181/365

The Heflins arrived around midnight last night, the Skidmores left around 11:30, and Darin came home just after 2pm! As soon as we got into the airport, Ellie kept repeating, "Uh see Daddy, uh see Daddy..." (I want to see Daddy). His flight was about 20 minutes late, but he finally got there & we were reunited again!

180/365

Legos, Legos everywhere!  If they weren't building a Lego city, then Gavin & Brady were playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii... Gavin's been waiting for months to get some playing tips from Brady, the expert.

179/365

Last appointment today, before our baby makes an appearance. My doctor decided to do a quick ultrasound to check the baby's position, during which he accidentally let it slip that... it's a boy!

I was smiling all the way home (not because it's a boy)--just knowing makes it seem that much more real! 

178/365

These two were cute to watch & notice how they've grown over the last 20 months... they did a lot of parallel play except for this duet, where they were perfectly "in tune" with each other.

177/365

The Skidmores (minus Uncle Vance) arrived today!

176/365

Big project today: sorting through all Gavin's papers from this last year of preschool & church class. He kept a few favorite things, we took pictures of other ones he wanted to remember, then lovingly put them all in the trash. We had to start some sort of system for this kind of stuff... so this is it!

175/365

We went & fed the ducks today with Gavin's friend, Cade. Ellie had the best time, mostly chasing the ducks around with a piece of bread in her hand... and then eventually, she'd eat it herself. Big news:
Ellie can now say, "GAV-IN!" She used to say either, "Gaddy" or "Gabo" but now she has it down!

174/365

Gavin was a star today! He got to be in a promotional video for the new Scentsy Buddies that will be coming out in the next release. The video will be premiered at the Scentsy Convention in August, & we won't even be able to see it until after that I think! There were about a dozen kids (of employees) invited to do it, and they all got to choose a new Buddy for their work today (from the existing line). Gavin chose Ollie the elephant. He had fun doing it, so he says! We'll have to take his word for it because parents were not really invited/encouraged to stay--top secret stuff! Ellie & I went & helped at our Stake's Humanitarian Work Day during the shoot.

173/365

Darin's brother Ron was in town for some meetings with Scentsy, and we met up with him at the mall today before his flight left. I took a picture of him & Gavin with my phone, but my phone died right after, and apparently the picture didn't save... So this one of my lunch will have to do. I took it because it was the second day in a row I had this salad for lunch--spinach, strawberries, swiss cheese & pecans with a bottled raspberry hazelnut dressing. It was just what sounded good! Now, what sounded good for dinner tonight was a blast from the past--I'd never made it, but remembered it from Aunt Brenda's house: boiled potatoes with hamburger gravy. I googled a recipe for the gravy--easy--& it hit the spot! Not quite as healthy as the salad, or photogenic for that matter... just your basic comfort food.

172/365

First official day of summer! Seemed like a good day to hit the splash pad at Settlers Park! Gavin didn't spend too much time in the water though--said it was too cold. He & Ellie played on the playground more, and wore themselves out, and we were all sweaty in our 86-degree weather--about as hot as it's gotten yet! When we got home, Gavin was very low-key & didn't seem quite right. He climbed onto the couch with a blanket, saying he was freezing, when in fact, he had a bit of a fever. I think we over-did!
I had him drink a lot tonight & hope he's feeling better in the morning.

171/365

Today is Gavin's ACTUAL birthday, even though we've been celebrating since last Sunday when he opened his first Legos. The big party last Wednesday seemed like it should've capped off the celebration, but nope! I let Gavin choose one more thing for his birthday when we were at Walmart today, and he chose a small Star Wars Lego set. Here he is putting it together (as soon as we got home... didn't even want to help me carry in the groceries!) This new five-year old is pretty good at following those instructions, & he has a blast playing with his creations afterwards. Love him!

170/365

This was right after we got home from church--just minutes before Ellie crashed for 3 hours. She's still doing great in nursery--she loves her "cass!" (class). But when we get home, at 2:00, she is past ready for a good old fashioned Sunday afternoon nap.

169/365

Gavin has been an apple guy for a long time... since he was about 2 years old. He'll choose an apple over most any dessert or junky snack. Today he had 3 (they were smaller Galas) but still--that's not uncommon for him! It rained all afternoon today. When I asked, "What should we have for dinner?"
Gav said, "It seems like a soup day..." So we had grilled cheese & tomato soup... and apples.

168/365

We've been Skyping with Dad twice a day. Darin's 14 hours ahead of us, so our 10:00am is his midnight, and our 5:00pm is his 7:00am. Those times seem to work pretty well for both of us. Here's Ellie, blowing kisses as we're signing off.

167/365

Ellie has a definite independent streak in her! Feeding her is a whole new ballgame now. I've always let her eat her own "finger food" from her tray, but when it comes to messier things (like yogurt or soup...) I wasn't quite ready to turn over the reins. She has other ideas though. When confronted with a spoon of food from me, she'll either say, "Hold it!" or "Self!" ...repeatedly. She's getting the hang of it!

166/365

Gavin's 5th birthday party had a Lego theme. We had twelve 4-5 year-olds over for a fun afternoon of Lego games, presents, cake & ice cream & a pinata! It was a first for us, & it went well! We squeezed in this party today since Darin leaves for China early tomorrow morning for 2 weeks!

165/365

Gavin got to open a couple of presents from us on Sunday--some basic Legos & minifigures

(early because we needed them to use for his party games this week). He wasted no time getting into them & building, and he hasn't stopped yet!

164/365

We finally got a new gas tank, & Darin grilled us some sliders & corn on the cob for dinner

--first grilling of the year! It was delicious.

163/365

We got Ellie some new bling yesterday when we were out shopping for Gavin's birthday...

She now owns some proper necklaces and bracelets. She calls it all, "Nice!" Such a girl.

162/365

Gavin had Ellie cracking up in the swing. He's a fun big brother & takes good care of his sister.

161/365

We went to the M.K. Nature Center downtown this morning with friends. It was hard to get a picture of Gavin, because he was usually running on ahead! Ellie was pretty independent too, but she stuck closer. This shirt was Breann's from cousin's camp in the summer of 2009!

160/365

We came home from the park to find these two on our driveway... They've been spotted around the neighborhood a lot lately, usually by Ellie. She laughs when she sees them & says, "Hi ducks!"

159/365

Gavin's growing up too. Today is the second day in a row that he's wanted to pick out his own clothes! Never had an interest before--in fact, when I'd tell him to pick something to wear, he'd always say,
"Can you just do it?" But unprompted, yesterday & today, he chose his own clothes & got dressed!

158/365

Yep, growing up in more ways than one! She used to be so tiny on this changing pad,

& now she hangs off the end. Guess it's bound to happen.

157/365

Ellie was refusing to eat anything tonight in her highchair, and would just whine & cry when we tried to feed her... UNTIL we put her in a booster seat in a real chair up to the table. She's getting to be more & more independent by the minute! We may be in trouble.

156/365

Ellie was not in the mood for pictures today.

155/365

The kids got to wear their cool new Charleston, SC t-shirts today. The color shows up instantly when they go in the sun. Color-ific! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! We had some Fandango movie tickets from Groupon that were expiring, so we found a way to use them up without Ellie stepping foot in the theater. First, I took Gavin to see Kung Fu Panda 2, then Darin took Gavin to see Thor. He loved it!

154/365

Ellie is into accessories all of a sudden... and she's very creative, out of necessity. She owns just one bead necklace that Darin brought her from China (no purses or bracelets). She was using Gavin's Army men bucket as a purse yesterday, and today she found our Christmas cookie cutters & put them on as bracelets. In Las Vegas at the Skidmore's pool party, she was walking around with a floatie on her elbow (as a purse), and a bunch of "O's" from a Tic Tac Toe game as bracelets.  I guess we need to get her some proper accessories! When she puts anything on, she'll say, "Nice!" or "Pretty!"

153/365

I opened this bottle of grapefruit juice today and realized that by this expiration date, we'll have a one-day-old baby! 5 weeks to go!

152/365

Gavin has taken a renewed interest in his Army men lately... lining them up for battle, then systematically knocking them over. Gavin & Ellie both seem to be fine now, but Ellie took a 5 hour nap today!