We can hardly believe that this boy is already 9.5 years old. He's such a good brother, great helper, and fun person to be around. He loves to play games, watch sports, read Harry Potter, and explore what the world has to offer. He's a peacemaker in our home and we love spending our days together.
We celebrated his birthday in Morgan and then got right to work making memories throughout the next 6 months. Looking back through these pictures of Austin from September-March reminds me of how much our family has been through. We've done some really fun, exceptionally wonderful things! We've also had some really sad, hard things. Some highlights: A Cornbelly's season pass, Narnia themed Halloween costumes, Christmas, and DISNEYLAND! But in January, Austin's grandmother Sue Peaden passed away and the grief of her loss is still acute right now.
Some things about Austin right now:
-He loves building things. Building structures out of STEM toys like shapes or legos, creating things with popsicle sticks, or using any other item to construct something. I love watching his brain work.
-He LOVES candles. It's a thing and we love watching him enjoy something so thoroughly.
-We spend a lot of time with family, especially cousins. We also have a great homeschool friend group that we do a lot of fun things together with. Pictured here: Lydia and Austin at the Ranch in Wyoming. Playing a game with Grandpa Walker in Morgan. The Morgan Corn Maze with cousins. The Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point with our field trip group.
Austin's favorite thing about Fall was that the kids saved up their family money to purchase Cornbelly's season passes. We used them as much as we possibly could!
I included too many pictures here, I know. I just think he's so cute.
Other fall activities: Pumpkin carving and building a Harry Potter themed Halloween House for the Library competition.
Halloween was especially fun this year because the kids dressed up as the Pevensie kids from Chronicles of Narnia. This is probably my favorite Halloween ever. Ever! Austin made the best "High King Peter" in the land.
November brought Thanksgiving and some fun "kid dates".
Christmas!
Favorite things included Christkindlemarkt, lots of puzzles, setting up Grandma Peaden's Christmas Village, Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert with his Dad and Aunt Amy, SNOW, Piano Concert, and all of our family Christmas traditions.
-Austin is doing great with his piano lessons. He's working hard, often waking up first thing in the morning to practice the piano, and is improving steadily. It's such great life skill and I'm grateful that he is learning to play. (Plus he loves his piano teacher, Stephanie Lewis, and often stays after his allotted time to chat with her.
-Austin has really gotten into puzzles lately. It's something that he really enjoys doing and is really good at.
-Christmas at age 9 is so much fun. Magical, exciting, and low-pressure. Austin was thrilled with all of his gifts and was thoughtful and kind in the gifts that he gave.
This is one of our last family pictures with Sue, taken right before we left after celebrating Christmas and their 50th wedding anniversary. Sue loved her family and we loved being with her. This picture is when David took Austin and Lydia to the BYU vs Iowa St. game. Sue watched the game on her TV and loved that they got to go (she loved BYU and sports in general). Austin loved watching TV with her in her bedroom. He would sit on the cozy chair in the corner and they would watch sports, or national geographic TV, or a movie together. He enjoyed being in there sharing those things with her.
-Austin and Lydia took a skiing class this year. They spent 8 Friday afternoons in December and January being bussed up to Brighton Ski Resort. Neither of them had skiied before and it was a great first experience, especially because there was a whole group of friends that did it together. I love that homeschool allows us to have these great connections and experiences. Austin really enjoyed learning how to ski. Early on in the program, they got stuck in traffic in a snowstorm in the canyon and it took them 5 hours to drive home, poor kids! It's still an adventure that they talk about. The last day of classes we picked up the group and had a pizza/movie night watching cool runnings.
In the Fall, Austin spent his Thursdays doing "mini-coop" with Caleb, Lucy, and a couple of younger siblings in our coop group. We had a lot of fun things- pictured are "100 day" celebrations, cake baking day, and the kids holding their cookbooks. This was a great part of our homeschool this year. However, in January Austin started attending the Thursday Coop with Lydia. It's been a big adjustment for him, but he's doing really well and really enjoying it.
I included every picture of Sue that I could in this post and it makes me sad to realize that these are the last pictures that Austin and she will have together. This top left picture is when Sue was giving the kids little gifts that she brought back for them from their trip to Yellowstone. She was always so kind and thoughtful and loved sharing things that let people know she was thinking about them and loved them.
If there is anything that I want Austin to know when he reads this post as he gets older - it is that his grandma loved him very much. She loves all of her grandchildren, but I want him to know that she loved HIM as an individual. She cared about the things that he was going through. She was invested in him and his life. She loved spending time with him. She adored him. Even seeing these pictures, her funeral seems surreal. We loved her very very much and we miss her. We are so blessed to know that we will see her again.
One of my favorite things about Austin is that he often asks me to take a picture of him and something that he thinks is cool. So if you see lots of pictures of Austin holding something, with his cute head tilt and tight smile, you can be almost 100% positive that he has asked me to take his picture with the thing.
I asked David what he wanted to remember about Austin at this age and he said "Just that he's such a sweet and kind boy." And he is. I will also add that he has a great sense of humor and particularly likes jokes and magic tricks.
-This bottom right picture has to be included because one of the kid's favorite things to eat right now is "Nacho Soup" which is a chicken tortilla soup that we serve in large bowls and allow the kids to transfer to these tiny condiment-size bowls to eat out of. It's a funny thing, but it's definitely a thing. The kids all love it and it's the only way they will eat that soup.
-I should also note that Austin is a great eater and mostly just eats whatever we put in front of him. His favorite foods right now include: lasagna, BBQ pork sandwiches, and Nacho soup.
We went to several different plays: Flat Stanley, Frog and Toad (both at SCERA), James and the Giant Peach (HCTO). We also went to a couple of movies: the Paw Patrol Movie with the family and a kid date for Austin and I to "Wonka".
Austin is such a good brother. He is a great brother to all of his siblings and has a unique relationship with each of them. (He and Caleb sometimes rub each other wrong and butt heads, but that's real life and they are figuring it out.) He and Lydia are best friends and he admires her a lot -they do a lot together. He has a really special relationship with Lucy and does a great job taking care of her and watching out for her.
#cousincrew #cousinsmakethebestfriends
We got a new van, and even though Austin was attached to our old van and thought he was going to really miss it - he LOVES our new van. He has taken ownership of the middle row, passenger side, seat because it is right next to the air controls in the back. It's his self-assigned seat and practically refuses to sit anywhere else in the van. He loves being able to control the temperature and does a mostly good job of it.
We just finished reading Harry Potter 3 with him, and he's reading it himself now so that he can watch the movie. For his birthday he got the whole set of Dragon Masters books and my dad helped him build a little bookshelf to put them on and he's been working his way through those, too.
Austin played soccer in the fall and will play baseball this spring.
And now for the highlight: in the beginning of March our family went to DISNEYLAND! We didn't tell the kids until 2 weeks before we went - but we started prepping for our trip by watching all of the Disney movies we could from Jan-Mar. Austin particularly loved the Star Wars movies, Pirates of the Caribbean (edited), and some of the older Disney movies. We had such an incredible time at the park and I want to always remember the joy on Austin's face as he skipped down Disney Main Street for the first time.
His favorite things were:
Park: California Adventure
Ride: Rise of the Resistance
(2nd choice: Goofy's Sky Coaster or Smugglers Run)
Food: Ice Cream Cones
We also hit the beach and spent some good time in the pool hot tubs before coming home. It was a great trip and Austin was the perfect age for it!
Austin, we love you. We are so grateful that you are in our family. Happy Half-birthday!
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