1st real phone call

Austin has talked to me on the phone before. Like if Gene's on the phone in the car of if I call home and Austin answers. But, today, he actually called me! He was at a neighbor's house and called to make sure it was OK that he was over there. He said "Is it fine for you? For me to be here?" I told him yes and thanked him for calling me to let me know.

Austin will be 6 years old 3 weeks from today. He's growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that 6 years ago I was VERY pregnant and so ready to have a beautiful baby boy. We had no idea what was in store for us having a baby, a toddler, a pre-schooler, and now an elementary schooler. It's amazing how Austin's grown into this very handsome, very smart, very curious, storm chasing wannabe little boy.

Weather day

Today, James Spann visited the elementary school. Austin was so excited. He even wore his I love tornadoes t-shirt which was completely accidental. I asked Austin if James Spann like his t-shirt and he said yes. He also told me that he wished he could come over to our house to watch his tornado movies.

2010 Kindergarten Picture

I had completely forgot that class pictures were on this particular day. Until we got the school picture in his take home folder a month or so later. So there Austin is, in the front row, with his "I love tornadoes" t-shirt, a pair of "comfy pants" and a turtleneck.

Dr. Suess week

This week was Dr. Suess week at school. All week, the kids did something different and read different Dr. Suess book. Today, Austin got the cutest post card from his teacher. She's always so creative and thoughtful. She found Dr. Suess post cards and wrote Austin a little note.

1st real sentence

Andrew's been saying two or three word sentences for a while now. Things like "Bye bye Mommy" or "No Mommy." But, today, Andrew said his first real sentence at school.

Andrew loves his Elmo book and insisted on taking it into school this morning. When a friend tried to take his book from him, Andrew said "No, my Elmo book." The teachers were so proud that he used his words to tell his friend no instead of using his hands or biting. We haven't had trouble with Andrew biting (so far) so this was great news!

Long time, no post

Sorry for not posting recently! Things have been crazy around the house. And, really, there's not a ton to report. Here are a few highlights from the last month or so.

- Andrew calls roll every day. And by calling roll I mean he says someone's name and waits until we say where that person is. For example, Andrew will say "Ella" and we'll say "She's at home." He adds new people every few days.

- Austin's doing much better in school. We got his progress report the other day and he's progressed a lot since the fall. We're so proud of him! Austin's also reading a lot more. A few weeks ago his teacher sent home a few books with full sentences in them. He and I both opened the books and said "Wow! There are a lot of words!"

- Andrew's saying a ton of things. So many things that I can't remember them all. He knows all the names of his friends at school. He also knows more signs! He knows the sign for shoe and they are working on the sign for fish.

- Last week, Gene and Austin were in the bathroom brushing Austin's teeth. Austin asked Gene, "Daddy, why does the mirror do what I do?" After laughing a little, Gene told Austin that was what mirrors do, show people what they are doing. How do you explain reflection to an almost 6 year old?

Snow Day 2010

We had a snow day in the 'ham today! For kids who live in Alabama, it's quite the scene. The schools closed 1/2 day so I sat in car pool for 30 minutes to pick Austin then double back to get Andrew from day care. Austin and Gene built a snowman! I didn't have a carrot so they tried a cucumber but it didn't work. The ended up just knocking it over. But the kids had a great time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (except for Gene spending most of New Year's Eve hauling my car to and from two different shops but that's another story).


Our New Year's Eve tradition is doing fondue. This was Gene's New Year's Day tradition growing up and when we started dating we made it our New Year's Eve tradition. It's great because you spend time cooking and talking. It's work, but well worth it. Most of the time, we feed the kids first and then do the fondue after they go to bed. This year, Austin wanted to stay up later so we fed both of them, put Andrew to bed, and Austin hung out with us while we did fondue. He didn't try anything, but he helped cook the food.


Before we had dinner, we went outside and shot some fireworks. We don't do much, but the kids don't know any different. We always have sparklers and a "grand finale" firework. We took Andrew outside too and he enjoyed it. We didn't get anything that had really loud pops so he wasn't really scared. Andrew's favorite was the snap pops. We'd throw them on the ground and he would stomp on them to make them pop.

5 days of Christmas

Our Christmas was full of family, food, presents, and fun! We had 5 days of Christmas, literally. Every time Austin opened something he'd say "This is what I've always wanted!" Andrew was a little confused throughout the whole thing, but he'll get the hang of Christmas next year.



We started our Christmas celebration on the 23rd with Nea and Dede. The kids got many cool things and they had a great time playing with Ella.




Our 2nd Christmas was with Grandma and Grandpa on the 24th and with Santa on the 25th. Austin got a remote control dinosaur. Andrew has discovered dinosaurs and LOVES Austin's gift!



Christmas Eve was fun! Austin's at a great age because he was so excited about Santa coming. After much convincing, he finally fell asleep and Santa came. Christmas morning, Austin ran into our room and said "Mommy, Daddy. Santa came! And he left toys! Come, come, come!" We came down the steps and he saw everything he asked for under the main tree. Everything, but his bike and helmet. Santa left that next to the kids tree in the playroom. Austin went into the playroom and turned on the tree and said "WOW! It's not the one I wanted, but yea!" Santa was good to both kids. From Santa, Austin got some Bendaroos, Pixos, Legos, a new bike and helmet. Andrew got a shopping cart, a giraffe learning bike, an Elmo and Elmo steering wheel.

We got Austin some tornado/weather stuff (a book, a movie, and an "I love tornados" t-shirt). Austin opened the shirt and saw it was just a box and said "Mommy, next year just get me toys." I told him that he would like what was inside the box and, of course, he did.

On the 26th, we did Christmas with Nonna and Papa. Papa made Andrew a much needed bigger toybox. Austin got a storm chaser jr. t-shirt and an autographed picture of Reed Timmer. (For those of you who don't know, Reed is an extreme meteorologist on Storm Chasers). Austin loved it! He's put the picture in his room.


Our 5th and final Christmas was with Gene's brother. Austin got a new Sorry Sliders game which is pretty fun. We've already played it a few times and Austin loves it!

Our little shepherd

Our church has a children's Christmas Eve Mass where there is a children's choir and the kids perform the Christmas story. This year, Austin was a shepherd. His only job was to come into the church and point at the star and then when the Angel Gabriel came to kneel. Very simple.

I was a little afraid because the church was packed with people and Austin gets a little shy in front of a large crowd. But, he performed his part wonderfully!

Hermey's return

Hermey, our elf, returned this year around the first of December. So far, he hasn't caused too much trouble. Mostly he's been snacking during the middle of the night. He's gotten into the mini-marshmallows, had some hot chocolate, ate some popcorn and Hershey kisses, and ate a candy cane. On one of his last nights with us, he made some mischief. He dumped out our cinnamon pine cones, pulled the stockings off the manel, pulled the pillows off the couch, and put on Andrew's tennis shoes! He was pretty busy in the night!

But, you're a Mommy

Austin's teacher sent home a calendar of the month of December with 24 M&Ms. On each day of the month, there was a task (i.e. name the 5 senses, count the steps in your house, etc.). Austin would get a M&M for each day if he answered the question for the day or solved the problem or whatever.

I have to admit we'd fallen behind on the calendar, so tonight we were catching up. One of the questions was to name the months of the year. Now, Austin's known the months of the year for a long time. So, imagine my surprise when Austin got to May and then said that he didn't know the rest. I kept pushing him to remember, reminding him of the song that he used to sing to remember the months and giving him hints. He got frustrated with himself and with me. He says "You're a Mommy. You're supposed to help kids. I'm a kid; you're supposed to help me." I couldn't help but get tickled. He's such a smart kid.

I then explained to him that, yes, Mommy's do help kids, but I won't do the work for him. I equated it to cleaning up the playroom. I would help him clean up but I'm not going to clean up all by myself. He nodded like he understood. We'll try again tomorrow!

Gingerbread house

Our second attempt at a gingerbread house worked out a little better. We had more icing and more decoration. Again, I told Austin that the house probably wouldn't look like the picture. He didn't care. He had a great time decorating it!

School Christmas party

Andrew had his class Christmas party. At first, he was pretty upset that I came in and didn't immediately leave with him. When I say upset, I mean throwing the biggest fit of his whole 19 month old life complete with red face, stomping feet, spinning around in a circle, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Once snack was served, all was well.

The kids decorated cookies. Correction, I decorated cookies. Andrew ate the icing and spilled the sprinkles all over.

Every year the kids have a book exchange instead of exchaning presents. It's nice because we come home with a brand new book to read! Andrew had a good time opening the book.

Mommy's little helper

Austin and Andrew love the vacuum. Austin loves it so much that he wanted to help vacuum his room. Who am I to deny such a request? I took this picture mostly to prove to him one day that he did enjoy cleaning up his room.

Santa Visit

I took Austin and Andrew to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. They had all sorts of things to do there like remote control cars, laser firing range, and cool snacks. As predicted, Andrew had a come apart at the sight of Santa. But he didn't do too bad when we were sitting on Santa's lap. I say we because I had to sit too so Andrew would take a decent picture. Here's take 2.
Austin made sure to tell Santa everything he wanted for Christmas including the blue and yellow bike and red helmet we saw last week.

Andrew's 18 months old!

Andrew is 18 months old today. It's hard to believe that a year and a half has gone by since this sweet boy was born. And when I say sweet, I mean sweet. Andrew's the most good natured, laid back, easy going, loving child. He gives hugs and kisses to everyone. He says he's sorry with a hug. Everyone at his school says how sweet he is both to the teachers and his little friends.

Andrew loves books. His favorite still is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? He says the different parts of the book (moo, pop, dibble dibble dopp, boom boom boom). He's started looking at My World (companion to Goodnight Moon) and Knuffle Bunny (a personal favorite). He's discovered Elmo and thinks that Nemo is Elmo! He still loves the Wonder Pets and has started liking The Backyardigans.

Andrew loves his gloworm. He calls it his baby. He presses it's tummy to make it light up and play music and rocks it back and forth. He's saying all kinds of things. He knows where his ears, nose, toes, mouth, head, feet, arms, and legs are. He says Amen when we finish saying the blessing at dinner and after we say his good night prayer.

Andrew loves to color! He has his own coloring books and crayons and loves to draw and color. His favorite thing to eat at the moment is fruit. Any kind of fruit will do. He still doesn't like green beans but has started liking mashed potatoes.

We love you Andrew and can't wait to see what the next few months have in store for us (and you)!

18 month appointment

Gene took Andrew for his 18 month check up today. I can't believe he's already 18 months! It seems like just yesterday we brought Andrew home for the hospital and were in the middle of colic and hours of crying non-stop and diaper changes and nursing and sleeplessness all the other things that goes along with a newborn.

The doctor said he looked good. He has some eczema but that's normal this time of year. Andrew got 4 shots yesterday. He weighs 28 pounds and 6 ounces (75% percentile). He is 34 1/2 inches tall (95% percentile). (To give you some idea of how the kids compare at the same age, Austin was 25 pounds 4 ounces and 33 1/2 inches tall at 18 months). Andrew's a pretty big (and tall) boy!

Love letter(s)

Austin wrote his first love letter this week. Actually, he wrote two. One to Gracie (his girlfriend from school) and one today to Abby, a girl on his soccer team. Gracie's love letter was a little more thought out than Abby's. To Gracie, he wrote "I love Gracie" and drew a picture of himself and her (he with brown hair and her with yellow/blonde hair). Today's love letter to Abby was similar. It said "I love Abby" but only had a picture of her. I hate that I didn't get a picture of either letter. I'm sure these won't be the last love letters he writes!

1st girlfriend

Austin has his first girlfriend. When we first talked to him about this little girl, he said she was his best friend. He's kissed her on the playground (twice). But, last week at his fall party, she told me "Austin said I was his girlfriend." I guess it was official then. I met her mom last week at the pumpkin patch and luckily she thinks it's cute and sweet also.

Last night at soccer practice, Austin was running back and forth to the field next to ours and kept hugging this one girl. Of course, it was his girlfriend. On the way out, I talked to her mom. She said that her daughter came home yesterday and said "Mom, I'm freaking out." Her mom asked her why. She said "Because Austin is going to be at my soccer practice tonight!" We laughed about this of course, but it makes me wonder. If this is what it's like at 5 1/2 years old, I can't imagine what it will be like 10 years from now!