new apartment

Well, we are pretty settled in our new apartment! It has 3 bedrooms which is lovely! The girls are in their own room and then both boys will eventually be in a room together. For now Finn is still in his bassinet in the master bedroom and we are trying to find a mini crib for the boys room to use the space efficiently. There are 2 things I miss about being in a little apartment. #1 is my dining room table. We have a bar and barstools to eat at for the next year and I miss all of us being able to sit at the same table. #2, I miss some of the things in storage like ALL of my stamp and craft items. As soon as we can afford some new bookshelves (we sold the first set we had so we had more $ to move) we are going to purchase a couple and put them in the master bedroom where there is space and I will get all of that over here. Here are some pictures of the new place!

View from the front door looking in.

Our little living room.

The kitchen and "dining" area (this kitchen is huge compared to the one in Pagosa.)

Office area.

The boys room (Liam LOVES all the space he has right now!)

Girls room (they love not being in bunk beds anymore.)

Master bedroom

Nice big closet for Jason and I, our last one was tiny and there was so much crammed in it, I could have been on Hoarders. The goal is to not have this closet wind up like the last one.

Master bedroom closet

evie's 7th birthday

Evie had her 7th birthday on October 22nd!  It's hard to believe that she is 7 already.  I remember very clearly when she was born and it seems like yesterday. We celebrated by inviting one of Evie's gal pals, Cara, over and all the kids decorated masks!  They are all very talented and did a good job. Then it was time for pizza and a Tinkerbell cake, requested by Evie.  Fun times!

whoa baby!

Finn has reached that age in life where he needs some sort of high chair or will very shortly.  So I was looking online today for some ideas and to see what I want and my browsing brought on shock and awe.

There is some expensive baby stuff in this world!

Now, there are two types of expensive.

#1- the you've-got-more-money-than-you-know-what-to-do-with expensive

and

#2- the out-of-price-range-for-the-normal-person expensive.

Examples of #1:

Sibi Henry IV Convertible High Chair
$1350

This is not a high chair you let your 18 month old eat spaghetti in.

Kid Kustoms' "The Roddler"
custom- STARTS at $3500

For this much money the thing had better move under it's own power, steer itself, put baby in and take it out when the "walk" is over.  Comes with an ipod doc and DVD player.

Louis Vuitton Diaper Bag
$2220

Because who doesn't want spilled formula, crushed up Cheerios and poopy clothes in their uber expensive diaper bag?  Seriously, that's like 2 months rent for me.

Now that you're shocked over the ridiculousness of these items, I give you examples of #2.

Bloom Fresco High Chair
$280-$500

Ok, so this is kinda cool.  Still out of my budget, but nevertheless... cool.

Bloom Baby Bouncer
$200-$380

IF and that's a HUGE if, I had the money I'd buy this.  I love me some contemporary styled things and I love the look of this bouncer.  So I think that someone should copy it and make it in the normal person's affordability range.  :)

Mia Bossi Diaper Bag
$480

Leather and fabric stitched together.  But some bags cost $20 and some $480.

Phil and Ted's Vibe Buggy
$700

All strollers are created equal.  They are all a pain to fold, carry, store and set up.  They are all made of metal & plastic and feature similar types of fabric.  Why some are more expensive than others I will never understand.

Lil' Luxuries Whirlpool, Bubbling Spa & Shower
$70

This is not on here for the fact that it's $70 - though that is a contributing factor as you can go to Ikea (they get their stuff shipped in from Sweden!) and get a baby bath for $6.99 - but for the really? factor.  Really?

Now, out of all my time browsing there was one item, one thing that had I the funds to afford I would have purchased in an instant.  Anyone who has dealt with a colicy baby might agree with me.

4moms Mamaroo Plush
$239

(You have to watch the demo video on the site.  Linked HERE)

I hope that you enjoyed looking at these items as much as I enjoyed looking at them!

fun times in austin!

We are finding that there is a lot of free or low cost things to do here in Austin.  Or they are food related and since you've got to eat....

One thing that we discovered is the Williamson County Park. It's 800 acres and has tennis courts, a track and field, soccer fields, a disc golf course, a train that runs the whole property and a super cool splash pad.

We've gone about 4 times out to the splash pad, it's $1 per person, but so worth the price.  This last Saturday we went for a few hours, took our lunch and just hung out.  It was the most relaxing, fun, easy going day.  It's supposed to shut down this week for "winter" which blows my mind as it's still in the 90's here.  But the pool at our apartment is still open, so we'll just go over there for a cool off if we need to!

Here are some pictures of the Quarry Splash Pad!

On one side you have the water area....

And on the other, the sandy area!

A cool rock slide!

liam's 4th birthday

Liam turned 4 on September 16th and we celebrated with a Transformers cake and Iron Man presents.  He is most definitely a boy!  Liz and Jamie came up and gifted the birthday boy with some new clothes and matchbox cars and trucks.  Fun times all around!

As we were singing, Liam kept asking, "Can I blow the fire sticks out now?" I'm not sure what was funnier, him calling the candles fire sticks or asking if he could blow them out like 5 times as we were singing!

Lucky for me, Texas is big on Halloween and all sorts of stuff was in stores already, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone and get Liam's costume as his birthday present!

One tired little boy!

Parties can be so exhausting!