A Trip to Austin!

I had my ten year high school reunion in Austin, TX this past weekend.  Austin and I headed down there on our own.  Sam was away at SOS (Squadron Officer School) in Alabama.  I got to catch up with some old friends and Austin got to make some new ones!

We didn't get many pictures in, but we still had tons of fun!

Here we are getting ready to leave the hotel room!

And no trip to Austin would be complete without a visit with Tracie!

Soccer Star

Fall 2012 soccer kicked off this morning.  Austin is ready to go.  He moved up from Fireflies (U3) to the Little Kickers (U4)!  Just try not to smile when looking at that face.

I mean seriously!

Austin and his buddy Bryson are almost inseparable.  It makes is easy to find the two of them, but telling them apart is a little tougher!

Friends

Life is always a little better with some friends!

Cheese!

When the Weather is Nice

We head to the park!  We are so lucky to live bear so many great parks.  We rotate often, but this is the one closest to us.  It's a sports complex so in additional to two playscapes, we have soccer and baseball fields to cut loose on.

Austin's New Room!

Okay, so this has been covered on Facebook already, but here it is again!

Meet me in St. Louis!

We took a little road trip this summer while Sam was away working.  We drove up to St. Louis to see our friends, Kara, Cole, and Gabe.  They live in Germany but were visiting family in Iowa!  So we meet them in St. Louis for some fun!

Hotels rooms are always fun!  With three boys, it's always interesting too!

Checking out the arch with some free popcorn from the hotel lobby!  What more could you want?

Cheese face!

The arch and my boy!

We took a little trip to Grant's Farms while we were there.  We rode on the carousel!  I think Austin gets this from me.  I remember begging to ride carousels.  Especially the one in the mall in Georgia.

Austin, "the goat whisperer".  I was one proud momma.  Austin was on e of the few kids (and grown-ups) that could hold their ground with these little guys.  While most were screaming and running, Austin got a goat latched onto his bottle and took him for a spin, literally!

Friends!  We sure do miss this group!

Of course, we had to go to Sweetie Pie's for Granny and Aunties!  Austin LOVES fried chicken ON the bone!  Who would have thought?!

Birthday Bash!

Your baby only turns 3 once!  This year we had Austin's birthday party at Jump Zone!

We lucked out and got the undersea room for our pirate party!

I tried my hand at a pirate cake!

Austin and 11-13 of his friends from "school" and military families!

The little pirate and his stink face

He blew out the candles all by himself this year!

Being three is hard work!

But it's so much fun!  Here's Daddy and Austin trying out the new birthday presents!  Daddy likes being 3 too!

Sam got home!

So at the end of May, Sam got home and like usual, we headed to the beach for some R&R.

May! So I'm really bad at this...

So I know that it's October (even though this post says May!) and I haven't posted anything in while, but I'll try to catch up and keep up!

With Sam being gone so much, the time just gets away from me.

Easter

Well, Granny made the trip for Easter and let's just say, she broke the baby AGAIN!  Boy is he rotten!

The Easter Bunny came!

Here he is hunting his eggs!  There was even a special egg out there! 

The money egg! 

And now to dig in!

More Of What We Did On Spring Break

Here's a few more pictures from Spring Break.  We went to the zoo on Thursday and the carousel was running for a change.  We had to ride of course.  

Austin stayed busy the rest of the time so I didn't get many more pictures.  But he was sacked out on the ride home.

Friday evening we played with some chalk on the sidewalk in front of the house.  This was a HUGE step for me since I absolutely despise the texture of chalk.

Naturally, we had to have a bath after :)

For Sam

Well, since Sam gave up Facebook for Lent, I'm finally getting around to updating the blog.  We had a playdate at the park today and there were so many sweet pictures to share.

 Lisa brought tennis rackets and a ball.  It was a miracle that no one got whacked by one.  Austin was of course the most coordinated :)

Then we moved onto sliding the ball and I would shoot it back up to him just like in ski ball!

All the kids used the slides to climb up instead of the steps or the swirling stair case of doom!

Austin and Owen of course had this mastered while Sarah and I stood there cringing but not saying a word.

Best friend, Owen.  Owen and Austin are in the same class at school.

Best friend Allison.  Allison's daddy is in the Air Force and used to be Sam's squadron

Austin being sweet.  This only lasted a few minutes.  Allison will grow up to be an independent woman who doesn't need a man to lead her around :)

My sweet and happy boy!

Amelia (Allison's sister) snoozing while the big kids played.

Sweet Paige!  I get to take her picture next weekend!

Sweetness!

Owen picking flowers for his mommy!

That's about it!  We've got a few really good friends here in Little Rock that make things bearable while Sam is away.  Anything that gets Austin to play with his friends for a bit is a welcomed distraction.