Valentine's Day

Austin’s friends’ birthday party was the weekend after his birthday.  That just worked better for us.  He had about 20 children come.  It was at Playground World.  That place is awesome for birthday parties at this year.  The kids got to play on the playgrounds and trampolines.  There was small basketball court too.  Every played for a while then we ate pizza and had cake. 

Austin wanted a Cavs themed party this year.  I decided to order this cake at Walmart.  I wanted cupcakes because it is easier for the kids.  Austin wanted a special cake with Cavs backboard on it.  I caved and let him get both.  When I picked up the cake, I didn’t really notice it. But when I got home, Austin noticed right away the cake was wrong.  He was sad. We went back to Walmart and fortunately they were able to make it right for him.  However we were there for a long time!  It turned out nicely though. 

After we had cake, the kids played until the party was over.  Everyone had such a great time.  It was nice meeting new friends too.  Austin got some cool gifts like arts and crafts that he loves, Cleveland Indians stuff, and even Pokemon.  We are learning about Pokemon now too. 

Austin’s first project in kindergarten was to make a Valentine’s box with valentines. For the valentines he had to write each kids name.  Austin is crafty and he wanted to make his own valentines. I took him to Hobby Lobby and let him pick out the supplies he wanted.  He was excited to do it.  However it was a bit painful getting him to complete them all. He lost interested in doing it after a while.  We had several weeks to do it. 

For his Valentine’s box, Austin made a basketball themed one.  He painted the shoe box orange twice.  He used a paper towel roll to make a backboard.  He clipped the backboard from his birthday cake onto it. He even made a shot clock.  Then he decided he needed his picture taken and cut it out and put himself on the backboard.  He used black tape to make lines on the box to look like basketball court.  It turned out really nice!  He was proud of it. 

He also celebrated the 100^th day of school at school before Valentine ’s Day.  He needed to bring in 100 of something.  Austin being creative decided he wanted to bring in 100 pizzas.  We used my Cricut machine and made them.  We cut out dough, cheese, and pepperoni.   Then we made them all and counted them to make sure we had 100.  Austin wanted a pizza box to bring them in.  Brian helped him make a box.  Brian and Austin found pictures online. Austin glued pictures to the box.  It turned out very cute.  We later found out that no other child brought in anything crafty.  Austin said everyone else’s was the teacher’s suggestions.  Austin came up with this on his own.  We all had fun with these projects. 

Sydney wrote out her Valentine’s for her friends too.  She got Frozen Valentine’s and wrote each child’s name and her own name.  She loved doing it. 

Austin's 6th birthday

Austin’s birthday week was a lot of fun!  It’s amazing how much fun kids have with their birthdays and we made it special for him.  It started the Thursday night before his birthday.  Brian took Austin to a Cavs game.  They had a lot of fun together!

Nana came in town for Austin’s birthday. She was in town for Sydney’s and Austin made sure she did not forget that.  Luckily the weather worked out and they were able to come up for his birthday.  They arrived late Thursday night.  On Friday morning, Austin woke up early and was so excited to see Nana.  They played his favorite fish game.  Then they made breakfast together. 

I worked around the house and went through the kids clothes and got hand me downs out of the closet into their drawers.  We get a lot of clothes from the neighbors especially for Austin.  It’s really nice.   Nana took the kids to the store and to get Austin’s haircut. 

Then they came home and baked some cookies.  I scheduled a field trip to Chuck E Cheese Friday night. Austin loves that place but I didn’t want his party there.  So we went as a group Friday night.  It was fun. Austin was really tired at the end and started making sad choices.  It was time to go home and get some sleep. 

On Saturday morning, Austin had basketball.  Brian is the coach so his mom got to see Austin play and Brian coach.  At the end, they even got to play a game which made Austin very happy.  He even scored a basket. 

After basketball, Brian came home and installed my new dishwasher.  Ours broke two weeks ago, he ordered a part.  Fixed the dishwasher.  The dishwasher worked for 1 ½ washes then broke again.  Then we decided just to buy a new one.  We went out last week shopping for one.  We finally got one at Lowes.  I have to say the service was quick and we were able to get home before bedtime for the kids.  While installing the dishwasher, we found out our sink was leaking and I pipe on the other side broke.  It was an all afternoon project.  Brian finally fixed everything just in time for Austin’s family party.

My parents came over for the party and Nana and grandpa came up.  Austin requested Pizza Hut pizza for dinner.  That is his favorite.   Austin made his own birthday cake with Nana.  He even wrote his name on it. Austin loves to cook and decorate things.  We had pizza for dinner.  Then Austin opened his gifts which were circuits, stepping stones for garden, finger soccer game, and a huge ninja turtle from Auntie Melissa. 

Then we had cake.  Austin insisted the turtle be in the pictures this year with him and his cake.  Usually it’s just Austin and Sydney.  We agreed to keep him happy.  Austin had a great family birthday party. 

On Sunday, it was his actual birthday.  Nana and grandpa left at 3am.  Austin was really sad about that.  Once Austin woke up (at 6am) he watched his kindle for a bit.  Then worked on a birthday crown.  Once Brian got up we got ready to go to Heinen’s for a kid’s food tasting program.   Heinen’s came into Austin’s school and told them about it.  So he was excited to do it.  It’s cool because they will try different foods because of it.   Then we stopped at Mally’s per his request and got him some chocolates for his birthday.  They each got a bag of slips and they were happy. 

Once we got home, we gave him his birthday present from us which was a big bike.  Brian and him put it together.  Then we went outside to ride it.  Austin was nervous as it was big.  Actually it was too big but I think it will grow into it fast.  After a lot of encouragement he was able to ride it well.  He still needs help starting since he can’t touch the ground well but he did well.  I hope by spring he it will fit him just right. 

For his birthday dinner, he wanted McDonalds. So we took the kids there for that.  They even got a happy meal.  They were happy!  After dinner, we came home and had an ice cream cake.  We got pictures without the turtle this time.  Austin had a great 6^th birthday!