Memorial Trees Planting & New Playground

The closest park to our house is called Queensbury Greens, but Gavin calls it "the regular park." They tore it all up in August and put in new play equipment and benches, and they just finished it a few weeks ago. We walked over there last Tuesday, which was a very nice weather day, and checked it out with Grandma Cordes.






Gavin loves all the new stuff there!




Then, on Friday, we went back to watch the planting of our two memorial trees. Nana Cermak's workplaces, Benedictine University and College of DuPage, had contributed to the memorial tree program, which is handled by Naperville Park District. As it turned out, we were able to have two trees planted! We chose what type of tree we wanted - autumn blaze maples - and which park to plant in - "the regular park, " where Evie and Gavin played the most. (We had waited to do the planting until the park renovation was complete.)





Uncle David and Uncle Brad came, too. Gavin was very interested in the whole process!







Gavin decided that the first tree that was planted was Evie's tree and the second one was his. Evie's tree is below. This was actually just a "ceremonial scoop" - the park district guys did most of the digging!













In the ground at last:





Gavin sat in my lap and observed while Evie's tree was planted. He got more involved for the second tree - he even used his own little shovel to scoop some dirt:










Gavin's tree:




Time to water:




It was a bit cool, but as you can see, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky. It was a perfect morning!

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treaters are walking up and down our street as I write this post (don't worry about our house getting egged - Nana & Grandpa Cermak are on candy duty). And where is Gavin, you ask? He is sitting inside, reading with Nana and handing out candy. For the second year in a row, he refused to wear his costume.

I thought for sure, this would be the year, since he has made so many friends on our street. But I was wrong. He refused to dress up and trick-or-treat at Francis' office, and he refused to dress up for the Halloween party at his school. (below)



As you can see, I was in my costume, but not even that could motivate Gavin. He is in his soccer uniform because the party was in the late afternoon, after his soccer class.


Over the weekend, we met up with Uncle David at Johansen Farms. Gavin liked all the "spooky stuff" there, and wanted me to take lots of pictures of him. Here is the "Nice" picture:



And here is the "Silly" picture:




Gavin was most interested in pulling the wagon, even when it was loaded down with the 21 pound pumpkin that he picked out (he insisted that he "could do it himself!"):




This one is more his size:





I guess Halloween is nothing if not eventful when you have small children. We never know what Gavin will do (or not do).

Pumpkin Carving

Francis is quite the expert at pumpkin-carving. Gavin decided that his pumpkin should look like one of the Halloween balloons we happen to have in the house right now. First, Francis drew the shapes:



Then it was time to start cutting:




After opening the top, Gavin decided that the pumpkin "didn't smell very good" and sat across the room for the rest of the carving (can't say that I blame him)!

The finished product:

The next night, we used our Mr. Potato Head pumpkin kits. There's no carving involved - you just stick the parts on:

Voila! It's so much less messy!

Playdate

We had a GREAT playdate with Aisling last Wednesday. Gavin complimented her on her princess dress, and she told him he had to be the prince. He said, "no, I just want to be a boy." They are holding their "magic wands," below:



They played a lot of pretending games together, and then colored. Never mind the dreary weather when you are spending time with friends!

Outside Fun

On Wednesdays at Sonny Acres, they have a deal where you don't pay for individual tickets for the rides, you just pay a flat fee and ride as much as you want from 2-6 pm. So on the last nice Wednesday (I guess it was two weeks ago), I took Gavin there. He was fearless on the roller coaster - I didn't even need to ride it with him!




That same week, while the weather was still nice, Gavin tried his new bike. I seemed to have better luck getting him to try it than Francis. (My back did not thank me for it!) We aren't using training wheels, so he was a bit wobbly getting started. Once he got going though, he was very steady. I even let go a few times, just for two seconds at a time, and I stayed right next to him. He knows how to pedal and how to stay balanced, so he just has to get the knack of this new bigger, heavier bike.



He got going so fast while he was pedaling that I had to run to keep up with him. Then he asked me why he was going so fast. I told him it's because he already knows how to pedal! We'll see if we can get in any more practice this fall.

Saturday Fun

Sorry for the lack of blog updates lately. Gavin has been waking up between 5 and 5:30am, and that means I get up as well, so I haven't had much time or energy to blog! I will probably adjust his bedtime soon by putting him to bed later so that he will sleep later.

I talked about it with the pediatrician at his four-year physical last week, and she was on board with that. She also thinks he is getting enough sleep (10.5 hours per night) even though he has pretty much stopped napping. So we are going all day long, and by dinner time I am ready to fall asleep. With the time change coming soon, I need to figure out when to make the switch!


Last weekend, Auntie Clare was in town. Gavin had a great time being silly with her. When she and Nana & Grandpa arrived, Gavin had set up his version of the "Cozy Cone Motel" from the movie "Cars."





Then it was time to ride scooters outside. It was a windy day, and the hood on Gavin's hoodie kept blowing off, so we put his winter hat on. Thank goodness he likes it!

After lunch, it was time for another trip to Sonny Acres. This time Auntie Clare got to ride down to huge slide with Gavin

Next was a hayride (we just couldn't get Gavin to look at the camera):

Then we stopped by Evie's grave. Gavin inspected all her things:

And watered, of course:

Everyone had a great day. We'll see you at Thanksgiving, Auntie Clare!

Gavin's Birthday, Part 2

Gavin's birthday weekend continued with his party last Sunday. We kept it small, with just family members. Since Gavin loves "Cars," and Sally is favorite character, we had Uncle David's friend Curtis make a cake with Sally and her "Cozy Cone Motel" on it.

We picked up a small cake in honor of Evie, too:

Gavin took a nap that day, and he was still a bit groggy when he woke up:

He said he wanted to open presents, but then changed his mind and just wanted to cuddle.

Still thinking about those presents:

Finally we decided to leave the smaller presents for later, and give Gavin his big gift: a bicycle!

Uncle Kevin took a look at Francis' burned out headlight:

Gavin, still thinking about his new bike, with Uncle Brad:

Time to draw on the driveway with his aunties:

Gavin smiled big for Auntie Clare:

Eventually, we got Gavin to come inside for cake. We were only able to do this when his little neighbor friend, Kaylee, came inside with him:

They both got to blow out some candles:

After that, Gavin was willing to try out his new bike. We took a few spins around the driveways and that turned out to be enough for the day.




Then it was time for a ride in Kaylee's police car. She offered to let Gavin drive, but he wasn't too coordinated with it.

The neighbor kids all ended up decorating our driveway:




Saying goodbye to Auntie Clare:




It was a very busy and fun weekend! It was bittersweet as well, as you can all imagine. Evie was very much on all of our minds all weekend long. Gavin continues to ask me about her occasionally, and I try to keep my answers as simple and honest as possible. Gavin is such a happy and social kid that it is hard to stay sad for very long. He asked all week, "What day is all my family going to come over?" He had a great weekend, and we are still opening the presents that he didn't get to on Sunday!