Obsessed? (maybe just a little!)

Gavin has this thing going on for Thomas the train. I guess I shouldn't say thing, it is an obsession! He insists on wearing his Thomas PJ's every night. The problem is that I only had one pair until recently. Now we have two, but that is still not going to cut it. He throws the biggest tantrum you have ever seen in your life when I try to take these PJ's off in the morning. He has Thomas shoes as well. He wears them constantly and takes a nap with them on. He lets me take them off at night now, but it is still a struggle. One night, I left the Thomas shoes on his dresser. When he got up the next morning, he had put the shoes on himself in the night and slept in them!
This has been going on for months now! The girls really liked Princess stuff, but this is a whole other level of liking something. He now has Thomas sippy cups, a Thomas swimsuit, a Thomas sweatshirt (that he wears constantly!), and several Thomas trains to play with. He wants to watch Thomas all the time too. Luckily he will also watch "Chuggington" (if you don't know what that is, you are lucky!) on the Disney channel.
His obsession makes buying things for him very simple, but taking things off or away from him a nightmare! Every night I ask him to get his PJ's on and he says, "Choo, choo?" It's worth it for me to do laundry more often just so he is happy. I don't know what I will do when his shoes get to small. CLEARLY I should have bought a pair in several sizes!
I am thinking it might help with potty-training though. The girls did good with princess underwear, so I am hoping the Thomas underwear will work for Gavin!

Another Born Swimmer?

Gavin is finally old enough to learn to swim. He got to have his first private lesson starting this week. I had my doubts about him. He is super super sweet, but when he doesn't want to do something, he is the most stubborn person I know. I fully expected him to throw a huge fit and not work well. I was completely wrong. He actually did really well. He cried and screamed of course, but he did what he was supposed to do. He got more upset at me for taking off his swimming suit than he did about swimming.
Usually she doesn't have them stick their faces in the water right away, but Gavin did that all on his own. He is already floating on his back on his own as well. He might just be another born swimmer in this family. He is still a butt in the pool because he throws the toys that are meant to make the little kids feel better. He just throws them out of the pool in defiance, but he gets the swimming done.
I just love the swimming lessons. It makes going to the pool so much fun. Very expensive, but worth every penny in the end!

The Big 3-0

That's right! Brian is 30 years old! He has entered the next decade of his life. I asked him if he feels older, and he said that he used to feel like a young guy trapped in an old man's body, but now he feels he is just old! So there you have it! I am still younger for a couple more months! He was kind enough to watch the kids most of the day because I had to run one of my 20 mile runs yesterday. Boy was that fun! It is not so much fun to have that plus a birthday all packed into one day. He was a trooper to help out and not complain. I guess he kind of got to feel what it is like to be a mom on her birthday! (Like we ever "actually" get the day off!) I was exhausted by the time I got to bed last night.

The kids were stoked about it being dad's birthday. They also think it is hilarious that he is 30. Don't ask me why!



Gavin loves having his picture taken. When I was taking pictures at dinner, he kept posing and asking me to take another one of him.
It's so nice to have digital cameras that you can just erase the pictures!
I had some help pulling off the cake, otherwise, it would have been store bought cookies or something! I think overall it was a good birthday. He is a pretty simple guy. He just likes to have people around to celebrate with him! Happy Birthday Babe!

They do as you do, not as you say!

I have heard many people over the years say that your children tend to do what you do instead of what you tell them to do (if what you are telling them to do contradicts what you actually do!) I have noticed my kids following our example on many occasions, but today takes the cake.
I was driving home with Kaitlyn from her school. We were stopped at a stoplight when she said, " Hey, I can totally drive, I know what all the lights mean." "Red means stop, Green means go, and Yellow means hurry up and drive fast before it turns red!" Yeah, that would be how I probably drive on lots of occasions! So I told her that the yellow light actually means that you should be slowing down because the light is going to turn red. Then she said, "But that's not how you guys drive!" I admit that I hate to wait through red lights. There are several on the way home from Kaitlyn's school. I should be better. I need to set a better example for my kids. I just can't wait until Drivers Ed when they can pick apart all of my driving!!!

One word and the whole meaning changes!

Maya was asked to do the scripture in primary on Sunday. She was really excited to read a scripture from her Book of Mormon all by herself. Brian helped her pick out a scripture and helped her read through the scripture a few times before church. He reviewed with her a little at church and made sure she still had the scripture marked. The scripture was 3 Nephi 12:16 which says,"Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Only when she got to the last sentence, Maya said, "... and "crucify" your Father who is in heaven. I was crying because I was laughing so hard, but trying not to make a sound. The sad part was that Maya was totally excited and oblivious to the huge mistake! Then Brian said, "And that's why we come to church!" It was pretty funny. She is such a cute kid.

What does a mom of daughters do?

Maya receives notes like this from school almost daily. I find them when I am cleaning out her backpack. For some reason there are several boys that seem to think they are in love with her. She comes home with notes that have their names, addresses, and phone numbers on them. What is up with that?! She is six years old! When I ask her about them, she just shrugs it off by saying, "They just have a crush on me mom." Great, that makes me feel a lot better! She even got Christmas presents from these admirers. Now obviously they couldn't have gone to the store, bought a present, wrapped it, and then brought it to school all on their own. So the mothers clearly know the boys like her.
It's fine right now, but what happens in a few years?! Right now she says her dad is her only love, I sure hope that lasts a little longer! Brian has both the girls convinced that there can be no other man in their life forever. I think that is one of those commitments they grow up to regret agreeing too! Maybe we will need to home school and invest in a few shot guns!

Here we go again!

I added a new countdown on the blog. I have begun training for the Salt Lake City marathon. I know, it is a little bit crazy. The thing is that I was trying to qualify for Boston before I turn 30. It is like a bucket list thing. The SLC marathon is on April 17, which is only a few days before my 30th birthday. I am already in pretty good shape so I figure my chances are pretty good! I have not ever tried to train in the snow, so it will be an interesting experience. So far it has been very cold! I hope to not injure myself by slipping on the ice!