Rough Housing with his Pup

As many of you probably already know, Austin absolutely loves his puppy Hannah. In fact, the only word he really says and knows is ‘Hannah.’ He says it quite often, but especially when he’s looking around trying to find her. He really enjoys sitting on the kitchen floor playing with spoons and measuring cups and other sorts of utensils as well as anything else his pup brings over to him. She’s very gentle with him and loves playing tug. He’s pretty tough for a little guy, won’t let go for anything. We love our Hannah-puppy!!!

A Hairy Lollipop Kind if Day

It’s actually been several weeks since Austin had this done, but as you can see our little baby got a big boy hair cut, what a sweet love. He was so good in the barber’s chair, the stylist had never seen anything like it. We took him to a place called ‘Cartoon Cuts’ in the Columbia Mall. We thought we’d make it special for his very first hair cut. We didn’t have much cut off, we’re trying to go for the organized mess sort of look. Doesn’t he look handsome everyone? He was so well behaved that they gave him a lollipop as a reward. That was his first as well. He had sooo much fun with his lollipop, what a treat.

Cooking up Something HOT!

Hi all, this is gonna be short, but I have lots to update on later. I took part in an activity yesterday that I thought all my busy girlfriends and mummies out there would appreciate knowing about. You may have heard of it, or something like it before. It's called "My Girlfriend's Kitchen," and it's just about the most wonderful time saving/convenient thing ever. Basically you pay $100 for 12 meals. Each one has a ton of food, feeding you and you hubby and kiddos easily. The portions are usually for 4-6 people, but I chose to spilt the meals with my friend Shelby. So you go to this place and they have all the ingredients out for you and instructions on assembly. You put everything together and throw it in the freezer then move on to the next meal. There are 14 dishes to choose from and they are all very healthy and fresh. Their menu changes every month too so if you decided to go back there would be 14 new dishes to choose from. For all my Wyoming friends, they're opening one in south Denver, and I promise, it's totally worth the drive. Especially if you get 8 girlfriends together, they give you your 12 meals for free, pretty sweet huh? Anyway, check out their website and let me know what you think. www.mgfk.com xo Liz xo

My Biz

Hello all,
Just wanted to share with you a little tid bit of my business stuff. For the summer cycle, I've teamed up with a Navy spouse, Jennifer, to do international marketing in the Military Times publications, i.e. Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Times. So if you get any of these publications, you'll have to check it out in the classifieds under Maryland. There's not a lot of space for us to work with, about 2"x2". Let me know what you all think. Love to all. xoxoxo Liz xoxoxo

Stroller Stride

Hey there, this is more of a message for all my mommy friends out there. I came across this company called 'Stroller Strides' and was wondering if any of you have heard of it before. It's a fitness program/play group that meets at different parks each day and your babies can participate, in their strollers of course. I think it sounds like a good way to meet people , so I think I'm going to give it a shot. Let me know if any of you have ever attended one of their classes and I'll let you know what I think after Monday morning. Hope all your babies are doing great. Oh for those friends of mine that are expecting, I guess they welcome expecting moms as well. Their website is www.strollerstride.com Love to all, Liz

Just a hello

Hey there, I just thought I would send out a blog to see who checks our blog when I don't send out a blog update email. So if you're when of our steadfast hardcore blog fans, leave a note to let us know.

Things here are great. Chris was sick over Mother's Day and well, that wasn't a whole lot of fun, because he was REALLY ill. We made lemonade though and had an all day movie junk food kind of occasion. How wonderful. Austin is GREAT! Oh my he's just so wonderful I can't even express all the emotions he brings us. Chris and Austin had a daddy-son night tonight as I started my Real Estate business basics course. It's good, just a lot of stuff I've already done because my manager is really on top of things and well I can say now 'I've been doing this for a while.' It's not quite 60 days yet but I already feel like I've gained quite a bit of knowledge. So yes I am enjoying this adventure, but it continues to be a 'labor of love.'

So back to Austin. We've been working a lot on the crawling thing, but he keeps telling us how he'd rather just walk. He can now stand on his own for several seconds. But then we get all excited and he looses his balance and well the we have the gravity conversation again and start all over. At the moment his favorite toy is the dinosaur memere and pepere gave him for Christmas, it roars and he really likes that he make balls rolls down his tail and shoot out of his mouth! He is very independent and enjoys eating and drinking all by himself. It truly is amazing how the time passes so quick.

I'm pretty tired so I'll sign off for now. Hope you are all doing well. xoxo Liz xoxo

BATH TIME

ONE LAST POST AND YOU WILL ALL BE UP TO DATE WITH US. JUST WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU ONE OF AUSTIN'S MOST FAVORITE ACTIVITIES, BATH TIME!!! HE REALLY LOVE PLAYING IN THE WATER, WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET HIM IN THE POOL. IT'S ALMOST WARM ENOUGH, I HOPE THEY OPEN THE POOLS AT THE ACADEMY SOON, WE'LL BE THERE ALL THE TIME. I HEAR THE BAY IS A BIT DIRTY TO SWIM IN, BUT I'M SURE WE'LL MAKE A TRIP TO THE EASTERN SHORE SOMETIME THIS SUMMER. I KNOW WE'LL BE IN EAST HAMPTON, SO HE'LL DEFINITELY GET SOME BEACH TIME IN. ENJOY EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR VISITING OUR BLOG, WE REALLY ENJOY DOING THIS AND IT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL WHEN WE HEAR BACK FROM YOU ALL.

Another day with the Boats

As if I hadn't spoke of the Volvo Ocean Race enough. I just wanted to show off my hub's talent in taking photographs, I think he's got something going for him. These were taken the other day, they were letting people tour the docks and Chris got some good shots of the boats, the capital building and me and Austin. This is probably the last you'll hear of the race, or at least see for now. The race begun it's next leg of the trip today out of Annapolis, I think around noon. I believe they sail up to New York City now. Go Pirates!!!

Playing Inside the Box ... for now

Thank you Auntie Cathie, Uncle Jamie and boys. Austin received an early birthday present from them a couple weeks ago. It was so gorgeous out yesterday we decided it would be good to play on the back porch for a while. He had so much fun in his new sandbox he fought me getting out. I must admit, it is a bit messy, but worth every second of clean up. It allowed me to soak up the sun and read, yes actually got some reading time in while Austin played in his box, about an hour. Speaking of, it's nice enough out there right now, I think I may take advantage of the situation again.

Up Close and in Personal

Chris and I decided to take Austin down to the harbor the day the boats pulled into Annapolis. We've had pretty good timing with all of the events and this day was no exception. We decided to park on the academy campus as to avoid the masses and hassles of parking downtown. I think we had one of the best seats in town as the boats passed right in front of us, not even 40 yards away. I was craving ice cream in a bad way as the weather was just calling for it, so after they docked we decided to walk to the downtown pier and check them out even closer and try to get a glimpse of the teams as they disembarked their boats.

Right off the bat Chris recognized the captain of the Pirates ship. He snapped a pretty good picture of the guy, but was too shy to ask for his autograph. I wanted to ask if he'd sign my baby, but Chris thought that was inappropriate.... oh well. These other pictures of the boats don't really do them justice, they're really an impressive sight to see. Actually one of the two boat designs was created here in Annapolis. The coolest thing about this whole race is seeing how excited it all makes my husband, like watching a 5-year-old at Disney World. Enjoy the pics, if any of you have any questions I'm sure Chris would love to chat with you about it. Love to all, Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah

The Boats Arrive

Chris has been following the Volvo Ocean Race since before the race even started. The finish line for the last leg of the race was in the Chesapeake Bay somewhere and the Sailboats will start the next leg in Annapolis. It's all very exciting, Chris has a pretty good knowledge of the boats, their teams and everything that's been going on since the race around the world all started. Of course we are routing for the American ship "Pirates of the Caribbean," Disney sponsored if you hadn't already drawn that conclusion. No Johnny Depp is not one of the crew members ... thank goodness. We were lucky enough to see the second place boat pulling into town (Movistar - Spanish boat) while we were crossing over the Bay Bridge on the way back from Jersey a couple weeks ago. It doesn't seem like a very big deal from the pictures, but these boats really tower any other boat on the water, very awe inspiring. Here you can see the Sandy Point Light in the background along with the sailboat Movistar. I just love the picture of Chris and Austin, I'm so lucky to have such handsome guys. Austin's really begun to look much more like dad these days.

Austin is in love with two things

1. His Auntie Leah
2. Dancing with his mom

Austin and I loved spending time with Leah and Nikki while we were in East Hampton. Leah had to work a bunch so we went and had dinner at her restaurant, what fun that was, everyone in the place fell in love with the most well behaved little dude they'd ever met ... but of course!

Easter in East Hampton

Austin and I took off a couple days before Chris was to drive up to New York where we were all to spend Easter with my mom and her side of the family. Unfortunately Chris caught just about the worse case of strept throat ever and was in the hospital the day before. Austin and I were lucky to have made it back to Maryland. My grandfather gave us a lift to New Jersey the Monday after. Chris was feeling well enough to drive 2 hours, three days later, but definitely not the 7- hours it takes to get out to East Hampton. We sure missed him though.

Despite all that sadness, we were still able to enjoy ourselves in grandma's new house. She decorated the most beautiful nursery I have ever seen, all just for Austin, what a lucky guy. We can't wait to get back to that place.

These are just some pictures of us while we were there. Austin asked me to wish his big cousins Victoria, William and Nathaniel a very Happy Birthday. Wish you could have been there for our Easter egg hunt Natty! We love you guys.

Wish I were there

I had to work the day Chris, Dave and Heather took Austin into D.C. Looks like they had beautiful weather. All the adults came back with really bad sunburns, Austin was so smart and let mommy put sunblock on him before they left. Thank goodness our little guys didn't get fried like the rest of them. I give Chris' photography skills two thumbs up, great job love!!!

My men

I love these guys so much, both as jolly as they come ... as long as they're fed ... and clean.

Merry Cherry Blooms

These photos are form when Austin and I went to the Cherry Blossom festival.

As I promised

So, things have been crazy here the past few months. I am learning that the Real Estate business is very tough and a lot of hard work that I pray (and I hope you will for me) will pay off soon. Austin and Chris are doing really well. We're all so happy to be here in Maryland, living in a place for once we enjoy calling home. Looking back we do miss aspects of Wyoming, don't get me wrong, we have just found it easier for us to settle here.

I love doing my blog, but sitting here on my computer today (not a cloud in the sky and around 78 degrees) is killing me, so I will get done what I can for now. I've promised Austin a walk and some play time at the park. Hopefully the pictures I've posted tell our stories for you. We love you all and hope you are all doing great. Austin wants to wish his cousin Eli a very happy first birthday, and today is Karen and David's first anniversary!!! Happy anniversary you two, we love you and hope to see you soon.

Love to all, Chris, Liz, Austin & Hannah-the-wonder-dog

Just plain LAZY

All, Chris and I had a lazy weekend. For once I took as many naps as the baby did, two or three a day, and I feel rested for once. So now I'm staying up until oh 2am and once again I will be wiped out all day tomorrow, good thing I got all that sleep this weekend.

Anyway, as I was saying, I've just been lazy as all get out. Now I have probably 200 photos sitting in my cameras and it's not looking like you'll be seeing them anytime soon. Here's the reason why, it's pathetic actually. Chris has a laptop that I do most of my internet surfing and emailing from, and the things always upstairs in out main living area. My computer on the other hand in the basement and well, yes you guessed it, I'm too lazy to get down there. Actually I really don't care for the basement much ever since we found the monster wolf spider down there 5 months ago, I've had serious issues ever since. I love my computer I just hate it "down there." So it'll have to wait for another day when the sun is out and I can see everything that's "down there."

So our weekend wasn't a total wash (no pun intended it was raining all weekend here). Chris had the motivation to break out the new can of paint we got for our bathroom. I have pictures of that as well. It looks really good, you'll see. There's still a few little things we want to do in there, like oh tile the floor and get all new fixtures and lights, but other than that the hard part is over.

Austin is absolutely phenomenal!!! Thanks for wondering! He's been doing really well crawling backwards. Daddy and he worked in the crawling forward thing a lot this weekend, but had no such luck. He enjoys pulling himself up on things and standing propped up against something so I'm thinking he's not going to ever crawl and go straight to walking, it's a fear I have trust me, I want him to crawl. He's so adorable people, come on if you haven't seen him in person, you haven't experienced the most powerful human force in the world. Austin has the amazing ability to make even the most crotchety individual smile.




Finally I'll share with you all one of my most fav things once again. It's called Mochi, and you may have already heard of it, bit they're these little balls of ice cream with a sweet rice coating on the outside, kind of like the Japanese version of a bon-bon. I think the best flavor is Green Tea, but they come in all sorts. They are wonderful and if you have a Trader Joe's near you they sell them there and in most super markets, like Whole Foods or Wegmans.

Okay this blog's too long to not have any pictures in it. Signing off for now my people. Be well and happy. Liz

Been a bit busy

Austin loves his backpack. Sorry my blogs haven't been flowing as they were. We've really had so much going on that I feel like it's going to take me forever to get this thing back on track. From the Cherry Blossom Festival to Easter weekend in East Hampton there's lots of pictures to share with you all. I'll get to it all, hopefully tomorrow on my day off. xo Liz xo