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!!

Stolen!

One of my favorite "pun" Halloween costume ideas has been stolen! I have, on occasion, dressed up as an "illegal alien" for Halloween with and inmate costume and an alien mask; I think it is hilarious! Well.....Target has stolen my idea and now in an effort to be PC they are taking the costume off their shelves.........serves them right for stealing my good idea ;)

Still Wet; Still Flooding

You will have to work with me on my photo taking abilities; I am not a budding paparazzi ;)
This is our back yard "creek" after getting 4 inches of rain in 12 hours..........

This is it post-flood; nice "beaver" dam for us to clean up

Obviously my photo-taking abilities do not do this much rain justice, but to put it into words, this creek usually "flows" in a ran storm, and this month it has "run" with a vengeance!

Telecommunications Error!!

We have had internet issues since the "floods"

We went to the zoo and rode the train ;)

Ansley is pulling up our grass; I'm not happy about it but she is ;)

Austin posing as a meerkat

Wet

We are alive & fine ... but a little wet. With all of the floods in Atlanta, we only had some minor leaks in our basement that a little cement patch fixed ;) Should have seen me and the shop vac and 2 kids vacuuming up about a 1/2 inch of water in our basement....they thought it was puddle jumping time ;) They are minor leaks, but when you get 12 inches of rain in 24 hours, you get some leaks. At our house, we estimate that we had 24+ inches of rain in the 5 days of the storm.

We have no phone, internet, or cable, but otherwise we are fine and should be back in the technology world soon. My campus is closed due to no running water in our county so I have had the week off ;)

Hope the rest of you are dry!

Blueberries

Austin LOVES to help us cook, tonight we made blueberry muffins.........look at those teeth!! He looks like a prime candidate for a visit to the dentist for some major cavities ;)

He is so proud of himself

This picture does not do his fingers justice; they were so dirty!!

Hope you all had a happy grandparents day!!

Hot fun in the suburbs

When Eric got home from work today, we decided to do some "labor day labor" and wash the garage doors...........and the kids decided it was time for an outdoor shower.........they had fun so my embarrassment faded as time when on but...........we were a bit white trash

Yes, Ansley is just wearing a diaper

Austin had TOO much fun!

Ansley inspecting her wet outfit

OMG I did not know diapers could hold this much fluid............these are some great diapers!!

Fun was had by all...........happy birthday Grandpa B. Hope you all had a great labor day.

Shear Perfection

Seems Austin thought his hair had gotten too long.........yes, that's right he cut his hair this morning with a pair of scissors, see the chunck missing in the front? He was helping me cut tape and I guess he just got really into it.............

This is the best the hairdresser lady could do with what he had done.......he still has a "short spot" and she went down to a #3 blade with the clippers............hopefully he will learn to not cut his own hair..........but probably not ;)

As Eric said, good thing we don't have anything like school pictures to worry about - ;)

Genetic Link?

This morning, Eric and Austin had to go run an errand, so I stayed home with Ansley......Eric & Austin left at 9 am and by 10:15 Ansley was still not awake so I went into her room and got her up. Mind you that she went to bed right at 8 pm last night and did not stir all night long......my point? Our Cousin Ellen used to sleep like this when she was younger, and I have been known to take my time getting out of bed as well, so we know Ansley has not fallen far from the maternal side of the family tree. The real question is, how long would she have stayed in bed if I had of just left her there? I don't yet want the answer to that question........

Injured

Eric managed a fairly large & painful self-inflicted wound today. He was shortening our kitchen table (which is metal) to accommodate 4 people and no high-chair ;) when the right angle grinder decided his knee cap was just too pretty looking....he had to get a tetanus shot because as you might imagine the grinder was not the cleanest piece of equipment in his tool room and he opted for "superglue" instead of stitches as he is not a fan of pain - can't blame him for that!! So....he will be on the injured list for at least a week or so. Hard to believe I had to convince him to take some Tylenol for the pain; too macho for me!

In other news....Austin went to Grandma & Grandpa B's for the night last night, so we packed his bag with clothes and toys, and I had a glimpse of the future, around this time of year, when he will be going off to school for real!! He just loves this backpack....or in his words packback.

NOT a good picture of either kid, but it was the only one I got of both of them together.

Otherwise, not much to report....my school starts back in a week so we are about to be busy again....oh those dog days of summer are just too much fun sometimes ;)