First time seeing train table...

Here's a video clip from Christmas morning. Gavin was just starting to whine, but he stopped as soon as he saw the train table. It wasn't the reaction we hoped for, but you can tell he liked it...

Merry Christmas to all!

I think every year Christmas is going to become increasingly fun as Gavin begins to understand it more and more. Obviously, he does not know the true religious meaning behind the holiday yet. We will talk more about that next year! But he understands that Santa Claus brings presents if he is not naughty and he told us for months that he wanted a train from Santa. We thought for sure when we took him to see Santa at the mall that he would like it. But, stranger anxiety took over and his favorite phrase of the season became "Dun like it, ho ho ho!"

It was another story though after he saw his brand new train table waiting for him on Christmas morning. Then his favorite phrase became "Thank you Santa Claus!" We must have heard him say that at least 20 times on Christmas and the day after.


Overall, it was a really wonderful holiday despite the fact that our financial situation isn't exactly ideal. Gavin was spoiled as usual and our home was filled with so much love and happiness. I must admit, Santa Claus was good to all of us... so I also have to chime in and say a great big THANK YOU SANTA CLAUS!! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

These have to be the three most adorable kids ever!

Great Grandpa Joe is still looking good!

Grandma bought the Grandchildren recordable books and had the Great Grandpas
read the story so that their voices can be heard for a long time.

Here is what Santa left!
Christmas Morning!

This is Aunt Tiffy Claus!!
At the end of the day, he just wanted to sit back in his new recliner!

Reading video clip...

Just another cute video of our little man "reading" Hop on Pop. He is also starting to memorize "Mr Brown can Moo can you?" He loves those Dr. Seuss books...

Christmas Lane

We live about 15 minutes away from this neat display of lights and decor called "Christmas Lane!" Gavin absolutely LOVED it there. They had life sized figurines, thousands of lights, a ride on train and the biggest Christmas tree I have seen! Gavin didn't ride the train because he was too scared to go on without Mom or Dad, but he really wanted to. He must have repeated "Ride on train" a hundred times! We plan on going back to visit Santa Claus. Our last attempt to take Gavin to see Santa was a miserable fail. Now he keeps saying "Dun like it, ho ho ho!" so we'll see how our second attempt this year goes...

The train he was too scared to ride alone...

Holiday Fun!

I got my first advent Calendar this year and I think it is pretty cool. Every single day I get to open a window and I try a piece of chocolate as we count down to Christmas day. Last time I opened it, I shared my piece of chocolate with all my ornament friends; the Angel, the Kitty, the Mouse, the Baby and the Snowman. I LOVE this time of year!


Mommy is also helping me become more creative. I worked with glitter glue and stickers this week! It wasn't too messy and I had fun!

Gobble, Gobble!

Gavin made his second craft project of the holiday season (if you count Halloween). I traced his hands and feet and we made a turkey together. He did not enjoy this project as much as the Halloween ones. He liked when I traced his hands, but got bored with the coloring, gluing and waiting for Mommy to cut out the pieces. Oh well, it still turned out cute and he was proud!

Empathy

em⋅pa⋅thy

 –noun

1.	the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2.	the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself: By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.

Dear Empathy,

My dear sweet 22 month old son, Gavin, has found you. What a wonderful milestone this is! He can now anticipate what other people are feeling, commiserate, sympathize and is truly starting to understand feelings. It is too bad with the current economic status of our country that some people have lost you. One can only hope that it will change with time...

Yours Truly,
Gavin's Mommy

Dr. Seuss

Gavin is a little obsessed with Dr. Seuss books....especially "Hop on Pop", but he also loves "Mr Brown can Moo can you?" and the "ABC" book. At least he LOVES to read...
Oh and here is another silly ABC singing video for Nana, Papa and Aunt Tiff....

Trick-or-treat

What a day! I went to a Halloween party at Aunt Tiff's house. Then, I went trick or treating for the first time with my Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Tiff, Nana,Papa and Dwight. I really enjoyed it, but I am not sure why they put me in such a hot costume when it was 80 degrees out? I was covered in sweat by the end! What were they thinking? I also tried to go into some people's houses and check out their decor. I don't see why Mommy wouldn't let me...

Pumpkin Festival!

Today we went to Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival. They had a huge corn maze (which we decided not to do because we didn't want to pay to get lost), pony rides, a free circus, toddler hay maze, petting zoo, games, art show and of course, pumpkins. It was a little colder and windier than we expected it to be, but otherwise a good time was had by all! Gavin went on his first pony ride (he cried until the pony started moving) , walked through his first hay maze and saw a man made pumpkin patch for the first time. You could tell he didn't know what to think of the whole experience. Sometimes he is hard to read and you can't really tell if he is having a good time. He acted the same way went we went to Disney World. But when it was all over and we were in the car he started saying "Pumpkin Fun!" So, I guess he enjoyed himself!

Yeah, we are the only parents who were
crazy enough to let their child under age 2 attempt the maze himself. He made if halfway through alone! We went with him one time before he did it by himself!
Where's Gavin? See his head in the middle?

Searching for the perfect pumpkin to take home...

Oh no! NOT THIS ONE!

Maybe a smaller one...

This is it Mama!

And, last but not least, here is a video clip of his first pony ride (Pheww! Now I think we got this whole day covered)...