Happy Chinese New Year!

What a celebration! We started off by celebrating at school. The kids made won-tons and chinese name banners. Then they got to dress up in the big green dragon. Gavin was so tired on the way home, he fell asleep after 1 minute in the car. This evening we had Ma and Papa over for our favorite Chinese dinner from Taiwan Restaurant. The boys used their chopsticks...pretty impressive, seeing that I cannot even use them! ;)

Soccer!

Soccer has started back up again! Gavin LOVES to play soccer, and the best part? He has Coach Scott AGAIN! We are so lucky!

While the big kids play soccer (Gavin is playing with 5 Mountain School buddies!) Austin gets to play with his buddy Jack at the playground. It works out perfect. 

PJ day at Clement

Weekend fun

These days are so busy....something always planned...and this weekend we had NOTHING planned! Since I usually work on weekends, this was a nice treat! We decided to head down to Montetery for the day, and we had a blast. The boys god friends Sean and James met up with us there, and we showed them how we do Moneterey. Aquarium, beach, and the sand hills. Such a fun day!

New bike

I am still so amazed at how quickly he picks things up. He rode his bike without training wheels a LONG time ago, and now with his new big bike, he is riding it like he has been doing it for years. He is SO fast, and now he is going all around the park by himself. Of course I watch him like a hawk, but he is so independent. Oh, and fast!! He speeds by now and its like you don't even see him. Oh boy! Thankfully he is a GREAT listener, and when we bike to the park, he stops at each corner and waits for us. If I say stop, he does a skid stop in seconds:)

{Gavin 53 Months}

Dear Gav,

Almost 4 and a half. You tell everyone you are almost to your birthday...we keep telling you its still a few months away...and you just say "Oh, OK, Ill plan my party tomorrow!" We have no idea what you will want this year, but I assume you are making some big plans:)

You continue to be Mr. social and love to be around everyone. You talk about any and everything, and its non stop. You are also pretty funny. We call you our jokester.

You are busy with school and you still nap on the days you go to Clement school since it is in the morning. You also nap on the way to Mountain School at noon 3 days a week. Still need those naps!

You have been going to bed at 8pm sharp and up at 530, although you are not allowed to come out of your room until 6am on the dot. You know how to move your clock forward, so sometimes you are our of your room at 6am GAVIN TIME. Oh boy. You open your door, and bolt to the couch to watch TV.

You continue to eat well, sleep well, and have not had any potty accidents in a while. Sometimes we see you doing the dance, and have to remind you to pee, but that's all!

You love riding bikes, playing in the mud, cooking in the kitchen, cooking in your outdoor kitchen, play-doh, Thomas the Tank Engine DVD's, Nick Jr computer games, iPad games, and any board games. You continue to love books, and want us to read to you any time in the day. We usually read 2 books before nap, and at least 2 before bed...and randomly throughout the day. Your library is huge, and you LOVE to pick new books you have never read. Thanks to my expert garage sale shopping, you could pick a new book every day for a year. We figure you can never have enough books.

You best friends are Ryleigh, Kaleb, Emma, Evy, Elise, and Ryan. You have been having Ry and Kaleb over for dinners lately, and you guys love to play together. Lots of play dates and you guys will disappear to your room to play "without the baby!"

You are in a 4T/5T and weigh around 50 pounds. You have generally been pretty healthy, maybe 2 colds the past 6 months. You eat a well balanced diet, and take your multivitamin, fish oil, and probiotics every day.

You new pet, Goldie the fish, has become a new love of yours. You feed her every morning, and we recently got Goldie a new big tank that you LOVE. It has a light and is "Super big house" for her.

Gavin, we enjoy each and every day with you. You are such a sweet boy, and always melting my heart. I went away for the weekend with my friends last weekend, and it was the first time I have ever done that. You called me to tell me you missed me, and then you would not stop hugging me when I got back. Telling me how much you missed me and love me. It was so sweet:)

Love you always-
Momma

January at school

I have about a million pictures of Gav at school this year, so I am saving them all for one post. I just had to put these up because I took them with my phone....we went to Vasona Lake YSI and then a hike afterwards. Gav was hot because it got up to 70 and he just took his shirt off:) Then they made kites to fly, and had a lot of fun.

{Austin 23 Months}

Dear Austie,

What a fun loving, wild, happy, energetic, spunky, and sweet guy you are. You are one smart little guy, and always making us smile and laugh. You are a ham and you know it!

These days you can be found doing whatever your brother is doing. You want to be a 4 year old too, and you try to do it all. Sometimes you need to be reminded that you are in fact one years old.

You run super fast, climb, jump, and dance all over the place. You hear music, and you start moving.

You do a lot of pointing and grunting these days. That's usually how you get what you want. For those of us who know you, we can understand what you want. Sometimes it is frustrating for you and us, not knowing what you want, but your words have started coming along. You LOVE to repeat words, and we now can get you to repeat at least one new word every day. Thanks to your brother, your vocabulary is exploding. Gavin will say, "Hey Austie! Can you say STINK???" and you smile and say "Stink!" and then laugh. Then we all applaud you and tell you how proud we are. We clap and praise you, and you just soak it all up. Then we tell Ma what you can say. Then we tell Daddy. You are all smiles. You will now say Mama, Dada, Gaga (Gavin), Ma, Papa, stink, poo-poo, pee-pee, seed, uh-oh, fire (firetruck), wow, nay (we think its what you say for I don't know), Hawaii, Oh-hi (Ohio), baa (ball), baap (bath) and a million other things that I can't think of. Each day its a new word, and we are so proud! You can also say most letters too. You love A, B, C, D, E I, M, O, P, S, T, V, and Z. You are tyring to learn colors, and you will say boo for blue and een for green. You are coming along, and starting to talk! Occasionally you will also say the word when you want something opposed to grunting. YAY AUSTIE!

You are in mostly 2T, but now all your footed jammies are 3T. (the 2T was WAY too small...you are so tall and your feet are so big!) You are still in 2T pants, and some 2T shirts, but some are 3T. Thankfully all I have to do is go up in the attic to get your next size...the beauty of two boys:)

You are around 29 pounds? You eat like no other kid I have ever met. You eat about 5 meals a day, and probably 5 snacks. I am not kidding when I say you are always eating. You are ALWAYS in the cabinet wanting snacks, and you will just help yourself. You love your green smoothies, eggs, bacon, PB&J, pirate booty, all fruits, apple chips, any dried fruits, cheese, yogurt, water, and cereal. You name it and you will eat it. You are not a big fan of meat, and usually you just spit it out. (unless its chicken in soup) You prefer to eat any sweets or dessert we have in the house, and so we have to limit what we keep in the pantry, because you will find it!!! (And complain for hours if you can't have it!)

You love to run and play, ride bikes, play in outdoor kitchen with Gavin, cook with us in the kitchen, play iPhone games, and read books. Any book with a truck, bulldozer, or firetruck and you will want to read it. You say "choo-choo" for train and "Weeeeeeee" for firetruck.

You can now successfully ride your balance bike all the way to Hacienda and the park. The whole way. I can now take you and Gavin without the stroller! You put on your helmet and are off!

Still wearing diapers when we are out of the house, but when we are home you prefer to pee-pee in the toilet. Such a big boy!

We love you so so much Austie!!!

Love-
Momma

"Best Playdate EVER"

Today Gavin and Austin had a play date over at Emma and Evy's house. Not only to they have "the best front yard ever" but they also got a new trampoline for Christmas. 

Gavin LOVES the twins, and always has such a good time with them. They are SO sweet, and treat Austin like a little king. Evy sits down with Austin and shares her snack with him all the time, its adorable. 

The biggest reason that this was "the best play date ever" was because they had MAC N CHEESE for a SNACK! Wanna know the way to Gavin's heart? Mac n cheese when it is NOT a meal. OR when it IS a meal. Loves it. 

We had a ton of fun playing outside and riding bikes with them. Gavin asks if we can go back every single day!

Sad to leave

We are sad to go. Sad to leave everyone. Sad that they are all so far. Sad that we have a big travel day and none of us are feeling 100% from the remains of the 2013 stomach flu. Blah.

THANKFUL that we made it home, no delays, and were not affected by the huge winter storm. Just a day later all the flights everywhere were delayed, and we JUST missed it. Phew!

Austie & Addie

These two were pretty cute together. Addie kept taking Austie's hand to lead him around the house. Austin's favorite new word (words) over the week was "Addie-Addie-Addie-Addie!"

Snow!

By the second of January, Gavin was feeling a little more like himself. Enough to go play in the snow. Our very last day it snowed! We were so thankful because that's ALL that Gavin talked about leading up to the trip....the snow. It was perfect to sled in, and perfect to make the worlds biggest snowman! Uncle Pat is a great snowman maker, so Gavin and Griffin helped right along. Gav and Griff also made snow angels for a while...they were pretty good!

Austin was not a fan, and spent the morning in Daddy's arms. He tasted the snow once, and that was about it. 

The rest of the kids (including Grandma) were having a blast going down the hill. Addie just sat in her sled the entire time eating snow, and Noah was a wild man. I am so glad we got to experience this with everyone. So fun. 

Best part? Frisch's for lunch!

New Year 2014

New Years Day was spent in PJ's and bed. Gavin was still not himself. Mom, Erica and I escaped for a pedicure at lunchtime, and came home to everyone sleeping. We did too.

We are hoping for a healthy new year!