BEST BUDS

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS

This wound is couple weeks old, but still looks like this.  He was walking out of the garage door backwards and didn't move his foot fast enough.  He was crying hysterically until he got a Buzz Lightyear bandaid and then it was all better.

I love how sweet he looks when he is sleeping

Something cute he said this weekend:  He brought me the brush when I was going to do his hair and when I said Thank You, he said, "Good Job Mommy.  Thats good manners."  He sure does repeat EVERYTHING lately.

I got some beautiful flowers last week for Teacher Appreciation...I love tulips

THE BEST NEWS...17 more "wake ups" until Summer Break and then I am officially a PART TIME TEACHER!!!  I am going back part time next school year (August) and I cannot explain how excited I am.  The countdown is on to spend so much more time with this cute face :-)

MOTHER'S DAY

I hope everyone had a very Happy Mother's Day with their munchkins and families!  I had a very nice day with my sweet baby boy!  We had breakfast at home and loaded our bikes and headed to the beach.  It was pretty cold and cloudy so the beach was empty.  This made it so nice to ride bikes and not have to go around the million people that are usually walking and riding bikes on the boardwalk.  We rode to Newport and ate at El Ranchito and then rode back to our car.  After the beach, we went to my mom's and saw some aunts and cousins.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day!

I love this picture of Gavin & and his Daddy

Gavin wanted to play in the water even though it was freezing.  

Cleaning his shoes because he doesn't want ANY sand on his feet or sandals...good luck 

He doesn't usually eat ice cream.  Can you tell how much he liked it??

This was the Mother's Day gift he made at Megan's.  The flowers on the vase are made from his finger prints.  I think this might be the cutest gift EVER!

I love being Gavin's mommy and he makes me smile multiple times everyday.  I feel so lucky to have such a happy, healthy, and sweet boy!

EASTER EGGS

Its a little late, but I forgot to post pictures of Gavin dying Easter eggs.  He was very serious about dying the eggs and he didn't think he needed our help at all. 

 After the eggs were dyed, he carefully chose the stickers he wanted to use. It seemed to be a pretty important decision. 

These are the eggs he decorated for him and Tay!

 He couldn't resist...he had to squeeze at least one

EASTER

This Easter was so much fun because Gavin really "got it."  To start off the season, we took him to the movie theater for the first time to see HOP.  He sat through the whole movie, including the credits.  He thought it was so funny because the Easter Bunny in the movie plays the drums and hops around.  After he saw the movie, he seemed to like the Easter bunny a little more, but still wanted nothing to do with visiting the bunny and taking a picture.  A couple weeks later, we were at Chick fil A and there was an Easter Bunny walking around and then he sat so the kids could go up and visit.  Gavin was all about him!!!  He went right up and hugged him, sat on his lap, kissed his cheek, and would not leave him alone.  We were completely shocked because he doesn't usually do stuff like that.  It was pretty exciting for all of us!

Here he is with the bunny that he couldn't get enough of.  Of course he had to love him that much when I didn't have my camera with me.  

He liked hunting for eggs and putting them in his basket.  He knew that all of the eggs had something good in it for him.  He got to go on three egg hunts this year!  On Saturday, we went with my family to an Easter Extravaganza that was right down the street at the high school.  Him and Taylor hunted for eggs and rode on the children's ferris wheel.  I was surprised once again when he got right on the ride without hesitation. 

We walked from our house

On Saturday night, Nate's family came over and we had a another egg hunt for him and Dylan.  Their grandma and grandpa hid a lot of eggs with good stuff inside.

M&Ms are his favorite so he was pretty happy about this egg!

On Sunday, we went to Palm Springs to see my family.  My Nana and aunt filled so many eggs with candy and goldfish and the kids had such a great time.  Gavin was taking the eggs and dumping the jelly beans because he only wanted the goldfish and crackers.

Before he went to bed on Saturday night, we told him he had to put out some carrots for the Easter Bunny.  He wanted to put them on the table in the back yard.  He checked them right when he woke up on Easter and this is what he found.

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to finally get some new beach cruisers.  We rented some last year when we were on vacation and we really liked them.  We got Gavin a trailer that pulls behind and he loves it.  He always wants to go on bike rides now.  We have ridden them around home, to go get ice cream, out to breakfast, and we took them to the beach last week for a long ride from Huntington to Newport.  It was the warmest day of my whole Spring Break and the perfect day for the beach!  I can't wait for more nice weather so we can do it again.

We went and ate lunch at Ruby's on the pier and met our friends, the Avalos Family. It was perfect that they were going to eat at the beach the same day to enjoy the nice warm weather!

When we got down to Newport, we walked Gavin down to run around and play in the water.  I didn't even bring his swim trunks because I assumed he wouldn't want to get wet.  I was completely wrong!  He loved it and didn't want to leave and his shorts were soaked by the time we left.

We looked back to check on Gavin a few short minutes after we started to head back and this is what we saw... our sweet boy sound asleep!  He wore himself out playing in the water.

It was a fun family day and hopefully we do this often over the Summer!

2 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS

Gavin was 2 years and 8 months old yesterday and I cannot believe it!  Time is flying by so quickly and it is kind of making me sad because he likes to do everything by himself and I still want to do things for him:-)  He acts so grown up and says so many things that make us laugh all the time.  It is funny to listen to him talk to us, other people, and his toys because he says things the same way we do.

Here are his updates:
- He sings all kinds of songs ALL THE TIME (Old McDonald, Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, This Little Piggy)
- Tries to sing the ABCs and he does does pretty well
- Still thinks he is Buzz Lightyear and puts out his "wings" and "flies" all over the place
- Pretends a lot when he is playing with his toys and makes them talk to each other
- Loves to try and put together puzzles
- He loves dinosaurs and thinks he is a purple T Rex or "longneck"
- Plays with his MobiGo Touchscreen game all the time
- Likes to say, "just a minute," "just a second," and "I'll be right back"
- His favorite movies are still CARS, Toy Story 1,2, and 3, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 and a couple others
- Pancakes are his favorite meal and he wants them Every.Single.Day.
- Loves going on bike rides
- Tries to copy everything his daddy does and help him with whatever he is working on

and the best news . . . He started going potty on March 2nd and it has been soooo nice.  He is having "issues" with going #2 on the potty, but other than that, he has does great! (any suggestions??)  I planned on waiting until I was on Spring Break, which is now, to stay home and potty train and he ended up doing it way before.  It was a lot easier than I anticipated.  We were at Wal Mart and he wanted Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 so badly that he was crying and having a meltdown.  I didn't feel like buying another movie so I told him, "not until you go potty on the toilet," and left it at that.  When we got home that day, he kept running his bear in the bathroom and pretending to potty train him and then said, "it's my turn" and HE WENT!  Then he stood up and said, "I want Chihuahua now!!"  Nate had to go back to the store because we wanted to keep our word.  Now I know what people mean when they say kids will do it when they are ready...I don't think it could be forced.

I love the age that Gavin is at right now and I wish he would stay this age for a long time.  I love how he interacts with us and carries conversations.  He thinks he is so grown up!  I love being his momma:-)

SANTA ANA ZOO

Last week, Gavin and I went to the Santa Ana Zoo with some of my friends from work and their kids.  He absolutely loved the monkeys and thought it was so silly to watch them swing around from tree to tree.  It was so nice to see my friends outside of work and let all of our kids play together.

We ended our day with the train ride at the zoo and of course he loved that!

RANDOM HAPPENINGS. . .

It has been a while since I blogged last, so I have a lot of randomness to share.  Life has been pretty busy for the last couple of weeks and I feel like the last thing I have time to do is blog.

We have taken the kiddos to Disneyland

Spent some time with our stepmom Judy when she was visiting from Korea and our brother George

Had a baby shower at work for my friend Kim and her baby on the way, Molly

Visited with some of Nate's family who came from Minnesota

I have been on Spring break for the past week and have the rest of this one to go.  Gavin and I have been hanging out and I have been cleaning out and organizing ALL of the cabinets and closets in my house.  Its amazing how much junk accumulates in the house.  Feels good to get rid of stuff!