Meet Sam

I caved this year and started doing the Elf On The Shelf.  I always thought it was annoying, but then I read the book that he comes with and changed my mind.  It's actually a really fun tradition and so far Austen LOVES it.  He even picked the name Sam for our elf.

(If you don't know what this is, you've probably been living under a rock or you just don't have kids.  It's an elf you adopt and it comes with a cute back story.  He is a scout elf sent from Santa to help Santa keep track of who's been naughty or nice.  Every night the elf flies back to the North Pole to report the days happenings and then he comes back to your house and is usually in a different spot than the day before.)

Austen races out of bed in the mornings to see where the elf is.

One morning he was playing a game with Woody.

Playing with Austen's prized bouncy ball collection.

Swinging on the fan.

Decorating our mini tree.

Christmas Pictures Or Cuteness Overload

I'm dying over the cuteness of these pictures!  I took them myself too, with an awesome lens that I just got as an early Christmas present.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We've been decorating our house for Christmas.  Brian is in charge of the outside, so he and Austen started putting up lights a couple of weeks ago to avoid the cold.

Archer loved watching.

He also loved playing in the Christmas lights.

Austen couldn't wait to put up the star (even though ours isn't technically a star).

This little guy couldn't handle all the excitement and fell asleep right in the middle of the floor.

Our finished tree!

Austen is really excited for Christmas this year!

Remembering Fall

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but now it's time to move on.  It snowed and snowed and snowed yesterday and now it's a frigid 10 degrees outside.  Archer and I froze just walking into the grocery store today.  I figured it was time to get up the last of our fall pictures on the blog.

Austen made a huge leaf pile in our front yard that took him all day.  He loved it and was super proud of it, but our neighbor got a little over zealous with the leaf blower and blew the leaf pile away.  Austen was so upset!  He came running in the house saying "Mom, I have terrible news.....just terrible.  Ron (the neighbor) blew away my leaf pile.  Why would he do that?"  Then he asked me how to spell Ron so I told him.  Next thing I know he comes and asks me for a wooden dowel that will stick in our grass.  When I asked him why he wanted that, he showed me a sign he had made that said Ron with a big circle/line over it.  Then he said "so I can put this no Rons allowed sign up."  I thought it was just about the funniest thing ever and even kept the sign for his keepsake box.

Here he is in his leaf pile.

Archer watching.

Then Austen had to pull out the big guns (his words not mine) for the back yard.

And on a completely unrelated note.....Austen woke up last night really sad and wanted me to come in and snuggle him back to sleep.  While I was in there, the baby woke up crying, so I told Austen to stay there and I'd be right back.  I went in to feed Archer and get him back to sleep.  Apparently it was taking too long for Austen and he called out and said "Mom, you said you'd come back."  I couldn't answer or Archer would wake up again, so I said nothing.  He then yells out (while crying) "I trusted you."  Brian and I were laughing so hard.  He's so dramatic and says the funniest stuff!

More Zoo

Some of the pictures from the zoo didn't load in the last post, so this is just an addendum to the last post.

The polar bear had just had surgery, so she was in a special enclosure AND they were feeding her a treat while we were there.  It was so cool, we even got to see her stand on her hind legs and she was HUGE!

I just love this pic!

He loves to get in the eagle's nest.

The seals might have been Austen's favorite.  They were really active and playing with toys and barking.  He kept saying he wished he could swim like that.

Best Zoo Day Ever!

Like I said in my last post, it has been unseasonably warm here (thank you global warming....or climate change) but that's all changing this week.  It is COLD and snowing as I type.  Don't worry though, we took full advantage of every warm day we got.  A couple of weeks ago it was so nice that I packed up the boys and headed off to the zoo.  It could not have been more perfect.  The animals were out, there was almost no one else there, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Austen had a blast and so did Archer.  I carried him in the moby wrap for most of the trip which he loved because he could see all the animals.  I'm pretty sure the elephants were his favorite because he was just mesmerized by them and he stared forever.  Austen was in charge of the map so that was fun.  We even stopped off at a little outdoor cafe section for a picnic.  The cafe is closed for the winter, but they still have the tables and chairs set up.  It was so fun because we were all alone!

Here's Austen taking a map reading break in front of the bears.

The bears were eating oranges.  It was amazing to see.....did you know they can peel an orange with their claws?

Austen talking to the polar bear statue.

He was so excited to see crocodiles. This was the one picture he was excited about. 

He was climbing up this fence right in front of the snow leopard's enclosure when the thing locked onto him and decided to pounce.  The leopard came flying at Austen and was spread eagle on the fence.  Austen was so scared that he fell off the fence.  I somehow managed to snap a pic right as it was happening, but it was really scary or as Austen said terrifying.  He kept asking me why the snow leopard thought he was prey and telling me he doesn't like snow leopards very much.

This pic is a zoo tradition!

  

About 2 hours in he was exhausted and slept for a while in his stroller.

Happy boy eating his lunch.