North Carolina Austins

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Christmas passed

The holiday whirlwind has come to an end. We got back Friday night from our two weeks plus of celebrations with family and friends. I thought I was taking a lot of good pictures, but as usual, most of them are of the kid. And even though we celebrated three Christmases, Maggie now seems to be even more wound up like the proverbial Christmas clock. I fear that we are really going to be in trouble with the terrible twos. Today, while I was changing her diaper, she refused to sit still. I told her if she wiggled again, I would have to crack her hiney. While I had hold of her ankles in the air, she shook her little tush and said in a very lovely, mimicking voice, "Wiggle! Wiggle!"

1st 'Christmas' of 2008 in Apex.

Griz and Maggie both liked the train.

Cooking dinner with Mickey at her new kitchenette.

Order up for Daddy!

Up to Pittsburgh, good thing she got a little practice in the kitchen before we headed up. Now she's a pro, helping Grandma!!

The Pittsburgh Austins have been kind enough to welcome more than their fair share of Cheneys into their home these last couple of weeks. We brought Dawn up with us, and she hitched the rest of the way to Ohio the next afternoon with Donald, who is now in Pittsburgh, staying in Rob's room while he tries to find an apartment, or a realtor with half a brain, whichever comes first.

Admiring the tree, pretty impressive, even without presents under it!

Looking snazzy on Christmas morning!

Pittsburgh Grandma and Grandpa

We stopped for a night in Chagrin Falls, just outside of Cleveland. My friend Janeen and her family were celebrating their third child's 1st birthday. It was nice to finally meet Wade, and to see how much Aubree and Drew had grown since we last saw them. I wish we could have stayed longer, because it was a lot of fun while we were there!

Final holiday destination, Cridersville, OH

Will and Maggie, during a 1 minute window at which Maggie is not grabbing him.

We had a great time visiting everyone, thanks to all for EVERYTHING! It was nice to see all the Cheneys together, even though I didn't post any pictures, everyone was present. There was a ton of things to write about, but we'll save it for another day- I'm done!!
Happy New Year to all!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

snow much fun

We just got back from visiting the Colorado Austins, and we had a GREAT time!! We got to play in the snow and go to the zoo and had all kinds of fun with the cousins!

Macey-3 1/2, Maggie- 2 in February, and Mallory-2 in May

This is Mallory babysitting, she's actually sitting on her baby!

Unfortunately, Maggie takes after her mother when it comes to bed head.

Macey and Uncle Rob hanging out.

Maggie and Mallo have a pretty similar appetite, and that very attractive style of 'fist feeding' when they're eating something delicious like berries!!!!

Even though Maggie brought a wonderful cough and snotty nose to share with her cousins, she still had a little energy left to try to keep up with Mallory. Who need snow or Christmas presents when you can jump off steps??

I had a really hard time trying to get a good picture of them all together- the older they are, the faster they move! The girls are watching a movie, but let's pretend this is a picture of them all watching the Steeler's game, even though they only televised the last 3 minutes out there!

Uncle Chris and Mallory

Daddy and Maggie- she was ready to go in at this point, it was very, very cold that day!

Rub a dub dub, three M's in a tub!

Maggie and Mallo snackin at the zoo.

The sea lions were singing Christmas carols for us!

Checking out the animals at the Denver Zoo. This is the best zoo for kids that I have ever been to! We saw so many animals, up so close, it was great- and Auntie Paige said usually there are so many more out! They have what is called 'Zoo Lights' during the holidays. We got to the zoo at 4 PM and saw quite a few animals- giraffes, peacocks, buffaloe, hyenas, baby snow leopards, a hippo, the elephants- just to name a few. Then, as it got dark, all the lights came on, and it was really cool! Then we got to ride the carousel and the train, it was a great night, especially since we beat the huge crowd!

Ring around the rosies with Uncle Chris.

Just a lucky shot of the three of them together, I'm pretty sure we were jumping off stairs again!!
We had a great visit, couldn't have asked for a more perfect time ( unless we could have kept Maggie healthy, and not passed on the hacking cough and neon snot nose to Mallo.) I hope she's feeling better!!! Thanks again, Auntie Cool Paige and Uncle Chris for letting us disrupt your lives for an extended weekend! We had a blast!!!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Thanksgiving 200ate

This Thanksgiving, the turkey didn't get stuffed, but our house sure did! We had the entire Cheney clan, that's 10 adults and 2 children! The weather cooperated nicely, so during the day we could actually have a little elbow room. We ended up eating the turkeys (one roasted and one deep-fried) outside on the deck for my ghetto/buffet-style linner on Friday afternoon. I think everyone had a great time, with the exception of the crappy drives home on Sunday.

Grandma, Will, TT, and Maggie going for a Thanksgiving Day walk.

Maggie and Will in a traffic jam, pretty sure Will is giving Officer Austin the finger.

(We were testing out cousin Garret's police cruiser.)

Maggie and Will having a good time in the tub

It's hard to tell in this post, but Will has the cutest smile ever in this picture!

The Petty Family joined us for the train ride with Santa on Saturday. Unlike our visit with Santa at the mall last Friday, Maggie had no tears this time, probably because she didn't have to sit on his lap, and he was handing out candy canes, not some stupid 3D glasses.

Notable Quotables

Libby and I had steal cut oats for breakfast this morning.

me: Do you want bananas on yours? I'm having bananas on mine.

Lib: No. I want honey on mine. I like honey. I like honey on Scottish biscuits.

me: What's a Scottish biscuit?

Lib: You know, you put them in the toaster.

me: English muffin?

Lib: Yeah, that's it.

Libby does a lot of singing. We are currently stuck on Katy Perry's Roar album. Back when we used to be able to listen to the radio on the way to school, she'd have great comments on the lyrics to songs.

You know that song- "I'm never gonna dance again, guilty feet have got no rhythm..." Then it goes, "Should've known better than to "cheetah" friend", and she laughs and says she wishes she had a cheetah friend.

Another time, she commented that "you really can't rock and roll all night, but you could party every day."

And finally, if you know Libby, you know she has a little 'lovey' monkey that she has slept with every night of her life. We were listening to The Beastie Boys, Brass Monkey, and there's a line, " wherever we go, we bring monkey with us". She thought that was great, "Hey Mommy, me too!"

This afternoon, we were over at Grandma and GB's. Libby asked Grandma is she'd get "that cat fun dip" out.

As the new holiday tradition of Chenekah was being established, we were trying to come up with a 'theme song' or Chenekah carol. Maggie was getting impatient with our singing, and shouts out, "Oh for Christ's Cake! Let's just open the present!" The baking of the Christ Cake....and another Chenekah tradition begins!

At the dinner table, both girls like to have a chance to say their own special blessing. Tonight, Libby was especially thankful. "Thank you, God, for Daddy's favorite (dinner), and the beans. And all my family. And the napkins. And money. Amen. And the Steelers."

Libby just came up to me and said, "Mommy, I want to go somewhere else." And I asked, "where would you like to go?"

"To my bed."

Almost 3 years old, and a good hour before the usual bedtime!

I'm sure every mother can sympathize with my lack of alone time in the bathroom. I was getting into the shower this morning and Libby says,"Whoa. You have big boobies." I smile politely. Then she continues, "They look like meatballs!"

Age 2 1/2

Maggie received an invitation to a birthday party for one of her friends from preschool. The next day in school, all the mothers were hanging around the classroom getting ready for a field trip to the park. As the teacher was trying to quiet everyone down and get the morning started, Maggie calls out to her friend, "Hey Nathan! I'm a big fan of that Chucky Cheese party!"

Age 5

I usually buy generic diapers, or if I happen to find a good deal, we get the Huggies brand with Mickey Mouse on them. Recently, I bought the Pampers with Sesame Street gang print. I put one on Libby last night and she says, " I see Elmo. Who's those guys?" Before I could answer, she asks, " Nerdy and Bert?"

At the $2 movies watching the beginning of Puss in Boots, where they show an intriguing 'fiesta del fuego' somewhere in Spain. Maggie says, "Don't they have fun in Mexican?!?!"

Libby, dressed in her Steelers gear, about to eat some playoff snacks, starts singing to the tune of "O Christmas Tree"...

"Oh chicken wing, oh chicken wing!" Jan.2012

The girls were hanging around on the diving boards at the pool while some bigger kids were throwing a football and catching it as they went off the boards. The lifeguard asked them to not throw the ball with the little kids around. Maggie marched up on the board and said, "I'm all bigged up! They must be talking about Libby." One of the 12ish year old boys got a real kick out of that.

"Is that Annie all grown up?", Maggie asked as we turned the channel to the movie Napolean Dynamite.

Maggie: "Some Daddys have hair, and some don't."
Mommy: "My Daddy has hair."
Maggie: "Only the sticking up kind, like this." (motioning wild hair)
Daddy: "Does my Daddy have any hair?"
Maggie: "Only just a little bit, right by his ears."

"If there's another Maggie in this country, I'll just change my name to Pam"

I asked Maggie what happened to the head band that she was wearing when she went to school one morning. She told me it broke. I asked her if she lost her temper, and she replied, "Mommy, I think I lost all of my tempers!" Like mother, like daughter.

Maggie overheard me make a comment to Rob about it being a great Saturday afternoon for tailgating. A couple of hours later she says, " I think I want to do some tail getting." I asked her what that entails, and she replied, " You sit right here in the grass and wait for your tail to grow."

"Mommy, will you tell me about that sign that has a nortado on it?" Maggie, 3 1/2

"Those aren't farts...those are rockets!" Maggie, 3 1/2

"If you kiss with your head this way (tilted to one side) that means you're in love." Maggie, age 3

"Is heaven a rectangle state?" Maggie, age 3

"It's great packer snow out there, I'm going to make a big, big big, big fat snowman". Maggie, age 2