Austin's Birthday #5

I can't believe my tiny boy is 5 and will be going to kindergarten next year! He's so sweet and fun to be around that I'd love to keep him home with me another year.


This year Austin was insistent that he have a bowling/Bowser/friend party for his 5th birthday. He is OBSESSED with all things Bowser, but he also loves bowling so we had to throw that in there too. We had his friend party on the afternoon of his birthday. We headed to the bowling alley first. I scheduled the party to be 2 hours long, and I was afraid we'd have lots of leftover time at the end. What I didn't realize was how long it would take 5 4 & 5 year old and one 7 year old to bowl one game. And none of them knew their shoe sizes so I had to take all their shoes off and examine their shoe size before I could even get their bowling shoes. It was fun though. Then we went home and had cupcakes and opened presents.


Here are all the cute guests: Jaden, Ethan, Austin, Drew, Myka, Tiger, and Kylee

I made this cute brick item boxes from Mario to go in the party bags.  I filled them with chocolate gold coins.  The kids loved them!

That night we had a family Bowser pizza party.  Austin had a very specific idea in mind when it came to his cake.  He and I had spent some time googling images of Bowser birthday cakes and he found a picture of a Bowser cake with a castle that he determined was perfect.  I searched for ways to make a castle cake and every example I showed him, he said it didn't look like the real Bowser's Castle.  I was discussing my frustrations with the cake with my mother-in-law, Karon, and Austin overheard us and said sweetly, "It's ok Mom, you can just make me cupcakes. Don't worry about the castle." Just Austin being sweet, as always.  Karon couldn't handle how sweet he was about it so she said, "Jen, I know a lady that does cakes.  I will have the cake he wants made for him. He deserves it." I sent the picture of the cake Austin wanted to the lady Karon knew and she did an AMAZING job.  Better than the original picture.  Austin didn't want anyone to eat the cake, he just wanted to play with it.  The whole castle on top was completely edible.  Austin was in heaven.  The pictures of the cake were taken after Austin had been examining it for a while and he smudged some of the writing and ate a couple of the spikes on the castle.  Still looks amazing though!

All he wanted for his birthday was a castle, and just like the cake, he had very specific ideas about what a castle should look like.  I found this "Melissa and Doug" castle on Amazon and knew he'd love it.  He thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Austin has been deathly afraid of fire/candles for years now, but this was the first year that he actually was willing to blow out the candles on his cake.  Go Austin!

In this picture he's pretending that he's Bowser and eating the spikes off of his castle.

Christmas

Ethan hates reading.  Santa got him his favorite book "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" and he actually sat there Christmas morning and read without being told to for about 20 minutes!

Dry Bowser!  This toy was impossible to find!

Here's Kylee opening her presents a couple hours after everyone else.  Poor gal threw up all over her Christmas eve nightgown and had to wear her brothers' hand-me-down snowman jammies instead

Little sick Kylee felt well enough to open a few presents

I hate tshirts with characters on them, but I gave in and bought them each one shirt with their favorite characters for Christmas.  Angry Birds and Bowser!

New bikes for all the boys!!

Opening their gift from Uncle Cookie

Lara, Kristin, and me Christmas night in Saratoga Springs

Christmas night at my parents

Uncle Eric and Aunt Lara were in town for a few days over Christmas, and the kids loved seeing them.  Eric came to our house his last day in town and spent the whole afternoon playing Wii with the boys. 

On Christmas morning, the boys woke up and came to our room around 7 am.  We would've woken up Kylee to come join us to open presents, but since she'd been up throwing up all night we let her sleep in.  First we opened our stockings, and then I made a breakfast of big cinnamon rolls and fruit salad.  Then we opened our presents.  Austin got his "Dry Bowser" race car set, the only present he asked for besides a watch.  He also got some Legos, a watch, a DS game, a Bowser toy, clothes, and more.  Ethan got a Nintendo 3DS, which he immediately opened and started playing.  He also got some clothes, a game for the DS, Legos, and a few other toys.
Kylee woke up a bit later and we all helped her open a few presents before she lost interest and just wanted to play with what she'd already opened.  She got an Ariel Barbie, The Little Mermaid DVD, princess books, dress up clothes, and more.  We got dressed and headed down to Mapleton, where we met up with Adam's family at church. 
We then went back to the Winn's and ate a big brunch of Ebelskievers (sp?), bacon, eggs, and hash browns.  Then we watched all the kids open their presents, and then all of us opened our stockings.  The kids got soo much stuff, including new bikes and handmade treasure boxes.  So much fun!  Adam's parents spoiled us all, as always.  Poor Kylee didn't have too great of a day because she was feeling so rotten all day. 
That evening, we headed up to Saratoga Springs to see my family.  We opened our presents from them and gave them our presents.  Kylee got a fun dollhouse and the boys got a DS game, Sea Monkeys, and tons more.  My parents gave us a nice new video camera and new lamps for our bedroom.  That night we played games and ate tons of leftovers and desserts. 

Christmas Eve

Because he works in retail, Adam ALWAYS has to work Christmas Eve day.  It stinks, but it's a busy time of year at his store (especially this year, yay!), so you gotta do what you gotta do.  That night we went to my parent's house for dinner.  I should've taken some pictures of our food: ribs, lobster tail, and king crab legs! What a feast!
Later that night we opened our new pajamas (the kids had matching Mickey Mouse flannel jammies).  Then we headed back to our house where we read the Night Before Christmas and left some cookies, milk, and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer.  The boys had picked out presents for everyone at the Dollar Store, so we opened those that night.  They were sooooo excited to see us open what they'd picked out, it was really cute. 
The kids could hardly fall asleep because they were so excited.  Poor Kylee had been having tummy troubles for a few days and it got even worse Christmas eve.  She woke up at midnight and threw up all over.  Fun Christmas Eve for Santa's helper who got to clean it all up...

Austin was in a silly mood and kept doing this funny pose.

Ethan and Austin think "Siri" on the iPhone4 is the funniest thing that has ever happened.  They could sit for hours asking it ridiciulous questions.  Here are Uncle Ryan and Ethan talking to her.

Santa has come!

Temple Square Lights

The week before Christmas we did our annual tradition of staying in Salt Lake for the night.  We pack up our stuff and go out to eat and see the Lights at Temple Square, then stay in a hotel.  This year we had a few challenges to pull it off, but it ended up being a lot of fun.  We ate dinner at the Little America restaurant and then spent time walking through Temple Square, the Tabernacle, and the Visitors Center.  The lights were amazing as always.  The next morning we ate a nutritious McDonalds breakfast, and then headed to Fashion Place mall to visit Santa and to get Adam a new iPhone. 

I had to include this picture too, even though it's almost the same as the first.  I just love how annoyed Austin looks.  The kids hate taking pictures, and they were freezing and ready to get to the car.

Nativity

At the annual Winn family Christmas party this year, we did a nativity with the grandkids instead of having Santa visit.  I'll admit, I missed the Santa tradition, but I really did like the nativity too.  Maybe next year we could do both? Ethan was Joseph and Ellie was Mary, and Ellie's baby brother was Jesus. Austin was a shepherd who reufsed to wear his costume (waaaaayyyy to embarrassing for that kid), and Kylee was the star, but she lay on the floor and had a tantrum because she didn't like her costume.

Christmas Sing

Every year Ethan's elementary school does the School Sing.  All the grades prepare 2 songs and sing them for all the parents.  I am always impressed at how well all the kids know every word to the songs and how loudly they sing and how they remember all the hand motions.  It's always INSANE trying to get a decent seat and they pack everyone in the cafeteria like sardines, but it's still fun. 
I can't believe Ethan is in second grade already, wow.

Riverwoods Christmas

The Riverwoods in Provo has some of the most beautiful lights in the area.  Plus they have fun stuff to do, an amazing toy store, live entertainment, good food, a really good Santa to visit, and free carriage rides.  We spent some time playing at Provo Beach Resort first, then went outside to see Santa and look in the toy store. Austin was so nervous to see Santa. I convinced him to just stand by Santa and tell him what he wanted, instead of sitting in his lap. When we got up there Ethan jumped onto Santa's lap and started talking. I pushed Austin towards Santa and when he got close Santa grabbed him and pulled him onto his lap. Austin looked surprised, but he LOVED Santa. As we walked away, Austin couldn't stop grinning and saying, "Mommy, he was so nice! I sat on his lap! I think that's the real Santa! I like Santa!" It was adorable, just like everything else that boy does. Kylee HATED Santa, of course.

I Love Real Trees

We always get a real tree for Christmas at our house. NOTHING beats the smell or look of a real tree, plus, it's so fun to pick one out. It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Adam used to fight me every year about getting a real tree, but he's realized it's pointless (plus, I think maybe he might secretly like it too??). We went to the same tree lot in American Fork that we went to last year. On the way there, Kylee fell asleep (no nap that day), so Adam stayed with her in the car while the boys and I picked out the tree. I think it was the very fastest we've ever picked out a tree; Adam couldn't believe it when I came back to the car and told him we were done.

I love Christmas ornaments that have meaning to our family.  I want our tree to be pretty and have a theme of some sort, but more importantly, I want the ornaments to bring back fond memories of vacations, babies, happy times, etc.