Building stuff

Look at this awesome truck Gavin built! He LOVES Legos. He got tired of the larger Duplo ones already and insists on playing with the regular, big kid Legos. I'm amazed that his little, tw-year-old fingers have the dexterity to work with these, but he builds these wonderful trucks...always using the wheels. He also loves towing things. He plays with trucks or even Hot Wheels and constantly figures out how to get one vehicle to tow another.
There were some expectations and hopes of snow this weekend, but instead we just had a mix of sun and rain and really cold weather. The photo above shows the boys on Friday morning during a downpour, they all have their own way of working on vehicles.
Nikki came up last weekend and it was super fun getting to play with the cousins. Most of us met up for a picnic where there was an attempt by Grandpa to carry 7 of his 8 grandchildren.

hangin around

Vincent's drawings have been getting very detailed lately. Here is our house with our family in it. He copies his brothers style and adds detail. It's amazing how he went from scribbling to drawing in the last few months.
New tracks are laid weekly. The boys have gotten pretty good at building the track themselves, complete with "parking spots".
This is Daniel's depiction of our house. For some reason, it's two stories. He draws the stairs up to his second story bedroom. Next to his room, obviously, is Lily's room. There wasn't room for a second staircase, so she climbs a rope to get in and out of her place. Over on the left is our whole family. The hair is his newest detail when drawing people.

Riding Bikes

This is how you raise and lower the kick stand.

Raena's 15th

We spent Superbowl Sunday celebrating Raena's 15th birthday, complete with a delicious lunch, a pinata and of course, the Superbowl.

Big Biker Weekend

It was a big weekend at our house in the way of boyhood milestones. Daniel learned how to ride a two wheeler on Friday. On Saturday, Vincent took his first ride without any help. If you listen closely to the video, you can hear him say he didn't need help after only 1/2 a second.


Vincent coasted to the grass where he toppled over, completely forgetting how the brakes work now that training wheels are no longer attached. He was pretty much done riding after this and ready for lunch and a good, long nap. Riding is hard work.




Daniel first learned on the 12" wheels, the green bike he's had since he was 17 months old. After getting really comfortable turning, stopping and starting on that, he moved up to his new, 16" bike. This video is his first ride on the big bike. He begs to go ride around in the court by our house now every chance he get.

Lickity Splat

My Superheros. They save me....from burning buildings and what not.

This one can fly!

Getting ready to take flight

We celebrated Faye's birthday at Carrie's house a couple weeks ago. She's 3 and so cute, very into Little Mermaid.

I was attempting a photo of Melody and Faye, but Vincent snuck in.

We just kept accumulating stripes and Vincent apparently really likes the stripes. It wasn't planned, but he blends right into his bed.

Look Who's Talking

Our little Gavin finally decided to start communicating like the rest of us humans around him. I guess his Curious George language was a little frustrating to us all. The past couple of weeks he's been adding more and more words. He says complete sentences now. I was struck by just how much he is talking when George took Daniel and Vincent for the day and Gavin and I hung out alone. He's a great communicator.
Two year old Gav is so much fun to be with. He loves to laugh and have fun. He loves playing with his brothers, trains and legos. He also loves to snuggle. His enthusiastic "yes" answer to nearly every question has changed into a grumpy "no" more often than not now. He's definitely got some two-year-old angst going on.

Gavin is a cooperative model when I'm setting up lighting for photo shoots. When we drop his brothers off at preschool and at gymnastics he begs to go too. We get to start a mommy and me gymnastics class soon. When I told him, he motioned to himself and exclaimed with such excitement "ME!?!"