Thanksgiving 2008

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we sure did! It was Gavin's very first Thanksgiving, and he got to celebrate it four times! How lucky are we? We had our first at Josh's parents house last Sunday.
Here is Peyton having his Thanksgiving dinner.

And here is Gavin starting his first meal, he gets pretty impatient waiting for his food, so he had a roll to tide him over while his meal was fixed.

After the meal, everyone went outside to take a ride on Papa's wagon.
Kimmie might hate me for this, but I think it's a pretty funny picture. Apparently she was pretty excited about the ride.

Jayden, Colin, and Taylor.

Nate playing football with Colin.

The big kids even went for a ride!
Jayden helped Papa drive. Gavin was inside napping during all of the tractor rides. On Thanksgiving Day our little family made a nice big brunch; eggs, bacon, french toast, homemade doughnuts (thats right Jenny!), and some fruit. Jayden ended up spending the day at Nana's house and we joined him that evening for a Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and siblings.
On Friday my sister and I took our boys down to Warsaw Illinois to have a leftovers lunch with our Grandpa. I snapped a few pictures with my Grandpa and the boys. Gavin was being very squirmy so I had to take what I could, not the best, but better than nothing!
Here is Grandpa with both of the boys, I honestly don't know if Gavin was laughing or crying.

And here he is with Gavin!On Saturday we went to the Quad Cities to have Thanksgiving at my cousin Hanna and her husband George's house. She did a great job! Everything was fantastic. She also thought it would be fun to go to the John Deere Pavillion, so we loaded up after lunch and headed that way. In case you didn't know, Jayden loves tractors, and at the Pavillion, you get to go on most of the tractors. He and Ethan had a blast! Plus, they had a gift store that had everything that John Deere made, TONS of toys and clothes at really good prices. Jayden got a hat and a backhoe with some Christmas money from Grandpa.
Here is Jayden and Ethan up on one of the tractors, Jayden is trying to buckle himself in.

In the huge scooop!

Sharing the riding lawn mower, Ethan was being a goof.
Another goofy smile!

After all of our Thanksgivings were over, we woke up this morning to SNOW!

Prayer Request

Please send your thoughts and prayers to baby Hazel. She is in the ICU and having difficulty breathing following surgery. What was thought to be croup was actually a battery lodged in her esophagus . They've removed the battery, but the battery acid had already thinned her esophageal lining and there are now worries of that rupturing.
Hazel is almost exactly the same age as Gavin (four days older), and I can't possibly imagine what her parents are going through.
Get well soon Hazel!

9 Months Old!

My baby boy will be 9 months old on Sunday, can you believe it!? And in addition to that, he's walking! He took his first steps when he was 7 months old, and just this week he's really been trying to walk instead of dropping to crawl. I was even able to shoot a successful video this morning without Jayden or Jasper storming through.



How cute is that??
I can say it's cute now, but I know it's going to mean a lot more work here soon. He's already an ornery little guy that's discovered a super cute smile in the middle of mischief can turn a mother from scolding to laughing instantly.
Currently, our daily battle of mischief involves the doggie dishes. We keep the food dishes at the farthest end of the house, all this does so far is buy us more time to catch him before he gets to the dishes to dump out the water and food. I usually start with the "No no no! Gavin!" when he is about halfway there, and I'm still half a house away from catching him. The distant sound of me saying no will make him stop, sit, and look back for me every time, but as soon as he sees the smallest glimps of his mama coming, he books it with every fiber of his little being in an attempt to get to the food dish. He is smiling and laughing the entire time, until he feels both hands on him as I swoop him up, then he has a full fledged tantrum. At monotonous and annoying as this should be, I still laugh every time because he's just so diligent. And we both know, that someday I'm going to be too late and he'll be at the finish line with a mouth full of puppy food and that ornery smile on his face.

So, as you now probably know, Gavin is happy to eat anything, but pretty much demands a sippy cup of water with every meal and will yell until he has one. He is completely off of babyfood, he just eats what we eat. His favorite foods are cheese and cold raw fruit and veggies....I think mostly becuase they feel good on his gums.

He officially has teeth coming in. Two on the bottom, and one on top. Maybe, just MAYBE this means he'll start sleeping through the night because he'll be out of excuses not to??


Jayden and Gavin have good days and bad days. Jayden typically doesn't want to share his toys, and the only toys Gavin wants to play with are Jayden's. Besides the toys, they get along very well. If Gavin is ever crying, Jayden starts singing to Gavin or runs to grab him a toy to make him happy again. Jayden is also pretty good at watching out for Gavin if I'm busy doing something, and he isn't afraid to scoop him up under his arms to pull him away from something Gavin shouldn't be getting into.

Overall, Gavin is the sweetest, happiest baby. Unless you're trying to do something he doesn't want to do. Such as, wipe his nose, change his diaper, dress him, put him in his car seat, get him ready to sleep, give him medicine, or snatch him away from any mischief he might be getting himself into...then, you pretty much get a full fledged tantrum until whatever is being done to him has passed. All of the other times, he's just perfect.

CNH Open House

Over the weekend Joe, Josh, and Jayden went to the Case Open House. Jayden, of course, was in heaven. He loves everything to do with construction machinery, so this was just his thing! Here are a few pictures!




Decision 2008

Trick or Treat in Burlington

Last night we headed to Kim and Nate's house for another round of Trick or Treating. Once again, the evening was perfect. It was warm enough to not even need jackets, and the sky was completely clear. Kim and Nate also have the perfect neighborhood, well lit with neighbors waiting expectantly on their front porches with bowls full of candy. Jayden knew exactly how things worked this time around...almost too well. If a person dare to give him only one piece of candy, he would stand and eyeball their bowl full of candy until they threw a couple of more pieces in his bag. It was horribly embarrassing, but funny at the same time. I'm sure I'll get him back when he becomes a teenager.
Once again, he donned his fireman costume. I was actually able to get a good shot of him in it!
I didn't have the same luck if there was more than one costumed kid in the picture, but that's alright. Good enough, right??

Gavin the dino and Peyton the dragon. We tried to sit them next to each other for a picture, but they just rolled around. We couldn't get a shot of either of their faces, but it's still cute!And we're off!

We dumped the candy on the floor when we got back, Gavin enjoyed himself by digging through the booty....

and attempting to eat his share too!