Gavin's Spring Program & Cute Alayna Pics

Its hard to believe that Gavin's first year of school is almost over! The spring music program was this past week, although the kids will be in school for another month or so. Alayna is hard at work growing teeth and learning how to get around. The things she puts in her mouth and the positions she gets her body into just crack me up! She sat there for a long time with that little plastic bat in her mouth. Chad and I were joking that she looked like she was smoking a cigar!

Happy Earth Day

Be Sure To Do Something For Earth Day!

www.discovery.com
www.redwhiteandgreen.org

Two Weeks with Mom

Mom came out from Michigan to spend the past two weeks with us. It was so great having her here spending time with all of us. Here are some pictures from her time here. The pictures of Gavin playing with the water toys and Alayna in the balls are from our trip to OMSI, a hands-on science museum here in Portland. We also went to Silver Falls State Park to go hiking and enjoy the views of the waterfalls. The tulips are from our new flower garden in our yard. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. Its mainly tulips, with some daffodils and smaller flowers on the sides.

She's Crawling!

Two days ago Alayna decided she finally wanted to start moving her legs with her arms and actually crawl! She's been doing this "army crawl" for the past several weeks, where she trys to move by crawling with her arms and dragging her legs behind. Needless to say, she could never get very far. So, no more unattentiveness for mommy!

Its hard being a kid

This was the funniest thing and I just HAD to share it! Melissa came over today for some good ole girl time. We had fun watching my Tivoed "Grease: You're the One that I want" episode from this past weekend. Gavin was very patient as he waited for "his turn". After she left, he said that he wanted to play his video game, so I thought I'd set it up for him and take a few minutes to call Chad (he's working in Seattle today and tomorrow), so I went back to Alayna's room for a bit of quiet (as much quiet as I could get holding Alayna anyway). Unfortunately, I didn't get Chad and left a message. When I came back to the living room (which was about 5 minutes later), Gavin was laying there and looked like he was playing his video game, but his car wasn't moving. As I walked up to him, I realized he was asleep!!! With the daylight savings time change, he had a hard time going to bed last night and then he woke up very early this morning, so I expected him to go to bed early tonight, but not this early! Anyway, I knew that my words could NOT do this justice and these pictures definitely do speak at least a thousand!

**Newsflash**

Alayna is now saying "mama". Unfortunately, its only when she is crying.

Daddy's Girl

Alayna is now 9 months old, can you believe it? She has had quite a few "firsts" in the last month or so. First of all, she is quite the talker....her favorite phrase (and according to Chad, her first word) is dadadadada. But before Chad got too cocky about it, I did remind him that she says that to everyone: him, me, Gavin, anyone. I'm working on "mama" to even it up, but no luck yet. Also, Alayna loves to make a sound that is kind of a cross between rolling her r's and gargling. I keep joking that she's already practicing her Spanish.

Although she's not crawling yet, she is SO CLOSE. She will reach for an object that is just out of reach and somehow scoot her body to grab it. She will also use her arms to push herself up from a laying position to sitting (which I think is completely impressive!). Of course, my ego goes flat when I got asked for the first time the other day if she was WALKING yet!?! (Seriously, is 9 months a normal age for walking??)

Funny enough, the one area that doesn't appear to be progressing at all is teething. Not one tooth yet. Its pretty funny to me because I could have sworn that she was teething around 2 months old and here we are 7 months later and no teeth. Gavin didn't get his first tooth until almost 11 months old, so I guess I just have kids who teethe late (which, to be honest, I really don't mind).

Ashtin's Birthday Party

We went to Washington over the weekend to attend our niece Ashtin's 11th birthday party. She had a pool party at the local high school's swimming pool. Gavin was a little hesitant at first to get in the water, but once Chad got in and he saw how much fun everyone was having, he jumped right in.

Missing In Action

Wow! What a busy couple of months I've been having! Since starting the billing position with Titan in January, its been hard to get everything done, so I apologize for not posting as much as I'd like to. I'll try to make sure to post at least every few days from now on. I took these pictures of Gavin and Alayna sometime in the last two weeks or so. Gavin has been taking a Tumbling and Trampoline class at the community center, which met once a week for 5 weeks. He had a great time jumping on the crash mats, practicing his somersaults and (as you can see) walking across the balance beam. The actual trampoline part was kind of a bust. I thought Gavin would really like it, but it became much more of a struggle than I was prepared for.

Dr. Sears' Birth Book

I just picked up "The Birth Book" by Dr. Sears at the library today. I've been wanting to read this book for awhile now and have had it on hold at the library for over a month. (Apparently, lots of other women have wanted it as well). I started reading it as soon as I got home and have not been able to put it down! I really appreciate Dr. Sears for his more natural approach to childbirth, although he is not a "doctor hater" like it seems in other books (since, I guess, he IS one!!). I really enjoyed reading the stories of the births of his children (he has EIGHT!) which is told mainly by his wife, Martha. Its amazing to see how the experience of giving birth has changed so dramatically just in her childbearing years (her first child was born in 1967). I also appreciate that they are believers in Christ, although this never is mentioned in this book (at least not that I've yet read). I guess I just trust their judgement more now that I know that they have the same basic view of the world that I also have.

I highly recommend this book for anyone you know who is expecting a baby or will in the future. I waited all this time to get it at the library and now I may just have to purchase it to have on hand for reference for my next birth (God providing).

~Yum Yum~

Alayna looked so cute with sweet potatoes all over her face that I had to snap a few pics!

Cuddle Time

Gavin and Alayna cuddling together in Mommy's bed.

Blizzard Hits Portland

These pictures are a couple of weeks old, but I wanted to make sure to post them. We got hit pretty hard with some snow storms a couple of weeks back and actually got some accumulating snow. Gavin had a blast playing in it! It was fun while it lasted, but after a few days, the traditional Portland balmy weather came back and the snow was gone.

~Look at Me...I'm So Stylish~

Hello 2007!

It has been an eventful start to our new year. First of all, Chad accepted the position of Director of Sales with Titan Freight Systems and is very excited about this new opportunity. This position is very different from his former Sales Rep position. Now, he is in charge of managing the entire sales force (about 5-7 sales reps in Washington and Oregon). His first weeks have been spent sorting through resumes and interviewing potential employees, as they are in need of hiring two more reps. I asked him recently if he is feeling stressed. He said "yes, but it is a good kind of stress. It makes me excited and want to continue working instead of tiring me out." Also, very very recently (like in the last couple of days), Titan temporarily lost their billing person, who is taking a medical leave. SO......I get the honor of learning the billing system and will be working part time in the evenings (2-3 nights per week). Honestly, though, its great. I've really been wanting to find some sort of part time job to let me escape from "Mommy mode" and get out of the house. Of course, I always have my Mary Kay, but this is much more "paperworky", which I just love!

Gavin & Alayna ready for church

Look, she sits!!! Yay Alayna!

I am a Domestic Goddess!

Or a complete nerd for taking a picture of my dinner! But....I'm just so proud! Isn't just gorgeous? TIVO recorded an organic cooking show for me and this looked so yummy, I just had to try it. Here's the link to the recipe....be forewarned, though, make this on a day when you have LOTS of time. Oh, and just another tidbit, I halved this recipe and it still fed us dinner and gave us leftovers.

Getting Gavin Dressed.....

....is a timeconsuming ordeal! Gavin insisted on wearing daddy's shirt to the grocery store. (Mom won this one!)

Lights on Peacock Lane

Last night we drove to see the lights on Peacock Lane, a road about a 10 minute drive from our house that has gained a reputation for having very cool light displays. Its in an older neighborhood, so the houses seem to have even more "character". Gavin called one of them "a gingerbread house". Click here to see pics!

Montage of Cuteness

Super Cute!

I am having a ball dressing Alayna up in so many super cute outfits, thanks so much to Melissa, who let me borrow Maddy's outgrown clothes.

**NEW** MySpace Link

Just for fun, I made a MySpace page. You can view it by clicking on the MySpace link to the right.

Let it Snow~Let it Snow~Let it Snow

About a week ago we got our first (and probably only) snowfall for the year. At 7:30 in the morning, Gavin wanted to go out and play in it. At first, I hesitated. It was, after all, only 7:30 a.m. But I soon realized that if we waited, it would probably be all melted within a couple of hours. So, we got Gavin all bundled up and he marched through the snow, bent over to touch it, stomp in it and feel what its like to go down the snow-covered slide. Ahh, to be 4 years old again!