Friday, June 28, 2013

Happy Birthday Austin!!!

I realize that I am two days late, but I wanted to post about Austin's birthday and some of the milestones he has reached (besides being ridiculously cute!).  Seriously, Whitney's most common phrase is, "Oh my gosh, Austin, you are so cute!"  We all agree.

He loves being outdoors so we went to the zoo.  I think the tiger was his favorite, mostly because it was big and moving around, followed closely by any of the birds.  He loved watching them and listening to them make all sorts of noises. When Tom got home we had cake and presents.

When he was opening presents, Ryan suggested that we should have practiced with him a bit because he just didn't quite get what to do.  He was still excited.  He got some little people super heroes, a cell phone and his own cars.  Almost everything becomes a phone for him, the thermometer, a stick, a rock.  He puts everything up to his ear and walks around jabbering.  I attribute this to both the absence of all my sisters and the absence of Tom over the last few months.  There has been a lot more phone time.  Grandma Norby gave him the cars and he loves them.  Ryan loves them too.  I keep telling him not to take over Austin's toys.  His response is always, "I'm playing with him".  This would be true if Ryan didn't forget that Austin needed to be a part of the game too.  Notice Ryan in the background checking out the super heroes.  He was all about opening them "for Austin"!



Whitney desperately wanted to be in charge of the cake.  We decided on a pull apart turtle cake, She did a great job decorating it.  Now, we did spend some time practicing blowing out candles, but it didn't really take.  Don't let the picture fool you.  He did not blow it out, but he did make the face!


 He touched the frosting and sort of looked at it.  Then I stuck his fingers in his mouth and he was hooked.  He demolished the entire thing.  He loved the cake so much that after I started washing him off he pushed my hand away, pointed at the cake and made noises that he wanted another piece.  So, he had another one.  It was his birthday after all!

Things about Austin:

* Gives high five.
* Pants like a dog. He will even make the noise when he sees a dog.
* Calls everyone Mom and says mom when he wants something.
* Recently learned how to click his tongue.
* Blows amazing spit bubbles. Not sure if he is a natural or if someone taught him!
* Walks everywhere and is very independent about it.  He doesn't want to hold your hand, he can do it himself.
* Has 7 teeth.
* Makes amazing messes, but loves to clean up.  He keeps putting his new toys back in the gift bag when he is done playing.
* Enjoys bugging his sister and brother.
* Likes to ride in the wagon around the yard.
* Likes the sand box
* Loves the bathroom.  He likes to play with the things in the closet, under the sink, and of course the tiny covers over the bolts of the toilet.
* Became an official toddler when I caught him playing in the toilet!

He is a super happy and good baby. We know there is a problem when he is crying because he just doesn't do it that often.

This last year has been lots of fun. We all love having him in our family.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Happy Birthday Whitney!!

Today my sweet little one turned 9!! She is not so little anymore.  I am sure that I have gushed about how much I love her over and over again so I'll try to refrain from being too sappy. 

We got off to a bit of a bad start this morning.  I slept in.  For some reason Whitney thinks her mornings go better if I am up and ready before her.   On those mornings when I sleep in she feels put out! She still gets up at the same time but I am in pajamas instead of dressed ( or at least out of the shower).  Apparently, me in pj's = she will be late. Though this has never happened!  It took her a few minutes to get out of her funk then the excitement of it being her birthday took over.  First thing to do on your birthday, get measured. She is 4 feet 4 inches tall.  Next thing, beg mom to take you out to lunch since all the cool kids are doing it these days. Cool kids being Paige. We had a great time at Subway. 

She was being a stinker this weekend.  I told her if she didn't knock it off I would buy her birthday presents at the DI.  So to be funny I did.  All week she has been worried about what she was getting.  So when I handed her the present from the DI she did not open it with the furry one typically displays while opening gifts.  When she opened it she found a cute shirt and said, "Whew, I was afraid you got me something really terrible, like a barbie with a chewed off arm!" Note:  She did get other presents not from the thrift store:  




 girly legos from Ryan.  Don't they both look so cute!







and a Tea set (well some of the pieces came from the DI but I got them because they matched what was at Target and were much cheaper). 










Whitney designed a beautiful cake on the cake decorating app. Unfortunately, my cake making skills were not up to the task so she opted for a strawberry trifle instead.  It was delicious! I think one of my favorite birthday treats we have ever done. 








Austin really liked it too!  When the spoon came up he wanted to make sure he was ready for a bite.  Even if they sometimes when into Tom's mouth.









Whitney,
I love you.  I love your smile, your laugh, how you always want to help.  I love how you take care of your little brothers.  And I especially love the saying you carry around in your coat pocket! "When the Lord commands, do it."

Love,
Mom

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Typos that really are embarrasing!!!

 I hate it when spell check doesn't catch the important typos!!  I am sure that Fareed Zakaria probably will now too!!

Just a little bit of news found today on Google news about the US pubic, oh I mean public, yikes!! 

 Don't blame the video games

By Fareed Zakaria

CNN (blog) - ‎1 hour ago‎
Vice President Joe Biden was meeting video game representatives yesterday as the Obama administration and the U.S. pubic grapples with the question of gun crime - and why it is so much more prevalent in America than other rich countries