Happy 6th Birthday Aus Boss!

My baby boy is 6 already!!! Where oh where did the time go? He's seriously half-way to 12 and half-way to being a student in my room. Oh yikes! Wonder how well (or not well) that will go. ;)

We decided early on that our kids prime birthday's would be 1, 5, 10, and 16 where we would have an all out bash. Well somehow now we've missed the five year party twice and had the big party at 6 for both boys. It's worked out. I wonder if Ashley will follow the pattern. And for the record we just barely had this party. Every weekend we are busy with hockey and Austin couldn't decide what he wanted to do when last Sunday he saw a Chuck E Cheese commercial and wanted to do that. So we decided to go for the gusto and had a party there tonight hoping that people wouldn't mind coming on a Monday. It was a wonderful time with him and his classmates. Austin was certainly awestruck. The family was there also. Austin really shined tonight. He just had such an excitement radiating out about him. Chuck E Cheese really does a great job making the party kid feel super special. Not to mention they really do have some great pizza.

Austin does his best to tire out the grandparents (and Joe and I too) with his numerous questions, goofy insults, and all out crazy behavior. I imagine it has to be hard for him at times being the middle child. He's definitely in Tommy's shadow often and of course Ashley is a big draw of people too. Tonight is was nice to have him be the golden boy. My Dad commented a few times how nice it was for Austin and the kids and Dad hates to go anywhere.

We're home now and he finished his homework, watched his new Thomas video, and loved up to his new stuffies. He loves animals. He's running out of bed space...again! What a great day for my big 6 year old!

This is why some older folks in my family still call Austin "Baby Blue Eyes." Too bad they aren't blue anymore.

Austin using righty during casting 3 years ago.

The Birthday Star

What's a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here?!?!

That is a quote from Tommy at 4:00 in the morning howling at the bottom of the stairs. Between Austin and Ashley's biz the sleep scene has hit an all time low.

I'm starting to look forward to my overnight conference Thursday night just for one peaceful night's sleep. My roomies better not snore or I will be cracking heads. ;)

That is all...carry on. :)

Shameless Bragging

I know it's not polite but I just gotta say this ladies hockey thing is going so well right now! The Saginaw Spirit had their annual "Pink Out" game on Saturday where the guys wear pink and part of the ticket sales benefit breast cancer research. They also honor survivors and remember those that have died of this deadly disease. Before the Spirit played, they had us gals and our teams play. It was a blast! I had 2o personal fans there as well as many of Tommy's hockey families were there as they are big Spirit supporters. Our teams skated to a 2-2 tie and I scored a goal!!! It was my first goal since having Ashley and only my 2nd goal ever. And I would be lying if I didn't say I felt awesome hearing them announce over the PA system, "goal scored by #22 Dawn Papesh unassisted." I told you I was shameless. It wasn't even that sweet of a goal as it bounced off another player's skate but it was a goal and I was stoked!! And the boys were so excited.

Here I am going in! Great camera work I must say. ;)

Tonight I headed out to Bay City thinking I was having a practice and we ended up having a game. 5 of our girls didn't show up so we only had two full lines. 60 minutes of hockey! Tiresome! But holy cow, I scored another goal tonight, then another, and another. I am now the proud owner of a hat trick! It was sweet. The girls kept getting the puck to me and somehow it found the back of the net. We held on to win 6-5! Yee Haw! I'm loving it!

And that my friends will be enough of my brazen boldness.

Tis the season to be scary.

Her shirt says so cute it's scary.

Who loves Halloween? I personally love fall and do enjoy the holiday for the kids. Dressing up and going out trick or treating is something every child should look forward to yearly. I don't like the uber scary and gross you out nastiness but for the most part Halloween with it's ghosts and goblins is all in good fun.

Talk at the lunch club this week has been all about the Tortured Souls Warehouse, Woods of Terror, Village of the Living Dead, Spook Train, St. Lucifer's Haunted Asylum, etc. These are just a sampling of the local haunts that you can visit in our area. Most of them lay out the preemptive "may not be suitable for children under 12." And this chicken here will not set foot within 50 feet of one. I don't like being scared! I don't like watching scary movies, heck I shield my eyes during scary commercials. I don't do horror!

Jill and her family went to a haunted house last weekend and had a blast. Well Amy's 9 year old Emily wants to visit a haunted house. So all week it's been the talk about heading to the Woods of Terror tomorrow night. Well guess who's not going? ME!! And woe is me to be left behind. But I think I'll save my sanity. Heck, a commercial I saw on Fox News as a scare tactic for Aids in Germany freaked me out for about a week after I saw it last month. I think I'm making the right decision as I think back to watching Nightmare on Elm Street in the 5th grade and not sleeping in my own room for almost 2 years. I also did a Haunted House as a teen and I still get chilled thinking about, however the story is kind of funny too. ;) So for me and needing to get my yearly Halloween thrills, I will just anxiously await the showing of the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror whatever number it's on now.

This blog sucks.

Seriously, I've started 4 posts now over the past week and just think "boring" so I delete.

My themes were.

Ashley's sleep battles ~ Every Mommy blog has this and I've already been around that blogging block. Who wants to hear every single detail.

The Detroit Tigers ~ It's just a game. 3 years ago I cried when they blew the division victory to the Twins on the last day of the season. At least then they had the wild card berth and were in the playoffs. Today I apathetically watch the Tiger's tied 4-4 in the 9th. I don't think I'll cry but I think the Tiger's won't hold on. The Red Wings broke my heart in June, I guess I expect it today during the division playoff.

Blogging causes narcissism ~ This was actually coming along pretty good but it was a middle of the night post and I was feeling uber-negative. No reason to throw darts at others. ;)

Well what do you know, the Tiger's are threatening in the 9th. 1st & 3rd and no out. I'm not hitting post until they a. score or b. fail to score and are out of the inning.

Well you may as well listen to some more rantings. How about about a blog posting called stupid millionaire men? Yup, I'm talking about David Letterman, Miguel Cabrera, and Jon Gosselin. Jackasses!

Good lord, this is the longest game I've ever witnessed. I'm so thankful that it started at 5:07 and not the traditional 8 pm it normally would be in Minnesota. One out, no run yet.

DOH, double play. I really don't want to watch Minnesota celebrate a walk-off victory. Maybe I should go watch Hell's Kitchen. This blog isn't the only entity that sucks, I believe the Detroit Tiger's might fit that bill also.