4th of July!

Happy 4th! What a great long weekend! The boys kept busy with lots of activities including watching fireworks, boating, and participating in a parade! We started out the weekend at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Jeanie's. Owen was excited to be reunited with the red mustang power wheel! Gavin enjoyed playing catch with Uncle Daniel and Grandpa. We brought the boys to a firework show that night and while Owen was beyond excited, Gavin was not a fan. He didn't completely loose it but sat on my clap completely wrapped around me and asked to go to the car several times. :( The next day we had fantastic weather and took advantage of it by heading out on Grandpa's boat. The boys BOTH enjoyed this activity! The lake was "no wake" so it was perfect for doing some age appropriate tubing. :)The next day we got a lucky opportunity to meet the Jungman's for coffee. It was a short visit, but delightful nonetheless! We then headed to Grandma Theresie's for the remainder of the weekend. Owen helped Grandma make muffins and she helped him make a cool fort out of a giant box. Joel and I headed to Story City that afternoon for his Aunt Clela's funeral. She lost her battle with cancer last week, but we know she is at peace now. Joel and brother Jennon sang several beautiful songs during the service and even got some claps! Seemed both strange and fitting. It's just the effect their talent has on people. That night we brought Grandma Great (my Grandma Finnegan) to dinner and enjoyed hearing the story of how she met my Grandpa Finnegan. Monday morning we had a blast preparing for the 50th annual Waterbury Circle 4th of July celebration. We decorated a wagon for the boys to ride in and gathered with the neighbors for the short but sweet parade around the circle. The boys had fun riding in the parade and checking out the classic firetruck that followed behind them. We spent the rest of the morning enjoying the brunch, playing outside and enjoying the day. We hit the road in the early afternoon and were able to meet Grandma Cyndie and Grandpa Carroll for ice cream at Coldstone. Gavin loved watching the kids toss the ice cream in the air when they mixed it with the toppings. We made it home in time to grill for dinner and hang with our next door neighbors. Owen got to stay up for more fireworks. Poor Gavin retreated to the house after hearing a few rockets the neighbors lit, but luckily he was able to fall right to sleep. All in all a great weekend!
PS-I realized that an error occurred with the last slideshow of their swimming lessons. It was only showing 5 of the photos. Problem is resolved and all of the photos are there now.

               

These are a couple of little videos from the weekend. The first is Owen & Uncle Daniel getting silly in the tube. The second is the boys riding in the wagon during the Waterbury parade. Enjoy!

2011

Swimming Lessons!

I realized today that I forgot to post photos of the boys from there last session of swim lessons. They both really enjoyed the pool time and made progress on their skills. Owen passed 6 out of 8 skills which is excellent, but needs to pass all 8 to move on. So he will continue in the pike level when he takes his next round (probably in the fall). Gavin is ready to move on to the sea horse level which transitions the parent component out. Yeah me!

Enjoy the photos!


                                

Happy Birthday Gavin!

Gavin James is 2 years old! We celebrated his birthday over the weekend with friends and family. We were so thankful that the weather cleared up just in time for our BBQ. Gavin had a blast and was so excited to receive such wonderful gifts! He had his 2yr check-up on Friday and he is growing like crazy! He is now 31bs (83%) and 35 1/2 inches (80%). Joel and I joke that he is a little hulk, especially because he is now only 5lbs lighter than big brother Owen!! Now that Gavin is 2 he was able to try peanut butter for the first time and he loved it! He now asks for it regularly!

The other big news of the weekend is that Gavin is moving into his big boy bed. I am not sure who was more excited about this Owen or Gavin! Owen kept telling everyone the exciting news all weekend! He is so excited to have Gavin sleeping below him in their bunk bed. Tonight was the first night in the new bed and it was an amazing success! He only had to be put back in bed once before falling asleep!

Two weeks until summer break! We are really excited for some summer fun!

              

Easter!

The boys had a fantastic Easter weekend. Both boys had fun Easter parties at school and Jenny's on Friday morning. Then we hit the road for a weekend in Iowa. We saw lots of Grandparents and family. They enjoyed dying eggs, an easter egg hunt and playing with a new power wheel mustang that Grandpa Mike surprised them with. Owen especially loved the mustang and literally spent hours outside driving it around, "fixing the engine" and "air pump" and filling it with gas. Gavin intially got right in with Owen but was quick to realize Owen was not the safest driver around and said all done! After he had a good nap, and Owen got some much needed driving practice, Gavin gave it another go and they cruised around the neighborhood together. They also got some cool red shades in their Easter baskets. They looked quite studly wearing them while driving in the red mustang even if it wasn't sunny!

I can't believe that next month Gavin will be 2 yrs old! He has grown so fast and continues to entertain everyone around him. He has a great sense of humor and enjoys making others laugh. His Easter card from Grandma Cyndie and Grandpa Carroll was a knock, knock joke and Gavin loved it! He walked around telling it, or parts of it, to everyone all weekend. He would laugh and say, "That's funny!" Gavin is also enjoying the time we get to be outside. He likes playing soccer and catch with a ball. He is looking more and more like he will be if a lefty, but it's still pretty early so we have to wait and see!

Both boys started swimming lessons last week. They went well and they are both excited to go back tomorrow. Owen loved that they let him swim with a toy bus.We'll post some pictures soon! Enjoy the Easter pictures!


                                

Spring Break or so we thought...

    This past week was my week off for spring break. Unfortunately mother nature didn't cooperate and we spent all week indoors. Never the less we had a lot of fun and the boys stayed busy. We enjoyed lots of play dates with friends, had marathon play sessions with some of their favorite toys and of course lots of dance parties!
   Gavin is now 22 months and so much fun! He loves playing and laughing with Owen, Joel and I. He continues to enjoy puzzles, legos, trains and books. We had a full morning of building and playing with trains and geo tracks on Saturday. The little guy was in heaven! Gavin has become more of climber, if that is even possible. He regularly gets bruises on his forehead and body from jumping or falling off furniture. Warmer weather will hopefully help release some of this energy.
   Owen is all about being a 4 yr old. A lot of his sentences start out with, "Mom 4 yr olds get to...". We are convinced that Owen is in a growth spurt right now. His appetite has increased, he is sleeping a little bit more and we also had to move him into 5T pants. Owen has really been into making trailers for his trucks and cars. He is very creative using drum sticks and toy bins to connect his trucks together. Owen is also looking forward to more outside time. He is always looking for ways to get some "exercise". He even did a yoga with me the other day which was so funny! His favorite pose was the "up dog" pose and the savasana at the end!

We are looking forward to fun filled April! Enjoy the photos!


       

Owen's Dancersize class

Owen's Dancersize class had a performance day for parents last week. Joel was able to go and get it on camera.

dancersize

Owen is 4!

Our big boy is another year older! Owen is 4 yrs and very proud of it! He had a great time celebrating his birthday last weekend. He brought treats to school on Friday, had a party on Saturday and a special birthday breakfast on Sunday! He really enjoyed seeing all his friends and family and loved all the great gifts he received. Owen had his 4yr check-up today and his stats are- 42 inches  tall (84%) and 35.2 lbs (41%).     A healthy guy! Both boys have grown and changed so much in the last few months here are some things that they are into-

Owen-
Loves playing "Mom & Dad" or "School" ( basically anything that gives him an opportunity to be in charge of someone else ;) He uses stuffed animals and imaginary friends to carry out lots of scenarios. It has been so sweet watching his empathy develop. He is so thoughtful and caring to his "children" and "students".
Cook with mommy. Owen really likes to help make dinner and does a really good job being safe in the kitchen.
Drawing and writing his name
Anything related to Disney's Car Movie! Playing with the cars, reading the books, watching the movie, role playing the movie, singing/dancing to the soundtrack, etc!
Dancing and taking Dancersize class
Reading and sounding out words. Owen has several sight words and can sound out many 3-4 letter words. Owen also reads familiar books to Gavin.
Picking out his clothes and pajamas. "Mom it is not cool to wear stripes everyday!" Owen would prefer to wear a car on his shirt everyday!
Last but not least Owen loves talking and talking and talking!

Gavin-
Puzzles and blocks
ABC magnets
Trains! Owen may be the car guy, but Gavin is definitely a "Choo, choo" guy
Singing- his favorites are Old Mac Donald, The Zipper song, Twinkle, Twinkle and Rock-a-Bye Baby. It is very common to find him sitting with blocks singing one of these songs to himself. When he is tired he comes up to mom and says "rock-a-bye baby mama" which means take me to the recliner for some snuggles. So sweet!
Curious George, Elmo and Wonder Pets are the characters that Gavin loves!
Counting- he can count 1-11 and then jumps to 18!
Helping- Gavin really likes to help mommy. He likes to bring dishes to the sink after meals, put dirty clothes in the hamper, put on his own boots and hat and clean up toys.
Talking-Gavin is so social, always greeting everyone. His vocabulary is growing and he is using more full sentences.
Hanging with Daddy! Gavin is growing out of his mama's boy stage and really loves rough housing and being silly with Daddy! He no longer cries when mommy has to leave because he gets to "play with Daddy!".


Enjoy the pics! Soon to come a video from Owen's Dancersize class and a new section called "Quotes of the Month".