Austin's 2nd Birthday Pictures (even though I know he's almost 3)

I know... its been a LONG time!

Well, a little over a year has gone by and a lot has changed so here goes the short version.
My brother, William, got married last May and he and Emily make the cutest couple.
My brother, Jeffrey, graduated high school and went off to college in Tennessee.
My mom spent her summer in the hospital after getting a very rare and scary infection. After several surgeries and a lot of prayer, she is almost fully recovered at this point. Thanks for every one's prayers and concerns.
David's sister, Krysta, got married to a very nice military man named Greg and their family of 7 now is doing very well. I'm so happy for her.
Austin turned 2 in July and he is almost 3 now. His 2 year old year started out a little rough with a broken arm, and 2 weeks later, knocked out 2 teeth. This was the saddest thing ever and enough to break a Mommy's heart. Of course by the second trip to the ER, we were looked at sideways by everyone and questioned up and down. Looking back, it seems less traumatic but at the time I didn't know what could be worse.
We got a dog! We are determined to be dog owners and actually really like this one. There was a period of time where we did want to give him away but we stuck with it. He is a little Sheltie names Maddox and he's really a good dog. Austin told me that Jesus died for Maddox's sins so I'm pretty sure we're keeping this one.
A few months later we found out that our family would be growing. In July, we will have another baby boy. His name is going to be Aiden Matthew Goodrich or Aiden James Goodrich. This was an incredible blessing after having several miscarriages trying for this baby and finding out about a blood clotting disorder causing the miscarriages. However, this pregnancy is going great with the blood clotting under control through a simple shot each day... a small price to pay for another little Austin coming into our world!
Austin started at a new school "house" and absolutely loves it. I miss having him at school with me but he is having so much fun and learning so much that it was definitely the right decision.
The school year just ended and went very well. I had a very sweet and smart class and will miss them next year. Even though I would love to stay at home with my kids next year, I will be returning to teach in September.
David and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary in May and are closer now than ever before. There's something about trials that make you grow closer and more dependent on God.
My brother, Jordan, just graduated from high school and will go off to Lee University in the Fall. All of my siblings are now grown... its kind of sad.
My sister, Kimberly who had baby Claire last April, found out that she is pregnant again with a third girl! They know that they will have their hands full with 3 very girly girls but are also very excited. Claire, the sweet baby that has been the only new topic of my blog for the past year now, just celebrated her first birthday.
Right now, our family is trying to get ready for the new baby to come. We are going to get his room done this weekend with the help of David's parents. I'll feel much better when the room is finished. Austin is so excited about Aiden coming. He's always telling me that I need to take it easy because of the baby in my tummy. He talks to Aiden and kisses my stomach. He carries around a baby doll so sweetly and tells me that he's going to give the baby his pacies when he comes out. This is HUGE... yes, he's almost 3 but those pacies are his world. He has to have at least 3to sleep at night. Austin is also SO into sports and can't wait to be old enough to play on areal team. He tells me that he's going to dream about baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey,and soccer every night. When we go to a toy store, he always leaves with a ball instead of a toy. So, naturally, his new big boy room is a sports room. We let him pick out everything and he's never hesitated to sleep in there. He's such an amazing kid and already showing a passionate heart for God. We are so blessed and can't wait to meet Aiden!

My Precious Niece has arrived! Claire Abigail Tucker 6 lbs. 11 oz. April 18, 2009

A visit from David's sister

Krysta and the new boyfriend, Greg and their combined 5 kids came for a visit during Spring Break. It was so great to meet him and see that he was truly a gentleman with 2 very sweet and well-mannered little girls and he treated Krysta wonderfully! We did a few of the typical tourist type things to do. We went to the Aquarium and the Zoo and had a lot of fun watching the kids soak it all in. Apparently everyone else had this same idea because these places were packed. It's so neat to see the world from a child's view!

A vacation to the Goodrich home

The Annual Easter Egg Hunt at my Mom's House

Austin is a natural born hunter. He had his mind set to win this thing until he saw the hill. Once he noticed that, it was all over... every Easter egg went down the side of it along with some other rocks and logs!

So Sweet!

Dave's 7th graders are so cute! Austin had strep throat and David stayed home with him. While he was out, they all made him a get well card. Austin really got into it!

A Relaxing Weekend in Gatlinburg with the Family

This kid can make a mess in no time!

We turn our backs for a minute and he's got the bathtub filled with household items, the dryer is filled with pantry items, and anything that he could dump and smear is dumped!! He's an explorer to say the least.

What a big boy!

Austin made himself at home in our classroom reading corner. Who would ever know that he's not one of the big kids?

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Feeding the ducks

Our new family thing is to go and feed these crazy ducks (mostly geese actually). Austin could stand here all day and throw bread to the ducks. Dave could throw bread AT the ducks all day!

What a little man

Austin is always wanting to brush his teeth and dress up in Daddy's accessories. He found this hat and put it on by himself. This is a typical Austin look! Can't you just squeeze him?

Austin's Class Valentine's Day Party

He's loving this fruit!









Austin passed out all of his Valentines just like a big boy. This was the cutest thing ever!!!

"I got all of my goodies and I'm ready to go eat it!"

What a night!

A very sweet Birthday

So every year when my birthday is about to roll around again, I hint to David that I love Baskin Robbins Birthday cakes and that I'm not that into regular cakes, and every year he doesn't get it and I do get a regular cake. Not this year! I never even said anything this year because I thought, "What's the use," and low and behold he came home with a Cookies and Cream Baskin Robbins Birthday cake. Way to go Babe!

Imaginations... why didn't I think of a place like this?

Create Your Own

Our Family in Michigan

Building one ugly snowman!

"Well, I'm supposed to be helping Daddy build a snowman but instead I'll last about 5 minutes in this same position before I get really mad!" -Austin

Christmas with Snow?

Obviously us Georgians are not used to a snowy Christmas, and I gotta tell you, it is not all its cracked up to be! Yea, its pretty, but your feet get soaked when you walk outside even for a second and then your shoes have this gray film across them, the driveway must get shoveled each time someone wants to come or go, all of the windows of your car have to get scraped with a credit card in your wallet, the roads feel as if you are constantly crossing railroad tracks because they are so destroyed from all of the snow, the cars are all a dingy gray color from all of the salt, and the crunching noiseyou hear as you walk across thesnowis equivalent to running your nails across the chalk board! Next time you hear the joys of a white Christmas, you too can laugh and say, "Thank goodness I wasn't there!"

The night Parade and Fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom

The Magical Kingdom!!

Sea World on Thanksgiving Day

On the way to Orlando

The whole family...the three of us, my sister, Clint, and Haley, my Mom, and brothers all followed each other to Florida. Thank goodness for Crack or Barrel! The kids needed to rock a little of their frustration out!!

We are at Disney World!!!

We are so blessed this year to get to spend Thanksgiving at Disneyworld. My mom bought my whole family the trip so we'll all be down there. We will be at Sea World on Thanksgiving and in Disney the next few days. I'm so excited. I'll be sure to blow the blog up with slideshows when we get back! Happy Thanksgiving!!

We have a walker!

Everyone kept telling me, "He's so laid back... he'll walk in his own time," and he did. He's so proud of himself! To celebrate, we went out and got him some new walking shoes. He's the cutest little thing walking around like he's big or something! I could watch him all day!

Are the neighbors happy?

It's official Christmas is here! The outside stuff is up too and we couldn't be happier! I don't know why we waited so long!

Our little bathing beauty... don't worry the bubbles are covering everything!

This kid will stay in the bath all night long if we let him. He's basically a prune by the time we get him out!

Christmas... Early!

Oh yes... it's the weekend after Halloween and our Christmas tree is up and our house is decked out with Christmas! We just love this joyful season and now we'll have 2 months of it!! We are waiting on putting the outside stuff up!

Is he not the cutest? I just want to squeeze him!

I almost had David talked into giving the dog away and then he saw this!

Austin and Haley (and Dave) had so much fun at the new Hamilton Mill park!

So my sister and I set up a time on Saturday to take Austin and Haley to the park and all of the sudden Dave wants to tag along. He says its so he can exercise Sady but since we ended up holding the leash... I doubt it! The whole time he was trying to convince the 1 and 2 year old to go down the big fast and steep older kid slides so that he could go too! Huh... exercise the dog!!