4 Years Old

It's hard to believe that Austin is now 4 years old. He has sure taught me a lot regarding motherhood in only 4 years and hopefully I have at least taught him some things....

Austin is a lively and entertaining little kid. One minute he will be running around the house playing tanks with good guys/bad guys and the next minute he is taking care of his Care Bears--holding them, feeding them, putting them to sleep etc.....needless to say he has got that rough destructive boy behavior but also has a sweet and nuturing side also which I find adorable!!

He likes to use his imagination and enjoys building things.  

He labled this creation as his "Christmas Tree."

He is always finding things to build tanks.

And the dining room table has become his "tank"

 (and the vaccuum cleaner hose his gun)

And all this comes from watching daddy play his computer game which he calls "The Jet Game."

He is getting better at coloring and showing more interest in it.

This is his rainbow.

 Austin had a fun time celebrating his birthday with friends. We made gingerbread houses.

 We also played hide and seek with his friends which they LOVED, and of course we opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was fun watching Austin's excitement on his special day.

All year long I just knew that Austin would request a Mario cake....but with his latest interest in tanks he requested a tank cake (which I think was easier than Mario would have been). Austin LOVED it....once I showed it to him he kept coming back into the kitchen every couple minutes to look and examine it again. Hope you had a super great birthday Austin!! We love you so much!!  

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The kids had a fun time decorating the Christmas tree this year although they go straight to the ornaments and balls and forget they have to be patient and let me put the lights on first. (hmmm...maybe a prelit tree would be nice)

This year I decided we would start a new tradition and take the kids to the store and let them pick out an ornament to put on the tree. Austin picked out an airplane and Kayla picked out Elmo!!

 Austin was super excited when I told him we were going to see Santa....he couldn't wait to tell Santa exactly what he wanted for Christmas---a tank, a jet, and a big gun!! (at this point I was wondering if Santa was questioning our parenting skills at all?)

Last year Mikayla screamed when we put her on Santa's lap but we were able to get her close enough with Austin holding her hand. She of course has no idea what she wants for Christmas but Austin will reply that she wants a dollhouse (smart kid). Poor girl looks so sick in this picture which she was....the next day I took her to the doctor and found out she had pink eye and ear infections.