Construction Birthday

Austin's 3rd birthday party or should I say 'Dirt-day' party was construction themed.

It was a perfect year for this theme since Austin has a huge love for diggers! I found this adorable invite on Shutterfly. I knew months in advance his theme so while they were digging the road in our development, we just happened to get some shots of Austin hanging out by all the big machines.

Decorations included construction signs and caution tape

This is the first banner we have made out of fabric. Bought by Stampin' Up called Build a Banner. They want you to spray the stamp ink onto the fabric but we used daubers instead to wipe the color onto the fabric. It worked very well. We then pinned the letter on so that we could reuse the backing for another party and change out the saying.

Plastic construction hats were so much fun! We stamped a personal touch onto the front.

 Love the brads that make the diggers stand out even more.

Cookies once again were perfect. Hard to see since I forgot to take pictures before we put them in bags but construction hats, diggers, and signs all fit into the theme just right.

 The fact that she made Austin's name into cookies was extra special.

Cupcakes by Cupcake Tree Bake Shop not only look adorable and fit each party, but also taste good too!

 This awesome Big Rig was bought from Meri Meri.

 It makes sounds and doubled as a cupcake carrier!

A few more decorations. Plates, napkins, and cups all bought from Meri Meri. And of course some paper straws are always a must.

Themed presents.....Thanks Mom! I dig you too!

The face of a happy birthday boy. He loved his bulldozer and other trucks from Pottery Barn.

 Grandpa and Austin read Goodnight Construction Site. Nice hat Grandpa!

A huge Tonka truck was also a beloved present.

Treat bags also from Meri Meri (you have to check out this website!!). Filled with coloring pages of diggers, crayons, construction stickers, lego treats (featured later), digger toys....I don't know what else we crammed in there but they were full to the brim!

Cake topper also made by Cupcake Tree Bake Shop. It was a great idea since we knew we wanted an ice cream cake from Coldstone. She rocks! I send her some of my pictures ahead of time and she matches it always better than I can imagine in my own head.

We found Candy Blox on Amazon and put them in cute little treat bags as favors.

And here's birthday boy blowing out his candles! He had a blast!

Frog birthday followed by Dinosaur and then Construction themed.....next year I have a feeling I won't be picking the theme....

Austin: 3 years old

My shark costume wearing, monster loving, little einstein watching, eater of nothing but gummy worms, little boy turned 3 years old this past week.

He absolutely loved the construction theme of his birthday party this year. He is all about diggers and dump trucks. Sometimes he lines up every single construction toy in a row (maybe a little OCD.....we're blaming Grandpa for that!)

Austin is still quite the picky little eater. But somehow Jason got him hooked on cottage cheese! At least he's getting some protein. He'd eat sweets and treats all day long just like his mama!

Austin loves to play in the basement. Something about an unfinished basement leads to hours of fun and imagination. We moved the bounce house indoors for the winter and the kids LOVE it. Maybe with the bounce house and the tent and all the toys scattered everywhere, it's like our own mini-Disney world down there!

Austin moved up to the Dino room at school. It's more along the lines of pre-school. I rejoice because his tuition goes down a bit but Austin rejoices because he is back with his friends that have moved up over the past few months.

Austin's favorite movie right now is Cars 2. He loves Mater.

When I asked him what he was going to ask Santa for Christmas, he said a big Garbage Truck!

He refuses to wear his winter coat to school. One of his many stubborn choices, coming from the person who just ran out of the house the past few 30 degree days running errands without a coat on! Oh well, they said it was safer in a carseat without it so maybe he is making the right choice.

He has recently found a new love with chocolate milk.

He has been going once a week to Introduction to Sports Class at the Y. He loved soccer. Basketball was a bit harder for him. He turns into a real shy guy when he gets there. I thought this class would be a good way to show him all the sports and find out if anything really lights a spark in him. Turns out that being a Lefty is a bonus when it comes to sports!

That's my 3 year old in a nutshell. Oh and Grandpa's his best friend. No surprise there.

Ding Dong...Trick or Treat!

Smartest thing ever......take pics of the kids in their costumes on a beautiful day in September/October long before the cold and rainy Halloween night!

I bought Austin's costume long before Halloween knowing that he loved sharks. I was just hoping and praying that he wouldn't change his mind or decide all of a sudden he really didn't love sharks anymore.

 He clearly enjoyed playing the part!

Ava's costume was a piece of cake as she's still too little to decide what she wants to be. As soon as I saw the little strawberry/watermeon (I think it's the former) costume at carter's, I was hooked.

They had a blast as usual carving pumpkins with Kate.

Austin's request for Mike Wazowski was excellently executed by our resident pumpkin expert

The actual night of Halloween we had all the family over. We went across the street and as Austin rang the bell and said trick or treat, he walked right into the neighbor's house! Oops, no Austin, we stay out here! He only made it one more house before he was already walking home to get warm and eat his candy.

The kids are still wearing their costumes almost daily. Whoever's idea it was to get 5$ costumes at Marshall's the day after was one smart person, because I got Ava an adorable bumblebee costume that she has been having fun playing dress up in. I have to remember that for next year!

Our Sleepless Great Wolf Adventure

The excitement of Great Wolf for the first time was rising in our house. At least for me it was. I couldn't wait to take the kiddos and get away with the family. My parents were able to make the trip with us so I thought for sure we'd be able to handle the kiddos..... even in their crazy moments.

 I am wrong about that previous statement a time or two now that I am looking back on the trip. But overall, it just reminds me not to rush into Disney just yet.....no really, it was fun but exhausting.

We had beautiful weather. We went minature golfing the first day and practically sweat outside as we all wore long sleeves and pants. It was mid 70s and gorgeous!  And the leaves....oh so pretty! No editing required!

This is pretty much the only time I got photos. I didn't want to bring my camera into the water park and it seems like all the other moments we were trying to eat a meal all while keeping the kids occupied. That's one thing that I didn't like about vacation, having every sit down meal be a crazy fest of eating and throwing crayons, not to mention coloring on every surface, followed by throwing menus and crying and more of them NOT EATING! You'd think all that running around in the water park would make them hungry for once.

The kids did amazing in the water park. Ava was fearless. She went down every slide she could. Such a little water baby. Austin on the other hand, found one slide that suited him best and stuck to it. It was safe and fun and he put himself on that slide and then repeated about 999 times.

The downfall was night time. The first night, I found out what being a foolish mother feels like. I don't know if I thought about bringing his nebulizer, or if I assumed he wouldn't need it, but we needed it bad. The chorine must have done a number on his lungs because he woke up in the night about 1am, and couldn't stop coughing for what felt like forever. I thought, 'what a fool! I should have brought it!". After some ibuprofen and benadryl, Austin did sleep some. After numerous phone calls and google searches, I found out there is no urgent care or 24 hour pharmacy near Great Wolf and I was not about to use the ER when it wasn't really an emergency. I ended up calling in a script and renting a nebulizer the following day. poor kid. I hope he grows out of this cough!

The 2nd night was without coughing but with restless children. Despite being more tired than ever, Ava wiggled her way into our bed and Jason was found in one of the small toddler bunks in the morning with one whiny Austin.

They even had their Halloween kickoff that weekend and despite having booked the trip months ago, I was clueless to check back on the site when it got closer. It seemed like every child had their costume with them. Oh well.... we trick or treated each night as a 'cute family'. Ok so I am biased.

 This awesome Frankenstein took this balloon artist a 40 hour work week to put together!

Oh, and this is a reminder to Jason to make one of these crayon/coloring thingy's. I know it's basically a glorified easel but I like it and the kids LOVED it. Hey, let's go back to the lobby and color for an hour....OKAY!

A short but sweet, fun yet hair pulling, crazy yet.... crazy family vacation.