One year pics

Notice that Casey's mood changes from happy and cute to screaming and puffy. This is because right after this picture, Casey plummeted face first to the hardwood floor. SMACK. Since the bench was super close to the first, I wasn't worried at first... until I picked him up and blood started pouring out of his mouth. Casey's tooth had gone through his lip and he was practically choking on the HUGE pool of blood in his mouth. We tried a few more pictures after he was iced and cleaned up, but he was done with pictures for sure. See below.

A few things...

I was showing Gavin picture flashcards when he had just turned three. I remember being a little surprised at some of his answers, but a lot of them were pretty cute too. The words on the left are what was actually on the card, the words on the right are what Gavin said they were. To his credit, there were about thirty other cards that he answered correctly. ;)

goat ~ kangaroo
cow ~ walrus (Walrus? Really?)
train ~ fire truck
whistle ~ blowie
queen ~ princess
paint ~ colors
nest ~ Easter eggs (There were eggs in the nest)
monkey ~ dragon
leaf ~ flower
comb ~ cut hair
bike ~ motorcycle (thanks to Daddy ;)
bread ~ donut

Here are some other things they have said lately:

Jacob ~ refers to mosquitos as spaquitos, which cracks me up!
"My favorite number is 1002."
"Casey just knows baby food. God knows everything."
(As the wind shakes his blinds) "I'm scared mommy! Somebody is pushing my window!"
"One hour is sixty minutes so it will be 11:00."

Jacob wanted to know what the biggest number in the world was, so Adam finally told him it was google. Now he refers to everything with oogle. "I have oogle friends. Maine has oogle freeways. (What?) I need a puzzle with oogle pieces."

Another funny thing is that he is really into similies... without even knowing what they are! He'll say things like ~
"Gavin is being loud like a monkey."
"That boy kicked me. He kicked me like a soccer ball!"
"Gavin hit me like a baseball bat!"
"Mommy, it's as cold as snow out here!"

Gavin ~
He was really upset one week when my mom took Jacob home with her. He really missed his brother and wasn't sure what to do without him. Out of nowhere, he said, "Mommy, you bring Jakey back. I too little to bring Jakey back. You bring him back so I can play."

I heard Gavin chewing on something yesterday and it sounded awful, like he was grinding his teeth. I opened his mouth to see what it was and found a rock. There he was, chomping away on an actual ROCK. That's my boy!

Look at all the cool stickers Gavin found!

Neighborhood night out

You might remember this from last year, but we were so excited to take the boys to our annual neighborhood police-community event. There were inflatables, food, spray-on tattoos, and the best part... it was all FREE! You can't beat that for sure. ;)

The kids filled up on hot dogs, chips, fruit, sno-cones, and cotton candy.



They each chose a tattoo

The newest addition was strapping the boys up so they were able to jump several feet into the air! Jacob saw older kids doing flips, so he wanted to make sure his inflatable went strictly up and down. ;) They had a blast!


There were plenty of other inflatables as well...


...unfortunately, this one had a side exit that we weren't aware of. As each of our kids came down the slide at the end, there was no sign of Gavin. After what seemed like forever (but was probably five minutes), my heart started racing. I ran around and through the inflatable several times, worried about the possibility that he was stuck somewhere under or between the walls. One guy helping with the inflatable was looking for him too. Finally, my friend Wendi left the inflatable to search for him. It wasn't long before she found him several feet away, just standing there. Not scared or worried, just standing there. He was missing long enough for my eyes to fill with tears as I saw Wendi holding his hand and walking him back. If that could never happen again, that would be great. ;)

Then we rode the little train back to our house!

Feeling hot, hot, HOT!

We have been having record breaking temperatures in our state this week. The problem with Washington is... it doesn't get hot here very frequently so the majority of houses don't have air conditioning. Our house, being in that category, reached temperatures in the 90s during the day! Thank goodness, we have an air-conditioner in our bedroom so Casey can take naps and if needed, we can hang out in there.

My sister and her family came down, so we were able to take them out on our boat for the first time. Watching the cousins together as they skidded along the water in our tube was the best. Jacob kept giving us the "thumbs down" sign to show that he wanted to go slower, but Maddie and Travis couldn't get enough! So I took them on the tube while Uncle Adam curved around faster than I have ever gone before. How is it that I was screaming at the top of my lungs while my niece and nephew were grinning the entire time? They are brave souls.




My dad and stepmom came on the boat with us also. I am always appreciative that my stepmom is willing to hold Casey so I can get a break out on the water!


What else have we been doing to stay cool? One day, we found an area of shade on the lake so we stopped to anchor the boat. It was really nice just to lounge around on our tube and swim in the lake. We were thrilled to see Gavin inch his way to the back of the boat and slowly ease himself onto the tube! Maybe we didn't damage him for life after all. Jacob, who is usually scared to swim in deep water, jumped in the lake and swam all around in his life jacket. Two major feats in one day.

Other than that, we have been hopping around air-conditioned places like the YMCA, Costco, Target... anything that will keep us away from melting in our house. It's supposed to cool down in a few days. I'm definitely ready for it!

Here is Jacob working on his first 500 piece puzzle. He has been asking me buy him one forever and I kept telling him that it was too many pieces. Finally, I decided what the heck. If he really wants to try a 500 piece puzzle, let him try a 500 piece puzzle. He actually got a great start today (with the fan blowing beside him :) so we'll see how many hours it takes. Hey, at least he's entertained, right?

Here is Casey in the same wardrobe he has spent the last several days in. ;)

11 months

Casey turned 11 months this week and is gearing up for cake and ice cream at his first birthday party! Here are the latest things he has been up to.

*His top two front teeth finally just broke through! He got his first bottom two teeth at six months and we've been waiting five months for more teeth. When he was nursing yesterday though, he bit me with all four teeth and I almost cried. Adam had a worried look on his face and said, "So I guess he is officially weaned now, huh?" Pretty much. Thank goodness he can start on whole milk soon!

*We usually only teach our kids a few things to sign... like more, all done, please, and thank you. Casey really caught onto the "more" sign and uses it constantly when he is in his highchair. He claps his little hands together almost the entire time he is eating! More, more, more! He loves table food, especially fruit, pancakes, and bread. He will eat anything though.

*Casey loves to dance and will bop his little head and body to any music or songs that I sing. My favorite part is when he wakes up in the morning. He's so excited to see me that he bounces up and down while clutching onto the top of his crib. So I immediately start dancing too... which makes him crack up and dance all the harder.

*He is not standing or walking yet. He has been pulling himself up for several months and can easily walk across the room with a walker or our fingers. The second you let go though, he immediately squats down. He has this little mischievous smile that lets you know he doesn't want to do that yet. If he's like Gavin, it won't be anytime soon either. ;)

*Casey is definitely a routine baby. He naps at the exact same times everyday, so we're really messing him up when we go out on the boat. Yesterday, he was hardly able to sleep at all, so this morning he made up for it by taking a 3 and 1/2 hour nap. That is a record for sure!

*Everywhere we go, people are saying he looks more like Gavin lately. I really thought he looked like Gavin when he was first born, then a few months later he looked more like Jacob to me. He does have big eyes like Gavin though. It's fun to hear what people think!

Our Disneyland vacation

Seeing Disneyland through the eyes of our children was priceless. It made getting through security, hauling all of the car seats in order to buckle them into our rental car, driving through LA traffic, spraying our kiddos with water to keep them cool, trying to get everyone asleep in one hotel room, having them all wake up early no matter how late we went to bed, taking turns on rides so Casey could sleep in the stroller, barely making it home on stand-by... all worth it. When you get home, all of that craziness melts away and all you are left with is those precious, unforgettable memories.

As I mentioned before, we weren't planning on going to Disneyland... but I couldn't be more grateful that we went. The fact that Gavin was exactly Jacob's age and Casey was exactly Gavin's age when we went last really made it special. I had all of these memories of what Jacob was like at age 3 in Disneyland, so it was fun to see how Gavin reacted to everything in comparison.

We loved staying at the Howard Johnson last time and when we found out they had a new pirate-themed waterpark, we were sold. They boys anxiously pulled on their swimsuits as soon as we got there to try it out. It had an area for Casey to crawl around in, a shallow pool for Gavin and Jacob to swim in, and a variety of different waterslides. Just like in Legoland, once the giant bucket on top filled with water, it poured on top of everybody.







One of the things I learned is to never, ever take your 3 year-old on Pirates of the Caribbean. ;) Jacob was frightened and crying through the entire ride two years ago, as was Gavin this time. Thankfully, there were some really friendly teenagers in front of us who encouraged him through the entire ride. They kept telling him how brave he was and pointed out all of the sparkling treasures and cute dogs in order to distract him.

After that, we decided to head to Fantasyland for some non-scary, fun little kid rides. It was dark by this time and we could virtually walk onto any ride. Gavin got his first taste of the Dumbo ride, which was Jacob's favorite at his age. I also took the boys on the Casey Jr. train, which is such a cute ride and has always been one of my favorites.


Then Adam spun them around on the tea cups.

One of my favorite memories was running into Mickey Mouse on our way back to the hotel. The boys couldn't be more excited to run into the star of their favorite show. The only thing Jacob couldn't figure out was why he didn't talk! Gavin was completely starstruck and after giving him a hug and taking a picture, he seemed to freeze in time. We called his name and he slowly walked backwards, not taking his eyes away from Mickey for a second. It was adorable.