Gavinism...5 Year Old Edition

The bottom line is...the kid comes up with some real gems....I'm reserving this space for the absolute best of the best. One of which occurred tonight. Let me set the stage....
We just said goodbye to a bunch of Chrissy's family: her mom, older sister, niece, twin sister, and 2 nephews who came up to visit the day after Christmas and spend a few days to celebrate Gavin's birthday (yesterday, the 27th.)...we just got done reading his bedtime books, brushed teeth, and were getting ready to say goodnight prayers when he and I had the following exchange:

Me: "Well, Gav...today was the first full day of you being 5 years old, how did it feel?"

Gavin: "Well, I know that I'm getting older because the segments of my fingers are bigger. You see this segment here? (pointing to the top part of his finger where the fingernail is), well...it used be down here....and you see this segment here? (pointing to the next knuckle down)well...it used to be way down here....also...my pinky finger is fatter than it used to be".

Me: "Wow...um...that's great man...let's say prayers."

The kid's something else. So's the girl...I may have to start an "Ivyism" tag...she's getting there. Throughout this weekend, she had multiple personalities....at any given moment she could have been Ivy, or Mary, or King David, or Joseph, or baby Jesus....It was kind of touch-and-go for a while...you'd have to figure our who she was or be forced to endure correction (by a 2 year old, I may add).

God Bless us, everyone.

I still can't believe my man turned 5 this week:


12-27-06


12-27-11

Keep going strong, big man...the Lord's got mighty things in store for you. But enjoy your ice cream first.

Christmas post and Relatives visit coming soon.

Ivy's Birthday Take 2

Ivy turned 2 years old yesterday. It's unreal. I feel like she was born last week. It's amazing how 2 years feels like an eternity when you are a teenager but feels like a long weekend once you become a parent. We had planned an outdoor birthday party with a "Fish and Ocean" theme. I was kind of bummed when I looked at the days forecast and saw 50% chance of thundershowers moving through the area RIGHT during her party but, as we watched the Doppler on weather.com, every storm stayed to the North or South of us. We ended up having a wonderful time with family and friends. In addition to our local friends, Chrissy's mom, twin sis and her two boys came up for the occasion. It was a marvelous time....here's proof:


Ivy in her party dress. Her necklace has 2 pearls on it. Every year, for her birthday, we add 1 pearl to her necklace. Our hope is that she has a nice pearl necklace that she can wear on her wedding day.


Ivy's cake. You may notice that she swiped her finger through her name for a taste before we were able to snap a picture of it but hey...that's what you do when you're 2, right?


Ivy and her "Memom" checking out her cake. Despite the miles in between, my mother-in-law makes such a great effort to stay connected with her grand kids...a true blessing.


Ivy and her other grand mom...my mom. Ivy took a shine to her even as an infant.


The kids playing Ka-Ka Koo-Koo in the back yard.


No, Ivy...I don't want a drink of your iced tea but thanks for offering.


Ivy and "Beba" doing the hambone.


The kids playing a "fishing" game.


Our friends, the Waite's...looking quite "Hallmark Card-ish".


Cousin George looking VERY focused on the "feed the fish" game.


"Ivy bean" getting ready for cake and singing


Knee-deep in some wrapping paper destruction


Now that there is a deck full of wonderful people.


beautiful family...beautiful sunset.

We were blessed with a really great night. it's so awesome to be blessed with such an amazing family, extended family, and Godly friends.
Ivy got lots of nice clothes which, as would be expected, she wanted to try on....all at the same time. Here she is doing her best little bag-lady impression:

Blizzards and Birthdays part 1

First let me just say that I hope that all of you who read this had a wonderful and joyous Christmas day. We sure did.

It doesn't take much for our family to get excited. We revel in the simple pleasures of life....a frog caught....spotting a rare bird at the feeder....fresh garden veggies....iced coffee....tickle fights....snow storms.

Woke up this morning to this forecast on weather.com:



2 things...first: do you see that the forecast for the next 36 hours are bracketed in red? That means trouble...it also means awesome. Second...do you see the forecast under the "Tonight" heading? 1 word. Blizzard. BLIZZARD. YES!!!!! We're big on natural disasters around here. We spend lots of time, money, and energy getting ready for stuff like this. My pops and I feel that it's much better to be proactive and prepared than reactive and frantic. The Winter storm warning mentioned widespread power outages, 50 + mph wind gusts, and the possibility of 20+ inches of snow. Let's party.

We started by stocking our wood bin and hearth with 3 days worth of wood:


Between my dad and I, we've got a pretty good supply of wood, food, water, gas....probably enough to lock it down for several months if we had to. I credit him for instilling the attitudes of preparedness and pro activity in me. While others are scrambling to react to adversity...we are able to calmly deal with what comes our way with an attitude of preparedness. It may seem overkill to some...but the reality is, that it doesn't take that big an "X" factor for the average family to start panicking. 2 Winters ago there was an ice storm that knocked out power for thousands of families just North of here for 17 days. Most people had to scramble to figure out how they were going to survive....many families had to head to emergency shelters....our household would have hardly noticed.

In my families opinion...it's important to be prepared. Tonight there is a blizzard outside with wind gusts reported locally of 44mph....if a tree branch were to break off and smash through someones front window, would they have the knowledge and resources to be able to immediately deal with the situation? most wouldn't....If the power went out for days or the water were to get shut off or sanitation removal were to cease or if gas or food were rationed...would most households be able to survive without panic? It's sad to say that the answer is probably "no".

The Lord, through His Scriptures, has called us to be skilled and wise....I'll go ahead and include "prepared and proactive" in the definition of "wise". It's a joy to be able to enjoy this storm. My work called me this afternoon and cancelled for tomorrow. I get to ride this baby out prepared and protected alongside my family. That's a simple pleasure that I'll take any day. Here's a few more pics:


First Flakes

Here's how it looked at about 4:45 pm EST:



The call is for 15 to 20 more inches to fall before all is said and done. Bring it. We're ready.

On a completely separate note...my son turns 4 tomorrow. I can't even begin to believe that he's 4 years old. Someone is stealing months away from my calendar when I'm not looking, I swear it. He told me today that he doesn't want to turn 4 because he's afraid that Mommy and I won't care for him any more or carry him to bed. Sweet little soul. If he only knew that I'd do that 'til he's 30 if he'd let me.

We were planning on heading to Chuck E. Cheese for some birthday fun tomorrow, but given the present weather circumstances, we're gonna be home bound. Well, score another one for preparedness and pro activity....we dug through some old totes of old party stuff that we had stored downstairs and found a bunch of decorations that we used to dress up the dining room:



We decorated after he went to bed, so he'll be surprised when he wakes up. I know for a fact that he's not too old to be excited over a roomful of decorations and 2 feet of snow outside. I'm 36 and I'm not.


Once all is said and done and the snow totals are tallied, I'll post part 2 to discuss how we fared on all counts. Right now i've got to hunker down and get ready to party.

Garbage Post

Every once in a great while, usually on a Saturday, our family will wake up and indulge in a breakfast concoction that is equal parts wonderful and terrifying....the garbage omelet. In a garbage omelet, anything goes. Literally. Some leftover chili? toss it in. that 1/2 inch of salsa at the bottom of the jar that you can never quite get a chip down far enough for? toss it in. Leftover broccoli? fried onions? stewed tomatoes? 3 day old Christmas ham? toss it in.

That's this blog post. The Garbage Omelet Post. A little bit of everything.

The past few weeks have been kind of hectic. It included a 10 day trip to New Jersey to visit Chrissy's family, Ivy's first birthday, and a day trip or two. Here's some photos and commentary of what's been going down:

Ivy's First Birthday



Birthday Balloon Girl



Ivy is wearing her present from her Mommy and I: a necklace with one pearl. We're going to give her one pearl every year for her birthday to add to a necklace. This year, we added some little diamond-looking things to jazz it up a bit.

One Candle for One Year



and Who doesn't like presents?



Next up: Party's at Playgrounds!!





Monkey Bar Madness



My Girls




Gavin and I checked out the Riverside Park Classic Car Show:



a sharp '63 Chevy



Gavin literally has these EXACT 3 cars in Matchbox. Same colors, too. We line them up, just like these.



The Rambler was like the mini-van of the 1950's.


AND....on the way home we stopped by the "Warbirds over Woodstock" R/C Air Show:





"O.K. for takeoff"





You've got to be a little bit crazy to fly around in this thing.



Future Pilot?


Well, that just about brings us up to speed on what's been happening around here. The Garden is still producing, lots of 'maters, TONS of cukes. The peaches were wonderful and the blackberries are HUGE, but kind of tart.

Later this week is the "birthday gauntlet". Chrissy's birthday is 8/13 (AND she's a twin :^), mine's the next day on 8/14, and my mom's is the next day on 8/15. Should be fun.

One last item: The Lord has really been drawing me to Psalm 55:22 lately: "Cast your cares (burdens) on The Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall." Sometimes I hang onto the dumbest emotional and Spiritual baggage instead of turning it over to Him. But I'm learning. And He's faithful. And patient. Very Patient. Thankfully.

He WILL sustain you.