Sweet pictures

Words can't do these pictures justice....

Primary Activity

Mikayla justed started going to the Primary at church in January. She went to her first quarterly activity last Saturday. Some members of our church own a gymnastics gym that they sometimes rent out for birthday parties and activities. They donated some time for the activity and all of the kids had a blast. They had a bounce house, a large slide, a rope swing and all of the regular gymnastics equipment.
There was also a toddler room that had much smaller equipment and a large foam pit. Mikayla mainly hung out in this room the whole morning. She had so much fun and literally ran around for two hours straight. She is definitely a little girl with big energy!!

Circus Day!!

Last Friday, Mikayla's preschool had a Circus Day. The is a fun annual event that they have at the end of the year. The kids "ticket" is a costume. Mikayla was dressed up as a "tight-rope walker" - to her, she was basically a ballerina. We had alot of fun there. Life has been so busy lately, and it was really nice to have a couple of hours of family time.

When we first got there, we were in charge of one of the game stations. It was an egg race. There wasn't much racing involved, but the kids had alot of fun. After that, we took Mikayla to the pony ride. It was a pretty long line, so we wanted to get that part done, to make sure that it happened before the Circus was over. Mikayla loves pony rides and this was definitely the highlight of the day. After the pony ride, we headed inside to the many game "booths" inside - Mikayla had a hard time getting some of the games, but she had so much fun trying to do them all. We wrapped up the event with some popcorn and an icee.

All in all, it was a busy, loud, but very fun event. It was such a treat to spend time with every member of my family (at the same time!!)

Lots of catching up to do

I apologize for the next couple of posts - there will be several. It has been so busy this past week. I am exhausted, but if I don't get some out I will never be able to catch up.

SIX MONTHS!!

Today, Gavin is officially 6 months old. I can hardly believe how fast this time has gone. He is getting bigger and bigger every day. He really loves observing the world around him and is busy trying to discover it.

We have started giving him baby food. So far, he has had sweet potatoes, carrots and bananas. There have been no complaints, thus far, and I love to see how excited he gets when I put him in the high chair and he sees his bowl of food.

Gavin has been rolling over for several weeks. He uses this mode of tranportation to get all around our living room. He is trying to scoot, but just can't quite get himself up to his knees. I have to admit that I am doing absolutely nothing to help him learn how to increase his mobility.

Gavin is such a sweet little boy. He is so content to be held be you and he will entertain himself on his activity mat for quite along time. He is so laid back and easy going. This is a definite change for his go-go-go big sister.

Speaking of his big sister, I have really enjoyed witnessing the sweet interaction between these two siblings. Mikayla is so tender and playful with him. Gavin is genuinely happy and excited to see Mikayla each morning. I love seeing the two of them together.

Gavin has his 6 month checkup next week. I will be sure to post the official report for everyone to see.

To do List

While I was feeding Gavin yesterday, Mikayla went out to the backyard to play. When I went to check on her, I found her digging in the red Georgia clay. It was the middle of the day and I had to throw her in the shower before I put her down for a nap.
After seeing this, I decided to move purchasing a sandbox, to the top of our to do list this weekend.

Spring is in the Air!

We have had some beautiful weather in Georgia this past week. We have ended up in the 70s nearly every day this week. We have really enjoyed getting to spend some time outside again. We have gotten in the habit of going out there about every afternoon after Mikayla's nap before I have to start dinner. Gavin also seems to really enjoy the outdoors.



We put Gavin in the swing for the first time - he absolutely loved it! He just giggled and smiled the whole time. Mikayla was happy to share her swing with her little brother and swing on the big girl swing.
That night after we had dinner, Mikayla and I went up stairs for a shower. While I was getting ready, Mikayla was playing quietly in her room. This is what I saw when I went in to get her for her bath. She told me she was having a picnic with all of her friends. She has quite an imagination!!

Check it out

Since I haven't had time to blog much the past couple of days, I will direct you to my sister Emily's blog. She has some cute photos of the kids and also a video of Gavin playing. It is so cute!! (I may be a little biased, though)

He likes it!!

I decided to start Gavin on some "real" food last night! I started him on sweet potatoes. I have always been told to start them out on veggies, but I decided to start with on of the sweeter veggies. As you can see, they were a hit. I didn't get any of those funny sour puss faces that Mikayla used to give us when she tried a new food. I think this boy is going to really enjoy his food!!

My new favorite snack

Well, one of my goals for 2008 was to lose the rest of my baby weight that I had gained from BOTH of my babies. I am hoping to get back down to what I weighed when Jeremy and I got married. I was having a harder time after this pregnancy than I did with Mikayla, so I decided to join Weight Watchers to help me out a little. They have a great program for nursing moms, so I know that I am doing something for myself without sacrificing my little guy's food. I have had a little bit of a hard time missing out on my sweets, so I am always on the lookout for yummy, low cal snacks. This snack is one of my new faves. It is a Quaker Chocolate and Peanut Butter Rice Cake with 1 T. marshmallow creme, 1/2 tsp. mini chocolate chips, and 1/2 tsp. Peanut butter chips. The recipe actually called for peanuts instead of the PB chips, but I am not much of a peanut fan. It is very yummy and completely saves me when I am craving a Reese's cup.