Braeden and Linus

These two guys have a lot in common.

Boys doing boy things

Braeden watching football. It looks like he is about to throw his arms up and yell, "Touchdown!"

Austin saving the world before bed in his superman pj's. Thanks Aunt Kelly! He loves them, and wants to wear them to bed every night since they light up!

Welcome Fall!

We went for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch, which is also a Christmas tree farm. Austin remembered the train ride before we even got there. It was a blast, as always.

Our little pumpkins!

Top of the world, top of the world!

Seriously, do I look stupid doing this?

I think this is awesome!

Braeden: "You don't think this spider will eat us, do you?"

Austin: "Don't worry little bubba, I got your back."

Goin' on a train ride with Daddy. Pure BLISS!

Watching airplanes land at the airport

What is one thing you can do with the kids? Take them to the airport. Park near the landing strip, open the sun roof, let them stand with their heads out the top and tell them to point to the plane as it lands. Lots of parents were there doing the same thing, and a plane came about every 2 minutes. It was simple fun.

Cuz we're cousins!

They laugh alike, they walk alike, At times they even talk alike -- You can lose your mind, When cousins are two of a kind.

A morning with my mommy

Our morning together started with my first trip to the dentist. (Emma, your grandparents and aunt would be so impressed with me!) I didn't cry and did everything they asked of me. I got so many cool toys, balloons, and even got to watch a movie while I was in the chair. They had trains which I love to play with . It was awesome! I am looking forward to going back in 6 months.

Check out the sunglasses they give you so that the light doesn't shine in your eyes. I think mommy and daddy's dentist should do this too!
Here I am showing you my beautifully clean smile at Chucky Cheese's.
I love Clifford, The Big Red Dog!!
Just me and Chucky driving all these kids to school in the school bus. I take my work very seriously, in case you couldn't tell.
It was a fun time, just mommy and me. Next time we go to the dentist, we'll have to bring Braeden. I think he would like it too!

Yeeeeeee Haaaaawwww!!

Howdy Partner!

Mommy, watch this face!

Luckily this is strictly a pose for the camera. Austin loves to tell me to "watch this face" and make faces at me. Unfortunately I have seen this one often, and it is meant for me, not a pose for the camera.

Ahhhh Air Conditioning

Naps are just so much better when you don't stick to your sheets. Here they are napping (notice the attempt to cuddle as each leans toward his brother) in the air conditioning of the truck when we didn't have electricity.

Our take on Hurricane Ike

Two days before Ike was due to hit landfall, Andy and I wondered what to do. Late that evening, we decided I would take the boys out of town, and he would stay here with the dogs and the house. Shortly after, there was a mandatory evacuation for counties south of us, and I had heard about all the people who were stuck on the highways, out of gas, for 18 hours during Hurricane Rita's evacuations. I changed my mind. I couldn't see myself stuck in the car for 18 hours with two children under the age of 3. Plans changed. We would stay and ride out the storm. The main fears for our area were the winds, not the water.

Here is a picture of Ike coming from our front door, early in the evening.

This was shot about 30 minutes later. It started to get too dark to capture any more pictures, and the winds were getting strong. Luckily, we got the boys to bed before the storm really picked up, so they weren't scared. The bad part about this is that it came through at night and you could not see just how bad it was, but you could hear it. We lost electricity sometime around 1:00 a.m. No more news, we lost contact with what was happening. Andy and I were up watching and waiting all night while the boys slept in our bedroom downstairs. We kept hearing thumps and feeling vibrations of trees falling all around us.

Here is a shot of a couple of the many, many, many trees that fell and made roads impassable. Andy spent the day after the storm helping police men and neighbors cut trees out of the roads so people could get in and out.

Here is our front yard afterwards. Notice the trees lean toward the house now, and there is one on the ground in the back of the picture. We didn't have power for 8 days, but I look at anything we endured as an inconvenience compared to how all the people on the coast are and will continue to endure the effects of Ike for a very long time. My mom and dad got a tree on there house and one on their spa, but the blessings of that are amazing! It happened to be on a part of the house they wanted to have updated, their neighbors were able to get a generator for them, they got an air conditioner, my brother's church removed the tree for them for free, my mom heard GREAT news about her cancer cell count going down. It was just amazing how God took care of all of us. All of our loved ones made it through the storm just fine, just slightly inconvenienced.

Oh, and those of you who were wondering, Andy's boat is also ok. Despite the fact that it was in it's shed on the bay, it didn't get water or any damage! Amazing! To be honest, I think Andy was a little disappointed. As much as he loves his boat, he probably would have used the insurance check to buy a bigger one!

Braeden's first haircut

Ok, so I have to show you the "after" shots first because the "during" shots are just pitiful! He looks a bit more like Austin now that his hair looks like a big boy's haircut. Mom just couldn't handle the long hair any more....there was just no fixing it after nap time!

How could you do this to me????

Morning Delight

This week we had a bit of a break in humidity which made our mornings nice and cool! We were able to get outside with Mimi at the park. Braeden wanted to do the slide over and over and over and over!

Austin tried to teach Braeden to go down on your belly which is even more fun!Seesaw, Marjorie Daw, Johnny shall have a new master. He shall earn but a penny a day, because he can't work any faster.

My Summer Vacation...

My Summer Vacation

By Austin Giffhorn

We started with a trip to Sea World where I got to pet and feed a dolphin!

Duh Nuh, Duh Nuh, Duh Nuh........Look out its a shark!

We saw a Sea Lion show, then we fed them too.

Braeden asked Mommy to put the camera down and check this out!

Crocodiles!!! Chomp chomp chomp!

We saw Shamu then we were done for the day.

The next day we went to Natural Bridge Wildlife Park.

You drive through the park and feed all sorts of animals from the car.

Like ostriches...

Zebras (be sure and ask my daddy about the zebra, I think he might have a fear of them now!)

Llamas....and tons of other animals.

Before we left, we got to pet and feed the goats.

Then we drove to Corpus Christi. The next morning, we went to the beach (Daddy's favorite place in all of Texas, the Padre Island National Seashore).

I caught my very first fish. I reeled him in all by myself on my Spiderman fishing pole!

Then I caught my second fish. It was much bigger, and I needed just a little help getting him in.

Braeden played in the sand, and loved running around with nothing to fence him in! Mommy and Daddy spent a lot of time chasing him in the water. He wouldn't stay out of it!

Braeden thought the beach was great even when you looked at it upside down.

Finally, we learned that with the right amount of sun screen and sand, we can make Braeden look just like a mug shot of Nick Nolte.