tino the graduate...

so... the little brother graduated last wednesday. wahoo! it was a long time coming and we are very excited and very proud of him! a lot of friends and family came to support awesome austin. 

congrats grad!

we tried to get a family picture... it kind of worked. hahah.... 

and finally, an ode to our sibling-hood... 

(kelsey's graduation in 2009)

love you tino!

tino...

so my baby brother is a senior this year right? he graduates in just a few weeks. and he just turned 18... btdubs, happy birthday little bro!

and he took a girl to prom. 

i feel so old. 

anyway... i might have helped him with his invite. i thought it was pretty freaking adorable. this note was attached to a necklace inside the conch shell. can you see what it says? i hope so... cause i don't feel like retyping it. lol.

prom night. 

what a stud austin turned out to be... don't you love his vest? i do.

easter 2012...

easter was a fun day... we hid 50+ eggs for hayley multiple times. she loved it.... then hayley left and austin hid those same 50+ eggs for me... i didn't enjoy it as much as hayley did. lol. 

ps... i love this first picture. lol...

our sunflower cake...

tree house part deux...

there was more work completed on the tree house this weekend. 

austin and dad added a swing, finished a wall, almost finished a door,  a mailbox (which was my contribution to the project), added a folding table inside and got the pulley system up and running. 

and we were right... hayley loves it. 

i'm getting excited to finish it up!

hayley loves it! see?! 

so does chowder! see?!

she's really good at climbing up and down the ladder...

how cute is this mail box? it use to look like this. 

side note: we're still working on the path... it's pretty wobbly and uneven at this point, but this kid still loves to run on it...

...unless chowder is blocking the path. then she doesn't love it as much. haha.

and she still loves to help papa water the plants. 

:)

tree house...

about a million years ago, tino convinced the dad to help him build a tree house. they had big plans for this tree house... complete with a hidden storage box, a pole to slide down, and a pulley system. well... life happened.... we all got busy. five years have passed and they are still working on this tree house, but now it's not for tino's fort... it's for the grandkid(s) - at this point it's just hayley (who btdubs loves it!). they have been working on it the last few weekends. they have added a ladder (for hayley's safe and easy access) and austin's long-awaited sliding pole. they're making great progress. maybe they'll even finish it this year! my fingers are crossed!

toot...

so this one time kelsey, tino, devin & i went to golf'n'stuff. kelsey's one lucky son of a gun and won a butt load of tickets... we ended up with a bag o' loot- amongst which was a whoopee cushion. whoopee cushions are freaking funny.... always. 3 year old little girls playing with whoopee cushions? even funnier!  

sorry the video is so dark... it's from my phone (it was closer than my camera. haha).

enjoy.

:)

trot...

i just realized i never blogged austin's eagle project. i don't know how i forgot that! 

photo curtesy of spencer boerup photography. check him out.... he's amazing! 

well, back in october austin finally finished up his project. he made a sensory course at TROT (therapeutic riding of tucson). trot is a nonprofit organization that has been around for 35 years. it helps handicapped children and adults use their sensory skills and work on their balance and coordination. it is a really awesome organization. tino's project consisted of eight different wooden shapes that were attached to wooden posts along a zig-zag path.  all eight shapes were painted a different color and had a different sensory item attached (like roofing tile, tire tread, outdoor carpet, etc). he had a lot of people show up the day of his project to help out and support him. 

yesterday was a special dedication. the directors and all the children love this course so much that they named it "austin's alley." it even has a sign. how legit is that? we all thought it was pretty cool. his eagle court of honor is coming up on the 30th. we are all so proud of him! good job, buddy! 

...

afterwards papa and hayley wandered around the property and pet/fed some of the horses. how cute are they? that little girl sure loves her papa!

 favorite ^  :)