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!

Gavin's Birthday, Part 1

Gavin's actual birthday was Saturday, but the celebration lasted three days. It started with me visiting his classroom on Friday. We had his party on Sunday, but on Saturday morning he got to open two gifts. One of them was this set of talking Bob the Builder toys, below. He wanted the toys to "watch themselves on TV," and asked me to put in a Bob the Builder DVD so they could all watch it together:





Next we went to a Jim Gill concert at Washington Jr High. It was Gavin's first ever live music experience, and he had a great time!





Nana, Grandpa, and Auntie Clare came too!

Jim Gill is a great kids-song artist. One time I had checked out one of his CD's from the library for about 3 months straight! Evie and Gavin both loved his music.

Gavin had a runny nose and a cough, so I tried to put him down for a nap, but that didn't work out. He had a little quiet time but he never fell asleep. So later in the afternoon, we went to the cemetary. Gavin loves to water Evie's spot:

Then he ran around in the leaves, and he even threw some on Grandpa:

One really silly thing and bittersweet thing he does is to "tickle" Evie's spot with a blade of grass and then burp at her. The two of them LOVED to burp together. It was one of those silly things that made them giggle hysterically.

Watch this space for more birthday pictures!

My Morning in the Cat Room

For Gavin's birthday, I got to volunteer in his classroom. It was my first time volunteering this year and we were both excited about it! All last year at pick-up time, I would see kids walking out of the building with a parent, carrying a paper crown. I realized that parents can visit on their child's birthday - but since the twins started right after their birthday last year, I missed it. (I did get to volunteer in their classrooms, just not on their birthday.)


Gavin's class started out on the playground - the school has four of them:

When we came inside, we had circle time. Gavin got to be the "calendar helper," which meant he got to say the month and date, and stick today's date on the calendar:

Then it was snack time:

Gavin got to make his purple birthday crown next, complete with car stickers:

My favorite boy:

Then he played in the block center, one of his favorites:

Next he chose the science center. This area has magnets, scales, telescopes/binoculars, and a magnifying glass:

Magnetic marbles, below. Luckily the kids are good at cleaning them up, because they rolled everywhere!

I was impressed with all the things that the kids are doing and how well they follow directions. I had seen most of these kids several times last year, since Gavin is in the same classroom (the school usually keeps the kids together for two years). I can see the difference that a year makes! I am looking forward to my next chance to visit the Cat room!