Gavin

Fully aware

Posted on December 18, 2009 by wadmanclan

We were taking Nate to the airport tonight and anytime we know we will be in the car for at least an hour nonstop I let the kids watch a movie. So as soon as we were all in the car Gavin asked “Can we watch a movie now?”

My reply, “No. We just pulled out of the driveway, we’re not even out of neighborhood yet.”

Gavin is very aware of his surroundings and can usually tell when we are close to home by what he sees. He knows that when he sees the coffee shop on Meridian, we turn into our neighborhood. This evening, as we pull up to the intersection at Meridian where the coffee shop is, Gavin asks, “Can we watch the movie now?” We are out of the neighborhood now after all. He is too smart for his own good.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Categories: Gavin, movies | Leave a comment

Night out with the big kids

Posted on December 14, 2009 by wadmanclan

I took Saedi and Gavin to the movies today. We went and saw Disney’s A Christmas Carol in 3D! It is so much fun to take the kids to 3D movies because they think it is so cool. Pretty good movie in my opinion, a bit creepy in parts for the kids but they held up well. Nothing’s ever too scary when you can hold mom’s hand.

Categories: Gavin, movies, Saedi | Leave a comment

Fast as lightning!

Posted on December 6, 2009 by wadmanclan

Gavin loves to run. As I’ve mentioned he runs almost everyday, to and from the bus stop. He constantly runs around and wants us to see how fast he is, as if we haven’t seen it a million times already. Because of all of this running and too many injury close-calls, we have a “No running in the house” rule. Today I had this conversation with Gavin after he goes running past me.

Me – “No running in the house!”
Gavin – “I wasn’t.”
Me – “Yes you were, I saw you.”
Gavin – “I wasn’t running, I was jogging.”

Categories: Gavin, running | Leave a comment

It snowed!

Posted on December 3, 2009 by wadmanclan

This morning, the first thing I heard when I came out of my room was,

“Mommy! Mommy!
It snowed last night!”

So I looked out the window, and then chuckled to myself. “No, It’s not snow it’s just frost.”

Next I had to explain the difference between snow and frost. Even so, it has been pretty cold. We’ve had to get out the winter hats and gloves, and switch from sweatshirts and light jackets to proper winter coats.

When we moved in here the rental house came with a fridge. We already had a fridge, so we keep ours in the garage and use it for extra space to keep the food, and lots and lots of milk, we buy to feed 6 mouths. I’ve never had refrigerated food storage in a non-climate-controlled environment, so the thought never occurred to me that a fridge doesn’t only cool it regulates the temperature inside the fridge. When I went to get milk from the garage it was warmer when I opened the fridge then it was in the garage already.

Categories: fridge, frost, Gavin, snow, winter | Leave a comment

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 27, 2009 by wadmanclan

Do a little Dance…

Play a little Wii…
 

Chow down tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

It was really easy for us this year. We didn’t have anywhere to go and just hung out at home all day. Most of the day was pretty much the same as any other day. Got up and ate breakfast, played with the kids till lunch time, after lunch all the kids took a nap, and I did the rest of the cooking while they slept. I made the pies (2 pumpkin and 1 chocolate) and the 12 layer Jell-o yesterday, so they were already done. Since it is only us and we didn’t need a large turkey, I got a turkey breast instead. Put the turkey in to cook around 11 while the kids were playing. All the rest of the food was easy stuff cause I didn’t feel much like doing everything from scratch this year – Costco special heat and serve potatoes (the gravy came with the turkey), Le Roule Cranberry Cheese with crackers, Sister Schubert’s Parker House Rolls, and Stove Top Stuffing. Super easy but still delicious and it was all done just after nap time. I know we’re weird, we actually ate Thanksgiving dinner almost at dinner time. Even better the kids actually ate with minimal arguing. Hope everyone else had as good a day as we did.

Categories: Gavin, Nels, Saedi, Solvei, Thanksgiving | Leave a comment

Cheeetooos!

Posted on November 26, 2009 by wadmanclan

We found the best snack food ever….Chester’s Puffcorn – Cheese flavored. I think I could eat a whole bag by myself (I haven’t yet). I found them at a local store then they disappeared. They were so good I looked them up online to see where I can get them. In the search I found this article, which pretty much sums it up. Snackin on Chester’s Puffcorn

The point of sharing this new found devotion, is to explain what the kids are eating for this installment. I got out a bowl of the Puffcorn for me to share with Solvei and Nels. After the food was gone they both tried to lick the empty bowl.=P

 
I also tried to get pictures of me with the kids (by myself) a few days back and I thought I’d post the best ones.
This one Saedi took.
This one I took at arms length, without being able to see what was in the frame.
Categories: family pics, Gavin, Nels, puffcorn, Saedi, Solvei | Leave a comment

"I know why it’s called fall!"

Posted on November 24, 2009 by wadmanclan

(That would be what Gavin says every time he sees leaves on the ground.)

Really, why?

“Because all the leaves fall off the trees!”

When we got home from the bus stop this morning I looked at the lawn and decided I really shouldn’t put off raking the leaves any longer. Nate’s been working too much, so isn’t able to do yard work. If it’s going to get done, I’d better do it. I told Gavin that I should rake before we went inside, he got so excited and asked if he could help with Saedi’s toy rake. I got out the broom and started sweeping off the driveway, when a truck pulled up to the house. It was the guy Nate had hired to clean out the gutters. He said I should wait to rake until he was done because some of the debris would likely fall onto the lawn and driveway. He said he would blow off the driveway and even offered to blow all the leaves into a pile for me. I told him he could if he wanted but then Gavin got so sad because he really wanted to rake the leaves! So, we went inside and had breakfast, watched cartoons and played while the guy cleaned the gutters. When he finished, he had blown the driveway and the flower beds, but left the lawn so Gavin could go out and rake. It was right about the babies naptime so I put them down for nap and went outside with Gavin. He had so much fun “helping” while I raked.


We did find a caterpiller though and he really liked that too.

The wildlife around here is fun to see. On the golf course I have seen a doe and two fawns running across the green. Driving in the neighborhood across the way we saw a fox run out of the trees, along the road for a few yards and then back into the trees.

We have a squirrel that has a borough in the retaining wall in our back yard. Gavin has named it Munchie, we feed it raw peanuts. We first saw it in the late spring/early summer, it was kind of fat with a really bushy tail. More recently we’ve seen two smaller squirrels with skinny tails coming and going from the borough. Munchie must have had babies. This is one of the smaller ones.

There’s also frogs.

We can hear them at night a lot, but we’ve seen a few during the day.

Categories: Gavin, raking, wildlife | Leave a comment

Less and Less – and Too many

Posted on November 20, 2009 by wadmanclan

This is what the tooth fairy brought when she came for Saedi’s first tooth.

Well, we got another visit from the tooth fairy last night.
 

When we were sitting down to breakfast this morning, Saedi told me that she might be able to sing the “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” song this year.

The other afternoon, as Gavin and I were just finishing lunch, Gavin looked out the back door and said, “Look Mom, the sun is starting to go down!” I thought it was way too early, after all it was only 1:30 in the afternoon. But when I looked out the window he was right, the sun was already half way down in the sky. There is just not enough daylight now that it’s getting to be winter. It’s strange to have it be completely dark outside when I’m making dinner. I know it’s always been that way, but it’s just one of those times when it feels different because you see it from a different frame of mind.

I have a weakness for kids books. Every month Saedi brings home a book order form from school and I can’t resist. Nate gives me a hard time but I don’t feel too bad about it because Saedi reads just like Nate. She can read fast and always wants more books. She always tells me, “I can’t help it, I just like reading!” It’s not a bad thing, I’m quite proud of her, and I want her to have good material so that only makes it easier for me to buy more books. Before I placed another book order, I decided to make a list of what we had already so I wouldn’t run the risk of buying books we already had. Granted I could only work on it between interruptions, but it took me two days to get it done! Now that I am finished, I can say with absolute certainty that we have SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX!?!?! children’s books. Let me state that again, six hundred and thirty-six CHILDREN’s books. That number doesn’t even include the books from mine and Nate’s bookshelves. Oh, and I DID just place another order ;).

Solvei is the only one of my children to develop a real affinity for a binkie. Saedi took one until she was about 6 months and then was done, Gavin really only ever used them as chew toys, and Nels likes his at sleep time but usually could care less during the day. Solvei on the other hand, always wants hers. If she doesn’t have one it’s not for long, she will usually go find one. We have five of the kind she likes (we bought enough for Solvei and Nels, but Nels ended up preferring a different kind). One of the funniest things to watch is when she finds two of them. She keeps one in her mouth and carries the other one around, constantly changing between the two.

A few days ago she discovered that she can put both of them in her mouth AT THE SAME TIME! She thought it was the neatest thing ever!

So what’s better than two binkies at the same time?

Today she found three!!!
Categories: binkie, books, Gavin, lost teeth, Saedi, Solvei | 1 Comment

Friends around the world

Posted on November 11, 2009 by wadmanclan

Out running to the commissary with Gavin, Solvei and Nels today, we stopped to have lunch with Nate. As we were driving, two people in uniforms (we were on an Army post after all) crossed the street at an intersection and we had to wait for them before we could turn. Gavin asked Nate, “how come your friends from work were crossing the street when we’re trying to drive?” I think it’s funny how, just because they work at the same place as Daddy, and they all wear the same uniforms as Daddy, they must be Daddy’s friends. So with those criteria, Nate has roughly 1,106,000 friends and 25,000 close friends. Hope they don’t all come over for dinner!

On this same trip for lunch, Gavin asked me something, I answered, but Gavin wasn’t listening. I am constantly having to repeat myself with the kids. I find it especially irritating when I have to repeat an answer to something they asked. Lately I am often saying, “I’ve just told you, you weren’t listening again were you?” So when I said exactly that to Gavin, he replied with “Mom, I have something to tell you. My ears are awake at night, and asleep in the mornings.”
Nate answered with “But it’s afternoon now so they should be awake, so you can listen.”
Gavin insisted, “No, because afternoon is still part of the morning”

Categories: army, friends, Gavin, listening, Nate | 1 Comment

Now, because I’m four…

Posted on November 10, 2009 by wadmanclan

Birthdays are big when you are little. They mean that you are growing up and can do more things. When I woke up Gavin on his birthday (after I sang to him), he said “I feel bigger today because I am four.” So now everything he does is different, because now he is four.

Walking to the bus stop everyday, he runs as fast as he can. Now he can run a lot faster, because now he is four.

He always likes to tell us how strong he is and how he can lift this or that. But now he is stronger, because now he is four.

His arms are longer now, he can reach “all the way to here” because now he is four.

He’s also asked me if his nose is bigger because he’s four, I asked him what he thought, and he said “I think it is?”

He reminds me all the time, or asks if he can do something better, because now he is four.

Categories: Gavin, growing up | Leave a comment

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