Happy Birthday Austin is 3!!

My spunky, funny, and handsome boy turned three!  I can't believe what a wonderful part of our lives he is.  My life would really not be complete without this wonderful little guy!

We had a cupcake party--all the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes with the sprinkles of their choice--some had more sprinkles than cupcake!

There's a happy boy!

His birthday breakfast of waffles and green smoothie :)  I just love these kids!

His Lightning Mcqueen birthday cake--I think this was his favorite gift!  He carried these cars around everywhere for weeks!

My grandparents sent the cutest hat!  He was afraid of it, but Tyson wore it everyday to school and I think he was the coolest kid there.  Happy birthday to this wonderful boy who truly lives life to the fullest, laughs his heart out, and gives me hugs every day.  I love you!

Fall fun and Thanksgiving!

In our backyard, we have a beautiful cherry tree that the boys love to climb!  Check out the sunset!

Austin ready for school like Tyson yet still playing with Neal's toys!

Austin loves to be by Neal.  I think I have this same picture with Tyson when Austin was a baby!

The first snowfall!

Austin wears these "funny caterpillar boots" everywhere!!  And always on the wrong feet!  We finally had to throw them away because they were holey, but I've never heard so many compliments on a single clothing item before!  Thank you Sandra!  He LOVED them!

The pumpkin snowman was made from pumpkins from our garden! (and one from the pumpkin patch!)  Thank you mom and Andre for helping us grow them!

Grapes for eyes, a carrot nose, and a raisin smile.  He was the biggest on the block!  Tyson was convinced someone was going to steal his hat!  Luckily nobody did!

Christian working in the backyard!

I love that he's wearing shorts, Austin's in pajamas (with the boots he never takes off!) and Tyson is fully decked out in winter gear!

Thanksgiving this year was a blast!  We had it with the Lees and McMurtreys and it was so much fun!  From planning the menu to shopping together, to spending the day together, it was relaxing and fun!  Thank you for letting us in on the fun!

The best part about a multi-family Thanksgiving is all of the new traditions you get to taste!  There was clam dip with BBQ chips, Chocolate pie, artichoke dip, and all sorts of fun new things (not to mention the DELICIOUS orange juice rolls by Alicia!)  Everything was absolutely delicious!

Here are my pies--two apple and one berry.  We went to a pie night the night before so we were stuffed!!

Here's our group!  It was so much fun!  Thank you everybody!

Neal's Blessing

Neal's blessing was beautiful.  Both my mom and her husband and my dad were able to come.  Since I was afraid that might be weird, I was especially grateful my little brother and his family made the trek down to spend the weekend with us as well.  Instead of being weird, it was just wonderful.  I didn't realize how stressed out I was until we sat down at church.  The last time my dad had come for Austin's blessing, he walked out of church and sat in the car for two hours.  I was worried it would be another bad experience for him, but he stayed the whole time.  It was a big deal to me!

It was perfect weather!

Tyson once again wanted to be superman for Halloween!  There were a bunch of trunk or treat things to go to and it was a lot of fun!

One of Neal's first smiles :)

He's so tiny!

For Ben's birthday we went to this crazy restaurant to eat some funny food.  Ben is so funny!  My boys kept trying to feed Nash much to Laura and Ben's chagrin!  Sorry guys!

The school did a trunk or treat and it was fun!

Austin was a typical 2 year old and wanted to do everything exactly his way--including walking on this wall without help!

Neal was perfectly content!

I love Christian :)

My dad woke up early and totally won his age group for this random race at the horse park.  He was within the top three of the entire thing!  Go Dad!

We went to the Lexington cemetery to look around and enjoy the fall foliage.  It was the perfect stop!

Grandpa and the boys!  He's a stud!

I love this goofy guy!

 I can't believe we are a family of 5--that's like the maximum people allowed for winning family trips on game shows :)

 I love my mom!

 Neal was so precious.  It was a beautiful blessing and a beautiful day.  Thank you Christian!

It was such a wonderful experience to have so much family all together.  Thank you for making the trip!  We love you guys!

Birthday, baby and the first few weeks!

I realize that it has been nearly a year since I updated the blog!  Here are some sweet moments from the first few weeks of Neal's life! 

Tyson has always loved being a big brother!

I am never more grateful for my mom than after I have a baby.  She is so helpful and sweet!

And--she loves babies!

Look at his wrinkly skin!

Neal has an awesome temperament.  Austin rocked this chair so hard it rocked completely over.  Neal stayed asleep the whole time!

Can you see the resemblance?

Three days after Neal was born was my birthday.  My mom made it special with decorations,

gifts,

and the most awesome cake of all time!  I was trying to stay away from sweets, so to me this meant the world!  Thank you for listening, Mom!

Every morning my mom would take Tyson to school and Austin on a walk, so I could have some time with the baby.  She is so beautiful!

And they are so cute :)

Neal's first bath--I always let my mom do it!  I remember with Tyson, she said she couldn't remember how, (which I thought was funny since she had seven kids!  Little did I know you only do this for such a short period of time!) but she's a pro!

Look at those cheeks!  He fell asleep--just like Tyson (unlike Austin who HATED water!)

Cleaned up and ready to go!

Thank goodness my mom takes pictures!

Austin did so well with the adjustment.  I am so proud of him!

My mom got us a new sign for the wall!

And my dad sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in a paint can!  Thank you Dad!  They were perfect!

He's so little!

Austin found this caterpillar in our garden!  I love his face!

Tyson was chosen to take home the class pet, "Spot."  I actually called the teacher and told her there was no way we could take care of a pet the first week Neal was home from the hospital.  It was then that I found out it was a stuffed animal :)

After my mom left, we took advantage of free museum day in Kentucky and drove up to the slugger museum.  It was awesome!

Christian and the three boys!

We got free bats (which is cool until you give it to two boys who are 2 and 5 and then you're just asking for it!)

We also went to Keeneland and watched some races!  It was so fun!  There were people with parasols, hats, and cigars (which Tyson saw and said, "Mom, that guy had a tube of toilet paper in his mouth!"_

Neal was riveted :)

The parasols

And--to the right of Christian...the coolest pants ever!  Go UK!

Our family :)

When Neal was a month old, we took him to his first UK football game.  Everyone thought we were hardcore fans!  We went with our amazing friends the Lees who took their three month old.  It was so fun (and beautiful!)

Welcome to the world, Neal!  It's a fun place to live :)