Its December !

The three of us got our Advent Calenders from my mom right on time, Dec. 1st. (Gavin and I took pictures of each others). It's been a tradition since I was little in Germany, and it just makes the month for me. Thanks mom!

Happy 24th Birthday Vanessa !

Dale & Gavin surprised me with a cake when I got home from a meeting. Gavin was sooooo excited, made me laugh. After the candles he said "You can eat your cake now, if you want to". How nice of him to offer, since he knows he'll get a piece too. He loves Birthday's and Loves cake. They both make life fun for me. Thanks boys. ; )

Ward Campout - Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving at the Tingey's

I made my usual, Wasel "apple cider" drink, Mandarin Orange Pudding, Cheese Ball & crackers and Dale made his Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Between the 4-5 families, we had so much food left over for 20 more adults! Dale & I ate till the next Wednesday on just the leftovers we brought home.

And as you seen, we found the kids occupying themselves in the front room. We always have so much fun over there.

Archery Range at Gander Mountain

New Moon, opening night

Dale surprised me, drove all the way downtown (I had no idea where we were going)and had reserved seats for the 7:45 playing. Good thing, because everything was sold out till after 10pm. They even had a showing every 1/2 hr. until 5am! I couldn't believe it.

We had fun, after waiting in line to get in the theater an hour ahead, and after the girly teenage screams subsided. Can't wait for Eclipse this coming June!

24 weeks ( 5 1/2 months)

I love my little belly. I feel so much cuter when I'm pregnant (don't hate me). I'm about 32-33 inches around now.
Gavin wanted to take a picture of my belly today, so here's photography from his perspective.

Joy School

Since September, we've been doing Joy School (pre-preschool) on Mondays. Its been lots of fun and Gavin always asks if we're going to school. He's starting to understand the concept of tracing and the kids are doing so well now that they're more familiar with it. Last week everyone was actually there at Andrea's house, so I took a picture.

We're having a .....

GIRL !

These are pictures of pictures, so they're clearer as originals, but this is a great profile of her cute little nose.

She was doing some crazy things to move away from the transducer pushing her during the ultrasound. (and it didn't feel so great to me.) The lady thought it was so funny that she put her legs all the way over her head, so she took a few pictures. This is her gymnast move, with head AND feet on my right side.

She was finally tuckered out at the end. Here you can see her eyes, cheeks and mouth better. (the angle makes her
nose look wide, so no she doesn't have a bigger nose)

In these pictures, she's 13oz. and 10in. long.

She'll even be much cuter in person when we see her about the 3rd week of March, (the 12th-18th) at 6lbs 10oz - 7lbs respectively, depending which day it is. (that's my prediction)

Taffy Pull

Dale was determined to make taffy atleast once while in Houston. One day it wasn't that humid, and it worked. Unfortunately, it melted the next day in the cold humidity. At least they had fun playing tug-of-war.

Stake BBQ

Houston North Stake BBQ came equipped with the taste of a good 'ol bluegrass festival. Gavin danced the WHOLE time music was going. I've got lots of good video on my little camera, once I figure out how to play it back off the camera.

This reminded me of singing at "The Barn" and lots of fun memories with my grandparents when I was younger. I told Dale if I had known, I would have brought my spoons and broke them out right there. He said he'd go grab me some plastic ones. Haha, he's so funny. ; )

Gavin started this dancing group by the stage. It attracted lots of other kids.

Gavin with his favorite little girl, Aubrey.

Halloween

Gavin was Max from "Where the Wild Things Are". It's one of his favorite books, and the movie just came out in October, but we haven't seen it. Dale's mom made this costume while we were at her house this summer, which was good since there were no costumes like it anywhere. Everyone was so surprised to see him dressed as Max, for those who knew about the book or movie. One little girl thought he was a zebra. Gavin is practicing being a "wild thing" and scaring daddy below. Here's the movie link : http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com

Gavin learned to use the camera

Dallas - Oct 15

I successfully completed my first Road Trip alone, and with a 2 yr old in the car. We only had to stop for him once, and he had no accidents ! I was so thrilled. I picked up my mom at Dallas/Ft.Worth Airport, and spent Thurs.&Fri. with her. It was so great to just relax and see my mom. We went and toured Mary Kay HQ, amazing little museum, and ate lunch there. We also strolled the Plano, TX mall, had Godiva chocolate, of course, and watched Gavin play on humongous fake breakfast food. He also got to meet Geoffrey the Giraffe from ToysRUs ! It'll be a while till I see my mom in Phoenix again, so I was glad she was so close to visit. Miss her.

Why does he have a bed again ?

This is how I found him most nights in October. That solved the delema about whether or not we should buy him a twin mattress. Whats the point if he sleeps on the floor any way? The past 4 or 5 nights this 1st week in Nov. I got him to sleep in his bed, but really right now we don't care where he sleeps as long as its not in our bed. (which means "I'm" the one that can't be lazy and stay in bed at 3 or 4 am, when I get to go to his room.) At least I don't have to stay awake come 5:50 and go to work. That I'm grateful for.
[his play tent ON his bed so he'll sleep IN his bed, baby steps]

The Visual Child

[from Child Sense, by Priscilla Dunstan / Parenting magazine, November 2009, pg.28]
Visual kids learn by watching and imitating you [his father, and everyone else he plays with]. They enjoy organizing their toys by shape, color, or size, [see picture example below] and tend to learn to read easily. Too much visual input from TVs, crowds, and clutter can be distracting.
As Babies: Visual infants often get labeled "good babies" because it's easy to meet their needs. All that these babies need to feel secure and comforted is to be able to see their parent or caregiver nearby.
As Toddlers: Tantrums for these kids are very dramatic, with vivid expressions and copious tears [just to paint a picture for you on my less favorable days]. Offer a visual distraction, such as a brightly colored toy. Or just look away - he hates being deprived of an audience.
As Preschoolers: These tots get bored if they can't see what they're learning; think picture books, flash cards, and drawing on a chalkboard.

Our Visual Child

Isn't it great that we have so many resources out there these days to better understand these little people. Even the smallest of information and ideas can be helpful, and I love Priscilla Dunstan. She sure made my first time early motherhood easier with "Dunstan Baby Language". I'm going to need a refresher course soon.

Flu Bug

We had the Flu a few weeks ago. Dale from Sat-Thurs when he could go back to school, and Me from Mon-the weekend, and non-stop annoying coughing for another week. Gavin thankfully had no symptoms of being remotely sick, even though I had a 103 deg. fever for at least a day (slightly concerning when you're pregnant).

Gavin tried to be a good doctor. He learned to use our temporal thermometer, and my temperature was always "24". This is how he helped Dale the first few days:

Providing relaxing entertainment.

Keeping him warm and bundled.
Yes, that is Dale trying to sleep under there. I tried to rescue him, but he muffledly said he was fine, so I took a picture.

Camping with the Boy Scouts - sept 09

Dale is a Young Men/Boy Scout leader in our ward. Last campout, a bunch of families showed up when I didn't go, so Gavin and I decided to go with Dale this time. We were the only family, but still had a good time with the boys.

Gavin got to play football toss with the boys. They were so nice to include him.

Here's Dale supervising David cooking our camping dinner, beans and meat.

Boys making a fire. (I think they eventually just used a lighter, they forgot matches.)

He had no trouble going to sleep camping. Nothing to fear when you have mom and dad in a tent with you.