Bitter-sweet Home Alabama

Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but we are moving to Huntsville, Alabama.  Let me back up a little.  A few weeks ago, my husband got an email from an old college professor about a job in Huntsville, essentially, working for NASA.  (It's a subcontractor for NASA, but he would work inside NASA)   He jokingly asked me if I wanted to move to Alabama.  I said no, but I would consider it if it were the right opportunity.  We decided he should apply, and just see what happens.  Well, it happens that they loved him.  He got a phone interview almost immediately, followed by a job offer.  He told them that there was no way he could accept the job without us visiting first, so last weekend they flew us out to Alabama.  His mom just happened to be visiting us from Ohio, so we were actually able to go and leave the kids in Colorado.  We went there and did lots of looking around, thinking and talking.  We decided it might work.  

We are still back and forth over if it was the right decision, but the decision has been made.  On Monday, he accepted the new job and resigned from his current job.  We found a rental house when we were out there, and are planning on renting out our current home.  

We are so sad, happy, nervous, excited and every other emotion out there.  We are excited about living in a less costly city and being only about 8 hours drive from family and friends in Ohio.  Eric is excited about the new job.  We are excited about actually having a yard for the kids to play in, and about the possibility of meeting new people.  We are so sad about leaving our friends here and leaving Jackson's school.  (Sorry Alabama, but you don't exactly have a good reputation for awesome schools)  I absolutely LOVE the gym I work at and go to, and feel like it's going to be really hard to replace.  

I've gotta say, I was rather surprised at how normal Huntsville is.  It's just a regular city with regular people and places.  I was picturing something a little more "country", but that's not the case.  I've found that Huntsville is like a hub for everything aerospace.  NASA is there, as well as just about every other aerospace company in existence.  Have you ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania?  It's kind of like that, but with rockets.  The streets are named after space stuff, the malls have a space theme as well as the airport, and it's where they have space camp!  (it was a dream of mine as a kid to go to space camp!)  We are really excited to take the boys to the space museum. 

This isn't going to be easy for us.  We have one more month here in Colorado before we make the move October 1.  We love it here and hope we are making the right choice. 

Gavin is one!

I can't believe my baby is one already.  This year has absolutely flown by.  I feel so lucky to have such an amazing baby.  He's so laid back and easy.  He finally learned to crawl a week before his birthday and now he is all over the place.   He is sleeping great, usually on his belly with his little butt in the air.  It's so cute! And he eats everything in sight, even though he still only has three teeth.  This last week he FINALLY learned to drink from a sippy cup, and we weaned him off formula to milk.  (Hallelujah!  No more formula!)  He is absolutely in love with his older brother.  He wants to do whatever he does and be wherever he is.  Jackson can make him laugh  harder than anyone.  (He's my go to photography assistant when I need a smiling picture from Gavin)  Gavin is definitely a "people" person.  He can just sit and watch and interact with people all day.  He doesn't really care about toys or tv.  He will stare at a random stranger until they talk to him, then he laughs and claps!    

He turned one when the Olympics started, so it seemed only fitting to have an Olympics party for him!  To get ready for it, we had a photo shoot with Gavin doing various Olympic sports.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I made this video invitation with the pictures

For the party, I had had some of the pictures blown up and put the posters up around the house.  (It's only $4 at Staples!  The quality isn't awesome, but good enough)

I  made some paper chains out of construction paper I already had around the house to represent the Olympic rings. 

For party favors, I made mason jar sippy cups.  My husband drilled holes in the tops and we put in rubber grommets.  I added crazy straws and used these American flag sweatbands to finish it off.

For the cake, I baked 5 8 inch rounds, then cut the middles out and pieced it together to make the rings.  I used the middles to make Gavin's little smash cake.  To ice it, I just used a star tip. 

We had a photo booth.  My husband made the podium and I painted it.  I found this finish  line backdrop at Ikea.  (It's actually a twin sized duvet cover.)  I had different props for the kids to pose with.   

Blowing out his candle.

He  had never had anything so sweet before and wasn't sure about it at first. 

But he ended up getting into it. 

I love cake now!

It was so great to have so many of our friends come and celebrate the big day with us.  Happy birthday sweet boy!