New Sleeping Buddy

Gavin's new sleeping buddy

His beloved "FiretruckMan".

He recieved this as a party favor from his friend Tyson's birthday party--and boy is it a hit at our house! Thanks Kristin!

Happy Memorial Day!

We sported our Memorial Day T-shirts in honor of our Country's special day!

We joined several friends at the River on Monday. We had a great time and enjoyed lots of fun with our friends. Gavin absolutely loved the river. He loved playing with the kids and especially playing in the water. Here's an abundant supply of pics of our great day!


Hanging out with my friends, sitting with MeeMee, playing with Bryan & Parker


Carson eating some yummy chips, Parker checking out the water



Gavin playing in the River--Oh he loved it!





Splashing Kaitlyn (Kate Kate--one of Gavin's babysitters)--he had such fun with her



Our beautiful friend Cara, basking in the beautiful sunshine!

All the kids playing on the tubes

We had a great time!!

We went on a Safari!

We went to a local (well a short day trip) Safari Zoo this weekend and had a great time! At first Gavin wasn't too sure about all these animals coming up to the windows of the truck, but after a few minutes he was really into it. We saw all kinds of animals, some we got pictures of. . .


This gives you an idea of what it's like (if you haven't been), the animals are all over and you drive through--quite often, like here, you have wait for them to get out of the road! Gavin would holler "Move over Buffawo. . .let us through!" (that's a Zebra at the car in front of us)



This pic was funny too, Gavin said "Say Cheese Buffawo"! He really liked the Buffalo!



Here's Gavin & Daddy petting the goats and pigs.

And looking at this huge bronze turtle.


And look at these real turtles!

Kangaroos--Gavin wanted them to get up and was jumping all around to show them what they were supposed to do!

Gavin loved the Giraffes, he called them "big GiGis" from GiGi the giraffe puppet at his music class.

His favorite was probably the monkeys! I think because he is part Monkey!



Here's Mommy & Gavin pretending to be Kangaroo & Baby!

We finished with a yummy picnic lunch!


It was a fun Family day and we all had a great time!

Pool Fun begins!

We got out in the pool for a little while today, Gavin had a great time and decided he loves the pooouuuullll!

Here's a few pics of our fun. . .



And here's two pics I wanted to share too. Gavin is in this new "stage" where he gets into these very serious conversations and the facial expressions he gives me are hysterical! Here he is talking about washing his hands.

Sorry the pic quality isn't wonderful-my camera is acting up again
(Hey Mom, guess I need to return it for a refund, huh? HA!)

Summer is here!

This week marked Gavin's start of Summer. . .for the first time today Gavin yelled "Schools Out"!!

To refresh your memory, Gavin goes to a Mother's Morning Out on Tuesday at a local Church and on Thursday he's enrolled in our My Morning Out program at our Church--Mommy is Director there. May not be "real school" but try convincing him of that! When we wake up and I announce "we're going to school today" he starts looking out the window for the big yellow bus!

Well we finished up both "schools" this week and we are officially on Summer break. How fun! We celebrated tonight by going and purchasing one of those cheap little plastic pools that every Two year old must have to decorate (or tacky up) their yard. You would have thought we bought him his first car! Pics of that are sure to follow!

Meanwhile, here's some pics of him on his last day of school on Tuesday:

Going into the school with Ms. Carolyn:

Yippee!! 1 Year down, only 19 more to go!!

Best part of today: Teaching my Two year old to yell "Schools Out for Summer" when we left school today!! Too funny!!

Fun with Kids

We had a delightful lunch with Carson & Parker the other day. . .and their parents of course!

We decided afterwards we really needed a recent pic of all the boys together, since this was their last. . .

But as you can see from our attempts we didn't get one of them all looking at us.

It was quite a site too. . .four adults yelling all kinds of funny things to get their attention, standing outside the Restaurant looking like "tourists" as Marshall put it!

Good times, good times. . . .

More Sickness and Favorites

Ha! What a title. . .

Well I was really looking forward to summer so all the sickness and germs would go away. So far the opposite has proven to be true at our home. Now Mommy & Daddy BOTH have strep throat.

Gavin is spending the night with Nanny & PawPaw tonight so that we can hopefully avoid passing anything on to him and so we can both get some much needed rest.

A group of online friends did "surveys" on their kids' favorites and I thought it'd be fun to share here. . .

Some of Gavin's Current Favorites

Food: Pizza--loves it
Drink: Milk or V8 Fusion
Fruit: apples & oranges
Veggie: green beans
TV Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jay-Jay the Jet Plane
Movie: Elmo visits the Firestation
Music: Ms. PattyCake and Laurie Berkner
Book: Train Song and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Inside Toy: His Train Table and his Tonka Firetruck
Outside Toy: Sandbox and his Tractor
Bath Toy: any cup!
Fictional Character: Mickey Mouse
New thing to say: No Mommy, I do it!
Thing to do in the car: Watch for Firetrucks, School Buses or Dump Trucks
(and yell frantically if he sees one!)

Other interesting fact about your little one?
He is obsessed with washing his hands and brushing his teeth. Wants to wash his hands or brush his teeth all the time now!

My Disappearing Act

I know, Sunday I have a roll with multiple posts, then go all week with nothing! What a disappointment. Let me explain. . .

I have a sick baby AGAIN!

If you will remember back almost 2 weeks ago Gavin was diagnosed with an ear infection and strep throat. So we were on Omnicef for 10 days. Finished that up on Monday. Tuesday morning he woke all stuffy and just very yucky feeling. He kept going on and on that his ear hurt. Great. . .call and back to the Dr.

Saw a Nurse Practitioner and she said ears were clear, just allergies and start him on Claritin. Gavin's taken this before. . .no prob. Deal with LOTS of congestion, especially in his nose and TOTALLY NO SLEEP on Tuesday day and night. He can't breathe at all laying down. Just plain miserable.

Wednesday morning we get up and change his diaper. . .he has blisters all over his bottom. Not a typical diaper rash at all. I call the Dr. . .they want to see him. . back we go.
Saw the DR this time and he said it's just a reaction to the Omnicef (called a POST antibiotic reaction--never heard of it!) just to treat it like diaper rash. Also prescribed Singulair for his allergies to maybe give some relief from all this congestion and keep his allergies under control for summer.

So as Wednesday goes on he gets no better. Last night was horrible. Again, absolutely no sleep. Go on to school today because it is allergies (two Doctors say so). Ended up coming home early because he was just so miserable. Not home long and the fever starts.

I call back to Ped's office and guess what. . they want to see him!! So again, for the THIRD time this week we go back to the Dr. His ears are clear still (to the surprise of me & the DR), but it's evident from the 102.5 temp that he has a sinus infection. So he got a shot of antibiotic and a prescription for Zithromax.

I'm so ready for a healthy child!!! Now let's get these allergies under control come on Summer! Unfortunately he got his Mama's allergies and I know from YEARS of experience they are no fun!!

Best part of today: If there really CAN be a best part it was this. In the Doctor's office, the nurse comes in with the dreaded needle for Gavin's shot. She says "Gavin, let's give you something to make you feel better buddy!" to which he so innocently replies "No Pank You" (No Thank you). It was precious. . . She was very impressed with his politeness!!

Happy Mothers Day

Whew. . .I'm on a "post overload" tonight!

I had a great Mothers Day today. . .I hope all of you Mothers did as well!

We had a great day yesterday, started out super early headed to visit Dave's Mom and have some fun. We visited a local Book Fair. That's always a HUGE hit with me, I absolutely love it!

Then came back for Ashton's Party--which was lots of fun! Happy Birthday Ashton! I can't believe you are SEVEN!! And to think, 7 years old and already a Hero! Gavin thinks the sun rises and sets on Ashton!!

We had dinner last night with my Parents and "BoBo" (Brandon). Yummy Mexican food! We sat outside the weather was so nice. . .it was lovely. Literally as soon as the waiter brought our check the BIG raindrops started falling. Ended up leaving kinda quickly because of the rain. . but it was a nice dinner.

Then today had a great morning at Church, a lovely Sunday afternoon nap, some fun "outside play" time with my boys and another Mother's Day dinner with my Parents and Grandmother. This time we visited the Cracker Barrel for some yummy food and Gavin loved every minute of it.

From checkers with Dad

And checking out EVERY rocker in the place

And lots of spoiling from the Grandparents

It was a dream come true for a Two year old little boy!

My sweet hubby did some yard work for me for Mothers Day today. What a man, working in the flower beds!

And just a few pics of my little guy running around outside today. He is an outside kind-of boy for sure!

Best part of today: Realizing the most incredible name to be called is. . .Mommy