Happy birthday...to ME!

Besties Maaya and Brenda treated me to a trip to the State Fair for my 33rd bday this year. We had a great time. I had a turkey leg, so couldn't really get much better for me. Haha. We also ate lots of chocolate and drank lots of wine :)

Austin enjoyed my free bday Starbucks treat. The cookie was as big as his head. He thought it was hilarious.

Love
Jenn

This is gonna be the best day of my liiiiife

My cousin Ber thinks Austin will definitely be the kid screaming the Christmas songs on stage in kindergarten. Better than the kid picking his nose I guess :)

Hope today is the BEST DAY OF YOUR LIIIIIIIFE!!!
Love
Jenn

Happy Happy Birthday Austin!!

Our little wild monkey turned 3 this week. It's been a tough event for me. Poor kid was trotting around town in 24 month old clothes because I just didn't want to believe he was a 3T. I finally traded out his shorts for some that aren't above the knees :) This is a really fun age. We have actual conversations about all kinds of funny things and his imagination is running wild...please only believe half of what he tells you these days! haha. He comes up with some whoppers that are pretty entertaining. Like the time I turned into a lion and chased him around and then he became a ninja turtle and we ate cupcakes. Could've happened, right?!

We had a fun weekend with friends and family and our own little family celebration on his actual birthday (with ICE CREAM!). We thank God for him every dang day. Many times a day.

Austin shared a little inspirational story with me this week about trying to climb up a ladder... he said, 'Mom, it was a challenge...but I just tried and tried again until I made it to the top! That means persevere mom. We try and try again even if it's a challenge.'

God, I love that kid. Persevere my friends. Even if it's hard. One little step up the ladder at a time. If that's not Kinchen WIN THE DANG DAY thinking, I don't know what is :)

Love
Jenn

Weirdos and, you guessed it, wine! HA!

Took a family excursion to Austin Comicon last week...supporting our dorky little sis in her interests as she supported us on our interests (wine) last week. Yes, we all even put on some form of a costume for this event. The things we will do for our fam. I am so proud of our little Aunt Boogie. She has remained her same awesome nerdy self through the transition to the dreaded middle school this year. Obviously, she is rubbing off on us because we walked around in public as grown adults in costumes without batting an eye. There are quite a few interesting characters at this event. Austin was cracking us up switching between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and The Hulk costume all evening. haha. He was really getting into character. Bonus...I found a cocktail booth there, so I had a great time :)

Although I know Austin and I will always have a special 'Mama's Boy' bond, I have come to accept that we are venturing into special Daddy territory with Austin's new 3 year old boy interests in superheros, sports and random cartoon characters. And I'm not going to lie, I'm not feeling too devastated in having to share the responsibility of singing 'Turtles in a half-shell! Turtle Power!' at least 100 times a day with Daddy. And Jonathon LOVES it.

Had a special visit last week from Auntie Seemay! When we were leaving lunch with her one day, Austin said, 'Mom, that was fun! We are so lucky to have Aunt Seemay for our friend! Did you know that?' haha. Yup. I actually do know that. We love Auntie Seemay. Wish I could've spent more time with her. She was here on baby duty helping her brother and sister-in-law with the surprise (and very very early!) arrival of their precious healthy baby boy and I ended up with an awful cold that had me in bed for 3 days. My immune system is really ticking me off. Everyone else gets the same bug with some sniffles, but I am down for the dang count for days. The daily Tamoxifen med keeps my white counts knocked down which makes fighting off bugs a lot of work. This cold and flu season is going to be a tough one for me. Blech.

One thing I'm very thankful for is how low maintenance yall have been with all of our craziness. My bestie has flown all the way here from Seattle 4 times now and I've spent less than a couple of hours with her without any stress at all. Twice I didn't see her at all. I've flaked out on dinners and birthday parties. Canceled something at the last minute at least once a week. Whew! Love that yall are so understanding. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Wish everyone could be treated with the same consideration and compassion we have been. I think if all of us just considered that each of us is out there trying to do what's best for ourselves and families (and I think most of us are!), there would be a lot less drama in the world! I ain't got time or energy to put towards any of that. I'm still recovering from some major ass kicking that happened this last year. Thanks to each of you for your continued thoughts and prayers as our little Kinchen family gets stronger and stronger each dang day!

Love
Jenn