Installed the faucet, drain and disposal yesterday

My brother-in-law Tom and I installed the kitchen faucet, drain and disposal. We had no idea what we were doing but after 3 trips to Lowes, we managed to knock it out. Here are some pictures of the final product:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090118FaucetDrainAndDisposalProject

Smilely

Little Architect.

St Louis Zoo Penguin Walk

The St Louis Zoo does a fun thing on Sunday's when the temperature is below 50 degrees. At 1:30pm, they take the penguins out for a walk. It's a rather unique experience that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090111PenguinWalk

Go Steelers!

Finishing up watching game and poor little Ashy is tired and possibly getting sick. Poor thing.

A couple of funny things

I am sure that Ryan, Katie, Tom, and grandmas and grandpas only think our stories are funny. Anywho, Ashley is OBSESSED with coffee and always says, "can I have coffee, please?" And so we give her a coffee cup of milk to make her feel better. So yesterday I was in the laundry room and she was at the computer and I heard her say, "Mommy, yucky, stinky, yucky mommy." She was running in the room with a frightend look on her face and so I asked her what the problem was and she picked up my cold coffee and made this look of horror and said, "mommy, coffee is stinky." I then thought her obsession with coffee/coffee cups would be over so I took a sip and said, "I like it, yummy!" She then proceded to take antoher sip and with a look of ABSOLUTE HORROR and DISGUST said, "deeeeliiiicious mommy can I have some." No joke...
One more thing. The other night we were walking down the hall to go bed and she spotted a scab on her achilles. She stopped a couple of times to look at and then said, "mommy, my booboo is poopoo." Apparently she thinks that any brown smudge is poopoo.
One more, I PROMISE... This is actually getting quite absurd. But, if we raise our voice at Ashley she will point her finger and say, "mommy don't scream." Then I end up apologizing for raising my voice. If I pull her pants back to check her diaper she will say, "mommy do not pull me" or if Aidan accidently kicks his precious chubby legs and it hits her she will say, "Aidan, time out no kicking." I MEAN REALLY!!! This is ALREADY STARTING??? We have a little firecraker on our hands.

Aidan and Ashley Updates

The holiday's are about over and it's time to recap the latest few weeks.

Aidan is getting big and smiling just about all day long. He is now 3 months and 1 day old and about 14 lbs in weight. His neck is getting so strong and he grabs anything in front of him.

Ashley is now almost 22 months old and is a piece of work. Nothing new for sure, but she is really starting to show her personality/smarts. Some examples:

• Me: Ashley, daddy is tired. Can he sleep in your crib with you tonight?
• Ashley: No daddy. Too tight.
  

• Ashley while grabbing Aidan's chin and pulling towards her while watching Curious George movie: Aidan, look at me. See monkey George?

Here are some pictures taken this morning of Ashley and Aidan playing aka Aidan getting pushed around by Ashley:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20090104AshleyAndAidanPlaying

Misc and Christmas Pictures

So I failed to take one picture w/ my camera over the holiday's this year. Good work Ryan. Anyway, here are some misc pictures taken with Kelly's mom's camera.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20081225MiscAndChristmasInStLouis

Another One

Hanging Out