Happy 2nd Birthday, Austin!!

Can you believe he is already 2?! It seems just like yesterday he was this small:

Austin 7 months old :)

He may be just a little bit bigger, but he still seems to have a thing for fire trucks!

So, of course, we had to pull off an awesome fire truck themed birthday party with our favorite little friends!

FYI - Target cakes are awesome. I just told the baker what I wanted. Done.

But, wait... You can't have a fire truck party without some special guests? How about some firemen? And....a fire truck??? Um, yes, please!

That's right. There is a massive fire truck coming up our driveway!

The kids absolutely loved this!! I mean, who wouldn't?! This was awesome! Austin, of course, was decked out in his own fireman's jacket and hat.

Checking out the awesomeness!

Had to show y'all the 9/11 plaque <3 - Yes, we will ALWAYS remember.

Austin and Andrew

Ok, y'all. These next photos crack. me. up. Austin was SO into this. You'll see. 

 

 

He copied this firemen almost the whole party. It was SO cute!!

A HUGE thank you these firemen! They were awesome!! The whole crew hung out the entire time and it was just amazing! These guys put their lives on the line whenever those sired go off, so we were thrilled to have them here to party it up with Austin! Y'all made this little guy of ours have the best day of his life! :)

Currently. {Vol. 5}

Enjoying:

Father's Day Weekend!

Picnic dinner at a local park

They all must sit in the big blue chair.

The first day of summer (per the calendar).

Eighteen25

 The last day in my 20s - gasp!

Also, enjoying my free birthday drink from Dunkin Donuts while listening to the Inspired to Action podcast.

Loving: 

I am LOVING the fact that we can finally countdown to moving!! As of today, we have 33 days until closing/move-in day!!! AHHHHH!!!! Stay tuned for posts on saying goodbye to this house and HELLO!!!! to the new house! We cannot wait to show you our new home!!

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(Ok, maybe it's not the final countdown... I do still have the first day of kindergarten and a new baby to countdown to. But, Ross on the keyboard?! I couldn't resist!)

Planning: 

Oh. You have NO idea. I just got my AWESOME Erin Condren planner in the mail on Friday. (psst! click that link and you'll get $10 off your first order!)

Do you see how pretty?!

One happy planner - me!

Oh, yes. All the school dates are penciled in. The moving date is penciled in. PENCILED. Key word. (Do they make erasable colored pencils? Hmm...) My mom got me the carry-all clutch for my birthday! And, I plan on getting some customized stickers for different categories. See? You have no idea. Erin Condren is fabulous!

Feeling: 

Excited!! I think this pretty much sums it up:

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Making: 

Making menu plans based on everything in the pantry, fridge, and freezer. We have 33 days left in this place and I can probably make it about 2 1/2 almost 3 weeks on this (of course adding the needs like milk and fresh fruits/veggies).

I'm not the only one making things around here. Here's something that Andrew invented. Basically, you write a word in one box and the thing appears in another box. I would buy that. Or write it in and then it would appear. Only, he told me that this is for fruits only. He is working on making a few other "chart machines" for other things later, he says.

Listening:

Listening to these guys play Super Mario Bros. is HILARIOUS!

Andrew picked a level that I guess Alex didn't want. So Alex went into the bubble. But Andrew had the fire flower, so kept popping the bubble. Then, at one point Alex was floating over a drop where Andrew popped the bubble. Alex yells at him, "YOU DEADED ME!!!!!"

Another level Alex had picked and they were both playing fine until one grabbed all the mushrooms out of a mystery box instead of just taking one and letting the other get one. Whoever it was happened to be on a Yoshi, so he ate him. And spit him out over a drop. Nice.

Finally (after a lot of laughs from mama), I explained that Mario and Luigi are BROTHERS. Andrew and Alex are BROTHERS. You have to work together to win the level, guys. They said they know and giggled, then continued stealing coins from each other and throwing each other over the drop. Oh, dear. So, silly.

Reading:

I am happy to announce that I am FINALLY done with Wizard and Glass. Y'all. I really would have rather travel back in time to the grade in which I was FORCED to read The Grapes of Wrath. I mean, it was basically the same thing. I went to add it to my GoodReads account and, apparently, others seemed to think the same...slow read...what on earth did we have to go into such great detail in the middle of the book for...etc. I am so happy it is over.

Who knew a 30 week bump made such a great page holder?!

On to the next read: Death by Coffee!

Watching:

Austin and I watched some late afternoon cartoons while Jason and the bigger boys took a load of boxes to the new house and made a trip to Costco. He is such a little snuggle bug...

That's it for now! Lots of fun and exciting posts will be coming up in the next few weeks. YAY!

Have a great weekend!!

2015 Hair Trend: Bedhead Mohawk

Note: As with all hair trends, please understand that not everyone can pull this off. Style at your own risk.

Start sleeping with partially dry hair, people. It's not just the bedhead look that is in...it's the bedhead Mohawk! Watch it, now! That's right - the Mohawk is cooler (and cuter) than ever.

Good morning!

Why all the photos?

You're making me shy...

Seriously. You can stop now.

This is an all day look that needs no products or styling at all. Especially is you have baby-fine hair. 

Playing around while rocking that Mohawk

Even during school, the Mohawk is still great look!

What a cutie I have, right?! He's napping now. I wonder what it will look like when he wakes. I kind of hope it is still around...


 

Wordless Wednesday {Christmas Eve Edition}

The House wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!! 

See y'all in 2015!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Austin is 1!!!! {Birthdays}

 Yes, it is that magical time of year where you remember when you were all like this:

Sometime around 4 am before heading to the hospital on Nov 6th

And, then after a while, you get to see this:

But then a year passes by rather quickly...

Crazy, huh? He is such big boy now!

This was right after he woke up, as you can see in the top left picture. Not fully awake, but ready to party!

That guy is one special little dude. His brothers may be stinkers at times, but they love their Baby Austin so much. Ahem. They love their Austin so much. I was informed by Alex that we cannot call him "Baby Austin" as he is no longer 0 years old. "He is 1, mama. And that mean a little boy. When he is 3, like me, or maybe 5 (like Andrew), then he is a big boy. But, he not a baby." Sigh... 

We had quite the party day for this guy! First, birthday breakfast and presents from his brothers. They picked out a bunch of those Little People Wheelies cars. He loved them, of course (and the bigger ones, too, apparently). While he played, the boys got a bit of some school in while I cleaned the kitchen and got ready for Austin's day of fun.

We had an impromptu mini birthday party at the ice cream shop (which, silly me...I didn't get pictures of that. oops #momfail). I did get a picture of the party-goers though!

I just love that photo! It totally shows all their little personalities. Adorable!! :)

Afterwards, we met up with some more friends at the zoo (which...no...this is NOT a picture from the same day. Same friends, different time. Yet another #momfail)

By this point everyone was sick of the party hats and had entirely too much energy. So, even if I had thought to take a darn picture, I'm sure not one of mine would have chilled out for 2 seconds. Yeah.... Still, the zoo was fun and they were most definitely worn out by the end of the day! Especially, since I took them to Toys R Us afterwards.

Yes, I know. Insane is the word you are looking for. But, it all worked out. The boys knew that 1) Austin was the one picking out a toy and 2) Christmas is coming. Of course, with fact #2, all I heard was, "OOO! Look at this!! We want this on the list!" or "Let's tell Santa!" and "Let's take a picture and send it to Grandma!" Oh, my.

Austin did pick out a toy after we wandered a few toddler aisles. And it was super cute, too! He saw a dump truck and said, "CA!!!" (for car, but basically everything with wheels). I asked his if that's what he would like and gave me the biggest grin. Then we turn the corner to walk to the register. And, wow. I thought he was going to actually jump out of the cart to grab the BIGGER dump truck (which also happened to be orange). He saw that one and threw the smaller one down and reached with his grabby hands for this truck. It was so cute! So, of course, he got that one. And while I was glad it was super expensive (tag said $27 something), I was even happier when I went to pay! It got that thing for $17. Score. Everyone wins.

Jason came home for just a bit to give him his present before having to head back out. But there were smiles all around. He just loves that truck!

"Thank you, Daddy!"

After dinner we did celebration #1 (we had cupcakes for the next few days since Jason missed out), and, oh my.... He's not a big fan of the birthday candle. But LOVES the cupcake!

 

Oh, Austin... You are such a funny, sweet, amazing little boy! You make all of us smile and your little laugh just warms our hearts. We love you so very much!!

Happy 1st birthday to our little super guy!!

SomeONE Got a Haircut...and SomeONE will be Turning ONE!!!

Note: Please excuse the picture quality... I had Andrew taking photos for me as Jason was working last this particular day last week. 

I'm just going to come out and say it... He is ADORABLE!! Those sweet eyes and sweet little face of his. He makes this family quite happy!

First Halloween photo! Ok, while he may not look happy. Let me just tell you... He wanted to sit there all night. In that spot. And was SO mad when we had to get going. So silly!

He definitely went back to smiling when his big brothers shared some yummy ice cream with him, though.

How's that for strange photo? Halloween costumes with a Christmas tree in the background. Haha!

Someone got mail!! Austin got his first "First Birthday" card in the mail yesterday! Thanks, Ma & Dave!

He loves it, can you tell?! So cute!

Still can't believe he will be one tomorrow!!!

Last year...at this time, I was getting ready to go pick up Andrew and Alex from school. Finished a weekend of fun filled with Trick or Treating everywhere and getting the "shocked that I was out and about face" just days before my 2nd C-section. Crazy times. But pretty awesome, too.

Now, this once big baby is now a big boy. Walking and talking (says a few words we all understand - the rest is more only what I understand...sometimes). He loves playing "CA!!" (catch) with his brothers and playing with "CA!!" (cars and trucks), too. But, I think that smiling is his favorite thing to do! All smiles almost all of the time!!

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(Haha! Perfect, right? Ok, now, that's the only Christmas thing you are going to see from me until Advent (November 30th). Seriously. Ok, fine...maybe the few Christmas presents for my family at Thanksgiving. But that's it. Each holiday is getting their own month.)