All Boy

This past Sunday we had dinner at my parents house and Austin showed off his "Boyness".....we spent the whole afternoon outside which assisted in his adventures. It is so funny to think back to when Lauren was this age and how she was and then look at Austin. Lauren was such a sweet, quiet, clean little girl (I guess that should be a clue...GIRL)...she wasn't in to everything, she didn't like her hands to get dirty, she was pretty quiet for the most part. Then there is Austin......LOUD, into EVERYTHING, and exploring with his hands (getting them dirty) and sometimes even his mouth.......see for yourself......

To add to the backyard fun, Emily brought her baby Rocky and Steph and BJ brought their baby Leo. Austin has been around both dogs for a very small amount of time and he was not real sure about them......he didn't really have a choice on Sunday if he wanted to play but to get used to them. After a little bit of time he made new friends.




Here he is petting Rocky...just his size..

And here is is leaning in to give Leo an AAWWW (the noise he makes when he hugs). He still keeps a little distance from Leo....wouldn't you with a dog as big as you?

Although he made friends he would make this face whenever they ran by or came towards him
(gotta love that face..."there coming, they might lick me or knock me over")
As Austin was running around you can see Lauren was Ms. Cowgirl riding her horse with one of her "girls" Mary Lou (don't tell Emily I called Mary Lou Lauren's girl).

Here Lauren was using the bubble blower and Austin is trying to catch them (or eat them).

While roaming around, he had a run in with the screen door...he had figured out how to open the door from the inside and outside.....he was going in, opened the door and made his way in but didn't keep moving when he got in so the door smacked him in the rear and pushed him forward, he was walking with the bubble gun and hit his mouth when he went down....busted his lip (blood and all) but that didn't slow him down (except the few minutes of crying and putting ice on his lip.)

Here you can see his lip a little (right top..looking at him..and the mark on his chin)

Back to being a boy...he found some wood (imagine wood at Bapo's house) you can see he is going to help Bapo with the wood.

I'm helping Bapo.....

He wanted Rocky to play with the stick but Rocky wanted to give him a kiss.....

He is so happy with the stick...

Then he found the fire pit....Look, I can put my stick in this.....

Why use that silly stick.....I can get my hands in there and touch it.....Swish it around

HHMMM...what is this?

He was having such a great time playing with the old ash and burnt pieces of wood....

Look at my hands...this is fun...

How far can I reach to get this stuff...

Then Lauren came to check out what he was doing.....As you can see, she is using the stick (she's not getting her hands dirty)

Look at those hands....better get some more...

Lauren is still helping with her stick...

Austin had an itch....now there's stuff on his face...haha

Not quick enough with the camera but here is the yuck face...Yep, he tasted it.....

Then he decided he would share with Steph.....Look at this big chunk Steph..

(Wipe)...more on the face...

He is having so much fun...

This stuff needs a good look...serious inspecting here...

Good look at the dirt on the face...

Soon after this he wiped his face again and was getting it close to his eyes so it was time to clean up.

Once clean he went to his handmade wooden tool set (Bapo made him some wooden tools I will have to write about later....they are so cool).

So as you can see, he had quite the adventure and as I said, showed his "boyness". I know everything is going to be an adventure with this boy as he grows........we had lots of adventures with Lauren but they were much quieter and cleaner.......BOYS!!!!!

Lauren's 7!!

February 4th.......what a special day for me, the day Lauren was born. I can't believe she's 7 though. It seems like just yesterday..........(it's such a mom comment) so many memories of her firsts.. when she finally decided to walk, or things she did.. catching stars (like Dora did and singing "We did it"), or comments she made..her head say yes.
My sweet little girl is growing into such a lovely young lady.

And now such a wonderful big sister, also. We decided to take some new pictures of her and Austin today to help remember her day but Austin was not so cooperative.
Here he dedcided he should swing his feet.

Lauren's trying so hard to just hold on to him so they can have a cute picture together.

Then she wanted him to sit on her lap. He was not about looking at me and smile, we had quite a fun time trying though. Lauren just smiled right along.

Lauren was kissing his head.

They have so much fun together. Austin knocked them over and they were laughing.

After picture time we had dinner and then it was party time with Austin & Daddy & I.

We got her a little cake and daddy lit the candles. (Don't drop it!!)

We sang her Happy Birthday!! ("That is such a cute little cake with PINK icing" she said)

Make a wish!!

Blow out the candles!!

It's good cake.

Austin thought so ,too.

Present time.

Oh, WOW!!

It's an i pod speaker system. Now she can listen to all her music from her i pod in her room.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

She's getting way to grown up.........she'll always be our little girl though.

Seven years of memories, seven years of love. The time seems to have gone so quick. Everyone says they grow up so quick and it is so true. She is such a joy and bundle of fun....and now we start a new year of memories. Love you Lauren!!!