AUSTIN is 6 years Old

It is amazing to me how many times a kid can change thier mind of what kind of party they want. He went from, hockey to pirate to cars to Transformers and finally landed on pirates as the theme. It is easier when they are younger because you just choose for them.

We just did a small family birthday this year...but we did do a theme and the kids LOVED it! Chris was really into helping...he wanted to do a treasure hunt, with a map. He had fun creating the map and soaking it in hot chocolate (since we don't drink coffee or tea) and burning the edges. He was also the one who took all the kids outside to find the buried treasure. I got plastic blow-up swords and made pirate bandanas for the kids to wear. They loved it. Here are some fun pictures...

Kids Posing before they go look for the buried treasure

The mission was a success...

Austin's most exciting gift...yes a REAL bow and arrows.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BIG MAN!

HALLOWEEN! Shiver me timbers....

So, Austin wanted to be a pirate for Halloween this year (because of the sword). And since Austin was a pirate I knew Aaron would want to be a pirate...He LOVES to be just like his brother...it is soo cute how he looks up to him. Austin does not understand that yet.
My SIL kids were characters from The Little Mermaid. Ariel, Sebastian and the shark. My SIL was Ursula, but I don't have a very good picture of that...
All this kids had fun Trunk or Treating...Especially the little ones once they figured out what people where putting in thier bags...

Aaron is TWO!!!!

I cannot believe how time flies...it was just like yesterday that I was sent to the hospital because of low fluid to be induced to deliver Aaron. AND NOW he is TWO years old. He is an amazing little man...LOVES affection, hugs, kisses and cuddles. He loves to sing, dance and have these amazing conversations with complete strangers, I honestly have NO idea what he is saying, but he sure does and most of the time gets a kick out of himself. Since Chris works the MID shift, Aaron usually crawls into my bed in the middle of the night...moments I will cherish since he never slept with us as a baby.

Here are some cute pictures over the past two years....

1st Day of School...KINDERGARTEN

Austin was SOOO excited to start school. The first week they weaned the kids into it.

1st day- 2 hours with a parent

2nd day - half day leave after lunch

3rd day- was when the full days started

Chris went with Austin on his first day...I made him take the camera, he did a pretty good job considering he is not our usual photographer.

Austin posing with his shoe box he decorated...He is SOO proud of it!

Listening to his teacher read...Don't Eat the Teacher, he loves that book

Here is Austin with his cousin Emmalee...They are in the same grade at the same school. Doesn't her hair look cute, her mom does a FAB job with it!

Breeanna Barrett...my new niece!

My SIL just had here first baby, and it was a sweet tiny little girl. She is adorable. Aaron and I make the trek down to Durango to visit (Austin went ahead earlier with his Aunt Lisa). Let me tell you the trip down there was NOT pleasant. Out of the 6 hour drive...Aaron literally screamed half of the time. AHHH....an in car DVD player would have definately been a lifesaver, but next time... Ok... on to the sweet baby girl!

Here is a sweet picture of her and her parents on her blessing day. And here is some of Austin and Aaron both taking thier turn holding her....

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Meet Redneck Austin...

I don't mean that in a flattering way... if there is a flattering way.

About 2 weeks ago Austin was screaming bloody murder in his room for me to come to him. I came in asking what all the comotion was about. He was crying, no screaming because he hit his mouth on his bed. I took him into the bathroom an his mouth was bleeding, with a loose tooth. Yes, my son knocked his tooth out (seriously, this kids has not had one injury from hockey, but from just being a boy he has had a split head and now a knocked out tooth). SO now my son has 3 missing teeth! Yesterday is when the tooth finally decided to make and exit. I am still "talking" sith the Tooth Fairy on if she is going to visit for knocked out teeth... well see.

So again I present Redneck Austin...

Check Out My Famous Friends: MANITU

Check out their first music video...PRETTY AWESOME... I so need to learn Spanish!

I have known these boys (Lex, Lukas and Marcos)...now men for over 12 years...WOW they are now touring in Mexico. Pretty cool! Marcos is the youngest, and he is the lead Main singer, Lex the oldest has the gotee (sp?) sings backup and plays the guitar... Lukas plays the bass he has the nice curly hair. All brothers living the dream. GREAT JOB GUYS!

I'm Pregnant!!! Thank Goodness

I am pregnant, and thank goodness for that. I have had SO MUCH anxiety, and I never have anxiety. I was supposed to go down to Durango for SIL baby shower and for some reason I was really freaking out. I honestly have no idea why. My reasoning was I better be pregnant, if not, What on earth is wrong with me... Amy for not making it down I seriously apologize...

I did not tell Chris for about 2 weeks due to him freaking out, not about the baby, just the typical money, room situation...but all is well and he did fine We did tell our families in August by having the boys wear shirts with the announcements of being a big brother and big brother again... here is the pic...

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They Grow So Fast...

It is amazing to me how fast my kids are growing...I wish there was a way to keep them small forever, but not feeding them is looked down upon. So I guess they will just have to grow (good thing for pictures.)
Austin is growing up SO fast! I just registered him for Kindergarten the other day, he is so excited. I permitted him to the same school as his cousin Emmalee (but we requested that they not be in the same class, that is trouble, they totally feed off eachother). It is amazing to me all the things they expect the kids to know...we will be having some learning time during Aaron's nap time. Hockey this Spring has just been awesome. Last Spring as you may recall Austin split his head and missed half of the season, so he missed out on learning alot of the skills. This Spring we have seen a huge difference. I have some fun videos...I will post as soon as I download them. He LOVES checking!

Aaron is now sleeping in a big boy bed. One Monday I put him down for a nap in his crib (which was in our bedroom), closed the door. I heard him cry every once in a while like usual, but when I heard scratching on the door, yes...the door I went in and found him out of his crib, playing in the closet. That was the day he moved to the bottom bunk in Austin's room. (I have heard horror stories about kids climbing out of thier cribs and breaking arms or/and legs, I did not want that to happen) He is doing FABULOUS sleeping in his big boy bed. I believe having no bars around him makes it more easier for him. He is also VERY active like his brother...will try to do anything Austin does, which is cute, scary and a little annoying...depending on the activity.

Chris just graduated with his Bachelors...he actually just walked (since they only have 1 graduation a year), but he is taking 3 classes this Summer and he will be officially done...I joke with him saying you can walk the walk, but you can't talk the talk...not yet that is. He is an amazing man...He has so many things on his plate and is still a wonderful father and husband. He has been taking at least 2 classes a quarter and been holding a 3.86 average GPA, working full time (just took on a new job having to get certified in the systems they work on and doing rolling shifts - one week days, the next week swings, and the next week mids), he has a pretty heavy duty calling at church, and really takes it seriously. Seriously this man is pure Awesomeness and Attractivness! thank you love for all you do!

Me I am I think figuring out this stay at home thing....is it sad that I throw an at home party so I will clean my house??? an added bonus besides the clean house is the free stuff, right??? ;) I have some sewing things in the works...I am trying to earn some money on the side...I will let you know when I have it up and running...I have a great idea just have to do it.

I am missing the rain...maybe someday we will move to WA, Chris LOVED serving his mission there (Tacoma, WA mission). Just a little bit of useless information...as I was reading the book Twilight, it was describing a place called Forks, WA...it sounded very familiar...because I heard Chris talk about serving his mission there, that's right folks, rubbing his shoulders with vampires and werewolves. So I had fun verifying some of the facts with him that were in the book.

Ok...this looks way cool.

Saw one of my friends post this on her facebook and wondered what it was...so I went to the site it is is pretty darn cool. Thought I would share it with everyone firstly there is a contest...if you post their link on you blog, facebook or myspace you would be entered in...and I thought I would share it with everyone. Secondly it is pretty cool...neat looking dinnerware that has decor to help measure your food, so you know approx what your serving should be. Take a look it is very nice!

All I want for Easter is my two front teeth

Austin has lost his two bottom frontteeth... He lost them about a month apart from eachother. I will post the 2 missing teeth picture soon. The ToothFairy brought 4 quarters eachtime, Austin was SOOOO excited.

Day Two....WooHoo

Well...I might as well update you on the boys...

Austin- almost 5.5 yrs old. He cannot wait to go to school...He knows he goes to school when the leafs turn yellow. He just started his second year playing hockey and is LOVING it! He is a wonderful big brother to Aaron...but sometimes too wonderful (he can defiantely annoy Aaron).

We have started a button system with him, which works really well. I would do an allowance, actually have already tried, but everytime he got any form of money, he wanted to spend it on candy (not good for the teeth). So my SIL mentioned a reward/discipline system that I believe she saw on one of the nanny shows.

You have two jars, one for the child and one for the adult (filled with payment ie beads, rocks...I used buttons.) With every chore, good deed, even immediate obedience you would give them payment to put in thier jar. With disobedience, backtalk, lying etc. they would have to pay you in to your jar. (we have Austin put the buttons in and out of his jar...not a problem when he gets them, but he is not happy when he has to put them back in our jar...I tell him he needs to do it, but if he refuses he looses an extra button. Also if he knocks his jar down (which he has done only once) he looses the buttons that fell on the floor.

So far this has worked pretty dang good (THANK LISA) Once he fills the jar (which he could do in a month to a month and a half, if he doesn't loose a ton of buttons... we will let him choose to go to Chuck E Cheese or pick out a toy. I also have lines on the jar as milestone when we get to do cheaper fun stuff..like icecream at McDonalds.

Aaron - 18months is growing soooo fast. He is walking/running like mad and nothing, I mean nothing can restrain the boy! We take the ladder off the Austin's bunkbed so Aaron wouldn't climb, since there was no ladder he climbed up the side. None of the baby gates work...he always finds a way...pretty smart kid. He is a huge talker, was told if he had a twin, they would have there own language. He totally is speaking his own laguage, and even laughs at what he says. I only understand a couple of words, his favorite one is "NO" or "No way"..this could mean either yes or no. He has a blanket, which he LOVES...Austin never has something like this. This blanket is not the design I would have picked out, but he doesn't go any where without it. He is a Linus. He definately looks up to his brother ans want to do EVERYTHING his brother does.

Six Months....SERIOUSLY...I suck!!

Wow...I CANNOT believe how time flies and how much of a slacker I am. And I am truely sorry, and yes I know my last post pretty much started out the same way. But I am going to change!
Reasons:
1. I need to post more..This is my journel
2. Keep family updated
3. To get off of Jessica's Blogs in Time Out list

A lot but not too many things have went on...but to keep this post from being uber long I will give a quick overview and in future might do some "flashbacky" posts.

Beginning of October I went back to work to help out for 2 months while a girl went on Maternity leave (THANK YOU mother for watching the boys!)

Halloween was a blast! Austin & Aaron LOVED getting candy.

Austin's Birthday nice and small

Thanksgiving was lots of fun also...spent it with my family.

Christmas is always fun..it was neat seeing Aaron more excited about opening presents. Plus I got a new sewing machine! :)

New Years..Totally fell asleep before the ball dropped.

January & February not too much that I remember.

March Chris got a new job..5 year contract baby! WooHoo!

And here we are in April...Austin started his new Hockey Season. Aaron is our little daredevil following in his brothers footstep. (he climbs the bunkbed EVEN when we take the ladder down and still makes it to the top).

Just some cute thinks I heard today...

At Austin's hockey's practice, one of the kids forgot his stick and we had an extra one for him to use...The mother told me she asked her son "what is a hockey player without his hockey stick"..he no joke said "a figure skater"

Tonight we had FHE on the Easter story...we had Chris's sister's kids over for it. We got to the part about how Jesus died...Emmalee my niece said "all we need to do is put bandaids on and He will be all better".