Stellhorn Christmas

We have lunch at the same place almost every first Sunday of the year. The Stellhorn Christmas. This is when all of Austin's Great-Grandma Salger's brothers and sisters, and their families, get together. This year was the 40th anniversary of the first get-together after Pop (Austin's Great-Great Grandpa) passed away. It's so neat to see such a huge, extended family take time to get together. There's a possibility of 240+ people in attendance. Of course, that doesn't ever happen. People don't know what they're missing!

The afternoon usually consist of dinner, yummy desserts and maybe a few games. This year, Austin passed out about ten minutes after we got there and slept the entire time we ate lunch. We're not sure how he fell asleep. The gathering is held in a gym -- lots of basketballs and echoing voices! Jay and I ate as fast as we could and headed home. He was so proud of his name tag when he finally woke up! See ya next year, Stellhorns!

Happy New Year!

Hey there! This is Austin, again. My Mom is so slow with these holiday updates! I thought I'd take control and tell you how we rang in 2010.

"Aunt" Julia and "Uncle" Ryan came over for dinner on New Year's Eve. Let me tell you, they had SO much food. You would have thought six more people were coming for dinner. I played with my new toys while everyone got dinner ready. Steaks, shrimp, crab legs, salad, baked potatoes and "Red Lobster rolls" --- yum-o! Look at it all!
I think my Godfather is praying we could eat all that food! After dinner, I played some more while the adults talked about silly adult stuff. I tried so hard to stay awake until midnight. My mama tried over and over again to put me in my bed. Who was she trying to kid? There was a party going on! I think I finally gave up around 10:30. Happy New Year!

The next day, I took a super long nap because I had been up so late the night before. My parents thought they had finally figured out my late night / long nap schedule. Ha! Who's in charge here?? Anyway, after my nap we went over to Ka and Ky's house for a fish fry. I loved playing with their leftover New Year's Eve decorations. What's more fun then a room full of balloons? My mama must have told me 100 times not to bite the balloons. She's so not fun.
Ka and Ky both had friends over for the evening. I loved all the extra attention. I'd stand at the top of the stairs and scream "kids, kids, kids" when they weren't giving me enough attention. After dinner, the men hung out in the kitchen while the ladies played this rummy-like game. I think I would have been pretty good at it but they wouldn't even let me touch the tiles. So I decided to drink my mama's beer instead. Just kidding! It was an empty cooler cup!
Do you see my Nana up there? She didn't want anyone cheating! And don't even ask me what's going on with her pants in row two.

What a fun way to welcome 2010! My Aunt Buh. and Great Uncle John must have been hiding from the camera. Shame on them!

Happy 2010!

Love, Austin

Wordless Wednesday: Stylin'

On The Fifth Day of Christmas...

...we got together with the Salger Family!Austin had so much fun with his second cousins. It's always exciting for him to see what the big kids are doing! We're so glad that everyone was able to get together!

Two Days After Christmas

The Sunday after Christmas started with Christmas Goose Egg #2. Austin had run-in with the kitchen island. Literally. The bruise formed right under Christmas Goose Egg #1, which you can see is now a nice shade of yellow and green.

Exhibit C:Austin and Dad worked on putting toys together once we were sure he didn't have a concussion. We figured we were safe when he knew I was Ma, Dad was Da and a cow says MOOO!

Austin was such a great helper. Listening to "Da! Da! DAAAAA! DA!" can really make a person work faster!Ryan and Julia stopped by the spoil Austin with more gifts. By this time, he was really turning on the charm with "oh, wow!" after every gift. His Dad and Godfather had a great time putting together Austin's new tool bench! He's been hammering away ever since!
That afternoon, after another long nap, we headed to Great Aunt Lynn and Great Uncle Dave's house for the Farrar family Christmas. A good time was had by all! Dinner was yummy and Austin walked away with more then he could ever ask for. He was really "oh wowing" everything he got that night. It was so sweet to hear the excitement in his voice.
He's super excited about his basketball hoop and he can't wait to use his picnic table this summer. After the gift exchange, we held the 2nd Annual Lottery Ticket Extravaganza! The room was silent while every scratched away. We didn't have any big winners but we sure had fun!
The highlight of the evening may have been Cousin Stefan's fashion show. He was so proud of the deals he got on his suits! We think he looked so handsome!
And with that, our four days of Christmas were over. We still had another holiday party the following week, but were were looking forward to a few days of sugar detox and getting our house back in order.

I'd say Austin's 2nd Christmas was just as special as his first. I know Christmas is a special time of year for everyone, but there's just something about Christmas with a child. Everything is so exciting and magical! We can't wait until next year!