Last Friday we had a beautiful day for soccer, and the kids got to play outside. Francis brought along a diffferent camera with a better zoom lens, and he got some great pictures of Gavin. I couldn't narrow it down to just a few, so here are several of the best ones:

Helping to pick up the cones when this activity was done:

Making Cupcakes

Last Sunday it rained in the morning, so we decided to bake cupcakes. Gavin loves to help with the ingredients and stirring, even though he won't actually eat them.

This video is really sweet - we were just mixing the batter, and then he started talking about Evie:

Time for the really messy part - frosting and sprinkles! As usual, we had sprinkles all over the floor, but that's OK. Gavin had fun and the cupcakes were yummy!

A Long Lost Video

We have a really sweet and touching post to share with you today. We recently discovered a video of Gavin and Evie on an old memory card that I had never downloaded. It was from when I was trying to decide between two different cameras and was switching back and forth, and I had just forgotten that one of the memory cards had anything on it.

It was dated Febraury 16, 2011. They were sitting at the table hiccuping, burping, and laughing together. It was such a typical scene!

Sprinkler Fun

Our neighbor, Nick, is back after a long vacation, and Gavin and I are both delighted! The boys play SO well together. They are like two peas in a pod; after all, they are only two months apart in age.

They decided to make a lawnmower-car wash in the sprinkler the other day:









Nick showed Gavin how to catch water on his tongue:







They play together nearly every day. We are so lucky that we have great neighbors!

Playdate at the Park

Last week we went to Gartner Park to play with Aisling and her mom and brother. She and Gavin had pretty good time!







Here, they are playing "store:"





The two of them usually have a fight over something each time they play, but they also make up quickly and love to walk holding hands:

Going Buggy Storytime

I took Gavin to storytime at the library last week. They frequently have sessions where the kids listen to stories and songs with a common theme, and then make a corresponding craft. Last week it was all about bugs, and the library called it "Going Buggy."

Gavin loved the bug stories and songs, and then jumped right in to the craft part. The kids were given supplies to make a bee visor. Gavin cut and glued and then showed off his bee!

You can get an idea of what it looks like from the little girl standing behind him:

We had not been to storytime in quite a while. I have had to learn, through trial and error, which of the storytellers are the "good ones." Some have been much too quiet to hold Gavin and even Evie's attention. The loud and silly librarians are definitely the best storytellers for the preschool age group! And Gavin had a great time at this one.

Baby Duncan

I met up with my friend Molly last week at Starbucks, and she had her 4-month-old baby, Duncan, with her. Gavin said he wanted to sit next to Duncan so he pulled his chair right over to him.

Let's just say it was a mutual-admiration society morning. Each boy seemed fascinated with what the other one was doing!

More Soccer

Here are some more photos from soccer class. We were inside again, so the photo quality isn't great, but we took more videos. To refresh your memories, Gavin has number 7 on his back (but so do two other boys).

In this game, the kids pretended their circles were boats, and when there was a shark in the water, they had to put down their boats and jump on them:



Here, the kids are doing "headers:"



A hopping game:



More hopping:




In this game, the nets are a spaceship, and it blasts off and lands on a planet where the kids have to hit the aliens (coachs) with the ball:

Playdate at the Park

Last week we went to a new (for us) park in Warrenville called Sesqui Park. We met up with my friend Christina and her son John. John has a Strider bike just like Gavin, and this park has a nice path to ride on.







Filling up at the "gas station" along the path:




You can see how red Gavin's face is here. We only stayed for a short time because, as usual, it was super-hot! We'll be back on a cooler day!

Bubble Machine

Last Thursday was not super-hot, but it rained on and off all morning so it was very humid. Grandma and Grandpa Cordes came over and we just played with the bubble machine out front. Gavin decided that he and Grandma should go through the clouds of bubbles. After all, why not walk through sticky bubbles on an already sticky day?