Valentine’s Day

We had a quiet, but fun Valentine’s day this year. Gavin is at an age where every holiday – whether big or small – seems magical & exciting. Probably because he is hoping for presents! Ha!

Valentine’s day shirt, and daycare valentines

This was the first year that Gavin was able to celebrate Valentine's day with a classroom of friends! He couldn’t wait to get home and sift through all the cards…and candy. I probably didn’t win mother of the year for the amount I let him have over the next 24 hours, but the faster he ate it – the faster it was gone – and I didn’t have to hear, “Just one more piece, mama?” anymore!

Any valentine that had a princess, or looked too girly, was quickly handed to me (gee thanks) – but not before removing the precious candy for himself! What a stinker!

He turned FOUR!

Not quite sure how time flew so quickly, but my little buddy turned four! He had quite the few days of celebration. Since Christmas he has been begging us for a Kindle of his own, and his wish came true!

We let him open it the night before his actual birthday so that he could bring it with him to his CF clinic if we had a lot down time.

I had hoped to get more pictures of him at his clinic visit – but it was a long, long day. He was really scared throughout a lot of it (I can’t blame him!) and he would barely leave my arms the entire time we were there. It was a long morning on all of us – an extra thank you to his team for their patience!

His CF team threw him an impromptu birthday celebration where they all came in and sang, gave him gifts and everyone signed a card. We are so lucky to have such a great team!

After clinic we headed over to the Children’s Museum in St. Paul.

Headed home to open a few more presents and enjoy birthday cake

Present from London from Unc

Enjoyed a birthday party with his daycare friends

Even though the weather prevents several friends/family members from his birthday party – our four year old was thrilled with his Spiderman themed party! Including the impromptu cupcakes, as the “real” ones got stuck in the Twin Cities!

After all the celebrations ended, Gavin told me it was his best birthday ever – but he can’t wait for his “five” birthday, and has already started a list of present ideas!

Christmastime Is Here!

We are right in the midst of the holiday season! We had a great time in Iowa for Thanksgiving, celebrating with my mom’s side of the family. Lots of aunts, uncles and cousins – including a new baby! Gavin was thrilled to have another kiddo around, and even asked me to bring him home with us.

While there, my cousin Lacey took family pictures for us (love having a photog in the family!). Here is one sneak peek of the shoot – the rest will have to wait until Christmas cards go out!

Once home, I immediately pulled out all of our holiday décor. I probably should have taken down & put away all of the fall stuff first – it was pretty disastrous around here for awhile!

It was fun to pull out all of our family ornaments. After nearly seven years of being together, and four years of Christmases as a family of three, our personal collection has started to grow. No longer do we have the perfectly matching ornaments, but a collage of hand made ornaments mixed in with the fancy ones – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

This is the first year that Gavin truly remembered some of our “traditions” and how this whole Christmas thing works. It has been so much fun!

And to keep him in line, and to ensure no coal in his stocking – this guy showed up this morning!