"Oooh-klahoma where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains..."

We left on Gavin's 8 month "birthday" to head to Oklahoma to visit Uncle Deryl and Aunt Donna. Joe and I had bought tickets for the Big 12 football championship in Dallas, Texas and when I asked Aunt Donna if we could stay, she suggested we pack up the whole crew and we all come on down! It was a great idea--we all had so much fun just relaxing, laughing, and having a great time together.
Joe doesn't understand why I felt the need to take this picture, but I thought it was pretty rare (I mean, right?) it's a tumbleweed that was blowing around and got caught on our antenna!
Last stop in Kansas after stopping for some lunch!

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Sydney snuggling with Aunt Bailey

With the new tutu and puppy she received!

The next morning Joe and I took off for the Lone Star State!
The stadium was quite possibly THE most difficult place to find, EVER. But it was worth it---it was very impressive!

Welcome to Texas!

in our sights...but how do we find our parking lot?!
the view from the top of our section

Saving the best for last--our sweet boy that turned 8 months old on the day we left!

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Gavin!

We went to Delphos for Thanksgiving this year where my grandma hosted it at her house. It was fun seeing family and seeing the kids play with their cousins (well Sydney mostly played, Gavin mostly laid and rolled!)

Gavin playing with Papa Rod

Great Grandma Dodo rocking "Baby Sydney"

Gavin and his cousin Piper playing around!

Sydney and cousin Addison eating "ice cream cones" made by Aunt Rhonda

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Gavin!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." a month too late!

oops! We decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year (sorry Mr. Turkey!). We just couldn't help ourselves! (I say "we"....I mean ME!) I was so excited to get Sydney's help with decorating because I knew she would be more interested in it this year than last. We got up and thanks to Daddy who had already brought our decorations out, we were able to get right to work! First we decorated the tree and then Syd's tree in her room. She was more excited about it than anything else I think!

We used the Barbie ornaments that my mom had bought for me for 17 years (I think?)

Syd's "stamp" of approval: Two thumbs up!

We ended our day with some hot chocolate with marshmallows!

It was such a fun day...next year, I'll an extra little helper. Oh boy! :)

Sydney's Thanksgiving feast at preschool

The week before Thanksgiving Sydney's preschool had a Thanksgiving feast. They made Indian costumes (fully equipped with a papoose for the girls and a bow and arrow for the boys!) and Pilgrim costumes (which hardly anyone wanted according to their teacher because the Indians had much cooler "accessories.") They sang songs and then they had a feast with a guest! It was so sweet and so much fun to see her with her "classmates"! She was so proud and so excited to have us there!

trip to Manhattan!

We went to Manhattan to return Joe's dad's 4-wheeler but also to visit since we hadn't seen them in awhile. It was nice to relax and play and catch up with family!

Gavin snuggling with Grandma Helget

Playing with Aunt Ginny

One of the few pictures we got of Sydney--she was too busy bossing her cousin Alex around!

our little artiste!

Sydney has really been in to drawing and coloring lately. So on our way to Manhattan to pass some time Joe gave her a pen and a note pad. She started drawing family members and only after I realized how great she was doing did I then take some pictures!
Here is Maggie, complete with ears, a tongue and four legs! (we said "how many legs does Maggie have?" and she gave her four!)
And here is her cousin Alex (it's upside down to you of course!)

I was beaming! It was so exciting!!!

Duck....

duck...

duck....

GOOSE!

Sydney came home one day wanting to play this game. It started out with me, Syd, and Gavin participating. After putting Gavin to bed she recruited her dad...and a few "friends" to join in the fun! It was so much fun to watch!

7 and a half months later...

Gavin's room finally has something on the walls! It took me at least 6 months to order the prints and another month to get my husband to hang them up. It was no simple task--he had grids made and measurements calculated to the nearest 1/8 of an inch. It was ridiculous. But that's how his brilliant engineer mind words I suppose and I am grateful for it because the end result is wonderful! I got the letters (actually JOE made his first ever Michael's run for me for the letters--what a guy!), I painted them, he hung them.

Homework time!

Our wonderful daycare provider, Miss Amanda, also teaches preschool and Sydney tags along. We have not officially enrolled her but she loves to participate in the preschool lessons and activities. On this day we were supposed to find a yellow, red, or orange leaf to return to school and we knew just the tree to pick from! We have (well, had) this tree with the most beautiful golden yellow leaves, so we went right to work!

Finding the perfect leaf....

and keeping it safe in the stroller....with the hunting jeep...

Movie Night!

One night after Gavin went to bed we decided to have a movie night! Just Daddy, Mommy, and Sydney. We rented the movie "Toy Story 3", popped some popcorn, got in to our pajamas, grabbed some blankets and settled in!
Movie night wouldn't be complete without Penguino :)

Sydney, our little "cheerleader"

Hopefully she does this on Saturday, cheering the Huskers on to victory!

Hey....what you lookin' at?

What's going on back there?....
huh?...

7 months ago....

our sweet baby boy was born. I say it every month, but I honestly cannot believe it! He is such a joy, I feel so blessed to have him as a part of our family! I think his 7th month has been his busiest by far!!

Here are some things he is doing now:

• eating two stage 2 jars of food for lunch and supper, plus a breakfast of cereal and fruit. His favorites are green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, and any and all fruits. (just like his sister! only she loved peas and hated green beans)
• rolling to toys to play with and playing while on his tummy (though not for long)
• drooling, gnawing, chewing, sucking, on anything and everything.in.sight. Teeth are so close...I am certain!
• sticking his tongue out to be funny
• rocks on his tummy--"swims"
• reaches for our noses, eyes, ears, hair
• loves to smile at Sydney and laugh at her
• still is such a mellow little man--very patient and sweet and snuggly!

We love you Gavin!

Delphos Weekend

Okay so this post will be in reverse order since I am too lazy right now to reverse all the photos. :)

We headed back to Delphos last weekend to be with family as we remembered our mom. Saturday, the 23rd, marked one year since her passing. It blows my mind to think I have lived this long without my mom. Then to think of living the rest of my life without her is just unfathomable and quite heartbreaking actually. I am so sad that my children will not have vivid memories of her, only those that we keep alive through stories, books, and pictures of Mom. I know in my heart she is watching over us and especially over her grandbabies, but every day I still wish she were here with us. I am glad she is no longer in pain and no longer has to struggle through the days--I am glad that she has been reunited with her loved ones in Heaven that passed before her. But that doesn't take away the pain of missing her.

One thing Bailey and I wanted to do was to plant something at Mom's headstone-so Sydney helped to pick out this beautiful bright, colorful mum. We didn't get out there until Saturday afternoon but it was a windy and pretty evening.

Earlier that day we had enjoyed lunch at Grandma Dodo's house--afterward the "big" girls (who used to be the babies!) played outside!

Sydney talking with Grandma Dodo

Getting the sidewalk chalk ready to go!

a praying mantis by the girls as they were coloring!

Grandma Dodo, Gavin, and Sydney with her pink Tina Turner wig

She was pretty proud of her new 'do!

The current "babies"...Gavin and Piper; they are approximately 3.5 months apart in age

the little Mister playing :)