The Last Day Of The Year

I can't believe another year is coming to an end. 2011 has been an amazing, wild, fun, and at times very difficult year for us. We have definitely had our ups and downs this year, but through it all we have our amazing Austen to keep us laughing (and pulling out our hair). He brings joy to us in any circumstance.

I am so ready to say goodbye to 2011 and can't wait to see what life brings us in 2012!

So in memoriam of 2011 here is a list of Austen's favorite things from the year:

The playground/outdoors

Trucks/big equipment

Dinos

Playdough

Fruit

Pretending to be grown up

and

Talking

His favorite things from Christmas.....his chair, his robe and

My IPad!

Happy New YEAR!!!!

More Chirstmas

Austen got way too many presents this year....of course, but Brian really spoiled me!

We had an awesome Christmas!

Austen's cousin got him this and I don't know who was more excited him for getting to keep it, or her for getting to give it to him. She was so cute and excited becuase she picked it out herself and he loved it! After he unwrapped it he asked "Mom, can I keep this?"

Playing with his dinos later.....he's rawring just like the t-rex.

Watching a movie in his chair.....he seriously loves that thing.

Christmas Morning

I guess Santa thought Austen was a good boy this year because we woke up to this...

We make Austen wait in the hall while Dad and Mom get the cameras and camcorder ready.

Then we let him in to see what Santa left.

He was very excited to see the talking dinosaurs he'd asked for.

And a helicopter.

It took him a while to notice this awesome chair under all those toys, but once he did, he didn't want to leave it.

The Night Before Christmas

For Christmas eve my side of the family has some very fun and very specific traditions. We start it all off with an amazing prime rib dinner that everyone looks forward to all year. Then the youngest child has a part they have to recite. This year it was Austen's turn and he did it perfectly. Brian had no idea I'd been teaching the poem to Austen, so Brian was surprised and super proud when he saw him up there reciting it in front of everyone. After that, my Dad read the story of Mary and Joseph from the bible. Everyone sits around very quietly listening.

Austen saying his part.

This year when my Dad finished the bible story, but before anyone had resumed talking, Austen took his cup, raised it, and yelled out CHEERS. I could never capture just how funny it really was in writing, but you'll just have to trust me, it was funny!

Then all the kids get to open one present (pajamas of course.)
Austen was so excited to open a present......

And his cousins were just as excited to watch him!

Christmas Eve Eve

Brian's Mom comes over on Christmas eve eve and we have our own little pre-Christmas celebration. This year was really fun! I made dinner and we opened presents and then watched Elf. Austen got some really awesome presents from Grandma Linda! She got him one of everything he likes.

This baby dinosaur was probably his favorite, but she also gave him a really cool truck book that he's been looking at all morning.

He was so excited that he broke out into a little dance.

Thanks for all the great gifts Grandma Linda and the fun memories!

Why Wait

I had one last present to wrap for Austen. It was a big one, so after I finished wrapping it I stuck it under the tree. I figured it would be safe back there for two days. It wasn't. He tried all day to convince my Mom while she watched him that his Mom and Dad said it was alright if he opened it. That didn't work. So, when Brian and I got home from our movie he took an opportunity to peek while we were distracted. We were over talking in the kitchen and all I hear from him is a gasp followed by "it's a tractor". I went over to get mad at him for opening it, but he hadn't opened it. He had just made this tiny little slit so he could see in and figure out what it was.

This is him trying to talk me in to letting him just open it.
It didn't take much convincing.....I should have never left that present there, it had been tormenting him for a whole day.

So we let him open it early......why wait is our motto.

He was super excited! His exact words were "A tractor. Mom, it's just what I've always wanted."

He was scooping up everything he could find, he even tried to scoop up the dog.

We Got To Visit With Santa

Luckily Santa was taking visitors at our local mall, so we braved the long lines and let Austen meet him. Austen sat on Santa's lap and told him he'd been a very good boy this year and that he wanted talking dinosaurs, a helicopter, and a dragon.

Here he is waiting in line......that was very hard for him!

And finally with Santa! (It's a picture of a picture, but you get the idea.)

Then, as a reward for being so good in line we let him ride the carousel and get a corn dog.

The dragon was his favorite one to ride!

Christmas Angels

My family adopted two Christmas angels this year and of course went all out! Thanks to everyone that helped make a Christmas possible for these two little kids.

More Family Pics

I'm going to bore you with more family pics because there were so many cute ones.

New Family Pictures

This is a Christmas card spoiler post, but I know someone who is dying to see these pics, so I'm posting them anyway. If you want to be surprised when you get our card in the mail don't scroll down.

Here's the before....

And the after. What major change can you pick out? If you can find it, it's really funny!


And this is quite possibly the best photograph of all time. I'm going to have it blown up on a canvas. I'm so in love with EVERYTHING about it!

Thanks to my amazingly talented sister who froze taking our pictures and then spent countless hours editing and getting them to me. Your kindness and generosity are unparalleled!

Pizza Picnic

It was warmer than normal the other day. Austen was thrilled that he could play outside and not freeze to death. He carried all of his wood pieces from the garage to the backyard and made what he considered a picnic table. Then he insisted I let him eat lunch out there. Brian being the good dad that he is, joined him. It was too cold for me, so I snapped some pics and went back inside.

Christmas Prep

A lot goes in to preparing for Christmas, but I am happy to say that I am done Christmas shopping and I'm EVEN done wrapping! YAY!!! Now I can just sit back and enjoy the season without having to worry or stress. I even had a little helper that was wrapping presents with me.

Out With The Old

Or just outgrown maybe. We went through all of Austen's toys and boxed up everything that he has gotten too old to play with. It was pretty much all of his toys. Now we are ready for Christmas!

Where Do Baby Dinosaurs Come From?

This post needs a little preface.....I'll start by saying I just got Austen a really cool dinosaur movie from the library that he loves to watch. I've already had to renew it twice because he's not ready to give it up yet. In the movie it shows a dinosaur nest with eggs and then of course it shows them hatching. Well, the other morning I was on the phone in the office and I thought Austen was in watching his dinosaur show. He came in and said "Mom, I cracked the eggs" so I immediately got off the phone hoping that he didn't do what I thought he did. This is what I found in the kitchen.

I started to clean them up and I was asking him where he got the idea to do this to the eggs and he said "I was looking for baby dinosaurs".

Now how do you get mad about that?
I had to explain that the eggs in our fridge aren't the same as the dinosaur eggs from his movie. Hopefully he gets it because I spent the whole rest of the day needing reassurance that he wasn't going to get salmonella poisoning.....I don't want to have to go through that again. Not to mention, the eggs were a pain in the butt to clean up!