North Carolina Austins

Sunday, April 20, 2008

She thinks my tractor's sexy

So I finally got around to uploading pictures from last week. I'm beginning to think that the time of day makes a huge difference in the wireless land of the world wide web. You'd have to ask Rob if that even makes any sense. Regardless, it is 5 AM on Sunday and it was the cat, not the kid, that has me up this early. The brain just couldn't go back to sleep at 4AM. Thank you, Griz.

This week, me and Maggie and Jack went to the Farm Animal Days hosted by NCState. Their favorite part was the tractors. Maggie was more interested in the hundreds of kids than she was in the kid (and calfs, and chicks, and foal, and piglets, etc.) We learned that Jen's award winning turkey call does, in fact, work and that Jack is good with chicks. Maggie was a COWard when the holstein mooed, and the wolfpack knows how to make some great ice cream!!!

The weather here has been great- all of the sudden it's pretty hot. Maggie's been sporting her shorts and skirts, so both knees are pretty skinned up. It's a good excuse for the hello kitty bandaids- which she actually hasn't tasted yet. We've been seeing a lot of 'very hungry caterpillars around', got a new big wheel at a garage sale yesterday, and generally enjoy being outside all day. Consider yourself properly updated!!!!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Saturday

We went to NC State's annual plant sale at the arboretum this morning. Maggie had a good time walking around, smelling the flowers, and looking at the goofy gardening crowd. We went to the farmer's market for a little while, too. (Rob has spring fever with the planting, but didn't find whatever he was looking for.) We got a little bit of fun in before it started raining for the third Saturday in a row. It's all cleared up, now, though. Maggie's napping, Rob's playing wiffle ball with the neighbors, and Jen is mostly just putzing around. (She should be thinking about cooking dinner- might be a pizza night!!) Enjoy some photos from today and yesterday!!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

technical difficulties

Having some technical difficulties with uploading the newest video, hopefully Rob can get it together tomorrow! Sorry!

No foolin

It's harder to keep up with this blog than I thought. Can't believe it's already April, March really seemed to do that, march right on by. (See, things seem just a little bit too corny, I feel like I need to put a little more thought into this.) Anyway, we had a low-key weekend. Lots of rain down here, seems like we should be out of the drought by now, looking forward to running through the sprinkler this summer! Me and Maggie went to the pool again yesterday. She had a great time, she's stopped taking her morning nap, so now we can hit all the fun spots at that prime time kid hour- 10AM. There were lots of kids swimming, so she had a lot more fun this time. Then she came home and took a three hour afternoon nap. We are definitely joining the pool this summer!!

Thought we'd slip in some video of story time on Monday night. Maggie's current favorite author is Eric Carle, famous for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and The Hungry Caterpillar.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Springing forward

Here we are in March, welcoming spring with open arms!!! The trees are starting to blossom, bulbs are blooming, we've finally been getting some rain, and as usual, this time of year we are very happy to be at this latitude. (You will have to consult Rob for the precise details on that.) Instead of shoveling snow like many of our friends and family, we've been planting and pruning, riding bikes, and Rob is back to brewing!! Maggie is all over the place!!! She moves quick, and falls down a little less every day. Mommy is still threatening to get her a helmet of some sorts, and possibly one of those leashes. With her newly acquired mobility, she has become very independent and does not appreciate anyone telling her where to go. She wears herself out quite a bit during the day, so she's still napping twice and sleeping almost 12 hours a night. We're gearing up for Easter...Grandma and Ti-Ti Piece are planning to catch a ride down with the Easter Bunny.
Been trying to get some pics uploaded, but google keeps giving me a server error. We'll keep at it!

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