New Year... New Life, Cheers to 2013

Wow am I behind. A whole year without a post. Eek! Well a lot can happen in a year, and a lot has. My family has definitely been blessed and this year we were pleased to welcome our daughter into the world on January 3rd.

We are all very excited about her arrival, she has brought us so much joy.  I'm looking forward to a fun filled year of firsts as well as getting back into some crafting. I'll be putting my new sewing machine to use and getting this blog back on track with some more crafty updates. <3 <3 <3  

TwoThousand & Twelve

Happy New Year!!

Is it just me or does time seem to go by faster when we are older. Cant believe we are already at the end of January...gees...we just got into 2012! Nonetheless, i am excited for what this year has to bring. I've set some goals for myself and im ready for the challenge.  There is no time like the present to decide to make a change in your life or to go ahead and take action towards bettering your future.  So i set up some "new years resolutions" for this year.

First...is to get any and all debt paid off by the end of the year, or atleast significantly minimized. Im not crazy in debt, so i really needed to make a financial plan to get things taken care of.

Second...i need to get into a new vehicle. My old car is ready to retire and with the commuting i do on a regular basis i really need to get into something safer and more reliable for myself and my kids. 

Lastly...I want to purchase new couches and a bedroom set. Its just time.

So here's to a New Year with new goals to achieve.  =)

I've also become a member of Pinterest & i am in love...
There are so many different creative ideas and recipes, i could stay on that site for hours.
The positive thing is its gotten me back to being motivated to put together new projects and i'll soon be revamping my blog to bring the focus back to what it was created for.  I'm definitely looking forward to focusing a lil more on myself this year.

Exciting things are also ahead with Imperial Hustle.  The next issue of the magazine will be out in the next month or so and my husband has been hard at work with getting the issue ready.  He has also started a new web radio show, for more information visit www.imperialhustle.com.  He's worked real hard and its definately been a journey.  For those of you just catching up...Imperial Hustle is an urban promotion company thats focus is supporting independent Music, Art and Entertainment and Alternative Media. Check it out & show your support!

Wishing everyone a productive year ahead and many blessings, XOXO

April

Love the Holidays

The holidays are here and Christmas is near.  Its crazy, i remember being a kid and how slow the days seemed to go by. Nowadays it seems like the time is flying by and I'm trying to keep up.  But no matter how old, I've always loved this time of year.  I love the way the trees change colors, the baked goodies, holiday scented candles, all the lights and decorations, and most and best of all...the family gatherings.  As we get older it becomes more difficult to get together with our loved ones as we all have our jobs and schedules to keep, so i look forward to these times. Nothing brings me more balance then being with my family and those who know me best and feeling that love that i know will be there unconditionally.

 The Boys decorating the Christmas Tree

Our Tree

April

Celebrations, Festivities & Trips

Its been an eventful few weeks in the Austin household!

Cory just had his 31st bday on October 27th and to celebrate we took him out for a nice family dinner.  Being that Cory and Justice's birthday are 6 days apart we decided to have a Halloween Costume Bday Party to celebrate Justice turning 3.  It was lots of fun buying decorations and making creative finger foods for the party.  The kids also carved pumpkins, Kaylen drew and carved a Phineas and Ferb Pumpkin and Justice (with mommys help) made a cute lil pumpkin face.

  

Here are some of the fun treats we had for Justice's party: 

  

Frankenstein Mozzarella Fingers

  

Brain and Eyeball Punch

  

Caramel Apples and Cupcakes!

Kids in Costume

Since we had two birthday boys, we sang both Cory and Justice Happy Birthday :)

The party turned out great. We had a lot of guests come to show the birthday boy love and he also got some pretty cool presents.

Halloween ended up being a lil on the crazy side. I ended up being rushed to the emergency room because i ended up getting some extreme sharp pains in my left side quite suddenly that took me down.  After blood tests, pee samples, ultrasounds and all the test were coming back inconclusive. Finally the doctors ran a cat scan and found that i had a kidney stone.  The gave me some good meds to take away the pain and sent me home with some meds as well to help.  I wasn't able to take the kids trick or treating but my girlfriend came to the rescue and picked up Kaylen from school and took him trick or treating with her kids and we kept Justice since he was already with us.  It worked out well since our kids are really good friends and he had a good time to take his mind of being worried about me.

Kaylen is in the Black Morph Suit

I was out of work for two days recovering  hoping to pass the stone. I still am not to sure that it has passed and every now and again have mild discomfort in my side. Overall i am feeling much better than what i was.  I went back to work on Justices bday - Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. When i got home we took it easy and had dinner and cake at the house and it was pretty much a normal weekday evening. 

Next on the agenda was Kaylens class field trip. I had requested the day off a month or two in advance to chaperone the trip as i've always wanted to be able to do that with Kaylen but could never seem to get the time off work.  We went down to the USS Midway in San Diego and it really was both a fun and educational experience.  We all met up at his school and took the bus to the train station where we road the coaster into downtown San Diego. I'd never been on the coaster before but it was really relaxing with some pretty ocean views.  I was really happy to be able to participate in the trip.  The kids learned some basics about the ship as well as how latitude, longitude and weather come into play when tracking hurricanes, as well as when out to sea in a big ship used for war.   They got to see how planes were stored on the ship, learn different duties of the shipmates as well as go on the deck to practice weather tracking strategies.  I enjoyed spending time with my son and his classmates. :)

View from the train

My group ;)

USS Midway

My crazy kid

Until next time :)

April

Wild Animal Park & The Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we had a fun filled family weekend.   My sister came down with her family and we hung out at the Wild Animal Park together with our families.  I love hangin with my Sister and having her husband and my adorable niece around.  It was so fun walking around the Park and seeing the different animals.  Justice was so excited about visiting the Zoo that he's already asking to go back.  It was such a beautiful day out and the weather was perfect.
Here are some pics from our trip:

 

My adorable niece Sophie

 

 Enjoying nature and some photography

After the Zoo my sis stayed over and we ordered Pizza while unwinding and watched Friends with Benefits. The movie was hilarious, and it was awesome waking up to my niece and her adorable face.  Sunday we all got up and met with my sister Melyssa and her family as well as my Mom, Kevin and Lukas at Peltzer Farms.  We walked through the corn maze, watched the Pig Races, and the kids enjoyed the animals at the petting zoo.  To end the afternoon we had a late lunch/early dinner at Red Robin. 

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses."  ~Joyce Brothers

April

Progress

#1st on the list of updates is we are making progress in the potty training department. Justice wears his big boy underwear during the day and a diaper at night to avoid late night accidents.  He is facinated as of late with going #2 in his Elmo Potty and calls us over to check out his accomplishment (oh joy!) lol but it is really quite exciting. He is becoming quite the little man =] I cant believe he will be 3 in just 3 weeks.

 Kaylen is doing well in school and is working on a report on New Mexico. This is pretty cool because a couple summers ago he went with his Nana and Bumpa and Lukas to New Mexico on Vacation and has pics he can share with his class to go with his report.  He is learning about their state Seal, and Flag as well as the State Flower amongst other things.

I on the other hand have been trying to stay tuned into some projects and new recipes, but i tell ya being a working Mom is draining. But i love fall and decorating...and cooking warmer meals :) Here are some of the newer meals i've put together:

1) 7 bean soup. Cory had been asking me to make this because his Mom use to make it for him as a kid and he had a taste for it, so she sent me the instructions on how to put it together and with my own lil touches we had ourselves some pretty amazing soup.

2) Kielbasa Bow Tie Pasta Skillet - this was REALLY good.

3) Chicken Vegetable Stir Fry - it was my first time making it and it turned out really good. I will definately be putting these recipes in the dinner rotation.  I found that making a weekly dinner list really does help when i do my grocery shopping too!

With the coming of Fall comes the trees changing colors and leaves falling, but now that i have a tree of my own in my backyard im realizing now just what a big PAIN IN THE BUTT these leaves can be. Tonight i had Kaylen help throw out a big trash bag full of leaves i had cleaned up from my back yard and front pathway.

Not a fun clean up :/ and the leave just keep coming! Oy!

On a positive note i hung up the Fall Wreath i made and painted my nails just for Halloween :)

Spooky Nails =]

Thats all for now folks!

April

Fall projects

Summer has come to an end and fall is officially the Season.  This is the time of year  i usually break out the Hazelnut candles,  move the furniture around to make it cozy, and turn on the Crockpot to make turkey legs. Mmmm.  Well, I haven't done that just yet...lol. Instead i've been itching to jump into a few projects.  So,  i decided i wanted to try making a fall wreath.  It was both fun & therapeutic, not mention very affordable =]

                                             My handmade Fall Wreath 

Another project i've started digging back into are both my wedding album and bachelorette album.

 

They aren't completed yet, and i still have a lot of work to do, but it was relaxing to sit and tap into myself with these projects.  As well as reminisce on one of the happiest days of my life, marrying the love of my life.  Im truly blessed.

April