The Longs

Horseshoe Bay/Austin-Summer 2011

2011-11-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

In July, we got to spend time with Aunt B, Amanda, Heidi, Brady, Uncle Barry, Aunt Cindy, Meg, Pat. :) Gavin and I only stayed for part of the visit before moving on to see Ebub in Austin, but the time we had there was great! Horseshoe Bay is a beautiful place and we are so lucky that we got to spend some time there. Here are pics of a few of the highlights:

Lots of swimming

Feeding the ducks

Hula hooping with Heidi

Bean bag "toss"

Really big checkers between Brady and Amanda

Uncle Barry showing us how to hula hoop :)

Gavin's BFF, Brady

Holding and feeding birds

Beautiful scenery

I put this bird down right after this picture...and good thing, because he pooped. :)

Then it was off to Austin, where we got to see Bizbo (Elizabeth) and Chris, aka, The Pearsons! We had lots of fun at Zilker Park riding the train...and of course, we ate lots. We ate at Franklins BBQ after E read about it in a magazine...and it was A-MAZING. Gavin was such a trooper for waiting in that long line...it was worth it! :)

The train at Zilker Park

Feeding the ducks before Franklins

Waiting in line at Franklins

Gavin and Ebub/"Bizbo"

Such a trooper :)

Love yall, B

July 4, 2011

2011-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Originally, when I realized how far behind I was, I was going to try and catch up backwards. But, that goes against my Type A personality. So, I'm going back to where I stopped...kind of hit me like a ton of bricks today when I realized what I'd be writing about, but here goes: July 4, 2011. What seemed at the time like just another routine July 4 that we would be repeating again next year is now, 4 months later, one of the times I will treasure more than I realized I ever would.

We had our sweet friends, The Colbergs and The Lewises, over for "grilled pizzas"...afterwards, everyone confessed they weren't sure what I was thinking when I suggested that for dinner, but they turned out amazing and we have had them many times since. :) (see below for recipe link) I never had any doubts since Melissa had made them for us before.

Anyhow, it was a fun night with friends and the kids playing together. Once it got dark, we drove to a nearby empty spot to watch the McKinney fireworks. Wouldn't trade that time for anything.

Lindsay with all of the kids piled on her! :)

3 Cuties

Watching fireworks in the back of Stephen's truck

"Cheese"

Not so much "cheese" for me :)

Recipe for grilled pizzas:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grilled-pizza/detail.aspx

Love y'all, B

The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm 2011

2011-10-30T05:59:00.001-07:00

The second weekend in October, we made our annual trip to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in Celina. Grumps got to go with us this year and we met our friends the Colbergs and the Lewises there. It's fun to see how Gavin enjoys it differently each year as he gets older.

Love yall, B

Why I love October

2011-10-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been almost 4 months...and believe you me, so many things have happened in those four months, it will take me forever to catch up. But, I'm going to try! I'll start with the most recent: our 2011 pumpkins!

This is the beginning of my favorite time of year. The weather has cooled off, college football is in full swing, there are pumpkins everywhere, Thanksgiving is close and Christmas is around the corner.

Thursday night, we carved pumpkins and watched the Rangers when they were supposed to clinch their first World Series. It didn't happen for the Rangers, but our pumpkins turned out cute!

Love, B

Fossil Rim

2011-07-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, Stephen wanted to have a "fun family day" outing. We decided to go to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, TX and then to Dinosaur Valley park to swim for a little bit. It was H.O.T., but it was so much fun! Here are a few of the pictures...

Looking at some deer :)

Gavin's first "feeding" attempt...

I thought this thing was going to peck my eyes out...it was literally this close...no zoom.

These are my favorite animals to feed there...so much personality! :)

Brushing the goats

Happy Father's Day picture! :)

Feeding the giraffes :)

Love yall,

Texas Rangers a.k.a. "Tek Janges"

2011-06-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Gavin to his first Texas Rangers game! He and Stephen watch the games on TV all the time together...we've been waiting until we thought he was old enough, so Gavin and I decided to get Stephen tickets for Father's Day!

It was the Rangers vs. Astros, Tech Alumni Night, Dollar Hot Dog Night, and Autograph Wednesday! So, we picked a good night! :) Gavin did really well considering we were there for about an hour before the game started....One of the workers gave him a warm-up ball! So fun! :) He sat through the first 2 innings mesmerized and then wanted to play in the junior Rangers play area. We made it back to our seats for innings 6 and 7 and then we called it a night. Thankfully, we weren't around to see them lose the only game they lost to the Astros this series!

Getting ready to head to the ballpark

Me taking a picture of every "first" moment for Gavin

Gavin and Stephen with Rusty Greer! :) He signed Gavin's hat for him!

Family pic by the Rangers dugout

Stephen wouldn't sit on the dugout with us! :)

That $ hot dog was yummy...

Playing a game in the kid's area....

Texas Rangers Plinko...who knew?

Deciding to sit by himself for a little while...

We finally found the horse and this was the best picture we got...Gavin was looking for him all night but then panicked once we actually found him! :)

Fort Worth Zoo

2011-06-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, we decided to take Gavin to the Fort Worth Zoo. We are all about visiting the animals lately! Stephen has so many great memories of this zoo and always tells me how great it is...and it is! :) I think I might have been when I was younger, but I didn't remember any of it. We loved it! Even though it was hot, there are so many areas with shade and indoors with AC that the heat was totally bearable.

It was extra fun because we got to go with The Lewis Family! Gavin and Brody were hilarious together! Here are a few of the highlights! Please pardon the sweatiness...

Love, B

Green Thumbs

2011-06-14T14:25:00.001-07:00

Well, we all know I can't keep a plant alive! Thank goodness Stephen and Gavin can! :)

Here's how we started our garden in April...

And here's how it looks today...we picked our first green beans and okras today!

Love, B

Ever seen a Zonkey?

2011-06-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

That's right....a Zebra Donkey. :) It's not a very good picture, but look at the legs.

The weekend after my birthday, Stephen and I decided to take Gavin to a place that his cousins Joel and Jenn had told us about...Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch! It was SO much fun, but it was also very educational and interactive. We all loved it. I would highly recommend it to anyone! Here are a few pics:

Baby Kangaroo in a pouch...that's how he naps/sleeps every day!

Feeding the baby kangaroos

A baby zebra

Up close with the kangaroo

Petting a baby lemur

Baby camel feeding :)

On the "safari" ride

Those camels knew we were there to feed them! :)

Love yall, B

Easter 2011

2011-05-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sure, most everyone is thinking of summer, since school is out next week. But, in blog world, I'm back in April. Here are just a few of the pics I took from our Easter weekend. We went to "Operation Egg Drop" on Saturday morning and then we had Kate's 3rd birthday party after. We had a wonderful lunch on Sunday after church (complete with a mini egg hunt) with Stephen's family. It was a GREAT weekend! :)

A helicopter dropping eggs out for LOTS of people to "hunt"

Gavin was MESMERIZED! :)

Not so much a fan of the actual gathering of the eggs...he was much more impressed with the helicopter part.

painting at Kate's purple party at Walls of Clay in downtown McKinney

first taste of a Cadbury egg...sure to be a favorite if he's anything like his mama :)

Easter morning after church...Nana and Gavin

Easter egg hunt with "JacKate"

Kate found the golden egg! :)

That tricky Easter bunny....

Family photo :)

Love yall,

A Kid in Cabela's

2011-05-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

April 14 was a special day for my husband. Cabela's opened in Allen, TX.

Now, the Grand Opening took place in the middle of the day on a Thursday, but all the celebrities showed up on Saturday. Saturday, April 16, my friends, was the day Stephen got up at 5:45 and was the first person in line at Cabela's. He told us he got to high five everyone as he walked in...it was such a special day for him. :) The store opened at 9, but he was there at 6:45. :) Gavin and I joined him at 9. Here are the pictures of him with some of his heroes he met that day!

Jim Shockey

The Kiskys

Mr. Frank Buck

he even engraved a little knife pin for Gavin...so sweet

"Pigman"

Will Primos

The Bone Collector Boys--T-Bone, Nick Mundt and Michael Waddell

David Morris

Larry Weishuhn

Everyone was so nice and so personable. We really had a good time!

Love yall, B

OOOOOklahoma :)

2011-05-15T12:22:00.001-07:00

The first weekend in April, we got to go to Oklahoma with our sweet friends, Shane, Kelly, Carson and Avery! They have a beautfiul cabin up there, and they were sweet enough to invite us for a visit! We had tried to go earlier in the fall, but Gavin got sick right as we were leaving. So, I'm so happy we finally made it! It was so much fun! Here are just a few pics from the weekend!

Carson and Gavin "cheesing" :)

We decided to ride the train in Beavers Bend State Park...and it ran right off the track. Notice our boys trying to help get it back on! :) The people running it told us "it was no big deal"

We also got to spend some time at Girls Gone Wine. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are ever in Broken Bow/Beaver's Bend. It's a lot of fun! :) We took the kids down to the river. It was a bit chilly, but they didn't seem to mind it!

Thank you Daniels family! :)

Love, B

New Orleans--Spring Break 2011

2011-04-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

As usual, I am way behind...and I think this post is out of order. But, actually that's just about perfect for life right now

We started our trip to New Orleans at 4 AM on the Thursday of Spring Break. I thought this was an insane plan, but it actually worked out perfectly. We were in Shreveport for breakfast by 7 to eat at Cracker Barrel.

Plus, we made it to Baton Rouge in time to have lunch with my sweet cousin Jared and his fiance Katie! :) So excited to go back to LA in May for their wedding!

In between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, we stopped at Cajun Country. Stephen humored me and let us pull over to see a bunch of alligator stuff! :)

We got to Aunt Cindy and Uncle Barry's in the afternoon, and Uncle Barry was sweet enough to buy us some crawfish that we got to enjoy in a beautiful park! It was perfect. Thank you Greens for your hospitality! :) We had so much fun!

eating crawfish at the park

Gavin and Aunt Cindy

riding the carousel at Lafreniere Park

Friday, we headed down to the French Quarter to hang out with the Johnson/Snow side of the family. We got to hang out with my cousins and have beignets. We had dinner with my cousin Carrie, her husband Rey, and their wonderful girls, Cristina and Isa. Gavin loves these girls! I'm pretty sure he was the only 2 year old on Bourbon St.

getting beads on Bourbon street

so proud of his big boy bed at our Bed N' Breakfast :)

Saturday, we rode the street car to Mardis Gras World and had lunch with Grumps and Grandma.

getting ready to ride the street car

at Mardis Gras World

lunch in the French Quarter

my sweet Snow cousins, Shannah and Danah

T.R.O.U.B.L.E...they were so cute together! :)

Matt and Midge...so sweet! :)

playing bridesmaid with the cousins :)

Margaret Mae Johnson

2011-04-06T17:58:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago today, my sweet grandmother passed away and earned her wings in heaven (as my cousin Danah put it :)).

I just want to use a this post on the blog to remember her...I want Gavin to know everything about her, but I know there's no way he could ever understand what an amazing woman she was. I'll just do my best to explain it! :)

Grandma was the kindest, most gentle and giving person...yet she was stronger than anyone I know. She was always happy and cheerful, but when she was serious, you knew she meant business. She met and married the love of her life, William, my Pa, when she was a teenager. Together, they had four kids...2 girls and 2 boys. Above all, Pa and her family were the most important thing to her. She LOVED golfing, fishing, playing cards, and Law & Order. My grandma was a pancreatic cancer survior for several years...something that's very rare, but that's so fitting for her. She was a rarity. :)

From the time I was born until a couple of years ago, Grandma and Pa lived in Hideaway Lake, a community in Lindale, TX. Growing up, we had family Christmases there and I was fortunate enough to spend parts of summers there growing up. Here are just some of the things I remember growing up...

Fishing off the dock with hot dogs and cheese

Swinging on the porch swing that would hit the wall if you swung too high :)

Jumping on the neighbors trampoline

Playing the penny/quarter game on the stairs

Decorating Christmas cookies..it was a tradition! :)

Playing pool...but only with your hands until you were old enough to use a cue

Don't Spill the Beans (with REAL beans people)

Watching Wheel of Fortune with Grandma on her little TV while Pa watched something in the living room 10 feet away on the big TV

Eating frozen chocolate milk

Playing spades

Going to church and AWANAs...especially church on Christmas Eve

Watching some good rounds of golf

Swimming at the pool and walking downstairs from the pool to the beach on Hideaway Lake...this was the coolest thing to a little girl.

Paddle Boat rides

Grandma's Boneless Birds

Sneaking Orange Slices or whatever other candy was on the bottom shelf of the pantry. :)

The grandfather and cuckoo clocks

"Rudolph" at Christmas hanging over the fire place (he was really an elk my Pa put a red ball on)

Grandma's "God Don't Make No Junk" poster hanging by the sink

Sitting in the windowsill playing with all of the toys she kept there for her grandkids

Playing in the spillway

Going for walks around the neighborhood

Timberline

Taking your shoes off before you walked on the carpet

Grandma drinking her Swiss Mocha

She lived a full and wonderful life. I learned so much from her that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I am blessed to have called her my grandma.

Love yall,

PARTY!!!

2011-03-27T13:11:00.001-07:00

I must admit, I'm becoming quite the fan of birthday parties! :)

The weekend after Gavin's birthday, we got to celebrate our cousin Ayden! Ayden had a Little Mermaid party complete with a Little Mermaid bounce house, balloons, cupcakes and all kinds of fun stuff! Thank you Joel and Jenn for a great time! :)

The day after Ayden's party, we got to celebrate Gavin's favorite friend at school, Jenny! Her parents were sweet enough to invite us to a party at Bounce U! He was so adorable with her. He would not bounce in an area unless she was there, and if she left, he said "Where's Jenny?" until we found her! Bounce U knows how to throw a great party! :) We had lots of fun!

The next weekend, we were in New Orleans to celebrate my cousin Matt's wedding! It was so much fun, but we had to miss our sweet friend Brody's 2nd birthday party! Happy Birthday Brody! :)

Happy Birthday to all the March birthdays we know! Hope y'all have had a great month!!!

Love y'all,

Gavin's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Gavin's 2nd Birthday on his actual birthday, March 5, 2011! I love it when birthdays fall on a weekend! :)

As most of you know, I had a small accident earlier in the week while trying to prepare part of Gavin's birthday cake. After a trip to the ER and lots of tears, I did not make his cake. We ordered a plain cake from Market Street and placed his favorite tools around it. It turned out cute, and it was really yummy. At least I will always remember his 2nd birthday, right? :)

We started off the day with breakfast with Grumps, BeBe and TPaw at Cafe Brazil! That place is delicious! :) Gavin thinks so, too.

Grumps and Grandma surprised Gavin with his very own tractor for his birthday. He's been riding and "fixing" it like crazy! As you can see, Maya is thrilled as usual! :)

Later in the afternoon we had a small party at a local place in McKinney called Jump 'N Land. We had so much fun and will definitely be going back for play dates this summer. It's a place full of inflatables and it's only $8 to play all you want during the week!

Since Gavin hadn't had enough sugar, we went to dinner and he got his first restaurant birthday surprise. My family embarassing me at restaurants on my birthday are some of my best memories growing up. So, of course I will embarass Gavin. Boston's didn't sing, but they still brought him a treat! :)

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us, both near and far! We love you! :)

We are so proud of our "big boy" and can't wait for what this year holds. We are already getting glimpses of the "Terrible 2s" but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Love yall, B

Valentine's Day

2011-03-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

I know it's officially March, which has nothing to do with Valentine's, but I never got around to posting our pics from Valentine's. We had a fun, family Valentine's Day that I wouldn't trade for anything. Stephen surprised me with a Rangers shirt and some candy that morning, and he surprised Gavin with a Rangers hat! :) Then, Gavin and I suprised Stephen that night by taking him fishing and having a sushi picnic. Love my two boys...now more than ever! :)

Lions, Tigers, and...Giraffes? Oh My!

2011-02-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Aunt Melissa, we found that the Dallas Zoo has discounted admission in January and February during their "Penguin Days"....Stephen, Gavin and I took advantage of a beautiful day a couple weekends ago to go visit all of the animals. They have opened a new exhibit called the "Giants of the Savanna." We literally got to touch a giraffe and it was AWESOME! :) Here are just a few of the many pics I took.

Ready to go....

Penguin Days

Riding on the monorail...

The chimps...check out the baby on the left!

The awesome elephants...

Look how beautiful he is!!!!

Get my good side please...

I think he's smiling...This was my favorite part of the day!

Driving a jeep...I am almost 2 after all. :)

Well, hello Mr. Kangaroo...

Checking out the cool fish tank!

Petting a goat at the petting zoo...Gavin cornered him a few times! :)

We're in Texas, right?

2011-02-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Today, Gavin and I are home for our 5th "snow" day...FIFTH! And let me be clear, there are no complaints from this girl...I'm just plain shocked!

Last week, we went to school only on Monday. This was a good thing for the Long family because Gavin and I were sick on Tuesday. We were mostly better on Wednesday, and by Thursday, I was stir-crazy. We braved the ice and went to Chick-Fil-A (sidenote: I don't think I could love a place more than I love CFA)...then, between Thursday night and Friday morning, we got 6 inches of snow! :) Stephen got to stay home with us and Friday was a fun day (see me sledding in the turtle sandbox below)!

Gavin venturing out in the snow...he didn't get far because his shoes got wet and he freaked out! We made a trip to Wal Mart for some rain boots! :)

Me trying to explain to Gavin that if he touches the snow, his hands will get wet and be "co" (cold)...he didn't seem to want to hear it...we also bought gloves at Wal Mart!

We made our first batch of snow ice cream! :)

Getting ready for some fun in the snow...note the 4-wheeler and the Little Tykes turtle in the background! :) See his cute boots? :)

Posing with mama. :)

Gavin did not like this as much as I did! :) It was AWE-SOME!

We don't have any pictures from today...I'm still in my PJs at 2:00 in the afternoon, and the wind chill is -1 or 0...I'm not going anywhere! :)

Supposedly it's going to warm up again this weekend? This weather is CRA-ZY!

Love yall, B

"Where a kid can be a kid!" :)

2011-02-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

Two Saturdays ago, January 22, we had one of the most fun days we've had as a family. We started out the morning by celebrating Jackson's 5th birthday and the McAdams' home! They had a bounce house, yummy food and yummy cake! It was such a nice party! I can't believe sweet Jackson is 5. It took him a little bit to warm up to all the boncing, but eventually Gavin was in love.

Later that night, Stephen and I took Gavin on his first trip to Chuck E. Cheese! It was SO much fun. I had been there before with friends and kids that I babysat before I had Gavin, but there's something about taking your child and seeing his face light up that is priceless! :)

A safe distance from Chuck E. He was freaked out when he started moving and dancing! :)

A little product placement?

This is what he did when Stephen said "cheese"

Gavin's favorite ride of the night. I know because we did it 3 times.

Mini Carousel

He couldn't really play this, but he didn't seem to mind!

Playing Mommy's favorite game! :)

His 2nd favorite...He liked the dog next to him I think. It's kind of creepy.

My favorite picture of the night...they were so cute playing this!

Counting the tickets!!!

The grand total!

Here's what 205 tickets will get you...Stephen picked out the "trick gum" so beware friends!

Love yall, B

Gavin's Surgery

2011-01-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

I know I'm about 3 weeks behind on everything, but I still want to document it. I keep telling myself I'm going to make a blog book, so I want to be good about writing about things I want to remember. Goodness knows, I dropped the ball on a baby book! It's sort of filled out, so I guess that counts for something.

Gavin had been getting so many ear infections that Ms. Sabrina referred us to an ENT for a visit. They did his hearing test and he did fine, but he recommended getting tubes because the ear infections were happening about once a month...Gavin even had one the very next day after we saw the ENT, Dr. Thrasher. That, paired with the fact that he was so congested that he would cough until he threw up about twice a day helped us to make the decision to go ahead and get tubes and have his adenoids removed at the same time! Lucky for us, there was an appointment available on December 30!

We woke up really early and drove to McKinney Surgery Center. We had to be there at 6:30! I cried like a baby, because I was nervous, but Gavin did great. He was the happiest surgery patient I've ever seen, which I will attribute to the fact he had no clue what was going on! :) We waited in the pre-op room forever...probably an hour or so, but once they wheeled him away, that was it. We didn't have to see him get stuck for his IV or anything.

Stephen and I waited in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, but it was only 45 minutes! :) Dr. Thrasher came in and told us everything was great. Gavin's adenoids had been blocking about 80% of his nasal passage and were chronically infected, so we made the right decision to have them removed. This made me feel good. The Dr. told us one of us could go back to be with Gavin while he woke up. Stephen volunteered. About 20 more minutes went by and they came to get me. I went back and Gavin was hysterical, which is something they had warned us would happen. He didn't know where he was or who we were...he would only let Stephen hold him and only if he was standing. They gave Gavin a red popsicle...and some morphene! He calmed down, but poor Stephen stood there for about 1 hour and lost feeling in his arms.

We got all of our post-op instructions and were cleared to go around 9:30 or so...we got home and Gavin was back to his normal self! We made a gingerbread train as a little treat...and that was that! :) I am so happy we had this done...he is a different child...happy, sleeping 12 hours a night, and not quite as congested!

Love,

Christmas #3-Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-18T15:45:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Christmas #3 on Christmas Day 2010 with the Green/White/Swearingen side of the family! We had a great time at Aunt B's...lots of good family time, and some yummy tamales for a late lunch...plus lots of other cookies, trash mix, and candy I shouldn't have eaten! Weight Watchers doesn't count on holidays, right?

Later that day, we went to Deborah's brother's house for Christmas with the Messers! Again, we are so blessed by all of our family. It was so nice to have some time to spend together. We even got to see Lillie, Ray and Layla before we headed back! I know I'm almost a month late, but thank you everyone for making our Christmas special! We love you!

Here are a few pics from Aunt B's house....if you want to see all of them, Click HERE.

Me and BeBe

Jared, Pat and Stephen organizing Stephen's gift :)

More presents! :)

The Cousins...Amanda, Me, M.E.G. :)

Love yall, B

Christmas #2-December 24, 2010

2011-01-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's the second weekend in January and I'm just now posting my Christmas #2...one more to go after this, so maybe I'll get Christmas covered by the end of January. :) This is the perfect indication of how insanely busy I have been this week.

Christmas #2 was Christmas Eve and very early Christmas morning at my Dad's house! We got to spend lots of time with Grumps, Grandma and Uncle Michael. We had a nice dinner, opened presents, and then went to look at Christmas lights. It was so nice to be able to spend time together. We don't get to Houston nearly often enough. Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Playing with Uncle Michael! :)

Teaching Gavin "cheers!"

Yes, that's a Texas Tech Tricycle!!! AWESOME! :)

Crawling through his new tunnel from Grumps and Grandma with his new ball from Uncle Michael.

Sweet Woody...he got a present too! :)

This is a potty training Elmo. Too cute.

The rest can be seen if you CLICK HERE!

Love yall, B

Christmas Post #1-December 23, 2010

2010-12-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Stephen and I were blessed to have several Christmas celebrations with tons of family starting last Wednesday and ending on Sunday. Rather than post all of my 150 pictures at once, I've decided to break it up in to a few posts! I'm just going to post a few pics from each one and then you can view the rest on a link for Snapfish if you're interested!

The first celebration we had this year was with The Long/Dunkin/McAdams family! :) Since Stephen and I left on Christmas Eve to go to Houston, everyone was so sweet to celebrate early with us on Thursday! Thank you MeMaw, PawPaw, Cindy, Dale, Melissa, Justin, Jackson, Kate, Baby Max, Ben, Sarah, Chris, Caitlyn, Cassidy and Dillon! :)

Ben and Sarah

Gavin LOVES this thing! :)

Who else got a singing camel from Egypt? :)

Cousins

Kate and Gavin

A shaving kit from Nana and Papa

Gavin shaved everyone, even MeMaw! :)

Cassidy and Sweet Baby Max

Here's the link to the rest of them! CLICK HERE

Love y'all,

No pictures

2010-12-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago, Maya ate the memory card from my camera...I'm still not sure how it happened, but all I know is Gavin walked up to Stephen when he got home from work with the chewed card in his hand saying "Maya." This was right after Thanksgiving and Dickens on the Square in McKinney. Many "firsts" happened for Gavin during that time period, and I lost those pictures.

All that to say, in the big scheme of things, the memory card doesn't matter. I'm lucky that I have the memories...I'm lucky that I have my beautiful son and wonderful husband to share this crazy life with! I will never forget the image of Gavin, Jackson, and Kate swinging on the swing with Nana and MeMaw and the smiles they had on their faces or how much the kids loved getting to pick pecans with PawPaw Mac. And, thankfully I can always remeber Gavin's face as he rode on the carousel with his "dada" for the first time and his reaction to the horses when we took our first carriage ride in downtown McKinney. I feel a little silly being upset as I was about something so material that could and has since been replaced. I've learned my lesson in more ways than one. :)

Love yall, B

'Tis the Season...

2010-12-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

for Christmas cards! :) Now that December is here, I am officially excited about the holiday season! One of the things I love about the Christmas time is seeing everyone's Christmas cards! Since I don't always get to see everyone as often as I would like in person, I especially love receiving photo Christmas cards. I keep them from year to year and every Christmas when I'm unpacking my decorations, I find them in their box. It's fun to look back at the changes over the years.

My favorite family Christmas card to this date is the ours from last year, because it was our first Christmas with Gavin, and it featured one of my favorite family photos we have. It's hard to get a picture of the all 3 of us...usually it's me and Gavin, or Stephen and Gavin. And if all 3 of us are together, usually one is not looking at the camera! :) But, I love this picture and the memories it brings back. It just makes me hopeful for the many more years to come and so thankful for the blessings I have in my life.

I'm so excited to see how are cards turn out this year. I've been trying to think of a few creative ideas for pictures to use. I am using Shutterfly this year! I have recently become obssessed with their photo books. I could make one each day of the week if I had the time. If you haven't ordered your cards, check out everything they have to offer...there's some really cute stuff. You can check out their holiday photo cards, Christmas cards, and they even have birthday cards if you know someone who has a "holiday" birthday! :) And seriously, make a photo book if you haven't. They are addicting! :)

If you'd like to use Shutterfly too, and you haven't heard about it through the "blogosphere," click here to find out about their awesome Christmas card promotion!

Looking forward to seeing your family in my mailbox soon! :) Merry Christmas and Happy December!

Love yall, B

He might be a little early...

2010-11-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

but Santa is officially in town...at least in Allen! :) As I mentioned last post, we went with Lindsay and Brody to see Santa's arrival and the tree lighting at one of our favorite little shopping areas called The Village on Saturday night. I thought I'd share a few of the picures. The best part of the night for me was watching Gavin and Brody dancing together...it made me smile! :)

Gavin and Mrs. Claus...He was saying cheese but looking the wrong way! Oops!

The big guy...I felt like a member of the paparazzi. :)

Shakin' it! :)

Me and my little man!

Up to no good. :)

The pretty tree! :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Love y'all,

Who are you callin' baby?

2010-11-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

That's right...Gavin's a big boy now. At least he thinks he is, and he is letting everyone know! He has become Mr. Independent (even when he's doing things he really needs help with). This independence has been emerging the last few weeks, but I'm certain it's in full force now...I say that, because yesterday, I got to witness his worst and longest meltdown yet in the middle of Kroger. It was NOT pretty. Anyhow, the child has some very strong opinions about they way he wants things....wonder who he gets that from? :)

For example...a couple of weeks ago, here's Gavin making his toast in the morning. Do not dare to try and help him. He will look away in disgust and scream. He's happy here because I was within in a reasonable distance from the toaster! :)

And, here's Gavin having "coffee" with his toast. Did I try to take this away and give him a sippy cup of milk? Yes.

Unfortunatey, I don't have any pictures of Gavin's newest trick, which is throwing food or any other object you try to give him that he doesn't want at the moment. Don't deviate from his plan (even though we don't know what that plan is...)!

I mentioned it on Facebook, but Gavin started sleeping in his new big boy bed last Sunday...November 14! It's been a pretty good week. He's woken up a couple of times at night, but overall, he's done fabulously. He doesn't realize yet that he can get out when he wakes up. He just sits there and waits until we come get him.

"Cheese" on Sunday night

All tucked in...notice the padding on the floor and all around...I think we were a little nervous. :)

Gavin's new bedding from BeBe. He LOVES his bed!

Tonight, we went to The Village in Allen with Lindsay and Brody to watch Santa as he arrived. It was so much fun. Pictures of that coming next time. Probably soon since I'm on vacation!!! :)

Love yall, B

November So Far...

2010-11-13T05:26:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly, I cannot believe November is almost halfway over. I feel like it just started. Where is this time going? On a positive note, there are only 5 more school days until Thanksgiving Break!!! YES! :)

Last weekend we went to Lufkin for our friend's wedding! It was a such a beautiful wedding and we had such a great time!

Gavin had a few firsts...this was the first trip where the DVD player was of total interest to Gavin. He watched 3 whole videos and I think he's officially in love now! :)

Gavin also climbed on TPaw's Harley all by himself for the first time. This picture makes me nervous. :)

Gavin got to see his first parade...the Lufkin Veteran's Day Parade. BeBe was in the parade for the VA, so we went ot to watch it. It was lots of fun.

And of course with this awesome weather we've been having, Gavin got to bundle up for the first time this season! I can't believe we had to wait until November to do that, but we did.

Our biggest news this week is that we got a new fence!!!!!!!!!! :)

Love, B

Halloween Week...A Crazy But A Goodie. :)

2010-10-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

First of all....GOOOOO RANGERS!!! :) It has been so fun (even through the first two rough games). It's awesome to be witnessing history! :)

I feel like I say this every week, but this has been the CRAZIEST week yet.

Last weekend was mine and Stephen's 10-Year High School Reunion. It was such a good time. There were people I wished could've been there that I missed, but all in all, it was fabulous. We got to catch up with so many people and really just had a ball. We could not have asked for a better weekend. Thanks to Nana & Papa and BeBe & TPaw for watching the little man so we could stay out late! :) My camera died so I only have the pictures people are sending to me. Here's one of Stephen and I from the banquet Saturday night. We were voted cutest couple from our class...sounds silly, but we were honored! :)

Then began the week of Halloween. :) Let's just say I've made 48 cupcakes and lots of other treats this week...It's been hard not to eat them all. We had the fall festival at church on Wednesday, pumpkin carving on Thursday, Gavin's school fall festival on Friday and actual Halloween tonight! We were blessed to be able to hang out with both friends and family all evening! I'm not sure what's cuter...watching him walk up to the door to "practice" trick or treating OR watching him run to our door every time the bell rang to pass out candy to kids twice his size. Love that little guy. Since I have so many pictures from the week, I put them on Snapfish...here's the link --> CLICK HERE

Happy Halloween! We hope everyone got lots of treats this week! :)

Love yall, B

The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm 2010

2010-10-16T04:01:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes! Last weekend, we made our 2nd annual trip to The Big Orange Pumpkin Farm in Celina, TX! :) It was such a beautiful day and Gavin was way more in to feeding the animals and everything this year...it was just hard to get a posed picture like we did last year! The little man is on the move all the time. :) Here are some pictures from our little outing.

This was our favorite picture from the day! :) I just love the way they are looking at each other.

Feeding a goat with Dada's help. :)

I've got the hang of it now!

Look at all those pumpkins!!! (Yes, he might have tried to bite one...or three.)

I can't believe what a big boy he looks like...

This cow was getting it's food no mater what...I didn't know a cow could stretch its neck that far.

What else says "Happy Fall" like a....snocone? Not really...but it was YUMMY!

Hayride! :)

Love yall,

Chatty McChatterson...FINALLY! :)

2010-10-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

This will be quick...I just wanted to share a few videos of the little man "chatting" it up! He got moved to the "big boy" class this week at school...It's really called EPS (Early Preschool), but I wasn't expecting him to move for a couple more months. He's been SO happy this week and I really think he loves it.

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but also this week, Gavin's started to use several words now and the speech therapist in me is SO excited! :) I know he's totally on track and average, but speech is always in the back (ok, front) of my mind! Of course, we can't understand most of what he's saying still....I'm just glad he's saying it!!!

I was trying to get him to say as many words as he could in 21 seconds...that's how long the video on my phone lasts! :)

He was "reading" to me today after school. Love it.

Stephen's been working on him with sounds that things make...this is what a police car says. :)

Love yall,

Behind...So Behind!!!

2010-09-29T19:37:00.001-07:00

Life has become so crazy lately, I don't even know where to begin. We'll start with some happy stuff...these two pictures make me smile...Gavin has grown to LOVE the computer. I think it's mostly because he thinks someone will be on the other end of Skype...he just loves pushing the buttons! :)

And...It's FALL!!! :) YAY! Finally!!! Football season, hunting, and cooler weather...It's our favorite time of year! We are so happy about the weather we've been blessed with this week. Also, here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. We got to watch the Tech v. UT game, so we all had to put on our spirit wear! That same weekend, we took Gavin to the balloon festival in Plano.

And, after that...I don't have many pictures, because Gavin has officially reassumed his status as our little walking ball of germs over the last two weeks. Bless his poor little body. He had what we now know was Roseola two weeks ago...he had to have a chest x-ray before we knew it was Roseola to rule out pneumonia. We've done this before, but let me tell you...the second time is not any more fun than the first. He was well from Tuesday of last week all the way until Friday!!! He was well for about 3.5 days and we were SO excited...we were thinking maybe we were through all of the "first weeks of preschool" sicknesses. But, we weren't! I walked in to pick him up Friday and he was having his temperature taken. I took him to the Dr. and found out he had a DOUBLE ear infection and strep throat! We got a new antibiotic we hadn't gotten to try yet, and it's seemed to do the trick. We had a relaxing weekend at home since we really couldn't take him anywhere. Now, he's back to his normal self and we are so happy!

Gavin is loving his preschool. They tell me every day how smart he is...I'm not going to argue with them! :) I get to watch him sometimes before he sees me when I pick him up. He plays well with the other kids and he hasn't bitten anyone else! :) He's saying "pop" now whenever we make something in the microwave...he thinks it's popcorn...maybe because his mama eats her Weight Watchers popcorn every day after school. :) Speaking of, Weight Watchers is going great! Stephen and I have each lost 13 pounds and we can both really tell a difference!

We love yall,

That's My Dad!!! :)

2010-09-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

My dad has achieved one of his goals in life, and I could not be prouder of him. The whole idea started while I was pregnant with Gavin and my sister-in-law, Irene, was pregnant with my nephew Brennon. My dad began writing letters to his "peanut" grandchildren! :) The letters started out somewhat simple but eventually grew in to "life lessons" that he wanted to leave behind! In short, they are amazing...so I had to share!

And as of tonight, it's official. My dad is a published author. He's got a fancy website and everything! :) Please check out http://www.grandpagrumps.com/.

Love you Grumps!!!

18 months

2010-09-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

Gavin had his 18 month check up on Friday! After being sick all week, he was better on Thursday and Friday...I guess his shots made him sick again, because he has had a fever ever since and is just not acting like his sweet little self. Hoping for a better week this week! It's so tough having a sick kid! Just thought I'd share a few pictures from the past couple of weeks...and his stats! :)

Height: 32 and 3/4 in (22 %ile)
Weight: 24 lbs. (60 %ile)
Head: 18 and 3/4 in (43 %ile)

Gavin's 2nd Haircut

"Reading" Daddy's magazine

Road Trip for Labor Day Weekend...he loves "walking" Maya even in the car! :)

Playing at this cool place we found called Monkey Joe's.

Petting the puppy on the farm inflatable. :) He loves puppies.

Driving in the car

Pretty sure he dreams about stuff like this! :)

Bunco night...we were the winners! :) I won for winning the least amount of games! :)

One of two sandboxes got to play in on his 18th monthday! :)

The trip home....exhausted! :)

Love yall, B

Preschool

2010-09-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Wednesday and we've officially survived 3 days of preschool. :) Gavin has done great. He's even crying when I come to pick him up because he doesn' want to leave. He even brought home his first piece of artwork already...a toe painting! :) Just thought I'd share a few pictures.

Sunday night...we packed our backpack and it was too heavy to carry.

We know this because we tried to put it on and Gavin fell over. Traumatized!

First day of preschool, Monday, August 30. Still not carrying the backpack

because it's too heavy! :)

Happy boy! He carried it today because it was empty! :)

Love yall, B

Weight Watchers

2010-08-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Stephen and I have been doing Weight Watchers for about 3 weeks or so now. He's lost 8 lbs. and I've lost 7. It has literally changed the way we think about food. It's not so much a diet as a lifestyle change. It's working, and we are excited! Thanks to all of my friends who have guided me on this and give me tips!

There are a few things I've discovered that I have to share with you. Even if you aren't doing Weight Watchers, these are good alternatives to things we used to eat and maybe you could benefit from them too. :)

1. Weight Watchers Giant Fudge Bars (thank you, Elizabeth)...we have tried all of the low fat, reduced whatever ice cream bars, and these are the best. They are huge and only 1 point...

2. Hendrickson's Salad Dressing...it's better than Italian but still only 35 calories a tablespoon...and that's all you need for a salad. :)

3. Jolly Time Healthy Pop Mini Bags (Thank you, Elizabeth)...this has been a great alternative to snacking on chips and crackers...and it's only 1 point for 5 cups of popcorn!!!

4. Skinnytaste.com (thank you, Theresa)...this is a website full of WW recipes.

Love yall, B

The Beginning and The End

2010-08-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

With the end of summer comes a new beginning of the school year. Our school was renovated over the summer and it looks amazing. I am so happy to be at Green. Our theme this year is Lights, Camera, Action! Here are a few pictures of my room and the front of the school on our "opening night." Looking forward to a fantastic year.

Let's not forget these last few weeks of summer! Here are some pics of the end of our summer...I tried to spend as much time with Gavin as possible.

He LOVES the air hockey table...this is the first time he found the light!

He second favorite is the pool table...

Heading to the playground...I just love this outfit. :)

Getting creative?

He found these socks (the are NB size) and wanted to put them on...

His "cheese" face...he's proud of himself. It's hard emptying out a whole cabinet.

Grumps came to visit.

Stephen and I also went to Austin for a weekend and floated the river in New Braunfels for our anniversary. We got to visit a few places I've been admiring on Food Network and see our good friends Chris and Elizabeth for a night! It was a great weekend! Thanks to my mom and Tommy for watching Gavin while we were out of town! :)

At Holy Cacao...I also got a cake shake...amazing!

Stephen and I also started Weight Watchers when we got back from Austin. :) More on that in another post.

Love yall, B

Sunday Smiles Edition

2010-08-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

So, in all honesty, I wish I could have a 24 hour video of Gavin. He is nonstop, and most of the time he's being funny. I have been meaning to post a couple of these for a while...and the last one is from today. Hopefully he makes you smile as much as he makes us smile. :)

If you don't know, we inherited a pool table from Ben. Gavin LOVES going upstairs to use it!

Whenever we get ready to leave to go somewhere, the dogs go in their "boxes," which are their kennels. We always tell Avery to get in her box, but she rarely listens. Gavin has started helping us prompt her. :)

Gavin's favorite song do dance to is "Whatcha Say" by Jason Derulo. Here's a little sample of his routine. Notice how he throws his hand in the air. :)

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I can't believe summer is almost over...this is my last official week coming up. :(

Love yall, B

What a difference a day makes...

2010-07-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

Gavin and I have been going to the playground early in the morning while it's not 10,000 degrees.

Tuesday morning we went, and he was NOT a fan of the swing.

Yesterday we went, and he LOVED it. :)

I'm glad, because the swings are my personal favorite part of the playground!

Love yall, B

More finds...

2010-07-23T08:26:00.001-07:00

These next two pictures pretty much sum up what life is like for us these days. Gavin gets in to EVERYTHING and he is so quick about it.

About 5 minutes prior to these photos, I was marking recipes in a cookbook with those little post-it markers...something else I found in my cleaning of the junk drawers yesterday. Gavin was playing with his blocks. My phone rang...I went to the kitchen and answered it. I heard Gavin banging his blocks together...or so I thought...this is what I found. The whole package...stuck to my floor. The sound I heard was him ripping them out one by one.

And this is just a little bonus...I am finding out that Gavin LOVES shoes. I walked in to the living room from the bedroom this morning, and this is what I found. :)

Memories

2010-07-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

So, today I decided to clean out all my "junk" drawers. Yes, I have several located around my kitchen. :) I found $2.16 in change!!!

I also found my memory card from my first digital camera, a Sony given to me by my dad. On it,I found some pictures from when I was on Double T Crew in 2003. They made me smile. I also found 3 pictures from the night Stephen and I got engaged! These made me smile even more! :)

Yes, the box lit up. :) He proposed to me on campus when we were taking a walk at night.

My mom was in town, so she took our picture when we got back to Stephen's apartment. Aren't the crossbows in the back romantic? HA! :)

So very blessed. I love my husband.

Love yall,

Sweet 16...

2010-07-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

I got an email from BabyCenter today for tips for my 16 month old: Week 2...and I realized I missed the 16 month post! So, here it is a week or two late! :) Check out this Sweet 16 face:

The biting and aggressiveness has improved! The time out and setting limits has worked for now(knock on wood). Gavin is soooo busy! He loves getting in to anything he can....especially the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom cabinets. He loves to ride in his Radio Flyer car and play with Maya. He also loves playing with Stephen's fishing poles, my hairdryer and any hairbrushes he can find! He has learned to throw Maya's ball for her to play fetch and he seems to like that. He LOVES being outside. We've been swimming a few times this year and he is really starting to love being in the water. And of course, he continues to love to dance. I can never get enough of that.

He is saying about 8 words that we can identify: nana (banana), this, du (duck), do (dog), de (deer), mama, dada. He talks A LOT and always gestures while he is talking. We want to understand what he's saying so bad, and he wants us to understand too!!!

He continually has Stephen and me laughing. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Although it's exhausting, this is our favorite stage so far....we are so blessed.

Also, here are a few pictures from the 4th of July, which would have been 1 day prior to him being 16 months! :) He was not TOO sure about those fireworks...

Love yall, B

Early Terrible 2s?

2010-07-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure what to be expecting when "Terrible 2s" come along...but, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be having to think about that yet. My child is 16 months old...not 24. Don't I still have 8 months? If this isn't the "Terrible 2s" early, please say some prayers for us.

It all started on our Colorado trip...Gavin was just not acting like his sweet little self. I tried to blame it on not sleeping, being off his routine, or even cutting teeth. He began throwing tantrums, throwing things, biting and hitting...since we've been home, it hasn't really improved. In fact, he has now added banging his head against things to do. It's heartbreaking.

Let's be honest. I don't want my child to be "the biter" or "the bully" among all of his baby friends. That's supposed to be someone else's kid..not my sweet little Gavin. I've been reading articles like crazy...and have gotten lots of advice from everyone. I am happy to report that today has been a success...granted, it's only 2:45...but, he's only tried to bite me once so far, and I was quick enough to see it coming, so he ended up biting himself instead. I think he realized it hurts...so, we'll see if it happens again after nap time.

All that to say, if anyone has any magic biting/bad behavior cures, I'm all ears (well, I guess eyes, since I'll be reading them). Of all the things I've read so far, this is what we will be implementing. We'll just be giving him lots of attention so he doesn't have a chance to misbehave. :)

Love yall,

Colorado 2010

2010-06-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

We have been back in Texas less than 24 hours and we are already missing the cool, beautiful weather and scenery in Colorado. I asked Stephen if we could move there. Words cannot describe how awesome it is! I've been there several times before, but this time I appreciated it so much more than I ever have. Anyhow, despite a few (and by few, I mean several) meltdowns from the G-man, we had a phenomenal trip. Gavin got to take his mittens off the first day we were there! We had tons of laughs and great meals with family. We saw lots of elk, chipmunks and deer. We also got to go whitewater rafting, and I even found a hike I enjoyed! :)

Needless to say, since I love to take pictures, so click here to see the 140 I put on Snapfish! There will be many more once I get the ones from everyone else's cameras...but, enjoy these for now! :)

We are blessed...blessed beyond measure.

Love yall, B

Gavin's Mittens

2010-06-16T12:00:00.001-07:00

Many of you have asked me why Gavin is wearing "mittens" on his hands as I have posted pictures on FB the past few days...as I mentioned in my last post, Gavin burned his hands two Saturdays ago. I have not really posted anything about it, because things have just been crazy lately...I feel like life has gotten crazier since school ended (didn't think that was possible by the way). I posted this on FB earlier, but I wanted to share it again! :)

While we were all getting ready for the family reunion a couple of weekends ago, Gavin decided he wanted to see what a straightening iron looked like. :) He'd never seen one, and he is a VERY curious little boy. So, he grabbed it and wrapped his sweet little hands around it. He got 4 burns on one hand and 3 on the other...the burns on his thumbs were on the inside and the others were on the tops of his fingers. He screamed for a long while after until we got to Burger's Lak and then he was as happy as a lark! :) For the first few days after he burned his hands, they were not covered. We just went along with his day to day activities like nothing had happened. His hands weren't bothering him, so they weren't bothering us.

Then, mother of the year that I am, I took him swimming with his friends on Tuesday. Apparently, his hands were not supposed to get wet...I obviously didn't know that since right after he burned them we were at Burger's Lake all day and the proceeding days, we were swimming or playing in water any chance we got...but, Tuesday at our neighborhood swimming pool was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back. His blisters opened from being soft and then became infected. We realized this on Wednesday night (after hours of course) and took him to Acute Kids.

Now, we have had great experiences with them thus far, but this time, they FREAKED us out. The Dr. began telling us that we should have taken him to a burn center as soon as this happened and made me feel bad for taking him to the pool. She started telling us that he might not be able to move his fingers in future all while she was going back and forth looking things up (which we now realize was because she wasn't quite sure what she was talking about really).

The nurse there bandaged his fingers up individually and sent us towards the door. However, since Gavin is so resourceful and smart, he had removed all of his bandages before we even got to the checkout desk. Thus, the mittens were the solution. They have not seemed to slow him down one bit. We keep saying he looks like a little lobster. God bless Stephen for taking care of him all weekend while I was in Missouri. I could not ask for a better husband for me or father for Gavin. Thank you Ms. Katie for your TLC on Thursday and Friday. Thank you also to BeBe and Nana for all of their medical help during this time.

Anyhow, his hands are healing and we have gone back to our regular Dr. for some follow-up visits. Everything looks good! What a blessing that his burns were only second degree and that he will be back to himself in no time. :)

Love yall, B

Summer Fun and Gavin's First Haircut

2010-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

How does the time go by so quickly? I went back to look at my camera and tell yall about our weekend this past weekend, and I realized I'm two behind! AHHH! :)

So, two weekends ago, which would have been the weekend of June 5, Stephen's parents came in and we all went to the Dunkin family reunion at Burger's Lake! It was such a great day and we really had a good time. Burger's Lake is awesome! The only setback in the day was that Gavin burned his hands on a straightening iron before we left that morning...he is just too curious for his own good. More about that in another post later...Here are a couple of pictures from the day!

That same weekend, on Sunday, we got to go over to Adam and Amber's for dinner and some fun with Teagan and Brody!

On Monday, Stephen finally gave in to all my begging and we took Gavin to get his first haircut. We went to The Kid Salon in Allen and could not have been happier. The lady that cut his hair was awesome and he did way better than we expected. Here is a before shot followed by some action shots and the final product! :) He looks like such a little boy now instead of our little baby.

Love yall, B

Scarborough, Summer, and Silliness

2010-06-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have always remembered how much fun I had going to the Renaissance festival when I was a kid. Stephen had never been and I never realized how close we were to it living in the Dallas area...so, on Memorial Day we decided to give it a whirl. I had so much fun...Gavin went back and forth from having fun to being miserable in the heat...and Stephen was not so much a fan. But, we had a nice family outing so that's all that matters! Blogger is being finicky, so I'm having to upload my pictures to Snapfish and share them this way....click HERE.

Also, since Summer has officially begun in our household (no work for 2 months!!!), I decided to post some of Gavin's first swimming pictures of the season! Our first trip to the pool this year was with Aunt Melissa, Jackson and Kate. There will be many more to come! :) Click HERE.

Lastly, here are some random pictures taken over the past week or so that I thought were cute. Gavin walking Maya in the house (a new interest), practicing in the baby carrier for Colorado and hanging, and Gavin spotting a hot air balloon for the first time! Click HERE.

Love yall, B

Walking Ball of Germs

2010-05-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Now, while this might not be the most affectionate reference in the world, that's what I've decided Gavin is becoming. :) He is a walking ball of germs. Don't get me wrong...I love him just the same, even more every day. I am just BAFFLED why he is constantly sick...at the beginning of summer no less. It's not even "sick season."

After the stomach bug he was happy and healthy for 3 whole days...Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday!!! :) We put together his table and chairs from Grumps and Grandma. Here he is helping Stephen and then with the finished project.

Thursday, Ms. Katie called me to come pick Gavin up because he had a fever...I thought it might be from teething since he's getting his MOLARS (exciting!!!), but unfortunately, by the time we got home, his temperature was 103.9. Yikes. We went to the Dr. that afternoon where Gavin got poked and prodded for 2 hours. He had a finger stick, blood drawn from his arm, a shot in each leg and a catheter for a urine sample. He got his 1st sucker from the nurse after the catheter incident...I think he thought it was a fair trade.

We came home from the Dr. without any answers and went back on Friday to see if his white count had gone up any from the previous day (I guess this would indicate a bacterial infection vs. a virus?)...We ended up going to have Gavin's 1st chest X-ray completed. It was clear. Anyhow, all Friday morning he was miserable...at one point, this is how desperate I got...it's the only way he stopped crying (excuse the white trash-ness).

So, the rest of the weekend his fever has gone up and down, up and down, up and down. Stephen's parents were here and it was a great weekend (minus the fever thing)! We thought we were in the clear Sunday when he woke up "normal." But, it was back up to 104 after lunch...So, here we are at home again. No fever yet today, and we're hoping it stays away.

I will leave you with one more picture...Gavin's new favorite hobby is walking Maya on her leash. Last night he decided to combine his love of riding in his car with walking Maya and this is what we got. She's so excited. I can see it in her eyes.

Love yall, B

The Bug/Mother's Day

2010-05-16T16:53:00.001-07:00

I'm a little late...the stomach bug has been in our house all week...and we are ready for it to be gone!!!

Gavin had it Monday, Stephen had it Tuesday and Wednesday...we thought we were better Thursday and Friday, while I was driving to Lubbock to see Jenny and Eric and meet sweet Autumn Sue Miller, Gavin threw up in the car after we were about halfway there. We were in the middle of nowhere (btw. Olney and Jacksboro) and I pulled over in a field...It was a disaster. Some guys in a jeep pulled over to offer their assistance, which was nice, but I told them we'd be fine. We proceeded to drive back to Jacksboro (about 20 minutes) with Gavin SCREAMING at the top of his lungs. I got to a grocery store and bought Clorox wipes, an air freshener for my car and Pedialite. He screamed for about 30 more minutes until he went to sleep. This is definitely something that will go down in my "mommy memory book" as one of the times I felt like world's worst mom. We made it home and I got sick at 2 AM Saturday morning and am just now feeling better as I write this.

On a happier note, I had an AWESOME Mother's Day! Gavin learned a new trick with his Busy Ball Popper...he even posed for me. Stephen surprised me Sunday morning with a patio table and breakfast...the plan was to eat outside, but it was raining. :) It's the thought that counts. Thanks Melissa and Justin for setting it up Saturday night while we were gone! It was such a nice surprise! :) I also got a Slap Chop from Gavin and man, that thing is greatness. I used it while I was making food for Gavin...which he did not like and did not eat! :) But still, I love the Slap Chop!!! :)

14 More Days Til Summer!!!! PTL!

Love yall, B

I love this kid...

2010-05-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

That sounds like a silly title for a post, because, well, it's obvious. Of course I love Gavin...I'm his mom. But, it's more than that. I really just can't get enough of him. He's continually keeping me entertained, laughing, and on my toes. He's developing more quickly than I ever realized or thought he would. Here is a mix of pictures and videos I've been wanting to post for a while. :) Enjoy.

These are pictures Ms. Katie has texted to me

during the day while I'm working. I love it when she sends me things.

" I am so cute. Have to give myself a kiss."--Gavin per Ms. Katie

Gavin and Isabel...mind you, this is not a cart made for sitting.

They worked together to achieve this.

This is how Gavin looks now when you

won't let him do something he wants to.

Feeding himself yogurt: May 4, 2010.

I'm sure they aren't both sitting at the same time very often! :)

They were eyeing Ms. Sarah's lunch.

Here are some videos...One is of Gavin feeding himself at Black Eyed Pea on Mother's Day...He would not let us help. The other is of him laughing yesterday...Can't get enough of baby laughing!

Love yall, B

28

2010-05-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

This week, I turned 28. This is crazy to me...even more crazy than the fact that I have a 14 month old. I was reminded this week what a blessed girl I am! Thank you to all of my family and friends that made my weekend, day and week special. :) Thank you for the phonecalls, the emails, the gifts, the messages...everything was perfect.

My favorite thing about my actual birthday was Gavin saying "mama" for me for the first time. :) The first video is him doing what he usually does, which is saying "dada" when I ask him to say "mama." The second video is "mama."

Stephen had the house decorated for me on Sunday afternoon when I got home from our Engage Sunday project at church.

He got me this awesome cookie cake!!! :)

Gavin was VERY excited about all of the presents I got because he got to play with the tissue, his favorite thing. He has started running down our hallway a lot, and the tissue paper made it even more exciting!!! :)

This week was also Teacher Apprectation Week, so I was doubly blessed at school ALL week. I have never felt as valued at my job as I do at Green Elementary. :) I received flowers, gifts and thank you notes all week. Makes everything that's tough about my job worth it.

I have lots of other pictures to share from my phone, but it's not cooperating at the moment. So, you'll have to tune in next time for lots of pictures of Gavin and his girlfriend, Isabel. :)

Love yall so much,

Vote for Gavin!

2010-04-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

Catch Up

2010-04-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

So, this is the busiest and most stressful time of year at work for me...I had blocked it out since I was on maternity leave at this time last year! :) All that to say, this post will be mostly pictures....and they are in random order at that! :) These have all been taken since our last post. In these short two weeks, Gavin has: had Easter, been on his first trip to the zoo, jumped on the trampoline at Aunt Melissa's and Uncle Justin's, learned to carry EVERYTHING around and unload things, and continued to entertain us daily. :)

I like to climb in and out of my chair!

I started taking big boy baths!

Easter weekend with cousin Parker

Wild man...I got ravioli in my hair and we had to wash it out.

Ready to dye some eggs...mommy's favorite.

This was about the only time I sat down during this whole thing.

Brooke, Krista, Parker

The Easter bunny brought me LOTS!

Love my new Kazoo! :) I'm a natural.

On our way to Nana and Papa's church with BeBe and TPaw.

My first Easter egg hunt. I didn't really get it.

Gavin's first trip to the zoo! Ellen Trout in Lufkin, TX.

This is my new favorite pose..."what?"

First popsicle

This is blurry but this is my balloon from Aunt Melissa I got for my

birthday...it's still floating. I think it's magical.

One of the new favorite hobbies. (Avery is not in there.)

Fishing Trip

Making my daddy proud!

Love yall, B

Musically Gifted? :)

2010-04-05T05:39:00.000-07:00

He might be....he might not be. We'll have to wait and see. But, if a kazoo is any indication of musical talent abilities, I think we might have a musician on our hands. Really though, Stephen had the great idea of getting Gavin a kazoo for his Easter basket this weekend. He LOVES it. I know it's not difficult, but we didn't even have to teach him what to do...he just knew! Enjoy. (Please excuse the mess that is our living room these days).

Love yall, B

P.S. Easter pictures will be posted when I receive them from my mom's camera...I left my camera at home and we were in Lufkin all weekend.

Happy Easter

2010-04-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

This week has been the busiest one I've had in a long time. We are so thankful for the long weekend we have coming up. Our sweet Ms. Katie surprised us with some Easter pictures of Gavin today....so, I wanted to share a few of my faves, and of course, the picture he took with the Easter bunny!!! :)

Obviously, this was from St. Patrick's Day...I forgot to share! :)

Our sweet little bunny, growing bigger by the day. :)

I'm sure these will be blackmail when he gets older. Ha!

Playing with a cute duck Katie's son Corey bought for the kids to play with! :)

Our picture with the Easter bunny...notice I am in there too. :)
Gavin didn't want to sit by himself this year.

This is a picture from today at Ms. Katie's.

Stephen and I were just talking about how he looks like such a big boy in this picture.

We know this isn't his first Easter, but last year, Gavin was only a month old. As we think about celebrating Easter this weekend, we are so excited for Gavin to experience some awesome Easter traditions (my favorite is coloring eggs of course). Most importantly, we will be remembering the reason for and the true meaning behind this holiday. We are truly blessed and thank God for everything. We could not ask for more.

Love yall, B

Big Boy

2010-03-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry if I'm on blog overload, but I have to get it done while I can! :) This week, Gavin has started lots of new things. He is now able to climb in and out of his car by himself. Yesterday, Stephen taught him to stomp his feet when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and he has begun consistently signing "all done" when he's in his high chair or when he's done with something. I was able to get all of these things in a video today, so I thought I would share! :) As always, please excuse my singing.

Love yall, B

Spring Break

2010-03-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we had Gavin dedicated at our church, The Heights. We are so thankful to all of our family that was there. It was a very special day for us and we are so glad that we could share it with everyone. Here are some pictures from Nana Long's camera! :)

Sunday evening, we took Gavin on his first fishing excursion...Melissa, Justin, Jackson, Kate, Stephen, Gavin, and I went fishing in a few neighborhoods around the area...Stephen, Jackson, and Justin fished and the rest of us watched! :) Here is a link to pictures:

http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3646413008/a=49801361_49801361/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

On Monday, Gavin and I went to Chicago this to visit my Grandma, Aunt Judy, Uncle Steve, and cousins Shannah, Zach, Alannah, Justin and Cameron. The weather was gorgeous. I am glad we got to visit with everyone, especially Grandma. There are (of course) tons of pictures, so I will just give you another link instead of posting all of them up here! :) Grandma didn't want her picture taken, so they are mostly of Gavin with his sweet cousins, Alannah, Justin and Cameron. On Wednesday, Shannah and I took the boys to a place Shannah had heard about called The Treehouse. We loved it...I want to open one in Texas! :) Here's the link:

http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3645559008/a=49801361_49801361/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

I can't believe this week is already over!!!

Love yall, B

Celebrate Good Times...Come on! :)

2010-03-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

My goodness...there is so much to post, I don't even know where to start. Since this is Spring Break, I might have to do a few posts throughout the week to get caught up....but we will be in Chicago I will start with this weekend...Gavin's birthday get-together! : ) We had our parents come in and some friends over to have a post-birthday celebration. Since last week on his actual birthday, he has been receiving so many fun gifts and cards. I think we spoiled him on the first year...he might think every birthday's going to last for a week! HA! Seriously though, Stephen, Gavin and I are so blessed and I am reminded of this all the time, especially during special times like this. :) Thanks everyone!

Here is a link to the pictures from Saturday. I will post a few of my favorites in case you don't want to look at all of them! :)

LINK:
http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3617831008/a=49801361_49801361/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Gavin was also dedicated today at church. :) I will have pictures of that in the next post.

Love yall, B

Happy Birthday!

2010-03-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you Gavin Nicholas Long! This year, you have blessed your daddy's life and my life more than we could have ever imagined! We are lucky to have you as our son! You mean the world to us. We thank God for you and your sweet smile every day...even when you give us a little bit of that attitude you are developing so well! :) We can't wait to see you grow and develop in the next year to come. We love you. -Mommy

Now, on a less serious note, I think I have discovered the perfect gift for a 1 year old if you are in need of an idea. An OXO Good Grips strainer. :) This thing has become Gavin's new best friend. He carries it everywhere. I've found it in his room, our bathtub, our bedroom and other various places around the house. Here are some pictures of him enteraining himself for about 20 minutes with this thing.

Today, we would also like to remember Isaac Liam Roberts and wish that precious little angel a happy birthday...Our friends Whitney and CJay had Isaac on March 5, 2009 and he passed away on March 6, 2009. We are thinking of you Roberts!

Love, B

A Short Review

2010-02-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was lots of fun for us. :) We got to see Jackson play in his first soccer game! He's really good and really cute!

Gavin doesn't like to sit still anymore unless he's tired, so this is what he did during the soccer game. Thanks Uncle Justin for letting us borrow your hat, even though we didn't keep it on long! :)

After the soccer game, Gavin got to go to his first birthday party....his friend Reid turned 1. Here is a picture from the party...he's playing with his friend Beau. Gavin was all over the place for a majority of the party. He popped some of Reid's balloons and tried to open his presents for him. He is 100% boy and 100% busy.

Also this week, Gavin got his first mohawk. Corey, Ms. Katie's son, thought he would look good with one...and, I know I'm biased, but I think he was right! :) Here is a picture Ms. Katie sent me. :)

This weekend, we are having lots of fun with Nana and Papa while they are here for Nana's birthday. Melissa and I ran 4 miles this morning. I didn't think I could do it, but she helped me! :) Thanks Melissa! It's a BEAUTIFUL day, and we were lucky enough to get time outside at Jackson's soccer game today. Aunt Melissa let Gavin play with the soccer ball today. Here's an "action" shot, although I don't think he really knew what was going on.

In other news, Ben and Sarah come home May 11. We are starting a countdown! We can't wait for them to be home! Also, Gavin turns 1 on Friday. That's nuts people. I can't believe it's been 1 year. Crazy!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Love yall, B

He's Got Moves...Sort Of :)

2010-02-19T18:34:00.001-08:00

Please excuse my sad renditions of "If You're Happy and You Know It" and the raindrop song....but I had to share with you what I think is some cute video.

There's nothing better than a good belly laugh from a baby. :)

Friends, Snow and Love

2010-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

I will post more on Valentine's at the end, but I got these from my dad and Deborah today...I thought they were too cute not to share! :)

A couple of weeks ago (maybe 10 days ago?), we had Gabe, Lindsay, Brody, Amber and Teagan over for chili. Adam was out of town visiting his new, sweet niece! :) Anyhow, here are some pictures for that night. Gavin was a bit of a bully and kept trying to wrestle Brody. For "Lewis vs. Long: Round 1" video, and for a good laugh, see Lindsay and Gabe's blog. It was so nice to have everyone over!

This past week, the DFW area got a record snowfall...It snowed ALL day on Thursday! We waited for Stephen to get home from work so we could go play in the snow. It was just beautiful! Friday, we had a snow day (Stephen still had to work) and it was so nice to be able to enjoy the day! :)

Following Daddy out to build a snowman!!!

I got some new rain boots for the occasion...snow, rain...it's all water! :)

Watching Daddy Work

The finished project!!!

Our house in the snow!

Friday morning...the snow was 9 inches deep!

Today is Gavin's 1st Valentine's Day and our 1st Valentine's Day as parents. My mom and Tommy (BeBe and TPaw) are in Grapevine for a mini-vacation until Tuesday! They were over last night to watch Gavin so Stephen and I could go on a date! We had italian food in downtown McKinney and dessert at The Cheesecake Factory...let me just say, red velvet cheesecake is FABULOUS!!! :) Anyhow, here are some pictures of Gavin's 1st Valentine's gifts from Grumps and Grandma, BeBe and TPaw, and Ms. Katie!

Ms. Katie made us a picture frame and gave us a cute frog! She's the best! :)

Grumps and Grandma sent Gavin and Elmo book. He loves it.

BeBe and TPaw brought Gavin an Elmo book, too!

BeBe reading to Gavin...Diet Coke in hand, of course! :)

I love my child.

Attempted Family Picture with Mr. Cooperative

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope everyone has a great week...or 10 days! :)

Love yall, B

11 Months

2010-02-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Gavin will be 11 months old in approximately 3 hours! We cannot believe it. I feel like Taylor Swift saying that over and over every time she wins an award...but really, we can't believe our baby boy is 1 month away from his 1st birthday. Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks of his 10th month! :)

Nothing makes me smile more than this...Gavin loves his Dad!

Serious pose.

Melissa and Justin had us over for Jackson's birthday party. This is the face Gavin made as he was watching all of the "big" kids play. "What are they doing?"

Sweet Jackson wearing his inflatable Handy Manny tool belt.

Gavin getting ready to go to church! This outfit is from Stephen's Grandma, Virginia. So cute! :)

Gavin, pushing his new pal, Scout, in his car. He actually put him in there. :)

This past weekend, my amazing husband and sweet little boy had a "boys weekend" while I got to go to Lubbock to celebrate Jenny and the soon-to-be Autumn Sue. It was such a nice weekend!

Me, Jenny, and Carrie

The Hostesses and Jenny

Jenny's precious nursery for Autumn. Eric painted it. SO CUTE!!!

When I got home from Lubbock, I found out Stephen had taken Gavin to Academy on Saturday.
He bought him his first ball. :) He also bought him a nerf football that Gavin proceeded to eat.

The ball didn't last long...thanks to the lovely Maya.

Many of you have asked about my mom. She is doing great and I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers! :) Yall are such a blessing.

Love yall, B

Gavin's 1st Christmas

2010-01-26T17:49:00.001-08:00

I know it's almost February, but I finally got my SD card back after I left it in Lufkin at Christmas! There were over 50 pictures, so instead of uploading them on here and it taking forever, I put them on Snapfish. Click on the link below to see Gavin's 1st Christmas (from my camera). :) Love yall, B

Click here to view photos

Lots of Pictures

2010-01-23T04:50:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post these a couple at a time for the last week and half, but I just keep taking more and forgetting! :) I am happy to report we are all healthy. Since my last post when I was about to take Gavin to the Dr., we have had a crazy time. We found out he had RSV and had to give him breathing treatments for a week. He did great considering, and now he is all better!

Here are some pictures from last week when he was sick (even though you can't really tell he felt bad).

Gavin got this cool car from BeBe and TPaw for Christmas. We put it together and he is IN LOVE! He pushes it all over the house.

Breathing treatment....I know this is sad, but I had to document it. :(

Happier times with the cousins! Last weekend the McAdams came over for a Saturday breakfast!!! Kate and Jackson also love Gavin's car! :)

Feeling better? :) He got stuck in our laundry drying rack and was pulling it along with him while he was crawling.

This week was Jackson's 4th birthday! Happy birthday Jackson! We got to go to Gatti Town to celebrate! Here are some pictures of that! :)

Cute Kate!!! :)

Birthday Boy!!! :)

"I wish I were a little bit taller!"

Jackson in action!!! :)

Gavin's favorite game...my kid loves to dance, what can I say? :)

Love this game!!!

Gavin lost 1.5 lbs. while he was sick, but no worries...he's gained it back this week. He's eating us out of house and home. He tried lots of new foods this week for the first time: brocolli, carrots, ravioli, and tortillas.

Gavin's first ravioli! He loved it. Thanks Nana and Papa! :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love yall, B

Sick, Sick, and More Sick

2010-01-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

I will start this off on a positive note, since the rest of this post is about us being sick in 2010!!! Thanks to my wonderful parents and in-laws, I was able to purchase a SLR camera for myself for Christmas. I haven't had much time to play around with it yet, but here are a few pics I've gotten of Gavin with some of his Christmas presents and just being his cute self. He has learned to climb the stairs. Heaven help us.

I love the stairs...even when I don't feel good!

Bundled Up Friday...It was 14 degrees here when I woke up!

Rocking Elmo Car from Grumps and Grandma Deborah

Cheese

Ball Popper from Mommy and Daddy

Since the Saturday following New Year's Day (so, January 2), we have been sick. I think Gavin's Dr. jinxed him at his 9 month visit when she said, "Oh, he's a healthy boy. He's never been in for a sick visit." Now, we are on our second visit in 1 week. AWESOME!

It all started with the little man throwing up on the 2nd...he passed on his horrible stomach bug or whatever it was to me on Sunday night and I passed it on to Stephen Monday afternoon. Tuesday we all stayed home from work together...Gavin was still throwing up. Wednesday, Stephen made it back to work (but still had some cold/sinus stuff) and I stayed home with Gavin.

The bright side: Gavin and I were not sick on Thursday or Friday!

Friday night, Stephen's cold junk was the worst it's been since it started December 10. He coughed ALL night and Saturday, Gavin was lucky enough to start coughing...and then he got a little fever. It's hung around like that since Saturday night...deep cough, runny nose, low fever. So, we are off to see Mrs. Sabrina to make sure it's not something more serious. I woke up with a sore throat, so I hope I'm not getting whatever it is. I am so ready to have some healthy days in 2010. :)

In non-sick news, my mom is recovering well! She is stir crazy since she always has to be doing something, but she's doing well! We are just so thankful for the blessing God has given us. :)

Stephen's parents went to visit Ben and Sarah in Egypt on December 31 and returned safely on Sunday. It sounds like they had a wonderful time and now we are less than 125 days from getting to the The Longs when they come home for a visit! Looking forward to it! Love yall! :)

Hope everyone is doing great!

Love yall, B

Answered Prayers, a Little Christmas, and Happy New Year

2009-12-31T12:09:00.000-08:00

As most of you know by now, my mom had her surgery on Monday. The doctor removed about 12 inches of her colon and feels like they were able to get all of the tumor. Her PET scan came back clear, so the cancer is not anywhere else in her body. Thank you so much everyone for the prayers. My family and I really truly feel as if they were all answered! :) We are blessed to be surrounded with the people we have in our lives (that means you).

The pathology results came back and the tumor was actually a Stage 2 instead of a Stage 1...so, chemo is not recommended at this point (even though I wish my mom would have it just to make sure), and they are going to watch her....Please continue to pray that my mom will continue to be cancer free. As my mom so wonderfully put it: Monday she was a cancer patient; Tuesday she became a cancer survivor.

As for Christmas, it was such a great time. Of course, as I'm writing this, I just realized I left my camera with all the Christmas pictures in Lufkin...so, I only have the pictures from my phone to share. BUMMER!!! I have tons of pictures that I will post later.

We started off in Houston with Grumps, Grandma Deborah and Uncle Michael. Gavin received an Elmo rocking car (instead of a rocking horse), a super cool train, lots of cute clothes, books, and an Elmo phone that knows his name. We took Gavin to look at Christmas lights in my dad's neighborhood, which is something that has become a tradition for us. This is a picture of us driving to Houston....we were PACKED in our car...you can see who got to ride in the front seat. ;)

Then, we were off to Lufkin. Wednesday night (the night before we got there), Lufkin was hit by a tornado...I had never seen damage from a tornado personally...very sad and surreal almost. Michael and Krista, my brother and sister-in-law, had a tree fall through their home and it was severely damaged. Thankfully they were not hurt, but they are living in a hotel right now. Please say prayers for them.

We took Gavin to his first Christmas Eve service at Harmony Hill with Nanna and Poppa. Then, we went over to BeBe and TPaw's for the rest of the night to open gifts with the Swearingens. Christmas morning we woke up and Gavin had his first Christmas morning at the Longs. :) We even got to talk to Ben and Sarah on Skype while we were opening gifts. It was nice that EVERYONE was together! Gavin got some bath toys, cute clothes, diapers, a shape sorter and a vintage Fisher-Price farm from the McAdams! He is one blessed little boy.

Saturday morning we went back over to my mom's to have Christmas with BeBe, TPaw, Uncle Michael, Aunt Krista, Parker, Uncle Ray, Aunt Lillie, and Layla. :) Gavin got an awesome Radio Flyer car, a train, a VTech Turtle reader and some more super cute clothes. :)

Then, we were off to MeMaw's for lunch with Stephen's family.

All in all, it was a great holiday...a little stressful at times as we were worried about my mom, but it was great!

We are truly blessed. We love you and wish all of you a Happy 2010.

Talk to you next year! ;)

Love, B

Please Pray

2009-12-21T15:45:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday night, one of my worst fears in life was realized...

It was about 8:00 or so and my mom called me on Skype...pretty routine. We were about to eat dinner. She said she had something to talk to me about. She reminded me that she had had a colonoscopy the previous Monday...during this routine procedure, the doctors discovered a tumor in her colon. She told me they had done a biopsy and the tumor was malignant. My mom was telling me she has colon cancer. I pretty much lost it for the rest of the phone call...I was a complete mess and I missed all of the important things she was telling me, like:

1. It's stage 1.

2. They think the tumor is contained.

3. Colon cancer is the best kind of cancer to have...(which I think is a ridiculous statement).

4. She probably won't have to have chemo.

5. They caught it early.

Each day since, I have been able to approach this with a more rational attitude....but, the fact remains, this is my mom....my best friend. I have total faith that God will take care of her and that there is a reason for everything, but I'm still going to worry. It's my nature. She will have surgery on December 28th to have the tumor removed.

So, I am writing this to ask you for prayers. Please pray for my mom. Please pray for my family. Please pray for my mom's doctors. Please pray for strength, for peace, for healing and for wisdom. My mom will have a PET scan on Thursday morning to check and make sure there are no other tumors. The doctors do not expect to find anything else, but please pray for good results.

I will keep you posted.

Love yall, B

An Early Christmas

2009-12-19T04:41:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to post this for a week, but if you know what the week before Winter Break is like in school, you'll understand why I'm doing it now. :)

Last weekend, my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew came to visit from California. We had an early Christmas with both sets of our parents and it was lots of fun! :) There are lots of pictures, so I'll try to keep the writing to a minimum.

This picture is of my brother and I with my favorite Christmas decoration from my grandparents house growing up.

Here's my brother with Gavin and my nephew, Brennon.

I'm not sure how to rotate this, so turn your head. :) This is a video of my dad trying to brainwash Brennon and Gavin to be Baylor Bears. If you look at Gavin's face, you can tell he's really excited. ;)

Our big group went to lunch at Abuelo's where we met up with my Aunt B and cousin Amanda as well as my dad's lifelong friend and college roommate, Brian and his wife Peggy. I think there were 14 of us. :)

My niece, Reanne, has never been to Texas. She also has not been to see Santa in a few years...so, we went to visit Santa and his reindeer at the Village in Allen. :) We also made Christmas cookies. This is something I did with my Grandma and cousins when I was a little girl, and I try to do it every year. They turned out pretty cute! :)

Here are pictures of our early family Christmas. We had dinner at our house and I got to use my new, fun Christmas dishes (thanks mom and Aunt B).

Then it was time to open gifts. This is Gavin's first gift to open wrapped in paper....I got a pretty good action shot! :)

Sunday, my brother's family (minus Brennon) and my dad went to the Cowboys/Chargers game. Here are some pictures before they left.

Deborah and I watched Brennon while they were at the game. Here is a video of him and Gavin "communicating." It was so cute.

I'm officially on vacation, so be looking for another post soon! :)

Love yall, B

9 months

2009-12-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

We have a 9-month old....and he's walking all over the place. I tried to get some video, but I'm pretty sure he's really smart and knows when the camera comes out...here's the best I could get.

We went to the Dr. today for Gavin's 9 month check-up. He weighed 20 lbs and 4 oz and he is 28.5 inches long. He has dropped in his percentile for weight, but our Dr. says that's because he's so active. :) He has developed what I would like to call a bit of an attitude...i.e., if you take something away from him, he screams.

Last weekend finally put me in the Christmas spirit. We decorated and shopped until we were WORN OUT. We took our family Christmas picture, but I will let you see that in your Christmas card! :) My family is all coming in for the weekend so we can have an early Christmas with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew visiting from California. I will post pictures on Sunday!

Hope everyone's doing great.

Love yall, B

Thanksgiving Break

2009-11-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

It went by way too fast, but I am thankful to have a job where I get a week off of work. :) Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving break.

We started the week by visiting Grandpa Grumps and Grandma Deborah in Houston. My dad wanted to take Gavin to see some baby ducks, but we could only find the adults! HA! Gavin go to take his first ride on the golf cart. He also got to make friends with Woody, my brother's/my dad's dog. We tried taking some cute pictures with the holiday decorations in Sugar Land, but Gavin had a purple spoon he didn't want to part with...so, it's in the picture too! :)

After visiting my dad and Deborah, we made our way to my Aunt B's to see my mom's side of the family. My cousins Heidi, Jason, and Brady were kind enough to let us stay with them (thank you) and they also gave Gavin his Christmas present. Although this is his 2nd gift, it's the 1st one he's gotten to open. Like I expected, he went straight for eating the tissue paper! :)

Here's Gavin in his cute Thanksgiving shirt compliments of BeBe/Grammy. :) We actually took a family picture, but it's on my mom's camera....

Also, in honor of Gavin walking, my mom bought him a couple pairs of shoes. Here are his new tennis shoes. He doesn't quite know what to do with them except try to get them off. :)

Gavin was a TROOPER on Black Friday...he literally was out all day long. We spent the day at Katy Mills and then my cousins and I got to go see The Blind Side while my mom, Aunt B and Aunt Cindy took Gavin shopping some more. Here he is at the end of it all. He was worn out.

I got back last night in time to watch Tech barely beat Baylor. Stephen was at the deer lease but came home early to surprise me and Gavin. We started putting out Christmas decorations today, but we haven't gotten very far. Here's Gavin trying to figure out what he's supposed to do with all those shiny lights on our tree.

Love yall, B

Walk it out... :)

2009-11-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

So, this weekend has been great. Thanks to Ms. Katie and her daughter Sarah, is started off well when I picked up Gavin Friday after school. Katie answered the door and all I saw was Gavin wearing this adorable indian hat! :) Sarah, who is studying photography, had taken beautiful black and white pictures of Gavin and they surprised me with them! SO SO SO blessed to have found Katie and her family!

This has nothing to do with this weekend but it was cold here this week, so Gavin got to wear his beanie....such a rockstar!

Anyhow, back to the weekend...we had an AWESOME day yesterday and today after church, Stephen and I took Gavin to see Santa. There is a really cool Santa by our house in Allen and there is even a live reindeer (today it was Vixen) outside. I will post his Santa picture later. I didn't think he would be scared, but he was....it was still a good time though! :)

Lastly, to top it all off, Gavin walked tonight! :) Last week he took his first few steps but I thought it was by accident and he hasn't done anything since. Tonight, he walked a good little distance. YAY!!! Here's a video...of course, it took us lots of tries to get one. I swear he knows when the camera comes out. Here he is doing a little standing, dancing and walking all in one. Oh, and he and Stephen have started this cute little thing where Gavin will make noise if Stephen pats his mouth. So cute. :)

What a great way to start Thanksgiving break! Love yall and hope yours is wonderful!!!

Gavin and Friends

2009-11-15T10:26:00.001-08:00

*WARNING: Naked baby photo follows...*

Gavin has a new friend...his rubber ducky! :) It has made bath time much more fun and easy since he is no longer trying to grab things off the edge of the sink! I'm sure this picture will embarass him when he is older, but it's cute for now! :)

Gavin got to have his friend Brody come over on Wednesday night! It was hilarious watching them play together.

Friday night, Gavin got to have his sweet friend Isabel over! She is 3 months old and she is pretty darn cute! :)

Gavin also made friends with a new food this week. We gave him Cheerios for the first time, and he loves them! It's so cool to watch your child experience things for the first time....big things and small things, like Cheerios.

And here's another picture of Gavin's #1 BFF, Maya. She is so sweet to him. Even when he pulls her tail or ears or tries to taste her nose (gross, I know).

Last night, Gavin got to see and meet some of my best girlfriends (and guy friends) from Tech at Skye's baby BBQ/shower! I don't have pictures of that yet, but it was such a great time! Promise to post them soon!

Love yall, B

Nothing Better :)

2009-11-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of videos I had to share! There's nothing better than hearing Gavin laugh! Stephen and I were finally able to catch him on video doing it! Sorry if the camera is shaking...I was laughing at him laughing! :)

Next is a video of Gavin making raspberries. :)

Love yall, B