Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Friday afternoon Gammy and Pop arrived... Gavin had NO problem warming up to them. When I knew they were off the exit I took him outside for a walk in his wagon, he jumped out and ran right to them for hugs. Pop immediately took Gavin for a long walk and they bonded instantly. Gavin didn't leave his side the rest of the weekend. We waited for Jason to get home from work and then all headed out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner. What a treat! We wanted to celebrate the March birthdays! Dinner was so good, we didn't even have room for birthday dessert after. We did walk around downtown and check out the renovations done at Ellis Square. It's great! We'll be using the "splash park" a lot this summer with Gavin I bet! They had the fountains lit green for St. Patrick's Week. We also walked through City Market to listen to the live band and went up to the Rooftop Bar on the top of the Bohemian Hotel for a drink. Gavin loved looking down on all the boats and kept yelling "Go, go boats!" When we got home Gammy gave Gavin a bath then rocked him to sleep; the rest of us followed soon after!

So excited to see Gammy and Pop
Gavin and Pop at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Best Buds

♥

Playing with daddy, the almost birthday boy

Giving "Noggin"

(their new thing)

Watching the water at Ellis Square

Can't wait to play in these this summer

Our Week

Sorry for being M.I.A. the last week! I've been trying to spend less time on the computer and more time doing quality things with our family and productive things around the house, etc. It sure is a challenge to keep myself off the computer! We've had a busy week...

Last weekend we had company. Our friend, Gary, from high school came to visit with his girlfriend. When they arrived Friday evening we grilled out shish kabobs (delicious!) and just hung out at the house. We all crashed pretty early. Saturday morning Jason made a big breakfast and we watched a couple movies on tv and played outside with Gavin. I made the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad sandwiches again for lunch and they were a hit. That evening we hired a babysitter for Gavin and went to dinner downtown. It was nice to get out with just the adults and know that Gavin was home having fun. We ate at Wild Wing Cafe (Jason and Gary ALWAYS find a way to have wings when they get together) then we went to the Bohemian for drinks after. The weather was a little chilly, but we were still able to sit outside over looking the river. It reminded us of the time we met Gary in Charleston and went to a roof top bar there. (Except the bar in Charleston even had a heated swimming pool on the roof!!!) We ran into several people from Ranger Battalion. We went to a couple other bars before heading home. Sunday morning took Gary to Pancake House before he went back to Atlanta. Thanks for coming to visit Gary and introducing us to the woman in your life! Gavin LOVED his new t-ball set (until the dogs chewed it) and he practices with his bowling set everyday. I love the silver cup you had engraved for me and you KNOW that the gift you brought Jason is ALREADY gone! HAHAHA. Can't wait until next time!

Sunday night we spent some time watching old home videos. I forgot Jason and I had a video camera years ago and recorded LT and Hogan as 8 week old puppies, Michael's high school graduation, Jeff coming home from a tour in Iraq, and more of the dogs a little older. There was even a clip of my mom putting on roller blades and attempting to skate! I was so excited to find this video! My aunt Holly also recently sent me a tape she found of my swim meets in 1997 and of Kaylee's 3rd birthday. I can't wait to show her! She was a huge fan of 101 Dalmatians at that age. Gavin loved every second of watching the videos, he "swam" around the living room yelling "Go Mommy" while I swam and kept saying hi to Michael, Kaylee, and Pop when they came on. Hopefully we can get ahold of some childhood videos of Jason to show Gavin. I'm sure they will look identical!

Jason's amazing dinner creation... we also had coleslaw, veggies/dip, and chips/salsa
Gavin playing outside on Saturday morning, enjoying the weather

Testing out the new t-ball set. (By this point the dogs had already popped the ball, so we were using a tennis ball instead!)

Saturday night at Wild Wings with the Mineo's

♥ them!

Onto our week - My mission was to get myself to the dentist. I had a bad experience about three years ago at a dentist in Columbus, GA and I'm so sad to say that I let that get the best of me and haven't been back to a dentist since January 2007. Considering that I worked in a dental office for nearly 5 years and know how important dental health is, I'm truly embarrassed that I let myself make excuse after excuse for so long! But, one of my resolutions for the year was to get over it and get back to a quality dentist! After posting a request on facebook for advice from Savannah friends and researching online I finally picked a dentist here in Savannah. Neelee offered to keep Gavin for me and first thing Monday morning I headed out to the dental office. I was so pleased with it. The office personnel was fantastic and the level of treatment was above and beyond. I was so thankful for this, as I knew one bad thing would easily give me an excuse not to come back. They did find three cavities, but that didn't surprise me after how long I had neglected treatment for myself. I'm proud to say that I made an appointment and already had two of the three cavities filled! Again, the staff was so nice. I was hoping to be able to get Gavin in to the same office (they have a HUGE train table!) but they don't take children until age 3. Looks like I'll be on the search for a quality pediatric dentist for him! My next appointment is in two weeks and after that I'll be so relieved to be cavity free and back on a 6 month cleaning schedule! Monday afternoon Gavin played outside while I started working on the weeds, etc. Our landscaping is in need of some major work! We found a worm and played with that for awhile. We eventually had to toss him back as Gavin wanted to see if he could be like Stretch Armstrong (Remember those?)

Tuesday morning we went to the Library for Toddler Story time. It's a great 30 minute time for Gavin, but it's sooooo crowded and often lots of the toddlers are crying, etc. I like him to learn about the library and get to check out new books each Tuesday, but we definitely get more out of our reading time at home. Later on that day we went to visit Jason at work. Gavin LOVES to go up there and visit with all the soldiers. I was so thankful when Jason offered to take Gavin home and I was able to go do big grocery shopping at the commissary by myself! Jason even cooked dinner that night as a special treat!

Wednesday was a special day - Pop's birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Pop! We had a playdate at our house that morning. The weather was FANTASTIC so we spent about 2 1/2 hours in the back yard. The boys exhausted themselves. When they all left Gavin had lunch and then napped from 1-4pm. I couldn't believe it! I was able to get almost the entire house clean while he slept. When he woke up I loaded him in the jogger with milk and a snack and he ate while I ran. We ended the run at the park (per his request). He would go up the stairs and come down the big twisty slide over and over. When Jason called to say he was on the way home we started our walk back. Gavin did the ENTIRE over .5 mile walk. He loved the chance to be a big boy and walk all the way home, doing lots of exploring with the leaves, grass, sidewalks, etc. He tested his boundaries with walking in the street and quickly learned that mommy wasn't going to let him get away with it! Needless to say, Jason beat us home. He and Gavin played while I made meatloaf and veggies for dinner. Gavin bathed and basically asked to go to bed, he was so tired from being outside all day. We may be taking walks more often!

Here are pictures from the week. Most are from the point and shoot, so excuse the quality!

Gavin and Max on Monday... the weather was so nice they had to shed their sweatersBeing brave for Gavin! I'm in trouble when he starts showing interest in frogs!

At the library, surrounded by toddlers all wanting the same book!

Hanging out in daddy's office

Giving Colton a ride on his bike

One of Jason's favorite dinners!

We have a VERY busy week coming up, so lots of blogs to come! Saturday night is our Ranger Ball. Jeff and Starla are on their way here now to keep Gavin for us this weekend. I just made reservations for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for tonight - we're going to celebrate Pop's belated birthday (March 10th) and Jason's upcoming birthday (March 19th). Tomorrow I have a hair appointment and then we'll head downtown to check into our hotel and get ready for a fantastic Ranger ball! Many, many pictures to come. Have a great weekend everyone!

Marine Science Center

This morning Gavin and I headed to Skidaway Island to attend a Mommy and Me program at the UGA Marine Science Center. I was hesitant to go because it's almost a 40 minute drive from our house and it costs $6 per visit, but I was super pleased with it! It's designed for kids ages 1-4. There was one teacher and one assistant for the 45 minute program. When we walked in Gavin first noticed the touch tank and was so excited. Once everyone arrived they took us back to a room designed just for kids. It was great. We all went to the rug for a story about how marine animals sleep. We then sang a song and they had musical instruments for all the kids! (We'll be making some of these at home VERY soon, as Gavin loved them.) They laid all these marine stuffed animals on the floor and each child got to pick one to hold. Gavin picked the shark. Next we headed out to the aquarium and looked at all the animals and talked about if they were sleeping or awake. Gavin said "ni-night" to all the tanks, it was pretty funny. Then came Gavin's favorite part, the touch tank! He was nervous at first, but then really got into it. The teacher was great. She was good at talking on their level and asking them about their body parts and would then show those parts on the animals in the tank. Gavin got to point to his legs and then see the legs on the horse shoe crab. Finally, we headed back to the kid room and sang another song with the instruments then were done. I'd recommend this to any of you in the Savannah area with toddlers! Next week's activity is finger painting! Visit the site for more information: Mommy and Me Program

Gavin's instrument of choice

Banging on a drum

Learning about the shark

He really liked the shark!

Time for the touch tank

So curious!

Checking out all the shells...

Last song!

Saying bye to the turtles on our way out...

Toddler Tuesday

Tuesday morning we loaded up for Toddler Time at the Library. We read books by Dr. Seuss to celebrate his birthday. Songs were also sang. Gavin did much better this time then he did the last time we went, so I was pretty impressed! He sat on my lap the whole 30 minutes clapping to the songs and listening to the stories. After the library we went to softplay across the street to run out lots of energy before nap! Jason ended up meeting us in the food court so he could eat lunch. Gavin was so excited when he saw him!

Gavin's new thing is sitting in this basket and using the rim as a race track. It was a nice entertainment while I made dinner.

My first attempt at italian meatballs

Jason was impressed!

As was Gavin :)

Chalk

Distracted by an airplane!

Hugs for LT before bed

Pajama time!

Home Improvement Continues!

Sunday was deemed "Project Day" in our house! One big task was cleaning out the kitchen cabinets. They have become so overcrowded, unorganized, and dirty over the almost two years we've lived here. We've also realized that we have lots of stuff that never gets used, so we made a yard sale pile too. While I worked on the cabinets (emptying each, vacuuming and wiping them out, then putting things back away nicely!) Jason took Gavin outside for a couple hours of play. They washed the truck and grilled a delicious lunch while they were out there as well! I enjoyed the quiet inside while I worked. I'm embarrassed to mention the amount of expired baking ingredients that I discovered while cleaning... definitely put those in the trash and made a list of replacement items we need to purchase!

Ahhh... organization :)

And my all time favorite, our spice drawer!

(Saw this in a magazine and HAD to have it in my own kitchen!)

LOVE it!

Working hard on the truck...

Sneaking in a little bike time while Jason grilled

Mmmm, hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and pears!

After lunch (and more importantly, Gavin's nap time) our next project started... painting the hall way and entryway to our house. This has been on the to do list for about a year now and we've finally gotten it finished! We also touched up several places in the kitchen and it looks so much better. Now we just need to get some white paint to touch up the trim and a few spots on the ceiling we accidentally painted and we'll be finished with all paint work.

You may be wondering why we're doing all these home improvement projects. Well, as it goes in the army, this will be our final year in Savannah. We're forecasting that we'll be moving to Ft. Benning, GA sometime in December-January for Jason to attend a school. We originally thought we were going to rent our home out, but we've almost decided that we'd rather just sell it. So, we're doing our best to get as many projects done as we can in the next couple months, and then we're going to put it on the market. We don't want to be rushed to sell it, so we want to get it on the market as soon as possible. We are a little nervous, as two other homes are for sale on our street, and one is listed for much less then we had planned on listing ours for. So, our best bet is to get our house set up as much like a model home as possible and pray for the best! Does anyone have any advice on selling and staging your home? We think back to two years ago when we were out on our search for a home, and the ones that were very clean, organized, and staged well remained on the top of our prospect lists, so we're attempting to make the same of our home! So, here's to our home improvement projects and getting our home sold in 2010!