November 25, 2008

It's great to be 9!

Here is the Birthday Boy, waiting patiently to open his gifts ...

Austin celebrated his big 9 year birthday today! WOO HOO! The poor kid had to go to school ... awww - I know we all feel so bad for him! :) He received a call before school from Grandma Jackie, which perked him right up! I made some dirt cake (his favorite) and brought it to his class ... there was much love and praise for me. It's amazing what a little crushed cookie and pudding does to a child! :)

Austin opened his gifts after supper (he loves pork, so I made him his favorite kind) and received a new Guitar Hero (for the Wii), some Guitar Hero pjs, an Aerosmith t-shirt (he was thrilled! no, really - he was!), a nerf blaster-thing, some Bakugan things (for the lack of a better word) and Lego Batman.

Austin, doing the "yes" gesture at opening his Guitar Hero game ...

Checking out the sights of the nerf-thing ...
Aunt Shelly, Nana and Aunt Pam and the cousins rounded off the evening with some well wishes via the phone.

Austin & Melissa with his gifts ... ;)

Melissa, trying to open Guitar Hero with her teeth ... she was as excited as he was!

November 14, 2008

* the NEW house *

At last! We have finally moved into the new house. Finally we are done! Finally! (can you tell I am excited!?) I must say, this moving by yourself thing is overrated, if rated at all. ;|

Here is a pic of our new home ...

Another view - encompassing a bit of our neighbor's ...

The house is awesome! I must admit that I am love, love, loving the high cathedral ceilings and am totally in love, love, love with the double gargae w/garage door opener. I feel all hoity toity now. I think I'm getting a little prideful! :( I must repent. Oh, speaking of prideful ... check out the new kitchen table. We totally got it on sale for $128 dollars. Yes, you heard me correctly - an all oak table for $128. I'm so excited! There are two leaves for it and we could seat up to 10 or maybe more people! woo hoo! :0

Here is Austin in the backyard ... we were excited about the snow! We've only gotten about an inch so far and it's pretty much all gone now ...

Here is the living and dining area ... the ceilings are HIGH!

In the past, I have never been a fan of duplex living, but I must admit that we are really loving the house. I think it helps that our house is separated from our neighbors' house by the garage. I did meet our neighbor ... she is German and her hubby is deployed right now. They have a cute little girl and a dog, too. :) I totally have forgotten her name, but I must admit she is very pleasant. :)

Melissa is nearer to her bestest buddy, MacKenzie ... actually, we are on the same street. Austin hasn't really met any of the kids in our neighborhood yet, due to the colder weather. Hopefully, we will be seeing some more activity outside once we get a little more snow! :) I have big plans for forts and sledding and football in the snow ... I may be delusional, but we'll see.

Here are also a couple of pics of the kids - we took the dogs on a walk and went to a park. Austin asked if he could have Pirate go down the slide and I assumed that he meant that he would go with him ... I was wrong in my assumption and let's just say that Pirate was not impressed with the slide. If must admit, it was kind of funny to watch, though!

Melissa & Austin w/Pirate at the slide ...

Pirate, thrilled to be sliding down ... poor thing! :)

October 31, 2008

FRIGHT NIGHT

The Big All-Hallowed Eve ... woo hoo! Austin and Melissa were both excited for the big event (we still have tons of candy left over)! It was really great having Halloween on a Friday this year! No worries about the kiddos staying up too late! ;)

This year, Austin wore a ninja costume, Melissa dressed as her friend, Gabby was a bee and Pirate was a pig (I had to switch the dogs costumes because the bee was running a little too small for Gabbs). As usual, I went as a stressed-out mom. I do that really well, by the way. ;)

Rumor has it that this Halloween was more awesome-er than years past - I guess it can be quite snowy and bitter cold. We were lucky this year! After we went around treating (there were no tricks to be had), we had supper with the four missionaries that are serving in our area. :) Good times!

Thankfully, Jacob came home from his TDY that afternoon, so he was able to witness the wonderful fun that is Halloween. :)