2 Yr Pics and Stats

These are Gavin's 2 year pictures. Taken at Target by a great guy who got Gav to warm up and actually smile at the camera, he got a number of pictures I really like.

Gavin also has been in for his 2 yr check-up, only a couple weeks after his birthday unlike his 18 month (at almost 20 months, oops). Only needed one shot and didn't even cry about that. He weighed in at 35 pounds (97%) and was over 37 inches tall (97%).

Gavin is still my bully, hitting and biting. We are working on it and he hasn't been in time-out in the community center childcare lately, so its getting better. He loves to point the way and we are often taking the long route to got "that way" instead of the way I want to go.

Sesame Street Live - 1-2-3 Imagine

We went to Sesame Street Live on Saturday morning. The theme was 1-2-3 Imagine. The kids had fun watching and dancing along.

Gavin watching Elmo.

Jacob and his cousin Isaac.

Jacob and Isaac getting a closer view with their Sesame Stree binoculars.

Isaac and my sister Alyssa

Goofy Gavin Turns 2!

Gavin turned 2 last Friday. My plan was to get up early and put together his "train table", really our old kitchen table converted to a play table. Gavin however must have been very excited for his birthday and woke up before my alarm clock, so he got to watch me put together his birthday present. He wasn't too impressed at first, but once the actual train track was off the table and he could just drive his trains around on the train track mat, he enjoyed it.

We hosted Gavin's playgroup at our house on Friday morning, so he got to celebrate and enjoy cupcakes with some little friends. Here he is with Avery, who happens to be Jacob's best friend's little sister.

Fred came home early from work on Friday and we all headed to the Mall of America to eat at the Rainforest Cafe and ride the rides, since Gavin got to ride free for his birthday. The boys really liked watching the fish at the Rainforest Cafe and of course they enjoyed the rides. Both are fearless and would go on any ride they were allowed to.

On Saturday we had the grandmas and grandpas here as well as the Rosenbergers and Corey and his crew. Auntie Drea was here for a little while before she had to head off to a broomball game. Gavin had a great time playing with cousins, when he wasn't getting hurt or falling down steps. He was tired after we ate an early lunch and asked to go "na-night", but we had to keep him going to eat cake and open presents, which is probably why the tired child eventually fell down the newly carpeted basements steps (no bruises even).

Here is my attempt at a cupcake cake. I wanted it to look a little smoother, but I don't think I have the right tools.

Here is Gavin shortly after guests arrived and while no one was watching he found the gifts and started in on them. He loves to open presents!

Here is Gavin after opening all his presents, just a bit tired.

Gavin is such a goof and such a stinker. He is often running after Jacob trying to bite, slap, hit or tackle him. He has a very expressive face and very funny looks. He is saying so much stuff these days, I can understand most and usually can understand what he wants (unless he's really melting down and against using any words). I love to hear him say "oop-si-daisy", its just so cute when he says it. I believe he learned this from his friend Avery.

Here he is after playing around with Jacob and striking a pose for the camera.
As his Christmas and birthday present, Auntie Drea has enrolled Gavin in TAGS gymnastics (just like big brother) and he had his first class last Wednesday. He stayed on task for the full 45 minutes, only straying away from the group (and towards the big trampoline) once. He's in the Toddler class where they bring a "big person" in with them, so I went in for his first week. Maybe Drea or Fred will go in with him this week. He was fun to watch and he really enjoyed it.

Four Christmases

I still have yet to watch "Four Christmases" the movie that we have here from Netflix, but did experience our own four Christmases recently.

1. & 2. Jeskes and Middendorfs both celebrate on Christmas Eve. Making for a day where our family just bops between houses to catch as many presents and as much food as we can.

We start at the Jeske house for brunch and stocking presents. The adults do an exchange of names for stocking presents and our challenge is to spend the $30 mom gives us on 15 presents. Grandma gets to buy all the stocking presents for the grandkids. Here Gavin is waiting his turn to open presents by enjoying his last present, fruit snacks. Gavin did want to open and play with (or eat) every present he got that day.

Then we are off to the Middendorfs for a meal of Chicken Kiev and wild rice. Followed by a "Dice Game" exchange for those 10 and over and the littlest kids exchange names for presents. Here are Gene and Mary Ann with all their grandkids (16 of them!).

Gavin with his recently opened Mack and "Speed" from his God Father Corey, with his two boys Riley and Logan.

Then its back to the Jeskes for church and more presents. We did miss the meal of oyster stew and sandwiches here, though we weren't very sad about that. Here is Auntie Drea with her niece and nephews.

We conclude the evening back at Middendorfs for the rest of the present opening. This year Gavin was done after Jeskes and needed to go to bed. He missed the opening at Middendorfs, but got to open his on Christmas Day instead.

3. On Sunday after Christmas we headed back to Chaska (and over a foot of snow waiting in the driveway) for our family Christmas. All our presents were waiting for us and Santa had left one for each of the boys too. Here is Jacob with the "Claw Drop" he asked Santa for. As I predicted it did not get played with very long and hasn't since. Arg.

Here the boys are waiting for Fred to finish blowing out the driveway to open their presents.

While Fred was at Home Depot buying his snow blower and then blow driving the driveway, the boys "helped" me bake Jesus' birthday cake. After opening presents we decorated it and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before the boys blew out the candles.

4. Our final Christmas celebration was at my Grandma's on New Year's Day. My uncle and two Jeske counsins and their families gather together to eat and open a few presents. This year we also got to meet Toby, my cousins new son. Jacob loves to hold babies.

Here is Grandma Jeske with her offspring and their offspring and their offspring too.

Non-Christmas Updates:

Before Christmas my mom, myself and the boys spent a morning at the Minnesota Zoo. I scored the free pass from the library, so we only had to pay for Jacob and parking. We enjoyed the Tropics Trail and the Dolphin area, all indoors on a very cold day. Here are the boys by a turtle statue on the Tropics Trail.

The boys didn't let the cold weather deter them from sharing some ice-cream.

While in Melrose and while Fred and I were recovering from a stomach bug that was shared with us at the Middendorfs, my mom and my sister took the boys out to play in all the new snow we had. Gavin got to try out his new sled with Grandma.

Jacob got to play around with Auntie Drea in the snow.

I got Wii Fit for Christmas from Fred's parents and we have all been having fun with that. The boys got their own littler version, Smart Fit Park, and they have fun on that too.

They boys got twin baby boys from the Rosenbergers and they both love them. They each sleep with them at night.