Happy 8th Birthday, Austin!

The Birthday Boys of Room 307

What a whirlwind the last few days have been. The kids got back to school and we have been making steady progress on getting our house ready for the rental market.
The 9th of January always seems to come at me from out of nowhere. When the doctor scheduled the appointment to induce me for Austin's birth, she wanted it to be a week earlier. I decided that was too close to the holidays. Now, I wonder if the 9th is even too soon after all the hub-bub. Then, again, 10 lbs was big enough - no need to let him grow for another week!
We made it through another of year of successfully celebrating Austin's birthday. He requested that we celebrate at school with Jell-o cups for his class. That is a great way to cap off a Friday afternoon. Austin shares his birthday with his teacher, Mr. Shook.

Aaron, Austin and Satchel
on the bow of Capaz

On Thursday night, Austin used our giant muffin tin to make giant cupcakes which he very carefully frosted to share with his friends, Aaron and Satchel on Friday. The boys joined us on the boat after school and then we went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Grammy-Sue flew up from Portland to celebrate Austin's big day. G-ma couldn't get back up to Crystal Mountain, so she and G-pa also had pasta with us. We all returned to the boat for those giganto cupcakes (you will have to click on his blog to see these babies). Satchel and Aaron were very thoughtful in their choice of gifts-choosing things that would work well on the boat. Austin crawled into his bunk, a happy 8 year old.
Today, we hit it early at the house. All of the furniture except for two pieces has been taken care of. Thanks to help from Sue, Rose and my brother, John, we have made some significant progress. Back on the boat, we had dinner and played some games before hitting the hay. All in all, we, including our four-legged friends seem to be adjusting to live-aboard life well.

Satchel and the Birthday Boy