Saturday, December 10, 2011

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

Thursday, November 3, 2011

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

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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

Saturday, October 8, 2011

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

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Fall is almost here!

Fall is ALMOST here...and i have to say I am ready.
Summer was fun, but im definitely over the heat.  Cant wait till it starts to cool down and i can light up the fire place, use my crock pot for warmer meals, light my hazelnut and autumn scented candles and decorate.

But first to kick off the end of Summer i have a few things lined up and i am definitely excited!

First, the girls and I are hitting the road. Vegas, here we come! The countdown has been in effect for a while but effective Friday i will be sippin a cocktail poolside with my girls, shopping, strolling the strip, and hitting the club for some grown and sexy fun.  A much needed extended weekend get away. 

Next up, i have tickets to go to Fresh Fest in LA.  The line up consist of The Game, E-40, Mac 10, Twista, Young Buck, and other surprise guests.  Definitely a great end to the Summer.

I've also changed up my look for fall, i colored my hair...went darker.  When i get back from Vegas i'll probably go get my hair cut and have my layers trimmed and touched up.  Not too short though, i want to grow my hair out. Here's a pic:



Welp, thats it for now, gotta finish up some laundry and start packing so i can make sure not to forget anything.


April

Monday, September 5, 2011

Back to the routine

Summer vacation is officially over and we are officially back into the routine with the kids, school and work.  Though im sure Kaylen enjoys his Summer Break from school, im glad its over. Two and a half months off is a long time, lol. So...he's officially back in school for 5th grade and his last year of Elementary. I cant believe how quickly time goes by and how fast he has grown. This year I've made a promise to myself and him that I will try and be more involved and take part in the class field trips. I've never been able to because of work.  It hard to get time off to engage in these kinds of things, but its important to me to have that experience with him. 

                                                         His first day back to school =]

Justice is making progress with potty training...he's started to be more consistent with using the toilet on his own. He's very independent, has to do everything himself.  He's talking a lot more these days and definitely has a mind of his own. 

Some recent fun updates:

Cory's cousin China came out to visit from Detroit. It was nice to have her, she visited for a week and it was nice to finally meet her and hang out. 



Here are some other visitors that we've had this summer in the Austin household:

Grandaddy was a surprise visitor


  Aunt Sharon came by to hang out and BBQ

My sisters came to visit, each at different times...and brought my adorable nieces.
Melyssa came by with her hubby and hung out with us, we had a nice dinner and the kids got to play...above is a pic of Molly & Justice

My sis Shannan came by to visit us me and stayed the night...we tried Scrapbook but the kids weren't having it so we watched the Twilight Saga and a couple other movies...here's my niece Sophie (3 mos.)

Could update some more but it'll have to wait...the hubby is requesting my presence to watch a movie :]

Chao!


April