Gavin's Orange Birthday Party

We celebrated Gavin's 3rd birthday a little early this year to make sure he could get his celebration in before his little brother or sister arrives... good thing Quinn was there to help show him how to blow out the candle!

Gavin's gift from Mommy and Daddy and Nana and Papa was this cool easel and table and chairs, which we used to set up a new play area in the basement where he can do his thing. He was frankly more excited about the balloons, we think.

Gavin's requested theme for his party was "orange."

That included some of his favorite foods, like goldfish crackers.

But I mixed it up a little bit for the inside of the cake!

E.J. approves!

A successful party all around!

Don's Super Bowl Cake!

...made by me! It tasted yummy, too. Think he'll make me a Packers one the next time they make it to the big game???

Sledding!

PAELLA!

Tonight we broke out the paella pan Jenny received for Christmas from Mom and Dad Smith. The recipe we followed was the traditional Valencian variety, but we elected to replace the rabbit with chicken and the homemade meatballs it called for with some store-bought chorizo...


Cooking up lots of peppers, garlic and scallions...

The finished product! It really turned out much better than we expected. It was delicious and we'll definitely make this again, though probably not every week as it's pretty involved.

Yeah! Leftovers for tomorrow night...

More pretending

Gavin is continuing his enjoyment of pretending and dressing up ... on this particular day when we were working on setting up the baby's room, he hailed a pair of Daddy's pants from our bedroom and decided to give them a try (along with Mommy's sun hat).


He also is really digging the accessories that came with a play-camping set, particularly the backpack and all of its contents. He decided to add the superhero mask and a Badger pom pom for some flair.

Our Superhero

Gavin received "Super Hero in a Box" from his cousins Anna and Caroline for Christmas. He busted it out tonight and was very excited to show off the cape... he's not so sure about the mask.

A few scenes from Christmas...

Gavin's gift for us

Gavin and the other children in his class have been working for two weeks on a "special box" to give to their parents.

We received it today ...

...inside was a piece of artwork Gavin did...

...along with his thoughts on the upcoming holiday as told to his teachers...

...cue Mommy and Daddy with tears in their eyes. There are no words other than to say what a special boy we are lucky enough to have.

Visit from Santa

Gavin's friend Claire has an "in" at the North Pole, which meant a visit today from the big guy. She and her parents were nice enough to invite some other friends over for the fun. Gavin decided to keep his distance, but we assured him Santa will come even though he did not have a one-on-one chat about what he hopes to see under the tree on Christmas morning.

Jingle Bells!

Thanksgiving weekend in D.C.

We were in the D.C. area over the weekend visiting with Don's family -- brother Chris and sister-in-law Kathy live in Virginia and we enjoyed taking a trip into the city on Friday to stroll on the national mall (rather than go to the other kind of mall). If you look by the Capitol building, you can see that not only are they decorating the Christmas tree, they are also building the grandstand for the upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20!

Family pictures (more)

We had some family pictures taken last month and here's an additional sneak peek ... some of you will be seeing more of these very soon!

Gavin and Gabe

Orna and Brandon came over tonight with Gabe and Ari... the two G-men had a great time!

Halloween Recap

Halloween was a two-day extravaganza this year, starting with a party on Thursday at Gavin's preschool...

Gavin was up for dancing to songs about pumpkins and haunted houses, but did not wish to wear the top half of his giraffe costume.
So Mommy decided to do that part.
Gavin headed off for his first-time ever trick-or-treating with Daddy and his friend E.J. (dressed as Scooby Doo).

Back home after a successful outing to 20 houses!The haul! Gavin has not eaten any of it, but likes to sort it.
Relaxing after two busy days of celebrating...