Happy Birthday To My Little Man

Dear Austin,

You are now officially a big boy; today you are five. You even look older to me today. I know I have said it a million times, but I don't know where the last five years have gone, they happened so fast. You have grown into such a wonderful, caring, thoughtful and smart little boy. You make friends everywhere you go because people are drawn to you, even though you are shy and reserved. You are like your daddy though, and can't remember any of their names!

You are a big Kindergartener now, and really like school, although you "can't remember" anything about it to tell me when I pick you up. You are respectful and well behaved (most of the time), and Mommy has gotten a call from the teacher at school telling me you "got caught" being good. You are curious and inquisitive, and always asking questions about something, your favorite one being "why?". You won't eat anything without first asking what it can do for your body, so most foods "make you run fast, hit the ball far, or make you strong", so you will eat them. You are learning to ride your bike without training wheels, and have the riding part down pat. It is the stopping part we need to work on!

Your favorite thing in the whole world is baseball, and your daddy. You and he are "same same", best friends since the day you came into this world. You love to play baseball, and can hit the ball over our house. You have been amazing our friends with how well you can hit since you were two. If you can't play baseball, then you want to watch it. You know all of the players on the Red Sox, and know their numbers and lineup better than daddy does. You are even really good at the computer baseball game, and love to get home runs in it. You love to swim and be in the water. You still love dinosaurs, and have since before you turned one. Your favorite movies are King Kong and Jurassic Park. You like to put on your costumes and make believe you are Superman or Spiderman and have special powers. You love books, and you and daddy are reading The Three Investigators Series; you like a good mystery. You also love Scooby Doo.

You are a wonderful big brother, and have never given a second thought about sharing your things with Aubrey. You adjusted so well to her coming into this family, and have only a few times been upset with or jealous of her. She loves and adores you, and likes to follow you around even though you like to pick on her sometimes. I have to remember that is what big brothers are for. You are kind hearted and sensitive, (like your mommy), and always put other's first. You are perfect in every way, and I adore you. We are so very blessed to have you as our son, and are so very proud of the person you are becoming.

I love you Austin, Happy 5th Birthday!

This is what a five year old eats for breakfast on his 5th birthday!

Rare Moments...

My kids get along pretty well, for the most part. They adore each other, but have their un-harmonious (is that a word?) moments. Austin does love to pick on Aubrey and do things to irritate her, but I guess that is what big brothers are for. She will get her revenge as she gets older I am sure. As it is, she knows if she screams when he is around, he will get into trouble. And boy does she love to scream.

Watching TV. I love this picture.

Austin is keeping Aubrey busy while mommy vacuums (and takes pictures).

Milestones

Austin started Kindergarten yesterday. I think he was a bit scared, but excited. He did really well and was a big boy, he went right into class and started playing with the other kids. I did pretty well too, I was not a sobbing mess like last year, and I didn't have to sit in the parking lot all day. He goes from 8am to 3pm, which is hard for me as I think it is a long time for him to be at school (or for me and Aubrey to be home without him). But he gets to go to computers, music, art and PE this year, as well as all of the basic stuff. I was worried about lunch time because they only have about 15 minutes to eat if they want to go to recess, which he will always want to do, so he will fore go eating to play. Austin can't eat a cookie in 15 minutes. He is the slowest eater I have ever met. Plus his lunch time is at 10:30am because there are so many kids that have to eat, so if he doesn't eat he will be starving by the time he gets home). But I guess he will either learn to eat fast, or he will go hungry.

Here is my big boy on his first day of school this year.

Austin also had another big moment this week. He learned to ride his bike without the training wheels on! We have been going for walks at night, and he usually rides his bike. Daddy asked him if tonight he wanted to ride without training wheels, or just take a walk and play catch along the way. Austin wanted to try it without the training wheels. He did great, better than we thought he would do. After about the 13th time of hitting the curb and/or falling over though, he said he wished he would have chosen to play catch. But he got right back on his bike every time, and did a super job. Here is a little video of him, there is no sound. Daddy was worn out by the time we got home!

A Fun Filled Afternoon...

I don't know a lot about cars. I took auto shop in high school, mostly because the teacher was pretty cute. I learned to change a tire and change my oil, but beyond that I am useless. I can't even fake interest in the inner workings of a car. My husband is pretty handy in that area, and does a lot of our own repairs on the cars. He has changed out steering racks, water pumps, breaks, clutches and does the routine maintenance. He enjoys it but has a habit of talking to me about said inner workings of the car. I just try hard not to look too bored. I am only really annoyed put out involved when he needs me to help him hold something, or turn the wheel/give it gas while he checks. I was about 6 months pregnant with Aubrey when he had to change out the steering rack on his car. He needed help holding something and I was the only one around. Imagine a fat, pregnant woman underneath a car, with her huge belly and swollen ankles sticking out (I could only get under there so far), cussing her husband for having to be there. I got transmission fluid in my hair, which is not easy to get out I might add (I was greasy for at least a week), and I got stuck at least once. I was not amused. Again, no enthusiasm when it comes to car repair. That being said, my car has been acting up lately. I cussed it and cursed it and then realized that for 9 years old, and 137,000+ miles on it, it has been a pretty good car. So far...

Anyway, it was making some horrible racket, and the floor vibrated so much that I thought the front end was about to cave in. It was also leaking some fluid or something from the inner workings area. Brian drove it around and did his diagnosis on it, and then I took it to the shop. He was pretty much right on; it needed a new water pump and engine mount which apparently is not something he felt like he could do on my car in a timely manner. I tried really hard not to be that stereo-typical woman who takes her car in and sounds like an idiot describing what the problem is to the mechanic. I refrained from imitating the noises my car was making, even though I thought I had them down pretty good. I thought I sounded fairly knowledgeable and tried to remember what my husband told me to say. And then I used the word 'thingy'. And the mechanic smirked. Ah well...

So while the car was being fixed, the kids and I spent three fun filled hours playing with the dirty broken toys and reading the dirty ripped books they had in the dirty playroom. But we had popcorn and cappuccino (for me), so not all was lost. And the kids got to ride in this nifty rocket. It was almost like a day at the amusement park really. I can't wait to go back...

Playing at the Park

We went to the park last night, thankfully we had a little reprieve from the 167 degree heat here as it rained some yesterday and cooled things off. So it was bearable to be outside. Both kids love the park, and while Austin and Daddy were busy playing baseball (shocker, I know), Aubrey and I played on the slide. Or should I say Aubrey played on the slide. I am a bit too big for today's play structures. They just don't make slides like they used to. I miss the huge metal slides that burned your legs all the way down because they reached boiling temperatures, and you could get going so fast that you flew off the end. Now they have the 'safe' plastic slides that cause enough static electricity to equal volts of lightning. Anyway, Aubrey loved the slide and is getting much braver. She climbed up the steps and went down all by herself. We had to take her shoes off because they kept stopping her and flipping her forward onto her little cute face. Not so good. She is much happier when she slides all the way down on her bottom.

Summer's Over...Just About

Well summer is wrapping up around here. I know what you are thinking, it is just the beginning of August. Yes I know, but Austin starts school next Wednesday. I am so sad about that. My boy will be in all day Kindergarten. I will miss him.

Anyway, Austin played his last T-Ball game for the season last week. He has so enjoyed playing, especially since his daddy was his coach. He finally got to play "real baseball". It was a big deal around here. I am sad it is over, but thankful too as it has been about 150 degrees here this week. I don't know how hot it has to be for one to melt, but I think we are close.

Here is Austin's last at bat of the season, and it was a good one. He had all the kids running out in the outfield to retrieve his ball.

Here he is crossing home plate for that last time this summer, giving daddy five on the way by.

Slapping hands with the other team.

Austin looking very handsome with his medal he got for playing ball this summer. I am so proud of him.