Austin's 6th Birthday!

Austin turned 6 on November 9!

I can't believe my baby is getting to be such a big kid!  Six years ago, we became parents and our lives changed in so many beautiful ways.  Life will never be the same - and we are so thankful!  We are blessed many times over.  

Austin is a special boy.  He is funny, silly, smart, cute, handsome, caring, sweet, loving, and a great big brother.  He loves school and is always excited to get up and go in the morning.  He is reading at a level of 6 or more months into 2nd grade and he's only in Kindergarten!  He loves to read and play.  He is very creative making up stories and games with his CARS toys and playing with Sarah.  He is a great big brother, but does clash with Sarah plenty too.  He loves to give Trevor hugs and kisses and is ecstatic when Trevor smiles at him or lets him hold him without fussing.  He is very active and fully of energy.  He loves to run around, play active games, rough house with Daddy, and ride his bike.  

On Austin's birthday, he had a special day for his week being the "Star of the Week" for his class.  We attended the monthly birthday social on Wednesday where he had donuts and juice with us before attending the school Mass with us and getting a blessing from the rest of the students.  Then we were invited to his class on his birthday for the celebration of his Star Week.  He got to sit up front with us and his classmates sang him songs about how special he is.  The teacher then showed him the pictures his classmates drew of him about what he likes.  They drew him with macaroni and cheese, watching CARS, swimming, playing with his family, riding his bike, etc.  It was very cute!  His classmates were all very interested in Trevor and he was so proud to get to show off his family.  When the kids were singing the songs about him being special, I thought I even saw Austin starting to tear up a bit. He can be such a sweet sensitive little boy sometimes.  What a precious child he is to us!

After school, we took Austin shopping to pick out a new bike for his birthday present.  He and Sarah had a blast at Toys R Us, then we headed to one of his favorite restaurants, Noodles, for supper.  When we got hom, he opened his gifts from Gramma and PopPop.  He was very excited about the Angry Birds game, clothes, and puzzle he received.  

Sarah also got a matching shirt and an adorable headband.

Then Nanny came over to tuck in the kids while we started making his birthday cake.  Another late night cake baking and decorating extravaganza ensued, but we had fun being able to make him a special cake.  He requested a CARS theme...so we made a Lightning McQueen cake (and some cupcakes with other characters on them).

On Saturday, we first headed to a photography studio to meet our photographer for some photos of Trevor for his 3 month photos (a bit early since he's actually 3 months old right around Thanksgiving).  We got some cute photos of the kids together and some of Austin on his own too.  I'll post my favorites when we get them, of course.  Then we headed home, convinced the kids to take a little nap before everybody got here, then had Austin's birthday party in the evening with family.  

By the time the kids got up from naps, it was 72 degrees and sunny outside!!  Beautiful!  So Austin headed out to ride his new bike.  Unfortunately, there is something funky going on with the chain because it is making a weird clicking/clunking kind of noise when he rides it.  We're either going to have to have someone fix it or return it to the store to get a new one.  

Party time!

Cooking in party hats.

Austin totally cracking up at dinner.  

The birthday boy asked for turkey burgers, macaroni and cheese, and sugar snap peas, so that's what we made for the party.

After supper, Austin opened presents.  He had some helpers...

He received very nice gifts and has been having a blast playing with them all.  It was especially cute to see how well Austin and Alexis played together.  Alexis made Austin a really sweet card too.

Jeannie's got the baby touch and Trevor was quite happy to fall asleep in her arms.

Then it was time for cake! (and cupcakes too)

After cake, we watched the Irish football game.  Another win.  Now 10-0!  Woohoo!  Uncle Brian did touchdown pushups carrying an extra 80 pounds or so on his back.

We're all tired after a fun, but busy weekend.  Now a few days to recover, then I go back to work on Friday.  That 12 weeks sure went by fast!  Trevor has been a trooper about taking a bottle of breastmilk from Daddy, so hopefully it will go smoothly when I'm away.

A few other photos from recently...some cute shots of Trevor.  I'm still playing with my camera to try to learn how to do different settings, lenses, lighting, etc. but I've sure got pretty cute subjects to practice on!

"How you doin'?"