Happy 4th Birthday, Tyson!

So Tyson turned 4 on Monday!!  He has grown so much over this past year.  I can hardly believe it!  This year, since all of the friends he wanted to invite either lived in Texas or Montana, we had a neighborhood party.  It was a blast!  Tyson really wanted a pinata so that our neighbors in Texas could "come and knock the candy out!"  Instead, we made our own and had our new friends here come.  It really was so much fun!  We missed our Texas friends, though :(

 Instead of the traditional cake, Tyson wanted a fruit pizza.  He proudly told me he had eaten the edges off when I was looking!  Oh well--my cakes will always end up a little strange!

 We had our neighborhood kids over which was awesome, but a little tricky due to the age differences!  We did fingerpainting (in bags) and built marshmallow towers--which actually was pretty entertaining!

 Tyson's new best friend worked on the Happy Birthday Poster with him outside.

 We also did "Red Light, Green Light", a balloon relay race, Freeze dancing, the limbo, a scavenger hunt puzzle (while people were coming) and of course the pinata :)  Tyson only wanted a pinata, marshmallows, and cotton candy--I tried for two of the three!

 Tyson was pretty disappointed that the candy didn't come out when he hit it. I had made it over several days to make sure it would be sturdy enough and then spray painted it and had Tyson fingerpaint on top.  Not even the thirteen year old could bust it!  We ended up having to set it on the ground and bust it!

 Austin trying to break the pinata!

 Then of course we had cake :)  He blew all of the candles out on the first try!

 We also had sugar cookie decorating for while we were serving up the cake!

 Even though we said no presents--every single person brought one.  Tyson was thrilled!

 He even shared his toys with Austin.  He is such a good boy!

Look at my big 4 year old!  I told him today he was my cutie-patootie and he said, "I'm not cute anymore, I'm big!" I told him he was a big cutie :)  Being 4 marks a new era of no more bum wiping, bed making, or dish clearing--I must say I'm looking forward to it :)  Happy Birthday my little big guy!

West Virginia

So during Christian's first weekend away, I decided I'd drive up to see my great friend, Misty Bingham!  She pulled me out of depression after I had Tyson and changed my whole San Antonio experience.  I will forever be grateful for her!

 We played the candy bar game--which Tyson devoured more than half of the candy much to the rest of the kid's chagrin!

 We also went to this beautiful lake and just let the kids play in the sand.  It was a perfect weekend!  Thank you Misty for letting us come!

The last night we had a GNO with Misty and her only girl!  We drove the town, went shopping, and ate ice cream and I loved every second of it!  Thank you Misty!  You're one awesome friend!

Lexington

When we got here, it was green and wonderful!  The house was clean and the boys slept great!

The boys loved the backyard!

Once our stuff got here, it wasn't clean anymore :)  Luckily, Christian was home so we could take turns watching the boys and putting stuff away.  He's an amazing husband, he is :)

My dad and Tenille came to help us move in and it was so great to see them!  My dad has gone above and beyond in making our move a wonderful experience.  I still wake up and am amazed and grateful for how perfect our house is.  Thank you Dad for helping us every step of the way!!

Tenille bought the boys a crazy sea creature thing for 25 cents at a garage sale--the new favorite toy!

Here's my handsome husband!  I love him!

Here's his ginormous pita!

We went to the arboretum and climbed on all of the structures.  It was incredibly hot and humid, but we still had fun!

Tyson kept ducking out of pictures--the goof!

I'm so grateful for a husband who wants to do fun things with the kids!

Here we are at home--it was nice to not have him be at school everyday!

We all climbed up on this one!

Here are the boys playing in the boxes!

And not much has changed since we left Texas--the boys (all of them) still love their sports!

Here's the road right behind our house--isn't it beautiful?

We went exploring one random day and ended up swimming in this muddy lake.  It was pretty fun!

The boys ate pop tarts for lunch and it was definitely a memorable day!

We have loved Lexington so far!  Thank you for welcoming us!

Lexington, Here we come!

So we left very early in the morning to arrive in Austin, Texas by 2:00 pm.  My brother picked us up from the airport in our car that he had detailed and fixed the broken door.  He and his wife are amazing.  We are truly going to miss living close to them :(  When we walked out of the airport, I truly felt like I was home.

 Dan took the rest of the day off of work to spend time with us!

 This was also Katie's due date--luckily she was late!
 We went out to Pizza to celebrate before our drive to Dallas--where we would be staying the night!

Our awesome friends, the Blairs drove all the way out to see us just for two hours.  That was so kind of them!  We are going to miss them, too!!

 Nichole and I never got our picture after our race, so here it is!!

 I  was feeling a little emotional when we started our drive away from Austin.  It was like saying goodbye all over again.  Luckily for us, God sent these HUGE crickets to send us off!  The bugs in Texas are HUGE!!  I will not be missing them at all! We made it to Dallas where our friends let us crash!  Thank you Goggins!!

We drove through Nashville on our way and it was really fun walking down the streets as a family!

 The drive was actually quite beautiful!  Thanks Christian, for driving the entire way!!

California!

After we stayed in Montana, we were able to fly out to California for Matt and Caitlin's wedding.  It was adorable!  They are such a cute couple and I'm so glad we got to know Caitlin a little bit before the wedding.  They are going to be great together!

Christian actually got kicked in the face!  He lived though, so it's all good!

While we were there, Heidi's in-laws were so gracious to let us stay with them and even watched our kids during the sealing.  They had a pool and were so kind to let us use it! Thank you!

 Tyson loved swimming once he figured out a life jacket would make him stay afloat on his own!  He's so cute!

 On our last day there, we went to the beautiful beach.  It was a little windy, but still fun!

 Tyson and his cousins would grab sand, run the the waves, throw it and then run away screaming.  It was pretty awesome!

 Austin just played in the dirt!

 And left these cute tracks!!!

And then we were off to our adventures alone after 8 weeks of bumming off people!!  Thank you everyone for you kindness and support!  We love you!!