Gavin's little Cockroach

If in passing you here Gavin refer to his little brother, Jackson as "cockroach" don't be alarmed. Most people would deduce he is being heartless to his little brother calling him a gross, dirty little insect. You might be surprised to know that coming from Gavin it is a term of endearment... when you call yourself Walle. Because "cockroach" is Walle's lovable pet and best friend.

According to Gavin, he is "Walle", Jackson is "cockroach" (his best friend), I am "Eve" (his love), and daddy is somehow "M.O." (the cleaning freak?!?? that doesn't exactly match up).

I am thankful to Walle because when Gavin pretends to be a bot he cleans up really, really fast (he is a blur) all while making his bot noises, which are really cute.

My Little Reader

I love that Gavin has my passion for not being able to put a book down...

Only I hope that when he can actually read the words, he will stay awake all night engrossed in what he is reading like me. For now, falling asleep while looking at the pictures is just perfect.

Fun with Fall Leaves!

Lance raked leaves in front of the house and Gavin had a blast jumping in them and throwing them all over his brother and daddy. Lance even completely buried himself in an attempt to scare Jackson who came strolling by later, but Jack didn't even flinch!

Gavin, Literally

Gavin's absolute faaavorite things he would probably die without are his cars from Disney's Car movie. Everytime we go to Target he begs me for a new one. Rarely I give in, but of course the last few months I have not since he will be getting some for Christmas. Anyways, yesterday we were driving to Target and he said, "Mom, do you know what? I want to get Jesus a car for a present for his Christmas-birthday. I think he would really like it." This is my 2 year old (He's not 3 until January). Awww. Doesn't that warm your little heart? The reason he brought this up is because we have carried on my family's tradition of the Gifts for Jesus Box. Which is: when you see someone do something nice for someone else, you write it down and put it in a beautiful gift box that you open on Christmas morning (before other gifts are opened) and read. This is a gift that really helps children learn (and adults remember) what Christmas is about. It helps us all remember to be like Christ. I guess Gavin hasn't quite caught the concept, but the fact that he wanted to give him something he loves was enough for me.

Another cute/funny thing he said the other day was..."Mom, we have to be quiet at church because Jesus is sleeping."

I am always telling him to be quiet when we are in church because this is Jesus' house and we have to be reverent. I forgot that this is the age of taking things said, literally. I have to think a little bit more before I say things. This is such a fun age.

Sick Babes

I've been really, really busy.

h

Taking care of my sick babes.

H

So when we are all feeling better,

maybe I will have some pictures of us to post. ( She nailed how I was feeling a couple of days ago...)

I actually lost my voice just in time for my solo and for my big choir performance, which I directed for an hour (did I say with no voice?). And yes, I did have an almost fall-to-the-floor coughing fit while leading the choir and had to walk out at the end, just in case Gavin got his problem (see below) from me. :)

Oh and Gavin is NEVER allowed to get a cough again.

Every time he has a coughing attack,

he PUKES,

from an apparantly very sensitive gag reflex.

Seriously?

All this is really trying my patience.

Can I please, at the very least, get "Mother of the Year"??

H

(photos courtesy of Istock Photo)

Fire Station Tour

Two weeks ago the boys and I went to the fire station for a tour with some friends. I forgot my camera, so here are some pictures that a friend was nice enough to take for me. We had a fun time. Gavin learned how to "stop, drop and roll" and liked to raise his hand while the firemen were talking just so they would ask him what his question was. And he would just smile at them and look back at me. Jackson just liked being with all the other big kids.

Gavin dressed up as a real firefighter. Not exactly loving it.

Gavin checking out the fireman's flashlight.

Me and my boys. Gavin covered his ears the whole time

because of the sirens that would ocassionally go off.

Gavin driving the fire truck and waving.

Jackson coming down from the drivers seat.

Group Shot!

Snow DAY!

Gavin LOVED the SNOW and did not want to go inside. EVER.

But unfortunately little joe (Jacks) didn't like it so much.

Jack in the Snow

Gavin Loves Snow!

Morning Surprise!

After a dreary election night,

I had the pleasure of waking up to this.

And this.

My pumpkins were the least excited.

I think they have finally had enough.

Coming to Terms with the Election

It is going to be a VERY hard term for whoever is elected President due to the state of the economy, unstable foreign policies, problems with our national security and environmental issues. With that being said, I am coming to terms with being okay with whichever way the election goes. But I have to express my thoughts before I know who won.

Obama is so far left on environmental issues. Many of the policies that he has introduced should scare you senseless and make you wonder what exactly is his idea of America. (If you are not afraid of our country moving towards Socialism, then please stop reading.) Topics to research: bankrupting the coal industry (where America gets 80% of our electricity), unions monopolizing business via the card check bill (1937 can we say depression within a depression).

I am very nervous for a filibuster-proof Senate. This will be a very scary situation if democrats or any one party rules the senate. Here is a great article with Sen. Orrin Hatch and Glenn Beck that I think all can appreciate. Here is another one with Gov. Mitt Romney.

Here is my hope: If Obama is elected as President, the country will come swinging back to the right for correction after his 4 debilitating years and then Mitt Romney can finally step up. So I can deal with Obama winning. And yes, I voted!

For the record, McCain has to rethink cap and trade and a couple other things before I'm really even liking him too.

Halloween Fun!

This was my only picture from our ward Halloween parade/party. Daddy was working so it was just me and the kids. We had a great time. There were lots of activities including: a cake walk, fishing game, cookie decorating, face painting, bean bag toss, crafts and a caramel fountain for dipping apples. My little elephant surprised me with his magic talent of a perfected disappearing act. He ran off a couple of times which almost gave me a heart attack. One time I couldn't find him for about 3 minutes (which was like an hour in my head as I was racing through horrible scenarios). He just wanted to go outside in the pitch black night, where no one else was, for no apparant reason. It was a little crowded in the church. Maybe he needed some air. No matter the conversations I have with him, he just doesn't get that wandering away from mommy is dangerous. We'll have to work on that! Gavin loved seeing his friends in costumes and loved all the treats!

Here is Gavin with his skull face paint right after I told him he had to go to bed

which explains his pouty lip.

We had a costume day for our Mommy and Me group on Thursday. Gavin and Jackson were cowboys. Jackson would not let me get a picture of him. So I just have these of Gavin.

These are his two choices of smiles for me:

Wide open mouth or

this one

The thing that I loved about Halloween this year is that it was my first real Fall season. The air is cold and crisp and the leaves just started to really change colors and they are absolutely gorgeous.

It sprinkled on and off while we were out trick-or-treating, but we were having such a great time it was fine. We went with some friends in the neighborhood who have older kids and we were running to keep up with them the whole time. I put the kids in the jogger and then took them up to each door. We had to skip a few houses to stay caught up with the older kids. Gavin was doing great running between houses to stay caught up, it was so adorable. It was funny because Jackson would get really upset if I didn't take him up to each door (which I tried for reasons of time constraints). He really liked trying to say "trick or treat" & "thank you" and watch the candy drop in his bucket. He also did not want to let go of his bucket all night. For Gavin, this is the year we had to work on taking one treat only. One of my friends was passing out full size candy bars and play-doh and Gavin just swept a few of each into his bag. My greedy little guy. Lance was working, but at 7:45 he called and asked where we were. He got off early and was able to go to the last few doors with the kids!

Here we are trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Jackson is a monkey, Gavin a cowboy and I was Jack Sparrow (kind of).

I just threw something together.