The Buss Family Blog Prospectus

Here it is. The much anticipated first annual Buss Family Blog 2008 Prospectus.

Not since 2007 has there been such a strong showing of super cute kids matched with flawless blogging. Much like the economy in 2008, the Buss Family Blog did slow at times during the year. For example the time gaps between postings and postings made well after the event had taken place much like Asher's first birthday and our 4th of July vacation to Illinois that have yet to be posted. But even with these problems and short comings the Buss Family Blog made a surging move in the 4th quarter with such riveting postings like 'Black Friday,' and the dynamic story of a husband and wife who travel to Minnesota to see the Chicago Bears get a beat down from the Vikings (who lost today) in the posting 'Our Jet Setter Weekend.' With 4th quarter hits up 5 trillion percent (which will soon be the same as inflation) The Buss Family blog has set a firm foundation moving into 2009, and that is even without the posting of insanely cute pictures to be taken at Christmas that will take place later this week.

And now what you have been waiting for, The Buss Family Blog 2008 pictures of the year, as defined by Matt and Tiffany Buss co-editors of the Buss Family Blog. For those pictures that didn't make the cut this year, we thank you for your hard work and dedication. First, a few honorable mentions. Someone has to lose for there to be a winner.

If you pull this string he talks.

A giggling swinger.

Easter 2008.

Morning of Aidan's birthday.

Morning of Asher's birthday.

Aidan digging with Grandma at his birthday party. That might be the smallest shovel known to man in his hand.

Aidan in the bluebonnets on his birthday.

Asher in a swing that used to be Uncle Kalebs.

"what choo taukin about lizard"

Sugar plum fairies dancing in my head.

Super Cute. She knows, believe me she knows.

The big winners...

#10

The 3 stooges. This is a picture of Aidan and Asher with Cousin Robby at Asher's birthday party. They are all getting to the age that they can play together; not always in harmony, but together. I like Robby's concerned look in this picture. I bet he is thinking "I better check my pocket for my wallet when I get up, I don't trust this little girl next to me." Well maybe they just got robbed coming in at number 10.

#9

Aidan making the grade at number 9. These two fit together, just let me explain... For the last 2 1/2 years (minus this school year) Aidan attended daycare at Casa Sesamo owned and operated by Claudia Flores (see above). Tiff and I were very blessed to find her after our first daycare provider abruptly closed on us when Aidan was about 6 months old. She is amazingly patient and Aidan really learned a lot while he was there. We never worried about him and knew that he was loved while he was at her house. Of course Asher goes there now. The first picture you may recognize as Aidan's first day in the TWC program at Tiffany's school. He really enjoys it and has grown a lot in the last 4 or so months.

#8

A 3-way swim off

Paddling in at number 8 is Aidan in the pool. Aidan took a huge leap this last summer; he became very indepedent in the swimming pool. Before he was very clingy and nervous around the water. This summer he made the turn, along with some water wings, and started swimming around on his own. These three pictures (starting from the top) are Aidan with Uncle Kaleb, Uncle Zach, and Daddy. It will be interesting to see how he does this summer.

#7

Little Ham number 1 sets the bar high at number 7 with this silly face. Aidan has turned into quite the character and has a hefty arsenal of goofy looks for the camera. If I had a dollar for every picture of a goofy Aidan face I could probably buy a Starbucks.

#6

New style of pacifier? Crazy new medical device to straighten out your infants gums? No and no. A little cymbal from a box of percussion instruments? Bingo! Little Ham number 2 goofing into the number 6 spot with her make shift paci. I guess it was better than trying fit the tambourine into her mouth.

#5

Lounging in at number 5 (mainly because it is Meme's favorite number) is from our trip over the 4th of July to Illinois. We all know about kids and large boxes, and Meme was well aware of that fact and saved this box for Aidan to play in (much like the trampoline box that was a boat in her backyard). Aidan loves playing with Meme especially because she can fit into all the places he can.

#4

Flying in at number 4 from Aidan's 3rd birthday. Along with the other things we did on his birthday, one was flying a kite at Old Settlers Park near our house. We like this for it's artistic flavor as well as watching a child with the simple joy of flying a kite.

#3

A great picture of Tiff and the kids. Tiff with a glowing motherly smile, Aidan with an 'I'm too cool to smile' frown, and Asher with the 'I'm still a baby what in the world are you doing' look. You're in with Mommy and Brother at number 3 Asher, that's what.

#2

This is a great picture of Asher. We were playing around the house one day and she got a hold of these glasses. I put them on her and she kept them on long enough for a great picture. Super cute plastic sun glasses - less than a dollar; Tie-Dye outfit from Meme - free; Smiling little girl rounding out number 2 - priceless.

#1

This is one of the earliest (maybe the first) picture of the two kids together smiling as brother and sister. It is one of our favorites and was taken early in the morning before heading off to daycare and school; a time that is very chaotic now. It amazes me that this photo came out so great given the circumstances, and that is why it gets the top spot for 2008.

We hope you have enjoyed this look back at 2008.

A visit with Uncle Jake

We were lucky enough to be able to see Uncle Jake recently. He was working in Houston, so we drove to Brenham and met up with him for dinner. The kids did great on the near 2 hour drive there and happily watched movies on the Shock's DVD players we borrowed. They were also pretty good at dinner. We did get some great pictures too. The kids love playing with Uncle Jake too since he really is a big kid at heart still.

Don't you see the resemblance?

Aidan, Uncle Jake, and Asher with the Thrifty Nickel as a distraction.

It was great seeing you little brother!

He can read!

Aidan is learning so much at school! They made a book in class about Christmas that is like the Brown Bear, Brown Bear books. Aidan loves reading to us! Yes, it may not really be "reading" but it sure is cute!

Snow Day... sort of

Last Tuesday (12/16) we got a little snow flurry. We were coming home from our small group and it had been raining a little, but when we got home it turned into a snow flurry. We got Aidan up, Grandma had been watching him, so he could see the 'snow.' He came down the stairs with a huge smile on his face, and he had to call Meme (Tiff's mom) to tell her about it. There was a little build-up in the morning but it quickly melted.

Here is a picture from our back door.

Here are the kids bundled up the next morning (it was in the 30's).

Our Jet-Setter Weekend

V-I-K-I-N-G-S

GO VIKINGS

LET'S GO!

That's right; Tiff and I made it to a Vikings game. We flew up to Minnesota the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving and flew back Monday afternoon. Our hotel was next to the Mall of America, where we spent most of our time. I was worried that the crowds were going to be bad being the shopping weekend after Thanksgiving but it probably wasn't any worse than any other weekend.

The kids stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's new house for the weekend. They had a lot of fun as well. Grandma said that Asher would take laps all over the house. She obviously enjoyed the room to run. Aidan got to be spoiled and watch more TV then he would at home. Unfortunately they were both a little sick during the weekend. Usually TV is the best medicine for Aidan when he doesn't feel well. After we got home Aidan asked for a certain cartoon to watch that we don't have, and he said "you just punch the buttons on the remote." We had to explain to him that we don't have Tivo like Grandma and Grandpa. We got into Minneapolis on Saturday around lunch time (as you are doing the math - yes our flight did leave Austin at 7:30 AM). The hotel shuttle picked us up and brought us to the hotel. Luckily we were able to check in early so we didn't have to carry our bags or leave them at the front desk. After we checked in we headed to the mall. The hotel runs shuttles (even though it is 2 blocks) to and from the mall on the hour. I had been to the mall years ago but Tiff had never been. We didn't show up with an agenda for the weekend (other than the football game on Sunday Night) so the crowds at the mall weren't stressful. Surprisingly we actually got a lot of shopping done which was never our intent for the weekend. Tiff and I had a lot of fun hanging out together. We even made it to a movie Saturday night. It was very weird for me to walk around in public and see people wearing Viking's jerseys. If Minnesota didn't vote so heavily democrat I would have almost thought I was with my people. Here are a few pictures from the mall.

Here we are at Nickelodeon Universe (the amusement park in the center of the mall). We took this picture for Aidan who is a big Dora fan.

Here is another picture for Aidan; Tiff with Uniqua from the Backyardigans. Aidan asked if Uniqua talked. We e-mailed him the 2 pictures and Grandpa printed them up for him. He slept with them under his pillow.

We took this picture of ourselves in front of the north entrance to the mall. This was the third and final try (and best result) because it was too cold to stand there and keep taking pictures.

Speaking of the weather... when we got in the temperature at the airport was 27 degrees. I had been looking at the forcast before the trip so I knew it was going to be cold (as all of you north of Texas laugh - '27 cold? That's when we break out the swim trunks' - yes you said 'trunks'). We got to the mall and we were thinking "if this is 27 we are going to do just fine." Well by the time we were standing in front of the mall in the sun it was probably in the upper 30's. There was no snow yet. Sunday morning there was a beautiful sheet of fluffy white snow on everything, and it was freezing outside. On one of our trips back to the hotel we decided to walk the to 2 blocks. Of course we went as far as we could inside the building before stepping outside. It was a little chilly.

Sunday evening we took the hotel shuttle over to the light rail station to get up to the Metrodome. We caught the train just as it was leaving, which was good since I left my jacket at the hotel and the trains were running every 15 minutes. The trip took about 20 minutes or so and we were dropped off right across the street from the Metrodome.

The place was packed, as it should have been considering the game was against the (tubby) Bears for the division lead (Aidan says 'tubby' instead of 'teddy'). We walked around as long as I could without a jacket and then headed inside. The gate we entered had to be the furthest one from our seats. We walked around the stadium with wall to wall people.

Here we are outside the dome. Look at those unsuspecting Bears fans. Completely oblivious to the thrashing they would soon receive. You almost feel sorry for them. Even if Minnesota doesn't make the playoffs I will relish this win.

Finally we got to our seats. We were sitting on the 34 yard line row 22 on the Vikings side. We had great seats. We figured with everything we were doing this weekend it wouldn't be worth it if we didn't have great seats. The game was great. There were a couple of (tubby) Bears fans several rows infront of us that kept standing up and giving sarcastic looks to the Vikings fans around them. One 99 yard pass for a touchdown later and they didn't get up the rest of the game.

When we left the game, with the other thousands of people, I was hurting for my jacket. I had left it at the hotel because I didn't want to have to carry it or sit on it at the game. The trains were running about every 5 minutes, but we had to wait for 3 trains before we could actually get on one. We were stand on the platform and when the train pulled up Tiff turned and dropped her shoulders like Adrian Peterson running through the (tubby) Bears defense. The train was packed but we had seats for the ride back.

The view from our seats.

The players coming out during the pre-game.

Us at the game (obviously).

Kickoff. Even from this distance you can see the glimmer of hope in the eyes of the Bears players.

So you say, "geez Matt, what pig zooms in and takes pictures of the cheerleaders with his wife sitting next to him?" And I would say that your assumption that I took this picture would be wrong. Tiff did enjoy the game, however she enjoyed the cheerleader routines during timeouts and between the quarters as much or more. One time she came back from the concession stand or bathroom and asked me "did I miss the cheerleaders?" So yes, Tiffany did take this picture.

Finally I leave you with this video for little Tommy Gustafson in Belvidere, IL, where he sits at the window watching the snowflakes fall and dreams of a time when he can watch the Bears lose the Superbowl again. This ones for you little Tommy, keep your head up.

And yes I am fully aware of the fact that the Vikings have to win the next three games to stay in the lead of the division. And that they have to play 3 tough opponents where the Bears have 3 powder puff games to play to finish their season. Only beating the Lions 20 to 16 isn't going to get the Vikings very far in the NFL. I just have to enjoy the lead while I can.