Playing football.. sort of

Gavin LOVES his friend Cade.  They are able to play together a lot now that Gavin is walking, running, and throwing things.  Cade LOVES Gavin too.  They are buddies.  On Sundays, we always have lunch with Cade and his parents.  This past Sunday, we ate outside at a restaurant and so they played some "football". 

**Don't forget to go to the bottom of the page and click pause on the music playlist so you can hear the boys giggle!!

Boys will be Boys!

We've noticed over the past month that Gavin has become a lot more independent, willing to try new things, likes to explore his surroundings, and believes that every object serves a purpose and he wants to figure that out, as well as determine how to work it. 

Now, here, he knows that Mommy and Daddy take things out of the dishwasher so he wanted to help.  I was standing right there at the sink and never even heard him climb up. 

Sometime, a while back, Brooks put Gavin on Maggie to help him ride her like a horse (while Brooks was holding onto him, of course).  Gavin has now decided that he should be able to do it himself.  This is the beginning stage.  I had to put the camera down immediately as step 2 was in progress. 

If you know Gavin, you know he tends to drool a little bit (okay that's an understatement, but still) and he likes to eat.  It seems that for some reason his drool and something he ate didn't go well together, thus, creating a small blister on the bottom of his chin.  This was not caused by any "act" that Gavin did.  We have been trying to help it to go away. 

Let's get back to Gavin enjoying exploring his surroundings. The other day, Brooks and I were diligently Christmas shopping trying to knock out our list for all the men in our family.  Gavin was doing amazing sitting in the shopping cart, strapped in, and taking in all the colors, sounds, etc.  Until he decided that he wanted to play with something we had inside the cart.  Because we didn't want to risk him dropping it over the cart, we decided to let him SIT inside the basket with all the gifts and play with them.  At some point, Gavin stood up, which we were okay with becasue we were holding his hands. Then this happened.....

Note to self: children can stumble on their own feet while standing still on a flat, non moving service.  Boxes have corners that can scratch up your child's nose.  Gavin fell and landed directly on a box and it got it pretty good.  He only cried for a minute then was fine.  NEVER once did he act upset that his nose hurt him.  He's tough!  He was nicknamed Rudolph at church yesterday.  Just one more reason Brooks and I deserve the Parents of the Year award. 

If that's not enough, on our way out of the restaurant yesterday, Gavin wanted to walk ahead of us and ended up tripping on a small ramp that Brooks and I didn't see.  Gavin fell and landed on his forehead.  Thus, creating a small knot on his head.  He cried for a few minutes and then was fine. 

 
Brooks and I have accepted that these things are going to happen.  We just wish they weren't all in the same week.  Gavin is still his happy self, though.  Nothing stops this kid from doing ANYTHING!!

Okay people, with the new settings, how in the world do you do a spell check??? can anyone help, please?!

From disaster to delicious

What do you do when you bake 2 SETS of cake and they ALL fall apart?!?!?

You give some to your 14 month old child, of course....

He wanted more!!  He really liked the cake!

OR, you make Cake Balls!  Yummy!  Sorry, they aren't pretty, but I had a LARGE bowl of crumbled up cake to use. 

Fall Fun

FALL is here and the weather has been amazing.  Gavin and I took advantage of it and went to the park the other day.  He absolutly LOVED being outside, getting to run around, and sliding down the slides as well as climbing up the slides.  He really liked playing and I was amazed to see how independent he was trying out all the equipment. 

Friday night, we went to a BBQ for all the families who are going to Saudi to give everyone an opportunity to get to know one another on a more personal level.  I got to meet lots of the wives and talk about all of our "feelings" about moving.  We were able to discuss things with couples who have already been to Saudi and learn more about the lifestyle.  One of the main purposes for the BBQ was to allow all the kids to meet so they could feel more comfortable with the move.  Gavin had a blast watching all the "older" kids playing and running around.  He chased them around and was in awe of them.  He laughed and giggled at them.  He even participated in the game Twister with them.  It was hilarious and beyond words, precious.  He was so into the kids that he lasted until 10:30pm playing and hanging out.  There is another little boy who is a month younger than Gavin and they hung out too.  They shared each other's sippy cups, pacifiers, and snacks.  They even took turns tearing apart napkins and throwing the shredded pieces on the floor.  We didn't mind since it was entertaining them. 

Here are some pics from our week!

Chocolate, please?!!?

It seems Gavin has the same love for chocolate as me!  I was baking brownies for a party we were going to and had some batter left in the bowl and then decided that Gavin needed a taste.  We do not normally give Gavin chocolate, and I think this was only his 3rd time to have chocolate in OUR presence, but he REALLY likes it.  We figured since it was Halloween day and he doesn't eat candy that he at least deserved something sweet.  It's pretty obvious he appreciated it! 

YUMMY!!!

Halloween 2009

We had a BLAST this Halloween.  Gavin was a dinosaur, although many people kept refering to him as a dragon, but he was a CUTE dinosaur.  Brooks and I spent the last few weeks putting Gavin's costume on him every day, so he could get use to it, since he wasn't too excited to wear it.  Needless to say, we weren't sure whether he was going to keep it on for an evening, but he actually didn't mind it.  We put it on him and he walked around the entire time without complaining once! 

Gavin woke up at Captain and Kimmie's house Saturday morning to a special Halloween treat filled with lots of goodies.  Thanks mom for the cute Christmas pajamas and cereal bars!  Gavin loves them!

Brooks and Gavin just hanging out before we went trick or treating.

We went trick or treating with some friends, who have a 3 year old named Cade. Cade and Gavin are true buddies and they loved hanging out together.

Here we are walking down the street with Gavin.  I was trying to help Gavin hold his Elmo bucket. 

Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?!?!  What a night of fun memories!

Oh yea, after we took the boys trick or treating, the adults went to a Halloween party.  We dressed up as the gang from Scooby Doo.  We won 2nd place in the costume contest, so everyone else thought we looked good, too! 

It was a fun filled Halloween night!

PS: I fixed the comment section on the blog, so it should be much easier for you to write us a short note, if you want to.  Try it!

He wanted it.. so he got it....

... a muffin that was sitting on the top of our kitchen counter top, that is.

I was getting Gavin's breakfast ready and placed the banana nut muffin next to my coffee cup while I reached into the refrigerator to grab some milk. When I turned around Gavin was stuffing his face with the muffin that he reached up and got all by himself. I think he was hungry.

This one is our favorite... he's squeezing the muffin while biting into it.