Cookie Baking - part 2

Since we had a lot of icing left over (and didn't want it to go to waste) Joel, Gavin and I baked another round of cookies on Tuesday night. Gavin had fun with the spatula - throwing the cookies onto the baking sheet - and of course eating the icing! Every time I'd try to get a smiling boy photo, he'd change his expression. He's into looking at every photo I take these days - good critic!

Neil and Rebekah - the "Learning Tower" has come in very handy! Thanks. :)

Cookie Baking

I thought it would be fun to get the kids together and back some holiday cookies. Or just make a mess and eat sprinkles off the kitchen table - both activities were fun!

Morgan and Riley came over and so did Maddie and little brother Henry. The girls had it figured out. The little boys were busy running around the house for the most part. Here are a few of the highlights!

Our little man!

Gavin and daddy watching Thomas the Train on mom's laptop.
Motorcycle dude Gavin!
When Miriam was in town, we went out the night before Thanksgiving and got G some larger clothes - 24 mos! Can't believe it. Either we're shrinking EVERYTHING or this little boy is growning!

Last weekend we decided it was time for a new music CD. Joel and I were getting a little tired of dancing to the Nutcracker over and over again. We went to Borders and picked up a few new classical CDs. While there Gavin and I sat for a few minutes for storytime, had some hot coco and used paste to put decoration onto our very own Christmas tree! Gavin didn't want to give the paste back but we prevailed and were able to leave the store!

Hanukkah photos

Gavin had fun watching daddy light the Hanukkah candles this year. On the first night, we Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa in California and opened a present. G also enjoyed eating daddy's potato pancakes!

Cute shots!

Just a few shots of Gavin in his hat from Grandma Miriam. Not sure if I've already posted them or not!

It's a...BOY!

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. Joel met me at work and we walked over to the U. It was a matter of seconds until the ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know gender. We said - YES! She said "It's a boy!" We couldn't believe it. Everyone bet on a girl this time around - so did we. Gavin is going to have a little brother to wrestle - I'll be off the hook - eventually! The tech said everything else looked good - all parts accounted for.

We left the U and immediately started making phone calls. Mom, Grandma Miriam, Grandpa John, Neil and David! Just like with Gavin, David had the best response - very excited - good uncle! I think he really wanted a niece. He emailed me the day before with weight and name suggestion. I told him to save the name for his future kiddos! No pressure!

Now the fun begins. Who does Tractor Beam become? We should have it figured out by late April! Stay tuned...

BTW: I doctored up the photos a little so the kiddo was highlighted.

Gavin's new toy!

it's a little long but funny!

Thanksgiving Photos

Thanksgiving Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Beam drove to town for Thanksgiving. They took a few days on the front end of their trip and visited Flagstaff, AZ and Santa Fe, NM. They arrived on Tuesday and left that Sunday. We had a nice Thanksgiving. Uncle David and Aunt Jen came down from Loveland. We had quite a feast! Daddy had the brilliant idea of putting his office mat under G's high chair in the dining room. Good idea. What the mat didn't get, the dogs did!

Gavin got to celebrate Hanukkah a few days early when his slide toy came on Black Friday. Daddy promptly put it together and Gavin was on it in seconds (photos/video included). We decided to put it together in the living room since it's a few degrees warmer than the basement!

Grandpa and Gavin chased each other around the family room - Grandpa wanted to sit down every once in a while. He was greeted by a funny look on his grandson's face - come on grandpa, let's go! Grandpa promptly got up for some more!

Thursday In The Hood

I think the pictures say enough!!

Halloween photos from Uncle David

Here are a few photos that David took on Halloween.

Silly kid!

We came home from the park today covered in wood chips so we took G's pants off in the garage. Gavin must be watching the kids at daycare lately. He went and got his stool and took it into the bathroom. We peeked in to see what he was doing in there. This kid is a character! Mom has put him on the potty a few times to see what he'd do. Nothing yet. Just practicing!

Gavin's buddies

These are Gavin's buds from down the street, Riley and Morgan (big brother Josh missing from photo!). They like to come over and play. Gavin gets very excited when we walk by their house. We're still working on saying Morgan but he's got Riley down!

18 mos - Words!

The grams have been asking if Gavin talks at all and what he says. When I'm on the spot like that I can't remember half of what he says. This is now an old list but thought you'd enjoy it...

turtle

shoes

tickle

dog

baby

book

nose

toes

choo choo

mama

dada

hah

pop pop (for the popper toy)

peek-a-boo

Maria

ball

night night

owie

up

down

fish

water (wawa)

off

hot

bump (for fist bump)

socks

Sturgis

Harley

jacket

hat

blanket

please

thank you

Riley (his favorite neighbor friend!)

Halloween festivities

We attended the annual pumpkin carving party at Katie and Zach's again this year. I count this being the 8th annual that I've attended - that makes Zach 15!!! He's growing up, the rest of us aren't changing a bit! We had a great visit, ate some fabulous mac and chili! Didn't get around to the pumpkin carving this year since Mr. G gets to bed by 8 - but it was still a good time!

The next day was Halloween so we carved our little pumpkin and ate the baked pumpkin seeds. That evening Uncle David and Aunt Jen stopped over for dinner and to walk the neighborhood with us for some candy (and to show Fireman Gavin off to the neighbors). Uncle David has the good photos he'll send us soon!!!

Gavin's favorite part was sitting on the front porch with me waiting for the kids to walk up. He was dressed in his costume and liked seeing all of the other kids. I showed him how to hand out candy - since he always likes to have something in both hands it was perfect. He would run down the driveway to look around. When he saw that someone was coming he would race back to sit on my lap. I'd hand him candy and he would put it into the kids bags. The first few pieces of candy were hard to part with but after a few, he got good at it! We actually shut the light off early because we ran out of candy. That just meant we got to visit the neighbors that much sooner! Next year we might even share Gavin's candy with him - maybe!

Photos

Hat day! It was chilly the other morning so I put Gavin's hat on him (look familiar Kristal?). He came down and wanted daddy to wear his hat too!
Gavin enjoys putting things into the dishwasher after dinner. He has gotten good at opening and closing the door and every once in a while, he'll sit and play. The only problem is when we are running the dishwasher - there is a child-lock on the buttons - but not on the door lock. He is still able to open the door when it's running. That means we have to close the door, undo the child-lock and start again! Stinker!This is the day that Gavin got his cast taken off! YEAH!