The kids & I went down to Newport Beach (Balboa Peninsula) on Saturday with my mom for a couple hours. The kids had so much fun. Dylan could dig in the sand for hours and Gavin, well he would probably try to eat the sand for hours if I let him. It looked cold but it was about 70 give or take a couple degrees.
This was not posed. Really, it wasn't.
Almost looks like a fake background, huh?
Caught in the act.
The result.
Me and "Sand Mouth" as Dylan called him.
I took Gavin to the little lake by Dylan's pre-school this morning after I dropped Dylan off. We had a very brief photo shoot because they were doing landscape maintenance in the spot with the best light.
I could just eat him up!
This month, Dylan started pre-school two full days a week. I didn't cry but my eyes got a little watery when I was driving up the road and saw all the kids at the elementary school next door. He will be there before we know it.
I can't tell if he likes it or not. His teachers say he likes the art part of the day, but stays close to their side when they play outdoors. Hopefully this is only temporary and he warms up to the other kids soon. I suppose this is a perfect reason for him to be in pre-school. He needs to socialize with kids on a regular basis, not just on those rare days when I get together with my friends and their kids for play dates. I don't get to attend those play dates very often due to work, swim lessons, and the gym (personal training) every week.
Dylan tells me what he ate for lunch and twice he said he ate the green beans which surprises me. He also tells me that he naps well at school. His class has a turtle named Shelly and now he wants one at home. Go figure. The school location is awesome. It is in a newer community in Temecula called Harveston which has a little lake in the center. They take walks to the lake to feed the ducks as well as occasional buggy rides around the lake. Also, on the school grounds they have a outdoor water play area where water squirts out from the ground and also from some bars overhead. Sounds fun to me!
Here he is on his first day of school, getting ready to leave home. 
With his Elmo and "school pimmow" with school themed pillow case made by Grammy. 
A close-up.
Walking up the path to school.
The school.
They have an adorable small gazebo completely covered with vines in the courtyard just outside his classroom. The teachers take the kids there and read books to them. Here he is on one of the benches under the gazebo.
I too celebrated my thirty(gulp)fourth birthday on the same day as Gavin. For me the birthday celebration really began on Thursday evening and lasted through the weekend.
When I got home Thursday evening after work, Bryan and Dylan were finishing up frosting a cake that they made for me. I got home in time to catch Dylan sprinkling on the jimmies. Chocolate + chocolate, with rainbow jimmies. YUM! 
The next morning (our actual birthday) Bryan was off work so he got up early with the kids. They woke me up to give me this awesome present:
I had no idea Bryan was so creative!
We then gave Gavin his birthday present which both kids seem to love:
Dylan also gave Gavin a present, but he got it a few days early.
At 9:30 AM I headed off to the gym for a personal training session and then a relaxing hour on the stationery bike so I could read my beloved novel Breaking Dawn. Bryan & I had plans to go out to dinner that evening and I had that chocolate cake with my name all over it so I had to go to the gym to ease the guilt.
Later that day, we played outside.
Honk. Honk.
Hey baby, wanna ride?
That evening Gramma & Opa came over to watch the boys so Bryan and I could go to dinner. We went to Harry's Pacific Grill. If you live in Southern California, this restaurant is worth the drive to Temecula. After dinner we came home and had cake with Sara & Hoss (Gramma & Opa).
Here I am blowing out my THREE candles:
Poor Dylan was already in bed, so I let him have cake the next morning for breakfast. Bad mom, I know.
The next day we went to my parents house for a birthday BBQ. The boys (all of them) played in the jacuzzi and the girls tried to avoid getting splashed. My mom made a delicious meal for us. Salad, bacon wrapped flank steak, asparagus, and twice baked potatoes followed by German Chocolate Cake. YUM!!
See, sharing a birthday with your child isn't all that bad!!
Stay tuned for Gavin's party pictures!
Last Friday, our sweet baby Gavin turned 1. Gavin is an easy and oh-so-happy baby. People always ask me "Does he ever cry?" He has to be really hungry or really tired or sick before you will hear him cry. He is a mover. He is always moving and has been since the day he was born. He likes to explore. . He will put anything his mouth. He climbs on everything. He is not walking but he crawls fast. Real fast. Changing his diaper requires two people, three is even better. If you are trying to do it on your own, I guarantee you will pass him off to someone else the next time his diaper needs changing.
He has several nicknames, which include but are not limited to: Baby, Beet, Beep, Beepers, G-bomb, G-funk, Rottenpot, Gavinnaise, Love Bug, Baby Love, Peanut...the list goes on.
He loves to scream and laugh for no apparent reason and he babbles often. He says mama, dada, doggie, kitty-cat, birdie, bottle, up, uh-oh, oooooohhhhhh, and no. He loves to wave, clap his hands, and throw his arms in the air when we say "yay!". He thinks his big brother is pretty funny too.
Today he had his one-year check up. His stats were:
weight: 19.10 pounds
height: 29.5 inches
head circumference: 19 inches
These were taken this afternoon:
A little love from the Mags.
I love our Gavin. Every single ounce of his silly little being. You always wonder/worry after you have your first child, if you will love your second child as much. I felt that way when I was pregnant with Gavin but now I know how it works. You don't split your heart in half, you double it.
Dylan and I were reading a Children's Atlas book tonight that he got for his birthday. We were going over the solar system and I was saying each planet and he was repeating it after me. The conversation went something like this:
Me: "Pluto"
Dylan: "Pluto"
Me: "Neptune"
Dylan: "Neptune"
Me: "Uranus"
Dylan: "Myanus"
I could not stop laughing. He was laughing too, at me laughing. I called Bryan & my mom in and they started laughing cause he kept saying it each time we went through the planets. We got it on video, so I'll post it when I figure out how to get it off the camera.
Just a normal weekend car ride to OC.
Dylan engrossed in a DVD (most likely Bob the Builder or Thomas & Friends).
Gavin entertaining himself. 
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