Quack-Quack! Ribbit-Ribbit!

We had Gavin's monthly class at the discovery museum in Normal. This was the first time I had to take both of the kids and thankfully Ali was good the entire time and slept through his class. Gavin was tall enough to climb up in the combine this time. Not quite tall enough to drive, but he was happy just to get up there!

Gavin weighs 4 gallons now! He also milked cows this time, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Loves water play!

He had a great time in the new pizza parlor. He made a pizza with lots of seasoning and worked the cash register. He even drove the delivery truck (which I failed to get a picture of).

It isn't a trip to the museum without driving the tractor. However it wasn't quite as exciting this time since he also drove the combine.
His teacher had a variety of activities this month and his favorite was scooping bird seed around. Go figure! He did do some of the art projects too, but this was the highlight. He painted a frog and made a duck with LOTS of feathers. : )

Helping Ali go to sleep

Gavin was trying to help Ali go to sleep this morning while I was getting ready. He kept putting her paci back in her mouth when she spit it out and bounced her chair. She actually went to sleep eventually and I was able to get ready without wearing her in the sling! I had to watch him very closely because his bouncing would get a little rough sometimes. : ) You can see in the picture he is demonstrating to Ali how to open her mouth. He would say, "open mouth ali, like dis"......he is too funny.

Happy Valentine's Day

It took us awhile to get here, but we finally got a good picture of the 2 of them. : )

Here are a couple of the other attempts!

His shirt says, 'Single and Loving It'! He looks like a typical man here lounging back in his chair. Now all he needs is a remote. : )

"My hold Ali"

Gavin wants to hold Ali all the time now. She tolerates it, but usually not for very long and when he decides he is done he just pushes her off. For those of you who don't know...Gavin refers to himself as "my" or "mine", which explains the title.

Checking on Ali

Gavin is doing a fabulous job of being a big brother! Anytime Ali cries he runs over and tells her, "it's ok Ali". When I put her in the crib he pushes the stool over to keep an eye on her.

Let it snow!

Gavin gets bored inside so when it is too cold to go outside I have to get really creative (which isn't always easy for me). He wanted to play out in the snow so we ended up making "snow" inside and this kept him busy for over an hour!

Holding baby sister

Gavin wasn't too sure about holding Ali at first, but now he asks to hold her. And volunteers to pick her up if we aren't careful. : )

The Water Jug

Gavin is learning to be self-sufficient now that he isn't an only child anymore! He got in the pantry and got his nursery water out, took the lid off and started drinking out of the jug.

"Ali in carseat"

Gavin has been looking forward to Ali sitting next to him in the car, so he was very excited the first time they got to ride in the car together.

I'm a Big Brother!

Gavin is very excited about his baby sister. He has been a great big brother so far. He keeps pointing to my stomach and saying "Ali isn't there anymore, Ali over there"! As soon as he wakes up he wants to know where she is and what she is doing and he keeps tabs on her all day to make sure she is doing ok. He loves helping with diaper changes and putting lotion on her. This picture was taken the day she was born. He got to come and meet her as soon as he woke up from his nap.

Pictures with Ali

We figured since our days before Alayna comes are numbered now we should probably take a few pictures. Gavin loves to talk about her and hang out in her room. We just hope he is this excited when she actually gets here! He tells me that she is going to jump out of my tummy. If only it were that easy. : )

"Hi Ali"

Hugs for Ali. : ) He gives kisses too, but we weren't able to get a picture of that. He was too quick!

New Year's Eve

Gavin's shirt says, "Daddy's Helper", but he was actually mommy's helper. He loves to help me cook, so I let him assist with some of the food for New Year's Eve.

We had friends come over and spend New Year's Eve with us. Gavin had fun playing with Alessia and we had a great time after we got the kids to bed. : )

Christmas with the Deverman's

We went to Jason's brother's house for christmas with the Deverman's. Gavin and Caleb had a lot of fun playing together, which was the first time Caleb actually wanted to play with Gavin. Unfortunately, since it had been such a long day the evening was cut short so we could get everyone to bed. Gavin got a soccer ball and clearly thought it was a basketball! We will have to work on soccer after it warms up outside.

Ear Checks

It is possible that Gavin has had way too many ear infections. He got a flashlight for christmas and wanted to check everyone's ears with it!

Christmas Morning

Santa came!

Gavin loved his new bike, but had zero interest in trying to pedal it. He thought it was much more fun for someone to push him around. Everyone got a turn pushing him around the house! After a few days we finally made the bike disappear until summer. He asked where it went, but then soon forgot about it. : )

He loves his new tent, but always wants mom or dad to go in the tent with him. It just isn't quite big enough for that!

Christmas Eve

We hosted the Christmas Eve celebration. Gavin was able to have a gift exchange with 9 of his second cousins. They all had a lot of fun playing together and getting geared up for Santa to come. In all of the chaos we didn't get very many pictures, so unfortunately this was the best one. It isn't easy to get 9 small children together for a picture! The look on Gavin's face really says it all......way over stimulated! He couldn't even focus on opening the gift by himself. : )

Christmas #1

We celebrated christmas with the Bratcher's a few days early so we didn't all have to run all over on christmas day. The kids thought it was awesome to celebrate early! Gavin and Libby are just having a good time watching Mia open her presents.

Big Boy

Gavin looked like such a big boy sitting at his table like this drawing. This was after he had spent his last day at daycare with the older kids (with the bad weather they only had a few kids and had them all together). I have a feeling he saw one of the other kids sitting like this. : )

Christmas Tree Pictures

We decided to test out our new camera and take a few pictures in front of the christmas tree. Gavin did great, but Abbey failed to cooperate.

Mia's Birthday Party

We helped Gavin's cousin, Mia, celebrate her birthday at an indoor pool party. Gavin had a blast and got to stay up way past his bedtime!