Christmas Morning

Our family stocking

Austin opening one of his presents.

Austin waiting not-so-patiently for the present opening to begin.

We had a very nice Christmas in Louisville. After getting up at 6 a.m. to open presents, Joseph and Austin took a long morning nap while I did some cooking. We went to our friends Jason and Lacey's house for lunch and had great food and fellowship. That evening, Joseph took a nap before going to work at UPS while Austin and I watched Peter Pan. Austin thoroughly enjoyed opening his presents, and he didn't need any help ripping the packages this year.

Pictures from Christmas Week

Austin has become quite the artist lately. Color Wonder paper is an amazing product. The markers only color on special paper. It doesn't color on furniture, clothing, skin, etc.

Our son is not only an aspiring artist, he is also a magnificent musician. He sings and is learning the guitar (well, he doesn't actually use a real guitar... a vacuum attachment works just as well). He can dance too.

A Little Christmas Cheer

This picture and video were taken while Austin enjoyed Donna's musical Gingerbread house when we were in Tennessee last weekend.

Merry Christmas!

I'll be Home for Christmas...

....Well, maybe not exactly on Christmas day, but a few days earlier. We spent two nights in Tennessee this weekend visiting family and having an early Christmas with both families.

Here is a picture of Austin with his Gra Gra (Joseph's mom) and his cousin Alexis. We had Christmas at the Goulds on Saturday.

On Sunday, we went to visit the Beckmans. Here is Austin with one of his papas (Emily's Dad). He had a blast playing with those little truck ornaments.

I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole...

Last Thursday night, Joseph watched Austin so my sister and I could go to a friend's baby shower. When we got home I expected Austin to be in bed, but instead father and son were watching The Grinch. It is fun now that our boy is old enough to "hang" out and watch movies. Like I've said before, he is such a cool kid.

The Creative Mind of a 2 Year Old

Austin created a new game to get into the holiday spirit. Watch this video to see him playing golf/baseball with a lint roller ("bat") and a Christmas ornament ("ball"). It is quite amusing. For those of you with infants, here is a glimpse into the high energy world of a 2 year old boy.

Our Christmas Musician

Here's a video of Austin playing his horn. He makes pretty good sound effects.

Learning to ring a bell

"Mom, how does this work?"

(As I am ringing the bell)
"Oooo, let me try!"
That's it, Austin.

Tree trimming

We decorated our Christmas tree this weekend. I took lots of pictures to try and capture Austin's excitement. In these pictures, I was letting Austin explore a bucket of ornaments before we put them on the tree. He must have really liked this one because after we finished decorating, he pulled the entire tree down trying to take this one back off. Yikes!

Austin has claimed this horn. You will see it in posts to come, I'm sure.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We have already had some snow flurries here in Louisville! Here is a little video of us on the porch looking at the snow. It's not the most exciting video, but you do get to see Austin live as he bangs the railing and his reaction as he hears an airplane.

Ok, I need some blog readers' participation on this one

As we get closer to Christmastime, I would like to plan some fun and festive activities for Austin this year.

However, I need some ideas.

Most of you Austin Fans have never made a comment on our blog, and I would absolutely love to hear from you on this. You can post a comment anonymously and don't even have to leave your name if you don't want to.

I'm looking for toddler craft ideas, games, Louisville holiday events and anything else related to Christmas. Fun holiday recipes would be greatly appreciated as well.

I know Austin is still pretty young to get into the holiday spirit, but I still want to make it a fun and memorable time for our family.