Cake Smash!

So sweet and clean -- not a clue what he's in for!

Austin turns the big 1 on Wednesday and his Dr. Seuss-themed party is this coming weekend. I decided to put him in some of his party gear and let him dive into a cake to hopefully get a few pics. He'd literally just woken up from a nap and I rushed to do it before Tyler got up from his -- so he was probably in a bit of shock when I put this pile of pure yumminess and sugar in front of him.

He took to it with characteristic ease and I know he would have eaten the whole thing if I'd let him! There are some cake lovers in our family, not the least of which is myself!

I'm not so great with doing a bow tie apparently!

Yep, he went for it!

Looking like he's in for a bit of a sugar hangover :-)

Sharing with big bro

Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Cul de Sac Cookout

Amazingly got them in the same photo!

We are actually thinking about selling our house to get in a better school district, and on the slim chance it sells for what we want, we'll be so sad to leave our neighbors. But I also know we've all made friends for life!

Last weekend we got together and grilled out and just let the kids enjoy the backyard and the endless summer toys Deanna had out for the kids.

It was the perfect way to pass a Sunday eve and we plan to cook out again today!

Grandma's Sprinkler Birthday

She's in her 50s but still loves a good sprinkler birthday party -- or so it seemed when we showed up at my mom's on Friday to have a little spontaneous visit for her birthday (the celebration was planned for the following day). The boys love running around her lawn, and couldn't believe their eyes when Grandma turned on the sprinklers. Both of them went darting around the lawn and it was a special way to spend mom's actual birthday.

Then mom brought out her leftover cake from school and Austin got a little taste which quickly turned into a full on cake smash. Sprinkler water, cake and grass were all going into his little mouth at once. Pure baby bliss.

Slumber Party!

Precious moment between Mandy and Tyler

As mentioned in the last post, Scott was out of town all week, so I knew we needed to do something special to break the week up and landed on the idea of having a slumber party with Mandy and her kids. Austin and Tyler got to have friends over and I had a friend over, too. ;-) It was a high-energy time of silliness and chaos, and then once the kids went down, Mandy and I sat on the back patio talking and reminiscing about the past 25 years we've known each other.

We only pulled out the camera five minutes before bedtime, but it was the peak of silliness and I'm glad to have grabbed it and captured some of the classic moments. Our children are ages 1 thru almost 4 and this is a precious, magical time in their lives -- a messy, exhausting time, but they are so innocent, energetic, silly and full of joy -- and the smallest things, like a ballon, simply make their day.

Austin loved the balloon Tyler got from his last week of school -- I think this is Austin's first balloon.

His hair liked it, too!

Big hugs from the boys 

Goofing off in the living room -- Jossi was too busy trying to get that Jack back in the box (it was not working properly we discovered later -- but her pose here cracked us up!)

Tyler saying hello to Finn midflight

They will only be this young and innocent once :(

Chill Time

With Scott traveling all last week and lots of fun plans, it actually felt like one of our busiest weeks. But Tuesday afternoon, I got the boys up from their naps and took them to my bed to watch TV. It was just one of those days. I knew it was probably wishful thinking, because Austin could care less about TV and was unlikely to stay put on a bed for more than a minute. But even he seemed to be in a chill mood, so for about 45 glorious minutes, we relaxed, took some pics, and giggled together -- then came the usually hectic dinner and evening time.

Little Ham

Austin doesn't care about TV but does like the remote!

Both little thumb/hand suckers...

Festival

Saturday just seemed like a good day for a festival and when we looked up what's going on we found the Renaissance Festival. I had not been to it in almost 20 years (yikes) and it was even more fun than I remembered because I got to experience it through the kids' eyes. Tyler shocked us by wanting to do every single ride, even those that went super fast and I often had to watch from the sidelines because those rides make me ill. He did great, though! It was also so sweet seeing him patiently get his face painted -- he loved looking in the mirror and seeing that we both had our faces painted -- Great memories.

Austin kisses

Really fast slide -- did it a few times!

Even the little merry-go-round makes me queasy, but I can't pass up riding it with my boys 

Waving "hi" to Tyler -- this was a seriously spinning bucket ride -- I'm amazed that he doesn't get scared on these things.

Austin can't wait to get his turn when he gets a bit older!

Happy boy

Yes, that's my little 2-year-old spinning around -- scared me more than him!

Checking his face paint out in the mirror :)