Good night

Austin has been home today without Ansley, he wanted to wish her good night, so here is his good night smile for his sister ;)

Been a while

So sorry that it has been so long! Every time I would come to the blog to post something new, I would see Madison's picture and it was just too much, I really, really miss her! I am still really sad that she is gone, but at the same time realize she is better off not suffering. She had gotten pretty ill and lost a lot of weight and it was just time, but I am really heart broken; thanks to all of you for your well wishes!

We actually went to the pound yesterday and looked at new dogs; we found a yellow lab we liked and will wait to see if we are approved to get him, maybe this weekend......I really think that a new dog will be a nice addition to our house ;)

So, what's new? Lots & little!

Here you find Austin in his finest duds!! OMG, mismatched socks, pajama pants, too long t-shirt and all!!

He is showing you his puzzled look! So this past week I decided to cut his hair.....he was in the bathtub and I was just going to "trim" the back a bit.....in the process I cut his ear!! Total accident, obviously, but it bled pretty bad and I felt AWFUL!! When he finally stopped crying and bleeding, he turned around and this is what followed:
Austin: "Mommy, first and foremost"
Mommy: dying laughing
Austin: "Mommy, why are you laughing?"
Mommy: "Austin, did you really just say first, and foremost"
Austin: big smile on his face "I like that word"
Mommy: "Okay"
Austin: "First and foremost, Mommy, you need to apologize for cutting my ear"
Mommy: still laughing/smiling "Okay Austin, I am SO sorry for cutting your ear"
Austin: "Okay, and second, next time I promise not to move in the chair at the haircut store because I do not want you to cut my hair anymore"
Mommy: "Okay Austy, that's a deal!"

Austin is learning to read at school; he goes to a mother's morning out three days a week

here are 3 of his words, he knows about 10: Austin, at, cat, fat, big, it, door, chair, window, snow...

Speaking of snow.....this was the view on Friday out of our front door.....we got about 3 inches total, but nothing like what Dallas, TX had!! We were jealous.


And then, there is Ansley........my sweet little Ansley........she fell this week and had to go to the ER. This picture does not do her finger justice.......she was standing in one of our kitchen chairs and turned around, and the momentum knocked the chair down and she got her finger caught between the chair and the floor....she broke the tip and had a HUGE cut that bleed like I have never seen anything bleed before!! We took her to the ER, she got several stitches and the tip is broken.....she had to get x-rays and the whole 9 yards.....but she was a trooper!!

The whole time in the ER she was waiving to everyone who walked by her room, and saying "hi" You have to hear Annie's "hi" she is a pure southern belle!

Here she is showing her boo boo for all the world to see!

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 ;)