Awesome August

Apparently the blog has turned into a monthly (or bi-monthly or even quarterly) update kind of a thing, which means I get a little wordy and long winded, sorry about that and post a gajillion pictures all at once, sorry about that too..

But here's August!

We had a great summer! Pretty low key, didn't have any major trips or anything but we had fun with family and friends.

Probably the biggest deal in August is Ethan's birthday and school starting...

Oh! And I painted my room (well, I do share with Alex so I guess it's "our" room, not just MY room).

Let's start with that then we'll move on to more important things.

I don't have a  really good before picture but my room was dark gold/mustard and we have dark furniture so it was tired and dark and it was making me tired and dark. So I decided to change it up. I wanted lighter and brighter! Found a quilt on Overstock.com for super cheap and made the change...And I like it a lot. Alex thinks it's pretty girly but he deals with it, like all good husbands do.

The new quilt (picture from Overstock)...Light and bright, right? 

Abby painted all that by herself, she's a great helper!

 1/8th of the way done...Or something... I'm bad at math.

 New lamps for the dresser, after some trying and returning and trying again, I think we like these best.

 Not sure about the iron thing above the bed, it'll do for now I guess.
{Thanks to my Mom and sister who helped me figure out lamps, drapes, accent pillows, well...accent pillow. And also helped a ton with general cleaning and organizing! Yay for moms and sisters!}

As aforementioned my mom and sister Kim made the trek to Houston for Ethan's birthday (not just to help me figure out lamps, drapes, pillows etc)! He was so excited that they came for a visit. We all were! And we miss them terribly when they leave! We tried to keep their arrival a secret from the kids, but apparently neither Alex or myself are very good at keeping our yaps shut! We kept slipping up saying things like, "when Grammie and Aunt Kimi get here". And we'd get confused blank stares from the kids, they weren't sure if we were talking about some future date or what? Then we'd try to cover up our slip up and it was getting hard! Finally the day before Grammie and Kim arrived, I just spilled the beans. And the kids were like, we knew it!

The birthday boy decided he wanted his party at Chuck E Cheese's a few months ago, so we invited a few friends and partied with Chuck E.  Much to Abby's chagrin...She HATES Chuck E. She is completely terrified of him and kept trying to talk Ethan out of having his party at, "Chunk N. Cheese".

She tried to talk him into going bowling, or to Bouncin' Bears. But he would not cave to the peer pressure. Poor Abby had one major meltdown at Chuck E Cheese's and held on to her Daddy and would not let go. She had his shirt balled up in her hands and her head buried in his chest, and cried her eyes out, when she thought Chuck E. was close by. She was holding on for dear life. Poor kiddo! I guess that'll be the one and only Chuck E Cheese's party we'll be having.

I know I say this every time one of my kids has a birthday, but it's so hard to believe that Ethan's 7! Because it is so hard to believe! 7?!!! What the...?!! My big boy. And what a sweet boy he is! He's very affectionate and loving. He's really coming out of his little shell, he's not so shy anymore.  He's actually talking to people who talk to him. Like at a restaurant he'll tell the waiter what he wants to drink and eat. When my friends talk to him, he'll engage in a conversation. Instead of running for the hills and hiding behind me. He's starting to stand his ground more and is a lot more independent. He's a great reader and writer and Lego builder. He loves to tease Abby but also loves her a lot. He's very tenderhearted and says the sweetest prayers, always remembering Amber and our big extended family and friends. He's always telling us he loves us and gives us all hugs. He's got a funny sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time. And yes he is a bit (ok a lot) stubborn and a little cantankerous sometimes, but we sure love our 7 year old kiddo. 

I really enjoyed having a party at a location where I didn't have to do much. So I concentrated on doing the cake. Because of my usual terrible luck with birthday cakes, I didn't have much hope for this one.
But I am determined to turn my luck around, and maybe this did it?! 

Ethan wanted a Sonic cake, nobody does Sonic anymore, so I found this cake and tutorial online. It seemed pretty easy and I thought I could handle it. AND even though it was pretty easy, I still stressed out about it! All it is is 2 round cakes, one cake for the face and one for his spikes/hair whatever it is. And blue, white, tan and black frosting...

Ta-da! I did it! I sort of can't believe it turned out this good (I know it's far from perfect) but after all the disaster birthday cakes I've done, this was a total success in my book!!

 On Ethan's actual birthday we had a few presents to open, we went to meet his teacher, then we went to dinner at Red Robin (he loves that place), then we went to see Planes! Fun day!

Free Birthday dessert!

Then on Saturday we partied at Chuck E Cheese's.

Fun times with friends and family!

And...back to school...

Meeting his teacher!

Feeling a little nervous! Especially getting his picture taken with his teacher!

 First day of 2nd grade! 

 He was excited and ready!

A week in and he's loving it! He loves his teacher and he comes home happy! Hungry but happy! I'm happy he's happy! Abby's happy when he comes home! Dad's happy that Ethan and Abby and Mom are happy!