Happy Halloween!!!

Austin would just like to wish all his fellow monsters a very Happy Halloween. Our little man has really taken a liking to this holiday, more than any before. It could be the age he's at, that now he finally notices the decorations, the change in the color of the leaves, and the fact that the pumpkins all have faces :o). Chris and I really never decorated for Halloween, and this year it all started with just the little candle holder (the one I posted about his wow!). Over the past couple of weeks I've found new joy in string lights and felt banners. He gets such a huge kick out of this all it's truly just amazing to see him in such awe with it all.

Sunday night Chris had to work, but Austin and I went over to our good friends the Nudelman's for their annual Halloween party. Austin wore a pumpkin costume, compliments of cousin Ben. He absolutely loved wearing it. He has a passion for jack-o-lanterns now and just got the biggest kick out of the fact that he had a smiling face on his belly. At the party there were about a dozen little ones there with their mommies and daddies. I'd say about half were Austin's age, and we met a few new friends which is always so exciting. Austin really enjoyed playing with the two ladybugs there, Ava and Lilly, both the same age as Austin and both live just around the corner from us.

A huge thank you to Brenda, Nathan, Bella and Addison for such a great party! We had a blast even after we left with all the goodies you gave Austin to play with, his favorite was the pumpkin cup and skeleton straw!

Tonight he's going to dress up in his purple dragon costume which is sure to scare everyone! Enjoy the pictures, I had a tough time chasing the little man and taking them. He's really on the move these days. Thanks for checking in on us. xo Liz xo

Pickin' Punkins'

We brought Austin to the Fall Festival at Homestead Gardens today. We saw all sorts of new things, like a real big tractor piled high with kids. Austin met a few billy-goats who let him pet them. The day was warm here and just lovely. We snacked on Kettle corn and bought fresh apple cider to take home. You have to love this time of year, it's as if we internalize the warmth to welcome the cold and I love, love, love it! Enjoy the pictures and I hope your autumn is turning out to be as cozy as ours is.

xo Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah xo

Austin's buddy Michael

Hi all.  I thought I'd post a few pictures of one of Austin's friends, Michael.  He came over to play the other day while his mom went to work.  What a sweet baby he is, so gentle and graceful in comparison to out little brute.  The two get along like peas in a pod.  I snapped a couple pictures of Michael, I found the lighting to be excellent for some b&w and I love having new subjects to photograph.  Jenn and Jay, your baby is so beautiful, I hope you like the pics.  

Hope you're all doing great and that you enjoy the rest of you weekends.  xo Liz xo

A Walkin' little Cutie-Pie

Someone decided it was time to get up and go. Austin walked today! Hurray for our little Aussie-roo! Love you all, hopefully this video works so you can see him in action. xo Liz xo

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"Blue" Weekend

Chris again, as guest commentator. Even though I was working nights, when Liz and I found out about the Air Force Memorial dedication, we decided we would go. I got home from work at 630am, slept until about 10 and then we got ready and left. What an opportunity! Neither of us would have missed it for anything. Living in the DC area has its perks occasionally. It's a fantastic memorial adjacent to both the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery (when visiting, you actually get to it through the cemetery).
A little chilly and somewhat windy, Liz, Austin and I packed up and headed to the Metro as the Pentagon has very little parking. The amount of spectators was amazing. What was even more amazing was that we actually saw quite a few people we recognized.
They had set up a lot of static displays, but one of the most interesting was the Air Force Academy display. They brought 2 Falcons (real living ones, not stuffed). This is Aurora (cool name), the 'official' mascot. She let us pet her. Those of you who know Hannah know how much she likes "birdies." This is one birdie Hannah doesn't want to mess with.So each Major Command had a tent, with pictures and discriptions of the missions etc. We were walking through the Space Command booth (actually looking to see if any of Liz's photos were used and if we knew anyone in the pictures) and we found this cool little montage of missiles and space stuff. I recognized a picture of what looked like an MPT (Missile Procedure Trainer). Sure enough, it was.....so I took a closer look and......Turns out, there was a picture of Matt Hlivko and his deputy. Congrats Matt, there's your 15 minutes of fame!!
The official part of the ceremony was moderated by Bob Schieffer formerly of the CBS Evening News. He is actually a former Air Force Captain....who knew? He did a great job.
My favorite part of the day was the parade of aircraft. More aircraft than this actually flew, but not all of the pictures came out. In order of old to new, on display were everything from a Stearman biplace, to the B-2 and F-22. Above is the B-2 Spirit.
A B-17, who actually flew in formation with a B-24. This one was all shined up and on such a beautiful day it really stood out!
A 4-ship "heritage" flight. In the lead, an F-86 of Korean War era, in the slot, an F-4 from Vietnam. On either wing, an F-15 and the newest in the inventory, the F-22. (Pretty cool)
Another heritage flight. On the right, the airplane that taught so many World War II pilots how to fly, the T-6 Texan and the namesake the the aircraft on it's left wing, the Air Force's newest trainer the T-6 Texan II. I guess when you have a good deal going it's best to stick with it.
The president showed up and said some nice words about the Doolittle Raiders and the history of American Air Power. Unfortunately, due to the small size of the memorial itself, only a small group of people were allowed to sit at the site itself. I was wondering what you had to do to get tickets up there. I saw a lot of "stars" walking around where we were, so apparently even rank doesn't necessarily have its privileges all the time. I know several former Chiefs of Staff were there, along with a lot of former Chief Master Sergeants of the Air Force. Secretary Rumsfeld was there, the secretary of the Air Force, General Moseley the current Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The current Chief Master Sergeant, Chief McKinley among others. It was well attended. All I can say is, "Thank God for Jumbotrons."
Of course, the Thunderbirds flew in order to properly commemorate the event.The Thunderbirds' commander, had a camera feed going on and said a quick little blurb. I thought it was pretty cool.
For those of you who look at the memorial and wonder, "what the hell is it supposed to be," maybe this will help. Compare the above and below pictures. I think the architect (who passed away last year before it was completed) did a really nice job.
After the ceremony was over, Lee Ann Womack starting singing. Being a big military supporter, she was having a free concert. We stayed for a minute, but Austin wasn't having it and she forgot the words to one of her songs, so we left and decided to take a nice long walk. That will probably be the next post, but we'll have to save it for later.

Wow!

For all of you who have not witnessed one of Austin's "Wow!" moments, let me explain.  Wow is tied with dada as far as how often he says it, I'd say some where between 10-125 times a day.  Just like any toddler his age, Austin is on a constant mission to discover new things.  Anytime something impresses him the tinniest bit he lets out a quite dramatic "Wow!"  Now when something really gets to him it's almost as if he gets choked up and his voice cracks a little when the wow makes its way out of his mouth.  We bought this little jack-o-lantern the other day for a Halloween decoration and never has Austin's wow been so, well, emotional sounding.  He loves this thing so much, probably because he's not allowed to play with it, but literally he's been wowing this thing for three straight days now.  I hope you all get to hear him wow soon if you haven't already.  We hope you have a great weekend, we're off to D.C. for the Air Force Memorial dedication tomorrow, pictures will be posted most definitely.

Love to all, Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah

Brothers pluck up the Gauley River

Chris met up with his brother and a dozen or so other guys in the back country of West Virginia to venture on a bit of White Water Rafting. Can you say Deliverance? All jokes aside, it looks like beautiful country and a great place shoot the breeze with friends. Yes that's the two Saucier boys in the front of the raft with their guide the Mountain Man in the back and one frightened friend hiding for dear life behind Chris (on the left). I know they had a blast as Chris wants to go again on next years trip. From what it seems the trip down the upper Gauley is no easy task. Chris is better with all the facts, but from what he tells me the only other rapid tougher in the U.S. is the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. So enjoy the great pics my hubby got over his weekend away from home. The boss and I missed you, but glad you got a chance to get away, you deserved it love! Now where should I go to get away....... any suggestions are welcome friends and fam. Love to all, Liz, Chris, Aussie-roo and 'H'

Our Little Stud

What a cutie pie you are Mr. Aussie-roo! We had a good deal of fun taking a few pictures around the house, just cruisin'.... that's all. Austin has been working very hard at walking, it just cracks him up to hear me saying 'good job Bug!' as he walks toward me. Its certainly possible for the little man to be laughing at the expression on my face, you'd think I'm the one learning to walk. This whole experience has left me up in arms. I know he'll just do it when he wants, he does everything else that way and shows complete ability to do it on his own.

He's been saying a lot of new words these days and making lots of new sounds. Just today he say 'hi Memere' and 'bye Memere'. We think he may be hinting at something Memere. He also started saying 'juice', well it's more like jui, with no ce but we know what he means. He makes noises like fire truck and ambulance sirens and the sound a boat makes (though it sounds much like his toy trucks at home) and what a cat says and the way a car sounds when it's changing gears. He's still crazy about trains and trucks and of course his Hannah.

My favorite is when we're outside and a plane passes overhead, he points up at it and says his famous little 'Wow!' loves airplanes just like his dada. He now knows the tune to the abc song, but there's no letters, just da-da, if you can imagine the alphabet song where the only letter is da. It's simply amazing all the things he's picked up in just a few short days.

He took two steps on his own tonight which is a start. I honestly feel blessed that he's not walking on his own yet, he literally sprints when he's in his walker. It's quite scary to think of the potential hazards he'll be in once he's not confined to it. I took him to the doctor the other day as he has a skin irritation on his face (poor thing got my skin sensitivity) and he weighed in at a whopping 28 lbs. He has size 18-24 month clothes that are way to short for him and a few pairs of 2T that are the right length, but just falling off his little bum. Looks like we might have to use Karen and Gary's trick and get him a dog collar-belt to hold his pants up.

That's about all the updates I have for now on Austin. Real Estate is going well, if anyone needs help finding a good agent in their area let me know, I've been having great success matching friends and family with the perfect agent. The market has slowed down a bit, but is still moving at a decent pace in our area. The agents who are actually deciding on staying in the business, like myself, are really relying on referral business from friends and family to make it all work and to get them through this dry spell. So friends and family, anyone, anywhere doing any kind of Real Estate transaction will help my business tremendously.

As for Chris, well he'll have the next post all to himself as he went on an amazing adventure this weekend with Dana. Stay tuned for that. Thanks all for checking in on us. I hope you are all in good health and spirits are high. Please send feedback, let me know how everything is going for you. All my love, Liz (and the gang)