Happy Birthday Gavin!

I cannot believe that Gavin is three years old already.  It makes me really sad to see him growing up more and more every day.  We had such a fun day today.  All Gavin wanted for his birthday was a Star Wars birthday cake.  It turned out awful!!!  I had a wonderful picture in my head of how it would turn out and it looked nowhere near what I had planned.  Of course he loved it anyway, so that's all that really matters.  

He was spoiled by his grandparents and aunts and uncles.  His favorite present was the Nerf ball gun we bought for him.  Go figure, you spend tons of money on toys and they prefer the $14.99 Nerf gun.  

My parents bought him some cowboy boots.  He was THRILLED!  However, they didn't fit so they have to exchange them.  He was NOT HAPPY about taking them off.  Maybe now we can retire the snow boots.

His cake was not blog worthy, but here he is blowing out the candles!  It took him three tries.  One for each candle :)  He even sang happy birthday to himself.  

Gavin is such a sweetheart.  We are so blessed to have him as part of our family!

Kate's blessing dress

This is the closest thing we got to a smile

I finally got around to putting Kate back in her blessing dress to take more pictures.  She was in a great mood until we put her in the dress.  We tried everything to get her to smile... but nothing worked.  She just looked at us like we were crazy.  We did manage to get a few cute ones of her, but I think I will take her to a photographer... they may have more luck than me :)  She did have a beautiful dress... thanks Grandma and Grandpa Shorty for finding it!

This is what I feel like when I have to get dressed up as well

Emergency!

The kids and I were outside playing tonight, and Kate was inside sleeping in her swing.  Travis had a meeting to go to, so he came out the back door to tell us goodbye.  He left out the front door, which I told him to make sure was locked so that Kate would be OK.  About an hour later, I decided that it was time to go in the house.  The back door was locked.  I panicked a little and figured that Travis had left the front door open.  No such luck.  KATE WAS LOCKED IN THE HOUSE BY HERSELF!  I could see her through the window and she was peacefully swinging.  I didn't know what to do.  I didn't have a key or even a phone to call him.  I sent the kids walking up to the church to find him, just as my neighbor walked outside.  I asked to use their phone, but Travis was in a meeting, so of course he had his phone off.  My neighbor (bless her heart), said she would go look for the kids to make sure they were safe.  She came back, with the key, a few minutes later.  Man, I am grateful for such good neighbors!!! You are the best Heidi!  Travis, you are in TROUBLE!!!  Kate was oblivious to the whole thing.  Luckily the house didn't catch fire.

This is how we found her :)

Too early to picnic!

I have spring fever so bad!  I thought it was supposed to be like 70 degrees today, so I figured we'd go to the park for a picnic.  We went and got our lunch and headed to the park.  We pulled in and the parking lot was empty.  I said "oh look, we get the park all to ourselves".  That's because it was FREEZING!!!  We ended up eating in the van. After we ate, I told the kids "hurry and go slide three times and then we have to go!"  They still thought it was fun.  I can't wait until we can go on a REAL picnic.

Potty Training, Part Two

So I thought we were doing pretty good today.  We had a successful poop on the potty - sort of.  I caught Gavin in the act and RUSHED him to the toilet just in time for it to plop in.  He was playing in his room a while ago and I didn't think much of it.  He came out and had wiped poop on the back of his door.  GROSS!!!  I got it cleaned up without saying too much to him, then he came up and said "Mama?  You mad at Gavin?"  I said "YES!"  He said (with a face similar to the one above) "You yelling at Gavin?"  I tried hard, but unsuccessfully, to be REALLY mad at him.  I've said it before... how can you get mad at a face like this?  After all, I am sure that he is as frustrated as I am.

Draper Temple Open House

We went to the Draper Temple open house yesterday.  It was an awesome experience for the kids to walk through the temple.  Emily was especially impressed with the Sealing Rooms.  Tyler loved the Celestial Room.  And our dear little Gavin... as we were looking at the baptismal font, he belted out "Gavin wants to ride one of those bucking bulls".  As we got a little closer to the font, he noticed that it was filled with water.  He shouted "DAD!  You cannot jump into that swimming pool today!"  Then he couldn't let it go.  Throughout the remainder of the tour, he kept mooing like a cow.  And those of you who know Gavin also know that he is lacking in the reverence department :)  However, he did make lots of people smile.  He also loved "that pink room."  Unfortunately I have no idea what he is talking about.  We had a great time and I think the experience is something that they will remember!

Tender Heart

My sweet little Emily has the most tender heart!  She came home from school today with a book about Leopards from the library.  I sat down and started reading it to her.  We came to the part about the mama leopard leaving her babies when they are only 2 years old.  I looked up at her face and she had BIG alligator tears running down both cheeks.  I told her it was alright to cry and she hugged me very tightly and sobbed for about 5 minutes.  She couldn't believe that a mom could EVER leave her children, let alone when they were only two years old.  I am certainly glad that I am not a leopard mama!