New Rooms

So Gavin was born and Olivia was pretty much displaced for 4 1/2 months. She asked me several times to bring all of her toys into her room but with all of Ava's stuff in there and the fact that some stuff needed to be cleaned and gotten rid of I just didn't have the time. So thankfully my parents came here for Christmas which allowed me a few days to paint Gavin room which brought all of Olivia's things out and into the hall so that I HAD to deal with them.

In a matter of two days Gavin's room was painted. Then I cleaned out Ava's toys and Dave put up some fancy new shelves to hold their belongings. Then he put up shelves in Gavin's room and we added the decorations and we were finally finished. Two great rooms that all three kids love. Olivia ran in to her new room to see the new creation and said, "Wow Ava look- here's my cradle too, and my jellyfish..." That made the week of work so worth every minute.

THE GIRLS' ROOM

 GAVIN'S ROOM

Ava's X-mas party

Santa visited Ava's classroom this year and brought coal...

All the kids got to see first hand what they'd get in their stockings if they weren' t the best little kids Santa knew they could be.

Santa read, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to all the good boys and girls.

Then Ava sat on Santa's lap and told him she wanted a remote control car since her old one had broken.

He offered her a candycane.

And that made Ava grin.

Olivia jumped right up there to tell Santa that she wanted a pillowpet.

And then the three posed for a group Santa shot.

Gavin's first picture with Santa.

Me and my boy. I have to say Gavin is one of the best decisions Dave and I have ever made together. He is such a great baby. He LOVES his sisters and the dogs, and really truly completes us.

49er's Game

Have you seen these two guys?

Let me explain who they are.... They are the proud recipients of two tickets to see the Steeler's play the 49er's. BUT... and that's a huge but. They didn't get just any old tickets...

Their tickets seated them HERE right behind where the players sit. They are about 8 rows back on the 45 yard line. The tickets were over $1000 a piece. Now look closely at these faces in the photo above and you will see in the glimmer of their eyes the words- FREE- written all over them.

In all honesty, they have these tickets every year but my dad doesn't want to drive all the way to SF for football unless it is against his team- Pittsburgh. So this was a good year for the both of them. Father-in-law and son bonding.

Snowtubing

Every year we go to the snow to play during the winter break. Sometimes we go up to the Mountains and go sledding down some pretty steep slopes and then sometimes we come HERE!!! The land of fun and joy!!! And TUBING of course!

Look at the little rascals all geared up for fun while standing atop the huge presents.

They were all gracious enough to let me snap their picture while they stuck their heads through the winter wonderland scene.

And for that they were rewarded with a train ride. Gavin's first train ride outside the belly.

See the rascals all pretend to smile for me. You'd think their faces were going to snap off. I received a lot of teeth.

My princess waiting for me to hop in next to her.

Who are these people and how'd they get in our photo? Awww- their Nick's parents and probably one of the coolest couples we could have ever met.

So the train ride ended and somebody had to get rebundled. Guess who? Yip, and he's not happy about it. I call him Mr. Crankypants.

The tube riding has begun and my baby is flying down the giant snow slide.

Here's Ava at the top getting ready to be pushed down the slide. Her little face is beaming.

My princess yelled, "WEEEEEEE" all the way down.

Nick and Olivia were in a race. Nick won!

And then there were the snowball fights and Ava gave me a big grin.

Gavin's first time getting near snow. Let's just say he didn't like it. After all the excitement we all went for some yummy hot chocolate and played at the park. Whew, what a day.

Not so- Tummy Time

Don't let this picture fool you. Gavin HATES tummy time. If I even think about putting him on the ground to do tummy time he cries. Everyone always tells me, "Wow, what  happy baby you have. I don't think I've ever heard him cry." And then I show them tummy time. First the lip pops out, then the tears well-up and then I snatch him off the ground because he and I both know by this point it just ain't happening.

Back time seems to be enlightening so far. I mean hey- so what if he's 5 before he rolls over... he can sit by himself, pull himself up to sitting, eat well, and I think he even has a B.S. or he's just full of it.

Me and my kiddo doing what we do best together.

Amparo's Visit

Amparo and her family came out to see us for a little holiday fun. The girls ran around giggling and play with everything and Gavin did his usual smile and laugh. It was good seeing them again and having the kids get to play together. I miss us not living so close to each other anymore but she's moving soon and we will be closer.

Liv's X-mas Pagent

Liv's class along with the other two kindergarten classes all put on a Christmas Pagent. The kids sang their little hearts out..

Here's Liv getting ready to use her bells.