Busy Working Boys...

I always have lots of catch up with regard to posts and pictures because there are never enough hours in the day to do everything I would like to do and sleep. So, instead, I am going to (yet again) try to be better about at least getting little updates and pictures here and there and keep slowly taking care of the many, many backlogged stories and pictures I have.

Today, we are enjoying (probably our last) warm weather. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and bring with it the cold weather we had last week. Until then, the boys are enjoying digging in the dirt without having many layers on. I wonder what they qil do as the ground starts to freeze. Should be interesting as they explore the changes in weather!

Happy Birthday Gavin

Wow! 4 years have passed already. Where has the time gone? For some reason this year I am having a much harder time being excited and not sad about Gavin getting bigger/older. It has been both an amazing and frustrating year. There were many days and weeks I didn't think we would survive 3 to see 4. There were also lots (and lots) of really fun weeks and months. It is a roller coaster ride for sure. As hard as it can be, I can't help but be proud of how awesome Gavin is. Even the frustrating traits are not so much bad, just hard to manage at times as we clash throughout the day.

I love watching his relationship with Dane grow as I see them play together more each day. I see Gavin taking care of Dane and  leading him into trouble as siblings sometimes do. I see Gavin teaching Dane how to use various toys, "reading" books together, doing puzzles, and playing games like hide and seek and climbing being crazy boys. It is amazing to see them interact and all that Gavin is teaching Dane. He really is an amazing big brother. So loving and protective of Dane. Despite not always wanting Dane around, he gets very worried if Dane is hurt or in a situation that is very dangerous. He gets very upset if we joke about Dane being missing (like if he left the room and is being too quiet), he quickly has to go look for him to make sure he is ok. It is very sweet.

Gavin has definitely slowed down in how much he has grown, but he is still consistently in the 90th-95th percentile, even though he has only put on a couple pounds since last year. He is 42 inches tall and 44 pounds! Crazy, he is apparently the size of an average 5.5/almost 6 year old. He doesn't look huge, he is so lean because he is all muscle. It is amazing!

Gavin is this amazing little sponge. Soaking up such amazing amounts of knowledge from books, watching others, playing with us and his friends, and everything else around him. He does pick up some things I wish he wouldn't, but he is very perceptive and is able to piece things together to learn as he navigates life. He is very determined (sometimes viewed as stubborn) and persistent. He doesn't always handle disappointment well but we are working on it and it is better at times, so it is nice to see him growing as he figures out how to handle that we don't always get what we want, when we want it.

He has become much more independent. Although, he will usually choose to have a playmate (me, Dane, Scott, a friend), he is getting so much better at creating fun new ways to play with his toys. I love when I need to step away to take care of something around the house, start dinner, or take care of Dane and hearing him playing and all the conversations he has with himself and his toys.

I love that Gavin is interested in everything. He wants to be involved and ask lots of questions to learn about what you are doing. Although the questions can be tiresome (especially when it is late and he is full of questions instead of settling down and relaxing so he can sleep), it is still amazing to get a peek into how his mind is working and what it comes up with.

We had a low key day of playing outside, riding bikes, helping clean up pine needles, visiting with Pappy Hank, and seeing Grandma and Grandpa for a bit.

We had a yummy dinner (that Gavin mostly refused in favor of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - no surprise) and a fun cake shaped like a motorcycle tire (per Gavin's request and thankfully he didn't mind that I managed to totally botch the "spokes" and was thrilled he had a motorcycle tire cake).

We have his party next weekend. It was supposed to be yesterday but it turned out that everyone would be able to make it next weekend so we decided to move it. We are super excited and I was glad to have a little more time to finalize everything without having to also prepare all the food and do his party cake. It was nice to have a low key weekend for his actual birthday so we could really enjoy each other.

I am sure the next year holds many more challenges, but it will also hold even more amazing moments and fun times that will give us memories we will always hold dear. Happy Birthday Gavin!

Just Too Cute!

I love catching the moments when Gavin and Dane are being so good to each other. They have lots of times they are frustrated with each other but seeing them play well together, Gavin take care of Dane, Dane insisting on an extra snack so he can bring it to Gavin to share, and then laying and sitting together makes me feel good. I am sure it will be short lived and one of then will throw their apple or elbow the other but for now, I just wish there was room for me to sneak in and snuggle with them too!

Oh the Silly Face!

Dane started making this silly face from time to time. It always makes me laugh. So cute and funny. I finally caught it on camera!

Ahhhh.... it kills me every time I see it!

Reading Buddies!

Just hanging out in their hammock (best idea ever - repurposed our Moby wrap into a hammock for them) and reading to each other. I love all the moments like this that they are sharing and hanging out so nicely together! Best buddies!

Off to the Fair!

We had an awesome day with friends today! We visited the Ulster County Fair! We had a great time and it all went really well!

We have some new friends that we have started spending more time with outside of our playgroup morning and when they suggested this, I was really excited to check it out. I haven't been to the Dutchess County Fair in several years and while it is a lot of fun, it can be quite expensive to do much of anything once you are inside. The Ulster County Fair is much smaller, but you pay one price to get in and then get access to all the rides. They also have a really awesome kids play section, some free games, space to picnic (and it isn't a problem to bring your own food in), and all the traditional fair type food, games, and animals.

We met a little before the fair was set to open and I followed Jesse there. We got everyone and everything unloaded and headed in to get tickets and start our day at the fair! Caden and Gavin were so excited to be together and to be going to the fair. It is a lot of fun to watch them together, they are so much alike. Dane and Sophie were just taking in the sights of everything going on around them.

As we entered the gate at the fair, it was exciting. It is a bit of sensory overload with the bright colors, lights, sounds, and people (even though it was first thing in the morning and there weren't that many people, it doesn't seem to take many people for it to sound like thousands). We decided to just start walking around and head in the direction of the rides to decide where to start. Gavin had never been on a ride like any of these, so I was really hoping he would enjoy it and that Dane would be ok not being able to go on more than a few. I think it helped Gavin to have Caden because they were able to do most of them together without Jesse or myself having to ride with them. Dane was able to ride a couple with Gavin and I rode two with him so he wasn't totally left out. It was a bit hard to negotiate at times because they didn't always want to go on the same ride but overall they were both really receptive to what the other wanted to do and did ok with the couple of lines we had to wait on.

 We played a couple of games that the boys were guaranteed to win (because neither of us wanted the potential meltdown from our 3 (Gavin) and 4 (Caden) year olds when they didn't win the ones that required specific skills or paying close attention, etc. They had a blast fishing and then picking out a stuffed fish to take home and then popping balloons with darts and picking out another stuffed animal to take home. We also did a small sand art for them to take home which Gavin did far better than I anticipated picking out the colors and filling his flower on his own. It was cute to watch as he carefully picked out which color bins to stop at for his flower.

They loved playing in the kids section. They had a small hay bale maze, a corn "sand" box, practice roping a steer, pretending to milk a cow, and a few other learning games and some informational boards up. We had a great time resting there after having spent the morning on rides and playing games.

We spent time visiting the animals next and they were able to pet a few of the calves. Gavin tried to lay down and snuggle with them in the hay. It was really cute how he just wanted to snuggle up with them. They both loved petting them. Thankfully, they liked looking at the pigs but were not interested in petting or trying to climb in and lay with them. Yuck.

After checking out a few of the tents and the fire fighter set ups, we headed back towards the rides. Thankfully, Dane took a nap when he was ready and it was a cool enough day, that wearing him in the Beco was not too hot. He took a good nap and woke up in a great mood, ready for more playing.

The day was filled with so much fun, it felt like it flew by. We stopped to have a snack and realized it was already 3:45! So, we had our snack and decided to do a couple more rides and then pick up some treats (namely funnel cakes/fried dough and lemonade). They boys were less than pleased it was time to pick our last few rides, but we made the most of it to enjoy some more fun before we needed to head home.

By the time we were headed home, it was already 4:45. The traffic getting out was a bit better than getting in, so we managed to get home by 5:30 to have a quick dinner before our nightly routine of bath, books, and bed began.

After an awesome day and so much fun, it was a huge bummer to get home and start unloading the car to find that the Beco was no where to be found. I looked everywhere, hoping that maybe it was still in the basket under the stroller. I didn't really think about what I was loading into the car at the end, I was just trying to get it all loaded so we could head home, but as I thought about it later, I definitely don't remember pulling it out, or it falling on the ground as I unloaded the stroller. I had it all day, until the end of the day because I wore it half of that wearing Dane and I know I put it back in the basket of the stroller. So I am not 100% sure what happened to it in the last 30-45 minutes (at most) whether it managed to fall out without me noticing (not sure how that would happen, but I guess it is possible) or if someone saw it, recognized it and snuck and snatched it (no idea how someone would manage that), or if I have just lost my mind. However it happened, it is now gone. I will check with the fair to see if someone found it and turned it in, but I am not sure how likely that is. I am really bummed because I use it basically every day still, it has been such an awesome carrier for me and it is nice that I can even wear Gavin in it if I really need/want to. Plus it doesn't help it isn't easily replaceable because they stopped making this particular model and they don't make the print in the two lines they currently still make and trying to find a used one in that pattern would be near impossible. A very sad end to the day. I am far more attached to it than I even realized.

At least the fair was awesome. Gavin and Dane had a great time and we look forward to going again next year!

Wordless Wednesday!