Dec 24: Christmas Eve

We spent the morning in our pajamas and had a healthy breakfast out of the 'Deceptively Delicious' cookbook. Gavin has been a bit picky lately so I was excited to find this cookbook on sale at TJ Maxx! Jason and I made the Sweet Potato Pancakes and we all 3 actually enjoyed them! We also had strawberries/blueberries and were impressed with how many Gavin ate. He sure loves his fruits, but sometimes we struggle to get him to eat his veggies. I was so glad he liked the sweet potato pancakes! We will be trying more recipes from the cookbook later. After our nice Christmas Eve breakfast, Jason got LB ready and took him out of the house for an hour to give me some quiet time. I was so thankful! When they returned, we did some house cleaning and then finished decorating Lindseys graduation cake, and put up streamers around the house. We had to show our orange and blue pride, as Jason and I are both graduates from UTM as well!! GO SKYHAWKS! :). A bit later the rest of the Smith clan arrived (Jeff, Starla, and Lindsey) and we welcomed them with open arms! Gavin warmed up to them quickly. We enjoyed toasting Champagne to Lindseys successes and snacking on goodies Jason had prepared. A little later Jasons great aunt, Jackie, and 2nd cousin (I think?), Jimmy, arrived for a couple hours. We headed out for a very non-tradional Christmas Eve dinner - mexican!! It sure was delicious. We came back home after and relaxed, then stuffed ourselves again with Jackie's homemade apple pie!! It was to die for! Yumm, yumm!

The 24th was also my sister, Ashley's, birthday! Happy Birtday, Ash. Hope you had a great time in Gatlinburg with Isabella and Adrian.

Dec 23: Baking!

Wednesday morning we went to the YMCA and worked out, then enjoyed a lunch out together! We later decided to do some baking to prepare for Christmas! Gavin helped me make a cake while Jason cooked us a declicious dinner.

Cake batter is ready to go in the oven!

While the cakes baked, Gavin decorated a cookie of his own... he was more interested in shaking the sprinkles then anything else, so he never ate the cookie.

Shake, shake, shake!

The cake will be finished in a later post!!!

Dec 22

Tuesday morning was Jason's last day of work before he signed out on leave! Gavin and I had a snack date at Starbucks that morning while we waited for daddy. Gavin enjoyed milk and banana bread while I had a pumpkin spiced latte and coffee cake! What a treat! We keep a few farm animals and race cars in the diaper bag to use as entertainment if ever needed, Gavin liked sharing his snack with them!

Gavin has been really interested in the toilet (or "potty" as he calls it) lately... I know he's way too early for that, but he enjoys the idea of it... I put him on the seat Tuesday and he was so proud. He got down and looked in the toilet and was a little sad to see there was nothing in it but water - it was a great try though! He liked flushing the best.

When daddy got off work they celebrating with a little wrestling match - it was pretty funny! We are so excited to have 2 weeks of family time with (hopefully) no work interruptions!

Dec 20: Relaxing Family Sunday

Gavin and Daddy enjoyed snuggling on the couch reading a few animal and Christmas books. This was the most still I had seen Gavin in awhile!

Daddy then took Gavin outside to play ball with the dogs and to go for a ride in the car! We love lazy Sundays with daddy home :)

Dec 19: Colton's Party/Lindsey Graduates!

Colton turned one on he 18th, so we were invited to celebrate his birthday on the 19th. He sure enjoyed his cake! It was so great to see everyone with their husbands/daddies back!
Dani and I

It was a group job getting Colton-man clean!

All clean in the arms of mommy :)

Gavin enjoyed their slide

So glad he's home with us again :)

Neelee and I

Gavin played ball with Tyson!

We are also excited to share that Lindsey is an official graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin today! We are so proud!!!

Fun at Lake Mayor

The Greatest Christmas Gift of All...

Jason is HOME!!!

Teaching daddy about Elmo :)

Staying Busy

Gavin and I stayed super busy today trying to pass the time and keep our minds off things! We went for a 4 mile run outside this morning. The weather was great - sun was shining and it was 65 degrees out at 9am! After the run we headed to the library for toddler story time. It was great, though Gavin does NOT know how to sit still!!! He ran all over the place, I hope no one was annoyed!! He wanted to hold all the books and props - sorry!! Next we did soft play at the mall then ran several errands. We picked up Jasons Christmas presents too! I'm sure I'll have a post about it soon :) Tonight we headed to the YMCA for another workout. We're finally home and Gavin's asleep and I'm in my pj's hoping to catch some sleep tonight. Good things are hopefully to come VERY soon!!!

Hanging out before storytime
And it begins... all the stories today were about ducks and frogs at the pond!

Singing a song about 5 little frogs

He enjoyed the song!

Sliding at softplay :)

This boy is FULL of energy!

Fork!

Gavin has been working pretty hard this week at using a fork when he eats - he's getting pretty good! He stabs at it, then when it falls off he just uses his fingers. It's so fun to watch him learn new things.

He's testing out his right vs left hand

Ok, enough practice for today, fingers are easier!

Deck the Halls