Happy 8th Birthday Austin!

It's hard to believe this little peanut

turned 8 years old today.

I know parents are supposed to love their children, but can I just tell you? 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this kid! 

It is my absolute joy and privilege to be Austin's mom and I thank God for him every single day. When I try to think of one word to describe him, this is what always comes to mind.

SUNSHINE!

Austin literally warms my heart and brightens up my day.

Happy 8th birthday to my little buddy!
I love you so much.

Now onto the festivites...

On Friday, we took homemade cupcakes to share with Austin's classmates. He's been really into Bakugan and was very specific about how he wanted them to look.

We had decided ahead of time to do a birthday lunch for Austin at church, but since we had just finalized Bethany's adoption, we thought it would be nice to combine the two. Fortunately, Austin was happy to share his big day with his little sister.

The orginal plan was to make a Bakugan cake for Austin. As usual, he was very specific about what he wanted and even drew me some sketches. But now that we were having a joint celebration, it couldn't just be a Bakugan cake. After a lot of unnecessary anxiety (yes, I do stress over birthday cakes!), we made a last minute decision to throw a couple of Austin and Bethany's favorite things on the cake. It took mere minutes verses the several hours it would've taken me to complete the original design. Cake decorating doesn't get much easier than this. :)

Bakugan / Sesame Street cake
Austin loved it and I'm pretty sure Bethanay didn't even notice. :)

Happy birthday Austin!

Happy finalization Bethany!

Mommy and Daddy love you both so much.