gavin {9 months}

Oh goodness I think we need a new plan for Gavin's monthly pictures.  I think last month didn't go so well either and I had hoped this month would be better.

It wasn't though. In fact it was the worst ever.  A complete stressful family event, if I was being real with you.

I thought it was the perfect morning, Dave was home and he could help me in hopes to have it go better than last month.  Surely he'd be able to get Gavin's attention so he'd look up at the camera and re-position him so I didn't have to get up and down off the ladder.  In the end Dave said I needed to find another photography assistant.

 

I kept asking him to move Gavin's arm closer to him because it was being cropped out of the frame. 

I was as high on the ladder as I could get and had my fixed lens on so I couldn't zoom out to fix the problem.  You wouldn't think that moving a baby's arm a few inches would be so hard, but it was.  And in the end I couldn't get a single shot without it being cropped out.

 

 Nor a single shot without tears or pouty faces, and now I'm noticing his yucky eczema too.

 

 

 We had 2 other kids running around being distracting, a dog in the way, a cow bell that wasn't doing the magic, a stressed out daddy being asked to move the blanket, move the sign, move the baby, ring the bell, dig leaves out of his mouth, and stop him from crawling off the blanket....all while I was trying to snap away hoping for just ONE good shot.

 

We didn't get a good one until he got to sit up.  Of course.

But doesn't he know that his mama wants all of his month shots to have identical poses to it's easier to see his changes?

 

I wanted so badly to find a time for a re-do. But our last month has been a little bit insane, and finding time to lug out the quilt, print a new sign, set up the ladder, and have some extra hands to help me is quite the challenge. I'm lucky to even get the pictures taken at all. And I'm sad that he's now just a week and a half away from being 10 months. A little too late to get realistic 9 month pictures.

So these will have to do.
 

 

Gavin, here are a few things I want to remember about your 9th month:

*you still scream at the top of your lungs to let us know you're here. It's not that you're mad, you're usually quite happy while you're screaming. You do it in the store up and down the isle. It really is painful to the ears. People stop and look at you all the time. We are trying so hard to teach you not to do it. It hurts Daddy's ears A LOT.

*we finally stopped swaddling you, and you still sleep like a champ.

*you are walking along the furniture and beginning to reach out and try to get from one thing to another.
 

*you started waving

*you finally started talking to us more than just your squeals. You have jabbered away this month more than ever.

*you are eating so much more table food than your brother and sister ever did at this age

*you love to play with balls
 

*we dig things out of your mouth constantly, and your brother and sister have gotten really good at it too. Even when we think the floor is all clear, you find SOMETHING.

*you finally let your brother and sister help feed you

*you are so content most of the time to just roam the house and find things to explore on your own.

*and you are pretty much into everything!

 

We are getting more and more of a glimpse of your personality and it's so fun.  You are one content baby, but when you get mad, you definitely have a temper.  Thank goodness you don't show that to us very often.  You already are learning how to be silly and make us laugh.  You aren't much of a cuddler and you are so independent when it comes to getting yourself to sleep.  If I even try to cuddle you before I put you down, you rarely go for it.  Last year at this time all your little friends were beginning to be born and we were getting so anxious to meet you too.  What joy you have brought our family these last 9 months, we love you so much sweet baby!



Mason's first day of Pre-K

 He's been waiting for 20 days for his turn.

And this morning it was finally time.

 

He was so excited last night that he laid in bed for an hour and a half talking and singing while his sister was out cold.

 

We took a few pictures with big Sis before she left for the bus.

 

After we dropped Taylor off, we came home and watched the clock until it was his time to go.

Of course we filled the time with a photo shoot that I began warning him yesterday about.

He's not usually too keen on photo shoots, so I tried to prep him.

He did pretty good!

This one is quite possibly my new favorite shot of him.

 

ahhhhh, another eyelash shot! 

Daddy met us at the church where the Pre-K is (same place Taylor went, but with a different teacher).

 

 There was no hesitation at all.  He remembered where his cubby was from when we enrolled.

I can still tell he was a bit nervous because that tongue kept coming out.

 

 

 He was so ready to be there.  He found his name and sat down right away.  He didn't need the last minute hugs like his sister always does.  But we got some from him anyway.  I think Mommy and Daddy needed them more.

 

 

Even though we didn't do a special back-to-school dinner when Taylor went to Pre-K, Mason asked if he got to have a special dinner like Taylor did, and of course I said YES!  So tonight we'll have our special dinner just for Mason.  He requested cherry pie for dessert.  And since I don't make pies,  AT ALL, Dillons will be making my night super easy.

 

This morning was my first morning at home with just one kiddo.  As much as I get sad about my kids growing up and going off to school, and my house being more empty, don't get me wrong...there's the up side also!  2.5 hours (2 of which Gavin sleeps) to clean, sit and eat breakfast and drink my cappuchino in quiet, to have my quiet time with the Lord, to work on business stuff, to blog and check email.

 

Today felt pretty good.  Mason was ready, and that makes it easier on me.

But I think having sweet little Gavin still at home with me makes it all better.

Taylor and Mason are just 16 months apart, and that doesn't give a mama much time at all to recuperate from these big milestones and the reality of kids growing up.   But knowing I still get 4 years with my little one makes it better. 

Even if having them gone means more time to myself and time to get things done, I'm still glad that I have awhile before my house will be completely empty during the day.

 

 



one boy and one girl

I just have to get some of the most recent memories of these two recorded.  They are too precious.

And too funny.  And quite dramatic for a 3 and 4 year old.

 

Mason and Lily are kind of attached.  One of them may be a little more attached than the other.  Or at least more vocal about it.

 

 

 I really am thankful for their bond.

And that there's a little walkway through our fence to get from one house to the other.

 

You see, this little guy doesn't know how to play on his own.  And having a big sister at school means he just doesn't know what to do with himself.

I am challenged every day to make sure to stop cleaning the kitchen, stop trying to get laundry in, or check emails or even feed myself or the baby (well, if he had it HIS way, I would never eat, nor would Gavin), and just give him my undivided attention.  I will be honest and say it is HARD.  My mind goes in a million other directions.  I'm so used to getting kids up and spending some time with them at breakfast, and then they were always off as fast as they could to play all morning.

So it's definitely been a transition as I try hard to remind myself that I WILL miss this.  And in no time at all, he's going to be off at school just like Taylor.  And I will be sad.

 

 

We usually get home from the bus stop after dropping Taylor off, a little before 8.  I try my hardest to keep him from running to Lily's house till 9.  He asks about 25 times from 8 till 9 if it's 9:00 yet.

 

 

They are hilarious to watch and listen to.

They go from house to house, room to room, driveway to driveway, garage to garage.

They have the cutest conversations, and they eat their cookies in the most unusual way.

 

 

 I'm told that Lily professes her love for Mason nearly every day.

And her life is nearly over if he decides he's had enough "girl" time and wants to come home.

In fact, today Mason came inside and tried to lock her outside. I explained that this was not something we do to friends, and that we need to make sure they always feel welcome.  He proceeded to tell me that he just wanted a little break, but Lily wanted to follow him everywhere he went.

I helped him explain to Lily that he'd like to take a little break and then he'd be ready to play again in a few minutes. 

She asked if she could take a break with him, and then proceeded to sit on the back steps and stare into the window waiting for him to be done with his break.

It was seriously the CUTEST thing ever.  And I wish I had thought to grab my camera.

 

 

They share snacks, Mason helps her get drinks, they are in Sunday School together, they like to watch a little TV when they get tired from playing, they swing and build sand castles and ride bikes.

Sometimes they scream at each other, but they always give lots of hugs.

Sometimes they hit each other, but then other times I hear Mason saying "you can sit right by me on the couch."

 

 

Their bond is a special one.  We've been able to use this friendship as a way to teach Mason how to take care of girls, how to respect them and make sure they don't ever get hurt.  How to help them and be polite.  Although I'm afraid that sometimes Lily gets treated more like another rough and tough boy, there are at least a few glimpses of absolute preciousness between these two.



a day of weddings

We had a full day of weddings a few weeks ago.  Definitely the first time we've ever had 2 in one day.

 Gavin's high pitched squeals came out in full force during the weddings.  I think he knows when everyone else is quiet is the best time to make himself be heard.

 

 

Dave's 1970 Cuda was in the first wedding.  And Dave was in the 2nd wedding.

Dave was as close to a hard attack as you can get when he watched the groom swing open the door.  Dave didn't realize he had parked the car right by a pole.  It seriously came within centimeters.

The cow bells were a unique touch to the morning wedding.  They fit in well with the entire wedding party's cowboy boots.  But really, they have made quite the fun noise maker at home for Gavin.

 

We had a little break in the afternoon.  Which really wasn't much of a break.  Dave was the best man at the next wedding, which meant he had that infamous speech to prepare for.  And there's nothing like preparing at the last minute.

I'm not sure how many best men practice their speech beforehand.  I'm guessing a lot of them wing it in the moment.  Which for obvious reasons can sometimes turn out to be disasters. But as quoted by Dave in his speech he is "the furthest thing from a public speaker you will ever meet." 

So to help him feel better, the kids and I got to sit and listen to him say it about 5 times.

Half way through, Taylor said "when can I say something?" 

Her new favorite activity might be giving speeches now.

 

I don't think you can tell in the picture above, but at this point I'm pretty sure Dave was a nervous wreck.  He could hardly even eat the yummy meal that was served.  I felt so bad for him and just wanted to get it over with so he could enjoy the rest of the evening.

 

 

Finally, he got it over with.  And he did awesome! 

He got several "that was the BEST best man speech ever."

Whether they were just being nice, or they really meant it, they were nice compliments that I think he definitely earned!

 



 

They kids had a blast dancing the night away, until they had to go home with Nana and Papa.

And this little babe was pooped and fell asleep in the corner of the room.

My favorite part of weddings is definitely getting to dress up.  Especially when my hubby is in a handsome tux.

 

 

But then go figure, we don't really even get a good picture.  The only one we got was taken by Mason.

 



 

I borrowed the black dress from my little sis, but now she's letting me keep it!  She's the best!

Guess I just need another reason to where it now.





celebrating back-to-school {sharing ideas}

Our week was far from the perfect, fun, back-to-school week I would've imagined in my head.  Actually, we've never really had a back-to-school week before, so I have nothing to compare to.  But regardless of what week this was, it wasn't a great one (for a few days anyway). So the bar has not been set high.  Monday was plain awful.  Tuesday was a bit better.  And Wednesday we decided to celebrate! 

We tried to get donuts at the donut shop.  But silly me, you can't show up at Drubers after 9am on the first day of school for the whole town, and expect to get a donut.  There were 3 donuts in the whole place left.  And the guy in front of us took one of them.  So we headed to the grocery store to get donuts for the park. 

We at lunch at the little pavilion near our house (something my kids always beg to do but I never seem to make time for, especially with Gavin). 

And read lots of "The Kissing Hand".

We did make-your-own pizzas for dinner and added some fun details to make our soon-to-be Kindergartner feel as special as we could.

I absolutely loved this back-to-school party over at eighteen25.

   I pulled this off in a matter of an hour probably. So not a lot of prep at all. The only thing I bought in advance was the sentence strips and stuff to make rice krispies.  I loved the idea of the rice krispie cake, SO easy during such a hectic time. We aren't too much into cake at our house anyway,  and as much fun as I have making cakes for the kids' birthdays, I really didn't want to start a tradition and feel pressured to keep something up that takes so much time. So I opted for this simple version of a cake.  It will be easy to duplicate in other years if I want. I used the free printable for the banner on the cake, the straw toppers, and a little quick tag that I stuck on some pencils. In the Walmart dollar bins I found packages of sentence strips that were perfect for this table setting.  I even went back to get more for future parties. It will be so fun to always write the grade they are going into on a strip for their table setting. And then I stapled another, with her name on it, around her jar.

 We also gave her her first REAL bible at dinner.  She's been wanting one so badly.  She always asks when she can get a bible without pictures.  We knew she needed one for school, so we waited till this night to give it to her.  She was so excited she asked if she could read a story out of it.  After she found out it was a little more difficult than she thought, she opted to ask if we could just read the Proverbs that corresponded with the date.

Before school on the first day we had a pancake breakfast.  I prepped it all the night before, knowing I tend to run out of time ALL the time when trying to get places in the mornings.  Oh man, is this new routine going to kill me.  When we go camping we store our pancake batter in an empty ketchup bottle, it stores easily and is so easy to squeeze out on the griddle.  So I made the batter the night before and the ketchup bottle made it super easy and fast to cook the pancakes the next morning.  And of course, we had to have cool whip, strawberries and sausage.

Then it was picture time! I am not all that creative on my own.  I get inspiration from others (aka copying).  Isn't that what all these lovely ideas online are for anyway?  Surely people don't post these ideas hoping no one uses them. I think it's awesome to be able to inspire each other with fun ideas we'd never think of to do on our own.  Parties, picture ideas, ways to celebrate...I definitely need help in these areas most of the time.  I totally understand not copying things that you're not supposed to copy (for legality purposes), and giving credit is definitely important.  But other than than, copying is the best!  It may seem like lots of people are doing the same thing right now, as we see the pictures being posted and blogged about.  But in the scheme of things, in 20 years when you look back, you won't remember that 5 of your friends did the same thing.  You'll just be glad you did it, because the memories are so sweet.  So copy away.

Since some of you asked, here are the details of the back-to-school photos. 

I got my First Day of School printables from How Does She - they are free and super cute! It's nice to have cooperative children for early morning photo shoots. I'm guessing it won't always be like this.

Last year for preschool I started the yearly "Favorites" photo.  I almost forgot about this, so I'm glad something sparked my memory so I could make sure to set up one of her pictures to be able to add the font to the side.  I just used Photoshop Elements to add the font.  After creating the file last year, it was super easy this year to just replace the photo and adjust the font as needed.  I saw this idea on Pinterest last year and then a friend did the same thing for her boy starting preschool too.  She was even kind enough to email me her psd file. Thanks so much Laura - I love that I started this tradition.  The font I used the for the title is School Script Dash and the rest of it is in Chalkdust font.  You can google them both and download them for free.

Check out this link with a whole list of first day of school picture ideas and printables!

Awhile back someone told me about the idea of videoing your children as they climb into the car after their first day of school.  So I set a reminder in my phone, because I was SURE to get distracted with how excited I was just to see her, that I'd forget.  It was so fun to ask her how her day went and questions about what she did.  She loved that she was getting videoed, and these will be so fun to look back at!  As long as I always remember to do them!  (although I'm wondering how this will actually work with multiple kids wanting to talk at the same time.  Oh well, I may just have to go with it).

(I'm not really posting the video (it's too long I think), just a screen shot)

When I picked her up we headed out for a mommy-daughter date to Applebees.  It was so fun sitting there and having lunch with my little girl who seemed so big!  We even bought desert.  Now that's a big deal.  I don't think we've ever bought desert before.

We ended the night roasting marshmallows with our friends. 

The day was perfect.  Our girl is a school girl now.

Monday I'll put her on the bus (and supposedly not follow the bus to the school). I'm definitely a bit nervous about that. 

As I processed everything this weekend, I realized I approached this day with such anxiety, and now it's over in a flash.  She's off.  I thought about all the time she's had here at home.  The time I've had to mold her and teach her, and help her to grow up.  And I know my job is far from over. As sad as it was to watch her go today, it was also exciting.  It's hard watching our babies grow up, but it's so amazing to see who God is making them to be. I'm thankful for all the time I had with her at home.  And now it's time to cover her in prayer more than ever.  Letting go, and trusting God with every aspect of her life.  It's so hard.  But it's so worth it.  He created her and he has big plans for her life.  I can't wait to see them. 

Here are 3 of the verses I am using to pray for Taylor in this new season of life.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

“This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3