Party In The Cat Room

Last week, Gavin's class had a party and parents were invited! The kids had wrapped a unit on fruits and vegetables, so we did some activities that focused on them. Gavin did a scooter / sorting activity below:











Here is Gavin's pizza artwork. You can click on it for a larger view:




At snacktime, we were all supposed to bring a healthy snack. Francis had an orange and I ate a banana, but Gavin only wanted his "flower cookies" (aka Salerno Butter cookies).







The class had a pretend "store" with fruits and veggies in the aisles. Gavin shopped...

...and then went to the cashier. All the kids love to be the cashier because the scanner beeps for each item:

Then we read a story about a pumpkin. Gavin was starting to act silly with his friends at this point and it was time to go anyway.

We had a great time! I love seeing how motivated Gavin is in school. He loves his Cat room friends and teachers, and so do I. The best part is that he will get to stay in this classroom again next year! The students usually stay with the same teacher for the two years that they are in preschool. But since Gavin has an October birthday, he will have three years of preschool (which is fine with me - he loves school and will be completely ready for all-day kindergarten). He was going to have to switch teachers either next year or the third year, but because of everything that happened with Evie, the school offered to keep him with the same teacher for next year, for the sake of continuity. His Cat room teacher also knows him better than other teachers, and she is fantastic!

Playtime

We are really lucky to have great neighbors near us. One of them is our friend Nick and his family, who live just two doors down in our same building. Nick is also three years old and he and Gavin have a lot of fun together:


Snacking:

Playing with trucks:

Playing with lawnmowers:

And just playing:

Morton Arboretum

We made our first visit of the year to Morton Arboretum last week. Gavin always has a blast there! He always gets dirty and soaking wet, and couldn't be happier!



The frog pond is always fun:

We ran into our friend Ty. He and Gavin had so much fun being silly, splashing, and running around:

If Gavin didn't get soaked at the frog pond, he will definitely get soaked at one of the water pumps:

The slides:

I am glad that this year, he is big enough to climb back up by himself:

CONSTANT motion:

He would have jumped this pond in if I would have let him:

It was a super fun afternoon, with many more to come!

Gavin's Drum Set

The other day Gavin wanted to play with a bunch of my mixing bowls. I thought, OK, sure, no problem, they aren't breakable...and then he turned them into a drum set...




It was loud, but entertaining!

Kroehler Park

Francis and Gavin discovered a new park (well, new to us) last weekend. It's near what we call the "new bumpy tracks," which is the street level rail crossing at Loomis St. Gavin had a great time playing there on Saturday and Sunday, and made new friends there each day.

Gavin can't quite climb the rock wall by himself, but he REALLY wants to...

"...almost...there..."

'

Playdate!

On one of the hot days last week, we got together with Gavin's friend Aisling and her mom and little brother. Gavin and Aisling have played together since they were one year old, when her mom and I used to work out together. They both like to be leaders, so they either had a great time together or they fought constantly. Each day was different! Last week, they worked out their differences early on, and then had a blast.

Silly faces:



Jumping around:




A silly tea party with water (all over the kitchen table):




Why bother with cups when you can drink from the teapot and creamer?





We went to a park near their house, and had fun until Gavin and Aisling decided it was time to leave and just left. Luckily there was a very long path to get to the street and they walked slowly, picking dandelions. Then we played back at the house, where the kids played some more and acted like three year olds, not listening to their moms. (Age two ("terrible two's") was nothing! Age three has been one test after another! ) Anyway, by the time we left, Gavin and Aisling didn't want to stop playing, so we will get together again soon!

Mother's Day

I'll be blunt: Mother's Day felt really weird and very sad. That's how I would describe it. All day, something (someone.. Evie, our sweet little girl) was missing!

We went to brunch at our favorite restaurant, which was really weird without Evie. Gavin had a great time, however, making coffee for Nana and Daddy and putting salt and pepper on everything. When we got back home, he wanted to sweep all the tree blossoms off of our driveway:




Then it was time for a bean bag tossing game:










Gavin took me out for a "drive." He loves Grandpa's car:




Then it was time to try T-ball with Grandpa:





Then Gavin helped water everything (driveway, rocks, grass, etc.):

Gavin is such a happy, fun-loving kid that it is hard to stay sad around him. He truly is a blessing in our lives. We had a fun week in the warm weather: library, Riverwalk, playdates, and Kids Town. He has enjoyed being back at school and playing with his friends. He still asks where his sister is, and we just answer as simply and honestly as we can.

Playing at the Riverwalk

Last week, we explored a new (to us) section of the Riverwalk. Gavin had a blast. Of course he loved getting as close to the water as possible. I kept a tight grip on him at all times!

"Hmm, I wonder where the river goes?"

He tossed dandelions into the river and played with sticks. He was happy to discover a covered bridge that we hadn't seen before and he ran back and forth over it a million times. He is getting to be quite a fast runner!

Gavin asks where Evie is almost every day, and we try to answer as simply and honestly as possible. At this age, kids do not understand that death is permanent. We have talked to the school social worker and psychologist about how to explain it to Gavin, and they were a great help. We also got some great books written for kids on the subject of death and loss (thanks to Uncles David and Brad, and Nurse Betsy). It will just take time.

Easter Sunday Angel

Here are the pictures we took on Easter Sunday, Evie's last day with us. Evie had been feeing great all weekend and we had a wonderful holiday with her. You can click on any of the photos below to see larger versions.

The twins were going to get some new outdoor toys for Easter. Gavin was getting a new Strider balance bike. Evie had started riding a tricylcle at school, so we decided to get her a similar one for home. Here is what Francis had to say about Evie's new Kettler Trike:

"It was 3:30 AM and I had the trike spread around me in about 20 pieces. The instructions were in German, so I only had poor black and white pictures to guide me. I had assembled, disassembled and reassembled it about 3 times to make some pieces work right. I finally finished it around 4:30AM. It was a pain, but I was sure she was going to love it."




The morning started extra early and the twins and I started by opening some other presents from the Easter Bunny. Evie got a Dora the Explorer matching game:




Gavin got another "Cars" related toy. This one is Luigi's Casa Della Tires shop - he loves it!




Doesn't Evie look cute in her "morning hair"? Click the pic for a larger version.




Evie also got a Veggie Tales video from Jan, a good friend from Francis' work:




Later in the morning, Grandpa & Nana Cermak came over.




Evie and Grandpa played the Dora matching game:




Then it was time to color eggs! It had been several years since Francis and I had colored eggs, and we had not done this before with the twins, but Evie and Gavin LOVED it! Below, Evie has her egg-grabbing tongs and is ready to go!




Evie watches her egg turn green. The twins were fascinated by the whole color changing process.




Evie watching Gavin work on his eggs:




"Can we color more eggs?"(Francis only boiled 36 of them!)




Gavin was very careful with his eggs, and was able to use the little bunny ear tongs as well as the old-school wire holders:

After a while, Evie decided she was done coloring and gave her color cups to Gavin. She enjoyed watching him multi-task with 5 eggs at once.

Evie and Grandpa with the finished eggs. Evie was quite proud of them! (and Gavin would enjoy cracking most of them open a week later).

After eggs, Gavin wanted to play out in the back yard. He worked on golf with Grandpa:

They played football and soccer, too:




Our neighbor Nick even came over to play with Gavin for a while too.




During the time that Gavin was playing outside, there were two times that he stopped and said, "I want to check on my sister." So I opened the sliding door for him to stick his head in, and he said to Evie (sitting at the kitchen table), "Evie, are you OK?" She would nod and give him a thumbs-up. Now, Gavin had never done this before. Could he tell that something was not right with Evie that day? I'd like to think so; one cannot fathom the depth of their "twin bond."

When the kids woke up from naps, we drove over to Grandpa and Grandma Cordes' house for a delicious Easter dinner. Grandma had only been home from the hospital for a few weeks after having liver surgery, so she relaxed while the rest of the family did the work. She and Evie opened some more Easter presents:




Me and my siblings (David and Diana):




Uncle David showed Evie some cat videos on his iPhone, something she LOVED doing with him:




Flashlights are fascinating to Gavin. He especially likes to take them apart. He found Grandpa's flashlight and had to show it to Uncle Brad (who is holding his new Strider bike).




Evie ate a lot of ham for dinner (she loved the burnt pieces!) and then sat on the couch with Uncle Brad. They looked at some books and Evie made silly faces.




Just a few minutes after this photo was taken, we said goodbye to everyone and packed the twins up into the minivan. Evie had a wonderful last day on Earth with us, playing with Gavin, visiting with family and enjoying life to the fullest.