Sea-doo ride

Gavin is officially old enough to go on his first sea-doo ride this year. I guess. Makes me a nervous wreck, but I survived it all of these years! He loves it and never wants to come in. Like he didn't ask enough before to go to grandma and grandpa's house. Now he has to feed the fish AND go on sea-doo rides....what a busy guy!

Farm Park.....again

We ended up getting a season pass for the farm park. We went Friday along with Gavin's two friends Peyton and JT and about 10 field trips...ugh. It was packed so the animals were not even hungry. This cow was the only animal actually eating, but I couldn't get a picture of the three of them feeding the cow without a million other kids in the picture. They still had a great time though!

Caterpillar

Gavin wanted to do an art project on Thursday morning so I had this one printed off and ready to go. He was all about painting. While he was painting he said, "I paint caterpillar just like dad's work".....um....not exactly, but I guess the english language is just really confusing like that!

The Rock

Gavin loves sitting on this rock at g-ma and g-pa's house. I have no idea what his infatuation is with this rock, but as soon as we get there he jumps out of the car and runs to sit on the rock.

Lawnmower

Big shocker....Gavin loves to ride on Dad's mower

I am potty trained!

After Gavin started telling me he needed his diaper changed I decided it was definitely time for potty training. We have been actually working on this for quite some time, but finally I decided the only way he was going to do it 100% was if the diapers went away.....so.....one Sunday night we gathered up all of the diapers with his help and put them outside the door. The next morning we took him out and the diapers had been picked up and 'taken to the babies'....low and behold....the diaper fairy left him a little gift for being so kind. : ) He was pretty excited about that part of it! I let him go nakie and it only took one accident for him to realize he couldn't just go wherever and whenever. I gave him lots of rewards including his potty chart where he got to put a magnet everytime he went. After he filled up 3 days I took him to buy some new big boy undies. He picked out these Batman boxers (which also came with a t-shirt....bonus!). We also got him a few others (just so you don't think we only have one pair of undies for him). I tried to get a picture of him with his new undies and his completed potty chart for the whole week, but he took the magnets off before I could. He hasn't had any accidents since I think the first week (I can't even remember when). I was really nervous about taking him anywhere for awhile, but now I hardly think about it. He tells me when he has to go.

Touch a Truck

Jason took Friday off and we took Gavin to this event at Peoria Stadium. They had several tractors, a Bookmobile, ambulance, police motorcycle, police car, fire truck, garbage truck, dump truck, CityLink bus, big school bus and small school bus. This was Gavin's dream! He had a blast and "drove" every single piece of equipment they had there. He did NOT want to leave. We will be looking forward to this event again next year. Hopefully Ali will get to enjoy it a little more next year. She cried her little eyes out because of all of the honking. I had to cover her ears the whole time. It was no place for a little baby girl to be....that's for sure!

Farm Park

We took our first trip to the Farm Park this year. Since Gavin is a big farmer boy now he loved it! He went up to this door and tried to open it and couldn't, so he is walking away saying, "that doggie not home".....he makes me laugh. His cousin Caleb met us there too so they were feeding this rooster together. I have a feeling we will be back here many more times this summer. Gavin hasn't stopped talking about it yet. Not sure where he got to be such a farmer, seriously, I hate stinky animals.

Gator!

G-ma & G-pa thought Gavin needed a Gator for this summer. We gave it to him today and he loved it! He is obsessed with tractors and driving so this was a perfect match for him. He had a blast playing with it and talked about it until he fell asleep. He even asked if he could sleep on it! Hey, maybe we could get him out of the crib if we get him a tractor bed. : )

CDM!

Gavin was taking care of the cows. That is until he got trampled by the older kids that were on a field trip at the museum. Too many kids and not enough leaders. I was playing defense the entire time between Gavin trying to play and making sure noone knocked Ali out of the stroller. It was crazy! Next time I will call ahead and make sure there aren't any field trips scheduled.

Here he is driving the combine! He has been asking to go back to drive the tractor and the combine again. He will probably get to drive a real combine this summer (if the weather ever cooperates and the farmers can get out in the field). My favorite part of the museum was Gavin using the public potty....yeah! He went the entire time without having an accident and actually told me when he had to go! I think we are officially potty trained, yippee!

Bike Safety Park

We met Gavin's friend Peyton at the bike safety park in Peoria. He had a lot of fun and asks to go ride bikes with Peyton everyday now! They also got to go to Rainbow to play and then out to lunch together at TGIF's. What a busy day for them! After Gavin's nap that day he also got to go meet Caleb and Brady for ice cream and playtime at the park. He was exhausted that night!

Cuddles

Ali was really happy to get some cuddles from her big brother!

So relaxed......

The Fam

We really struggle getting a good picture with a family of four. We waited until it was Gavin's nap time to take the picture so he was acting goofy and Ali was ready for a nap and decided to yawn. Lovely.

More Easter Fun

The easter bunny came to G-ma and G-pa Bratcher's house too. This time he brought chocolate! Gavin thought that was pretty awesome since he doesn't get chocolate at home. You can see he is thoroughly enjoying every bite. : )

Church

We had an easter egg hunt during church. Gavin had to find 12 eggs in chronological order and then they told the story of easter using what was inside each egg. It was a little over his head (I guess a lot over his head!), but he still had fun.

Easter Basket

This is what the easter bunny left for Gavin. Apparently with all of the chaos this morning I didn't actually get a picture of Gavin with his easter basket.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Gavin got to color easter eggs with Caleb and Brady. I asked him to hold up his eggs so I could take his picture with them and he took that literally!

Bumbo

I got the bumbo out for Ali and Gavin was not at all happy about sharing it with her. He remembered that it was his and he seriously sat and watched his tractor movie in it.

Early Easter

Gavin was excited to get an early easter gift in the mail from G-ma and G-pa Deverman. (An extra thanks for the easter grass!) He got some tractors and a tractor movie. For the boy who doesn't love TV he absolutely loves this movie. The whole time he points and asks what the tractor is doing and where the tractor is going. His two favorite questions right now!

One last day at the beach....

Gavin loved the beach so much that we went one last time the day before we left. Notice he has the rake in his hand ready to destroy the sand castle the second he gets the go ahead. He is not so much into building yet....he just likes to destroy. It was pretty windy that day so the waves were huge.

Imaginarium

We took Gavin to a museum called Imaginarium. He learned about Newton's Law of Motion and got to pet a sting ray. We took him to an animal show and he could have also petted a baby alligator, but he didn't want to. I don't blame him.....I didn't want to either. : )

Lakes Park

He was stepping on one of the sprinklers and then he would say, "where did the water go?". He loves to hide anything and ask you where it went.
I am not sure what Jason has been teaching him, but he quickly made friends with this topless little girl!

A day at the beach...

Gavin loved the beach! He told me today that he wanted to get back on the airplane and go to the beach. Lucky for him both sets of grandparents live on lakes with a beach right here in Illinois. Now if it would just stop snowing so we could go to the beach.

Tool Time Tim

When we had down time at the condo Gavin had fun playing with the toys g-ma & g-pa got for him. Between all of our outings, going to the pool and going for walks he didn't have much down time.

If you're good.....

Gavin has discovered the ride on toys that you put a quarter in when you are good at the store. The only problem is that now they take at least 3 quarters.

The Shell Factory

This was Gavin's first trip to the shell factory. He loved it! He got to 'drive' a race car, sit on a fire truck, see some dinosaurs and lots of other animals. And of course he got to pick out a shell. I am not sure what Gavin and Pa-Pa are looking at, but I thought this picture was pretty funny. It looks like a Forest Gump moment. : )

Vacation 2009 - Pool Time!

Going to the pool on our first full day in FL.... Gavin loved the pool, but I didn't take very many pictures. I took mostly video. He really got into jumping and kicking around. I think we might have a little fish on our hands this summer. : )

Helping Dad

Gavin was helping Dad get caught up on some work. He is just very helpful these days!

Tent Bed

Gavin wanted Ali to lay in his new tent bed for a picture, but she apparently didn't think that was a good idea. : )

Tractors and Trucks

Gavin had his class at the museum this morning. The theme was tractors and trucks, so he loved it. He made a tractor and painted some tractors. Of course, the highlight was playing in a bucket of dirt. After his class his cousin Caleb and their other buddy Brady met us at the museum. It was a little crazy because all 3 seemed to want to go different directions, but I was able to snap a picture of Gavin and Brady at the paint wall.

Close enough?

Gavin just became interested in small doses of TV. He wanted to get his chair as close to the TV as he could. Sometimes it is hard to see Clifford. : ) No worries....he doesn't watch nearly enough TV to hurt his eyes by being this close. ; )

Big Helper!

Gavin loves to 'help' me cook, so we made rice krispie treats and he got to measure the marshmallows and the rice krispies. I turned my head for half a second and he had dumped the remainder of the bag in the measuring cup which wasn't quite big enough to accommodate all that was left. He also learned that he loves marshmallows, but doesn't like rice krispie treats at all. I guess we will save ourselves the time next time and just eat the marshmallows. : )