And The Festivities Continue....

As if a day celebrating all that is Gavin wasn't enough, we continued the festivities on the weekend and took the family to Great Wolf Lodge.  Gavin's best buds Evan and Ian joined us in all the fun!

 As Gavin chose his birthday dinner location I sat with bated breath waiting for his decision.  I was bracing myself for a lovely Saturday night dinner at McDonald's.  I excitedly said, "Yes!" when he said he wanted to "go where they make the fire!!" or better known as hibachi.  Hibachi is, by far, our favorite family out-to-dinner-meal.  Steve and I love the food and though the kids do, too, their favorite part is the preparation production.  G-Jo and Uncle Alex also joined us for dinner giving us a full group to sing Gavin 'happy birthday!'

Big fire!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Gavin is attempting to catch a piece of fried egg in his mouth.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.  In this case,' try, try, again' still left him with egg on his face and not in his mouth!

Swimming, swimming, swimming all under one roof.  The kids love this place!

Steve put a new, snazzy, water-proof case on his phone.  He put far more trust in his case then I would like, but he enjoyed taking his phone in the water and videoing the boys. 

Interview With A Five Year Old Boy

1. What is your favorite color?

Gavin: light blue, yellow, dark blue, red, pink, purple.
Me: Do you think you can narrow that down a little?  I mean, what's your super, super favorite color?
Gavin:  Okay, okay, it's red and blue....and, and, and, orange and black Batman, too.  I like all those the best.  This answer completely defines Gavin.  He is absolutely indecisive and has the hardest time making decisions. He pines over clothes, toys, food, anything!

2. What is your favorite toy?
      My Batman men.  Black and orange Batman, blue and black Batman, snow Batman, Batman on the Batcycle.  Sooo, he likes Batman?

3. Favorite fruit?
      Red apples. Without the red peel.

 

4. Favorite T.V. show?
       MAD tv, Adventure time, Tom and Jerry, and Sponge Bob Square Pants.  This would be every show I absolutely do not like them to watch.  Coincidence? Doubtful. 

5. Favorite lunch?
       hot dog, original Sun Chips, mandarin oranges, chocolate milk,







6. Favorite outfit?
       Batman Arkham city hoodie with my favorite blue jeans (by the way, this is his Batman face)

7. What is your favorite game?
       Batman Arkham city.  This game he has no idea how to play.  He likes it because on the start page Batman is looking over Arkham city and his cape is moving in the wind.  No kidding, that's as far as he gets in the game.

8. Favorite snack?
       Panda Bear chocolate cookies. I have to agree with Gavin on this one, these treats are pretty good

9. Favorite animal?
       Lion and tiger...and a cheetah, and a leopard.  Oh, and Chewy, I like Chewy, too!

10. Favorite song?
      One Direction- That's what makes you beautiful.  Fun- We are Young



11. Favorite book?
       Captain America

12. Best friend?
       Ian, Evan, Harrison, Garrett, Cannon, and Chewy.

13. Favorite cereal?
       Fruit Loops

 










14. Favorite thing to do outside?
       playing on the balance bars, hanging upside down. And swinging, too!
   
15. Favorite drink?
       Double chocolate milk.  That means Hershey's chocolate and Carnation instant breakfast chocolate powder

16. Favorite holiday?
       Halloween, because you get to dress-up (his most favorite thing to do!) and you get lots of candy.

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
     Blankie, a couple books, and couple toys, and a water bottle with fresh ice.

18. What do you want to be when you grow up?
   
      Gavin: Just a person that goes to work and stuff.
       Me: But, what kind of work do you want to do?
       Gavin: Whatever the sir tells me to do. 

19. What are you most afraid of?
        Zombies and vampires

 

20. Favorite thing to do with your brothers?
        With Harrison I like to play video games and with  Cannon I like to jump on the bed.

1/2 A Decade

 What a busy day Gavin had turning 5!  From sunup to sundown our day was packed celebrating all that is Gavin.

Gavin was very excited to pick out the cupcakes for all his friends.  He even passed around some rubber comic book bracelets with "kaboom" and "shazam" to mark his 5 year milestone. His preschool buddies enjoyed the Costco-sized cupcakes!

In the afternoon we went to their favorite: Chuck E. Cheese.  Harrison was thrilled because Gavin's birthday happened to be the same day his cast came off, leaving him with a much more user-friendly brace.  After a month of watching others he was finally able to play his beloved basketball. 

No matter how happy I made my face look Cannon was completely unconvinced that these rides were fun.  I must admit, with a gulp of guilt, I'm not nearly as active with taking Cannon places as I was with the older boys.  I think it's the combination of Harrison starting school, me working full-time, and Cannon tipping the scales into the ohmygoshhowcanimanageallthis that's caused us to stay home more. 

He did warm up to the rides a little bit.  He especially enjoyed the ones we could all ride on together. 

With our tokens spent we left Chuck E. Cheese and headed over to Grammy and Pop-pop's for dinner.  Grammy so kindly volunteered to make Gavin's birthday cake--a Batman birthday cake, no less.  Oh, how well she knows little G. 

Back home Gavin opened some pretty cool presents, like this Spider Man web shooter from his Godmother, Sarah.  Our backyard was covered in Spidey's webs. 

The only thing Harrison and Gavin remember from G's fourth birthday were the balloon ninja's.  Harrison begged for them to make a reappearance.  Don't remember the balloon ninjas?  They are vicious balloons with scary faces drawn with a Sharpie that are just begging for boys to attack! After the web shooting and subsequent clothes stripping from the 'web victim,' I told the boys the balloon ninja's had shown up and were ready for action! 

The boys 'beat up' the ninja balloons with such ferociousness!  Pay no attention to the awkward look Harrison is continuing to sport here.  Seems most people would be a little uncomfortable in just tighty-whities and shoes, but not my boy.  He's too busy fighting ninjas to fuss with appearances.  This would be a striking difference between brothers--Gavin wouldn't be caught dead looking less then (what he thinks) his best.

Cannon enjoyed sitting back and watching the 'show' but I did manage to spare one balloon for him to try and slay.  However, all the balloon bouncing in the world wasn't working.  Thank goodness for his, now a little older, brother who was able to come along and help Cannon. 

And, more about that older brother, Gavin.  It being his birthday and all.  Gavin's birthday morning started off with me sharing the now annual story of his birth.  If there is one perk of having a C-section it's that I get to skip the uncomfortable "how was I born" question and get straight to the fun stuff. Don't judge me.  Fun stuff like telling Gavin how even at birth he liked to snuggle.  Snuggling continues to be one of G's favorite things to do.  In addition to lots of affection, Gavin also fills our home with laughter and drama.  He is never short of a story, although often they are elaborate lies with incredible detail.  When asked if he's being honest he always replies, "I'm tellin' the trufe! I'm not lyin'!!" And although he's always entertaining, he's almost always not 'tellin' the trufe'!  What is the 'trufe' is how much color and happiness he adds to our family.

A small note: all these pictures were taken on the same day, Gavin's birthday, as I was putting this post together I realized he had FOUR outfit changes!

Freddy Farmer

Much to our surprise Harrison tried out for a speaking role in his school's play.  To our even bigger surprise he got the lead role!  He was none other than Freddy Farmer, in charge of tending to all the vegetables in his large garden. 

He had quite a few lines to memorize, but with a month or so of practice he had them all put to memory. 

We didn't know what to expect, I mean, Harrison isn't our most outgoing child.  When it comes to drama Gavin is typically the one who 'steals the show'.  Clearly, we have overlooked Harrison's Thespian skills. Because once he donned his cowboy hat he was no longer Harrison-lover-of-video-games-and-indoors, he became Freddy-tend-this-garden-rocker-style-Farmer.  The best part of the play was watching him do his best 'air guitar' during the veggie rock song.  We didn't know that was coming so to watch his uninhibited enthusiasm as he rocked out to a song was quite entertaining!  This is Harrison showing us after the play how, exactly, he air guitars.  Funny, the broken arm seemed to add to the overall effect!

Quite the handsome farmer if I do say so myself. He was in mid-sentence

drawing out a nice Southern 'howdy.'

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Divide And Conquer

I can take a good picture of each child individually.

I can capture their personality....

and we'll both laugh in the process.

But, try and take a picture with all three together??  In the span of minutes I'm sweating, kids are crying, and this is the best shot I have.  The lesson in this:  Divide and conquer--then learn Photoshop to put them back together.