Oklahoma Visit

Labor Day weekend was full for us.  It started Thursday night (Gavin's actual birthday) and we drove to Oklahoma to visit Micah and Steph while they were stateside.  It's so important for us to see them when they are in the USA so we let Gavin miss school on Friday even though it was the first week of school.  The Sperling's had a busy schedule as well so we planned to spend Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning with them and we were busy!!  Between four wheelers, cow viewing, riding the gator, exploring, and running around our kids had a blast playing and being with Jake!!  After kids would go to bed, we got to stay up and hang out.  

I brought a cake with us to celebrate Gavin's birthday.  I forgot candles so we used matches instead!  He loved it!

 

  

Of course, we took a trip to Eskimo Joes for lunch!

 

We LOVE spending time with the Sperling's and can't wait for baby Hailey to arrive!!  

Gavin's 6th Birthday

Gavin turned 6 on August 28 and we had a special time together as a family with him.  I have officially learned my lesson in that the end of the summer, the beginning of the school year are BUSY for us and for the 2nd year in a row Gavin didn't have a birthday party with friends (mom fail) because time just got away from us.  That didn't stop him from LOVING his day all about him.  The morning started off with his birthday breakfast, the kitchen decorated, a special lunch, and cupcakes brought to his school.  He got to open all his presents that night with us and couldn't open them fast enough.  He loved showing things off to Miles and Brooklyn and happily shared his gifts with them.  

We are loving this age with Gavin.  He continues to show maturity, has a strong ability to care for others, shows compassion, and LOVES being responsible!  He makes us laugh daily and sometimes has the funniest expressions ever.  He loves school and has SOARED in first grade.  He enjoys sports, reading, and his love language is tied between gifts and quality time!  We love our big guy!

Gavin was surprised with a set of drums and fell in LOVE!  He had been asking for drums for months because he wanted to play for worship at our church (how sweet) so we went with it.  Eventually, our hope is to get him lessons and we're praying he has a passion for this instrument years to come! 

First Day of First Grade

Gavin started first grade this year in Borger, Texas.  Most of the grades are split up into different campuses so this year he moved to a new school, Gateway Elementary.  He was super excited about moving up and going to the "big school".  Throughout the summer when we would talk about him going to school he often prayed that he would have friends in the same class, while mommy prayed for a GOOD teacher (we had a rough one in kindergarten). 

The night before school, Gavin picked out his clothes, made his lunch requests, set his alarm clock- he asked us if he could start waking up on his own- we didn't oblige, and semi went to bed early!  As usual, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast as a first day of school treat and off we went! 

I had a baby sitter come and stay with the two little ones at home so my morning time could be focused and devoted to Gavin while taking him into school.  He was able to meet his teacher and see his classroom a few days earlier at meet the teacher, but I still wanted to be able to walk him in!  

Brooks met us at school and we brought Gavin in together!  You could tell Gavin had mixed emotions-- it was a new place and he wasn't all that sure about it, yet he was excited and eager to go!  After a quick picture he hugged and kissed Brooks and walked in his class.  It took a minute of me watching to make sure he got his backpack put away and found his seat that I realized I didn't give him a hug and a kiss.  I debated on going into his room, but decided against it and instead held back my tears, said a prayer for him, and walked away.  

 

After sitting in the pick up line for an hour, we got Gavin and he said his first day was GREAT!!  Two of his really good buddies are in his class (such an answer to prayer) and he loves his teacher!  He talked all afternoon about all the new rules, the new places (gym, cafeteria, and huge library) and couldn't wait to go back tomorrow!

Here's to a great year in first grade! 

Our summer in Borger

For our time in Borger this summer we stayed busy.  However, we also spent a lot of days at home playing, goofing off, and just being together!  I loved this season of life and the kids ages.  They really do great together and enjoy being with one another!  The little ones loved having Gavin home from school.  

Here's some highlights of our time in Borger:

- 4th of July fun (see other post all about our fun day)

- We bought a blow up pool to have on hot summer days, which was a HUGE hit with the kids!  

- The kids found a turtle wandering the neighborhood so he came and lived in our backyard for a week or two, until one day we came home and he was gone.  They loved looking for "Foxy" and generally found him walking the fence daily. 

-  Naptime meant alone time with Gavin, which I realized how much I've missed that while he was in school!

- Lazy mornings meant fixing your own breakfast.. check out Brooklyn's willingness to pour her own bowl of cereal.

- MILES spent time teaching Brooklyn the ends and outs of timeout and the need to obey mommy's words (I think he's had lots of practice)

- The kids took swimming lessons and did an amazing job learning important skills.  Besides the water being freezing-- they loved it!

Our church had VBX and we had an awesome turn out.  It was held in the evenings and an absolute blast.  Brooks signed he and I up to be in charge of and work the games portion of VBX!  That meant we saw ALL the kids and got to play with each one of them!  The best part was that Brooks didn't realize he had business meetings in Houston that week and unfortunately he missed out on a few evenings!  This picture describes me after one of those nights... I sent this to him via phone without a caption!  While I was exhausted and it was hard word, it was a BLAST and we loved living our old camp days together playing with all the kids!

A few times we needed to go to Amarillo so I made sure to let the kids have some fun!  I'd bring a baby sitter with us and we'd go to Chucky Cheese in between running errands.  The kids would have a blast and would be exhausted on our way home!  

We potty trained Brooklyn, which wasn't THAT hard, except trying to teach her only boys teetee outside standing up!  She still hasn't figured that out!

The weather was gorgeous and Brooks had a few weekends opened for us to work on our landscaping.  I'll be completely honest... other then going and picking out plants and buying the soil and mulch, Brooks did it ALL!  He has a better vision and idea for it all and gardening has NEVER been my thing so I let him have at it!  It all looks awesome!

Something I did do was unpack our LAST box from our shipment from August 2013.  We've had our shed out back full of junk and odds and ends that had no where to go and didn't need any immediate attention.  I pretty much neglected it all since it was out of sight out of mind, but Brooks was ready to build cabinets in the garage and we needed to move some of that stuff into the shed, which required it to get some attention.  It felt GREAT getting that taken care of and to feel like we were officially moved in... after a year of living here!

Over all, it was a great summer in Borger.  

Baseball

This spring, Gavin had the opportunity to play tee- ball and Brooks was the assistant coach.  Their team  practiced a couple of times and then had 16 games in a matter of a few weeks.   Whew!  This meant for at least 3 nights a week our family was at the baseball fields.  Gavin picked right up where he left off last year playing in Saudi and had some great technique and skills!  We were pretty impressed!  For the most part, Gavin played at the pitchers position or first base.  He even got to play short stop and third a few times and did extremely well fielding the ball!!  It was fun to watch him improve over time and continue gaining a better understanding of how the game fully works.  The teams didn't play with strikes and balls since it was tee ball and depending on the opponents team, sometimes you could get out, and sometimes you could stay on base.  No matter what though, if you were your teams last batter then you automatically could run all the bases!  Hmmm...  We did have a great team and everyone played their hearts out-- wait, who am I kidding... Brooks and the other coach were constantly telling kids to stand up, quit playing in the dirt, watch the ball, ignore the train passing by, etc, etc...  but the kids still had fun!  Gavin was a little more serious about playing when he was on the field so they were rarely having to get him to focus!  

Eventually, Miles was tired of sitting on the bleachers and wanted in the dugout.  Before we knew it, he was standing in the field behind Brooks, then tried fielding some balls and making a few plays.  By the last 4 or 5 games Miles got to be bat and run the bases!  We always got permission from the other teams coach and their players were good sports to cheer Miles on and not get him out!  Then... Brooklyn decided she wanted in the dugout with all the players and not sit on the bleachers anymore, but that's as far as we let her get!!  Maybe a few more years!

Gavin loved baseball and missed it on his days off!  The kids play ball every single day in our back yard and know the fundamentals of baseball so well, they all correct each other and motivate each other to try again!!  

ABC Club

Gavin's school has a special program called the ABC Club when kindergartners can say, recognize, and establish the correct sounds of all their ABC's.. they get in the ABC Club!  Gavin was able to do all these things in the beginning of the year, but had difficulty with the letter J -in all aspects.  It took a while before he finally got it, but then his teacher hadn't really kept up with her classes ABC Club prospects.  So, in January she remembered to turn her kids names in and Gavin was accepted into the "club".  All that meant was he was able to invite Brooks and I to lunch one day and we sat on the stage in the ABC "Cafe" while he ate, he got his picture taken and posted on the wall in their school along with a special necklace, and also received a certificate!  It really is a neat concept to encourage kids to learn their ABC's.

Way to go Gavin!

February

February was a BUSY month for us.  Our daily lives seem hectic and chaotic and sometimes non stop--  but we manage to have fun and enjoy whatever we're doing together!  

We celebrated Valentines Day and made it as special as could be!  Our morning started with the traditional heart shaped choc chip pancakes that the kids helped me make.  I took a few cake orders for some friends and donated 1 cake to an auction event our church was having that evening!  These are just a couple of the cakes I made.  

Gavins class had a valentines party that I was in charge of (since I'm the room mom) and it was a lot of fun.  The kids played musical chairs and did the chicken dance for half the the party.  Parents helped out and brought sweets for the kids to enjoy and they had a lot of fun.

We got a few special packages from grandparents on Valentines Day so the kids got to enjoy some cake pops and new puzzles!!

Valentine's Night our church youth group hosted an event called Second Chance Prom to raise money for summer camps.  Our group of friends decided it would be fun to all go together, dress up, and party it up at the dance.  IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!  We had a catered meal, tasteful music to dance to, silent auctions where we bid on a few items, and just had a GREAT time celebrating Valentine's Day!!!  

Gavins school hosted Dr. Seuss day the week before his bday and the kids were encouraged to dress up as a character from one of his books.  Gavin and his buddy, Jeven decided they wanted to be Thing 1 and Thing 2.  The only problem was they told me 2 days before the dress up day.  I frantically searched our town for red t-shirts, but ended up driving to Target in Amarillo where I found some and then decided to use printable, iron on transfer paper to make the shirts.  I found the images on google and 30 minutes later had 2 shirts made just in time for the boys to have the next day at school!  Gavin and I met Jeven and his mom at McDonalds before school started and got the boys into full costume-- blue spray painted hair, white faces, and bold eyebrows!  They truly were in character from that moment on.  The school had special activities all day and we went to the book reading that afternoon.  Miles and Brooklyn were grateful to participate and even got to see The Cat in the Hat perform!

February was our coldest month yet and I don't think we've adjusted to such cold weather.  When I say cold.... I mean COLD!!  What makes it even tougher is the wind that generally accompanies us daily making the air feel even colder!!  Snow days are still fun and the kids enjoy playing in the backyard making snow angels, snowmen, and having snowball fights!

Miles has been sick and we're still battling monthly episodes or outbreaks as I call them.  I started monitoring his food intake, took fast food out of his diet along with most dairy products and he was still getting sick so our doctors here agreed it was time to run some more tests and pursue other options to get his body healed.  He did really good for getting pricked 3 times and having multiple pokes.  He was brave and only cried a short time.  His favorite color is blue-- like, he's almost obsessed with anything blue, so the moment they started putting a blue bandage on him he was fixated on that!  His results showed us his body had some form of infection so we were encouraged to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist to get a better idea of what was going on.

Gavin lost his 5th tooth, which was one of his front teeth and he was so excited that it finally came out.  We tried pulling it off and on for days but it never would come out.  He ended up losing it at school during PE when he jumped for a ball and fell to the ground!  I'm pretty sure he loved that 1000x more then having us pull it.  He said all his friends thought it was so cool how it came out!  Our little boy is growing up!