North Carolina Austins

Monday, October 25, 2010

NFL Sunday

I'm aware of the blasphemy here, but Daddy was out of town, and I really think Libby is a Bengals fan. They're kitties.

Libby waves bye all the time, now. Today, in the car to pick up Maggie from school, she actually said "Bye Bye!" But it sounded more like Baa Baa, just like people around here say "paa", as in a baked dessert with crust and filling.

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids

Rocket Girl had her Halloween party and parade at school today. I might not be Mother of the Year when it comes to ALOT of categories, but I should be at least on the regional list when it comes to Halloween costumes. Although, I cannot take all the credit, Rob did most of the construction, Maggie did some painting, and Libby assisted with fabric selection. And we can't forget Wes, who was kind enough to think of the Austins when he stumbled upon a five foot cardboard tube at work. Thanks, Wes!!!

And what Rocket's "launch" would be complete without a soybutter and jelly rocket sandwich?

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Hay!

It's that time of year...pumpkins and hayrides and candy corn, oh my!

Riding tractors and ponies

Gram and Geebs (pronunciation similar to Mags, Libs, etc.) came to visit for a couple of days this week. Maggie gets so excited, she doesn't have time to waste on all of the syllables in a name these days.

All these pictures at the farm were too cute, I couldn't pick a favorite!

It's so nice that we're finally getting a taste of fall temperatures. The days here have been beautiful lately! Grandma and GB picked a great time to visit, and we had a really fun time!

This looks just about right...

The not so scary hay ride, that was a little bit scary!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wonderful World of Disney

Grandma & GB sponsored our what seems to be annual trip to visit Mickey and friends. The best part about taking your kids (and Grandkids, I imagine) to Disney World, is the look on their cute little faces when they "experience the magic of Disney" firsthand.

Maggie and Will hugging Donald.

Goofy love

Libby really liked Goofy, she has a real soft spot for dogs.

And even though all of those pictures showed a very happy Maggie, when I asked her if she enjoyed having breakfast with all of the characters, she replied, "No. Not really. They never sat down to eat with me."

I think a Dumbo took this picture

Still not seeing the elephant.

Grandma and Alex

GB and part of Maggie's head on the Astro Orbiter...one of my little space cadet's favorite rides.

Dancing with Chip (or Dale?)

We went to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. Dancing with any of the various Disney rodents would be high on any kid's list, and was one of the cool things about visiting during the Halloween Party. Also awesome were the parade, fireworks, barrels of candy, the non-existent lines for rides, and guests in a variety of Halloween get-up from cute kids, to creative families, to freaky adults. Overall great weekend!! Thanks again, Grandma and GB!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Joysee Shore

~~JWow, Snookie, and The Situation~~ The Austin family had a fabulous extended weekend visiting friends with beach houses in New Jersey and Delaware. It started out to be very similar to a Griswold vacation, when we realized we Rob forgot an entire bag, mostly full of the girls' clothes. Luckily, wherever you are, there is a Wal-mart, loaded with all kinds of local flavor. We picked up some sparkly and glittery clothes to get us through the weekend, and we were on our way to find some greasy, tanned, guidos...or so I thought. Avalon and Stone Harbor are cute beach towns with beautiful beaches, completely void of any guidos.

Libby's first beach trip, she absolutely loved it!

Insert Baywatch theme song here.

Having fun with our friend, Lucas.

On the Burger King? (What do you think, Lusty? aka "Home of the Whopper"?)

You can see Nicole and Chris's beautiful beach house in the background, just to the right of Libby.

Thank you SO MUCH for having us...it was great to finally meet Lucas, and we had a WONDERFUL time!

We decided this Daddy doesn't need any sons...his girls LOVE all of his hobbies. Maggie caught "about nineteen" (just a little bit of a fish tale here, I think she caught five) fish. Although, it seemed to me that we caught the same striped bass(?- Rob's not here to concur) at least 3 times, and the flying fish pictured above.

We got on the ferry again, and headed down to Delaware to meet up with my buddies from college for the first time in 5 years.

Not Halloween, but just as fun!!!

New friends...what can we say, those apples don't fall very far from the tree!

We finally got to meet all the little bobcats

Maggie...3 1/2 holding Libby...10 months

Benjamin...almost 3, and Abigail almost 5 months- Bree's kiddos

and Lilia...2-Digg's little girl

Bean, playing play-doh with the munchkins....thank you so much for hosting everyone!!!!

"Everyone's Crapping!!!!!!!"

What a great reunion with some of my best friends! It was so great to see everyone and see how much life has changed...even though our friendships haven't skipped a beat! I love you girls!

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