A Scoob-a-rific Birthday

YEAH! I'M THREE!

Yeah! Gavin turned three this month! January 14th marked the big big day. It was a Wednesday this year so we waited till the weekend to celebrate. He brought little party bags to school with Scooby Doo fruit snacks, Scooby Do bone shaped Grahm crackers, Scooby Do tattoos and stickers. Gavin choose a Scooby-Do cake and wanted Scooby-Do macaroni and cheese for his birthday dinner. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese actually makes a mac-n-cheese with Scooby-Do themed shaped noodles, so I used the noodles to make some homemade Mac-n- Cheese with ham casserole, which everyone here loves.

A Scoobylicious cake!

We ordered his cake from a very nice local bakery, the same place he got his Tigger cake last year. He wanted the part on the collar with the "SD" on it. He took maybe two bites of his cake and was done, ready to get back to playing with his new birthday toys!

Gavin gives his new Scooby-Do stuffed animal a big hug!

Gavin practicing his swing with his new Gator Golf mini-golf game

Showing off his new Remote Control (with lights and sounds!) Backhoe


Cole and Gavin take a break from the action to have some dinner!

After dinner we tried to take the kids to a Monster Truck Rally, however once we got down there , much to our surprise the event had sold out. It actually sold out WHILE we were trying to find a parking spot in the parking garage! That was a little frustrating, but what can you do? We left an hour before the event figuring we would have plenty of time, we didn't anticipate the gridlock downtown and trouble finding a parking spot! We had already told the kids we were taking them for a surprise, so then we had to tell them, ooops! Cole was pretty good about it, Gavin had fallen asleep so we didn't have to tell him anything. By the time we got back home (round trip was a little over 2 hours!) both kids were zonked out in the back seat!

Snow buddies

My little snow buddy, Gavin!

Despite the cold weather, we do our best to let these stir crazy kids get out. This week however has had record cold temps, getting down to -20 plus below with the wind chill so school had to be cancelled two days last week.

Prior to that it was "warm" enough to be outside for 30 minutes or so, so we had the kids outside one day and they attempted to ride their bikes and scooters! Not always easy when everyone doesn't shovel their half of the sidewalk, but the kids gave it their best shot anyhow!

Gavin tries to help Daddy out and do some shovelin'

Cole takes a spin on his scooter.

Gavin tries (unsuccessfully) to navigate his way down the sidewalk amidst the ice and snow!

Santa Claus came to town!

Much to our surprise the kids actually slept in! Well if you call 7:30 sleeping in, then yeah they slept in! The kids were anxious to open gifts of course so I woke my sister up and got everyone ready to head down stairs. The kids had left some cookies and milk for Santa, and they were happy to discover that not only did he eat them, he left them a note as well!

They had an absolutely awesome time opening their gifts and Gavin started saying "Ohhh yeaaah Ba-by!," after he opened each gift! We all laughed hysterically, and it never got old. We don't know where he got it from, but we were amused nonetheless!

Santa brought Auntie Amber and her little dog Rockne presents too!

Cole's favorite gift was probably his Remote Control Jeep, and Gavin loved his Sit n Spin. Unfortunately Sit n Spin has added a new element- music. Music which can not be turned off OR down. Needless to say, the batteries for the music will not be replaced when the run out!

Todd and I let the kids decide what to get us, and they actually had some good ideas! They wanted to get their dad: a blue and purple shirt, a pink shirt, green underwear, black socks and a scarf. Sooo... two days before Christmas we set out to get just that! The kids knew exactly what they wanted so it really only took about 2 hours to get everything! They were very decisive, and it was actually quite painless! They told their dad they wanted to get me a jewelry box. They came up with this all on their own and I actually did need one. I have been keeping all my jewelry in a glass dish on the dresser for years, and what didn't fit in there in the original boxes. So, it was a great idea and the one they picked out was just my taste!

This is a gingerbread house Cole made at school.

After we were finished opening gifts I made everyone some biscuits and gravy and we all had a nice breakfast! The kids spent the rest of the day playing with all their gifts and coloring in their new coloring books. Todd bought the family a new 60" flat screen TV and he spent much of the day disassembling the old TV (it was huge and easily weighed over 100 lbs) and dropping it into various dumpsters around town. Then he put together the new TV stand and hooked up the new TV. Our TV upstairs was about 18 years old and while it still worked it was on it's last leg! The final straw for Todd was when he went to watch a football game and couldn't even read the score! My sister and I sacked out on the couch and watched the kids play. It truly was a MERRY Christmas. Unfortunately we were unable to see my parents, or Todd's but we did speak with them by phone, and the kids were happy to be able to do that.