OUR LITTLE FAMILY

Sunday, November 18, 2012

SuMmEr FuN!!

Monster hunting

Ellie's hair is finally long enough for pig tails!!

Painting with chocolate pudding, fun AND yummy!

Fun at the park

Gavin and Ellie LOVE playing in the sand, Mommy cringes...messy to clean up

Gavin felt sick one day and fell asleep on the floor, poor kid. He felt tons better the next day but I had to document the one time he wasn't bouncing off the walls! Too bad it means he feels sick!

Mommy and her cute little Ellie with CUTE PIG TAILS!!

Summer isn't complete without LOTS....

AND LOTS.....


of POPSICLE S

Gavin started preschool August 13th and loves it for the most part (except the times he goes to time-out for misbehaving). He still has problems hitting and sharing but is doing much better than last year. We are working with a child psychologist to help with his behavior and have noticed improvement. We are improving our bond with him and Gavin is learning to be a good first time listener. We have also started working on accepting "no" well, instead of throwing GIGANTIC fits. It's going pretty good.

Ellie is getting so big. It seems like the moment she turned 18 months her personality really started to shine through. She is still super happy and loves to smile and laugh. She is also a little dramatic though, which we expected with her being a girl. I love her facial expressions which are always big and super cute! She is really persistent, the girl knows what she wants! She is a lot more cautious than Gavin and doesn't wander off too far outside the house and usually wants to hold on to Mommy's finger to try anything new. She isn't a mellow kid per say, but compared to Gavin when he was 18 months she is pretty tame and manageable. She is DEFINITELY a momma's girl and loves for Mommy to hold her and just be with her. She loves to sit on my lap and look at books, especially Mickey Mouse books. In August, she fell in love with Mickey and Minnie and is OBSESSED!!! For two solid weeks ALL she wanted to do was look at the Mickey books and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, no joke!!! She is a fast learner and picks up on things Gavin does more quickly than I would like, since it seems she imitates all the bad behavior.

Mommy had a rough time in August and September with the heat. We couldn't go outside and play so the kids (and subsequently Mommy) went a little stir crazy!!! I was sick of swimming and kind of fell into a rut of activities to do with the kids. I'll have to plan a little better for next year! Thank goodness it started cooling off in October!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Gavin's 4th Birthday

For Gavin's 4th birthday we decided to give up on outdoor activities...it's just TOO HOT!!! So we took Gavin and his friends to Makutu's Island, a fun indoor tree house with tons of slides, climbing and even a zip line! It also had an arcade which as a big hit as well. Some of the kids were a little apprehensive to jump into the craziness but soon were running around having a blast! We had a great time and all we had to do was show up... that's my kind of party!! :)

(so right after we got there Jason and I realized we forgot to charge the camera and it promptly died. So all the pics are from my iphone which does have a good camera except I'd never used it before, so the pictures are kind of sad)

Gavin, the birthday boy

Gavin and his friends at Makutu's Island, getting ready to eat some pizza

Ellie, trying to be a big girl

Gavin's b-day party, eating pizza and cake

Gavin's big present: a 4 WHEELER!! HE LOVES IT!!!

Makutu himself made an appearance but all the pics were blurry. I can't believe my little boy is already 4 years old!! Gavin, Mommy and Daddy love you so much and feel so blessed that you came to our family. You bring such joy, energy, excitement and fun to our lives. You definitely keep us on our toes! You are growing up so fast. You have such a tender heart and try to choose the right. You are so curious and are always exploring things. You are a bundle of energy and are often found bouncing around the house and furniture! You are so smart and love to learn and practice your writing. I love you, my sweet boy! Happy birthday!

July in Utah

In July we spent a couple weeks in Utah visiting family. We arrived early in the morning July 4th and spent a few days at Potter and Nana's. Nana held her annual cousin's birthday party with a bounce house and snow cone machine. The kids had a BLAST!! Nana and Potter took us to Hogle Zoo and the Ogden Dinosaur Park which the kids loved.

Then Jason went home and the kids and I went to spend a week with Brian and Ann and their family in Eagle Mountain. Gavin was in heaven!! He loves playing with his cousins so much! We had such a fun week playing, going to the park, Trafalga and Seven Peaks (a water park)!! Thanks Brian, Ann, Elise, Melody and Ray! What a fun and relaxing vacation!

We drove down to Vegas with Nana and Potter where we met Jason for a great night at Tuacahn to see the Disney production of Aladdin. It was awesome and Gavin was mesmerized. He stayed awake for the whole thing!

The kids dressed up for a neighborhood parade

Ellie loving hanging her head out the window on the way to July 4th breakfast (just around the corner)

Watching the parade in style

4th of July outfits, yay we're at Nana and Potter's house!

Helmet head

Taking a ride on the motorcycle with Potter

Happy Birthday!! Nana's cousin's birthday party July 5, 2012

Silly faces

Ellie and Mommy at Nana's cousin's b-day party

Ellie got a stuffed Tigger for her birthday and immediately LOVED it, as you can see. She still sleeps with it each night.

The kids made out pretty good at their cousin's b-day party

Ogden Dinosaur park

Daddy and the kiddos at Ogden Dinosaur Park

Hogle Zoo, the new polar bear exhibit (polar bears not pictured)

Potter and Ellie have such a special bond


Nana and Potter and us at Hogle Zoo, (Jason not pictured, but taking the picture)

So the rest of the time on our vacation I was on my own with the kids, ergo I didn't have enough hands to take many pictures but we had a GREAT time!

Ellie fell in love with this little wagon and Ann's house, she constantly wanted to go for rides around the house

while playing at the park Gavin was stung by a bee on his lip and arm. Poor little guy!

Disneyland May 2012

In May we joined the Wells family at Disneyland. They try to go every other year as a whole family and we've had a blast both times.Gavin and Ellie loved being with cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. Ellie really enjoyed the rides and would get super excited and impatient waiting in line to get on. She was a little unsure about the characters but wouldn't cry as long as there was a buffer (Jason or me) between her and the character. Gavin was 40in tall which meant he could ride some of the bigger rides like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. He REALLY REALLY didn't like the big rides and refused to try any others after Splash Mtn even when his cousins were brave enough to go! Favorite ride for the kids continues to be Winnie the Pooh which we rode several times, I actually lost count. Here are some pictures from our trip. WE LOVE DISNEYLAND!!!