Family Updates

It's been too long! But 2014 is a NEW year with new adventures and memories! Gavin: Gavin just turned 9! He thinks he's close to being a teenager now ;) Now a 3rd grader he's finally figured out that homework is a part of life. It can still be a struggle sometimes, but he definitely takes more initiative to get it done on his own. I should also add that Gavin can be very ambidextrous as he is technically right-handed, but he often eats and drinks with his left hand. It will be interesting to see if this holds true as a adult. Gavin's sense of humor is really shining through these days! Constant singing of Minecraft songs, some he made up, and doing impressions or just his own made up silly voices he's a really funny kid. Gavin is so smart, too! He really doesn't like school at all, but his intelligence shines when he's talking about something he loves! These days it's mostly all about Minecraft. He's playing it non-stop and with the Xbox live he can play online with his friends, which can be a little annoying for all of us. He started Boy Scouts this year as a Bear Scout and he really enjoys it once we convince him to leave the house ;) His dad worked hard on a derby car and Gavin painted it with his own style. He won the first heat, but a bum wheel slowed it down the next time. Gavin is also still very empathetic towards others. He's so kind when someone else needs help, unless it's one of his brothers ;) He's great at annoying them but then he readily makes up for it. He's truly an amazing and strong-willed boy that thinks so far outside the box we don't know where he gets his ideas, but I believe that will be a handy trait someday. Sometimes it's hard to nourish that strong will and alternative thinking, but we try to remind ourselves that he's Gavin, that's just how he is, and one day we'll be thankful that he doesn't take orders from others, won't be a follower and will make a big difference in the world :) Gavin also loves that his feet are now as big as mine and he's only about 6" shorter that me, so it won't be long before I'm looking eye to eye at my firstborn son! Yikes! That makes him about 4'8" and he's around 80 lbs, predicted to be a little over 6' as an adult! Garrett: Garrett is almost 6! For some reason he seems to grow up so much faster! He's constantly asking how many days he has until his birthday :) Garrett is in Kindergarten and he is a great student and very will-liked by his teachers and classmates. Recently his teacher had surgery, so she's been out for a few weeks. He's had the same substitute who makes a point to let us know regularly how good of a kid Garrett really is. He's really enjoyed riding the bus with his big brother. Garrett's personality continues to shine. He's always been such a sweetheart. While he can be very shy and reserved at first, when he warms up watch out! He's still so quiet and shy at school, though. His teachers can't believe that he's loud and rambunctious at home!!! A couple funny things that Garrett has said this year really left an impression, especially coming from his sweet little lips. One morning he didn't want to wear his coat even though it was really cold out. As his mom I of course made him wear it to which he told me to stop being a bitch! 8-O Now that one was a shock! I asked him where he heard that and he said on the bus, which is unfortunate, but he said a bitch just means you're being mean. He definitely didn't hear that word at home! So we had a talk about it and he knows that he shouldn't say that. Garrett is on a penny reward system at school and he almost always comes home with all of his pennies for the day and he's regularly a Den Leader in his class :) When he grows up he wants to be a firefighter cook. Not just a firefighter and not just a cook, but the guy who cooks for the firefighters in the station house :) Most likely that is from watching Chicago Fire. We'll see how that one plays out! Garrett was lucky enough to get the skinny gene in our family! He weighs about 40 lbs. and last time we checked I think he was about 44" tall. He's predicted to be about 5'8" which is what his uncle Erick and Pops stand at now. Braden: Our littlest guy is 3 1/2 now and he is Gavin's clone! He is very strong-willed and has very big ideas and opinions about the world. It's crazy how his mannerisms resemble Gavin, too. Braden is even more of a singer, though. Right now his all time favorite song is "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus. Oh boy, he's running around singing that song constantly! We think it's because of all the parodies we watched on YouTube and he just heard the song so many times and apparently liked it! He also really likes "What does the fox say?" and "Who let the dogs out?" and sings both of those songs regularly too. Braden also has a great sense of humor! He's constantly laughing or trying to make other people laugh with his singing and funny voices. As for school, Braden doesn't care much for it at all. Mostly he doesn't like to get up early or leave the house, but once he's there he usually enjoys himself. He is continuing his speech therapy at Sarah Raymond so he gets to ride the bus every morning. There have been a few days that he has fought, bucked, kicked and screamed about getting on the bus, but it's mostly when he's out of his routine. His speech is improving every day! Sometimes it can be a challenge to understand him, but it's gotten so much better. Braden is currently working on potty training, but he really has no interest. In the words of his teacher, Braden can be easily bribed, so he'll go if he really wants the reward! One of his favorite things to do right now is PUZZLES! He will do puzzles all day long if we let him! He's constantly putting them together, cleaning them up and then dumping them out to do them all over again. He also enjoys doing puzzles on his tablet or the laptop. Maybe he'll be some sort of problem solver in his future career! Surprisingly one of the issues we don't have with Braden is bedtime. He's usually ready to hit the sack, but prefers to sleep on the floor! We're not complaining ;) Braden is about as tall as he weighs. He's about 42" and 42 lbs. Yep, he weighs more than his older brother. You would think having 3 boys would be great for sharing clothes, but when a slim follows a chunky and a chunky follows a slim it doesn't always work out to use the hand me downs. Braden is predicted to be about 5'10" as an adult. 2014 has had a rough start! The Snowpacolypse has hit more than once!!! Several snowstorms have dumped inches and inches of snow, but we haven't been able to play in it because of subzero temperatures! The school has cancelled 5 times already due to extreme cold temperatures and snow. We're all ready for some warmer temps! Thankfully our furnace was replaced just before Christmas 2013 because if it had happened during these frigid temps our pipes would have frozen for sure. That is a very scary thought, so we're all very thankful that the few days we spent drinking hot chocolate, wearing our coats and stocking caps indoors, sleeping together in one bedroom and warming up with space heaters happened when it was just kinda cold out. All in all we're so happy with our lives right now. We have a great house, Brian has a great job and we have 3 healthy boys and 2 furry Golden Retrievers that love us more than anything else in the world. I will try very hard to update this blog more frequently!!!