Are You Still Out There?

Do I have any faithful readers left? I know it has been a day or two (or 21) since my last post. I assure you I am still here and haven't forgotten about you!

We have been busy doing much of the same as usual. We have recouped from Christmas break (although the tree and all decorations may not have been put away yet). The kids are back in the swing of school, and our time off is a faded memory. I can't believe January is almost over. At this rate Christmas will be here again by tomorrow. I might as well leave the tree up...

Austin is still playing basketball, the season runs through February. He is enjoying it and getting better with every game. They have only won two games so far, but are having a lot of fun. Austin has started baseball practice as well, just batting practice until the weather gets nice enough to play outside. Although I can't complain too loudly about the weather this winter so far, only a handful of days have been below freezing. We did get some snow one morning, covered the ground and was gone by lunch.

Baseball season is going to be busy. Austin's team is going to be doing a lot more tournaments, so most weekends will be filled with those. And Aubrey is going to play as well with some of the little sisters of Austin's teammates. I think I am more excited than she is!

I will try very hard to post more often. It was actually on my list of resolutions, but as you know, I really am not very good at keeping those...

Austin's basketball tournament 2nd place trophy. Somehow winning one game got them second place in their division...go figure.

Here is how Aubrey enjoys her brother's games...

All Dressed Up

Austin and Aubrey got new fancy outfits from Grandma and Papa for Christmas. And boy do they look GORGEOUS in them!!! It isn't very often you will see my kids this spiffed up...

Lookin' cool

Smooches from Aubrey.

Christmas Highlights

Here are just a few highlights from our Christmas Vacation this year...Cookies and milk for Santa, and a little something extra from Austin.
Austin's gift from Aubrey; a Harry Potter Sticker book. She picked it our herself, and paid for it with her own money. And, she kept it a secret, which we didn't think she could do. She was so proud of herself. She even came up with the idea of "tricking" him by telling him she got him Football stuff.
Aubrey's gift from Austin, also picked out and bought with his own money. He got her 3 Lincoln penny books to start her own penny collection, with a big bag of pennies to go through. She is already well on her way to a full collection!
Austin and Aubrey in their chef attire. Santa got them each the apron/hat/oven mitts as well as some of their own utensils and something yummy to cook. Austin already made his cookies, they didn't last long around here.
Aubrey helped daddy make a banana cream pie. Here she is getting ready to lick the spoon...
Austin helped daddy make a coconut cream pie. What a handsome chef!
Aubrey wearing Papa's boots. She had a hard time walking in them.

The kids were so excited they got a Wii this year. Here they are bowling. Aubrey has already bowled a 211, and Austin's high score is a 257. Not gonna tell you what mine is, but I will say it is no where close to theirs... We took Grandma and Papa to the zoo one day over break, because it was SO NICE. And because we needed to walk off some of the yummy pies. Grandma and Papa at the zoo. Papa spent many hours helping Austin do Lego's.
Grandma helping Aubrey create a beautiful picture.
We also got to see Austin play a lot of Basketball as he was in a tournament with his team. I would like to say they did well, but they had a few rough games. They are learning though, and having a blast so I guess that is what really matters! We have had a wonderful Christmas vacation, and I am very sad tomorrow is our last day of break.
Back to the grind...