a Thomas the Tank Engine costume. He was SUPER excited about the costume until he put it on, I think it was just a little hard to wear...........nevertheless here are some pictures of our night!!


Seriously Mom, did you really dress me up as a flower in a pot?

Austin in his homemade Thomas costume (side view)

Front view; one of the only times he was really excited about wearing it; I think it was awkward to wear so he only wore it for about half of the time. He trick-or-treated in just a warm coat :(

I don't know how this happened, but Austin asked Ansley for a hug, and she complied; I was just too close to catch it on film, but Grandma B's face in the background should give you a huge indication of how happy we were to see the hug!!!

The first shot of the neighborhood "crew"

Ansley is in the upper left hand part of the picture being held by our next door neighbor's daughter - Austin HATES big group pictures - look at that face!

The second picture of the whole group, this one includes parents and kids, but this was the sight in our cul-de-sac for most of the afternoon & night!!

When it came time to trick-or-treat Ansley got bundled up and Eric puller her in the wagon while Austin & Uncle Bunny went in Austin's play train.

Ansley is kicked back enjoying the "ride."

Austin's first solo trip to a front door; he did not quite "get" the whole say trick-or-treat thing, often when they opened the door he just stuck his hand in their candy bucket without saying anything and then turned around and left ............ OR he would sort through their candy to find the Whoppers, as that is what Eric had instructed him to do. Eric LOVES Whoppers and I think they are awful, so we never buy them, so Eric got Austin to help him indulge!

Thomas (Uncle Bunny) talking to our neighbor "James."

All in all, it was SO much fun, we suffered through rain for most of the afternoon and night, so all of these pictures are taken through a rain soaked lens ... and it was pretty cold ... but no one got too sick from eating candy! Happy Halloween!!

Snuggling

Hanging out with Dad; it's cold here so they piled on the blankets

DAD!! We caught you sleeping!!