Choo Choo! All Aboard!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Gavin's 3rd birthday.  

Friday morning, Gavin woke up to a big surprise-- his birthday present from mom and dad.  Yes, we were two weeks late on giving it to him, but our schedules have been so hectic since we got back to Saudi, that there weren't many opportunities to put it together nor give it to Gavin when we were both home in the mornings.  Gavin walked down stairs and immediately found the blanket that was hiding something.  Brooks helped him uncover it and there he saw his Choo Choos, as he put it.  He was so excited!  He actually raised his arms up in a victory sign he was so excited!  He played and played and played with the table all morning.  He looked at every single part of it, inspected it, learned every sound it makes, and was simply in awe of his table.  The main reason we got this train table for his birthday, is because his best friend Cade had one.  They always played trains together and it was a memory we will always cherish that Gavin and Cade had together.  We wanted to let that memory stay alive by having a train table in our house.  Gavin was very grateful for the present and on his own omission ran and gave me a big hug!  He kept telling Brooks and I thank you, thank you!

After spending the morning together as a family, we started getting things ready for Gavin's Birthday Party.  We threw him a train themed party filled with trains, trains, and more trains.  We actually threw Gavin two parties.  The first party was for Gavin and all his young friends.  We set up the bounce house, put together a Thomas the Train tunnel, and had train tracks put around for all to play with.  Everything went great.  The kids had a fun time and Gavin loved playing with all his friends!  I think Gavin's favorite part was singing Happy Birthday to himself.  Thankfully, he only asked to blow the candles out once.  

By the way- thanks Aunt Anna for making the train t-shirt.  It was perfect!  Every person who walked in the door Gavin said Welcome to my Birthday Cake!  Look at my choo- choo shirt!

Gavin was blessed with lots of fun gifts and he was extremely grateful for all of them!  He got puzzles and trucks, and craft activities and clothes.  He got a neat Handy Manny figurine with tools, and some great sports activities (basketball goal, dart board, etc).  My parents got Gavin a LeapPad before we left so one of our neighbors got him an App Card to download games to it.  (If you haven't heard of the LeapPad, it's an IPad for kids.  It's really cool and very durable. It's very kid friendly and was perfect for the airplane ride and traveling!)

Look- there's Gavin's friend, Peyton, from Houston!  The Acords, our small group leaders from our church, moved to Saudi back in May.  They live about 45 mnutes from us so they got to come celebrate Gavin's birthday with us.  Peyton had her 3rd birthday party last week that we got to spend time with them there, too.  We love having the Acord's here and love that Gavin and Peyton get to continue their friendship together.  Those two have known each other since they were 8 or 9 months old.   

Gavin has been asking for a scooter ever since last April when all the big kids around our compound got motorized ones.  We decided he needed to learn how to ride a bike first.  He's still been asking for a scooter and he had one in the states at my parents house and LOVED it.  So, of course, who else but Aunt Steph and Uncle Micah would get Gavin the scooter he's been wanting.  Stephanie found one here and actually got him the size up from what we originally thought he needed and Gavin did awesome riding it.  Like, literally, awesome.  He has taken that scooter everywhere this week and goes fast.  Brooks and I were pretty amazed with how fast he picked up riding a two wheeler.  

Did I mention we had two parties for Gavin on Friday?  Well, we did.  Not to spoil him, but rather to make things easier.  I really wanted a little kid party.  One where kids under the age of 5 could play together, enjoy the bounce house, and have little kid activities without the hectic and crazyness that all the million older kids, who are always around, would bring.  Living on a compound, you get close with a lot of people.  So having parties and dinners, makes it really hard to exclude people, because you are so close to so many.  We decided we'd have a little kid party in the afternoon, then invite all our friends with older kids, who we knew would want to celebrate Gavin's birthday with us, over for dinner that night.  Gavin got more presents and got to sing Happy Birthday and blow his candle out one more time.  The 2nd party went great!  Everyone was there (another plus about living on a compound)!  No one has anywhere else to be so you generally never get any no RSVP's.  Gavin had fun with all the older kids- they laughed and goofed off a lot.

 I'm pretty sure it's safe to say our little man had a very fun, filled day, all about him!  Brooks and I enjoyed watching the smile on Gavin's face and will cherish the memories we made celebrating his day! We can't believe he's already celebrated TWO birthdays here in the Kingdom.  Wow-- that's a crazy thought!

Gavin's 1st Day of Preschool

As my friend, Christa said, "I'm interrupting the summer posting series to bring you the important event of":

Gavin's First Day of Preschool

Yes, Gavin started school today.  I can NOT believe it.  Technically, he started pre-pre school, but still, it's school. A real school.  We got him a big boy backpack and lunch box (even though he doesn't eat lunch at school) and bought all the necessary school supplies he needed.  We've been preparing Gavin all week for school and making a big deal about him going to BIG BOY school.  We explained a lot to him that he was going to be staying at school and that mommy would come home with Miles.  He seemed okay with it.  We woke him up this morning, made him a good breakfast, dressed him a spiffy outfit, put his backpack on him and went off to school.  We did take the typical first day of school photo on the front porch before leaving.  I think I was so nervous and Brooks was anxious to leave on time, that we didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked.  Gavin didn't seem nervous and acted excited, until we got into the car and the realization hit him that he really was going to school.  He showed some signs of being worried, but Brooks and I did everything to keep him calm.

When we got to school, Gavin kind of took off.  Now, he was ready to be at school.  We found his classroom and tried getting settled.  When we arrived, his class was actually split into two groups, two different rooms that were connected to one another by a door, however, I didn't know that.  I couldn't find Gavin's cubby in the first room, rather, I couldn't find his name anywhere.  I started getting really nervous.  I found a teacher and she said then he must be in the other room.  We walked next door, found his name on the sheet, found the spot for his backpack, and his nametag.  I quickly realized all of Gavin's other friends from our compound were assigned the other room.  I wanted to cry.  I just kept thinking oh great, he's not going to want to stay, he's not going to know anyone, this is going to be horrible.  I tried focusing on getting Gavin ready for the day and was trying to tell him everything I could think of to make his day easy and fun.  The teacher came out in me and I quickly realized maybe I was overwhelming him.  I showed him around the room and tried getting him to be familiar with his surroundings.  He kept looking for his friend Devin, who was assigned the other class.  Eventually, Devin came over to Gavin's room and they buddied up.  Not sure how things were going to go once they were split again, but hey, it got Gavin over his nervousness and he wanted to play!  I was so thankful Brooks was there with me.  He really helped keep me calm.  Miles was with us and did awesome.  He is such a laid back, relaxed kid.

The time came when it was time to go and I swore I would not be one of those parents that stayed around.  I tried so hard to stay focused on the fact that this was going to be good for Gavin, he would love it, he'd get settled, and would be fine!  I started crying.  I tried HARD not to, but I couldn't control it.  Gavin was fine, until he saw me crying.  Then, he got worried and started fussing a little bit.  I quickly told Brooks to show Gavin where he would potty at school so he'd know, and I dried up my tears.  I hugged Gavin goodbye (okay, so there were still a few tears) told my little man bye and walked away.  He went right back to playing with all the toys!

Outside the classroom, I cried with a few other moms and sent Brooks off to work. I cried the entire way home in the car.. like, I balled like a baby.  I think my driver probably thought I was crazy, but who cares.  I can't wait to go pick him up and hear all about his day.  I'm sure he loved it.  I'm doing good now.  I'm fine really.  I've had a quiet morning so far at home with Miles and am now off to our first ladies Coffee Morning of the year.  Will let you know how things went later...

*** Update- I went and picked Gavin up and he had a good day.  He said it was fun and he got to play.  When I asked him what he did, he kept saying he told his teacher NO!  Not real sure what that means- whether it was a good or bad thing, but he said he's willing to go back tomorrow!   

Miles 8 Months

Miles turned 8 months old.  He is growing up so fast and we are loving having him around.  He's starting to show more and more of his personality to us.  He's laid back, easy going, pretty content, yet, knows what he wants.  He LOVES eating baby food- hence the semi orange noise.  I've been making all his baby food and he actually prefers homemade versus the store bought containers.  He is taking 8oz of formula and just recently decided he doesn't want his bedtime bottle.  Fine with us!!

Miles is a funny kid, too.  He's very observant and makes hilarious faces and random noises.  He LOVES playing in the dirt, gets excited for bath time, and would prefer being with Gavin all the time.  Miles LOVES to climb on things.  Anything he can stand up on and climb, he does it.
He's a fun kid to have around!!  

 

 

Gavin's 3rd Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, fun, energetic, and loving big boy, Gavin.  We celebrated Gavin's 3rd birthday, in the kingdom, with a day filled with everything he wanted to do.  Brooks had to work so I made sure that Gavin felt extra special on his birthday.

We started the morning off by going to the local DHL office to pick up several packages I had shipped weeks before we left that were filled with birthday presents from family members for Gavin.  I surprised him when we got home and told him the boxes were all for him!!  He was beyond excited!!

 (Yes, Miles was trying to help his big brother find all the presents in the boxes)

Aunt Steph came over for breakfast, which we had homemade donuts-- a request from Gavin the moment he got out of bed.. and yes, he couldn't wait to get to the table and eat them.  Stephanie brought over a gift for Gavin that she made.  She quilted a blanket covered in transportation vehicles, which is what his room is decorated in!  I LOVED IT!  I almost cried when she pulled it out.  So grateful that we get to enjoy this for years to come!

Gavin and I spent most of his birthday playing with all his new toys and relaxed throughout the day. I didn't make him take a nap either, mainly to help with jet lag, but he did pretty good throughout the day and was busy with all his new stuff... it was no big deal!

Gavin also told me he wanted cookies for his birthday a few days before, but then on his actual birthday, he wanted a cake.  Convincing him that he would get a cake for his birthday party wasn't enough.. therefore, he and I made a cookie cake to have when daddy got home from work.  I taught Gavin the Happy Birthday so that it wouldn't scare him when we sang it to him that evening.  He sang it all day!!  After dinner we pulled out the cake, set up a candle and let him blow it out.  He asked that we keep singing to him over and over again by relighting his candle.  He loved it!

 

Gavin loved his cake!  Apparently, he loved it so much he wanted to figure out a way to eat it as fast as he could.  So he asked me to eat it like him-- hey, it was his birthday, I was doing whatever he wanted that day!

 

As you can see, we kept singing Happy Birthday to him, even after we cut the cake and ate some!

I think Gavin had a fun day and enjoyed celebrating his 3rd birthday.  We're planning a choo-choo train party for next week with friends once everyone makes it back to Saudi.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!  We love you so much!!

Summer 2011: Saudi Style

As much fun as we had in the states during our summer vacation, Brooks had just as much fun here in the Kingdom.  Okay, so that pretty much isn't true at all, but he kept busy for the entire 5 weeks we were gone.  If I remember correctly, he enjoyed his "freedom" the first week- coming home form work, chillin, fixing dinner, watching tv, reading, vegging (is that even a word?), but then that got old after a while.

So, Brooks started on a project that wasn't intended to take as long as it did, but it kept him busy every night when he got home from work and helped pass the time by while we were apart.  Before we left for the states, Brooks and I went and picked out paint colors and bought gallons and gallons of paint and I asked him to have the maintenance guys from our compound come and paint the house.  Since I'm pregnant, we didn't want me to be around when the house was getting painted, not to mention with Gavin and Miles and paint cans all around-- not gonna work.  

My precious husband, having a small OCD complex when it comes to paint and trims and the need for straight lines decided he wanted to cut in all the rooms himself to guarantee the trims and baseboards wouldn't get paint on them. After cutting in the rooms, he just decided to start rolling them in himself.  Four weeks later our house was painted and looked great!!  Check out the before pics here and here.  When I came back, I truly, truly felt like I came back to a new home.  It's amazing how much a little color can do to let you feel like a place is really yours.  Although, our houses look just like everyone else's so individual paint colors really, really do help.  I still walk into our house and think, wow- I love these rooms!

 

 

I think Gavin's room color was my favorite.  It worked perfectly and his trucks, trains, & planes theme all looks precious together!  Brooks' paint job isn't done yet though... sometime next year (maybe in October), we're planning on moving Miles and Gavin into the same room and letting Brooklyn have the nursery room to herself (which may end up being Gavin's old room). Also, we didn't know during the summer if we were having a boy or a girl, so we just left the nursery room as it was.  My craft room wasn't painted either.  I just have no clue what I want to do with it, yet.  We'll see though how things will work out.

Thank you Brooks Lee for spending your bachelor days painting our house and making it a home for all of us.  I appreciate you so much and am grateful for your hard work and willingness to give up your free time to do something for us.  We love you! 

A Birthday in Heaven

August 20th, I went to Houston to be with my friends Susie and Darrell as they celebrated what would have been their little boy, Cade's fifth birthday.  I planned my trip in the states so that I could be a part of this day, and, as sad as it was, I'm glad I was there.  All their immediate family and close friends met at the cemetery where we said a prayer for Cade, told him how we all missed him, and then sent him balloons to Heaven.  It was one of the most emotional days of my life in the past few months, next to the morning when we got the phone call about Cade, and the day that I visited his grave site for the first time upon returning to the states in July.  

However, it was also so good to be with our friends during this time.  I stand amazed and in awe of Susie and Darrell and how they are doing during this time.  I honestly ask them all the time how they are making it through when I feel like an emotional wreck.  They are trusting in the Lord and accepting his love, grace, and peace every moment of everyday.  I'm heartbroken for our friends, and it was really hard going back and seeing that Cade wasn't there, but I do believe that God is greater then any pain we can feel.  

There was some joy celebrating Cade's life that day.  We all remembered him for the vibrant, outgoing, loving, fun kid that he was!!  We will always miss him, but have lots of memories to hold onto!   

We love you and miss you Cade.