The First Hole

Hey there, this is Austin. I have something to talk to you about. I'm a little embarrassed but Mama told me that talking about it while help. You see, I love to push our chairs and bar stools around the kitchen. Mama always lets me because she said I'm not really hurting anything. That was until she heard a crash and turned around to find this...
I was moving around nicely when all of a sudden the chair got away from me. I really don't know what happened but at first I thought it was actually kind of cool. Of course, that was before Mama saw what happened to the wall and door.
Here I am proudly showing off my damage...
I thought maybe I could just cover it up with my finger. Dad will never even notice...
Did you need a close up?
The chair came down on the door just like this...
The chair didn't have a good day either...
Mama said this probably won't be the last time something like this happens. So I guess I'll be back with more stories in the future.

Love, Austin Jay

Grandpa Kiefer Retires

Grandpa Kiefer retired from Ameren in late December. He stopped by to show Austin his big truck before retiring after 30+ years. Austin was a little confused about what was going on, which led to a few tears. It will be fun to look back at these pictures in a few years.Congratulations, Grandpa Kiefer! We hope you enjoy your retirement to the fullest!

Wordless Wednesday: Austin's Trash Service

18 Months Old!

12 Months - 13 Months - 14 Months - 15 Months - 16 Months - 17 Months

Austin, at 18 months...

You love to dip your food! Anything goes..ketchup, pizza sauce, chip dip, sweet-n-sour, etc!

You've become a little clumsy, but you are officially walking like a big boy.
You know what sounds a turkey and rooster make.

You love to "jump, jump, jump" on our bed.Your favorite words are "oh wow" and "oh no!"

You love to throw everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in the trash.You love to have your back scratched.

You have lots of teeth, including your one-year molars.

You can't reach the pedals on your tractor, but you've found your own way to make it move!Your words and animal sounds at 18 months include: Mom, Dad, Cow, Pig, Du (Duck), Pup, Horse, Sheep, Moo-Moo (Moose), TV (sad, but true), Cheese, Sock, Chair, Tree, Door, No, Wow, OK or K, Pets (Wonder Pets), Ball, Books, Truck, Car, Moo, Woof Woof, Baa Baa, Meow, Neigh Neigh, Clock, Cake, Cookie, Two, Bye Bye, Love You, Water, Tractor, Hair, House, Barn, Shoe, Giraffe, Nana, Pa, train, choo choo, and others that we haven't quite figured out yet!

You're NOT a fan of the doctor. Your 18-month stats are rough estimates because you wouldn't even sit on the scale. Aunt B. says she's never going back!

Height: 34" (up from 32 3/4" at 15 months) - 90th Percentile
Weight: 26lbs 2oz (up from 25lbs 12oz at 15 months) - 50th Percentile
Head: 19 3/4 (up from 19 1/2" at 15 months) - 95th Percentile

Your parents can't believe they have an 18-Month-Old!

We love you, buddy! Here's to many more half birthdays!

Wordless Wednesday: Late Winter Deer Season

Stellhorn Christmas

We have lunch at the same place almost every first Sunday of the year. The Stellhorn Christmas. This is when all of Austin's Great-Grandma Salger's brothers and sisters, and their families, get together. This year was the 40th anniversary of the first get-together after Pop (Austin's Great-Great Grandpa) passed away. It's so neat to see such a huge, extended family take time to get together. There's a possibility of 240+ people in attendance. Of course, that doesn't ever happen. People don't know what they're missing!

The afternoon usually consist of dinner, yummy desserts and maybe a few games. This year, Austin passed out about ten minutes after we got there and slept the entire time we ate lunch. We're not sure how he fell asleep. The gathering is held in a gym -- lots of basketballs and echoing voices! Jay and I ate as fast as we could and headed home. He was so proud of his name tag when he finally woke up! See ya next year, Stellhorns!

Happy New Year!

Hey there! This is Austin, again. My Mom is so slow with these holiday updates! I thought I'd take control and tell you how we rang in 2010.

"Aunt" Julia and "Uncle" Ryan came over for dinner on New Year's Eve. Let me tell you, they had SO much food. You would have thought six more people were coming for dinner. I played with my new toys while everyone got dinner ready. Steaks, shrimp, crab legs, salad, baked potatoes and "Red Lobster rolls" --- yum-o! Look at it all!
I think my Godfather is praying we could eat all that food! After dinner, I played some more while the adults talked about silly adult stuff. I tried so hard to stay awake until midnight. My mama tried over and over again to put me in my bed. Who was she trying to kid? There was a party going on! I think I finally gave up around 10:30. Happy New Year!

The next day, I took a super long nap because I had been up so late the night before. My parents thought they had finally figured out my late night / long nap schedule. Ha! Who's in charge here?? Anyway, after my nap we went over to Ka and Ky's house for a fish fry. I loved playing with their leftover New Year's Eve decorations. What's more fun then a room full of balloons? My mama must have told me 100 times not to bite the balloons. She's so not fun.
Ka and Ky both had friends over for the evening. I loved all the extra attention. I'd stand at the top of the stairs and scream "kids, kids, kids" when they weren't giving me enough attention. After dinner, the men hung out in the kitchen while the ladies played this rummy-like game. I think I would have been pretty good at it but they wouldn't even let me touch the tiles. So I decided to drink my mama's beer instead. Just kidding! It was an empty cooler cup!
Do you see my Nana up there? She didn't want anyone cheating! And don't even ask me what's going on with her pants in row two.

What a fun way to welcome 2010! My Aunt Buh. and Great Uncle John must have been hiding from the camera. Shame on them!

Happy 2010!

Love, Austin

Wordless Wednesday: Stylin'

On The Fifth Day of Christmas...

...we got together with the Salger Family!Austin had so much fun with his second cousins. It's always exciting for him to see what the big kids are doing! We're so glad that everyone was able to get together!

Two Days After Christmas

The Sunday after Christmas started with Christmas Goose Egg #2. Austin had run-in with the kitchen island. Literally. The bruise formed right under Christmas Goose Egg #1, which you can see is now a nice shade of yellow and green.

Exhibit C:Austin and Dad worked on putting toys together once we were sure he didn't have a concussion. We figured we were safe when he knew I was Ma, Dad was Da and a cow says MOOO!

Austin was such a great helper. Listening to "Da! Da! DAAAAA! DA!" can really make a person work faster!Ryan and Julia stopped by the spoil Austin with more gifts. By this time, he was really turning on the charm with "oh, wow!" after every gift. His Dad and Godfather had a great time putting together Austin's new tool bench! He's been hammering away ever since!
That afternoon, after another long nap, we headed to Great Aunt Lynn and Great Uncle Dave's house for the Farrar family Christmas. A good time was had by all! Dinner was yummy and Austin walked away with more then he could ever ask for. He was really "oh wowing" everything he got that night. It was so sweet to hear the excitement in his voice.
He's super excited about his basketball hoop and he can't wait to use his picnic table this summer. After the gift exchange, we held the 2nd Annual Lottery Ticket Extravaganza! The room was silent while every scratched away. We didn't have any big winners but we sure had fun!
The highlight of the evening may have been Cousin Stefan's fashion show. He was so proud of the deals he got on his suits! We think he looked so handsome!
And with that, our four days of Christmas were over. We still had another holiday party the following week, but were were looking forward to a few days of sugar detox and getting our house back in order.

I'd say Austin's 2nd Christmas was just as special as his first. I know Christmas is a special time of year for everyone, but there's just something about Christmas with a child. Everything is so exciting and magical! We can't wait until next year!

Flashback Friday: Stud

The only things he's missing are a gold chain and a little chest hair!

Burrrrrr!

We'd like to take a break from the Christmas recap to remind you to bundle up when going outside. Stay warm!

The Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas started off very relaxing. We sorted through gifts and enjoyed spending some family time together. We were finally catching on to Austin's late night / long nap sleeping pattern, so we put him down for an early nap with our fingers crossed we'd be able to leave on time. Everything worked out and we were off to see Great-Aunt Carol and Great-Uncle Roger's new house!

After a tour of their beautiful home, we visited, had a delicious dinner (Austin couldn't get enough of Carol's yummy carrots!), exchanged gifts and had the traditional Gross Family Christmas dessert of cookies, cookies and more cookies!
Austin got the neatest piano from Grandma and Grandpa Kiefer and some college funding from Roger and Carol! We can't wait to use the Outback (Dad's favorite place!) gift card we got. It was finally time for cookies after we threw away the paper and untied just a few more twisty ties!
Carol and Grandma Kiefer's cookies were delicious. We were thrilled when we saw the size of our to-go box! After cookies, we took a quick picture on a bench that belonged to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gross, before heading back home for the night.
We're so happy we got to spend time we Roger and Carol. The night was a nice as their new house. We'll go back as soon as they're ready for another round of Nick Jr!

Christmas Eve

Hang tight while I work to post all of our Christmas pictures. I took over 500 pictures during eight different holiday get-togethers. I'm trying my best to narrow it down as much as possible!

While our Christmas was absolutely wonderful, it didn't go without a few bumps and bruises. The first one came the day before Christmas Eve. Exhibit A: Christmas Goose Egg #1:Christmas Eve morning started with a little cookie baking. We were hoping Santa enjoys M&Ms as much as we d0!
Later that morning, The Stovers came to exchange gifts and have lunch. They gave Austin the neatest railroad sign for his room. (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it!) It was great to spend time with them while they were visiting from California. We miss them so much!
The girls sort of ran circles around Austin. He didn't know what to think about all of their hugs and kisses. As always, it was hard to say good-bye but we know we'll see them again soon!
Santa's helpers when to work when Austin went down for a nap. We thought we had two hours to get gifts wrapped and put together before he woke up. Little did we know that he'd sleep for 4 1/2 hours, making us two hours late for Christmas Eve dinner with the Kiefers!
We finally arrived to the traditional meal of appetizers, including the Kiefer traditions of shrimp in ailoi sauce and eggnog. It was time to dig into the gifts as soon as dinner was finished. Austin was excited to find a potty chair and Lu Lu the Fur Real cat among many other things.He was super excited when he saw the Mega Blok table from Uncle Jonathan. It's the perfect addition to the blocks he got last year. Grandma and Grandpa Kiefer were excited about the 2008 Christmas memory book we gave them.After gifts, it was time for cookies and a special treat that Jocelyn left us in July. The caramel liquor was very tasty!
The Kiefers and Cookie Monster....
Austin turned into quite the night owl over the holidays. Long naps led to long evenings!We thought he'd be out on the way home, but of course he had other plans. We waited up for Santa for a few minutes before finally hitting the hay.
Exhibit B: Austin fought Lu Lu's box...and unfortunately Lu Lu's box won. It's hard to see in this picture, but he has a small cut above AND under his right eye.