"Big Boy" Bed

We finally decided to convert Austin's crib to a toddler bed.  I put it together yesterday before bed time and once it was "fixed" Austin couldn't get enough of his new bed.  He didn't want to play with toys, say prayers, anything!  (I have a really cute video clip but it won't load...)

He slept great last night and didn't fall out.  He's currently taking a nap and I haven't heard him get up to play with toys or anything yet... good sign I'd say! 

He loves his seahorse and elephant...

Ward Christmas Party

Jeff and I were asked to serve on the Christmas Party Committee in our new ward. It was a pretty simple party but everyone seemed to have a fabulous time.

 Austin reacts to Santa just like I did as a kid...

 Baby Gap?

 Seriously - what a cute kid!  Austin loves his hat.  It fell off once during the party and he immediately asked me to put it back on. 

Playing 'Pass the Parcel'.  This is Bro. Lundell, he's in our bishopric and reminds me a lot of Jeff's Dad, Steve.  :)  (All in good ways)

Real Christmas Lights!

Jeff and I were pretty excited to put up real Christmas lights on our new house. We don't have a ladder (yet) but were able to get by with our little step ladder this time. Jeff climbed out one of the bedroom windows to put the lights up on the upper tier. It looks really pretty - he did a great job!

 We did put the lights up the day before Thanksgiving, but they were not lit until the night after!

 Austin loves to help - One day you will be tall like Daddy, Austin, and you can hang the Christmas lights!  (Please don't grow too fast too soon though!)

Fourteen, Fourteen, Fourteen!!

Austin has been such a hoot the last few days. He talks SO much and has so much personality that I have a hard time keeping myself from just sitting and watching him play all day.

 At King Soopers (a local grocery store) they have a mechanical horse you can ride for a penny.  Austin doesn't care much to ride the horse, but he does like to say hello and goodbye to it on our way out.  Last week the horse was broken.  I told Austin the horse was broken and probably feeling sick.  This week the horse was fixed and Austin excitedly shouted, "The horsey is all better!"  I'd even forgotten that it was broken the week prior and was surprised that Austin had remembered.  What a smarty.  Throughout the remainder of the day Austin continued to reassure me that "the horsey at the grocery store is all better."

We hung a string of Christmas lights around Austin's window for the holidays.  He loves having them on and telling us all of the colors he sees.  Today before nap I was changing his diaper and he started counting the lights.  He counted, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14!"   I guess counting to 10 is not so exciting anymore - time to move on!

We may invest in a snow blower...

There have been requests to see the front of the house, and now, I finally have a picture of it... along with all the snow I shovelled during Austin's nap.

 This is what we woke up to this morning!

 Heavy, wet snow!  Great for building a snowman, not for shovelling...

 The blade on that shovel is at least 8 or 9 inches.

 Poor Jeff walked to the bus stop in this before anything was shovelled - he probably has some wet socks today at work!

 Finally a picture of the front of the house!  We are planning on painting the outside of the house sometime next year.  The pink is.... okay.

We call this 'home' and we love it!

"I a the monster the Halloween!"

 My brother, Cameron, gave us this hand-me-down monster costume for Austin to wear this year.  It was size 18M and was a bit small, but he happily wore it and told us frequently he was going to be a monster for Halloween.

 I love the over-stuffed belly.  Goes with his cheeks!

 We went with a couple other friends.  Harrison, the skeleton, was in our ward in Denver.  We moved into their neighborhood and live just a block apart now.  James, the surprised horse (he wouldn't wear the hood), was a special guest at our house that night.  His mom was in labor so he went trick-or-treating with us and spent the night.  The boys had way too much fun!

Austin is satisfied with a Dum-Dum after a tiring walk around the block.

Happy 2nd Bday Austin!

 We had an early birthday celebration at my parents house.

 Austin had a great time with his cousins

 He got this cool little motorcycle! 

 Austin found our stash of gifts the day before his birthday and helped himself to one.  Inside was his first pillowcase from California Grandma!  He loves it and points out the owls and pumpkins.

 I got a little ambitious this year with his birthday cake.  I made a firetruck cake with surrounding fire cupcakes.  I used two boxes of cake mix!  We definitely should've scaled it down because we barely made it through half of this cake over a 1 week period!

 I think it turned out really cute.  Austin thought it was pretty cool too - even though he didn't eat any of it.

 "I see two fires!" 

Austin successfully blew out his candles and asked to blow out more "fires" for the few days following his birthday.

We had 5 other kid-O's there along with their parents.  It was a great time!

What would Fall be without jumping in some leaves?

 Austin's first time in a pile of leaves...

It was a hit! Now he can't get resist when he approaches a crunchy leaf.

Basement

 The basement was essentially finished with two storage areas, family room, 5th bedroom and a 3/4 bathroom.  All it needed was some paint, trim and carpet!

 Bedroom

 Painting the doors

 My brother, Kelsey, working meticulously on all the trim/finish work.  He did a great job!

 My mom and I painted the walls this 'River Rock' blue - Jeff's choice.

 New carpet!  I love how classy the basement looks with the blue walls, white trim and fresh carpet.

 Garden level windows - love having all the natural light in the basement.

 Bedroom

 Kelsey had to get creative with the window sills as they were each a different size and shape. They turned out beautiful!

Family Room

 Seeing the house for the first time with our realtor, Greg.

We patched a small hole in the wall (not shown) and added new carpet to this room.  (We did not paint, even though the coloring looks totally different between the two pictures.)  Now we need to get rid of the ugly window valance.