Visit to see Santa 2009

 

The Austin Kiddos 2009

 

On yet another snow day, we decided to make the drive to Village Pointe to see Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Baby Gap for storytime. We were the only ones there! Alivia quickly jumped (and I mean jumped) onto Santa's lap. Santa had a nice Ho Ho Ho! He was a good Santa. Mrs. Claus was good with the kids, too, and read a fun short story for them. After the story, I sat between Santa and Mrs. Claus with shy Addison and timid Asher. Asher did eventually sit on Mrs. Claus lap though.

Alivia told Santa she wanted a Fur Real cat. Addison wants the same thing, but was too shy to tell Santa that. Asher, of course, did not say a word until we left when he said, "Bye Bye Santa!" Ahhhh! Santa was happy to report that Aliva was on the good girl list, and that made Alivia quite happy. Santa also reported that his favorite cookie is chocolate chip and to please leave some with a glass of milk for him and some carrots for his reindeer on Christmas Eve. The whole experience was quite fun. I wanted to shop afterwards, but of course Addison wanted to go home!

I think we will try to make Shadow Lake or Village Pointe our place to see Santa when we can. So much easier than the Mall and so much more individual attention. Oh, and we got to see Mrs. Claus, too! HO HO HO!

 

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Let it snow!

Beginning on Monday, we have had some snowy weather! Alivia and Addison had Tuesday and Wednesday off of school and both will have tomorrow off as well! So, what have we been up to?

Well, yesterday we did a little baking. We made the spicy pretzels, then chocolate crinkles and chocolate star cookies. Today, after spending some time shoveling and snow blowing, we rolled out Christmas sugar cookies that we hope to get decorated tomorrow afternoon. Alivia, who was the only one that wanted to go outside and play, played in the snow and went sledding a bit in the front yard while Addison and Asher napped. It has been a busy, yet fun filled, couple of days.

Oh, and the snow! We NEVER got this much snow at our old address. Okay, maybe we did, but we had a lot of homes blocking the wind and therefore snow drifts! We are out here practically alone. So, that lead to a lot of huge drifts and hours of snow blowing and shoveling. We were not sure where our driveway or side walks were nor did we know where the street was. It all looked like endless snow. It may be time to upgrade snow blowers for our huge driveway and large feet of sidewalks we now have.

After our toes warmed back up from being outside, it is sure pretty to look at. But, not so pretty that I will stop talking about moving to a milder climate anytime soon. Yes, I did suggest moving AGAIN! :)

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Asher's Baptism: 2 years

2 years ago today,  Asher was baptized into the Catholic Church. We always mark the occasion in some way. Usually I make a cross shaped dessert (just another reason for dessert), but this year we gave him a special prayer book. Hard to believe it has been 2 years. Asher is still at the age of challenging in Mass. We started going to Saint Columbkille in Papillion, but we have found the transition to the new parish to be difficult. Asher took it in stride, only asking to go home, as he asks a lot during Mass, after Communion.
Here are Asher's Baptism pictures and then from today with his new book. Our baby boy sure is getting big!

2nd Anniversary for Asher's Baptism

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Spicy Pretzels

 

Spicy Pretzels

What better thing to do on a snow day than to make Aunt Marsha Spicy Pretzels! They are so good!

4 bags of wheat stick pretzels ($1 kind at the dollar store or Walmart are best)

6 oz. Orville Redenbachers Buttery flavor popcorn oil

1 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1 1/2 tsp Dill weed

1 envelope hillen valley salad dressing mix

Place pretzels in a bowl. In a large measuring bowl, mix oil, dill weed, garlic, and dressing. Mix well.

Pour mixture slowly over pretzels and stir until coated. Pour onto wax paper to dry. Store in a covered container. Makes a yummy snack!

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Christmas Tree Project

Christmas Tree Decorating

It is amazing all the projects Alivia has had to do in the first 2 semesters of Kindergarten! At least they all have the same theme: Decorate THIS.

THIS this time was a tree. She was sent home a plain green Christmas tree and asked to decorate it for use as a decoration at this year's Christmas Program scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Alivia, luckily, loves art projects and loved this one, too. Alivia, with Daddy's help, spent hours decorating her tree. Here is the result:

Oh Christmas Tree

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Austin Christmas Decor '09

 

 

HO HO HO!

Chris, aka Kris Kringle, hit our home again this year. Here are some pictures of his works. It will only get better next year as we get unpacked and get more exterior lights and decor! What a good, snowy weekend to decorate.

 

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November 2009 Pictures

Here are Asher's 2 year pictures. We also had pictures taken of the kiddos together for our Christmas card, if I decide to do that this year. Needless to say, Asher does not like the camera so much, or maybe it was the photographer. But, this is Asher. He is a serious little boy and saves his smiles for special occasions and people!

 

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Asher's 2nd Birthday

 

On Sunday, Asher enjoyed a big dinosaur cake and a few prized presents with his grandparents and us. It was a quiet afternoon (or as quiet as you can get with our 3 kiddos). Asher sat quietly as we sang Happy Birthday, and he liked opening his presents (with help from his sisters). He got a few new dinosaurs, cars, boats and lake toys, a bike, a basketball hoop and more! It was a fun day!

On Monday he had his 2 year check up. As we guessed, he is short. He is 32 inches tall at 5.96% and 25 pounds at 14.89%. He just needs a big growth spurt to fit into some pants! He is inching his way into his 18 month pants now, but is still getting away with wearing many of his pants from last winter. Anyway, after getting his H1N1 shot (and Addi got her second), we were on our way.

What a wonderful 2 years it has been with out little guy! He continues to amaze us every day with his quiet humor and loud voice. Here's to many more!!

 

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God Meant It

As I was driving East on L Street on our way back home from picking up Addison from preschool, I saw a billboard that stated, "When I said, "Love They Neighbor" I meant it. -God."

As you all know, we struggled with whether or not to move, with selling our beloved home that happened to be next to the worst neighbors on the planet earth, and then our move was the most stressful and dramanic experience ever! Once we moved into our new home, we uncovered things in the home that we overlooked when looking at it. Perhaps we had to live in the home and experience it to see the shortfalls of the home. Chris and I are both struggling to be happy with our new pad. Yes, it is bigger, and yes, it is newer, but we are missing a lot of things that we just expected in any home (like a coat closet! or maybe a door on the bathroom! or even a linen closet!). I know, what picky ****s! No home is perfect. We know that, but we struggled to get into this house and it has just fallen short of our expectations. We now have a long list of to do's that need to be done to make this home more functional. Some of the shortfalls are repairable, where some just are not. We are just sad that we thought we were buying a home we would be in until our children were grown, but now we are not so sure we can stick it out in this house until spring! Okay, we will last that long...just not sure how much longer after that.

For now, I will see about mounting our TV above the mantel in the family room,booking contractors to build a coat closet and maybe find some shutters for the windows so we can take a shower without a crowd of home building contractors watching from outside the window. Ahhh...home sweet home. On the bright side...we do not have any neighbors and we can watch the geese outside while we eat our breakfast. And, from now on, we will just "Love The Neighbor."

 

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Moving in

 

After our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Marsha's, we drove to the apartment, gathered some things and drove to our new home. I quickly vacuumed the house before Chris arrived. Then we started unloading. The weather was wonderful! We reached the beds about 6pm as my parents arrived to continue the unloading. Chris and my dad were able to get all the beds out, up the stairs, and set up just in time to go to bed. Ohhh...to sleep in our own beds again. It was wonderful! Chris and I had forgotten a few things at the apartment, though...like the food! We were starving!

The next day was more of the same, moving in. My parents arrived early with Chris' Dad arriving soon after to help with all the big items. My Dad and I did get the apartment cleared out.Both parents came again on Saturday to help get the rest of the stuff in from the garage. Chris and I were exhausted, so we can not imagine how our parents felt (or our kids!). And, after all that moving, I had to work an overnight shift. Yeah, it was not pretty. I was on the verge of becoming a patient after our week!

Now, a week later, we are still unloading. Chris got the desk put back together (it comes all apart piece by piece and is a solid, heavy piece but is a total nightmare!). We have to figure out how to arrange the basement, organize the toys and storage room, then we will go room to room putting up pictures and setting each room up. It will be some time before we have the energy to get it all finished. We will be sure to post updates!

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