Gavin's Southern BBQ Bash!

Since Gavin was almost born in Atlanta, we thought it would be fun to celebrate his first birthday with a Southern BBQ Bash!  Everything had a southern touch - there were red and brown rustic decorations, traditional BBQ food, drinks served out of mason jars, sweet tea, pecan pies, a cowboy boot pinata and a crazy ole lady who came to entertain the kiddos....really she was a bit off her rocker but the kids loved her!

Everyone had a great time celebrating Gavin!  And he seemed perfectly happy all day - he never cried once or had any meltdowns...except when I took the smash cake away at the end.  I swear he would have eaten the whole thing!  All the kids had a blast playing at the park, getting their face painted and whacking away at the pinata....when that thing broke open they were like vultures! 

We're so thankful for everyone who came, especially Christian's family who traveled from the east coast!  It really was a great day.  I have to warn you - I took a TON of pictures.  I got a hold of my friend's camera and went a little overboard.  But all the pictures turned out so nice that I had to post a lot of them.  Enjoy...

 

 

 

 

A Day In The Life Of the Birthday Boy - Gavin James!

I want to keep all my blog posts equal and fair for all my kids.  So I'm going to post exactly what I did for Jack's first birthday.  I already did the month-by-month birthday photos.  Not it's time for photo's of what Gavin did on his actual birthday.  But before I begin I have to admit that I did a much better job of documenting Jack's birthday - down to what specific foods he ate that day.  But I was so busy getting ready for Gav's party the next day that I was bad about taking pictures.  But I did get a few good ones I wanted to post.

We were so excited to share Gavin's birthday with Christian's family who flew in from Chicago and New York just for the occasion.  We had such an awesome visit with them!  They are so amazing with the boys.  Especially Gigi who pretty much watched them all weekend while I ran around like a mad-woman getting ready for the party.  But I know she enjoyed the time together and so did they...especially their trip to Toys R Us!  Jack even got to go swimming at the St Regis with is Aunt Mandi, Aunt Dani and Uncle Lionel.  I wish they all lived closer so we could see them more often!

Here's what our birthday boy was up to on September 28, 2012...

Morning sunshine....uh, maybe I should say Good Morning sleepy head!  Our usually happy boy was not in such a great mood first thing in the morning...

Unlike his bro Jack who was in THE best mood on his birthday morning....rocker hair and all!

Once he was up and at 'em, he was all smiles.  We took our first annual mommy-son picture at 10:05 am, the exact time he was born...

 

 

Then it was snack time at Gav and Jack's brand new kids table.  He had water and gold fish...

 

 

Then Gav and Jack's aunties came over to spend the afternoon with us...

 

And no birthday would be complete without a ride on his favorite carousel!  We made Aunt Dani take a turn...

And Aunt Mandi took a spin with Jack...

Such a happy boy with his Gigi!  I think Gavin looks so much like her...

Jack and his Uncle Lionel in matching Chicago flag t-shirts.  How cute are they?!

Gav just taking in the sights with his daddy...quite possibly his favorite person in the planet...

And of course, just as we did with Jack, Gavin got his first (or more like 10th) taste of strawberry ice cream!

Needless to say, he loved it!!  A great ending to a super-fun day!

I'm bummed that I didn't get more pictures, especially of him going to bed like I did with Jack.  But we really did have so much fun celebrating Gavin!  And the next day was even more good times at the big southern BBQ Bash!  Pictures coming soon...

Gav is Walking!

I realize I still owe you all of Gavin's birthday blogs and one year stats.   But the thought of sorting through all the adorable picture is daunting - I went a little overboard with my friend's fancy camera at his party so there are over 200 pictures - yikes!  So in the meantime I just quickly wanted to mark the age that we officially called Gavin a walker....12 months and 2 days!  Christian and I are in awe that Gavin is already a toddler....it makes us sad and proud at the same time.  But I love that he's able to walk and keep up with Jack.  They are already starting to play differently together - it's so cute!  But I definitely have my hands full chasing them both around now!

Gav's been taking steps for a few weeks so I thought for sure he would be running around at his party.  But since everyone carried him around there really was no incentive for him to walk.  So of course the next day, after everyone had gone home, he just started getting up on his own and walking everywhere - without us prompting him to do so. I guess the kid just doesn't like an audience.  He wanted to do it on his own and he hasn't looked back.  I've been trying to get a great video of him as a fledgling walker, but he never seems to want to perform for the camera.  But this video of our little naked boy gives you a good idea of how well he's doing.  I think he looks like a newborn calf but we're so proud of him!

Now that Gav is walking I have to put him in shoes when we go out.  But I haven't bought him any yet so in a pinch I put on a pair of Jack's old shoes - a size 6!  This was the first time he's really worn shoes for walking and not just style...

 But he did NOT like them at all and tried to take them off several times...

Not to be outdone, Jack upped the ante with a sassy pair of shoes of his own....Batman rain boots.  It was very appropriate seeing as how it was 90 degrees and sunny that day.  But he loves them and wears them almost daily...

We had a fun little outing that day - I actually took the boys out for frozen yogurt since they both had shots in the morning.  We ended up just hanging outside for a while and enjoying the sunshine...

And the boys chased each other around the fountain...well, Jack chased Gav, since he refused to walk in the shoes...

Jack's special yogurt combo - strawberry froyo with fruity pebbles, gummy bears, sour worms and iced animal cookies with sprinkles...yummo!

Gav and mommy share a little chocolate/strawberry goodness...

And while I'm sharing the brotherly love, I wanted to add a little photo of the boys enjoying snack time at their new kids table.  They're such big boys now...