Family Photos 2009

My Adorable Children

Gavin - 15 months

Emily's 4 Year Old Pictures

Gavin's 1st Birthday!

We actually celebrated Gavin's birthday a day early (yesterday). Brian was on-call at the hospital all day today and he would have missed the whole thing. Gavin didn't know the difference anyway.

I made his favorite meal. (This was actually hard to come up with because there isn't much this kid will eat, and we didn't want to just eat grapes for dinner.) I discovered a couple weeks ago that he likes spaghetti. (The tomato sauce is about the only vegetable I can get down him.) So, we had a gourmet meal of spaghetti and green salad. It was actually enjoyed by all!

Then came the presents. Here is a little conversation that I had with Emily before we started opening presents.

Emily: (pointing to the presents) "Are those for Gavin?"
Mom: "Yep."
Emily: "Is he going to open them?"
Mom: "He will probably need a little help."
Emily: (while raising her hand) "Oh, I will help him. Me, me, me."
Mom: "Okay, I am sure that you will be able to help him."
Emily: After thinking for a minute says... "He's probably just going to eat the paper."
I got a pretty good laugh out of that one.

Ironically he loved opening the presents and he loved the toys inside. He didn't even play with the paper. Of course, Emily helped him open his presents.

And finallly....eating the cake. Oh, it is so hard for me to watch a baby dig in. Not just because I am a total neat freak and this will probably be the only time in his life that I will let him do this, but it is hard to watch all that hard work get smeared everywhere. It was hilarious though, and well worth the work I put into it.

Happy Birthday Gavin!

Gavin Eating Birthday Cake

Part 1


Part 2

For all you "Kung Fu Panda" Fans!

Emily was eating a "cup o noodles" for dinner the other night. She slowly looks up at me and says, "I had the noodle dream." I nearly busted a gut. Yes, more proof that my daughter watches too much TV.

Duck or Droid?

And the Mother of the Year Award goes to .....

At home:

Brian: Don't let Gavin fall down the stairs at your parents

Andrea: I know. Thinking: Do you think I am stupid

At parents:

Gavin: (screaming)

Andrea: Does anyone know where Gavin is?

Andrea: (suddenly realizing) OH NO!

Yep, there he was at the bottom of the stairs with a nice bump in the middle of his forehead.

Hey, at least it was only 5 stairs and not the big staircase that goes to the basement. I will leave that one for another day. :)

The weirdest part about it is that he has a minor bruise on his head from falling down the stairs onto the tile, and a goose egg on the side of his head from slipping while crawling in the tub. Go figure.

You really can't see anything in this photo, but I thought it was cute!

A Day at the Park!

I was able to get together with a few of my good friends today. We decided to go to a park so that the kids could play and we could visit a little. We started out with a little picnic. Of course, when Gavin was done he had to be the terror and tip over water bottles and dump plates. He sure had a lot of fun doing it though.

I would have to say that the favorite thing was the swings. Emily is trying to learn how to pump an this was Gavin's first time on a swing by himself.

Here he is when you swing him low...

Here he is when you swing him high...

Grandpa's Birthday!

We were able to celebrate grandpa's birthday with him this year. While he was at work we picked up some balloons and made his favorite dinner. Don't forget the birthday cake. For dinner we had lemon chicken and rice, yum!!! After dinner we surprised him with his strawberry cake.

Grandpa loves strawberries, whipped cream, and cake. He had just had strawberry shortcake, so I came up with a new idea. A strawberry cake mix layered with strawberries and tons of whipped cream. It was delicious!

Happy 54th Birthday Grandpa. We love you!

Random Fun and Grandma's

Do you think that Mozart practiced in his diaper?

Only grandma would give Gavin a beater with whipped cream on it. He proceeded to wipe it on the floor and then attempted to crawl through it. The floor was a little slick. It is a good thing that he can experience these things at grandma's house because his mom is a neat freak.

Not sure exactly what was going on here....? Silly girl!

To Grandma's we will go....

After Auntie Aubs came for a visit, we made the trek back to Utah with her. Actually she helped me with the trek back to Utah. The first flight was a little long. Gavin is not the type of baby to just sit back and relax. He is very busy. He finally fell asleep the last 30 minutes of the flight. I also realized part way through the first flight that I had forgotten to sync Emily's movies onto the Ipod. Emily did really well though. She listened to some music and colored.

By the time the second flight came around Aubrie and I were worn out. So, out came the Benadryl (for Gavin, of course). He slept like a dream almost the entire flight. Emily also slept and we didn't even have to drug her. All in all, I am a firm believer in helping Gavin sleep on the plane.

Emily realized on the second flight that she could get her seat belt off herself. This posed a problem. I pointed to the words on the seat in front of us and read them to her. It said "Fasten Seat Belts While Seated". She then sat forward and and said pointing to the words, "I don't want to wear my seat belt". (Aubrie and I got a good laugh). I figured that the stewardess could tell her to put it back on, and if she didn't notice, oh well.

Gavin - 9 months

Ewwww Yummy!

Gavin has officially decided he is done with baby food! Can you honestly blame him?!

A Week With Auntie Aubs!

This week my sister Aubrie came to visit us. We had lots of fun. We were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather by taking a walk long the river. We also did lots of shopping and eating. But, most of all, she helped me with the kids (which was a nice vacation for me). Thanks for coming Auntie Aubs!

Our Little Preschool Grad!

I don't think that I have ever mentioned it on my blog before, but I enrolled Emily in preschool part way through the school year. She needed something that was all her own after Gavin was born, and (suffice it to say) I needed some alone time too.
This week was her graduation/rewards ceremony. It was so cute. As part of her preschool, she does an hour of gymnastics. The kids put on a little presentation of all the gymnastics that they have been learning.

Then there was a little party for her class.

Gavin sure loved the gym with all the fun new things to climb on.

Each of the kids was given a gymnastics medal. She sure loves it! She has done such a great job this year and has loved going to preschool.

Something is Not Right Here

I thought that this was such a cute picture taking opportunity. Emily was reading to Gavin and he was actually sitting still and listening. Then I noticed something through my viewfinder. Do you see it?

Look closer ...

There it is ... a pink binkie. Where in the world did he get a pink binkie? Emily sucks her thumb. It ended up being one that was given to me for Emily, but she never really used it. I thought I had all of her baby keepsakes up in the attic, but apparently she has been using it for her dolls. Silly boy!