april 28

i love lazy saturday mornings at home.  brooke was supposed to play soccer this afternoon, but thunderstorms rolled in and soccer was cancelled.  so our lazy morning turned into a lazy day :)

april 27

today was full of fun and games.  we purchased and played a new game that's inspired by Richard Scurry's book (which is a favorite in this house!), and we all really enjoyed it.  brooke also had soccer practice tonight.  i really jumped into this spring soccer thing with both feet!  gavin has soccer every wednesday at 1:00, and brooke is playing for two different soccer programs which results in practices on tuesday evenings, wednesday evenings and every other friday evening plus games every saturday.  so, our life is all about soccer right now, but that's just fine with me.  spring soccer only lasts 5 weeks.  after soccer tonight we went to uno's for dinner.  the kids had fun making their own pizzas, and brooke and i completed her first crossword together.

april 26

a little impromptu play date this morning.

april 25

gavin has an amazing british soccer coach named russell.  he is absolutely wonderful with young children.  at the end of every session, coach russell gets the kids in a huddle and talks to them.  they do a little "hammer" cheer, and then coach russell tells them to run as fast as they can to their mom/dad/nanny and give them a big hug.  my little superman running full steam at me with his arms open and ready to give me a giant hug?  thanks, coach russell!  it totally made my day.

april 24

gavin had the honor of being the birthday boy at school today.  we brought in munchkin donuts for everyone, and they were a big hit.  gavin was so happy to carry the box of donuts into school, and i know he felt very special wearing his birthday crown all day.  i think i can safely say that this is the last birthday celebration for gavin this year :)

april 23

sometimes there are small blessings found within unexpected circumstances.  carl, mercedes and london left for cleveland last night after finding out mercedes' dad was in the hospital.  we've all been very concerned for him, but we're certainly not complaining about the extra time it has allowed us to spend with pierce.  kaye and i took the three kids to the zoo today.  we had the entire place to ourselves!  not many people were at the zoo on a slightly chilly monday morning.  we had so much fun exploring the zoo, and it was nice to be able to let the kids run free.  brooke, gavin and pierce had big smiles plastered on their faces all day long.  especially when we treated them to ice cream cones at the end of the day :)

april 22

the big day finally arrived.  it was chaotic and celebratory and fun.  the smile on gavin's face throughout the day made all the late nights of preparation and hours of lost sleep completely worth it.  to celebrate gavin's birthday in carnival-style we had a bouncy house (in the basement), carnival games & prizes, tattoos, animal-shaped balloons (thanks, uncle danny!), popcorn, hot dogs, popcorn-style cupcakes and a big cake for the birthday boy.  most importantly, we had the people we love most here to celebrate with us.