Brooks is Home

Brooks came home Saturday night around 1am from China.  We were so excited to see him.  Brooks and I decided to wait until Sunday morning for Gavin to see him so Brooks could be the one to greet him once he woke up.  That moment was precious and I'm so glad I caught it.  As you will see, Gavin was very excited to see his daddy

Daddy walking in...

Gavin is taken back for a moment....  

Then, realizing it's his daddy..

Really excited to see his daddy...

Can't believe it's really daddy...

Giving some missed kisses....

Gavin was over whelmed with joy that he couldn't contain it and kept giving Brooks hugs all morning. 

Wrestle Mania

While Brooks has been away, he was really concerned that Gavin wasn't going to be around any guys and have "guy time" so he asked me to try and let Gavin play or hang out with some of our guy friends.  Since we have such amazing friends who have had us over for dinner, taken us out to eat, had get togethers, etc the last few weeks Gavin has had multiple encounters playing, rough housing, and just being in the presence of guys. 

One night, we went and had gumbo at the Sperlings and Gavin's friend Cade was there.  Anytime Cade and Gavin get together they have a blast!  (We had dinner with the Carpenters one night and Darrell (Cade's dad) was wrestling with the boys.  Gavin loves wrestling... he would chase Cade, try to pound on Darrell, and would laugh the whole time.)  Needless to say, while at the Sperlings' house, Darrell, Cade, and Gavin all started wrestling again.  After a while, Darrell stepped away and we watched the boys play!!  It was hilarious.  Now, all of us were a little nervous watching the boys and we kept moving closer and closer to them while they wrestled, but Cade did an AMAZING job being aware that Gavin is smaller then him, so he was somewhat gentle with him.  Gavin, just kept wanting more so he was the one initiating it.  Check it out...

Don't forget to scroll to the bottom and pause the music so you can hear these two boys (and all the comments by the parents)

When Daddy's away...

Mommy lets Gavin play with a baby doll....
(sorry the pics are blury, they are from my phone)

Look how cute that is..... Normally, I would have been totally against this (and I will say that I put my foot down when he kept wanting to play with a purse), but he was just tooo precious holding the baby, rocking the baby, taking care of the baby.  He even knew to put the baby in the high chair--- I did NOT show him that.  I was so impressed with how well he "nurtured" the baby doll.  It was actually the first toy he's never thrown.  He was very concerned when the baby's hat fell off and tried dilligently to get it back on.  I don't feel bad about letting him "play" with a baby doll, I mean, look... he's holding a golf club between his legs... this just means he is a great multi-tasker, will be a great big brother SOMEDAY, and has a soft/sensitive side to him.  I do hope he enjoyed this, because when I emailed Brooks the pictures, he had something to say about it.

Fun in the Chuck

Last week Gavin and I spent time in Lake Chalres. We had a great visit with family and friends and were sad to go. Gavin got to play with his cousins, Neve and David, his aunts and uncles, and had a blast with Captain and Kimmie.  We went and visited grandparents, great aunts, and close friends, too! Megan, I LOVE YOU and LOVED hanging out with you.  I wish we lived around the corner from each other.  You truly are a blessing in my life!  DITTO!! I went and visited my old cheerleading sponsor (I don't mean she is "old", I just mean she was a sponsor from my past) while I was home.  She's not at my high school anymore, but is coaching cheerleading at a private school.  I went to their practice and was VERY impressed with their performance.  I even got to give a few pieces of "advice"... I didn't realize how much I really miss cheerleading... wow?!?!  Good Luck Saints (and Barbe!?!?!) at SCA this weekend!! 

Uncle Kyle playing with the kids

David and Aunt Liz

Neve with Kimmie

Gavin really wanted to hold David.. I don't know how David felt about this....

Neve learning how to make this thing work...

David and his Daddy

These two look real excited to take this pic...

Kimmie with her grandbabies

Gavin and Captain (by the way, Gavin learned how to say "cheese" this week when it's picture time)- thus, what you see him doing here...  he loves the camera!!

Such a BIG BOY!!!

It's no surprise that the past few weeks Gavin has just grown up on me.  He is starting to do things more and more on his own.  Parts of his independence "scares" me, but only because I'm nervous of him doing things too soon, or before he's ready.  The other day we went and ate lunch at Tony's Pizza, which is a small restaurant inside and we ran into a little issue when they placed us in a booth and there was no room to put a high chair on the end of our table. So, once again, I braved a new thing and asked for a booster seat.  I placed Gavin in the booster, moved the table as close to him, and sort of "pinned" him in between so he couldn't move.  He did great.  He never tried to get out and he ate his food off of a plate on the table in front of him.  I was shocked and amazed... once again! 

Growing up, I had a table and chairs that was in my room for me to do homework on, have "tea parties", etc.  Well, my mom brought down my old table and chairs set from the attic for the grandkids to sit and eat at during meals (or play on, etc).  At dinner Thursday night, Neve was sitting at the table eating and Gavin walked up and wanted to sit with her.  I wasn't sure how I felt about this, but figured I would try it out (and I sat really close to the table, just in case).  Once again, he did GREAT!!!  He ate his entire meal, with a fork, drank his milk, and talked to Neve while they ate.  It was PRECIOUS!  

Puddin' Pop

Do you remember a week or two ago when I mentioned in a post that Gavin ate a bowl of applesauce all by himself with a spoon?  Well, I decided to brave that "area" once again, but this time with pudding.  WOW, Gavin LOVED it and did great eating his CHOCOLATE pudding with a spoon.  I was smart enough to strip him down to his diaper so I wouldn't be as paranoid.  It's really fun watching him realize that he's a "big boy", doing things on his own.   

He's even willing to share and feed someone else.

We're making it....

Well, we made it!  We survived our first full week with Brooks being gone!  It was tough, but we managed.  Kimmie was in town last week, which made the week go by really fast.  Our weekend was jam packed, too. 

First, Gavin and I went and had dinner with some friends, the Lutz's,  from our small group who have a baby boy. We enjoyed getting a home cooked meal and Gavin got to play with some new toys.  Saturday morning, Gavin went and played with his friend, Peyton, while her mommy and I went and had brunch, with our friend Jessica. It was nice getting to take a break from being mommy just for a few hours.  Being a "single parent" is hard!  While Gavin napped on Saturday, I spent the entire time working on flowers for cake class out of royal icing and then applied a new uppercase living embellishment to Gavin's toy organizer.  It turned out soooo cute! 

Saturday night, Gavin and I went to our friends, the Carpenter's house for steaks!  Yum, they were delicous.  Susie and Darrell have a three year old named Cade who Gavin adores!!!  They played around all night and then Gavin got to "box" with Darrell.  Brooks is really concerend Gavin isn't getting any "man" time, so he requested that I take Gavin to any of our guy friends so he can do "guy stuff".  Gavin had a blast and was worn out from all the playing.  Look, he even picked up a tough guy look!

Sunday morning, we got to skype with Brooks (see him on the webcam) before going to church.  Gavin knows that when I say let's go see daddy, he runs to the computer and sits in the chair.  Brooks just asked Gavin where his head was and Gavin was showing him.  How cute is that??!?  Oh how we miss Brooks!

After church we went to lunch with friends and had group (bible study)!  It was such a busy day, Gavin only had a short, 30 minute nap, and he fell asleep on his changing table.  I didn't have the heart to wake him, so I left him on there while I folded laundry on the floor of his room (just to make sure he wouldn't roll off the table).  As you can see, he has already outgrown the changing table (that was mine and my brother's changing table growing up by the way). 

I finished Course 2 of my cake class tonight.  It was such a great experience for me.  It really does make a difference in who your instructor is.  Here is my final cake... it includes a basketweave, rope border, color flow designs (the fence and butterfly), and royal icing flowers (the flowers are all hard).  I was really excited to have this cake finished and was amazed at how it turned out!  I'm loving making cakes and learning how to decorate them that I signed up for the next course, which is fondant.  I have a lot of materials and tools to get before next week's class. 

Please keep Brooks in your prayers while he is away.  He is enjoying himself a lot, thankful for the experience, and learning a ton of information!