Happy Birthday Austin & Caitlin!

Four years ago our lives were changed forever. I never truly understood the love that a mother feels for her children...now I do. I am so thankful that God allowed me to experience that kind of love with Austin and Caitlin. After all the years of praying and trying so many different things to actually get pregnant, we were blessed with 2 absolutely wonderful kids...loving, kind, smart, hilarious, beautiful, sometimes ornery! I can say that what I expected motherhood to be and what it actually IS are vastly different...in a good way though (except I could do without the exhaustion part!). So on their fourth birthday I feel as grateful as ever to be celebrating with such fabulous kids!

Today's festivities will take place when Ry gets home...we are going to open small presents and then go to "Rockin' Robin" for dinner (it's safe...the big biwd isn't there on Fridays!). When we come home, we are going to have their new bikes waiting in the garage with bows on them! They will be so excited!!! Then we will have cake with Aunt Bubbles and Uncle John, skype Gramma & Grampa Carr, have baths and head to bed. They are having a hard time understanding that they have to wait a week for their big party...

Right now they are watching "Cars" by Austin's request....he likes when the cars "speed up" (this means they pass other cars!). Austin is eating goldfish crackers and Caitlin just finished some peanut butter and is snuggled up next to me. :) Later I think we will go to Party Tree to look for little birthday ribbons they can wear...I thought we had some already but when I looked at them, they said, "I'm 3 today!"...so a-shopping we will go! :)

where do they get this stuff?

caitlin said today, "mom, i'm tired of all this growing up stuff!" she also declared that she was "tired of all the car riding!"

in the car austin said to caitlin, "i don't love you!" and she started to cry. i told him he hurt her feelings and made her sad by saying that...about 5 minutes later he said to her, "i'm sorry sissy. i didn't mean to hurt your feelings and make you sad. i love you." talk about making my heart melt!

yesterday caitlin got mad at austin and yelled, "YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND ANYMORE!" which led to him doing what she wanted because he doesn't like when she's mad/sad!!!

we were talking about them being born on their birthday...caitlin asked how they got in my tummy...she said, "did you put us in your mouth?" LOL!!! so i told them that God put them in my tummy. then she asked, "how did we get out?" oh boy! i said, God decided it was their birthday and had them come out to see us. she was happy with that answer, but wow....mommy is NOT ready for that conversation!!!!

tomorrow is the big birthday!!! the kids are excited that when they wake up they will be 4. AND they are more excited about the cake than the presents! funny! speaking of which...gotta go wrap some presents so i can hit the sack!

PIRATES!

so, we're driving and we see a crane with a pirate flag on top of it...caitlin and austin both exclaimed, "look! it's the jolly roger!!!" are they the only 4 year olds who know that???

today has been heavy on the outdoor activities! we did have a short car ride to fix a calamity with my mom's 60th birthday present. crisis averted. other than that we've been outside all day! they were so exhausted at naptime! HOORAY!!!

well, that's about all for now...we are going to head inside for dinner and baths. tomorrow morning is school so that means i get to shop. ryan has some very heavy work days ahead of him...draft is a little over a week and a half away! go pacers!!!

The Weasel

Austin kept asking me if I'd bring the weasel outside. WHAT? So then he said, "Yeah, the one in the basement!" AHA!!! I said, "Oh, you mean the EASEL!" Pretty funny! Now they are outside using the EASEL to color pictures.

Blove to Skype

Hi everybody! We have been quite the computer literate family this weekend! Gramma & Grampa Carr got a webcam so the kids were able to talk to Gramma on Skype on Friday and Sunday. Gramma Carr got to experience Austin's obsession with asking "WHY?" after everything you say and Caitlin's catch-phrase, "Can I see it?" They also asked if she could "jump out of the computer." They love to Skype! Austin was sad he didn't talk to Grampa because he wanted to ask him about basketball. His burning question? Can Gramps slam dunk? :)

Yesterday Austin got to mow and Caitlin flitted from activity to activity...bike riding, hopscotch, watching me, swinging, playing in the sand, asking for a juice box...sometimes she is very hard to keep up with! It was such a nice Sunday though...busy but relaxed and so nice to have our whole family together all day.

On Saturday we took the kids to shop for each other's birthday presents. We all went to Meijer and split up. Ryan & I were careful to keep reminding them that it was a "secret mission" and they couldn't tell what they got. The boys made it to the car first. Caitlin and I got in and she asked Austin, "What did you buy?" AND Austin told her, "Sissy, I got you a caterpillar game and a Tinker Bell dress!" Then he went on with a long explanation that he got her Tinker Bell because they didn't have any princess dresses! So, after all that, Austin asked, "What did you get me?" Caitlin said, "I can't tell you. It's a secret!" Did she work that in her favor or what?!?!?

I am happy to report that I made some serious headway on the birthday party decorations. I only have about 6 more lollipops to make and Lynn helped me make 5 "hard candy" decorations last night...have about 15-20 more of those to make this week so next week I can focus on the final shopping and food/organization...oh yeah, and house cleaning! BLAH!

Okay, time to get dressed and head outside for some playtime!

Some funny stuff...

Today Austin's speech teacher told me that during speech he burped, said, "Excuse me."  AND THEN SAID..."Do you want to smell my breath?"  EW!  Both kids find that amusing!

Last night Caitlin was reading "The 3 Bears" to herself...she is pretty accurate and even does the different voices for each bear like I do.  It is a crack up.  She also started singing the "Sleeping Beauty Song"...Ryan and I were sitting in the hallway just giggling at how funny and cute it was.

Right now Austin & Caitlin are snuggled in Caitlin's bed and Austin is reading her stories..."The 3 Bears," a couple "Spot" books, and "Just me & my Mom".  He is doing a great job.

A little bit ago, Austin was tearing around Caitlin's room putting things away.  He said, "I'm cleaning Sissy's room!"  Caitlin said, "Austin can clean my room.  It makes me soooo happy!"

BTW, all that prep for water day and it got rained out!!!  blah!  The kids were bummed.

Finally started tracing my circles for the lollipop decorations...tonight I'll begin cutting them (hopefully).  Then tomorrow I can glue on the sticks and cover with cellophane.  The kids are going to love it!

Ryan is home now...time for dinner!

Prayer Time

So, not sure how this started, but here are the kids' typical bedtime prayers...

Caitlin:  "Jesus I love you.  I love God with whipped cream and a cherry on top with sour lemons.  I love my dad.  Amen."

Austin:  "Jesus I love you with a cherry on top with sour lemons and Novembers.  Amen."

Typically after each kiddo says their prayer, Ryan or I will do the "family prayer" but Caitlin has been volunteering...tonight's was "Thank you for a beautiful day to play outside with Anna and Abby (Austin chimed in with "AND MAE").  Thank you for school and dinner.  Amen."

I love it!  So sweet.

Well, let's see...this morning Austin was running around with Mae and hit his head on the driveway and got a nice cut and goose egg.  AND skinned both knees...I told Ryan he's going to be one big scab by the end of the summer!  Not sure I'm cut out to mother a little boy...I'm too much of a worrier and I LOVE to baby him...after all, he's my little bear!!!  

After naps we went to the grocery store and then it was back outside.  They played with Anna and Abby (backyard neighbors who are 5 and 3.5)...running back and forth between the yards.  Then the girls had to go inside, but Mae came outside so they played with her for awhile.  Finally at around 6:45 we got inside, had a snack, and headed up for a bath.  Caitlin reminded me that tomorrow is "water day" at school so we had to organize all the gear for that...swimsuits, towels, change of clothes, water shoes, sunscreen...I'm glad she remembered because that would have been a scramble in the morning!!!

Currently, I'm policing the hallway to stop "Squatch" from sneaking into Austin's room.  SOOOOOOO hilarious...Ryan nailed it when he called her that...if you've seen the pictures of Sasquatch trekking thru the woods or wherever, that's exactly what Caitlin looks like as she tries to sneak back and forth between her room and Austin's at bedtime!!!  Austin's favorite way to avoid sleeping is to stand and look out of his window.  Our neighbor said he saw him up there the other night waving and saying, "Hi Mr. George!"  A few weeks ago Ryan snapped a cell phone picture of our little guy in his window watching the guy across the street mowing his lawn!  :)

Gonna try to get some decorations started for the big PAR-TAY...Ryan is still at work, kids are relatively calm...maybe I can do a couple before I head off to bed myself.

Sweet dreams!