A Sneak Peak Of The Big Day

This is not really a peak, it's more like a barrage of pictures, but my amazingly talented sister took so many awesome pictures of our wedding that I wanted to share.  Isn't it exciting to be able to see the pictures the next day!  I have to wait a couple of weeks to see the one's from the professional photographer, but I can't imagine them being better than these!

It was absolutely perfect and exactly what I wanted....small, sweet, and beautiful.  Hopefull this will help everyone who wasn't there feel like they can still be part of our special day.

On our way to say the vows.

Mom making me look pretty

Saying our vows

The ring exchange

THE Kiss

We did it.....LOVE the look on Brian's face!

I think these pics look so magical, so if you'd like to see them in their full glory...just click on them to enlarge.

A Little Tree Trimming

First of all, today is the big day and I am getting pretty excited.  I can't wait to be Mrs. Abarr!

Now back to Austen...

The power company decided that some of the trees in our neighborhood were too big and had to be cut down, so the tree trimmers visited our neighborhood.  Austen heard the noise from the tree shredder and HAD to go see what was going on.  Since he has the most awesome Daddy ever, he got to get dressed up like a worker first and then because Brian can make friends with anyone and everyone likes him, the workers even let the little man help them.  It was the highlight of his week!

He brought his hard hat, bush trimmer, tool belt, and a rope.

This Isn't On The Bucket List, But It Should Be

We visited a carnival with the family and had a blast.  We did the usual carnival stuff.....ride rides, play games, and load up on sugar.

Austen was all about this motorcycle ride and Brian kept telling him to make sure and stay on the track, so he was super focused and kept looking down to see if he was still on it.

 Climbing a wobbly bridge to get to the top of an awesome slide

So much sugar, but we had to make sure he could stay awake for the fireworks (which he liked for about 2.5 seconds)

Watching Daddy play a loud shooting game

 In a giant spinning berry with cousins.

The Blocks That Changed Our Lives

I have to admit that I have been having a lot of trouble with Austen lately.  He has not been his sweet normal self for a couple of weeks now and it was really starting to get me down.  It made me question everything from my parenting abilities to my child's innate naughtiness.  I cried many times thinking that we were raising a spoiled brat and not knowing what to do to turn it around.  It was so confusing because normally Austen while curious, independent, and determined, was actually really sweet and sensitive.  Then, not knowing my situation with Austen, my sister in law told me about her new discipline system and how to implement it.  I started doing it the next day and it totally changed Austen's crazy behavior.  Since then, we only have about one meltdown a day compared to a meltdown all day everyday.  Also, he hasn't thrown a fit in a store since then, so that has been nice.

So here is what we do.....there are two colors of blocks.  Blue for bad choices and yellow for good ones.  He gets to put them in the jar and then at the end of the day we ask the jar if we can go get a treat....if we get a yellow one back, we go get a snow cone or ice cream or something, but if we get a blue one, then the answer is no and we can't go.  Also, I bought this really awesome rescue hero's firetruck that he can earn by getting no blue blocks for a whole week.

He has really taken to this new system and it also gives him a visual reminder to make good choices.  It is also helping him take responsibility for his actions.  So far we are LOVING it!

Summer Bucket List: See A Parade

We went to a parade!  It was Austen's first ever parade and he absolutely loved every second of it!  There were floats and police motorcycles and fire engines with the sirens on AND flying candy.  He was collecting as much candy as he could and stashing it in his chair.  By the end of the parade, he had so much candy that he started being selective and would only pick up the suckers.  This is definitely going to be a yearly tradition. 

The marching bands were his favorite.

He finally got to use his new chair outside and was so excited.....he even carried it all the way to the parade himself.