HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!

Happy Birthday little man! We love you so much!

I can't believe he's 5! There was once a time (ahem, terrible two's) when I would have killed to have him turn 5 so I could ship him off to kindergarten..... but now that the time is here, I feel so nostalgic and sad! He suddenly looks so much older... where did my baby boy go?!!

Austin requested a Power Rangers Birthday party and we had a great time with it! He is obsessed with Power Rangers (mainly the red ranger) and Evie is more than willing to join in on the fun!

This was Austin's first friend party and we rocked it! Since he was born during one of the hottest months of the year, we decided to make it a pool party! Austin has so many friends in so many places, so we decided, "what the heck, invite them all!" So a massive five year old pool party we did have! I was so grateful to our friends and family who helped us out because trying to keep a dozen five year olds alive in the pool was insane! Insane but so so fun :). And Austin had the time of his life which is all that matters :). And he was so happy to receive all the presents that come from large parties with lots of friends ;).

Austin and his best friend Jacob from Children's Learning Adventure Preschool

The rest of the friends either came from church, preschool, or the neighborhood.

Mom and Dad donned on our waiter/waitress hats and served pizza and salad like the best of them!

Sweet Juliette, My best friend Jura's daughter :).

Happily serving pizza since 2018 :)

The rest of the birthday party gang :).

What is it with kids and balloons?! They have so much fun with something so simple!

I bought trick candles because I thought it would be funny but it turned out that the joke was on me when they decided not to relight haha! But then, just as we were about to take them out of the cake they started sparking up again! Yay! The kids were in awe and it was so funny watching Austin blow them out over and over :).

I made these Power Ranger cupcakes that morning and everyone thought I had bought them! Score for Mom!!

Singing happy birthday to the birthday boy!

It's present time!!!!

All the kids wanted to help unwrap the presents and Austin was really gracious about it :).

After pizza, presents, and birthday cake, we got a dozen five year olds ready and walked over to the pool! This is where the real fun began! The kids had a blast and nobody drowned! YES!! (but seriously). And we couldn't have asked for better weather! It was hot (hello July) but cloudy and the sunset was gorgeous! And just as we were about to get out of the pool, it suddenly started raining and all the kids jumped out as fast as they could and ran for home! We couldn't have planned it any better if we had tried! I thought for sure we were going to have to drag every single one of them out by their hair because they were having so much fun....

Austin and Jacob having the time of their lives! I bought every kid a squirt gun to take to the pool and they were a huge hit!

Daddy and Adrien playing cannon ball with the kiddos :)

Chatting with Jura in between rescuing children. I am so blessed to have such an amazing best friend! We have been friends for 20 years now.... how crazy is that?!

Grandma Jill was sad that she didn't bring her swimsuit, but she had fun talking to the other Moms and putting her feet in the water :).

Great Grandma Helm and Great Grandma Wiegel came to the party but they left before we headed to the pool because they wouldn't be able to swim or tolerate the heat. They were so sweet to clean up after they left though! I feel so blessed to have so many grandparents for my kids to love and enjoy! Grandma Wiegel came early so we got a couple hours to chat with her before all the kids arrived, but sadly we didn't get much time with Grandma Helm. My parents were also there and they had a blast talking with the other parents and watching me flounder underneath all of those kids hahaha! Seriously though, Nathan was laughing his head off most of the time ;).

Giving Grandma Helm loves for her wonderful presents!

We had fun hanging out with Great Grandma Wiegel before the party started!

Grandma reading Austin her sweet card.

Your actual birthday was the next day (Sunday) so after church you got all sorts of phone calls and Facetime chats with family. Your sweet cousins in Texas made you this sign and all wanted to talk with you! You are one very loved little boy!

We sure do miss our Texas LaFeber cousins!

The day before your birthday party, Grandma Jill and Grandpa Nathan took you and Evie out on a little date to grab donuts and pick out your birthday present! YOUR FIRST NEW BIKE!!! You were overjoyed to learn how to ride it and you begged us to go around and around the neighborhood over and over until we finally had to force you to come inside for dinner! Since you love Star Wars, it was no surprise to me that you chose the Storm Trooper bike :), and Daddy has already ordered you a Star Wars helmet to go with it! You took your first tumble right after Grandma and Grandpa left and you cried as we wiped off your hands and dirty knees. Then I held you on the curbside and we had a talk about falling off a bike and how we will never learn to get better unless we get back up and try again! Since then, every time you fall, you jump back up and excitedly show us how smart you were to put your hands out first so you could protect your face and how you didn't even cry despite the blood and obvious pain! :) Oh Austin, you are such a joy to raise....but that helmet really needs to come soon haha.

Grandma and Grandpa always know how to steal the show!

Go Austin, GO!

Proud parent moment right here :).

Happy Birthday sweet boy! You are the gift from heaven that made me a mother and it is a continuous joy having a front row seat to your life story! I don't know what Evie and I are going to do around the house without you when you start school in August! Seriously, we are going to be lost without you :(. But I can't wait to hear all about your fun school days and to watch you learn and grow throughout this new chapter of your life. Your Mama loves you Bubba; never forget that. And your Daddy is so dang proud of you and the amazing person that you are. You two are the best of friends and I love watching you have fun together. You like all of the same things that Evie and I just don't understand, so I'm so glad you have each other :).

I can't even imagine this picture without our red ranger in it. Austin, you complete our family in a way that only you can! Happy Birthday sweet boy!

 
 

Happy 4th of July!!! (2018)

Happy Birthday America!!!

The Fourth of July was a little hard for me this year because Josh had to work (he's been working mandatory overtime all summer) and this is the first Independence Day that we have ever missed in our entire 10 years of dating/marriage :(. But I packed the day full of fun events with friends and family to help me not feel so lonely and it turned out to be quite an amazing day!

We started the morning off with breakfast and swimming over at my best friend Jura's apartment. They recently sold their home and moved into an apartment close to us but life has gotten so dang busy and we don't see as much of each other as we would like. So this was the perfect excuse to get together and let our little ones play! The kids had a blast and the company and conversation was light and fun! We topped our little party off with some pool side ice cream and it was a big hit! I normally dread Vegas summers but having kids makes it so much more enjoyable and it almost always involves water! :)

Happily skipping off to the pool!

The cutest little kids in the whole world!

Best friends going on 20 years!!!

Playing in the water with Uncle Adrien.

Ice cream always tastes best after swimming!

MMmmm ice cream!

The kids swam their hearts out all morning and then we left at noon to head to our next party! They fell asleep in the car and I HAD to snap a quick picture because it was so funny! Can you tell that they partied hard? ;) It probably didn't help that they were up at 5:30am that morning...... ugh.

We spent the rest of the day in Boulder City with Grandma Helm, Uncle Kenneth, and Aunt Diane. Grandma Helm's house is always a big hit with her nice back yard and all the fun toys she has collected over the years :). We BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs and Grandma made homemade potato salad and cherry jello salad to go along with it. Austin loved her potato salad so much he had three helpings! And then he asked Grandma to give his Mom her recipe..... hahaha! Uncle Ken always has fun with the kids (even if Evie was super grumpy from getting woken up from her cat-nap in the car).

BBQ with the family.

Grandma busy in the kitchen! She's not the typical "good at cooking" kind of Grandma so this was big for her ;).

Playing with all of Grandma's fun treasures!

Little grumpy butt cuddled with Uncle Ken for a little while.

But cuddles with Great Grandma are the best!

As remains true every year, the sparklers and pop-its were a fan favorite! The kids went through 6 boxes of sparklers and then wished that they had more! I was just glad it was Uncle Ken lighting them this year and not me! hehe!

Yay for "Sparkles"! (hehe!)

Austin had fun writing his name in the air now that he knows how to spell his name!

Happily sweeping up the mess from all the pop-its for Grandma :).

As the sun began to set and the magic of fireworks loomed in the air, Uncle Ken and Aunt Diane left for home and we took the party over to the Boulder Creek Golf Course with Grandma Helm for the firework show! This is the best kept secret in the Henderson/Boulder City area and I was reluctant to let Jura know about it because I didn't want word to get out that this is the place to be! Everywhere else in Vegas and Henderson is so dang packed with people! But on the golf course, there is only a handful of people sitting on the lawn and the kids all get to run around on the golf course with their glow sticks having a blast until the show begins! Not to mention there is always parking up front and center. You just can't beat that! Jura, Adrien, and Juliette met us there and I was actually really glad they came!....but I made sure to mention that it's a secret hahaha! As he always does, Austin made tons of friends that night and he was really upset when I made him stop playing long enough to watch the fireworks. I am still amazed at what a social butterfly he is turning into! It is so opposite from his previous nature! The glow sticks were the hit of the night and it was so fun watching all the little kids running around on the grass, glowing in the twilight. I missed Josh so much in this moment. I wanted him to be there holding me on the blanket while we watched our babies play. But, oh well. I had to remind myself that I was so blessed to have a Grandma and my closest friends sitting there next to me when my husband couldn't.

Blessed is an understatement

As the firework display lit up the sky amid the palm trees, the scene was so picturesque. Austin sulked for a while and then finally accepted that the fireworks were a pretty good supplement to his new found friends. Evie, however, sat next to me on her tummy, ooh'ing and awe'ing along with the rest of us....only her little excited voice was a million times cuter than anyone else I could hear ;). Afterwards, we reluctantly said goodbye to Grandma and our dear friends, and set off for home, sleepy and happy from a day full of fun and laughter.

As we drove over the hill into Henderson and could see all the fireworks going off all over the city, I silently counted all my many blessings and thanked God that I am an American. Nowhere else could I have such an incredible life, and for that I am eternally grateful.