Austin Birthday Week and Party

We were excited to celebrate Austin on his birthday and throughout his birthday week. One of the kids favorite traditions is "birthday bags", where they get one bag a day leading up to their birthday. Inside might be a few candies, an ice cream date with mom or dad, a small toy, or some other fun coupon. It is usually less than a dollar a bag, but makes a big impact on them feeling celebrated for their birthday. Austin woke up every morning filled with excitement to open his bag, but he made sure that he waited until all his siblings (i.e. Lydia) were awake before he opened it. This year, Shantel put cans of food in the bags and then each morning would switch it for the thing that actually went in there and it was so funny to watch him shaking and feeling through the paper of each bag saying "I wonder what this could be! It feels like tuna fish. But they wouldn't give me tuna fish... would they??"  

At this stage, Austin loves candles. He asks to light candles for every meal and frequently throughout the day. He put in a special request for his birthday cake: he wanted a candle cake. But not just any candle cake, he wanted a replica of the red layered candle he got for Christmas last year. But he didn't want frosting on the outside - he wanted it to look like it was in a glass jar. Shantel tried to talk him into some different candle variations, but he really really really wanted this. (It doesn't help that he had just been watching "Best Cake Wins" on BYUTV, where incredibly talented bakers come together to make all the detailed birthday cake wishes of young children come true.) Shantel ended up making a layered cake and putting it in a gelatin mold to create the glass effect on the outside. It was quite the process, but he was satidfied in the end and that's all that really mattered. 


He was so happy with his candle cake. We even lit a slivered almond for him to blow out, because he also insisted that the candle be edible. 




In years past, Austin has always opted to go do something (Boondocks, Arcade, etc...) instead of having a friend party. But this year, Shantel talked him into a party and we think he had a really great time. Shantel and I make a pretty good party-throwing team. Even though we keep it pretty simple, the kids have fun, and we always high-five in the silence after the last child leaves for a job well done. 

We played pin the flame on the candle. 

We did some candle science experiments/demonstrations and then let the kids each make their own candle. 


Presents then Cake & Ice Cream. (The cake did NOT taste very good, but all the kids were very impressed with the presentation.) 



After the party, we hopped in the car and headed to Morgan to spend the rest of the day up there. We had another (much better tasting) cake, and opened the rest of his presents. 

One of his presents was the entire series of Dragon Masters books, which are his current favorites. Grandpa asked Austin if he wanted to go out into the shop to make a small bookshelf for his books and Austin excitedly agreed. They worked together all afternoon to design and build a fun little bookshelf for his books. 


Overall, Austin had a great birthday. We were glad to celebrate him and are grateful to have him in our family. Happy Birthday Austin!