North Carolina Austins

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Pittsburgh Christmas

More Christmas fun, some highlights from our visit to Pittsburgh.

Opening presents with Grandfather.

There was snow on the ground when we got there, not a lot, but Rob Austin's children can make a snowman with any amount of snow, as long as it's "good packer" snow.

Rob even made a little snow cat for Libby to look at from inside the warmth of the house. There was a lot of sunshine in Pittsburgh that day, so our snow creatures didn't last long.

Friday, January 24, 2014

2013 Christmas Collection

The Christmas season began with the day after Thanksgiving. Gamma and Grandfather came down for turkey and as soon as we were out of our comas, we went out hunting for a Christmas tree.

We had lots of fun at the tree farm trying to pick a winner. There were lots of distractions, though, the bounce house, the playground, a hayride, and even a Santa sighting.

We found a good one, and got to work right away stringing the lights.

These two got all cozied up for the season's first screening of Rudolph. PJ's on, stuffed Rudy and 'Grease' (that's Libanese for Clarice) on their laps, and the giant dancing canes in their hands. Herbie, our elf on the shelf, was really sneaky and left these big candy canes at our door one night. They were perfect for all of the dance performances that occurred throughout the holiday season. Libby knows the words to just about every holiday song on the radio, and she's not afraid to use them. (It is January 24th as I'm finally sitting down to record this, and she's still singing "Here Comes Santa Claus".) They take after their very talented mother, just ask Cheri Morris about my awesome Frosty the Snowman dance in first grade. It was unforgettable.

NC Austins gathered around the hearth.

We were on our way to a Christmas party hosted by one of Rob's co-workers. Kids were invited, but of course, we were the only ones to bring ours. They were very well behaved, and had only their fair share of M&Ms and Christmas cookies. However, on our way out, as Rob and I were saying our good byes, the kids were standing at the storm door drawing all kinds of lovely pictures where the glass was all fogged up. Rob's buddy, Wes, was just standing there watching and smiling.

This was one random picture from Libby's Christmas sing-a-long at preschool. I think the video is posted up in the corner under 'videos'. There isn't any hair pulling or tree falling down, so even if you are related to this little angel, you probably have better things to watch on your computer. But she is a pretty good little singer.

Twitterfacetagram and Libby turns 4

Smart, beautiful, precious, hilarious Libby turned four years old almost two months ago. The fancy camera decided to be broken after about three pictures, but luckily, Libby's wonderful mother finally got a smart phone a few days earlier. Two months later, we are seeing these photos emerge from that phone. Sorry that I am not involved with Twitterfacetagram, or these pics might have been available much closer to the celebration. We're working on it, okay.

Libby had a feline theme- cat cake, lots of cats and cat print presents. She had to ride the cat on the carousel, you get the picture. We had a great day playing on the playground, riding the train and the boats and the carousel at the park. Daddy brought everyone Chikfila and GB made homemade ice cream to go with the cake.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Halloweenies

We've got two kittys trick-or-treating this year. Here they are all ready for the 'practice round'. Daddy got them all dolled up for this one and they hit downtown Apex for Trick or Treat on Salem Street with Grandma and GB, while Mommy was in Stone Mountain, Georgia at the Country Living Fair. They had lots of fun and came home with tons of goodies, including new toothbrushes!

Next, we have the famous Halloween parad at Libby's preschool. All her buddies are in this group, ask her about her "BSS", Jillian. (She might be saying BFF, or it might be something else she made up. You never know with Libby!)

Caramel Apple crunching next to the Jack-o-lanterns.

Indian Trail at night

Finally...the candy victory dance!!

Notice Maggie, carefully working on the sorting. I love that kids automatically know how to tear up trick-or-treat. This year, she ran up and down driveways, clearly on a mission. Maggie didn't stop until her bag was full, and Libby hung in there pretty well. We were pretty impressed with their stamina and their haul. In the words of the great pumpkin (aka Rob) with beer in hand, "It is only going to get better."

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Libanse

This is Libby. She is typing on her homemade laptop (sticky note). "Mommy, guess what I have on my computer? Dot com. I have dot com on my computer."

She asked me yesterday, "What does the gover man do?" Good question.

She also calls fans "breezers".

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