Things I'm Thinking

*Savannah ate 3 of Austin's crayons yesterday. Oh, what a colorful life she leads. I was NOT pleased!

*Does the texting thumbs commercial creep anyone else out?!

*Austin has at least 2 of his molars, which means he's been twice the fun he normally is...

*I have alot of stuff to get done before Thursday and not enough motivation or energy to do it

*I love watching Austin stop whatever he's doing to dance when he hears some music

*I really should do a little extra exercising this week to balance all the extra calories I'll be eating

*I'm super excited about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

*I'm even more excited about putting up Christmas decorations for the first time in 2 years

*Can't wait to see Britt and Jon

*I shared a few peanut butter M&Ms with Austin and now he's carrying the empty bag around as if more will magically appear and jump into his little mouth

*The time has come for me to get up and get some stuff done

A Glimpse Into Our Present and My Past

Today is a cold, gray Saturday and I am loving it! In fact, it's the perfect kind of day to snuggle under my down comforter and catch up on a little blog writing. I am also loving this month since things have slowed down considerably. I guess it's just a chance to catch my breath before all the Christmas madness hits. Lately, my family and I have gotten to relax together after dinner but before we put the little man to bed. This usually entails watching The Backyardigans or Wonder Pets with Austin. Don't be jealous. You know you wish you could settle down on the couch for a little Noggin after dinner! Anyways, the other night I captured this cute picture of my boys watching tv together. So sweet.

I love how Austin is holding his shoes. You know, just in case he decides to put them on and go somewhere. ;) I am also loving the sight of Austin and Savannah playing together these days. I cannot say enough how good she is with him. And patient. She is definitely patient! Just this morning I came around the corner to check on both of them and was greeted by the sight of Austin giving Savannah kisses. And she was just sitting calmly by the stairs while Austin loved on her.

I've been fortunate enough to get a few pictures of the 2 of them together and I just might have taken one of my favorites yesterday. I was trying to get some laundry done while cleaning our room at the same time. Austin was doing everything he could to make my job a little harder and Savannah was just trying to get in the way. Sounds fun, right?! At some point, Austin found his snack container of cheerios. In the midst of the folding and cleaning, I looked down and saw this precious sight:

I guess Austin thought Savannah looked like she could use a few cheerios herself. He's always been good at sharing with his older sister. :) It wasn't long before he got distracted and was off to the next activity, but it's obvious that he trusts Savannah more than I do. I must've missed the conversation between the 2 of them about Savannah watching his snacks while he went to play with some of his toys.

If that's not a picture of resisting temptation then I don't know what is. I sure do love our Savannah and I love that it won't be long before she can wear out my son! (Not that he won't do the same to her) Until then, you can find me in our living room playing "little people" and "ball/gall" :)

So remember when I said I was doing laundry and trying to clean our room? Well, here's a look at what a sad state our room was in:

YIKES! I still have some work to do but at least I got a good amount of it cleaned in the middle of Austin pulling out his daddy's shoes and putting them in the laundry basket. Jesus. Take. The. Wheel!

Finally, the activity of the weekend is the "Big Cleanout of '08" going on right now in my parents' garage! And let me tell you. They have found some gems in that garage of theirs. Treasures I hoped would stayed buried! Like the glamour shots taken of me before braces. Or this little pin my parents wore when I was a cheerleader.

Good thing they found it so Austin can wear it and think of his dorky mommy! Here's a close up:

Wow. The good news is that not everything found today was embarrassing to one or more of the Bauerlein/Keiffer/Yeager girls. Take, for example, this little big bird driver.

When I see this little guy, I picture Brittany in the backseat "driving" and doing everything my mom was doing. She took this with her everywhere. I'm not kidding. She was probably 5 before she moved on to another favorite toy. Although it's worn from years of play, I can't wait for Austin to experice the same fun we had with our big bird driver. And speaking of Brittany, we found some plastic plates that she and I made in preschool. Apparently she used to think her name was spelled "bittany." That gave us all a pretty good laugh.

My parents also found 2 little rocking chairs that used to belong to Brittany and me. Luke is bringing mine home for Austin to use here at our house. However, he was able to try out Brittany's while we waited for the guys to get back for lunch.

Two words. So. cute. I think Austin is going to love his new chair. How could he not love something that's just his size?!

We headed home after lunch and I got the chance to redo the walking picture that didn't quite turn out the other night. Here are Austin and his Gigi:

I'm not gonna lie. One of my favorite things to do is to take a trip down memory lane. It was a treat to look back at how things used to be and feel blessed once again that God has continued to give me such a wonderful life with my family! Happy Saturday, y'all!

First Annual Keiffer Family Pics

A few weeks ago, we had our family pictures taken by an old friend of mine from high school. She did a great job and I am so happy with the results. We haven't had professional pictures taken of us since our wedding. Even though Austin was a little cranky, it was still a fun night and I can't wait to get some framed! Here are just a few of my favorites.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday! To celebrate, Austin and I took him some coffee from Starbucks this morning. This year, he's asked for the gift of time for his birthday. And when he says "time" what he really means is as much help cleaning out the garage as he can get. I plan on trying to get over there to help some but am definitely going to plan on giving the gift of food that day. Lunch is on me, guys! :)

There are so many things I love about my dad. He has a great sense of humor. I guess you kind of have to when God gives you 3 girls and 0 boys! But sometimes his humor can get him in trouble. The time that he asked Brittany if she had changed religions when he noticed a small blemish in the middle of her forhead comes to mind. And then there was the time that he informed me that once Austin was born, I would have to cut down on my ice cream consumption. In fact, he even went so far as to say that if I wanted any ice cream at all I should probably just walk to Maggie Moos. If anyone else had said that to me, I probably would've been offended, but I know my dad was just teasing...I think. ;)

But the thing I love the most about my dad is that he has always set a Godly example for me and my sisters. Growing up, he used to take us out on "daddy/daughter dates," and he never missed an opportunity to support us in whatever activity we were a part of. But most importantly, he made sure that our family was involved in church and leading lives that were honoring to the Lord. It is such a blessing to me to know that Austin has a father AND grandfather to help him become the man God wants him to be.

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!!

It's A Wonderful Life

Well, another week is here. And, as I expected, I was not ready for Monday. In fact, when I woke up this morning to the sound of my husband taking a shower, I was just SURE it was Friday. It wasn't until I realized that I did not watch Grey's Anatomy the night before that I remembered it was indeed Monday. Still, I am excited to begin a new week.

But we can't start a new week without discussing the weekend first! Friday night was super fun since we ended up at Freddy's with my parents for dinner. Saturday was Brittany's birthday...the big two four (not the big two two!) However, she and Jon were up in Dallas visiting DTS so we were not able to celebrate with her on the actual DAY OF her birthday. Instead, Luke, Austin and I headed to Jason's Deli for some lunch. He got the salad bar and I got a sandwich. Everything was going smoothly until I tried to steal a couple of bites of his strawberry shortcake and banana pudding. Luke was quick to remind me that his all-you-can eat salad bar was not my all-you-can steal dessert! He is SUCH a rule follower! ;) Afterwards, we were off to Target to check out some prices on Christmas gifts for little A. I could not resist a quick picture of the little man after lunch. Notice how chill he looks underneath that cute hood!

As soon as I turned around to take his picture he got this little smirk on his face. So cute! In case you can't tell by the munchkin's attire, it was pretty cold on Saturday AND the wind was blowing. "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas..." We had a great time at Target and I think Luke and I have some good ideas for gifts to make this Christmas extra special for our son. Here's a little sneak peek at one of the things we looked at. Remember how he seems to love kitties (or ninnies as he calls them) lately?

Imagine his excitement to discover a kitty toy that makes noise?! "Silent Night" will not be the theme song for our Christmases for quite a while I think! It was such a fun day of window shopping. Even Austin didn't mind the chilly conditions. Of course, I wouldn't either if I got carried and pushed around all afternoon!

On Sunday, my family (sans Luke and Austin) and I drove up to College Station to surprise Britt for her birthday. We had a blast and she was VERY surprised! Actually she was speechless, which is not a common occurence with her. :) We went to church with the newlyweds and then took them out to a celebratory lunch. We also got to see their little duplex, which was adorable! It was a great day and I really enjoyed visiting with them. Here are the sisters...together again!

We got back to SA just in time to meet Luke and Austin for some wings. I was still very full from my delicious lunch so I decided to try their caesar salad instead and it was amazing! We all headed home after that and I tried to capture the cuteness of Austin walking out with his Gigi and Aunt Claire but he's a little quicker these days when he walks. Sorry. The picture is sort of blurry!

Aaaand, what day would be complete without a picture with your silly aunt?! These 2 make me laugh and I sure am glad I got to spend some time with both of them yesterday. :)

A Fabulous Friday

Hi Friends! Today is Friday. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face then I don't know what will. I used to think (back in the day when I was still working outside the home) that I wouldn't love Fridays so much when I got to stay home every other day of the week. I just figured weekends wouldn't be as exciting since every weekday would be like the weekend. Boy was I wrong! I look forward to weekends almost as much as I used to...maybe more now that I think about it. It is so wonderful to spend some extra time with Luke and have some help with little A.

Today started off with a bang as Austin woke up extra early to wish Luke and I a Happy Friday. How early you ask. Early. 4:00 in the am to be exact. As an added bonus he decided to cry off and on until 5. About 4:15 I was wishing the monitor was turned down just a little bit more but was trying to hold onto the small bit of tiredness I had left so I could get some extra sleep once Austin quit crying. Ahhh the joys of parenthood. Once up and dressed, we were off to MOPS. Austin has just started crying again when we leave him but does fine once we're gone. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. He did great just in case you were wondering.

Lunch was next on the agenda and, let me just say, it did not go well. Apparently cheese ravioli was not on Austin's menu, but I would not let him win. You see, he's just decided to be picky these days and, if it was up to him, he would eat cheerios and goldfish ONLY. Tough luck, kid. We all had to do our time with vegetables and other food we'd rather not eat. You're no different.

Sidenote: I just looked up to see Austin pulling ALL his wipes out of the wipe box. Sweet. Here's what I'm thinking right now..."When will your father be home?!?" The pile 'o wipes is now in a wad and sealed up in a ziploc bag. TGIF! Also, as he was toddling by, I caught a wiff of the 'ol diaper. How is it that I just changed a dirty one not 15 minutes ago and he already has another one?! A big happy Friday goes out to Luke who will be changing that bad boy in T minus 5 minutes.

But anyways, back to the ravioli. After much protest, I took off the tomato sauce covered clothes (yes, that's how well it went) and took him up for his nap. Now before you start thinking I'm a bad parent for not feeding him lunch before naptime you should know a couple of things.

1) This advice comes from my mother who dealt with a picky eater (me) but decided to do things differently with the second (my sister). The second try went much better than the first. AND
2) I'm pretty sure he had a snack of cheerios and a little applesauce before I picked him up and took him home.

When he was hungry after his nap guess what he got to eat? Yep. Surprise, Austin! The cheese ravioli is back! He acted very disgusted at first but some animal sounds did the trick. One of the perks of motherhood is that you get to make a fool of yourself when you least expect it. It's nice to know that the humbling does not stop at childbirth. Since the delish afternoon snack, the little man has been up and down as far as crankiness goes.

Despite the high maintenance day, I still throughly enjoy being Austin's mom. It's trying at times, but he really is such a joy. In fact, his newest thing is calling kitties "ninny." It's adorable. Everytime he sees one he yells, "NINNY!"

On more of a sad note, I found out this morning that the son of some of our family friends died in a tragic car accident. I would really appreciate your prayers for their family. The funeral will be on Monday. I cannot even imagine losing a loved one that way.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your families. :) I sure am looking forward to some fun stuff with my family. And I'm sure I'll be pretty sad that the weekend is over come Monday. It will be just like old times!

Playing Catch Up

Happy Monday from the Keiffers! Is anyone else reeling from the fact that it's already November?! I mean, seriously. Where is all the time going? As usual we are running to catch up with our lives around here but loving every minute of it! First of all, I am selling my camera on craigslist. So if you know of anyone that is looking for a hardly-used, nice camera please feel free to give them my info. I plan on upgrading to a more professional model since I would really like to learn how to take nice pictures and have more options, etc. It's amazing how many things you realize you don't need when learning to simplify and save up money.


Recently I had the priviledge of hearing my sister sing in church...the big church. She did an AMAZING job. Her solo song was "Rescue" by Newsong. This just happens to be one of my all-time favorite songs and hearing her voice sing it made it even better. In case you're wondering when MY church solo is, wonder no more! I don't sing. Like any good big sister, I spread my singing talent out between Claire and Brittany. Thus, leaving me with a slightly tone deaf sound. So if you happen to see me take the stage (and the mic) during church, please do whatever is necessary to get me off that platform!! There's a picture on facebook of our Clairee singing but in case you can't access that here is the picture: (I believe it was taken by our church photographer, who is extremely talented, Marks Moore)

work.it.girl.

Austin continues to keep us laughing. He's doing so many new things and learning words like crazy! He loves to "read," make animal noises, and call for his mama and dada. But his latest, seriously cute trick is sitting down on any little ledge or "seat." In fact, the other day, as I was packing our stuff for Ohio, I looked over to see the little man doing this on our pillows:

I.Love.It. It's hard running all over the place. Somedays you just have to take a little break wherever you can get one! :) Austin was also a little lion for Halloween. Since he's too little to take trick or treating we had a bunch of friends over with their little ones and the kids got to dress up. Before the chaos began, I took a quick picture with our lion king:

And finally, Luke and I have just finished recovering from our very fun trip to Ohio. He and I went to visit my brother and sister-in-law, Jared and Lindsay. While we were there we helped them put wood floors throughout the downstairs of their new house. We worked hard, had a blast, and made some pretty fun memories. A picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Before the floors

Doing a little sweeping and supervising

This is what I was supervising. The removal of the toilet and floor around the toilet...GROSS!

Working side by side with my husband :)

Taking a break from all the action

The purpose of this picture is two fold:

1) to show how tedious the process of cutting the boards was

and

2) to show everyone how AMAZINGLY talented my husband is

(thank you, lindsay, for insisting we take this picture!)

Here's a little preview of the finished floors. They looked gorgeous and, sadly, I did not get pictures of the finished product. We'll be waiting on Jared and Lindsay to send updated pics.

Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got back. And very motivated to save some money to replace our own floors. We always have so much fun with them, and I thank God alot for the sister-in-law He gave me. In fact, at one point during the weekend I thought to myself,

I hope we know them forever...

First, let me say that I was probably a little delirious at this point from so much hammering, floor laying, and sweeping. But I quickly realized that we would indeed know them forever since they're family! As fun as it was to get away with my sweetie, we were so glad to get back to our son and normal routine. I missed him terribly but thoroughly enjoyed some adult time, sans a one-year-old.

On my list for the next couple of weeks are the birthdays of my dad and sister, Thanksgiving at my house, and finding some time to get a head start on some Christmas stuff. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this season?! Yep. I thought so. Hope you all are enjoying the start of November and finding some time to relax before the holiday season kick in!