Time Out

Wow... where has the time gone??? I had to take a time out from the stressers I have right now and do something I love. I love posting on our blog and keeping people updated on our activities but I have to admit that school has kept me overly busy and it's getting harder and harder to post on here. I promise to at least post every now and then... I know, that's not a set time frame but I want to keep pictures and activities coming and can't guarantee how often but please bare with me. Gavin is the big 3 and he celebrated with a nice party with his friends and family. He kept saying for weeks "it's my birthday" so he was super excited when it actually was. He is just becoming this wonderful little boy and I'm so proud to call him my son. He is so caring and loving and he just wants people to be happy. He still loves playing outside and riding his bike around and I'm so glad the weather has cooperated lately so he can do that. I have been so busy with school that my time with him anymore is limited so I try to make the most of it. We really haven't been up to much other than just trying to enjoy our time together, the little time we do have. We took him out a couple weeks ago to take his 3-year pictures... I still can't believe he's 3. The time has just flown by. A few updates on him... he is now 90% potty trained... meaning, he doesn't pee in his pants anymore and loves wearing his underwear the #2 issue is still an 'issue' but he's getting there. He is talking up a storm and keeping us laughing... I was tucking him into bed and just enjoying the moment, he was telling a story about building me a house (lego house) and it was "this big" as he held his little hand up in the air... I said "wow that's big" and he said "no it's this big" and held his little hand up higher than before. Then he said "then we went over the choo-choo tracks and boom it fell down" and repeated... I said "wow, Gavin that is an amazing story" to which he responded "I not done with my tory (story) yet"... it was so adorable... I had to hang out a little longer to see how it ended. He is just growing a great imagination and I love it. He sees 'fish' 'reindeer' 'trees' and all sorts of things in the shapes of food, the clouds in the sky, the drips he makes on his shirt from dinner... his imagination is just growing. I LOVE IT!!! Well, for now I'm going to leave you with some pictures. I am finished with this semester in a month and hopefully I'll have more time to post... until then love to all!!!

Traditions, Cookies and Happy Times

Christmas has come and gone and it was a busy but wonderful holiday. Over the past month we have kept ourselves busy, I wrapped up a busy semester at school and have been rewarded with several weeks off, Gavin and I baked cookies, we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, we enjoyed the Living windows downtown, we put all our decorations out and added new ornaments to the tree along with new traditions for our family.

Gavin is starting to understand Santa and the whole Christmas meaning. I attempted to have a conversation with him while riding in the car about the meaning of Christmas and how it is better to give than to receive, 5 minutes into the conversation I saw him gazing out with window followed by 'mom look... a plane'. Although I know he's too young to fully understand I still feel it's important to pass this message along as it's how I feel, maybe I'll try again next year!!! I am a big fan of traditions and the warm feeling they give, therefore, we made our annual Christmas cookies (twice), we put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, we put up new Christmas ornaments, and we went to the annual Living Windows. Along with old traditions I love starting new ones and I'm very excited about this one, I received as a gift 'The Elf on the Shelf' which I have been wanting for a long time. I read the story to Gavin and he chose to name him Rena but we'll see how long that name last. For those that don't know the store of The Elf on the Shelf, I will explain. The elf was sent from the North Pole to watch over the kids and report back to Santa whether they have been good or bad. He will then return the next morning in a different spot as the day before in which the kids will attempt to be the first to find the elf. Gavin realizes now that Rena tells Santa Claus whether or not to bring him "presents" but I'm not sure whether he fully gets it yet but I hope its a tradition that will stick and give some good memories in our house.

Gavin is growing and showing what a smart cookie he is. I just love our little guy. He has started singing Christmas songs and it's amazing how well he knows them, 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' seems to be his favorite. We had a great Christmas and Gavin proved what a good boy he was this year with the loot he made out with. I personally do not think we could get one more Thomas item in our house as I think he has just about everything there is. He got two more Thomas tracks so I think between the 3 tracks he has plenty to play with. He also got a big boy bike, powerwheels jeep, books, puzzles and games. He is going to have many things to keep him busy or so I hope!!!

Playing in the beautiful snow!!!

my little man on Christmas Eve

Dad and Gavin playing with his new trainset and he hasn't gone a day NOT playing with it.

Papa and Gavin figuring out a Thomas toy

Can you help momo???

Painting me one of his many masterpieces with his new paint set...

Santa came but I'm still waking up...

opening gifts from Santa...

His big gift from Santa... he loves it already!!

opening presents at momo & papa Stokes's Christmas morning

it was so cute because he didn't want to take his hat off...

OH MY GOSH... it's a Thomas toy!!!

more trains...

driving his new bike... he loves it.

So we have made it through Halloween and are fastly approaching Thanksgiving and actually had our first meal this past Sunday. I absolutely cannot believe how fast this past month has gone but am so excited that it's almost time for lights, trees, and everything Christmas.
Since Gavin loves and I mean LOVES anything train related it was only natural that his Halloween costume related to that so he was a Train Engineer and a very cute one might I add. He wasn't overly excited about wearing a costume this year so, yes, we had to bribe him. Grandma bribed with with money for his piggy bank and we bribed with letting him eat some of the candy. Either way, it worked and he was a pretty good sport that night. We got a special visit that weekend from baby Harper who was a little lion. He is getting so big and I can see a little resemblance, it's just crazy to see that in our kiddos.
Lately Gavin's verbal skills have just blossomed and he is talking our ears off. I love that I can have conversations with him now, whether it be about Nemo, playing trains or just random things. He has also started in where he will say something like "mom look... a plane" and I can't just answer with "oh yea I see it"... I have to say "oh yea a plane". It's almost like I have to acknowledge exactly what he said, it can be exhausting after about 5 tries before realizing what he wants to hear but it's kind of funny too. As his talking has developed we've heard twangs and accents here and there that usually go away but he has two cute ones right now. He says diaper and paper with a french accent... it is the cutest thing. They sound like 'change my diapeear' and 'where's my papeear'... so cute.
Gavin has started his Christmas list and let me tell you, if 'Santa' bought him everything he wanted 'Santa' would be broke. He sees toys on TV and it's 'I need that' and he carries around the Target Toy catalog (his papeear) and points to not 1 item but runs his finger across the entire page saying 'I want and need that'. Wow, no high expectations at all!!! I am excited to see him at Christmas this year since I feel like he's starting to understand it more so it should be fun.
Classes are coming to an end for me and they are going well but I will glad when they are over and I can look forward to the Nursing program which I start in January... wish me luck. I am looking forward to this Christmas break and spending some much needed time with Gavin since I haven't been able to lately with studying and cramming for all my tests that I've been having lately. Well, happy holidays to all and hopefully you'll hear more from us on the blog in the future.

Lion and Train Engineer... what cuties

putting his happy meal toy to use...

Patch is being such a good sport!!!

Fall is here

Fall is here and so are our fun fall activities. We all love this time of year and everything that goes with it... smells, colors, family gathering and just enjoying ourselves. A couple weekends ago we went to the Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival or as Gavin called it "Punkin Fest". Gavin got to ride a horse, go in a bounce house, try pumpkin fudge for the first time (YUM) and pick out a few small pumpkins for himself. We will be going to pick out our family pumpkin this weekend since we usually carve two pumpkins and just love visiting the pumpkin patch. This past weekend we had a few friends and their kiddos out to carve and decorate pumpkins, the day turned out wonderful and it's so nice that our friends and their kids can all come together and have a great day. All the kids ended up painting pumpkins and Braden, Kim (for Katie), Jason for his kids and myself carved a pumpkin. We also made chili and cookies for everyone to enjoy as they pleased. Josh's grandma was so kind to give us some pumpkins from her patch and we thank her for that. I definitely think this will have to be an annual gathering at our house since it turned out so great and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We truly have some creative and wonderful kids. I didn't even think, until Sunday morning, about taking a group picture of the kids and their pumpkins but I did get individual pictures so I'll post them below. Warning... lots of pictures!!!

getting ready to ride a horse... he did NOT want to keep the helmet on but loved riding the horse so quickly forgot about it.


riding the horse... you can't see in this picture but he was smiling from ear to ear most the ride

oh yea, we had to bribe him to get him out... ha
working hard... missing a few people in this picture

These are the last few pumpkins at the end of the day. Gavin's is the one all the way to the right... blue of course

Gavin being creative...

Lyla being creative...

I asked Braden if he was making a spider and he said "no, I'm just doing stuff". Love is imagination.

Katie be creative...

Calli being creative...

finished product...

the pumpkin I started and Jim finished carving... team work!!!

Choo-Choo Train

I took Gavin to see the Union Pacific 3985 Steam Engine last night, dad met us once he got off work. It was crazy busy with a lot of people and was very hectic but all-in-all I think he had a really good time. He kept saying he wanted to drive the train and didn't really understand when I told him he couldn't. Probably didn't make much sense seeing that he 'drives' a train all the time at home, whether it be his toy train or the steering wheel on his swing set. He really loves trains and I'm so happy he has something he can get that fascinated and excited about and I know it's something he'll continue to love for a long time and I love it. Here are some pictures from our visit.

hmmm... just waiting

waiting to stand on the train

He was watching a train next to it that was moving and I couldn't get him to look at me

this is the train he was watching

Time goes so fast

Wow... so if I don't get better at posting on this blog people are going to quit reading. I have been so busy with school, studying, taking test, working in the lab and so on. I am really learning a lot and although it's getting complicated and confusing at times I'm enjoying myself and can't wait for January, well after Christmas, of course. I've met some really nice people and the girl that sits next to me in Lab will be joining me in January in the Nursing program so it will be nice knowing someone going into it.
Anyway, enough about me. Gavin is, as always, growing and learning and keeping things interesting. Just this past week he started riding his tricycle by himself and he is so proud, as are we. His speech and language are getting much better and we are starting to be able to have the cutest conversations with him. He picks up on everything and things we don't even realize, like last night he was watching Olivia before bed and saw a bone in a museum and said "dinosaur bone". I thought, how the heck did he know that was a dinosaur bone??? He has a GREAT memory and can finish sentences for me in his favorite books, or when a toy is lost he almost always knows where he left it. I'm just amazed at how much he is growing up. He has started his Christmas list, for example... we were watching TV last week and a Tonka Toy commercial caught his eye and with an excited face he said "wuz dat??" and pointed at it. I said "what is that?"... Gavin "i'dun'no"... me "do you want that?"... Gavin "uh-huh"... me "you want to ask Santa for that?"... Gavin "UH-HUH". So we now have our first item on his Christmas list. Speaking of, I cannot wait to see him at Christmas this year. We have already purchased his BIG gift from Santa and I can't wait to see the look on his face Christmas morning... sorry guys, you're going to have to wait to see what Santa brings.
Gavin is sooooo much into trains, its ridiculous but I love that he loves something. He has his train set downstairs that he plays with every night and I swear he can hear the train coming all the way at our house... ha. Tomorrow after class I will be taking him downtown to see the Steam Engine and I cannot wait to see his expressions... now I just hope I can get him to leave when it's time. I will post pictures from that next time.

posing by the "punkin" as Gavin refers to it...

He's sooooo strong...

enjoying our fall flowers... we love this time of year

big boy riding his bike!!!