Back again!

This year will mark Austin's 2nd year back at Preschool.  I can't believe it! He will, once again, be going to our church's Preschool program and there have been LOADS of changes taking place during the summer and throughout the past few weeks in preperation for the students first day of school. He'll still be going 2 days a week - but on Monday & Wednesday's - for 5 hours each day.   The classrooms are smaller and this year he'll have Mrs. Shannon as his teacher with 3 other kids so it's truly a very intimate 1:1 enviroment! They'll be doing LOTS more crafts as well as painting and other 'messy' things that toddlers crave and should be doing! So the day is jam packed with fun, age-appropriate activities!  I'm eager to see what he brings home to show us :-)

While we were filling out the necessary forms and looking through the Handbook, Austin was impressing his teacher with his knowledge!  He was showing her the colors he knows:  Orange, Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Pink & Black as he was coloring as well as identifying and pointing out his name on the wall of Banana's (His class is the Monkey class LOL).  He was also impressing her with his manners such as tucking his chair in and throwing his trash away without being asked!  We were so proud of him!!
I'm so excited about what's in store for Austin this year.   His first day is this Wednesday and Daddy already has his clothes picked out! LOL  Stay tuned

We need an Intervention!!

See this!?  See all of the cars in this picture - well that's what our house looks like on any given day!  We are getting overrun with CARS memorabilia!  Austin owns at least 44 CARS cars and can name every.single.one!  (Man, there are already a lot of "!!" LOL sorry)  Austin even knows if one of his precious, most treasured CARS has gone missing.  He will hunt and search for it until the missing character is accounted for.  LOL 

It all started in September 2009 when when he was sick. So sick that all he wanted to do was lie on the couch and not move.  Poor guy!  So to cheer him up - and me! - I popped in the CARS movie for him to watch for the 1st time.  Who wouldn've ever thought that THAT ONE MOMENT would change our lives forever?!?!  HAHAHA  not me that's for sure. 

(Yes we also watched a Sid: The Science Kid also)

Since then Austin has been Obsessed with the movie, its characters and anything else pertaining to CARS.  Don't get me wrong - I love that Austin loves his cars and the characters.  I love the movie and it's story and what it's telling, but when my son can repeat the movie AND sing the songs word for word that's when you know you have a problem!!  LOL  Austin will ask to watch the movie at least once a day every day.  He'll even insist that some (or ALL!) of the cars come with him to various events.  My family and I happily bring his cars with us since we know that's what keeps him happy *and quiet*

Tow Mater joining him after we converted his bed into a daybed

Just 2 of the CARS cars that came with us to the Memorial Day Ceremony at the DFW Nat'l Cemetery (Red Car - aka Lightening McQueen - and Hippy Car - aka Filmore)

They even went with us to OKLAHOMA!! 

(at the SBB meetup that I talked about HERE )

Some of the CARS cars napping with Austin in OKC

Sheriff, Hippy Car, and Blue car under a tent with Austin

Watching CARS with his cars while eating breakfast one morning.  He thinks watching it on this TV with the headphones is "Awesome!"

Remember, I DID say he was obsessed . . . need further proof.  Keep scrolling  LOL

Joined us for a SBB playdate that I mentioned HERE

Austin even swings with his cars LOL  Notice "Red Car" on his lap!

Summertime fun with some of the cars.  Red Car sitting next to him is chilling while Austin eats!

I've even resorted to putting CARS on my iphone so that I can have a moment of silence without it being on the main TV.

The CARS cars and of course the movie (via the iphone) tagged along to the Rangers Baseball Game!

Austin introduced Flo to the water sprinkler LOL. . . . . . . .

. . . . and even brought her along to yell at the sprinklers for getting his face wet!

Some of the cars were even introduced to friends in Germany!!!! (thanks to Skype)

He fell in love with this movie September 2009 which means in a years time we've watched the movie more than 410 times, can sing at least 4 songs word for word, and can identify 43 characters by name and depending on the character can tell you what they are known for saying (ie: Sheriff says, "Not in MY town").  I wonder what the next year will have in store for us!

Random

Super Cool!

"Ewww, it's sticky!"

That is the problem that Austin usually has when something is on his hands - either it be food or something like a stuck play-doh piece.  He gets all bent out of shape and must.have.hands.wiped.ASAP  LOL!  Well yesterday Austin was playing with the watercolors and I brought out the finger paints just to see. . .  We'll never know unless we keep trying right?!

"okay, not SO bad"

"a little weird on the fingers, but I'll keep doing this"

 Well he did amazingly well.  Austin played in the fingerpaints for a while just moving the seperated colors (Red, Blue, Yellow & Green) all over the plate and then I showed him how to make handprints. 

Love the handprints he's making!

He thought it was "So Cool!" (his words!) until. . . . . . .

He saw his hands! LOL 

Austin

In a few days Austin will be officially 2 1/2 years old!!  I can't fathom how fast these 2 1/2 years have been.  I'm so blessed to have the work schedule that I do so that I can work and still be a LARGE part of my son's life. I (and his Daddy, Nonna, Poppa and Amma) have loved every minute - watching him grow into a loving, funny, dramatic, and curious little boy.  Next week he'll be starting his 2nd year of Preschool (he goes 2 times a week for 5 hrs each day).  He learned so much last preschool year, I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us!

We're Just a Bunch of City Slickers

Remember this movie?

That's EXACTLY what Scott and I did for his 30th Birthday! Well. . .  we didn't go away and actually drive cattle for a week, but we did go to Beaumont Ranch Friday late morning - Saturday afternoon for some cattle drivin' fun plus some other amazing things.  I wanted his birthday this year to be special.  Every birthday is a monumental milestone but turning 30 (or 40, 50,  ect) requires something with more pizazz.  So after talking to my mom who talked to a friend of mine (following me here ?!  LOL) I found out about this dude ranch called Beaumont Ranch where you can do pretty much anything.  They had a blast and so afer making reservations I couldn't wait.  Well we had such a great time - It was such a blast!  I can't put into words how much fun Scott and I had.  I've been delaying writing this blog because I wanted to express just how awesome of a time we had but I can't. . . it's one of those things where pictures are more than a 1,000 words!  So enjoy. . .

Checking out the sights of the Ranch prior to us ziplining that evening.

THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!

Our hotel room - we're at the top of the green building

We had that whole balcony! Wonderful views

Leading up to our place the second you open the door

Being goofy

The pictures we took while we zip-lined.  If you've never experienced zip lining it's def. a must do thing!  We had such a wonderful time and was sad to see it end after zipping for almost 2 hours. It was just Scott and I plus another couple and their friend (of course the 2 guides as well) so it was very small and intimate.  I just wish I would have been able to jump in line to get pictures of Scott as well. . .

Getting Prepped

Prior to Scott and I going down the 1500 foot zipline.  What a beautiful picture. 

This is by far one of my favorite pictures taken on this trip

me going down the 1500 foot zipline

After the ziplining Scott and I headed back to our place to change and then walked over to the building where they had the Friday night Fish Fry.  They also has a country music band and other activities (ie: mechanical bull-riding, shuffleboard, pooltables, ect)

View from our balcony

BREATHTAKING!!!

This is the walk from our place to the building

Yea, don't ask LOL

Mechanical Bull Riding

The next morning Scott and I woke up bright and early after the 6:29am phone call from his mom which he gets every July 31st.  Darn it Scott if you couldn't have waited to be born until later in the day we all could get some sleep HAHA!  So after our wake-up call we got ready to head back over to the food building for a big cowboy style breakfast.

Heading out to do some cattle drivin'!!!!

me, Scott and Raul (our guide) cattle drivin' 60 cattle to point A to point B to feed off of the land evenly

Our work is done!

It was such a blast working our tails off for 2 hours getting those cattle to move. 

Who knew we'd be happy to pay them to do work LOL!!  We'd do it again in a heartbeat! 

That barely skims the surface of the fun we had.  I can't believe that we only live 25 minutes away!  Scott and I we already planning our next day trip as we were driving back home LOL  Can't wait!  Here are more pictures of Scott and I together.  He's so good at taking them, if I did it I'd have taken a picture of the sky with a little peice of flesh somewhere LOL

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY SCOTT!!!! 

 I love you and can't wait to spend many more birthdays together with you by my side XOXOXOXOXOXOXO