PRETEND CITY

I took Gavin to Pretend City in Irvine with my sister and Taylor, and we met our cousin Natalie out there.  We had a great time with our cousin and she showed us a really good taco shop where we ate lunch.  After Pretend City, we walked around the Irvine Spectrum and then sat in a TON of traffic on the way home.

Pretend City was so neat for the kids and it was ADORABLE!  It is a little city and everything is kids size. There was a post office, restaurant, Ralphs, gas station, ATMs, vegetable gardens and orchards, and so much more.  I think they had a lot of fun!

The gas station

Gavin and Taylor cruising in their car

Construction site

Baby chickens

Working in the vegetable garden

Picking apples, oranges and strawberries

The Ralph's Grocery Store was his favorite!  He kept picking the shrimp tempura out of the freezer

Picking produce

Cashier Gavin

He couldn't get enough peanut butter.  He wanted it all off the shelf

Him and Taylor were checking out and ready to buy their groceries

A couple important phone calls before we left

UP TO NO GOOD

The other day, when I was in the shower, Gavin was very quiet and out of sight.  Usually he is going through the cabinets and emptying the drawers, but this time, I could not see or hear him.  When I got out, this is what I saw.  Every time he puled a Kleenex out of the box, he would giggle because it was so funny.  When he saw me, he started to really laugh and act like he was cleaning his face.  He loves doing this with the wipes too!  Why do I even buy toys??

ORNAMENT

There is one ornament that I forgot to post with the others.  I ordered Gavin this picture frame ornament from Pottery Barn Kids and it fit in the arms of our snowman perfectly.  His name and the year are not centered at all, but oh well.

OAK GLEN

We drove up to Oak Glen the day after Christmas to hang out for a little bit and Nate wanted to get some of the apple cider.  We wanted to go back to the petting zoo and the little village and walk around because we had fun there last time.  We got Gavin unloaded and all bundled up, and when we walked up to the top, the petting zoo and a lot of the little shops were closed.  This was a bummer because it takes a while to get unloaded and ready to go and then we had to just turn around and load back up...oh well.  We did stop for some apple cider and walked around for a bit and we let Gavin hold Zoee's leash.  He loved it, but whenever she got too far away, he would start to cry and get really mad.  If we tried to hold it, he would throw a fit.  It was pretty funny to watch.

Best Buds!

The little bit of ice that was left on the ground and the benches

He is giving this reindeer a kiss

Tasting an apple

MERRY CHRISTMAS

On Christmas morning, we got up and thought Gavin would be so excited for all of his presents, but I guess we have a while before Christmas morning is that exiting for him.  I made some crumb cake and all he wanted to play with was the fork and then he moved on to the cellphone and the boxes from some of the gifts.

He got some really cool toys from Santa and he did like them once we showed him what they were and how they worked!

He loves to feed himself now and he will try anything that we put on a fork

He loved the easel once we showed him how the letters are magnetic and they stick to the whiteboard

This is a rocking horse and when he presses the ear, it makes horse noises and it sounds like it is trotting. He stands and bounces to the beat of the trot, like he's dancing

A basketball hoop that "grows" with him

A train table with a track on the top

Later on Christmas, we went over to my mom and Robert's and they made us a late breakfast and exchanged gifts.  The babies were definitely spoiled!!

This is their table at my mom's and she set it for their Christmas meal

His new bike from them was a hit

We are grateful to have such great family and friends to spend the holidays with.  Thank you for all of the gifts and the memories!  Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

We had Christmas Eve at our house with my side of the family, some of Nate's family and a couple other people.  It was A LOT of work, but very worth it!  I didn't take very many pictures, but here's a couple.  I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

This was the dining room table that I set for dinner and NO ONE used it.  We had too many people for a sit down dinner, so it ended up just being decoration.

These were the place cards for the three little munchkins!

My Nana and Bob

Gavin with his Grandma and Papa.  Everytime we ask Gavin if he wants to go see his grandma, he says, "Mama" and when we get there, and all he wants is "Paaaa"

Amy and I

Max and Mike