Food, Family and Fun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We spent time with both sides of our family. Even though I really don't enjoy driving all over the place, I feel so blessed to live so close to all of our family.

Mikayla had fun cuddling with her new cousin, Andrew. She is having a hard time remembering to be gentle with him. We are having to remind her how fragile babies are - it has been a long time since Gavin was that little.

Gavin was also rather intrigued with his new cousin.

I love this picture. My mom holding all of her grandbabies!


The kids went on a Black Friday shopping adventure to JoAnn's with me, my mom and my sister, Emily. Mikayla really wanted to buy something, but with her birthday and Christmas coming up, I told her she needed to use her own money to get something. We found this "pwengin" (Mikayla's pronunciation of penguin) craft kit in the dollar bin. When we returned from the store, Mikayla and I had a nice time, putting him together. I do think that he will have a short life span though. We have already lost a foot and I have had to reglue the face.

Turkey Day Fun

We spent the afternoon at my mom's today. My sister, brother in law and nephew drove in early this morning and we wanted to spend some time with them. While Gavin was napping and I was running some errands, Mikayla and my mom made some fun Thanksgiving cookies. Mikayla loves anything to do with cooking and she loves spending time with my mom so it was a great activity.

Aren't they cute?

Mikayla had a great time.

Indian Princess Mikayla

Mikayla's preschool had their Thanksgiving program today. Last year, Mikayla was a little turkey, but she has graduated to an indian this year. We always enjoy the performances at her preschool. Mikayla even joined in on some of the singing this year!

This is a view of all of the kids.
After the program, the kids had a Thanksgiving "feast"

This is Mikayla holding her acorns that she was insistent on taking home. They were only meant to be table decorations, but Mikayla needed them for her "collection" (of what I am not sure).

Family fun

It has been COLD this weekend in Georgia. Last night, we built a fire and Jeremy decided that we should roast some marshmallows. Needless to say, Mikayla was very excited about this.

Daddy and Mikayla had a great time roasting the marshmallows together.

Mikayla wouldn't touch the roasted marshmallows. She also didn't really like the "black parts." Jeremy would take off the outside of the marshmallow and feed Mikayla the gooey part. She definitely liked that part of it.While Gavin didn't have any of the roasted marshmallows, he thoroughly enjoyed the uncooked version.

We had a great time last night, after our marshmallow roast, Daddy and Mikayla made an indoor tent and "camped out" It was so cute! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was busy keeping Gavin from demolishing the makeshift tent.

First Haircut.

Okay, so these aren't great pictures, but Gavin had his first haircut today, so I had to document the occasion.

My baby looks like a little boy!

Time for a party!

Our family came over Saturday night to celebrate Gavin's first birthday. We had a wonderful time with each other and the kids had a great time as well.

I made this birthday banner for Gavin. There are pictures hanging down of him on his first day, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and his first birthday. I think we are going to do the same thing for Mikayla's birthday. I think, though, that we are going to have to make it Kayla, otherwise it won't fit on our wall.

This is the cake eating viewing room/ our dining room all decorated. We moved the chairs out and broke down the table so that there would be plenty of room for everyone to file in and watch Gavin dive into the cake.



Gavin was not into opening his presents. He just wasn't interested at all in the bags or the paper. Luckily, he has a big sister who was more than willing to step in and help out. Gavin did

enjoy his gifts once they were opened.
This was a riding truck that he got. He hasn't gotten the hang of pushing himself on it yet, but he loves to push it around the room and push the buttons that make noise.

This was a toy remote control that he got. Gavin is OBSESSED with remotes and we were hoping this would deter him from wanting to play with the real remotes. He does enjoy playing with it, but it doesn't have the same appeal as mom's and dad's.

My parents got Gavin this wagon. I see this getting used alot this summer with our trips to the pool.

Gavin liked sitting in his wagon.

Gavin's cakes before the destruction. If you look closely at the smash cake there are little finger marks on the side that his sister put there - the little stinker!

At first, Gavin was a little unsure of the cake. He kind of looked at it for a little bit.

Then, he thought he would test it out a little bit more and see what it felt like.

Then he really dove in!

Gavin REALLY enjoyed his cake.

Either Mikayla really enjoyed the cake, too, or she was a little jealous of all of the attention that her brother was getting from making a mess.

He made a big mess and actually ate a good bit of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wouldn't this be nice to have in your home.

Our little bruiser

Gavin has had a rough couple of weeks. Since he has learned to walk, Gavin has learned some good lessons on gravity. Last week, he fell (with Mikayla's assistance) while trying to go up the stairs and hit his chin on the steps. This caused him to have a small, superficial cut behind his front tooth from where his bottom tooth hit the skin. Later that same day, he was trying to crawl in the bathroom and again (with Mikayla's fine assistance) he fell into the corner of the doorway and had a good sized linear bruise on his forehead. It was one of those bruises where you realized if he had hit just a little bit harder we probably would have been getting stitches. Last night, him and Mikayla were in the tub and Gavin slipped (this time without his sister's assistance). He hit his upper lip on the side of the tub which caused a decent sized laceration inside his mouth.

I was very torn as with what to do. It isn't often that lacerations inside the mouth are sutured, but this one was pretty gaping. I called down to the hospital and one of the doctors agreed to check him out without me having to sign in. We drove down and after a little look, we decided that it was small enough that he didn't need stitches. We did get a prescription for an antibiotic, since mouth lacerations have a higher risk of infection than regular lacerations. So all in all, Gavin had his first ER visit - I am just thankful it was through the back door.

Strong Legs Run

I have worked for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for almost 8 years. Every year there is a charity run called the Strong Legs Run that benefits the hospital. It is a great family event with alot of fun activities. I have been to nearly every race since I started working for the hospital. I missed one when I was pregnant (35 weeks) with Mikayla and I missed last year's b/c I was only about 3 weeks out from my c-section with Gavin. My mother-in-law and I have done the last couple races together. This year Mikayla joined in on the race action (instead of just sitting in the stroller). I am very glad we decided to only do a 2K. Shortly after the start of the race, Mikayla declared she was tired and we did the rest of the course with her on my shoulders.

They had a moonwalk with a slide that Mikayla had alot of fun doing. I had a hard time convincing her to get off so that other kids could have a turn.
There were ton of mascots from various groups at the race. This is Mikayla giving the Georgia State panther a high five.

Mikayla was anxious to do the race with Nana and Mommy. I wish that excitement had pushed her through to the finish line.

Gavin hung out in his stroller all morning. He did great considering that his nap usually started about the same time that the race did.

Aunt Rachel

My sister and her new son, Andrew, flew down to stay with my mom last weekend. Her husband had a business trip and she was keen on the idea of taking care of a new baby all by herself for four days. I was so happy that they were able to come down while Andrew was still a little newborn. He is so precious. I am loving my new role as an aunt.

Getting some good cuddle time with my nephew.At one point that day, Gavin was napping and Andrew had just eaten and was sleeping as well. Emily wanted to make a quick run to the store. I had no problem with that since both of the babies were sleeping. Shortly after she left, Gavin woke up, which in turn woke Andrew up. Both of the babies wanted to be held and Mikayla didn't want to be left out. This is the scene that Emily came home to. Noone seemed to mind the closeness.