The Austin Funnies

I've collected a few classics over the past few months. Enjoy!

Not one, not two, but three suckers at a time...and he couldn't waste time taking the wrapper off!

Austin and Bailey = Life long friends. Just don't ask Bailey's opinion.

Giggles all day with his blanket and my hair dryer, making himself laugh as he ran around the house. I couldn't get my hair dryer back for days.

Just a small head plant and he was back on his feet!

Oh yeah, I'm the king!

"Sup?!" Nothing short of fun with a pair of 3-D glasses! If you haven't seen Avatar, go see it! It's fabulous!

Must fit my entire body plus my car through this tiny little tube...

Austin's First Haircut

Austin was shaggy, real shaggy. I just couldn't bear cutting off his sweet baby hair! But Brett had had enough. He's a clean cut guy and couldn't stand having his son look unkempt. So when we were in Boise last month it was time for a date with the scissors. And there was no one else better for the job than my Aunt Jody. Her scissors have worked magic over the years.

Cue the applause!!! Austin was a champ! He sat through his first haircut like he'd been doing it for years. I'm going to give all the credit to Aunt Jody. She was prepared with the Cars cartoon on her shop TV and suckers close at hand. I think she may have done this a time or two!

Getting up on the chair...

The shaggy before...

The first cut...

A few more cuts behind the ear (with dad close by his side)...

A quick "this ain't no thang" wave...

Sweet success! My little baby turned handsome young toddler!

And a 'First Haircut Certificate' for the record books from Great Aunt Jody!

Thanks again Aunt Jody! You always keep us looking our best and we love you so much!

Giving Back

My friend Angie and I have exchanged Christmas gifts every year since we became best friends back in high school. This year we changed things up a bit. We decided that we would take the money that we would normally spend on the other person and donate it to a charity of our choice. It could be to a local non-profit in our community, a national fundraiser like Toys for Tots, or a gift to our local food bank. It didn't have to be much, just a little something. We feel so blessed and fortunate in our lives and thought that maybe, through our friendship, we could make a difference in someone else's world during the holidays. So this year, and for years to come, we will provide for others as our gifts to each other at Christmastime.

Wow, my life has changed already. It's those little good deeds that creep up and get ya!

Angie love animals so this year I decided to donate to the Snake River Animal Shelter. Their mission is to provide quality care and compassion for domestic animals. It's a new facility being built in Idaho Falls to house many animals that would otherwise be euthanized. It will also provide adoption and pet training services. It will be built on the beautiful snake river, a perfect place for the animals!

http://www.snakeriveranimalshelter.org/

Angie choose to donate to the City Light Home for Women and Children in Boise. This facility offers 3 programs for women and children in desperate need of help. This includes a 12 month discipleship/recovery program, transitional apartment housing, and an emergency shelter. Angie wrote me a note telling me she wasn't sure if this was a great place to donate to, until she walked in and heard a woman explaining to staff that her and her 5 year old son were homeless and needed help. That sealed the deal and she donated.

http://www.boiserm.org/facilities-citylight.asp

Like the idea too? Steal it. Others would be thankful you did.

Manners

Austin has developed a love for crushed ice. Tonight he went up to the fridge with his little cup motioning for ice. I pushed the button to dispense a little in his cup and he walked away and said "thank you." WHAT???!! Did I hear correctly? My child has manners at
1 1/2 years old? It was the first time I'd heard him say it and it was sweet music to my ears! The "thank you" was of course his toddler version, but nonetheless effective. Ah, I love that little man. xoxoxoxo

Christmas Catch-Up

I'm playing catch up. Christmas and New Years came and went so quickly and I'm just now finding the time to blog about it. Pretty sure I have several other posts to do as well, but for now you get Christmas 2009!

This was our Idaho Falls Christmas year but we did sneak over to Boise the weekend before to do a gift exchange with my side of the family. When we arrived at Elisha's house for the big shi-bang, I was glad to see that Patrick was moving around with out his walker OR his cane! Such a big improvement since the last time I saw him. Here's his smiley face with a new pair of slip-on shoes we gave him. He can't bend over well to deal with laces and you should see him try to put on a pair of socks, hilarious!

It was complete chaos with all the cousins unwrapping their gifts, but we had a blast! And the food was so delicious! Thanks sis!

During all the fun, all hell broke loose when Ava and Jakob opened their Radio Flyer scooters from Grandma and Grandpa Bulson! They were racing all over the house and then Austin tried to steal Jakob's scooter and he got really mad and started crying. Geez, meany Austin ruins the fun! I'm sure Austin will have one under the tree for him next year!

Ok, so on to actual Christmas day in Idaho Falls. Austin awakes to lots of presents under the tree and he can't help but giggle and run all around the tree checking them out! The one on the table was the first victim but unfortunately it wasn't addressed to him!

Here's Austin opening a gift in his red "santa's helper" jammies. Notice the animal crackers in his left hand. Those were a stocking stuffer from Grandma Nagel and after he found those we pretty much had to persuade him to open all the rest of his gifts! The kid loves them so we let him have a few for breakfast...what a perfect Christmas for a toddler!

Our happy little family on Christmas...

The aftermath...

Of course Austin loves the packaging just as much as the gifts!

Austin with Uncle Mark (who made a wonderful clam chowder for Christmas dinner)...

And Austin with Grandma Nagel...

Oh wait, there's no picture. She dodges every camera she sees. I'll get her next time!

I was spoiled this Christmas, not by gifts, but by seeing the joy on Austin's face as he experienced the events of the day. He warmed my heart and focused my thoughts inward. It's amazing how children change the feeling of Christmas. Their joy, their happiness, their laughter brings so much peace to the holiday and truely makes it special.

O' Christmas Tree

Last Saturday we stopped by Fred Meyer to get a few things. Since Austin started walking, he's been pretty cranky about riding in shopping carts, so it was this day that we discovered the RACE CAR shopping cart! The kid loved it! It has a steering wheel and he was occupied the entire time, didn't even want to get out when it was time to go. We totally laughed at ourselves pushing the huge thing, but it was worth it. I guess you get used to these things as a parent.

While we were there we browsed through the Christmas trees, but ran out of time to buy one. So, we bundled up and headed back out to Fred Meyer the next morning to find our perfect tree in 18 degree weather (a warm spell compared to today's -10 degrees).

Brett and I have a deal. We flip-flop Christmas every year, Idaho Falls one year, Boise the next. This is our Idaho Falls year. So, when we stay home for Christmas we buy a real tree! If we head to Boise, we throw up our fake one. Yuck! So, you can imagine how happy I was to go find our "real" tree this year!

Well, this is what I got the minute we put Austin in the regular shopping cart...

But alas, no fear...we found an empty RACE CAR shopping cart and the kid had visions of sugar plums!


So, here she is folks! Our short and sassy Douglas fir! She currently has ornaments on the top 1/3 of her branches. Austin quickly removed the others.

Oh, so happy I am!

A Thankful Thanksgiving

My brother Patrick's accident gave us more to be thankful for this year than in years past. His back surgery to repair his L1 went well and he's now home recovering. We're hopeful that he'll be able to move around more normally in about 6 weeks. He seems to be keeping his spirits up even though he's dealing with some really severe pain. He catches you off guard with a quick joke or some unexpected funny comment. That's really what I love about him...constant comedian!

We all visited him in the hospital on Thanksgiving day not expecting to do a big dinner. But when my parents got home they decided, "What the heck." Our turkey was still frozen so they headed over to Fred Meyer and picked up a fresh turkey, popped it in the oven and we we're feasting on it by 6:00pm, plus all the fixins'! It wasn't the same without Patrick but he was in our thoughts and our conversations. We were lucky to bring him home the following day.

I made him smile for this picture...told him he'd appreciate the pic someday!

This is Austin's 2nd Thanksgiving feast. A bit more choices this go around. He loves to put olives on his fingers like every kid I'm sure. Oh wait, the bro-in-law, Erik, hates olives so perhaps he bypassed this trick as a kid!

Jakob and Austin had fun on the kiddie couches after dinner. Wish I could have lounged around but dishes had to be done. I swear, that's the only bummer part of Thanksgiving.

This is Austin's version of a hug! He's loves babies, especially Aaron!