The Many Faces of Gavin at Three

I did a little birthday photo shoot with Gavin. Of course my favorite was the very last one.

He's Three

Gavin and Sadie

Along the way he showed some classic Gavin faces

This one is priceless!

On a side note...just got back from his three year well check: he's off the charts for height and 92% for weight. The doctor said the weight surprised her because he looked so skinny to her so he must be just solid. And then she picked him up and said, "Oh yah, he's solid all right." That's my boy!

Gavin's Birthday

Luckily the big day came off great. But at 10:30 the night before I feeling pretty guilty about it. I climbed in to bed and realized I didn't have anything to decorate the house with. I didn't have anything to make his birthday cake with. We knew what we were getting him for his birthday but we hadn't even bought it yet. Yep...can we say BAD parenting! So I quickly made a run to the grocery store and managed to pull off a great day for Gavin...decorations and all ready when he first got up in the morning.

When we moved here almost two years ago I packed away a lot of our toys that the girls and Zachary had grown out of and put them in our shed. I figured Gavin's birthday was the perfect time to go through those and pick out things he would like and wrap them up! He hit the jack pot! He got plastic bugs, a box full of trucks and cars (as if he doesn't already have enough of those) and a Shake and Go Race Track and cars to go with it. He was thrilled!

But the big present was saved for the end. I love this sequence of his excitement.

Bret trying to teach him the concept of peddling

Then Gavin said, "Why do we have to take so many pictures!"

Bret cracked up and said he felt the same way.

The Lightning McQueen cake was one of his highlights of the whole day.

Yummy red frosting

Dear Gavin,

Is it really true? Are you really THREE all ready? You're my baby and I just can't believe you're three, even though you've looked three for a long time now.

My baby who doesn't wear diapers any more. My baby who doesn't drink out of a sippy cup and hasn't for a long time now. My baby who still has a binky for nap time (although we said goodbye and threw them in the garbage today). My baby who wears the same helmet size as Abby. My baby who is wearing the clothes Zachary was last summer.

My baby who is not even a toddler any more. My baby who is a full fledged little boy.

Gavin I love you. Time is going by so fast and I know that in a blink of an eye you'll be off to kindergarten. All ready in a few short months you'll be going to preschool 6 hours a week.

There are a few things I want to capture about our lives together at this moment.

You love, love, love books. And I love reading to you because it is one of the few times when you sit still long enough to sit on my lap.

You are pure boy. You love guns, anything outside, cars, trucks and trains. Whenever we talk to family members you ask if they have lots of trains, cars, trucks and train tracks. If the answer is yes then your next question is if you can go to their house.

When someone asks you a question you always turn to me and ask me the same question, and then will turn and give the answer I give to you.

You are obsessed with being big. Anytime the subject comes up you stand up on your chair and raise your arms in the air for dramatic effect.

You love to be by my side all day long. Yes, there are moments and times when you will play by yourself, but the majority of the time is spent with me. This has made it for a difficult second year. You need to be constantly engaged and stimulated. Sometimes I feel like I'm in enrolled in parenting 505 with you as I'm sure learning a lot of patience.

You talk in a very deep voice when you are angry and say things like, "I will shoot you in the eye."

You've got McKenna's toughness and are tough as nails. Often never a cry when you fall and hurt yourself.

You are the craziest kid during prayers and we've had a difficult time teaching you proper prayer behavior.

You are a sweet child in nursery. Ready to share, the first to help clean up, and your teachers love you.

You have never liked watching any TV or movies until recently. Now you like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora, Diego, and Chugington.

You are a man of routines. Every nap and every night I sing you "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain," "I Am A Child of God," and "I Feel My Savior's Love." For the longest time only Daddy could sing you songs at night before bed, then it was me and now it is Zachary. Daddy is slowly making his way back in to your nighttime approval. You like to have an apple every day when you wake up from your nap.

You love to know the schedule of the day and what we have going on.

You are fiercely independent.

You love to empty the silverware from the dishwasher and always ask to clean too when the kids are doing their Saturday chores.

When you get in trouble you cry and call out for K K. You sure love her lots and lots. You are also always so quick to say sorry. I love this about you.

Your favorite color is pink. All your friends are girls. And you put headbands on and a

sk if you look pretty.

You love stories of Jesus whispered to you during the sacrament and ask for "Jesus secrets."

You love and have a special relationship with Sister Stephenson and Sister Zobrist. And I'm grateful that they both have a genuine love for you.

You love to jump on the trampoline with your siblings. I think it may very well may be your favorite thing to do.

You say "yeah" after just about everything. One of these days I'm going to count just how many times that word escapes those little lips of yours.

You have a sweet and tender relationship with Cole, the little boy I've been watching. You miss him on days he's not here.

You love to do yard work and mow the lawn with Daddy.

You have become quite the talker. A year ago we were all praying for you to find your words. Now you talk and talk and talk and talk. And I'm grateful.

Gavin you are so precious. You have a special place in our hearts and we love you. Our family wouldn't be complete without you. I've been reflecting these last couple of days on how hard it was getting you here safely. Those were difficult months of my life. But they were more then worth it! I would do it all over again in a heart beat to have you.

Happy Birthday buddy!

Love,

Mom

More Easter

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!

Easter was wonderful this year! It started early with the Easter baskets on Saturday morning. This year the Easter Bunny did something a little different....there were four colors of yarn strung through our whole house. The kids had to follow their own color upstairs, downstairs, over, under, in and out until it lead to their basket. It was very fun! I had seen done several years ago and I'm glad the Easter Bunny finally was finally able to pull it off at our house this year.

Fishy Fishy

Sunday afternoon we went to the Harris's house for dinner along with the Budge family and Ellsworth's. So great to spend the day with such great friends.

Gavin C. and Gavin H. kicking it in the hammock

They did the zip line through the woods

And McKenna helped Zachary when he was a little startled by the dismount.

Cute Gavin and Chloe Budge

Love these faces...McKenna and Jonah didn't even know they were doing the same thing with their tongues.

Liam, Zachary and Gavin

After dinner we turned on Johnie Lingo for the kids to watch while parents hid the Easter eggs.

Gavin waiting ever so patiently to be told he can go outside and get all the candy.

He wasn't the only one waiting...

And their off...kids under four that is

Still more waiting to be had by the big kids

Abby and Caleb

Then the stampede began...

It didn't take that long for the all the candy eggs to be gathered. Then the real hunt began as they looked for the Golden Egg. We had two Golden Eggs with $10 and $5 in them and a silver egg with $2.50, these were harder to find and ended up needing a few clues.

Caleb and Liam found the first two eggs and waited while the others searched high and low for $10 golden egg.

The clue Bret gave was "I think it's going to rain." The egg was stuffed up in a broken rain gutter. At one point Gavin Harris got really close to finding it but all the others were struggling. Then things clicked in cute little Nia Budge's head and she came away with the big prize. Way to go Nia!

The kids sat on the back deck and sorted/traded/ate their candy.

After dessert there was more fun play time while the parents were wishing it wasn't a school night.

We weren't even out of the drive way on our way home when Abby said, "Mom, I really the Harris's. You know why I like Caleb so much, because he doesn't treat me like a girl!" I laughed and she went on to say that he treats her normal, like she can do anything he can do.

We're grateful for good friends who make living here so wonderful!

And thanks Jared for sharing some of your great pictures!