Christmas Light Excitement

HalloWall-Een

For Halloween this year we wanted to have themed costumes for our family.  We had a huge box from Austin's new carseat and Jeff figured he could make it into something to wear.  After looking through our movies for ideas we decided to be Wall-E characters.  Jeff worked long and hard to transform his box into the animated trash compactor, Wall-E, while I created a headpiece and 'directive' symbol for Wall-E's girlfriend, Eve.  Austin was the little plant that causes all the commotion that the entire story is about. 

 (Everything except the picture of trash was handpainted on Jeff's costume)

Who readily eats pumpkin goo and won't touch a birthday cake?

I know this is quite belated, but I've got to hurry and catch up on these posts before Christmas!

We carved our pumpkins the day after Austin's birthday, and unlike the anti-birthday cake scene, Austin was all about getting his hands on those pumpkins!

We pulled off the tops and showed him how the insides were full of seeds and stringy goo.

  To our shock he put his hands right in the bowl of pumpkin pulp and started inhaling it!

He ate the pumpkin goo so fast I had a hard time making sure there were no seeds before he took another handful.

What kid would rather eat the insides of a pumpkin than a yummy birthday cake?

Apparently this one!

The FINISHED products:

Austin's REAL 1st Birthday: Part II



Austin's #1 Lion cake! 

The cake didn't rise, and I couldn't get it out of the pan... Didn't look as good as I'd hoped, but still tasted pretty good!

Mesmerized by the candle

Barely touched the cake - there is the tiniest bit of chocolate on his finger.

Our friend, Kim, helping Austin get into the spirit of digging into your birthday cake... or not.

Stay away from me, lady!

I asked nicely.  Please keep that stuff away from me!

I thought Mom liked me. Why is she trying to feed it to me too?

Watch it, he's gonna blow!

Needless to say, Austin did not care for his birthday cake.  We tried putting his favorite snacks in the cake so he'd get a taste, but he wouldn't even touch the tainted treats.  We also tried putting frosting on his sippy cup - he gagged.  Oh well.  Our child prefers vegetables over cake.  Maybe next year we'll try carrot cake?

 Playing with his new drum after the cake drama

He really did have a good birthday, at least for part of it!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Buddy!

Austin's First Birthday: Part I

Lucky Austin had two birthday celebrations in October.  Over Conference weekend we had a big birthday party for my brother, Cameron, Jeff, myself and Austin.  I made two milk-free turtle cakes made of cupcakes for Austin to dig into and to share with the rest of the family.

It took some coaxing to get Austin to try the cake, but after wiping most of the frosting on his leg he decided to try a couple bites on his own. (This turned out to be a huge accomplishment as you will see during Part II)

Austin got to open several gifts during this first phase of his birthday from both sets of grandparents

He got a beautiful Alphabet quilt from Grandma Mitchell

A new carseat (also from the Mitchell's)

 (Enjoying his new seat a couple of weeks later)

and some fun puzzles, a super cool Fisherprice barn, some Lego Duplos and cute clothes from the CO grandparents.  What a spoiled kiddo!

Picking Pumpkins

Jeff and I have never carved pumpkins together since we’ve been married.  Once you have children though you cannot have a proper Halloween without having a pumpkin on your porch.  We picked out our pumpkins at a local church that was selling them for a youth fundraiser.

Austin found his pumpkin - just the right size!

 Hey Dad, I found yours!

One Year Video

We attempted to take a picture of Austin everyday of his first year.  Unfortunately, we missed some days here and there...  This video has pictures from as many days as we had documented on our cameras.  Enjoy seeing how Austin has grown up to be the little man he is today during these past twelve months!