Blessed by Family

Boys Easter Outfits

Easter
This Easter we hosted Jason's family at our house. We felt so blessed to be surrounded by our church family that morning and Jason's side of the family at home in the afternoon. Both of these families have been critical to enjoying our time in Florida and being a part of our kids lives.

**More pictures to come - our laptop where we've been downloading photos crashed! Of course we've been talking about a backup system for awhile and never got around to it....

Trip to Disney/Englewood
We decided it was time to take Dylan to "Mickey's house" (AKA Magic Kingdom). We didn't tell him before the trip, only that we would be going on vacation since he is still working on patience, so the morning we work up at our hotel to go to Disney, he was so excited.The boys had a great time but Dylan still asked us "When are we going on vacation?" - as if Disney didn't count as vacation?! Well, I couldn't agree more, since much of the time it feels like work (fun, but still work). Two best tips of our trip:1) I downloaded the Lines App on my iPhone so we coordinated rides by wait time - never waited more than 15 minutes 2)We scheduled a late lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends. This was the highlight for Dylan since he had a long while to meet and greet the characters, and take part in a restaurant parade. Also, since kids under 2 eat free at this buffet, I think we actually saved money (if you know how much Gavin eats, you'll agree :)
The kids were both ready to go around dinnertime so we piled in the car and drove to the West Coast of Florida, our second half of the trip. We had a great time reuniting with some of Jason's immediate and extended family members at their favorite vacation spot, The Castaways resort. It's the perfect place for families with its heated pool and beachfront location. We love looking for shells and sharks teeth, and spotting dolphin frolicking in the surf.

Growing Up {Kids say the Darndest Things}

Today Dylan comes out of his room at naptime, blankie in tow.
Dylan: Mom, I don't need this (blankie)
Me: Okay, just put it in your room
Dylan: No, I don't need it anymore. I'm a big boy now. You can give it to a baby. I'm sharing.
Me: (Hugs Dylan) Wow, you really are a big boy! (Silently crying, my baby is a big boy!)

I guess I should have seen this coming. He IS 3 1/2 after all! For the last few months, he has not snuggled his blankie. He liked it close by, but not close enough to touch. Every now and then he would stretch his arm out to feel the satin edge while settling down to sleep, but nobody (including him) was allowed to hold said blankie. I attributed it to me washing the blankie every so often, which he never liked, and figured he was trying to keep the blankie clean so it never ended up in the washer. Maybe. Or maybe he was slowly weaning himself {sniff}.

Last week I was tucking Dylan into bed and praying with him. I mentioned something about heaven (Easter themed prayer :) and Dylan asks where heaven is. I fumble around something about the sky and clouds and that it's where God and Jesus live. He points to his chest and says "Jesus lives in here" - and as I melt I tell him that yes, Jesus lives in our hearts. He tells me "Yeah, Jesus lives in my stomach and goes ALL the way up to my neck!"

Now onto our littlest monster...GaViN.
Gavin, typically likes to hurl his blankies and pacifier out of the crib in protest of sleep. This has often left us fumbling around for said pacifier, trying to find where it has landed after the launch. We often ask aloud "Where's your paci?" When Gavin was about 16 months old, he answered with the cutest little sing-song voice "I no-no" and an innocent shrug of the shoulders. And so began the constant chatter.

Sibling Rivalry is alive and well in our house. The other day I watched as Gavin walked up to Dylan and gave him a twisting pinch (one of his favorite moves). Dylan made an "ouch" sound and says "Mom, Gavin just hurt me." So I walk over and ask them what happened. Gavin points into Dylan's chest and says "He di it!" Goodness, he's already lying! He is definitely my "strong-willed" child, as evidenced by this other encounter: I told him to say sorry to his friend after he pushed her. He proceeds to say "Sit daw" (sit down) instead and walked himself to time out, then stuck his tongue out at me.

So now you can see why one of my favorite Gavin sentences is "I want nigh-nigh." {grin} He does have a bedtime trick up his sleeve, though. He has an annoying habit of going #2 right after we put him down, which means when he cries we are left wondering if he needs a clean diaper or just putting up the usual fight. We did have a breakthough the other day though when he shouted "Mama! Momma! I stinky!"

Okay so there is a lot of sugar mixed in with that spice. He is a professional cuddler and loves to ask for hugs, high fives, and "muah" (kisses). He loves any outing and if he hears us talking about going somewhere he will say "GO!" and run around the house like a madman saying "Shoe, Sock, Hat" and looking for those items, as if they are the only necessities for him to be included.

All in all, we are having a blast with the fun, conversational ages of our boys!

January/February update

As those of you with small children can understand, life has been fairly busy and exhausting, which is why no posts have been made recently. Actually I can also partially blame the best Christmas present ever, my iPhone, since I never need to get on the computer anymore! It is my belief that phone was invented specifically for multi-tasking stay-at-home moms.

We had a wonderful visit with my parents; they visited us Christmas day and stayed through New Years Day. The highlight was our trip to the Bahamas and although it was on the chilly side, we still enjoyed the beauty of the island and time with one another. I was nursing a minor foot surgery so that was a bummer but I was grateful to have my parents with me since I wasn't operating at 100%.

A day on the boat in Florida

This is why we love South Florida! (Talk to me again in the summer for a different perspective)

Bahamian Sunset


Boys and Sand

Family Photo

Grandpa and the boys enjoying the sunrise (while Mom & Dad enjoyed SLEEP!)

Although my parents live on the other side of the country, we have been blessed to have them be a part of so many major milestones. For example, when I was pregnant with Dylan they decided to fly out two weeks before his due date so they could be with us to welcome him into the world. I was a little apprehensive about their flying out so early as they say most first time moms deliver late and I felt like having them here would put pressure on me, and only put the birth off longer (the whole "a watched pot never boils" theory). However, I ended up going into labor the day they took off from San Diego (they took a red eye) and we were able to call them from the hospital during their layover. They arrived at the hospital only a few short hours after his birth. Similarly, with Gavin's pregnancy I had chosen a home birth and really wanted my mom to be with us for delivery to help with Dylan and me. She flew out three weeks early and arrived only one day before I went into labor! These things remind me of how God cares about the details of our lives. Well true to this pattern, they witnessed another milestone on their last visit. Gavin had taken a few steps here and there but was definitely not a "walker" yet. He chose to go for it on our way back from the Bahamas, in the Fort Lauderdale airport. We were so excited to be done with the crawling phase, and even more excited that Grandma and Grandpa were a part of it! Ignore the annoying, high pitched voice...

And Introducing...the new BUZZ cut!

Daddy has always loved Dylan's "surfer hair" but it was time for a trim and he thought it would be an easy job. He didn't factor in the wiggly nature of our 3 year old, or the lack of patience young children have with such tasks. So here is the "before" picture of our poor little guy. By the way, is there ALWAYS a laundry basket on this couch? Yes, since I do laundry all.day.long.
Anyway, I have noticed Gavin's hair has started to resemble a mullet, so I think I'll have that taken care of while daddy is at work {grin}.

We Believe!

Dylan did a great job singing at the Christmas program at school. I thought the better show might have been a video taken from the stage out towards the crazy parents trying to wave at their kids and get a photo and video simultaneously.

This Saturday we took Dylan to meet Santa - he could hardly wait! He did ask where Santa's sleigh was (on the roof of the mall of course) and where the elves were (still busy in the North Pole making presents!). As soon as he saw Santa from the line, he yelled "Santa! I want lots of presents!" But once on his lap, he had a "Christmas Story" moment and pretty much froze, just smiling sweetly and nodding to the gift ideas Santa had. Given Gavin's momma's boy personality, I was surprised that he didn't scream his head off! He was very interested in this Santa guy and I think it helped that our Santa looked like the real deal, no fake beard! Of course I've been getting the most mileage out of this season as possible, threatening to call Santa on my cell when Dylan is misbehaving. This usually works like a charm, so I'll be sad when Christmas is over this year! When Gavin misbehaves, Dylan loves to remind me "Mom, you need to call Santa and tell him Gavin's not being a good boy."

Dear Santa

Dylan has what seems like quite an extensive (expensive) Christmas list for a 3 year old:

* Motorcycle

* Tree house with pulley system for his toys

* Bike

* Bunk bed

Hopefully he won't be let down this year since he is only getting one of those items. The good news is that when he was asking me for "lots and lots of presents" the other day, I said "Dylan, do you know what Christmas is really about?" and he responded with "Baby Jesus!"

Dylan is also a great problem solver. He loves to come up with creative solutions. For example, at Halloween he couldn't wait to go Trick-or-Treating but we told him that he had to wait until after dinner. It was only late afternoon so he suggested "Then let's eat dinner now!" So we explained that you have to wait until it gets dark outside, to which he responded "Aha! I have a great idea! We could get a really, really big umbrella to block out the sun and make it dark!"

He is of course even more excited for Christmas. I recently saw him messing around with my alarm clock and asked him what he was doing. He says "I'm changing it to Christmas-Time!"

Gavin thankfully can't communicate a list yet but he has started talking more which is fun. A few new things, many of which are combined with sign language which helps us distinguish his words while he works on enunciation:

* Please

* Thank you

* More

* Uh-oh (often said BEFORE he purposefully drops something)

*Peek-a-boo (sounds more like dee-da-doo) where he covers his ears instead of eyes

His favorite word is still "Hi" as he meets and greets anyone and everyone throughout our day, including people on the TV.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving program at Dylan school. He was one of the Native Americans.
Grandma Solomon, Mom, Gavin, and Dad all enjoyed the show :)

Last minute, we decided to head to the Northwest for Thanksgiving at my brother's house. We looked forward to spending time with his family, staying at his new house, and catching up with my parents who flew up from San Diego. I loved the chilly weather that really helped me get into the holiday spirit.

Kudos to Dylan, the best little traveler we could ask for!


What do you need when traveling with a one year old? Daddy has the answer!

After hopping off the cross-country flight, we dove right into thanksgiving dinner, with Ryan and Michelle hosting over 40 people!

Catching up with old friends

Fun at the kids table

I am thankful for the men in my life Fun at Uncle Ryan's house

It's beginning to look a lot like Christsmas

A trip to Seattle is never complete without a visit to the Museum of Flight.

The ladies in my life...xoxo

Mom Talk

I'll admit I've been a little run down this week with my high-maintenance one-year-old. So I thought the antedote for that would be writing down a list of what I love about this stage, specifically him at this stage:

~How he says a refreshing "Ahhhh" after taking a sip
~How he says "Mmmmmm" as he goes in for a kiss
~The fact that he LOVES dogs and loves to imitate them too (barking and panting - so cute, but the dog-food eating part not so cute)
~Sleep! He goes to bed just after 7 and wakes up just before 7 (and my wonderful hubby is the one who gets up with him xoxo)

It is entirely possible to:


~ be grateful for your husband's job but a little grumpy that he had to work late the whole week
~be totally in love with your kids and at the same time overwhelmed with the responsibility of it all
~be doing the most important job of the day (taking care of your kids) and thinking you weren't "productive" enough that day
~look forward to a "girls weekend" now that I'm not nursing, but be wondering if I'll miss the kids (and husband) too much to truly enjoy it (or is it the worry about what the house will look like upon my return that makes me wonder if it's worth the trip?)
~be totally and comletely grateful that these little ones are in God's hands!!!

I meant to do this for Gavin's 1 year post, but here it is...Daddy at an age we're unsure of (looks younger than 1 by the position), Dylan at 1 year, Gavin at 1 year, and me as a baby - need to find a one year photo. Similarities?