THE BASTINGS BUZZ: 2014

Trip to Atlanta: Dunbabin Family

For the week of Thanksgiving, we decided to take the 12 hour drive to Atlanta to visit family.

The kids did a great job with the car ride.....it was nice having a TV to play movies. Brooklyn changed to a face-forward car seat for the trip so she got to enjoy them too. A lifesaver!! We decided to keep the car ride enjoyable though and break it up into 2 days.

The kids enjoyed getting to swim at the hotel on the way there and the way back.

We stayed for 3 nights at my sisters house.

The kids loved getting to spend time playing with their cousins.

They did a lot of jumping on the trampoline....especially the girls.

The boys went with their dad's to one of the local museum's.

I'm sure Austin enjoyed this showcase though he probably was wishing he could take them home to play with.

My sister and I took the girls to a place called Shenanigans toys.

They each picked out a ceramic item to paint. They both picked cupcakes.

They also had a room full of outdoor playgrounds that the kids got to enjoy. They spun themselves around on this tire swing so fast that by the time they stopped they both felt sick.

Brooklyn and Matthew born just 1 month apart.

The boys also went to a place where they got to do some laser tag....

and play video games...

and do some rock-climbing. Every boy's dream.....I think were lucky they decided to come home.

We took some time to enjoy one of the playgrounds close-by.

Austin and Tyler both have the Reid name as their middle name. When they get together I can see some resemblance.

Fall Soccer

I did terrible this soccer season and didn't take any pictures. Oh well.

When soccer season sign-up for going on Mikayla insisted that she wanted to do soccer again. Last fall when she played she never really got into it so I questioned her about it several times but she told me she was sure. Well not much changed from last fall. I think it was on the way to the 2nd game that she said "I don't want to do soccer" and I quickly reminder her that this was her idea so we are doing it. Mostly of the time she ran around the field not really trying to get the ball. If it came near to her she would give it a good kick but that was about it. Sometimes she would be running and stop to look at her fan crowd and wave, not really caring about the game in progress. I'm thinking soccer might not be "her thing".....at least not right now.

Austin had a great fall soccer season. It is fun to watch him improve and understand the big picture of the game. He spends lots of time practicing outside with his dad and that seems to pay off with his ball skills. They went to a couple tournaments this Fall and overall did very well with the competition. Austin enjoys playing with his cousin Klayton and good friend Braxton and maybe someday they will be playing high school soccer together....time will tell.

Big Girl Brooklyn

Brooklyn is growing up fast and quickly becoming quite the little toddler in our house. She is very mobile!! She took her first steps on October 5th and now she walks around everywhere. She spent a couple weeks interested in climbing up on the kid's table but luckily she is over that now. Instead she climbs up and down the stairs and is very good at it. Once she discovered them it didn't take her long to figure them out.

Playing peek-a-boo with Brooklyn makes me smile as she puts those tiny hands on her face--sometimes actually covering her eyes and sometimes just near her eyes. She babbles a bunch but doesn't say any words yet. She now has 10 teeth!! After getting her bottom 2 teeth back in the summer the next tooth that came was a back tooth which I thought was odd. I was sure the next teeth that would come through would be her front two teeth but instead she got the teeth on either side of that. I joked that she was going to look like a vampire with her fang teeth in and not her others. Luckily it wasn't too long before the front teeth broke through also. And just a couple weeks ago I noticed she has the other three back teeth coming in. No wonder we have been having to do Tylenol some nights to help her sleep good. She has been a teething machine!!

Brooklyn has become much better at sleeping. We spoiled her way too long. She didn't officially move into her crib until she was about 10 months old. And then I would rock her to sleep for her nap and at night with a warmed up bottle. I finally decided we needed to change some of these habits. The first time we put her in the crib awake and left her there to fall asleep she cried for an entire hour!! After an hour I told Craig to go get her and she fell asleep in his arms within minutes. A couple weeks later we decided to try again and it only took about 20 min. Now she is a pro and usually doesn't even cry. She sleeps all night (when she isn't teething) and takes a 2 hour afternoon nap.

Brooklyn loves to be outside! She enjoys getting pushed around in her cozy car. Other than liking the I-phone, her other favorite things to find include markers and toothbrushes. I didn't mind her holding the markers until she learned how to open them and now we have to remind Mikayla who is always drawing something to remember to put the markers away. Brooklyn will also go into the bathroom, open up the drawer, and pull out someone's toothbrush. I will find her walking around chewing on them. She has a cute personality and we enjoy watching her learn and grow and discover new things!!

Been doing some running.....

In August, me and Craig ran Conquer the Gauntlet with some of his friends from work.

It was 4 miles and 25 obstacles. It was hard, a little intense, but fun! I came away with some scrapes on my legs and some pretty large bruises from crawling on the ground and climbing up walls. One of the most crazy obstacles was climbing over several mud mounds, sliding down into a huge mud pit and then having someone boost you up while someone at the top grabbed your hand and helped pull you up a 10 foot wall of mud. At one point we were completely covered in mud from head to toe. Craig said he almost didn't recognize me.

In October, was the Woolaroc 8K run which is always a "fun" challenge. The weather temp was perfect and luckily it stopped raining at the last minute. I beat my personal record and finished with a 47:50 time which I was thrilled about!

I had several friends running the race too and everyone did a great job and met their running goals.

It was a great run!

(Kelsey, Todd, Craig, and me)

On November 1st, we did On Your Mark 5K. The temps were in the 20's that morning and it was chilly!! I finished with a time of 28:03 and beat my 5K personal record by 2 sec (whew...close one). This was the first time for Craig to do a race that didn't involve obstacles. And even though he got 2nd in his age group and won an Xbox One in the ticket raffle, I still don't think it turned him into a "runner." But it was fun having him there!!!

More Halloween Fun

At the school carnival, Kayla dressed up as Anna....we went around the school together and did all the carnival games. Austin didn't dress up and ran around with his friend Braxton so I didn't see him much. He is getting too big too fast.

The kids were really excited about going to the "Halloween dinner" at my mom's house.

On the menu: ghost pizza, orange pumpkins, apple teeth, and Jell-O worms.

So much fun!

And of course dirt cups!!

Had fun making these spider cookies for a snack for our family pumpkin carving.

All ready for the trunk-or-treat.

Mikayla decided to be Rapunzel this time so she could match her sister.

Our decorated trunk....pretty scary :)

Halloween morning I made these ghost pancakes

(Mini-frozen pancakes, Redi-whip, and mini choc chips.....perfectly easy)

Hopefully the kids enjoyed their "Halloween" lunch

Searching for quarters in the hay at our neighborhood Halloween party. Kayla came out with $1.25 and Austin scored $7.00

We did some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with their cousins.

This time Mikayla was Elsa.

The scariest house in the neighborhood. Austin was the first up to the door but suddenly stopped when he approached the patio and shadow hands started moving across the front door windows. HAHA! It was hilarious!