Chirstmas Cuties

We had a wonderful quiet Christmas with just our little family. We decided to stay home after TWO trips to Michigan in November. Ryan had four days off, which was heavenly! So we just hang out as a family and enjoyed our time together.

The kids were fun and Gavin was so very thankful for everything this year. I loved that. When he opened a gift that was clothes, (which he doesn't like to get) he said, "Wow, mom! You were right, it IS nice to get clothes sometimes!" It was so cute. I know they aren't his favorite things to open up, but I was so proud of him for saying that.

Today it's back to the grind - Ryan is back to work, we are starting up school again for Gavin and even taking down the Christmas tree. I hope you had a very merry Christams!

I can't believe . . .

It's been awhile since I've done one of these posts! Hope you enjoy . . .

I can't believe that I forgot to wash my hair while in the shower one day. I got back in to wash it and ended up washing it twice . . . Don't ask me how.

I can't believe I resorted to using a swim diaper as a diaper cover because all of my other diapers were in the wash or dirty.

I can't believe that poor Gavin wore the same outfit for three whole days while we were sick. (Just so you know, I am hanging my head in shame over this one)

I can't believe I forgot to feed Gavin lunch during a busy day of holiday baking. He reminded me around 2:00.

I can't believe Gavin didn't even know who Rudolph was. We watched the cartoon on T.V. this year. He keeps forgetting his name and calling me Rufio. It's pretty funny.

I can't believe Gavin colored all over my off white rug with a blue pen and then said, "It's okay, mom. I forgive you."

Thankful

I was looking over my pictures from the last couple of months and I came across this picture.



It reminded me of Gavin's list of things he is Thankful for. It went like this (In this exact order): God, the cross, my family, my house, my enemy, Christmas Tree, Food, toys, mommy, water, our stuff, school, cubbies, our new church, my Bibles, My grandmas, my reading chart, Reading books, our new car and Jonas (my best cousin friend).

Gavin's Birthday

My big boy is FIVE YEARS OLD! That is just crazy to me. I have a five year old! I love everything about my first born. He is amazing!

We celebrated his birthday with family while we were in Michigan for Thanksgiving. This picture is my attempt to do a cake in home made fondant icing. It wasn't a total disaster but next time, I'll be able to do MUCH better. Gavin loved it, so that's all that matters!



Since we already celebrated with all of his cousins, we decided to just do some cupcakes or a small cake at home and give him one gift from us. I asked Gavin what kind of a cake he wanted. He told me he didn't want a cake and that he wanted yogurt "crush cups" instead. FINE BY ME! He is so funny!

What's wrong with this picture?

(sorry for the poor quality. My camera battery was almost dead.)

Gavin and Charlotte were playing in her crib together one afternoon. Charlotte bumped her head and started crying so I pulled her out. I brought her into another room to let her play and then I started doing something else. A few minutes later I noticed that it was just too quiet. I went back in her room to find Gavin asleep! He must have been REALLY tired. I had to move him a few min. later b/c it was time for Charlotte's nap. It was so hard to get him out of the crib, he would NOT wake up at all. He was so out of it. I put him in his bed and he ended up sleeping longer than Charlotte!

Nerf or Nothin'

If you ask my nephew Jonas what he wants for Christmas he'll tell you, "It's Nerf or Nothin". He saw that on a commercial for a nerf gun or something. On Thanksgiving Day my sister Kimberly bought a bunch of nerf guns for us to play with. Everyone LOVED it, kids and adults alike.

First Snow!

When it started to snow the other day, Gavin was so excited! I took him outside for about 10 min. to play. Charlotte was napping and we were all sick, but I couldn't deprive him of enjoying the first snow fall this year. He was pretty mad later on when he realized that it was not staying on the ground! I keep telling him he'll have lots of opportunity to play in the snow in the weeks to come!

Down and Out

Ever since we came back from our Thanksgiving in Michigan we have been SO sick. Gavin, Charlotte and I were all stuck in the house for a solid week. Poor Charlotte had the worst of it. I even took her to the doctor like a paranoid 1st time mom! I was worried that she had an ear infection or something. I never had to deal with things like this when Gavin was a baby. He was so HEALTHY. Well, that and he wasn't really around other kids all that much. In the end, Charlotte was fine. No ear infections. We had lots of runny noses, lots of coughing and lots of sore muscles. We all stayed in our sweats pretty much the whole week.Above is a picture I took of "My Cold Caddy". I pretty much carted it around to which ever room we were in. I was having to literally PIN Charlotte down to spray that saline in her hose and then suction away! She did NOT like it. We are on the mend now. Gavin and I are fine now and Charlotte is doing much better!

Rejoice!

Today we are rejoicing in God's goodness! This has been a highly anticipated day for the Dobbertin's! Baby Jayne gets to go home!

No more hour long commutes to and from the hospital for Jason and Katie!
No more juggling babysitters for big brother Will!
No more leaving Jayne every night to go home!

God has done so much in this precious little life already! We are singing praises to His name all day long! I am so Thankful for everything He has done in and through this family over the last month. What a great God we serve!

*sorry for the repeat picture! The only other one I have is on my phone and I haven't gotten it off yet! But I just have to show this beautiful little face!

Red Crayon

The day before Thanksgiving I was cleaning, doing laundry and packing in preparation for our trip to Michigan. On one of my laundry runs to the basement, I discovered that a RED CRAYON had found it's way into our dryer. Not what I wanted to see. I was pretty bummed out about it and was frantically spraying the clothes with oxy clean and throwing them into the washer to rewash them. Not everything got crayon on it, but a lot of stuff did, including some of Gavin's clothes. I was struggling to have a good attitude about it so I thought I'd go upstairs, tell Gavin and we would laugh about it together. It's no big deal. It's just clothes. Right? I started telling Gavin the story and was just waiting for him to start laughing. Instead, the kid burst into tears and was being super dramatic about it. Turns out, that was just what I needed! I was laughing so hard at him and I even broke out the video camera to document his drama. He was not too happy about it, but I couldn't resist. There is just something so funny about my big old five year old boy crying about red stains on his clothes. Most five year old's could care less! What a goober.

Gavin talk

Quotes from my hilarious almost five year old!

- While looking at Ryan's face he said, "Dad, why do you have a web in your nose?" Time to trim the nose hairs, Ryan!

- When he found out that we missed church while we were in Michigan he said, "I bet all the kids said, 'This place is NO FUN without Gavin!'". We are working on a big dose of humility these days . . .

- If Gavin eats a good dinner we usually have a snack before he goes to bed. One night he did not eat a good dinner so he did not get his snack. When he woke up in the morning he said, "Mom, why is my tummy making music?"

- Charlotte was in his room bugging him and he yells out, "Mom, can I have some alone time?"

- His new favorite quote from the movie UP, "I thought you were dead." He says this to Charlotte a lot. It's weird.

I just had to share this picture. At Cubbies the kids were supposed to dress like what they wanted to be when they grew up. When I asked Gavin what he wanted to be he said, "A dad." Then he changed his mind to "a Starbucks boss." It was so cute!

Reading

When I started teaching Gavin with this book, I thought we would do it every day. Well, that hasn't happened. There were many factors that stood in our way:

- our trip to Michigan
- a few busy days
- unable to renew the book from the Library due to someone placing a hold on it!

I ended up purchasing the book and we have completed 21 lessons. Gavin read these two sentences the other day: "See the ram sit." and "The ram is sad." It has been so fun watching him learn and get so excited when he can read words. I am officially recommending this book to one and all!!

My New-to-me Car

In the great state of Illinois, your car is required to pass an emissions test every few years. Apparently, if your check engine light is on it will not pass that test. Our van wasn't exactly a clunker, but we were tired of pouring money into it. It was just a matter of time before it died all together. It was time to start the hunt for a new car. Ryan was NOT up for getting another mini van. They are very hard to drive around in the city and don't even get me started on parallel parking. So, we settled on this cute little wagon.



Even though I would have loved to have a volvo station wagon (I am aware that I am a dork), I am happy with this car. It was a great deal! My first day running errands with it was somewhat of an adventure. It happened to be raining and I had to be out of the house all day due to new windows being installed. When I had my van and it rained, I could get us all in and close the door and then buckle Charlotte and get situated. I could literally roam around in the van at my leisure. Not so much in the new wagon. Let's just say, I got wet! But it was all good, I'd rather be wet and able to run errands than break down on my way to the grocery store!

God is Good

What a whirlwind these last two weeks have been. It all started last Wednesday when our five day old niece, Jayne was admitted to Children's Hospital in Detroit MI. I hopped on the train w/ the kiddos on Friday morning to head out there and be with the Dobbertin's. Jayne went through a lot these last two weeks (not to mention her mamma and daddy!), but God is so good and he answered so many prayers. Jayne is still in the hospital and is still recovering, but we are praising our Great Big God (as Gavin would say) that she is breathing on her own, nursing effectively, and doing all of the things a two week old should be doing. Still, there are some concerns and we are still praying. Please join in prayer with me for this baby girl that God loves more than we can even imagine. We need to get Jaynie girl home!

How old am I?

Because Ryan and I head up the children's ministry at our church, I am constantly telling people who are my age and older what to do. It seems VERY strange to me. I don't really like being "in charge". But, it is what it is and it is necessary. Well, the other day I was thinking about this one person who is my age and was wondering what they thought about me and taking direction from me. I started comparing my life with theirs and the differences between the two. I stopped and then started cracking up at myself. This person is a freshman in college and is 18 years old. 18 years old!!! I am 28. That is a 10 year difference! I never understood how older people could say that they still feel the same age in their mind, it's just their body that seems old. Now I understand. Apparently I feel like an 18 year old freshman!

Bored?!?!?!

My almost five year old (you know the one with one hundred and one half million toys!) told me that he was bored the other day! Bored. Are you kidding me? First I asked him where he learned that. Of course he doesn't remember. "He just knows it." Then, I did what any mom would do. I put that kid to work! Let's just say I don't think he'll be saying that EVER again. If he does, my work load will be drastically reduced!

Numbers

Gavin's new favorite number is "one hundred and one half million". I don't have the heart to correct him. I love it when he says it, which is at least twice a day. It cracks me up!
Here's a picture of Gavin and a sea dog - his favorite boat. We think it goes
one hundred and one half million miles per hour!

Content

My husband is the most content man in the entire world. I really love and admire this about him. I honestly have never met someone as content in life as he is. This does pose a problem when it comes to gift giving. He never says what he wants! I have the hardest time coming up with something to get him for Christmas. When ever I do think of something good, I realize that it usually benefits me as well. Last year I got him a really cool coffee maker. He loved it and definitely uses it on the weekends. Most evenings though, he is prepping the coffee for ME in the morning. I am at a total loss this year as to what to get him. He doesn't really even have any hobbies. I realize that Thanksgiving isn't even here yet and I have plenty of time but if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!

Christmas is coming!

The first week in November I usually devote to cleaning my house REALLY well and decluttering. I do this to make room for all of the Christmas clutter!!! I usually put our tree up once the house is clean. I hate to say it, but I am actually procrastinating this year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Christmas tree but I just do not have the energy to to keep Charlotte away from it this year. She is so determined and I KNOW the tree will be a huge hit with her. I think she would even be able to pull it down on herself. I'm not quite sure what to do about it!

Reading

Wow! Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons is NOT going like I thought it would. Gavin does not really like it at all! I don't blame him. It isn't fun. I didn't think I would have to be so forceful with him about it. That really caught me off guard. I also thought that we would do it everyday, but we are already two days behind! It IS getting better. I was really encouraged after our lesson today. I have figured out that I need to repeat one or two more times than the book recommends before Gavin can get it. Once I do that, he seems to do fine. I am also trying to figure out the best time to have our lesson. Tomorrow I'm going to try it first thing after our morning chores and see how it goes.
On the upside, it is working!!! He can already put together and read words with the sounds he knows. I am pretty impressed by the whole thing. I think with in the next couple of weeks, when it becomes more routine he will do better.