The 4th of July ...in August?

Halle's cousin Kaitlyn was here in Williamsburg all the way from Florida to celebrate the 4th with us. It ended up being a pretty yucky day, but the fireworks went on anyway. After going for a walk and getting rained on, we watched them from the van so we didn't get more wet!

Thanks for visiting with us Kaitlyn!

Halle is TWO!

I am hoping to catch up on the ol' blog.... bear with me as I don't plan to go in order!

Halle turned two on July 27th. We decided to wait to have her party in Wise so all her cousins could come! It was an Elmo party since that is Halle's favorite! She had a great time and really enjoyed all the fun!

I'll post some pictures below.....

Thanks for coming everyone and Halle says thanks for all the gifts. We are so glad everyone got to celebrate our little gal's 2nd Birthday with us!

Our Summer Trip!

Soon after Jason arrived in Wise, we began our trip to Michigan. We went there for Eric and Deanna's wedding! We stopped half way there and spent the night. It took us two days to get there, but Halle was really good and handled the trip really well. We had a really great time!

Some interesting things happened.....

Right after we entered Kentucky, we got a flat tire...... It was interesting!

This was so funny.....

Here is the happy little girl on the road!

We sang alot of songs and watched alot of Elmo..good times!

Ava Caroline Austin

The coolest thing that happened while we were in Wise was the arrival of Ava Caroline Austin. She is such a little cutie (and I mean little) and we were so glad to be around when she was born.

This is her right after she was born....

Halle is learning to say "Ava", but it sounds more like "Aba". She often refers to her as Kimbo's baby! =)

Here she is at two weeks old....

Elizabeth took this picture when they visited Wise, but more about that to come!

Then we left.....

After all this fun in W'burg, Halle and I went to spend a few weeks in Wise while Jason studied for the dreaded exams. So many exciting things happened while we were there!

Halle just loves being in Wise and playing with her cousins.... it's so cute.

We had a baby shower right before the arrival of Ava Caroline....

A picture of the invitations I made....

The food table.....

Yummy cupcakes....

Tasty lemonade...

Alot of people came...we had a fun time..and Ava got tons of diapers, wipes, lotions, and other goodies! Good Times!

Play time!

Also before we left... we got to babysit Atticus. We told Halle that Atticus was coming over and she was so excited we had to stand outside and watch for him....

It's so cute how much she loves him...

But who wouldn't.... he's such a cutie!

They had a great time playing and Jason and I loved it! We hope Atticus comes to spend a few hours with us again!

Look at that cute little hostess.....

IKEA, i love you...and you too Maddie..

Okay, I'm sure everyone has been wondering where we have been?

Good question...

We have had a busy month with no time to blog.... you will have to stick around to find out where we have been... more posts to come!

But...right before we left..... Elizabeth, Atticus, Halle and I took a trip to Ikea. Can I just tell you, I love that place? Jason and I have decided that we will furnish our next home with Ikea products. My favorite things there are the kitchens and all the children stuff. Since I can't do alot with my kitchen here, Halle is reaping the benefits of my Ikea obsession. I think she loves it too!

The best part about the trip... on the way home we stopped and picked up my cute little niece and one of Halle's favorite cousin's Maddie. She came to stay with us for two days and we loved it! Jason and I got a taste of what it would be like to have another little one....

We decided it would be awesome to have another kiddo....

Then we changed our minds..... at least for a while...

We are so glad Maddie got to come visit us..we loved it. Maddie, will you come back soon?

Independence.....take a deep breath...

Halle has really gained alot of independence lately. She is learning to do several things on her own. Sometimes, this is wonderful. Other times.....not so much!

Halle can fix her own breakfast!

She can clean up her own mess!

"Sorry Momma"

She can also get anything off the table!

She's too funny! We are loving the warm weather here in Williamsburg! Springtime has never been so fun!

You are caught.....

Jason was gone to class, I was trying to get ready..... this is what I found!







She is just too darn cute for a mom to be mad!

This is what we have been up to.....

This past week we did several really fun things and even had a couple of firsts! Here's our top eight for the week, in no particular order:

1. On Saturday, we went to Busch Gardens! We had a great time! Halle's grandparents, Sheryl and Ron came to visit us and joined us for the trip to the park. Halle enjoyed the show that we watched. It was called Pet Shenanigans and was full of pet tricks. She was amused. We didn't time the adventure very well around Halle's nap time so she was sleepy and a little fussy and finally took a nap. Our friends, the Moon's, met up with us at Busch Gardens, too! Jason and Brandon rode a ride while Elizabeth and I entertained the kids. It's nice to live so close to the park and have season passes. We can go and relax and don't have to do everything in one day!

2. This is not a first....but, Halle has been having more and more temper tantrums. If she become too tired, too hungry, too bored, or we don't let her have something she wants... we can expect a tantrum. We are learning how to deal with these better and it is becoming easier. This first time parenting stuff is interesting sometimes! Terrible twos, here we come..at full speed! =)

3. Sunday was Easter! It felt so strange that Easter was so early this year. The Easter bunny visited Halle and brought her some goodies. We went to my Aunt Betty's (here in Williamsburg) for dinner. Halle was then invited over to the Moon's to find Easter Eggs. The kids "hunted" inside because it was so cold out. They were really funny finding the eggs and eating the peanut butter M & Ms that were inside!

4. Eric's fiance Deanna came to visit! Eric and Deanna stayed in Richmond for two nights so we decided to go down and visit with them and venture around Richmond for the day. We did this on Thursday! We went to the Shortpump mall, Halle saw the Easter Bunny and played on the indoor playground, we wondered around some stores and best of all, we had ice cream! It was fun! We wish Deanna lived closer!

5. Halle wore her first ponytail!! This was exciting! (Ignore the mess in this picture.. we are Spring Cleaning).

6. We went to a William and Mary Baseball Game. This was good free fun! I had my student ID made earlier in the week so we all get in free! We all had a really good time and Halle enjoyed dancing to all the music. Of course, she didn't sit still for long...so we got to view the game from several different places. It was a really close game, but I think they did end up losing. We are planning to go to several more!

7. I cooked dinner! Yeah.. I know for most people this isn't a big deal. But I was excited because I tried a new recipe and it was yummy. I even made an Easter Bunny cake...

8. Jason and I have been watching several movies since we discovered RedBox. (It is a machine to rent movies from, they are located in grocery store, walmart, etc.) The movies are only $1 per night. We always take them back the next day..so its a great deal! Jason's favorite was Gone, Baby Gone and we both enjoyed laughing at The Heartbreak Kid.

Here are a couple more pictures of Halle during the week:

Thanks for checking in with us!

Mr. Mullins

My wife, Vanessa, has allowed me to contribute to her newly created Blog. I think everyone who has the opportunity to read my thoughts and comments should feel very fortunate (I'm a really insightful guy).........just kiddin'. Actually, my contribution is going to mainly consist of movie reviews because I love me some movies, and political commentary. I love to talk about politics. I'm a Republican, but far from a right wing conservative. I currently like both Barack Obama and John McCain--weird, I know.

So, here is the format of this blog: Vanessa is responsible for updating everyone on the inner workings of the Mullins family, while I'll be covering movies, politics, and anything else I feel like commenting on.

Mullins out!

Here we go......

Okay.. lately I have had quite a bit of time on my hands and I have been reading some blogs. I find myself reading a blog, then clicking on another from that one, and so on. You get the idea! So I am going to take the plunge and try to make our little family blog as interesting and exciting as can be! I have decided that this is a great way to keep track of what our little fam does and also I can share ideas and that sort of thing. You know, the kind of things you call and tell someone and they think you are crazy? Yeah.. I do that too, and now I can just post them and have everyone on here tell me that I am crazy. So, stay tunned.... I will learn how to upload pictures and all that good stuff. I can't promise that this will be great or half as exciting as other blogs I have read, however it will prove to be interesting, I think.


......................until then

I will post again....

I will post again on this blog...........one day! =)