Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Our professional seamstress

Most of these pictures have made it to the blog at one time or another.  But, they deserved another post.  A special post.  This post is for our favorite Mimi.  Our professional seamstress.  :)  Mimi is incredibly talented!  She could probably make these clothes with her eyes closed.  Thank you Mimi for spoiling us!!

My newest favorite...Mimi made Aubrey Rose this adorable dress.
 Here is the back of it.

She made all 3 of our Halloween costumes last year.

 Mimi made Aubrey Rose's Christmas dress
 and her jacket.

 For Easter, Mimi made matching outfits for both Aubrey Rose and Austin
The newest sweet dress...
Mimi, you are such a blessing to us.  We can not thank you enough for not only the sweet clothes you make for our kiddos, but for all that you do for us and them!  We love you!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

6 months old!!

Six months old??  Half way to a year old??  WOW!  I love how time flies.  The days often feel long and tiring, but I absolutely love where we are today.  Two busy kids.  Two kids needing my constant attention.  Two kids I am responsible for on a daily basis, for training in the way they should go, so when it is up to them they will not depart.  Although overwhelming at times, (like at JCPenney's when Aubrey Rose throws an absolute fit in front of about 10 strangers because she did not get to press the button to the elevator and the other little boy did...wow!) the sweet moments of the two of them loving on each other and giggling help put our busy world into perspective.  I wouldn't change it for anything.   
Back to our little 6 month old...Austin, this month, I confirmed your eyes are not going to be blue.  They are definitely going to be brown.  They started out blue.  Our doctor thought they were going to be blue, but sure enough you were just tricking us.  They are now dark brown, just like your daddy.  :)
Austin, each time you eat, it seems as though you have never eaten before.  You seem sooooo hungry!!  I can't even imagine how you much you will eat when you are a teenager!  I am pretty sure you are going to eat us out of house and home.  HA!
Right now your favorites are sweet potatoes.  I am already feeling like I need to give you foods you can pick up by yourself.  You are much happier if you can do it yourself!  Goodness, I already have one determined and independent child...you too??!!  :)
Your sister can make you light up like none other.  If I am holding you, you kick your legs, almost wiggle out of my arms and you giggle so big.  You are starting to show Aubrey Rose when she makes you mad.  If she takes something away from you, you sure let her hear it.  She is starting to figure it out that you have an opinion too.  :)
You are loving your new accomplishments.  Crawling all over the house (thankfully you have not found the stairs yet), sitting so strong, and standing up holding onto things.  Just today for the first time you pulled yourself up to something.  You are starting to follow me wherever I walk to, especially if you are not happy about something.    
I forgot how much I love it when my little baby finds me in the kitchen, crawls all the way to me and pulls up on my leg.  You just started doing that this week.  It melts my heart.  
You are already so determined.  You know what you want.  You get frustrated if you don't get it.  The other day your toy rolled under the table and you tried and tried to get it, but to no success.  Then, came the little tantrum.  You squealed and fussed until I came and saved your day.  After you had your toy...immediately back to happy Austin.  Oh my little sunshine.  
Your hair is starting to grow back.  I can not believe how little of hair you have compared to when you were born.  Don't worry we love you bald, with a comb over, or with hair.  :)
 Austin, everything is going straight to your mouth.  Aubrey Rose has a tricky time saying her S's, so when she says your name she calls you "Aww-tin."  When I saw this picture it made me smile because of all the letters, you pulled out the S.  Your name was spelt just the way your sissy says your name.  HA!  Love it!
You figured out the sleep thing again.  Thank you!!  We are so thankful!  You have been going to bed at about 8:00pm and waking up at 6 to eat, and then go right back to bed until 8am.  You do not take a pacifier.  When we give it to you, you act like it is a toy.  You just bite it and play with it.  You also do not suck on your thumb or hand.  I honestly have no idea how you soothe yourself to sleep.  
Actually, I do know something that you do.  In the picture above you are doing it with your right hand.  You open and close your hand, back and forth, back and forth.  I am not sure why, but you especially do it when you are tired.  You do it on all different textures.  You do it on fabric, on floors, on your clothes, and when you are tired you do it on your head, behind your ears.  I know random, right?  But, I often hear you do it in your bed to fall asleep.  
You are quite the smiley boy.  This past weekend you were quite fussy though, but then today you slept almost all day long.  You must be growing again.   Love you little man.  I am so thankful for your life and for the joy you bring to your daddy and I and to so many others.   Happy half year Birthday!!  :)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Pictures in the peach orchards

A tradition around our house is taking pictures each summer in the peach orchards.  These have been some of my favorite family pictures ever.  Some of my favorites were the pictures we took in 2008, which was Aubrey's first summer born. Now we have Austin as our new addition.  Here are a couple of pictures we took...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

More swim fun!

Last weekend we had some fun in the sun and pool with our bible study group.  Love, love, LOVE these families!!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Fondue with cousins!

Last Saturday night we had a cousin night with my side of the family.  Such a fun time together!  We are so blessed with cousins similar in age and also cousins who have chosen some WONDERFUL spouses!  Is it normal to all have this big of smiles when you are with family?!  
When my cousin married Andrea, our family struck gold.  :) She had the vision for this night.  She divvied out the food and we all had such a great time.

Fondue night with cousins!


Blake made margaritas

My cousin David and his wife Arris
My cousin Chelsey and Blake
Allie, Symphony, Andrea and my entertaining brother
Blake and I
Oh, Andrea, I love you.  Where does she come up with this stuff????  This was hilarious.  Split into teams.  One person has a cup on their head.  The other person has silly string.  Most string in the cup at the end wins.  HA!!
I am not sure if Jeremy had more in his cup or on his head.  HA!!





It was so great!  Tons of laughter.  Lots of catching up.  Just sweet family time.  I think our last time together, just the cousins, was up in Oakhurst.  Remember that one???  HA!!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Another summer highlight...

For the last two summers, some of my dearest friends have come over every Friday morning for some fun in the pool.  I love it!  The other mommy's love it!  The kiddos love it!  Win, win all around!  This year we have BIG time swimmers!  Most of them can swim on their own now.  HERE are last years memories and below are memories from this year!

This is definitely a highlight of Aubrey Rose and my Summer of 2011!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Circus fun


I am definitely back tracking a little ways, but I realized I never posted these cute pics!  We got to go to the circus with Mimi and Big Papa!  Aubrey Rose, of course, loved it!  We got a babysitter for Austin, so he enjoyed his time too.  :)
Mimi made Aubrey Rose's dress!  It was soooooo cute!!
If you go early you can look at all the animals up close...



You also get to watch the preshow,
meet some of the clowns, 
try on some of their clothes.
Aubrey Rose got a Circus tattoo
and a special Circus wand (of course it is pink) from Mimi and Big Papa,

and of course we all enjoyed the show!
Such a fun night!  Thanks Mimi and Big Papa!!!