Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Kiefers!

We hope your Thanksgiving was a button-busting as ours!

Wordless Wednesday: Puddin'

Houston, We Have A Walker!

We've been working really hard on our walking for the past few weeks. Today I got the call that he had finally stood up and took off on his own! More videos to follow!

City Museum!

We took a trip to the City Museum a few weekends ago. I was a little worried about how much fun it would be for a non-walking toddler, but we ended up having a blast!
We forgot to bring Austin's coat, but since it was Sunday, we were lucky enough to find a super close (and FREE) parking spot!
There was so much to look at! We didn't know where to go first!
Austin and his Buddy, Finn, loved Toddler Town. It was a block lovers dream come true!
Finn and Austin going for a Sunday drive...
My silly boys...
He loved the slide/ramp room. Up and down...up and down... up and down... Next time I will wear tennis shoes and bring a smaller diaper bag.
They both loved the germ ball pit!
Cookie time!
Austin thinks Finn's cookie looks really good...So maybe we need to work on sharing...
After the museum, we went to a yummy pizza place for dinner. The boys were done by the time our food came but I think everyone still had a good time! Austin's favorite part was the horsey that was outside!
We can't wait to go back!

Deer Season '09

The widow and the orphan.

Mega Bloks, Mega Fun

Uncle Jonathan gave Austin a huge bag of Mega Bloks for Christmas last year. His favorite thing to do it dump all 80 pieces on the floor, but the past few months he's really started to play with them in the way they are intended for.
Just the other night he worked on this little beauty...
I kid, I kid! So I have a thing for patterns...

The best part is that he also loves putting his blocks away! Sometimes we can even keep him from dumping them right back out again!

16 Months Old

12 Months - 13 Months - 14 Months - 15 Months

Austin, at 16 months...

You figured out how to climb off of your tractor...

You are tall enough to open doors, pull things off the table, and get trash out of the trash can.

You say no to everything.You hit a serious "stranger danger" phase.

You like to point at people and tell us who they are. Mama, Da, Pa, etc.

You now call Aunt B., Buh and Uncle C., Cee. (or something like that!)
You love to point out clocks.

You say "bye-bye water" when we drain the bath water.

You've added Baaaaa to your list of animal sounds.
You climb on EVERYTHING. Including Mom and Da!

You're getting picky when it comes to veggies.

You still don't have a flu (regular or piggy) shot.
You're finally facing forward in Mama's car.

You still LOVE to be outside.

You say cheese (for cheese and when you see a camera!)You'll take steps between two people but still no real walking. Maybe by Christmas?

You never fail to make us laugh!
We love you!

Wordless Wednesday: Germ Pit

While Nana and Pa are away...

Last weekend Nana and Pa took a much deserved vacation to Ohio and Niagara Falls. (They went to a wedding in Cleveland and then traveled with Great-Aunt Rosalyn and Great-Uncle Bruce to NY to see Niagara Falls) Little did they know that it would STILL be harvest season in November! They made the decision (like three days before they were supposed to leave) to carry on with their trip and leave the farm in OUR hands. And by OURS I mean Aunt B and Uncle C, but we helped as much as we could!Dad and Uncle C (which Austin learned how to say while we were farming) loading the planter (maybe it's a drill...plant corn, drill wheat? or is beans? Oh heck, I don't know...)with wheat.Our trusted supervisor was always near by. I swear he was taking mental notes of things to report to Nana and Pa.
Dad getting ready to put the tractor and disk away......but first Austin must go for a ride. I'm sure our neighbors appreciated hearing the tractor horn over and over and over again. The worst part... getting him out of the tractor!It was then time to load the beans into the trailer...Money, money, mon-nAY!Aunt B did an excellent job of unloading the beans. There's no doubt in my mind that I would have had them all over the ground. It was finally time to get some wheat in the ground!Mom and Austin making sure everything is done right..."You think it worked?"

We missed Nana and Pa, but we sure had a fun time farming!