Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Turkey Day!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
We had a great day, joined by both friends and family!!  Brian's parents and the Putz Family joined us at our house for a delicious dinner and a fun day!  Everyone took part in making our yummy meal, so a great thanks to the many hands that helped fill our bellies full!! :)  It was a great day of good food, good laughs, good friends & family and not so good football (the Seahawks lost, boo!!!)  We even had a touch of rain, which was very welcomed!!

Getting ready to enjoy a delicious meal!!

JJ took the group shot, so he made sure to get one of himself so we could add him in too!!

Austin digging in!! 
(I guess a regular spoon just wasn't good enough, he had to grab the salad spoon!!)  
Hey, whatever works to get all your Thanksgiving meal in right?!!! :)

Grandpa, Grandma and Austin enjoying their Turkey dinner!

Our family!

We are so thankful for our wonderful family!

Kaelyn, Lauren & Austin had a lot of fun playing all day!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

18 Months Old...Oh My!!

Today Austin is 18 months old!!  
We can't believe our little boy is a year and half already!

Austin at 18 months!
 
The last 18 months have gone by so fast!!  Every day is a happy surprise with you in it Austin.  We love watching you grow and learn new things with everyday that passes!!  You are such a happy boy, with a smile that is so contagious and a laugh that we just love to hear!!  

Right now, you love to play with cars and trucks and of course balls and bats!!  You are constantly asking us to play catch with you, and even beg us to let you wear your daddy's glove (you will point to it up in his closet over and over again screaming "ball" until we get it down and let you put it on!!)  You light up when you see a ball, no matter if it a baseball, football, soccerball or basketball!!  You also love to kick, and will run all over chasing and kicking soccer balls!  When you go to bed at night, you make sure you say "bye-bye baseball" to all the baseball pictures on our walls, and you yell, "ball-ball!" first thing when you wake up in the morning and see the baseball hats and bats hung on your wall!!  You sure know your sports!!  

You are beginning to climb up on everything, if we turn our back for a second, you climb yourself into your high chair and try to buckle yourself in, or you are 3 steps up a ladder!!!  We love your adventurous spirit, but make sure we keep our eyes on you!!! 

You also love reading and looking at books.  Sometimes when you are really quiet and we think you are doing something you aren't supposed to, we find you in a room, with a lap full of books, quietly reading and smiling away ;)  It is really cute!!

You love going to the park, and playing outside.  Your favorite is the slides, and when you go down fast you laugh so hard, it is so funny!!  You also love going on walks with your doggy Hunter, he has become your little buddy!!  It is so fun watching the two of you play together, you usually taunt him until he chases after you, which causes you to laugh hysterically!!  You also love to go to his toy basket and bring him all sorts of toys, which he tugs away from you, also causing you to laugh so hard!!  It is really cute seeing the two of you play together!

You are becoming quite the little talker, and we can't wait to hear more from you!!  You love to say animal sounds; your favorites being a cow, a kitten (when you meow, you have the greatest look on your face, it's almost like a frown but it is so funny!), an owl, a doggy, and a duck!  You love to call everyone Mom-ma, even though we know you can say Dad-da and Gram-ma too!!!  Of course you can say ball and bat, and you have some funny sayings too like, Let's Go! and Oh Man!!!

You are a great sleeper, and you have been since you were just a little baby!!  Mommy and Daddy are very lucky!!  In fact we think you inherited your sleeping habits from us, for we love to sleep too!  

You love to go places with us and love being out and about!  We think this is because you have been on the go since you were born, taking your first road trip from St. Louis to Memphis at 5 days old!! We love this about you though, for you go anywhere and adapt so well!!  Lately you love going to the grocery store with us, and get so ecstatic when you see all the balloons they hang up!  You wave to all the people you see in the ailes, and tell them by-bye when we leave!

You love music, and dance when you hear it on the radio (you perfer songs with a beat though, and we have no idea where you inherited this from as Mom and Dad can't dance at all!)  You bop up and down so cute, and when we say "Go Austin, Go Austin, Go" you do a little dance for us!  You also love the theme song for the cartoon "The Wonder Pets," so much so that Daddy even set it as his ring tone for when we call!!  

And just for fun, here are some of the things you don't like very much, that really show off your stubborn side!!  You hate, hate, hate having your finger nails cut; you throw the biggest fit and scream until we are done!  You also get so frustrated when there is something you can't do on your own, and get so mad when we try to help and do it for you!!  You sure are an independent little guy!!  Lately you don't like your diaper changed first thing in the morning, you squirm and squirm and fuss so loud!!  And of course when we are done, you get up and go right back to what you were doing like nothing happened!!  You also get so mad when we take away something you aren't so supposed to play with, like our car keys, or our laptop or one of Dad's tools you accidentally found!!  You think you have every right to them as we do, but of course we know better!!  And when you throw a fit and we laugh or poke fun at you, that makes you even more mad, and of course we laugh some more!


We love you Austin, and thank you for bringing so much happiness to our family!  As you can see, you are such an active, happy, adventurous little boy and we can't wait to watch you continue to grow!!  We know you are going to be such a great big brother!!  We are so very blessed that you are ours!!
Love, 
"Mom-ma", "Dad-da", & "Woof Woof" (aka: Hunter!)

Monday, November 24, 2008

Group Movie Night!

Last night we had a fun night out with our friends!  We all met at the movies...the girls went to go see Twilight, and the boys went to go see the new James Bond movie!!  The boys should have come with us, for we all loved our movie, but supposedly the Bond movie wasn't so great!!  Maybe it will teach them to be nicer to chick flicks!!  After the movies, we all went to one of our favorite restaurants Ah-So for some yummy Teppanyaki!!  I wish I had a picture of us at the table, it was a really fun dinner ;)  We are already planning to meet up next Sunday to go see Four Christmases ;)  A special thank you to Jane and Tom for being great grandparents and babysitting Austin and Hunter for us, and to Cari and Carly for getting to the movie theater early for us and saving seats!!!  (Sorry you were the only ones waiting in line though!! LOL!!!  But you did get us the best seats in the house!!!)  
Can't wait for the next movie night!!!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Vroom Vroom!!

Austin loves cars lately!!  He especially prefers the steering wheel, I think this kid can't wait for a drivers license!!  Whether it's a toy car or our car, he wants to drive!!  He makes vroom vroom noises while he does it too ;)  Austin loves it when Brian lets him sit in the driver's seat in our driveway and pretend to drive our car!!  He turns on all the buttons, and just beams with excitement!!  It's a whole different story when we take him out though...he does not want to leave and usually throws a fit!!     

Go Austin Go!!

While we were waiting for Brian at the bank in the parking lot, Austin started to get a little fussy, so I got him out of his car seat and put him in the drivers seat, and he was so happy!!  It made the 20 minute wait much more fun!

Look mom, no hands!!!

10 and 2 Austin!!

Our latest Target splurge...a garage ramp...the best purchase ever!!  Austin plays non stop with these cars!!

This was funny!!  I caught Austin running down the hallway carrying sprite and fresca cans that were waiting to be put in the garage fridge.  He was using them as cars on his garage ramp!! He must have taken 5 or 6 trips back and forth getting more "cars!"  He was so proud that he thought of it!!  Here he is pretending to drink one of them!! (P.S. notice all the sprite cans on the garage ramp!!)

Austin's make believe "cars!"

Austin pushing his soda cars down the ramp!! He must have played with these for 30 or so minutes!!  

Friday, November 14, 2008

Peek-a-boo!!

Anyone for a game of Peek-a-boo?!

Where's Austin?!

There he is!!

Gotta love Peek-a-boo!!
It's currently one of Austin's favorite games!

Those are some big shoes to fill!!

It is so funny watching Austin try to walk in our shoes!!  He loves doing this and it is just hysterical watching him try to take these big steps and then just fall over!!  I love the look on his face when he actually does take a step in a pair of mom or dad's shoes, he looks so proud of himself!  I missed a great photo op the other day...Austin came walking out of our closet right before bath time, completely sans clothes, wearing nothing but Brian's dress shoes and the biggest grin on his face!! It was so funny, but of course no camera on hand!!  I was ready this time though! :)

Geese mom, could your feet be any bigger!!

Woah!!!  This is harder than it looks!

Down he goes!!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Zippity Zoo Day!!

On Veteran's day, we took Austin to his first trip to the zoo!!  It was a beautiful day and Austin loved seeing the animals.  The monkeys and the elephants were by far his favorite!  Before we left, Grandma and Grandpa F took Austin on the carousel ride and he seemed to love that too!  It was a really fun day :) 

Grandpa, Grandma and Austin checkin out the safari!

Grandpa and Austin laughing at the monkeys jumping in the trees!

Dad, Mom, Me and the Elephants ;)

Sharing a laugh with Dad as the Elephants scarf down a snack!

Next stop, Tigers!!
Austin was our official tour guide for the day!

Having fun on the carousel!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Guess What!!!

Guess what everybody!!

I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!

and Hunter is just thrilled!!  

Our family is growing...and so is mommy's belly!!

Baby Falky #2 is due: 
April 26, 2009!!

We are all SO excited and can't wait to meet the newest little Falky!!  It is going to be a very exciting time, 2 little ones just 23 months apart and an adventure to Japan right in the middle of it all!!  Stay tuned as we figure out which continent this little one is going to be born in!!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Hangin With Dad!

Every night after Austin gets his bath, he runs to the bottom of the stairs and points up, wanting to go upstairs to "Daddy's Room" to play with Dad before night night time :)  It is really cute how Brian created all sorts of toys for Austin to play with up there, but really all Austin wants to play with is Brian's video game equipment!  Brian has been a trooper and has let Austin take over two headsets, which Austin has already broken, and a remote to the game system Brian doesn't play with as much!! They are Austin's favorite things to play with, he thinks he is actually playing video games like Dad :)  I love this time too, it gives me a chance to clean up the house and fold laundry or catch up on all my blogs!!!

Hangin with Dad! (Notice Austin has a headset around his neck and a control in hand!)

Now if I push this button...

Austin loves hanging with Dad!

Austin cheering on Dad as he scores a touchdown on his college football game!

Austin communicating with his "online buddies!" 
(Notice Hunter's enthusiasm!)

Austin always gets a little sleepy close to bed time and snuggles on the sofa :)

Looks like someone couldn't handle all the excitement!! 
(Austin rarely falls asleep just anywhere like this, he must have been really tired!!)

Monday, November 3, 2008

Japan here we come!

Just wanted to share the latest news!!!

Brian signed a contract to play baseball over in Japan next season!  He will be playing for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks!  We are really excited and ready for this new adventure!  We are still learning a lot about baseball in Japan, and the area we are moving to, but it seems like we are headed to a great city (we've heard it's a lot like Seattle but nicer weather!) so hopefully it will be very familiar!!  The baseball season in Japan starts and lasts around the same time as over here, it's just a little bit longer, by 2 weeks or so!  Brian doesn't have to be there until Jan 31st, so we have a little bit of time before we have to head over!!  I think the only things we aren't excited for is the super long flight over there, and having to leave our dog Hunter behind (Grandma and Grandpa P are going to take good care of him we know!! We are just REALLY going to miss him!)  We will keep you updated as we learn more, but until then, Sayonora!!! (I am headed to Costco to pick up Rosetta Stone first thing tomorrow so I can start learning some Japanese!!)
Ahh, the life in baseball, it's always an adventure!!