The Briggs Family

01/15/2012 Gavin's Birthday Party

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Tysen and Aunt Megan playing with balloons

The Birthday Boy!

Alexa is trying to jump high enough to grab the balloon strings.

Gavin is opening his present from Grandpa and Grandma McGrew.

Tysen is trying to help Gavin!

Gavin loves his new Cars book.

He also got an awesome book about trucks from Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan.

Gavin's new Lightening McQueen big-boy bicycle.

Tysen needed a quick bath and change of clothes after cake!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Gavin!

Birthday Portraits

2012-01-12T23:04:00.003-05:00

01/06/2012 Tysen's First Haircut

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Tysen was way past due for his first haircut. He is still very thin on top, but on the sides and around his neck his hair was nearly 3 inches long! Mommy got tired of Daddy calling him "Bozo" so she made an appointment today. Tysen was a good sport. He didn't mind the haircut at all, in fact all the hair stylists there were commenting on how laid back he is.

Side view

First she used scissors to cut his hair, then to make sure it was all even so it would grow in nicely, she switched to the clippers. Surprisingly, Tysen loved the clippers. He held very still (for a 1 year old anyways!).

Christmas

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We made Santa brownies and poured him a glass of orange juice (Alexa's choice). I explained that Santa would be coming down the fireplace so we should put the sweets next to it so he'd be sure to see them. Alexa got very concerned that Santa would spill the orange juice on the carpet. That made me proud! Then she decided that she better lay there and guard the treats so that Gabbi wouldn't come eat them!

Christmas morning 2011

Daddy's new coffee mug that I personalized with photos of the kids.

Tysen was having fun ripping up the paper.

She got right to work with her art supplies.

Alexa is excited about her new books that will help her learn to read and write.

Tysen was having a blast just getting into everyone else's stuff!

Gavin made a tower of all his Lightening McQueen stuff!

What a mess!

Daddy's new racing aero helmet.

Snuggling my Christmas baby

Grandma Karla sent the kids "Hungry, Hungry Hippos." This was one of my favorite games as a child and my kids love it, too. I just have to make sure that Tysen doesn't get the marbles!

Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan brought over their Wii game, Guitar Hero, to teach the kids how to play. They loved it.

The kids were exhausted Christmas evening, probably because they missed their naps in all of the excitement. Gavin snuggled up next to Uncle Brian and fell fast asleep.

Alexa fell asleep resting on my big tummy.

Everyone found a comfy spot to relax (except maybe Gabbi, but she didn't mind too much or she would have moved).

We took the kids to the zoo light show.

Staying toasty warm

Alexa and Mommy played beauty shop on New Year's Eve. She wanted her nails, hair, and make-up done. It was really fun and I can't believe how much older it made her look!

This is how Alexa, Gavin, and preggo Mommy celebrated the new year! I called it "bubbly" and Alexa said that it was "spicy in my tummy!" Can you believe that they both stayed awake to watch the ball drop? I was shocked! Baby Tysen fell asleep just after 10pm. We want to wish everyone a very happy 2012. This will certainly be a very big year for our family with lots of changes coming soon!

Sometimes it's the simple things that give the most joy!

12/24/2011 Christmas Eve

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We just got home from Christmas Eve Mass. I couldn't believe how packed and crowded the church was. Luckily, the ushers took pity on the pregnant mom and brought us some chairs. We still had to sit in the greeting area and watch the mass on a television, but at least we were somewhat comfortable.

So sweet!

We had Chinese take-out after church. It's one of Matt's favorite Christmas traditions!

Messy after Chinese food, but still super cute!

A Christmas Eve tradition at the Briggs house: the kids get to open one present from Mommy and Daddy. They always get a new pair of holiday pajamas to wear that night so that they look adorable for Christmas morning and all the pictures we take during present opening.

Tysen just wouldn't sit still so long. He's too busy!

Alexa and Gavin are fascinated with another Christmas movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Alexa, Gavin, and Tysen opening their first Christmas gift

12/23/2011

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Alexa and I had a girls day on Friday. First we went to get her hair cut. She was so excited and told everyone she saw that she was going to the hair salon (we just went to Mastercuts). Then we went out for lunch at the Chinese restaurant. Then she helped me get our Christmas grocery shopping done. I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with her. (Her brothers were at daycare.)

She has the most beautiful hair and everyone there thought so, too. She told the hair stylist that her hair turned red because she ate so many strawberries!

Friday night we had family movie night and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

They look so cute in their pajamas.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2011-12-24T14:39:00.001-05:00

These were the pictures from our 4th attempt at getting a good Christmas card photo. The first 3 attempts were at home on my personal camera. I got so frustrated that we decided to let the professionals handle it! We got some great ones! The only downfall was that our dog, Gabbi, didn't make the card this year.

Merry Christmas to all!

12/19/2011

2011-12-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

Tysen had his 1 year wellness check up today. He weighed 20 lbs 10 oz (25%) and measured 30 inches (75%). We had a long discussion about Tysen's possible milk intolerance/allergy and his pediatrician recommended having some blood drawn to test. I was also surprised when Tysen was referred to an opthamologist for his eyes. Tysen was born with blocked tear ducts that seemed to improve as he got older, however his eyes are still always very watery and he often looks like he has been crying when he has not been. The pediatrician said it is possible that his tear ducts may still be blocked and he may need a minor surgery to open them up.

Tonight after supper Alexa and Gavin helped build and decorate a gingerbread Christmas tree from a kit. They loved it!

Waiting so patiently while Alexa is taking her turn

Alexa is excited about the tree. She kept asking, "Are we going to eat it?"

Tysen watched us while he finished his supper.

Pouring the "snow" on top of the tree

Don't tell the kids that I said this, but this is probably the ugliest Christmas tree ever! It looks more like a green volcano erupted! The pictures on the box were so pretty! Oh well, the kids had fun!

12/18/2011 Tysen's 1st Birthday!

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Alexa is helping get the balloons ready for Tysen's birthday party.

She was worried about holding too many and floating away!

There's the birthday boy, drool and all!

Balloons make Gavin happy!

Tysen loved the balloons, too!

Looking up at all the balloons on the ceiling

My best attempt at a photo of the kids all together...too many distractions (balloons).

Tysen's cake and cupcakes were made by my friend, Carrie.

Tysen's birthday supper- his favorite, chicken noodles with mashed potatoes

Excited about present time!

All the kids love this toy. It's an elephant that blows balls out its trunk.

Gavin loves Tysen's train gift from my parents.

My birthday boys (Matt's 32nd birthday is tomorrow)

Alexa with Aunt Megan

So festive and colorful in our living room

Life is Good!

This little boy is ready for some cake!

Wow!

Alexa enjoyed her football cupcake.

Gavin chose a basketball cupcake.

Scraping the frosting off the top.

He likes it!

Uncle Brian is helping him get his hands into the actual cake part!

Delicious!

12/12/2011 Pizza Party

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12/09/2011 Dora & Diego Exhibit at COSI

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12/10/2011 Christmas Party

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Matthew and I before our Christmas party (maybe the second time we've gone out without kids all year!) Thanks to Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan for baby-sitting (and taking these pictures!).

I am now 24 weeks into this pregnancy and finally feeling good!

Tysen is so difficult to photograph now because he won't stand still and he always has drool!

My silly little man!

Silly, but handsome

12/06/2011

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Daddy is working late tonight. Slumber party in Mommy's bed!

12/04/2011 Bike Rides

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Although it was a little gloomy outside, it was still almost 50 degrees out- not bad for December. We decided to take advantage of it and get the kids outside for another bike ride this year before the snow comes.

Our little teddy bear enjoyed the walk, too!

Gavin is about ready for a big boy bike.

12/03/2011 Santa Breakfast

2011-12-03T23:12:00.005-05:00

Every year my hospital puts on a breakfast with Santa for employees and their families. The kids get to visit with Santa, get a treat, and then have breakfast. Alexa and Gavin did really well sitting on Santa's lap, but Tysen is shy of strangers and he didn't want anything to do with Santa. This was the best picture that I got. Santa is trying to hold Tysen in the picture as he's fighting to run away! Right after this, Santa stood up so that I could sit in his chair with Tysen and he stood behind us where Tysen couldn't see him. Alexa and Gavin posed next to Santa and Matt even got in the picture. A photographer took the picture and I can pick it up on Monday. I am excited to see it!

Hugs for Santa

I tried taking each child's picture next to the Christmas tree, but as you can see...each time I put Mr. Tysen down, he just walked towards me. He doesn't want to stay in one place, he's always moving!

After breakfast, Alexa and Gavin came into the pharmacy to see where Mommy works. They decided that they would help, too.

Relaxing at home

2011-11-25

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We had a 10 hour drive to Madison. The kids were very well behaved. The portable DVD player is a life saver! It was attached to the seat in front of Gavin. Poor Tysen couldn't watch because he's still rear-facing, but he slept most of the way.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-03T22:48:00.004-05:00

The bib says it all!

We were lucky to spend this Thanksgiving with our friends Kara, Travis, and Emme. We took a road trip to Madison, Wisconsin.

Since we didn't arrive at their house until late morning on Thursday, we decided that we would have our big Thanksgiving feast on Friday instead. Thursday night, Alexa and Emme helped me make the pumpkin pies. As you can see from the picture, Alexa gets really excited about cooking/baking.

Our crazy husbands took a 2 hour night bike ride on Thanksgiving! They had fun.

Alexa and Emme are playing under the table while we are preparing the meal. We roasted a turkey and made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, crescent rolls, cranberry salad, and pumpkin pies. We were all stuffed!

Tysen is snuggling with Daddy after the meal.

The kids played hard the entire trip. Can you tell by how sweaty they are?

Enjoying dessert

Gavin is enjoying the whipped cream!

Bath time

Just had to share this picture. Kara took me to the Target in Madison that has an escalator and a separate part just for your shopping cart! It was so cool that I had to get out my camera.

I tried to get the kids to sit still long enough for me to get a good picture of them together. This was the best I got. Not too bad!

On our way back home to Columbus, we found one of my favorite restaurants to eat at- Old Chicago!

11/24/2011

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Just a cute video of Alexa feeding her baby brother

11/24/2011

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Just a cute video of Alexa feeding her baby brother

11/20/2011

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Looking so cute before church

This weekend, Alexa and I were successful at talking Daddy into bringing in our Christmas tree. The kids helped decorate it and our house looks so festive now. I was really feeling the Christmas spirit, so I decided to make a batch of cut out cookies- with Alexa's help, of course!

I had to take this picture to show what she was doing to my floors!

We had so much fun using all these new cookie cutters that my mom had sent me for my birthday!

Alexa is proudly showing off one of our creations.

Gavin with a handful of cars.

Baby Ty on the go!

The kids are getting some exercise before bedtime. Alexa asked to wear her dancing outfit.

The title of this video is "I Have a Wedgie."

11/18/2011

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Tysen loves fruit! He's chowing down on watermelon, raspberries, and fresh pineapple.

Alexa and Gavin love their new backpacks.

Tysen had a bad case of pink eye this week and he was unable to go to daycare on Thursday and Friday. The kids are waiting for Daddy to get home so that he could stay with Tysen and I could take Alexa and Gavin to school on my way to work. Luckily the eye drops cleared up his eyes quickly and nobody else in the family got pink eye!

11/12/2011

2011-11-13T21:20:00.002-05:00

Out enjoying the sunshine

"Airplane!" says Gavin.

Tysen is walking so fast now that I can't even take a good picture of him!

11/05/2011 Uncle Brian's Birthday

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It was a beautiful day for riding bikes on the sidewalk.

Alexa is doing awesome on her new bike! She's really fast!

Gabbi is watching the kids go up and down the sidewalk.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan lending a helping hand

Then we took a break and ate clementines on the front porch. We ate a whole case because they were just so good!

I love this picture above! It's so cute with both of their tongues hanging out!

We had a wonderful supper. Uncle Brian brought over his rotisserie machine. We all dined on pork, wild rice, salad with fresh veggies, and warm crescent rolls. The best part was last- birthday cupcakes and ice cream cake!

Alexa helped me make Uncle Brian's favorite- red velvet. She did the sprinkles all by herself.

Singing "Happy Birthday" before Uncle Brian blows out his star candle

Tysen had a good supper! He loves rice and bread. He also ate an entire banana!

11/04/2011

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My kids love raspberries.

This little guy loves to eat!

10/31/2011 Happy Halloween!

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It's the Incredibles! Don't mess with us!

10/31/2011 Trick-or-Treat

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Because it was so cold on Halloween evening, we decided that the kids would go dressed in their Nemo costumes because of the cozy hoods and they could wear their coats underneath. It was just too cold for the Incredibles outfits and if they had to wear coats and hats, nobody would recognize their costumes anyways.

Checking out all their goodies

10/25/2011 Alexa's Very Special Day

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On Alexa's 4th birthday, Matthew and I both took the day off work so that we could make it extra special for our little princess. Our first stop was at daycare (so we could drop off her brothers) and we brought rainbow cupcakes to share with Alexa's pre-K class. The kids sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she loved passing the cupcakes out to all her friends.

Alexa with her teacher, Ms. Carly.

The class made Alexa a special birthday rainbow hat.

After we left school, we took Alexa out to lunch at Red Robin. It was a very different experience for Matt and I with only one child! It was a very enjoyable lunch!

After lunch, we took Alexa to Build-A-Bear Workshop. She picked out a rainbow heart bear. (Have you noticed a theme yet? She's still a little obsessed with rainbows!)

Stepping on the pedal to stuff her bear

She hand-picked a heart for her special bear.

She made a wish, rubbed the heart between her hands, and gave it a kiss before placing it inside the bear.

Once the bear was all stitched up, Alexa got to give her a bath and brush her fur.

She's in love!

After the Build-A-Bear Workshop, we had planned to take Alexa to the children's museum. They had a Dora and Diego exhibit that she would have loved, however once we got there, we realized that the museum is not open to the public on Mondays or Tuesdays. Bummer! We scrambled to find something else that she would enjoy and ended up at the dollar movie theater to see the Smurf movie. It was pretty cheesy, but she liked it and that's all that matters!

Then to DQ for a birthday ice cream treat!

Happy 4th Birthday, Alexa Rebecca!

10/23/2011 Alexa's Party

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On Sunday afternoon, we celebrated Alexa's birthday a little early. We invited Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan over for supper and birthday cake and allowed Alexa to open up a few of her presents early. We had Alexa wait at the top of the stairs while we set up her birthday present in the living room. In the picture above, she is seeing her new bike for the first time.

She loves her "Pinkalicious" bicycle! We took it on the hard wood floor so she could try pedaling, however only the back wheel spun. We discovered that Daddy attached the training wheels too high so that the back wheel wasn't even touching the floor! Oops! He fixed it so that Alexa could ride around the dining room.

I love Tysen's face in the background! He's about to drift off to sleep.

Uncle Brian is helping her pedal.

Alexa got a princess crown and 3 bead necklaces from Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan. Her brothers got her the movie "The Lion King."

Our princess

Alexa received this beautiful jewelry box from her best friend, Emme.

Alexa wanted a rainbow cake!

Happy 4th Birthday, Alexa!

Our Walking Baby!

2011-10-24T16:51:00.001-04:00

10/21/2011 Great Pumpkin Party

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There was a big Halloween party after school on Friday. The kids wore orange for the occasion.

My littlest Nemo!

The kids had a blast with "pumpkin bowling!"

They had to try and knock over as many "ghosts" as possible with their pumpkin...problem was that the pumpkins didn't roll straight!

Tysen is on his way to check it out.

Gavin finally decided that he had to get much closer to knock them over!

Alexa loves Pookie, the Tutor Time mascot.

My school of clownfish

They loved the cookie decorating, of course!

10/20/2011 Pumpkin

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This evening after supper I helped the kids make a jack-o-lantern.

They took turns trying to lift the top off once I had made the cut. They couldn't figure out why it was stuck.

They were very curious about the seeds and insides.

They wanted me to make a happy pumpkin face.

It was simple, but they loved it and that's all that matters :)

They both gave the pumpkin kisses before I put it out on the front porch.

10/16/2011 Walking!

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Can you believe it? Tysen is walking! He's up to 8 steps in a row before falling. He started about a week and a half ago and has been making steady progress since. We are so shocked because Alexa and Gavin didn't start walking until the week before their first birthdays. Tysen started at only 9 months!

10/16/2011 Swimming

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Happy Tysen

Gavin and Aunt Megan playing basketball

Alexa and Uncle Brian

This picture is too cute- it looks like Gavin is going to lick Aunt Megan!

Tysen loves the water!

Alexa's eyes are so red! She's very sensitive to the chlorine and she spent so much time underwater practicing her swimming.

Fall School Pictures

2011-10-11T16:13:00.009-04:00

10/08/2011 Trek Ride

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On Saturday our family completed the Trek Breast Cancer Awareness Ride in Westerville. A few weeks ago we purchased our second Chariot Cougar bike carrier so that we now have room for 4 children. I pull Alexa and Matt pulls the boys. It's the best weight distribution, but Alexa thinks that her carrier is only for girls, and that Daddy's is only for boys :)

The contraption that Tysen is sitting in is an infant body support sling. Until about age 15 months of age, infants lack the head and neck muscle control and strength to sit upright in a bike carrier for time periods exceeding 5 minutes. We were bummed when our pediatrician informed us of that back when Gavin was an infant and we were itching to do some family biking. However, at our favorite biking store, we found the wonderful Chariots that have an accessory for safe biking with infants. The sling completely supports his body so there is no strain on his little neck. He is so comfortable in there that he falls asleep every time we go biking. Gavin loved it when he was an infant, too.

10/08/2011 Hocking Hills

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On Saturday we took the kids to Hocking Hills to do some hiking and sight seeing at Old Man's Cave and the waterfalls. Uncle Brian and Aunt Megan came with us.

Gavin is looking too stinkin cute in his hat.

Alexa made Uncle Brian get inside her cave!

Daddy and Baby Tysen are hiking up the hill to get a better view of the waterfall.

The kids loved the hiking and all the dirt!

Alexa collected lots of leaves, pinecones, and acorns.

Alexa and Gavin's favorite thing to do was throw rocks and sticks into the water.

Tysen had the best seat and views!

The kids and Aunt Megan are looking over the edge of the cliff at the gorge.

10/01/2011 Madison, WI

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Alexa and I had a girl's trip and traveled to Madison, WI to visit our best friends Emme and Kara. We had a fantastic weekend! It was so great to see them.

Emme and Alexa have really been missing each other. We arrived at their house after midnight, so Emme was already sleeping. The next morning, the girls were all smiles when they finally saw each other.

We took the girls to a very fun family farm called Sutter Ridge. They had apple orchards, pumpkin patches, hayrack rides, corn mazes, raspberry picking, and a very fun play area for kids.

The girls each got their own bag for apples and then we set off to find the ripe ones.

I taught Alexa how to check for bad bug spots before picking the apple. She did a great job of examining the apples first.

I had never seen apples like this before. Notice in the picture above how the apples are growing in clusters. I forget what the name of this apple was, but it was absolutely delicious! It was dark purple on the outside, bright white on the inside, and tasted very sour and tart.

Kara and Emme

On the hayrack ride

Alexa was so kind to pick out a special pumpkin for each of her brothers. (Hers was the biggest, of course!)

New Albany Festival

2011-10-09T16:54:00.004-04:00

Getting ready to go to the New Albany Market Street Festival

Aunt Megan came along, it was nice to have an extra set of hands!
(Matt and Uncle Brian were busy with Pelotonia)

Waiting in line to ride the spinning strawberries

The kids had a blast going down the giant fun slide, jumping in the bounce house, and riding the train.

Family Fun

2011-10-09T16:44:00.004-04:00

family picture at Oktoberfest

Matthew and I had our 5 year wedding anniversary on September 30th. The cake above was my gift to him. There's a little story behind it. Five years ago at our wedding, Matt was so excited to eat a piece of his groom's cake. He had especially picked it out and couldn't wait for the wedding meal to be over so we could cut the cake. It was a round chocolate cake, drizzled in melted fudge and topped with chocolate covered strawberries. Well, the photographer came to our table and asked us to come cut the wedding cake (not the groom's cake). While we were having our pictures taken doing the traditional feeding each other a bite, the servers started serving the other cake. When we were done with pictures, Matt turned to get a piece of the highly anticipated groom's cake....and it was gone! The poor groom didn't even get to eat a piece of his own groom's cake at his wedding. He is still upset about it and brings up this story every time that we talk about our wedding. I thought that this might bring him some closure!

We took the kids to see The Lion King. They loved it!

They are really excited! Tysen slept through most of the movie.

September

2011-10-06T20:51:00.002-04:00

Getting ready to go to school

My little helper

We took Tysen on his first bike ride!

This is after the bike ride. The kids were having fun looking for pine cones while Daddy loaded up all the bikes.

Then we went out to eat and the kids had an ice cream sundae.

My little artists

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I've decided that it is much easier to let the kids paint outside and then just hose down the easel when they are finished!

Such concentration....

Pre-K

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Alexa has officially graduated from preschool and has the diploma to prove it! She started pre-K this September and she is loving her new classroom and Ms. Carly, of course!

Noodle Baby

2011-10-06T20:21:00.002-04:00

Tysen's first noodle experience!

Gavin realized that I was laughing at Tysen so he decided that he should put noodles on his head, too!

He loves them but he's having a hard time keeping them in his mouth!

August

2011-10-06T19:48:00.005-04:00

The following pictures are odds and ends from Grandpa and Grandma's visit in August. We've been so busy recently that I haven't been doing a very good job of updating the blog on a regular basis.

I love this picture of the kids with Grandpa and Grandma.

Ice cream break at Dairy Queen

Practicing casting off the front porch before our fishing trip

Watching the movie "Up" and eating popcorn

Grandpa and Grandma stayed in Alexa's room during their visit so Alexa "camped out" in our bedroom. She thought it was great fun sleeping in a tent with her own flashlight. Grandma and Grandpa even took turns reading her bedtime stories in the tent.

Gavin was exhausted after our busy day!

Thanks for coming to visit! We love you! Come back soon!

08/15/2011 COSI

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While Grandpa and Grandma McGrew were in Columbus, we thought it would be a fun time to go check out the dinosaur exhibit at COSI.

Alexa was curious, but a little nervous at first. Gavin was quite scared and wanted to be held as we walked into the exhibit where the animatronic dinosaurs were. They were moving around and making sounds.

Grandpa and I are helping Alexa and Gavin make dinosaur footprints in the foam.

This is Gavin when he was terrified of the dinosaurs (we had just watched a very life-like 3D movie about t-rex!).

Now he's doing better, but he still didn't want to get too close to them!

At the I-Max movie "Waking T-Rex."

The kids love playing in the water area in the kids space. COSI even provides the cute raincoats, although they still got wet enough that we had to change their clothes.

08/14/2011 "Rainbow Park"

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Dad and I sat on the front porch and had a nice talk while Alexa and Gavin napped on Sunday afternoon. It was actually chilly outside, very unusual for August.

The kids really enjoyed having Grandpa and Grandma here.

When Alexa and Gavin woke up, we took them to "Rainbow Park." The Rainbow Park is an imaginary place that Alexa dreamed up. She's been obsessed with rainbows for months now. She kept asking me to take her there and since I didn't know where Rainbow Park was, I told her that we had to wait until Grandpa and Grandma McGrew got here. In the several months leading up to when Grandpa and Grandma got here, she never forgot about it! So we took them to a fun park and just called it "Rainbow Park." She actually noticed the rainbow bars (seen in the picture above to the left) and was certain that we found the right place!

Gavin loved the train!

Tysen liked the swing.

Mommy and Daddy played a game of tetherball (Daddy won) and then Alexa and Gavin played. There is a cute video below. I love how Gavin gets bonked in the face twice and just keeps laughing!

This is such a pretty park. We might have to return and try our luck fishing here.

upside down Alexa

08/12/2011 Zoo Rides

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After the Wilds, we took the kids to the Columbus zoo. Grandpa and Grandma spoiled the kids by buying them ride wristbands so that they could go on unlimited rides for the rest of the evening. It turned out to be an awesome deal, at only $5 each. Especially considering that they rode the carousel 4 times each! It was a great evening to go, very cool weather and no crowds. In fact, the kids didn't have to ever wait in line for the rides and most of the time they were the only riders. Gavin lucked out, he barely made the height requirement to ride alone at 36 inches tall. Or maybe I should say that I lucked out since if he had been a tad shorter, I would have been the one to ride with him!

The kids loved these swings, but they made me so nervous! I had a really hard time watching the first time. I was so worried that they might try to climb out once it was up high and spinning. Luckily they stayed seated until the ride was over. There is a video below.

Getting ready to ride their favorite- the carousel!

Pure joy

Alexa says that this ride tickles her tummy!

They loved the train, too.

The Wilds Safari Tour

2011-09-11T22:46:00.007-04:00

Another amazing adventure we got to share with Grandpa and Grandma McGrew was The Wilds. The Wilds is one of the world's largest conservation centers and is located on 10,000 acres near Zanesville, Ohio. We took a guided tour on an open-air bus and saw many of the rare and endangered species from around the world living in natural open-range habitat.
Gavin was so excited to ride on a bus! He loves buses! Alexa kept yelling out the names of the animals that she was spotting and Gavin kept pointing out all the other tour buses he saw in the distance, "Bus!"

We picked the most gorgeous day to go on the tour. It was 63 degrees and sunny. Even our guide said that it was the best day all year. Because of the cool weather, we saw almost all of the animals. On very hot days, the animals tend to stay put in the shade so we were very lucky. Most of the animals were out right next to the road so we could see them up close.

Alexa enjoyed seeing the animals and then finding the identification picture on her pamphlet.

The giraffes may have been our favorite animals that we saw that day.
Another favorite was the zebras, although I didn't get a picture. The only male of the pack was named Elvis!

We had chosen the tour recommended for children (it was the shortest tour, but still 1.5 hours) and afterwards we had the opportunity to go inside one of the education buildings to meet some of Jack Hanna's traveling animals. The kids got to pet a penguin, a silver fox, and an armadillo. They also brought in a 9 month old cheetah for us to see, but couldn't pet. The kids loved this.

The cheetah had his eye on my children playing in the back of the room! I was really glad that the man had a good hold on the leash.

Alexa pets the penguin.

Fishing

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We took the kids fishing at Sharon Woods. There is a 14 acre pond and only children are allowed to fish it. It was a beautiful morning.

Gavin's wearing his lucky fishing hat!

Tysen was a very good boy. He watched us fish for awhile and then took a snooze.

Alexa was fascinated by the earthworms!

We all had a great time. Gavin caught his first fish! I captured it on the video below. He was very proud of himself. Alexa had several bites, but didn't actually reel one in. She was a little disappointed and she kept saying, "I'm not very good at fishing..." but as seen in the video, she was very excited when she caught some weeds! Grandpa McGrew did a great job of teaching the kids how to use their new fishing poles. The night before our fishing adventure, he helped them practice casting from our front porch for at least an hour.

08/11/2011

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Grandpa and Grandma McGrew came to visit us in Columbus for 5 days. The kids were so excited to see them! I picked them up at the airport and then took them to the kids' daycare so they could surprise them. It was really cute seeing their little faces light up (except for Tysen who had just woken up and cried). We've been looking forward to their visit for a long time and we had so many fun activities planned. One of those activities was taking Alexa and Gavin fishing for the first time. Grandpa and Grandma took the kids shopping and bought them their very own fishing poles, fish/butterfly nets, and tackle boxes.

Alexa ended up choosing a pink Barbie fishing pole and Gavin picked a Cars pole.

Sorry for the lack of updates.....

2011-09-10T19:36:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that our computer crashed several weeks ago. We finally got it back and it's working better than ever. I have lots of new pictures to post!

2011-08-11T19:38:00.001-04:00

08/05/2011

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Gavin's doing great with potty-training. He's been wearing big boy underwear all week. He's had a few accidents, but I don't think it will be long before he has the hang of it. He really loves his new underwear.

I love to see all the kids playing together.

08/03/2011

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Such a big boy!

08/01/2011 My New Shoes!

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I just had to share this picture of my new shoes. After making fun of my husband's "toe-shoes" for over a year, I impulsively bought a pair this weekend. I had gone into a specialty running shoe store and ended up buying two pairs of shoes- the running shoes and these vibrams. I can see why so many people rave about them. They are quite comfortable. They certainly catch your eye, too!

07/31/2011 Matt's Triathlon

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The kids and I are waiting for Daddy to finish his race.

The lady on stilts asked Alexa what kind of balloon she wanted. Alexa replied, "A rainbow balloon, please!" The lady said that she couldn't make one of those so Alexa settled on a pink cat instead.

Afterwards, Alexa told me that that lady was really "long!"

Matthew competed in the Giant Eagle Olympic-distance Triathlon this morning. The kids and I were waiting and cheering for him at the finish line.

Matthew and his friend, Andrew, who also competed

One of Matthew's biggest fans

Tysen and Daddy are relaxing at home now after an eventful day.

07/29/2011 We're Home!

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We are home and the boys are doing great. They both took long naps and then had great appetites. Now you'd never guess that they had surgery today! Matthew went and picked up Alexa this afternoon and she was happy to see her brothers, too. She seemed to understand and gave them lots of hugs. Tysen had a little bit of dried blood in his ear and she noticed that right away. She wanted to get him a band-aid!

07/29/2011 Surgery

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Gavin and Tysen had their surgeries today at Children's Hospital.

Aren't these just the cutest little patients that you've ever seen?

Their matching monster pajamas were a gift from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Morse. All the nurses thought they were adorable!

Brother hugs before surgery!

We had to be at the hospital at 5:45am this morning. Gavin's surgery was first. He had bilateral ear tubes inserted, lingual frenectomy (clipping under his tongue), and adenoidectomy. This is the second time that Gavin has had the ear tubes placed. The first time was in February 2010. It's common for children to outgrow the tubes in 6 months to a year and they just fall out. One of Gavin's had fallen out and the other was working its way out and was plugged up so that it wasn't functioning properly. The ENT removed Gavin's adenoid because it was enlarged and partially blocking where the tubes need to drain. The lingual frenectomy was needed because Gavin's tongue had restricted movement and could be contributing to his speech problems.

Daddy is playing with Tysen and trying to distract him from his extreme hunger! Both boys were not allowed to have anything to eat or drink after midnight the night before surgery. Although he looks quite pleasant in these photos, he was rather fussy. He didn't understand why we weren't giving him a bottle!

We are waiting in the pre-op area while Gavin is in surgery. Once Gavin was done, they came directly to get Tysen and took him to surgery in the same operating room. Once they had taken Tysen to surgery, Matthew and I went to our recovery room to wait for Gavin to be delivered to us.

This picture was taken just before Gavin went to surgery. We had to take off their cute matching pajamas and put on the hospital pajamas.

This is Tysen after surgery. The OR nurses said that as soon as he woke up from anesthesia, he was MAD! He was hungry! Unfortunately, they would not let him have milk until he got home. He was allowed to drink clear fluids so he had some apple juice in a bottle. He's never had apple juice, but he drank the whole 8 ounces. You could tell that he really wanted milk instead because he was drinking the juice angrily. He kept grunting at us. (They wouldn't let the kids drink milk after surgery because of the high risk of them vomiting on the car ride home and the choking hazard.)

Gavin was sound asleep when they brought him back to our room. He seemed really peaceful. His hand is wrapped up because they had started an IV there.

He opened his eyes and we asked him if he wanted a drink. He said, "Milk!" We brought him the apple juice and he happily downed it. He kept asking for more. We filled his cup 3 times before he fell asleep with it in his mouth. Gavin was surprisingly very content and did not seem to be uncomfortable at all. He never did fuss or cry. He's just extremely tired. He had more pain medication than Tysen did because he had more procedures done. A side effect of the pain medication is drowsiness or sedation.

Snuggling with Baby Tysen

Before the surgery, we had been told that Gavin was going to be admitted for at least one night for observation. We were relieved when the surgeon discharged both boys. We were able to get home by 12:00 noon!

We are also pleased to share the results of their ABR (auditory brainstem response) hearing tests. We now know for certain that both boys have normal hearing. This is the first time in Tysen's 7 month life that he's been able to hear! We noticed the change right away. In fact, Matthew sneezed and the sound startled Tysen so much that he nearly burst into tears! It's going to take some time before he adjusts to all these new sounds!

7/28/2011 Pizza, Cupcakes, and Best Friends

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On Thursday evening, we went to the Obermire's house. They had offered to watch Alexa while we were taking care of the boys before and after their surgeries. They ordered pizza and we had a pizza party. My friend and co-worker, Carrie, makes these gorgeous cupcakes and she was able to whip some up in short notice for me to take. She came up with the hungry caterpillar idea and it was perfect for the kids. Alexa and Emme started arguing over who got to eat the head, so I decided that Gavin got to eat the red one as his reward for wearing big-boy underwear all day at daycare without an accident (first time- yay!).

The kids table

(Does anyone else remember this from childhood?)

Emme is enjoying the green one!

Yummy!

Maybe all the kids should have gotten a green one! The red was hard to wash off!

07/26/2011 Beach

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After Alexa's gymnastics camp, we went to the Alum Creek beach with our friends Kara and Emme. The kids had so much fun filling the bucket with rocks and sand.

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Alexa attended a toddler tumbling camp on Tuesday for 3 year olds. She was so excited. Afterwards, she was exhausted!

More Gymnastics

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Alexa at Toddler Tumbling Camp

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Alexa holds 4 birds!

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Alexa and Gavin in the Bounce House

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Tysen and Gabbi

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07/25/2011 Weekend Fun

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Tysen loves Gabbi and Gabbi's pretty fond of him, too.

Tysen suddenly started taking lots of interest in standing this weekend. I swear, this little boy did not stay a baby for near long enough!

There's a pink ghost with 4 cute feet in my living room!

Today there was an event celebrating the 125th anniversary of my hospital. They had lots of fun things for the kids. Alexa and Gavin loved the balloons. Alexa asked for a flower and Gavin picked the monkey.

Another kid favorite was the bounce house. They played so hard and got very sweaty!

There was lots of good food, too. We enjoyed the ice cream. And the best part about the whole day? It was all free!

Here's Gavin's "Monkey on a tree." Unfortunately, it didn't make it out to the car. It was too tempting for him to whack things with it! Pop!

07/18/2011

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Happy 7 month Birthday, Baby Tysen!

07/16/2011

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Tysen will be 7 months old tomorrow! He is amazing us everyday with all his new skills. Every time we turn around, he's doing something new! He's been able to sit unassisted for awhile now, but we would have to get him in the right position. He's just now figured out how to go from a crawling position to sitting on his bottom.

I have been making all of Tysen's baby foods. We recently discovered that he loves edamame, just like Alexa and Gavin! I've been slow-cooking vegetables in my crock pot and then blending them up. Then I scoop the vegetables into an ice cube tray and freeze them. Once frozen, I pop out all the cubes into a freezer bag. The cubes are a great serving size for Tysen. He typically eats 3-4 cubes for a meal plus a 6 ounce bottle. I usually make and freeze a month's worth of baby food on a weekend and then it makes it really easy to pack his food for daycare during the week. I make lots of fruit cubes, too, but they are a lot easier because I don't have to cook them first. Here are some of Tysen's favorite foods: edamame, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, yellow squash, fresh green beans, peas, carrots, avocado, strawberries, banana, peach, pear, blue berries, and apples. Actually, come to think of it...I can't think of any food that he doesn't like! Today after church, we went out to eat for breakfast. Daddy fed Tysen his first bites of pancake! He liked it, but he's still trying to figure out how to chew chunks of food. He likes to move it around in his mouth and get it all soggy, and then push it out his mouth instead of swallowing it!

Yesterday we met up with our friends at Easton to play in the water fountains.

Emme's having a blast in the water!

Alexa likes to sit on the water.

I don't even know what to say about this picture! It just makes me laugh! She put her goggles on herself and they are just a little crooked.

Alexa, Gavin, and Emme

Once they were done playing in the water, we changed their clothes and then went to see the trains. Gavin loves trains.

Alexa counts in Spanish!

2011-07-15T22:41:00.001-04:00

Baby Loves Paper!

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07/13/2011

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This evening I took the kids to the store and we bought some fun craft making supplies. They have been learning how to use scissors at school so I thought it might be time for them to have their own pair at home. Alexa picked out a pink pair and Gavin picked out yellow. They both felt pretty proud to have their own pair of scissors! We had a long discussion about what we can and cannot cut with the scissors. They sat on the floor and cut up construction paper for almost a half hour. I showed them how to make butterflies and then they used the glue stick to attach some decoration to the wings. It was a great learning experience!

Tysen loves paper! He was having as much fun as Alexa and Gavin by drooling all over the paper scraps. He tried to eat the paper multiple times, too.

Tysen has been sitting unassisted for about a week now. He never sits for long, though, because he's such a busy-body. He'll lean forward and place his hands on the ground, then flop his belly to the ground, and he's off crawling across the room!

07/04/2011

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We've been so busy recently that it's been a couple weeks since I last updated the blog. I've got lots of pictures, mostly of the fourth of July weekend.

Tysen is sporting his new shades while we get ready to go to the pool to cool off.

He mostly just wants to chew on them!

Tysen liked putting his feet and legs in the water. He even took some steps with Daddy's help.

Then we surprised the kids by taking them to see Cars 2. This was Tysen's first movie theater experience.

Alexa wanted to hold her own ticket!

Tysen slept through most of his first movie. Oh well, that made it easier on us!

Then we went to Easton to do some shopping and we stopped to let Alexa and Gavin play in the water fountains. That's their favorite thing to do at Easton.

Alexa likes to stick her face directly in the water. Afterwards, she was complaining that her eyes hurt and she kept rubbing them with her towel. She told us that she never wants to play in the "hurty water" again. Matthew went to Dicks and bought her and Gavin goggles.

After we got the kids dried off, we went to Red Robin for supper.

Gavin was unusually well-behaved during supper. He must have been worn out from all the water play.

Gavin is patiently waiting for Mommy and Daddy to finish eating.

After supper, we went to the New Albany fireworks. We had great seats right inside the high school football stadium. We really enjoyed the fireworks. The kids had a blast.

(Tysen's doctors have told us multiple times that he doesn't hear anything...but I know that he heard the fireworks! That's a good sign.)

Alexa is dancing around while we wait for the fireworks to start.

It's not easy to get all the kids on my lap anymore!

Alexa is still obsessed with rainbows, so I decided to make her a rainbow cake. I told her that Rainbow Bright brought it to our house while she was taking a nap. She was really excited.

I didn't get a very good picture of it, but the kids just got done feeding Gabbi her special birthday treat. On July 11th, Gabbi turned 7 years old!

07/02/2011 Our Evening Walk

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This evening I took Alexa and Gavin on a walk. Matthew was busy working on homework and Tysen was already asleep, so I thought it would be nice to get out of the house. First we went to see if there were any ducks or geese in the ponds. We found a family of young ducks that I believe are the same babies we saw about a month ago. It's amazing how much they have grown! The mother duck wasn't in the picture below, but she was still protecting her babies.

After saying goodnight to the ducks, we walked to the little playground. The kids burned off some energy.

I took this picture last week and wanted to share. We had to buy Alexa a new car seat because she reached the maximum weight limit on her old one. Alexa and Gavin had a blast playing inside the cardboard box that it came in.

07/02/2011

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The kids are playing dress up again! Can you guess what movie they chose for family movie night tonight? Madagascar! Gavin is Alex, the lion. Alexa is Marty, the zebra. Tysen is Melman, the giraffe.

Right now as I am updating the blog, there is a zebra and lion eating popcorn and watching a movie in the living room and a little giraffe asleep in the baby swing! They are so cute!

07/01/2011

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The kids wore red, white, and blue for their Independence Day festivities at school today. They were so cute that I had to take their picture before we left.

They were all in such a good mood this morning. TGIF!

We had family movie night tonight. Alexa and Gavin chose the movie Finding Nemo. They dressed up for the occasion. We have a huge collection of costumes at our house. I find them for super cheap at my favorite thrift store (never pay more than $1.50) and then the kids have so much fun playing pretend. The Nemo costume that Alexa is wearing is one of the favorites. She's worn it to the grocery store and to Target with me in the past. She gets so many compliments on it! There isn't a single customer that can walk by her without smiling.

My little clownfish are "swimming" around on the living room floor!

Nemo hugs!

06/27/2011

2011-06-27T21:31:00.001-04:00

Yep, Daddy taught them how to play Angry Birds. That doesn't make Mommy very happy, especially now that they just want to play Angry Birds before bedtime instead of reading stories.