Christmas Video

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a lot of fun this year because Gavin was so excited about it. He couldn't wait for "Santa Clause to come to town" and learned to sing several christmas carols (Frosty the Snowman (sounded like toeman), and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). We spent Christmas here in Hawaii, and although we both missed being home with family, we had a great time celebrating the day with our Hawaii ohana ~ the MacDonalds, Stampfers, Staffaronis, and J.Weidas.

On Christmas Eve, Gavin and I baked cookies for santa - I usually don't bake, but enjoy making cookies and German Chocolate cake from scratch during the holidays. He was so excited about the cookies, he didn't want us to eat any because they were all for Santa (there were about 3 dozen cookies!)

Proud of his work ;)

After dinner, we Skyped with Joan, Mike and Shelly while Gavin opened gifts from Grandma. Then we went to a Chrismas Eve church service to end the night. Gavin didn't get the concept of being quite during the service and Mark had to take him to the "sound-proof" room! At one point during the service he was standing in the aisle and when we tried to pull him back into our seats he yelled out "I'm Dancing!" (there was no music at this point), later during the song service they went into a chorus of "Happy Birthday" (to Jesus) and Gavin got really excited and screamed "Happy Birthday to ME!", and finally during part of the service, he began screaming "Santa Clause!". Needless to say, this was only about 20 minutes into the service, hence the reason why he ended up in the sound-proof room.

Opening gifts from Grandma before church.

Christmas morning...Santa was here!

Gavin sitting in his wagon filled with dinosaurs from Santa.

Gavin took this picture. He mimics a lot of what we do (pretends to talk on the cell phone, etc.). He picked up the camera after I opened my gift and said, "Smile Mommy"

Dad working hard to put together the toys.

After many hours of opening presents, putting together toys, and cleaning up the paper and boxes, we had a late brunch. Later in the evening, we went up to the MacDonald's house for Christmas dinner - great food and company ;)

Sitting in front of their tree (Gavin with his new Dinosaur)

All of the kiddies on Christmas (Rylee, Jackson, Hailey, Kailee, Gavin, Collin, & Mason)

Kids table..

Seeing the excitement of Christmas through Gavin's eyes really makes it a wonderful time of the year. I'm guessing he'll talk about Santa for a few months, he still talks about The Wizard of Oz and him being a tin man all the time! (Actually Marley bought him the DVD and this morning he insisted she sit on the couch with him to watch it- which really wasn't a problem....Marley lays on the couch all day anyway ;)

Pictures of Miracle

Here is Miracle (the kitten I wrote about a few days ago)....thought you might like to put a face with the story! Tiffany says she is doing great and her other cat is slowing warming up to Miracle.

Merry Christmas!

Singing Happy Birthday

Since his birthday, Gavin has been singing a version of the "Happy Birthday" song - often leaving out the "birthday" part and just singing "Happy to you". He makes cakes with play-doh and sings and in this video, was singing one morning during breakfast.

Teddy Bear's bath

As you can see, if I take my eyes off him for a minute, there is no telling what Gavin is up to. I found him in the bathroom giving teddy bear a bath the other day - there was water all over the floor and teddy bear had to go sit outside for the afternoon to dry off!

Preschool visitation

It is hard to believe that Gavin is old enough that we are looking into preschools, but he makes the cutoff to enter next school year by 2 weeks (they need to turn 3 by the end of next Dec. to enter the 3 year old class). We would like him to get into the Makakilo Baptist preschool, which is right down the road from our house, has a curriculum that aligns with our views on early education, and is very affordable. We had the tour of the school this week, so keep your fingers crossed that he is far up enough on the wait list to get in!

When we got home, he drew this picture on the lanai and said it was "my school"

Giving Marley her treat

Every morning when we leave for work, Marley gets a treat and Gavin likes to give it to her. We've told him that she needs to sit first, so instead of saying it once Gavin says it repeatedly - "Sit Marley sit. Sit Marley sit"....and so on...until she finally catches on (sometimes because I whisper for her to sit) and sits down. Then he says "Good girl Marley".

Honolulu City Lights

We took Gavin and the McDonald girls to see the Honolulu city lights this past Sunday (it only took Mark and I 10 years to go down and see it too!). The kids really enjoyed seeing the lights and the displays, so it was well worth the drive down to Honolulu.

Check out Gavin and Hailey's matching pink crocs! Gavin lost his slipper somewhere along the way, so Kailee was nice enough to share with him ;) He looked pretty funny running around the place in pink shoes, but figured it was better than no shoes!

First Trip to Chuck-E-Cheese

We took Gavin and Hailey to Chuck E Cheese on his actual birthday on the 15th. Mark and I had to inhale our food because we were with two kids who don't eat on a normal basis, much less when there are games and flashing lights to distract them! They won enough tickets to each get a few stickers before we left - so I would say Gavin had a pretty good birthday this year!

Birthday Party Video

A short video clip with highlights from the big day.

Gavin's 2nd Birthday Party

This year we celebrated Gavin's 2nd birthday a few days early - on December 13. He had a joint party with Abby Martin, who turned 1 on the 13th. Their party was lots of fun - especially since he was excited about everyone singing to him ;) Even today, he still makes "birthday cakes" with play-doh and sings "Happy to you".

The thank you card I made... in the mail ;)

A little help from friends

Playing Peek-A-Boo with Makaela

One of the play stations was Gavin's favorite ~ Play Doh

The cookie decorating station (Gavin, Hailey, Makaela, and Chase)

The amazing cake that Kristen made!!! (Abby's cake was a beach ball)

The Buelow's and Martin's

It was a beautiful day for a party (last year it rained for a week straight before his party and rained that day!)

Celebrating Gavin~ 14 to 24 months

Here is the last of the videos I made to show how Gavin has grown over the past 2 years. As you can see in the video, he is "doing chores", dancing, reading, and talking a lot! Enjoy ;)

Celebrating Gavin~ 3 to 13 months

This video shows clips of Gavin from crawling to walking and beginning to talk.

Listen closely to the video with him in the high chair- he is saying "Caca" ~ that was what he called Marley.

Celebrating Gavin~ Birth to 3 months

I had this idea about a month ago that I would post pictures and videos from Gavin from birth to now in celebration of his 2nd birthday. Time really does fly~ it is hard to believe that he is 2 already! So, it may take a few days to get it all uploaded, but here is the first: a video of Gavin from birth. Enjoy;)

Celebrating Gavin

I'm behind on posting to the blog - I have quite a few things to add, especially Gavin's birthday, before Christmas....so here's the first. Katie and I had pictures of Gavin and Abby in frames on all of the tables for decorations - these are a few I created using my new favorite computer skill - Microsoft Publisher ;)

Miracle

On my way to work on Tuesday, I swirved to miss an animal on the highway that had been hit by a car. Seeing animals on the road always bothers me as I often think how I would feel if this were my pet. After barely missing the animal, I peeked in my rear-view mirror and saw this little animal (that I thought was dead) stand up. This highway is very busy with a lot of big trucks passing by because it is near the landfill. As soon as I saw it stand up, I panicked and thought that I couldn't just go to work and about my day and pretend that I did not just see this little kitten struggling for its life. I drove about a mile down the road and made a U-Turn at the first place I could and went back to find the kitten. When I got to the place where it was in the highway, I pulled my car off the road and was able to pick up the kitten (who was then just crouched down obviously in pain and bleeding out of her nose). Cars were NOT even slowing down and there were a few times I thought the kitten might get hit, so I grabbed her as quickly as I could. I wrapped her in a blanket not sure of the injuries she had or if she would try to bit me, and put her in my car. I drove her to the Waianae Veterinary Clinic where the nurses there took her until the doctor arrived. At this point I assumed she would die, but thought the humane thing to do was to not let her get hit again or lay on the side of the road and suffer.

That afternoon I called to check on her and Dr. Collier (a friend of ours who takes great care of Marley) said she (the kitten was a girl and about 6 weeks old) did not sustain any injuries to her body, looked like only her head. They gave her fluids through IV (she couldn't open her mouth, jaw was probably broken). They decided they would keep her at the clinic until they knew she could either be adopted out or if she needed to be put down. On Wednesday morning, when I called to check on her she hadn't really shown any improvement so I stopped by to visit that afternoon. Thursday morning, Doc said it wasn't looking good because she still wasn't eating so I came out to visit that afternoon thinking it would probably be to say goodbye to this little kitten that I felt so responsible for (I would like to add that I am not a "cat person", but something about her...). When I got there on Thursday, she had made a turn for the better! One of the nurses was holding her when I got there and she had let them feed her with a dropper. Doc's goal was now that she eat on her own before she was in "the clear".

Friday morning I called and they gave me great news- she had eaten on her own! They told me it was time to find her a home (by the way, I had been asking Mark everyday if we could bring her home with us- he wasn't crazy about the idea). I called my friend Tiffany who has a cat and she agreed to take the kitten (after her husband, Jim, gave the OK)! When Tiff and I were talking about a name for her, we thought Miracle would fit, since it was a miracle that she was still alive.

So, this story has a happy ending...

This morning, Tiffany and I went out to the clinic to pick up Miracle and bring her to her new home - right up the street from me, so anytime I want to visit she's right there. She now has a family to love her and care for her. I am truly grateful for Dr. Collier, the nurses at the Waianae Vet. Clinic, and for Tiffany for accepting this kitten into her family ;)

Kapolei Christmas Parade

This past Saturday, I took Gavin down to the Kapolei Christmas parade with Claudia, Katie, and the Staffaroni's. Traffic was so congested that we just drove half way down Makakilo drive and walked the rest of the way into Kapolei - which worked out perfect! Gavin really enjoyed the lights and catching the candy in his santa hat. He even got up and danced ("shake your booty" as he calls it) when one of the floats played Jingle Bell Rock...of course it was because Hailey did it first ;)

Katie & Abby

Hailey, Gavin, Abby, and Jackson (asleep in stroller)

Eddie Aikau Quicksilver Surf Contest

Oahu's North Shore is a mecca for surf in the winter and this past Tuesday, professional surfers got their chance to compete in the Eddie Aikau Surf Contest. The "Eddie" is only held when waves at Waimea Bay are above 20+ feet (they were up to 50 feet this week!!!). The last time this contest was held was 2004 and the time before that was 2001 (the year we got married- all of our friends and family were out here for the wedding and got to see the contest). I've put up a few pictures from this year....you can't really appreciate how big a wave is until you see it in relation to a person! (Unfortunately, I didn't take these- copied from the newspaper...we worked the day of the contest).

In case you are wondering how the contest was named, the day of the contest someone called in on the radio and explained:

Eddie Aikau was a lifeguard at Waimea Bay and was a member of a Polynesian voyaging society that sails a boat called the Hokolea. The Hokolea was on a voyage when it capsized in rough water in the middle of the night. The crew was able to hang on to pieces of the boat until the morning, when they could then see the Hawaiian island of Lanai. They were about 8 miles off the coast. According to the person that was telling the story, 2 of the crew members tried paddling toward Lanai to get help (paddling on a surfboard), but returned.... Eddie was the third person to try to paddle to go get help, and they never saw him again. The crew was rescued 24 hours later. There is a common saying in Hawaii, "Eddie would go". It basically means to be brave like Eddie and don't let fear get in your way. I would say that the guys riding these huge waves must think to themselves that "Eddie would go"!

Christmas Train '08 & '09

Every year the local mall has a Christmas train for the kids to ride and of course Santa is there too. This past weekend we took Gavin to do both - something we did last year too. Thought you might like to see pictures how Gavin has grown!

Sitting with Santa in 2008 (11 1/2 months)

Riding the Christmas Train with Hailey (11 1/2 months)

Riding the Christmas Train this year ~ such a big boy!

(23 1/2 months)

The first video is from this year's ride - all you hear is Mark and I yelling Gavin's name so he will wave to us. You may hear me say to Mark to "have him wave", which sounds like "get out of the way". I promise, I wasn't being rude to my hubby ;)

The second video is a really short clip, again you mostly hear Claudia and I yelling Gavin and Hailey's name so they will look at us.