The World According to Austin

Austin was going through one of our drawers and came across our old digital camera, which now is of course his camera. We put some new batteries in it and now it's as good as new. Who knew that a camera could be hours and hours of entertainment?

First I have to share the 3 pictures that were on this camera (I couldn't remember when we got our new camera, apparently it was a couple of years ago).

How cute is she, seriously?

I can't even remember the last time we went to Chuck-E-Cheese, I won't go into detail why...

Judging by the trees in the background, I would say this is probably Oct '06 when our pool was finally complete. Now that process was an experience I never want to go through again. I think at one point James was so frustrated with our pool company that he wrote in one of his many e-mails something like, "All I see in my backyard so far is a big hole of disappointment, frustration and stress." Eventually they made everything right and we've really enjoyed it.

Now on to our new little photographer's pictures. On the pictures of the family, he posed us himself. I am refraining from posting the pictures of dog feces, random feet and toilet bowl pictures. You're welcome :)

Self-portrait.

My best vacuum ever! You have no idea how many vacuums we have been through in the last several years. This one has lasted so far, thank you Dyson. Oh and that's Abby's cup from a few years ago that she won't part with.

I swear this is the year Austin will learn to ride a bike, with no training wheels. I can feel it.

"Good Morning, Sunshine!"

Drat! Stay away you darn swine flu.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate sugar? And goodie bags?

Little Ms. Photogenic.

When we moved in, the only trees in our backyard were a few lonely pine trees. Sadly we had to cut them down, but we've replaced them with a yard full of privacy coverage.

Here's an odd picture of our deep end. You'll notice the net on the pool. It's a must-have, but a real pain to put on and take off. It takes about 5 minutes to take off and 20 to put back on.

That is a painting James' dad did...we miss him.

My poor starving and cute hubby. He is ready to win a Wii (and ready for the 'horns to win another championship in something).

Yep, that's me in the orange room. It'll be the first thing the future home owners will change. Guaranteed.

Do yourself a favor (moms or future moms of toddlers) - don't fall into the Caillou trap. I'm not sure if my kiddo's whining is a result of this show or some innate thing. Just avoid it all together.

Austin's artwork that was selected for the livestock show and rodeo.



Dead honey bee. The kid loves bugs.

Well that's about it - the best of the 500+ pictures he took.

Post Ike - Quick Sunday Trip

We made our first trip to Galveston after Hurricane Ike. Overall we were pretty impressed with the conditions... it looks like they've made major progress since last September. We saw a lot of businesses still closed, many signs that have not been repaired, deserted houses, etc. I'm just hoping we don't have to deal with anymore hurricanes for a long time to come. We were pretty lucky in our area - only a few trees down and power loss for 12 (yes, TWELVE) days - which seriously dampened my plans to become Amish :)

We also thought it might be a good idea to see how they'd do on a long drive in the car - especially since our Colorado trip is right around the corner. After 20 minutes in the car Austin complained, "This is taking forever."

Oh dear son, you have no idea.

We spent the day playing in the sand and collecting shells.




Playing football on the beach. James swears that the bald spot was just the wind catching his head wrong. It was blowing about 25 mph.

Enjoying the ocean breeze in the car.

We had lunch at Landry's on Sea Wall and then came home and made seashell necklaces - one of my very rare creative ideas.

Spring Sing

The girls had a performance at church on Tuesday night. Unfortunately James and Austin couldn't attend - Austin had his evaluation at gymnastics that night. I did thoroughly enjoy myself and did take a video to share with the family later. Abby is very outgoing and quite the performer. I have no idea whose DNA that comes from... it must be one of those things that skips a generation. I would rather be locked in a cage with a rattlesnake than be on stage.


This is my first attempt at putting a video on the blog. Austin took it on Monday afternoon with our old camera he found. I didn't even realize it had video functionality.

Here's Abby & Emily "practicing" for the big event. They just woke up from a nap, so not looking the cutest, but sure sounding the prettiest :) Did I mention that Abby's really good at coloring and art?

Watch out SJ

Watch out Shawn Johnson, these two girls can finally walk across the balance beam without holding the coach's hand - only a year after first starting gymnastics. But hey, who's counting?

And they just might boot you off Dancing with the Stars. These two can do a mean cha-cha. And yes, our gameroom upstairs is VERY orange (and somewhat cluttered).

Bend It Like Austin

Game day.

Boy tests cleats in the back yard. See boy run around the pool like a mad man.

Boy watches movie in the car. Helps to center the young star and get him in the zone.

Boy warms up.

Boy gets last minute instructions from the coach. Or possibly asking what kind of snack they will have after the game.

Boy plays defense.


Boy is happy his sister's are enjoying the pretty flowers instead of interfering with game.

Boy keeps playing - even though it starts to rain and everyone else leaves the field.

Boy comes home and eats a healthy meal.

Boy hits the showers and gets ready to break down game film.

Somebody Shoot Me

"The only reason I put up with it - they drop tons and tons of food on the floor. Heck yeah my dignity is worth a handful of cheerios."

Crawfish!

Last year we had a crawfish boil with our awesome neighbors, David and Kim. It was so fun, we decided to make it an annual tradition.

Purging the crawfish - look at that water, yuck!

Holding our soon to be tasty treats. Austin really has no problem holding them (unlike shown in the picture below). The girls got over their fears and started wanting to "hold" their new friends also. We did discourage them from "naming" them.



Saffron loves seafood. It is the strangest thing... I think James' parents must have spoiled her when she lived in Jasper.


Kim preparing the food - sausage, mushrooms, corn, yum!

James and Kim dumping them in.

Look at all that food!

Our favorite neighbors.

After our feast, we played cards where James and David decided to partake in a biggest loser type challenge. It might have been aided by the six 6-packs David brought over to our house. The winner gets a Wii. More to come on that later...