HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!

Gavin turned 1 on Tuesday (August 11th). We had a small family party and a cute little Sesame Street cake. Like all 1 year olds, he had no idea what was going on. He was just enjoying all the attention he was getting. For once he was in the spotlight instead of his big brother Tyler. His big feat for the day was taking 5 unassisted steps. He'll be on his way to walking soon. As for presents, Tyler enjoyed opening most of them for Gavin. I hope he realizes that this generosity on Gavin's part won't last long. When it came time for the cake Gavin didn't hesitate. He dove right in and started eating. That's my boy! Loves food! He wasn't very messy, so a few helping hands took care of that. Well Happy Birthday Gavin! We're glad you joined our family 1 year ago! We love you!


Opening a few presents...




Eating Cake...I realize these loaded in the opposite order that I wanted. I'm just too lazy to switch them around =)







A clean Gavin, Tyler, Grandma and Grandpa Walker... we missed you Grandma and Grandpa Hardy!


A little Tyler too!

Tyler's Silly Belly

My sister Tara is pregnant! There I said it. If you didn't know, now you do, and I'm sorry you didn't hear it from her. Whew! Now Tyler is obsessed with big bellies and babies in his tummy. When I was pregnant with Gavin he was still a little young to understand what that meant. He loves my sister Tara and is very excited for her new baby and his new cousin to arrive. So excited in fact that he wants to always pretend like he is pregnant. Recently he has been stuffing either his "Neigh" (his small stuffed horse) or his "Baa" (you guessed it a small stuffed lamb) into his shirt and walking around all day long. He gets very upset if I try to get him to take them out. Here a re a few pictures to document this amusing stage in his life. I also threw in a couple of cute pics of Gavin. I just couldn't resist. the cucumber was Brandon's idea of a good teething toy. Gavin seemed to enjoy it... who knew?!


Mom, see my big belly?!


What?! you want me to take my stuffed animals out? NOOOO!!!!!!


Yum! I like cucumbers!


Go ahead. try and take it away from me! Grrrrr!

A buzz and a 1st haircut

All summer Brandon has been saying he wanted to buzz Tyler's hair. I kept saying no, no, no, but finally relented and let him do it. I thought it would be no big deal. It would grow back. Right?! Well, now my poor baby looks like a cancer patient or like he walked right out of Auschwitz. He doesn't seem to mind though. While his hair was falling all around him he kept yelling, "catch it! Catch it!:. He didn't want to lose any of it. He didn't seem to mind that it wasn't on his head any more, he just didn't want it flying away in the wind. I, on the other hand, wanted to catch it all and glue it back on his head. For now I will bite my tongue and pray that it grows back quickly. It's been over a month and there has been little progress in that area.

Before


During...doesn't he look thrilled?! I'm silently crying in the background.


the piles of hair he wanted to save



Tyler trying to grab the hair and put it back on his head for mommy.


A few days later... doesn't he look a little better and a little older too!

On a better note. Gavin got his FIRST haircut on the same day. No way was I letting Brandon do it, so My sister and cousin, and I took him to Shear Madness. They do a really good job and the kids are entertained by DVD's and the cute little cars they get to sit in while they get their hair cut. I miss his little curls. It always amazes me how they grow up right before my eyes with just a couple snips of the scissors.

Gavin before the big cut


Look at all those curls!




After the cut, but before the faux-hawk


Yeah we're done! Everybody clap their hands!


Gavin looking cute and all grown up.

Keep Reading!

It's been ages since I have posted anything. I posted several new posts so keep scrolling to read them. I know I always say this but I will try to be better about it.

Buh-Bye PACIFIERS!

We finally did it. Tyler is about to turn 3 and is seriously addicted to his "Paci". I convinced him to bag them all up (yes he had multiple pacifiers) and take them to target and trade them for a toy. He was very willing to give them away for a Superman race car. He walked up and handed the bag over to the cashier, but when we got in the car and he had no "paci" he had a melt down.
The first night was the worst. He cried himself to sleep. The next day he kept saying, "iwant my paci! I neeeeeeeeed it!". Poor kid. I knew he liked his pacifier, but I had no idea he needed it that badly. Don't worry I didn't give in. He is doing much better. He hardly asks for it any more and doesn't try to steal Gavins "paci" very often. Occasionally if things get to quiet I know he is hiding somewhere with on of Gavin's "paci's" getting his "fix".

Potty Training

We started Potty training Tyler in May. I finally decided to bite the bullet and just do it. I was a little worried because I have heard that boys are notoriously hard to potty train. I had been putting it off for awhile with trips and such it never felt like the right time.
I went to the store and had Tyler pick out a few small toys and 2 larger ones for rewards for going in the potty. I ended up buying a 10 pack of hot wheel cars and a Shake-n-Go Diego Jeep. He was so excited! The first morning he got up I put him on his "froggy potty"and we sat there until he went. It was sorta funny watching him try really hard, but after he did it and got that first race car he was sold. He went pee 10 times that day! I thought my 10 pack would last at least 2 days, but I was wrong. That night at bed time he kept telling me he had to go. I wasn't sure if it was just a ploy to get out of bed or if he really had to go, but I couldn't tell him no when he was just starting out. He went a few more times and finally at 10 pm that night he finally pooped. I've never been so excited by poop in my life, and hope to never be that excited again.
After that first day he kept asking for cars, but I tapered him off and now he's doing great on his own without them. He's only had a couple of accidents, which is to be expected. almost right away he started just going on his own, and I would find him later with no pants on. He even dumps the pee in the toilet, wipes the seat and flushes! We'll see how long that lasts!
For now I will enjoy his excitment about the bathroom. I especially love it when he get super excited about me or Brandon going potty. He yells, "Mommy your going peepee! You get a race car! Yeah!". Who wouldn't melt hearing that! =) Plus it's super cute to see his little bum in his big boy Diego undies (courtesy of Grandma Hardy. I was very glad she did not listen to his first request of pink undies).

Grandparents, St. Louis, and Kansas City Fun

Brandon's came out to visit on June. They stayed for a little over week. We had so much fun with them. The boys just love their Grandparents. While they were here we drove out to St.Louis for a little over night stay and some sight seeing. We went to the Gateway Arch and the Zoo. The St. Louis Zoo is really nice and it's free! When we came back home Brandon took his parents out to Adam-ondi-Ahman. It just happened that that was the day it poured rain all day long. I hadn't seen a storm like that in awhile. Brandon and Rob went golfing a couple of times and Judy and I took the boys to Deanna Rose Farmstead (a cute little farm with lots of activities for kids). Then we took Rob and Judy to downtown Kansas City and went to Union Station, Crown Center and the Hallmark visitors center. It was a fun, activity filled vacation. Thanks for visiting Grandma and Grandpa!

Utah

In April we DROVE (yes drove) 16 hours to Utah with my sister Tara and her husband Zach. I was surprised that the drive went by a lot faster than I thought. Lucky for us Tyler is entertained by movies and kid shows, and Gavin slept a lot. Both boys did great! We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends. I did a little shopping and Brandon did a lot of fishing and golf. Here are a few pics of our trip.

This was on the way to Utah. We finally got the camera out to take a few pics of this GIANT teddy bear. The gas station it was in was a little sketchy. when we walked in the people behind the counter (a family) were talking about drugs or something and about how they were glad cops rarely came through. Zach is a police officer so when he went up to pay he flashed his badge in his wallet. They quit talking real quick after that. It was kinda funny.



Gavin Tyler and their cousins (Brandon's sister Nicole's kids) Rachel, Meagan, Ella, and Olivia.


Rachel and Gavin


more cousins


Gavin and Sophia (Our friend's the Ovard's daughter). Don't they make a cute couple. We thought this would be great for their wedding video =)


Nick, Brig, and Tyler


Of course I had to post at least one picture of Brandon's fishing trip. Nice catch babe!

New Kitchen, Spindles and Patio

In April we decided to splurge and update or kitchen...a little. I've been wanting new counter tops since we bought the house. You can't tel from the pics, but the counters are a light brown with a dried leaf pattern all over. I didn't notice it when we looked at the house, it wasn't until after we moved that I realized I had leaves all over the place; from then on it really annoyed me.
Brandon finally agreed that it was time to get rid of the lovely leaves and go for granite. WE found a great contractor who originally came out to do our patio only, but ended up doing the patio, counter tops, back splash, and replaced our stair spindles.
When the day arrived for our granite to be installed the contractor's guys came early in the morning to rip out the old Formica. Then a couple hours later the Granite arrived. I was up stairs keeping the boys and the dog out of the way when it came in, but soon ventured down to check it out. Lucky I did because they had brought the wrong granite color! I couldn't believe it. Everything had been pre-cut to fit our kitchen, but not in Tropical Brown like I wanted. They brought Baltic Brown instead!
I tried to keep my cool as I explained the these guys (who spoke limited English) that the counters they were installing were not the counters I wanted.
After getting a hold of my contractor (he had stepped out for a minute) We went round and round for an hour. He knew it was not the color I chose and some how there had been a mix up at the granite place. They really wanted me to keep the counters they brought and offered us $500 off (obviously it was an expensive mistake). I liked the Baltic Brown, but I did not like the way it looked with our white tile back splash. Since Brandon and I were sticking to a budget we had decided not to replace the back splash yet.
When I explained the situation the contractor said we could have the Tropical Brown but it would take 2 weeks before the could have it ready to be installed. Yeah right! I could not live with no counter tops for 2 weeks! Finally he agreed give us a new back splash for "free" if we kept the Baltic Brown counter tops. The whole thing ened up being a mistake in our favor. I got the back splash I wanted and didn't have to go over our budget. We love our new back splash and counter tops!



Before


After
On a funnier note. Through out the whole process the tile guy was at our house for 3 days installing our back splash. Tyler had been calling all male that he didn't know "scary guy". One day the UPS man brought a package to the door and he politely yelled "thank you scary guy!" I burst out laughing. From then on of course he thought it was funny to call all guys that. When Jose, the tile guy, came to our house Tyler said "hi scary guy". I explained to Jose that Tyler calls everyone scary guy. He thought it was cute. On the first day Tyler kept saying scary guy this, scary guy that. I finally convinced him that his name was Jose.
A week or so later they came to start our patio. Tyler looked out the window and saw the Hispanic men in the yard. He came out side with me and promptly greeted them by saying "Hi Jose!". I just about died! Thank goodness the "Scary Guy" phase is over.


Before

After

Sorry this patio picture isn't a very good representation of the whole thing. I thought I had a better picture, but could not find it. When I figure out this Mac and can find my pictures I will post what the whole patio looks like.