My Baby is FOUR!

Yes, Austin officially turned 4 today - hard to believe that just four years ago I was holding my first little baby in my arms trying to figure out what the heck I had gotten myself into! I can't believe it has only been four years ago that I didn't know what it was like to have children, but then I think I can't believe how fast 4 years has flown by! All my children are very unique, but Austin, being the oldest, has had to endure some - what I like to call - "parental experimentation." First time parents are really pretty funny, but not until you have actually lived through it. I remember thinking I should "play" with Austin all the time when he was awake - no, not when he was three - when he was like 3 days old. I was sure that if I just left him lay on the floor that he would think he was on some deserted island. I would go crazy if I heard him cry - and would run to him in the middle of the night as if he had actually crawled up and out of his crib at the age of one month. Let's see....he didn't have a lick of chocolate until his 1st b-day (that could be considered child abuse I think). I put him in Gymboree at 6 months of age - he couldn't even sit up yet...what was I thinking?? Shawn and I have learned quite a bit after now going on kid #4. Not that we have it figured out - or that we ever will, because we won't, but at least we can laugh about it now. I was quite anal (yes, I admit it), but I will tell you my baby boy is loved more than you could imagine. Here's where we were just 4 years ago...Grapevine, Texas...

Alright, enough babbling...here's how the b-day weekend went...(and keep in mind I have to do this all over again with Ashlyn, as her b-day is Wednesday!)

Saturday we headed out to Crown Center for the American Royal parade - huge awesome parade! We had a great time with Grandma and Papa Settle and Aunt Kim and Uncle Nick. It has been a tradition the last three years to take the kids to Fritz's for lunch for their b-days. It's a train restaurant where a train track is up above you and a train delivers and drops your food down - very cool. They have hamburgers that have hash browns on them - holy cow they are awesome, well anything is with hash browns.

We had a fun day with the kids Saturday, and then Sunday was Austin's big day. It started around 7am with him finding a present in his bed - which just floored him, he was so excited. Then we headed to McD's a Sunday tradition where we hang out with my parents and let the kids play. After that we headed home for another present - the one Shawn and I were most excited about -

He LOVED his new Batman outfit. As we were shopping for a gift for him, we saw this and decided it was perfect - he is obsessed with dressing up as superheros lately, so what better present?? He has taken it on and off about 50 times today already. Another "cake by Kim", my sister. She is a master at frosting cakes. we did a superhero cake - can't see it too good, but the superheros are all standing on a building. I think my mom's camera has a better pic.

We had a little b-day party this afternoon, he got to pick a few friends to invite over for a party. When I asked him who he wanted to invite, he insisted he have an ALL GIRL party. hmmmmm. Yes, Shawn was a proud father at that moment, but seriously. I got in a big argument with him that he must invite his boys too - he finally said ok - so funny. Anyway, we had a superhero party and they all had a blast. My mom (the saint) made superhero capes for all the kids that they got to keep - huge hit with the kids (and moms - several said thanks for the new halloween costume! - thanks Peg!) We played some games, the kids all got light sabers (from star wars, although ours were just glow sticks) and spiderman masks. Probably the most fun was two things - one - we gave all the kids a cup of sprite and told them to use their superpowers to change the color - they put colored ice cubes in that changed their drinks different colors and made them fizz up - they thought that was pretty cool. And second, I got all the kids together and told them that I had a big bucket of candy for them, but that some bad guy stole it! I gave them each a can of silly string and told them if they saw a bad guy running about that they should chase him and shoot him with their "webbing" so they could get their candy back. This was so funny - Shawn dressed up like a bad guy and ran around the yard - where was the video camera?!?! All in all it was a great day - Austin is thrilled to be four, and thrilled to have some really cool new toys, and so blessed to have such an amazing family and friends. Thanks to all for making this such a special day for him!! Hope you enjoyed the pics!

and now...I am going to bed.

Hope you are having the time of your life!

ST