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6 February 2011

Well needless to say I am WAY behind on my posts...the whole goal of this blog was to be able to keep our friends and family in the loop as well as be able to look back on all of the memories of Gavin as a child...FAIL! So, I am going try and do a much better job.
Below are some pictures from Super bowl Sunday, and yes I do realize it is June!
We kicked off the day with a little parents vs. kids flag football (note the dads trying to look all tough) in which I hate to admit the kiddos won.  Guess we aren't so quick in our Mid-Thirties :) It is hard to see but I took a lot of grief for playing football in my Tom Ford sunglasses and my diamond hoop earings...hey you know my motto " GO BIG OR GO HOME!"

After that we headed to some friends house for some good food, adult beverages and some football.  I would like to point out, that this will be the ONE and only time you will ever catch me in a Packers jersey... This unfortunate incident was a result of 16 weeks of trash talking to my neighbor! 

GO COWBOYS!!

Little man on the other hand could have cared less about the game (since his "bow-bees" weren't playing) he instead opted to play the lead roll in the upcoming new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie! He is such a nut!

Hope this post finds everyone doing well and it is good to be back! :) Hugs, Meg

2 January 2011

Happy New Year!! Wow, I can't believe another year has come and gone. Things are finally starting to slow down around here and hopefully returning to normal {crazy, but normal} soon.

Last week while still in Arizona we went up to Sunrise, which is about 4 hours north of Phoenix, to do some snowboarding.  The good news is there were no broken bones, the bad news I am not a very good snowboarder! Certainly had a blast though and am looking forward to doing it again.

I was able to get in a little hiking before leaving AZ. Here is a great picture from the top of South Mountain looking down on Phoenix. The photo does not do the view justice.

Gavin got back from his dads house yesterday so we went to my sisters house to celebrate Christmas and New Years.  My dad cooked a fantastic roast and all the sides. My dad and stepmom have been over from England visiting and go back on Tuesday. It was wonderful to see them, wished they lived closer!

Here is Gavin tearing into some of Christmas presents, I think he liked the wrapping paper best! Silly kid!

It is so cute watch the kids play together now, they have so much fun!! Now that Graham is getting older he and Gavin can really play! Presely is of course the ring leader and we have nicknamed them "The Triple Threat" when they get together. Presley (4), Gavin (2), Graham (1)

Double trouble from the "Dynamic Duo'!!

I was really excited to be able to get some pictures with my dad, stepmom, Gavin and me. It had been a year since we had seen them.

Last but not least we wanted to try and take a family photo and of course we couldn't get all the kids to cooperate but we managed to get some cute ones!

Ok Ok Ok, we look a little to normal in the pictures above, this is really us!

A big thank you to my brother-in-law who is the man behind the camera taking the family picture. He was probably happy to not been seen with this bunch! ;-)

As we head into 2011, I want to say thank you again to all of my wonderful friends and family who helped me make it through 2010. I truly could have not done it with out you all and I love you dearly.  Here is to a wonderful NEW YEAR!!

26 December 2010

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones! We have had another great week filled with happiness and are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Sunday night our neighborhood HOA hosted a hot chocolate social for all of us. We walked down to the park and had a great time mingling with our neighbors. They had several S'more station set up for the kids, however Gavin was more interested in swinging than anything else. When we briefly stopped swinging to take this picture, he was not happy! {Ba-Humbug}

I did finally convince him to try a S'more...I think he liked it!! :-)

One of our neighbors had just gotten a new lab puppy and Gavin had fun loving on the puppy! My sweet boy!

On Wednesday I headed out west, back to Phoenix to spend Christmas with some dear friends of mine. On Thursday we had a mini college reunion... What a great time we had laughing, talking about old times and sharing memories. Can't believe it had been 11 years! Hopefully we don't wait another decade before we see each other again!

We spent most of...ok ok  all of Christmas Eve cooking! We had a fantastic dinner, roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes, 5 cheese macaroni, steamed broccoli, my moms famous dill rolls and some killer pumpkin cheesecake! Leslie and I have been dear friends for over a decade. We met in Arizona right after college, we hit it off instantly, we were even roommates in our early twenties.  We have some made some wonderful memories and over the years she has become like a sister to me!

On Christmas day, I got one of the best presents that a crazy, obnoxious, die hard Cowboys fan could ever receive...tickets to a game!!! What an absolute FANTASTIC day it was! Spending time with old friends and making new ones.
We tailgated for most of the afternoon...eating, drinking, laughing and eating some more!!

The View from our seats was AMAZING! We were in the 5th row of the Cowboys end zone!!

Even though we lost, we had a great time!!

We are headed up to Greer, Arizona in the morning to do some snowboarding, I will post those pictures next week....Pending no broken bones! {ha ha}

19 December 2010

On Wednesday we took Gavin down to the University of Incarnate Word to look at the Christmas lights.  Each year they put lights up on EVERY tree on the entire campus, it really is a spectacular sight to see....

In my mind I had this idea that we would get down there and Gavin would see all the lights and just be mesmerized by the sight of it all but the reality of having a boy kicked in as soon as he saw "a big tractor", it was nothing more than a small ditch witch, but after seeing that he could have cared less about the lights...so we took a picture on the "big tractor", nothing says Merry Christmas like a ditch witch!!

Thank goodness we snapped a few shots before seeing the big tractor.....

On Thursday night we took all of the goodies that we baked last weekend and took them up to our local fire station. Gavin was in a trance for most of the visit. I think the huge trucks were a bit overwhelming he didn't real want me to pit him down nor would he smile for a single picture! Regardless, we had a great time and the fireman were so nice to him! 

We almost got him to smile when they let him try on their helmets.

The Big Daddy of all the trucks....

On Saturday morning our neighbor Denise hosted the 2nd annual sugar cookie decorating party for all of the kids on our street! I must say she is quite brave having this rowdy bunch over!

The kiddos had a great time decorating and more importantly eating their creations!!

Needless to say Gavin was on a sugar high for most of the morning and then crashed.  He ended up taking a 3 hour nap, Merry Christmas to mommy!!

We have a Toad Pond mommy tradition, every time we get together all of us make sure and get a picture Michele (L), Christie (C) and Denise (R)

Finally {whew} rounding out our fun filled week, we had our annual street Christmas party. It is always a great time, the kids run around in the back yard and us adults actually get to carry on a few grown-up conversations!

A few of the crew....

Michele and I acting a bit goofy {wine may or may not have been involved}.....

Pictures in front of the Christmas Tree

We are so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful neighbors, we always have such a fun time when we get together! 

Now we are headed off to our neighborhood Hot Chocolate Social down at the park. They HOA is putting it on and there will be hot chocolate, apple cider and 'Smores for the kids {and hopefully the adults too..at least the "Smores part}.  So, check back next week for those pictures!! 

12 December 2010

What a week...On Monday we had to take Mia dog to the vet, she some how got a cut on her tail that got infected. She was forced to wear the dreaded "cone" for most of the week.  She then had to go back to the vet on Thursday to have a tooth pulled. Not such a fun week for Mia dog!!

On Thursday's after school Gavin takes gymnastics. He is one of only four 2 year olds in his class. The other kids are primary school age.  He absolutely loves going "J-nastiks" and coming home and practicing his "sunner-souts". Here are some pictures from this week... My favorite is the crooked hand stand!

On Friday Gavin had to have tubes put in both of his ears. I have several friends whose children have had this surgery but none the less I was a bit overwhelmed knowing my little guy was going to be put under.  I had also heard a few "horror" stories about kiddos crying uncontrollably after coming out of anesthesia {now I was even more freaked out}.... but no worries Grandpa and Grandma came to the rescue and came to stay and help me out for the weekend.  Little did we know not only did Gavin do great when he woke up in recovery, he was in a GREAT mood all day! I was calling our family to let them know we were home safely, and Gavin had my moms phone and said he was "texting his friends!" Hmmm...wonder where he got that from! 

Every year my neighbor and I have a Christmas baking day where we make a nauseating amount of cookies, candies, etc... to give to our friends, clients and our local fire station. We had scheduled it for Saturday, but thought we were going to have to cancel it due to Gavin's surgery. Turns out we got to bake most of the day and Gavin had a blast helping bake cookies and bagging everything up....However, I think his favorite part of the day was sampling ALL the goodies {Guess he was in charge of quality control}

 Wearing our Christmas aprons

 Gavin asked me for another cookie and I said yes, and this was his reaction! Guess he really wanted that cookie!

On Sunday we decorated the tree and the rest of the house. Yes, we are a little behind this year! Decorating the tree this year was extra special for a couple of reasons:

1. Gavin was old enough this year to really get excited about it.  He helped me fluff the branches on the tree as well as hang the ornaments. He kept telling me "lights pretty mommy!" 

The second reason was for sentimental reasons. When I was about 3 my grandmother and my great aunt made me and all of my cousins each a set of ornaments. They sewed all 4 sets of ornaments by hand, there were all sorts of popular characters. The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, The Seven Dwarfs you name it we probably had an ornament for it! When I was growing up my mom always put up two Christmas trees, the "formal" tree and then a tree for me with all of my ornaments. This tree was so special to me and I still remember decorating it each year. Unfortunately, when I was off at college my parents house flooded and I lost all of my ornaments. I was so sad that I would not be able to share this tradition with my kids....then last year after Christmas I got a package in the mail from my cousins wife and it was a large box FULL of all of their ornaments from our grandmother. She had attached a note that said she knew I had lost all of my ornaments and she wanted to give me theirs! Thank you so much Debbie, it means so much to me that I will be able to share this tradition with Gavin! Here are a few pictures of the Cowardly Lion and Tin Man....two of my favorites!

 Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

5 December 2010

Saturday was Gavin's grandmothers birthday. He helped me create a card for her. He had so much fun picking out the colors and kept saying "Gannin want cupcake!" Here is the card we mailed out. Happy Birthday Nana!

Gavin's best friend in the whole world is Mia Mallory {whom we refer to as Mia girl, not to be confused with Mia dog :-)} Mia girl is 3 and Gavin pretty much follows her around like a lost puppy! Too cute! When Mia outgrows her pj's she always passes them onto Gavin {which we greatly appreciate}. What is so funny is that most of these pj's in some way shape or form have one of your favorite Disney princesses on them! Gavin has fallen in love with a pair of fleece, pink, purple and turquoise jammies with the lovely Miss Ariel on them. He wants to wear them every night and says "Gannin wear Mia girls jammies!" Just had to take a picture!

This past Sunday was no different than most Sundays in our house during football season...We spent  the afternoon cheering on our beloved Dallas Cowboys! It was a close game against the Colts but thank goodness we scored a field goal in OT.  As usual we had on our Cowboys garb! Here is a Gavin after the game, he was telling me "Go Bow-Bees" {Cowboys in Gavin lingo}

Gavin will be having tubes put in his ears on Friday :-(, the good news is his Buma and Bumpa are coming to see him this weekend! Hope everyone has a great week!