A couple of funny stories...

Just thought I'd share a couple of cute stories that happened today. First off we were at the grocery store about 11:00am, which is too close for comfort to Gavin's nap. In times like these it takes some well portioned out treats (fruit snacks, lolipop) to keep him happy for the time I need to get what we came for and get outta there!! It's usually very much a roller coaster experience at the grocery store at this time because he is excited about all there is to see (it's a BIG, warehouse type store) yet he is also tired and when he's tired he gets loud! OK-so the scene is set. We were almost done with the trip, which I had kept to about 25 minutes, and I thought I'd get some fresh bagels since it's something daddy and Gavin love to share in the mornings. So, I parked the cart about 2 feet away from the bagels so as not to crowd the old man and the worker who were using the bagel station. Gavin was happily sorting through things in the cart when he looked up and noticed that I was filling a bag full of bagels. At the top of his voice he shouted, "OH , MOMMY GETTING BAGELS! YEAAAAAAA! MOMMY! GOOD JOB MOMMY!" And ended with an applause. I busted out laughing and thanked him for cheering me on! Spend just a little time with Gavin and you'll find this enthusiasm for many things in life! He is a passionate one, be it positive or negative!
The other story is that last week Gavin spent three days with my mom and dad at their beach condo. He loves to go to "Grandpa's beach house" (not sure how g-pa got all the credit). However, we soon found that when we got there and took him inside he got upset and ran for the door shouting, "NO, GO GRANDPA'S BEACH HOUSE!" "We are in grandpa's beach house." we'd try to tell him, but he was insistent that he wanted to go outside the house. After some time we finally realized that "Grandpa's beach house" referred to the great outdoors and apparently grandpa owns the whole beach-that's where he wants to go-not inside some condo. Sooooo...anyway, while he was there, Grandpa taught him to say (in the most Italian accent) "Me, I don't know!" Picture my dad gesturing with those Italian hands and laying on the accent thick. So, Gavin thought it was funny and loved to imitate that. OK-so here's the story from today...It was bed time, Gavin was beside himself tired. I suggested a bath and he flipped out during the short bath, I suggested a diaper and he flipped out because his tummy hurt, I gave him gas drops and he finally let me put the diaper on but we are talking BIG huge tears and a red- scrunched up face-just screaming of tiredness. Finally I said, over Gavin's loud cries, "OK, where are your jammies, didn't I bring them in here?" He stopped crying and with the breathless sobs still in his chest exclaimed, "Me, I don't know!" Again, I bust out laughing (as my grandma would say!) He, of course, after the statement, and a brief look around went back to his fit and didn't ever realize just how funny he'd been. I laughed all the way to bed!

Our Dancing with the Stars experience!

OK- Dancing with the Stars is my favorite show and Tuesday night Benjy and I sat in the front row of the audience and got to watch the taping.  It was such an awesome experience.  I signed up on line on the abc website about 6 months ago and just got an email last Saturday.  Benjy and I dropped Gavin off in Oceanside with my parents and headed for Hollywood.  We weren't sure exactly what to expect.  They say to be there no later than 3:00 but we were sure that people line up earlier so we got there at 12:00 and were numbers 8 and 9 in line!!!  We were all dressed up-Benjy in a shirt and tie and me in a very nice dress and heels.  We stood on the sidewalk in line for 4 hours and didn't even read our books.  It was so fun to talk to the people in line around us since we automatically had this crazy experience in common already.  As we waited we saw Ryan Seacrest and Simon from American Idol pull in to the studio in their convertibles and waving and smiling at fans.  At 4:00 they told us there would be a pretaping and then they'd go live at 6:00 on the east coast.  Once we got in the studio it was magical I was like a kid in a candy store!  It was so sparkley!  I couldn't believe how SMALL the dance floor was!  It looks so much bigger on camera.  Anyway, once we got inside they start placing people where they want them in the audience.  They started to send people up to the back rows.  When they got to us the lady said, "OK-let me have you two step over here"  I was so excited and thinking, "Oh, I hope they put us in the front b/c we are all dressed up" (some people who were in line in front of us weren't dressed up as much and got stuck in the back.  

Then the girl walked us right behind the judges booth and sat us right down behind Carrie Ann's seat.  I was so giddy!  A lady behind us told us we wouldn't see the dancing b/c the  judges were going to be in front of us but I didn't care what she said, I was so excited to be on the front row and right behind the judges. 

They got us all pumped up with cheering and then Big Bad Voodoo Daddy came out with some of the pro dancers.  My favorite, Julianne caught my eye and we smiled at each other!  Bruno came out and winked at us!  Len Goodman told us we weren't going to be able to see anything.  I still didn't care-it was so much fun!  During the dance w/ Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the pro dancers (Julianne, Derrick, Marc, Lacy, Tony, Cheryl etc.) had to run behind the judges and wait to go back on the floor right in front of us!  Then the girls kept playing to the judges and sitting on their table so we got the best view of that!  They did that performance two times. 

If you heard about what happened on The Bachelor-we got to see Melissa (the girl who got dumped after he proposed to her) and her new boyfriend-she looked so happy!  Chris Harrison, the host of the Bachelor was there and we watched after the show as he came up to say Hi to Melissa and you could tell it was a little awkward for her, then she proudly introduced him to her new boyfriend.  I know it's shameful to be this involved but I was so starstruck.  Jewel performed as well and they did a really pretty dance to that and we could still see a lot of it even if we were blocked by the judges a bit.

We were only 2 out of like 8 people in the front row who were NOT VIP so we sat across the floor from Mickey Rooney and Wynona Judd.  Benjy sat next to a former Playmate who was there to support Holly Madison (Girls Next Door) and this girl Amber is now on Kendra's new show.  Again...it is shameful I know all of this but if you watch The Soup you see how I know all of this.  We talked to her a lot about what it's like to film a reality TV show like that with cameras in your apartment.  That was kind of interesting.

Our row was dismissed last at the end so we got to linger and enjoy watching what happens afterwards, families mingling, dancers saying Hi to their friends etc.  Then we went out to the Grove for dinner and Derrick and Marc's band played-Maxim and Tony were there to watch so we saw them again.  

It was so much fun and even though Benjy laughed during the guy's dance numbers (he'll never adapt to the high, tight pants and hip shaking) he had a great time too, just getting to see what the behind the scenes was like.

If you watch it, or have it on your DVR, you can totally see me behind Carrie Ann every time she talks.  You can see Benjy too but not as much.

While we were there waiting in line, people were there lined up for American Idol as well.  One girl got to see the dress rehearsal and said it was so incredible to hear them in person because they sound so good!  So...that's my next conquest!

We couldn't take cameras or cell phones so sorry, no pics!

More recent pictures

Gavin's 2nd b-day and Erin's 32nd :)

Saturday February 28th was Gavin's 2nd birthday and his party too.  It was so fun this year because he was really looking forward to it and could list off everyone that was coming-family and a couple of friends.  It was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme since that is pretty much the main show he watches these days other than the Planet Earth series.  We opened up our french doors and our garage and just let the kids play.  It was just right for Gavin and all that I read about keeping 2 year old b-day parties simple was right on.  This year I made his cake as it is getting to be a new interest/hobby for me and it was a lot of fun!  It was so fun to watch him open presents too because he was so excited about each and every gift!

The next day was my birthday and consequently the day my parents moved into their Oceanside beach condo.  My whole family headed out there for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, where they announced that it was my 21st birthday and had me get up and hula hoop to some song I can't remember right now.  While sitting and overlooking the water we all saw Sea Lions playing in the harbor.  After sunset we headed back to the condo for ice cream cake.  It was a perfect birthday weekend for both of us!

Fall Fun (in 94 degree weather-Oh Well)

Today I met my friend Trisha and her daughter and son at a Pumpkin patch in good old Temecula wine country.  It was a lot of fun and it was VERY hot.  Gavin had lots of sunscreen on but after 5 minutes of running around with 3 year old Mikaila, his cheeks were bright red from the heat.  It is a great pumpkin patch though, just right for his size.  In the past I've gone to a huge farm that's pumpkins as far as the eye can see.  It was just a little too much with a little guy.  I much prefer this little humble pumpkin patch in wine country.  There were tons of cute photo op spots although I didn't capitalize on it b/c Gavin wanted to just run.  One of his favorite things was a big ring of hay.  You could walk on the hay bails all around the circle and then jump onto the hay floor.  I thought he might be a mess of allergies afterward but he was fine.  Then we went through a corn maze and that is right up his alley.  He followed Mikaila around as fast as he could.  When she'd stop (cause her mommy said "wait") he kept going at top speed.  Several times I had to take off after him b/c he is fast and I didn't want to lose him in the corn maze!  At the end we went to the petting zoo, we fed goats and the most docile rabbit I've ever seen in my life.  Gavin actually stepped on its foot and it just gently moved it's foot once he got off and placed it under its body.  He used to our dogs who head for the hills when he gets too close.  It was a fun day, well hour I should say b/c that's about all we could handle with the heat.  It was just right and FREE, except for the petting zoo which was 4 dollars.  We didn't buy a pumpkin yet b/c we want to wait for daddy.  Gavin did try to pick up some of the big ones though.  All in all lots of fun to get to do this today with my little pumpkin!

What a lucky kid!

This is a short post to say how thankful I am that Gavin has such an awesome family to grow up with. We just spent some time with both of our families and Gavin knows them all by name. It's so fun to get up in the morning and see his reaction when we say, "Do you want to go see Poppi and Nonni (Benjy's parents) today?" or "We are gonna see Grandpa and Grandma (my parents)" or look out if we even mention his cousins! I know what a richness my family was to me and my childhood growing up. Going and seeing my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins was the highlight of my year (literally) because we always had so much fun and I felt so loved!

I'm thankful that Gavin is going to have wonderful influences in his life from the adults and great friends in his cousins. So I included a picture of Gavin with his Cousin Nicolas who is only one month younger, just because it was what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. Although they don't really appreciate each other now (they just sort of coexist in the same room together but don't really play together quite yet) it will be so fun to grow up together and I'm so thankful God gave him that gift.

Some family he has yet to meet and get to know and I'm so excited for that because his life will be all the richer for it.

On that note: Jonny (Benjy's little bro) and Sara-can't wait to spend time with you in a couple of weeks!

Jesse (Benjy's big bro) and Shawna-Gavin will love getting to spend time with his four cousins from Oregon! Hopefully this Christmas????

And to my AZ family-we can't wait to see you all in November and I know Gavin will love his second cousin Michael who's also close in age.

This is probably my most rambling post so far so thanks for bearing with me. Check out the next post about our summer (below)!

Summertime means...Keeping up with Gavin...

Well I have to say between blogspot, myspace and facebook I've been horrible about updating pictures and keeping in touch. Let's blame it on the fact that it is summer and we have way too much free time on our hands...Benjy, Gavin and I are having a great time. We kicked off the summer with a little vacation in San Diego. We stayed with Joe and Emily and Gavin had an absolute blast following around his cousins. We used our Sea World and Zoo passes which was nice b/c we could go at our own leisure around Gavin's nap. Benjy got some surfing in and we actually got a night with Joe and Emily without kids (all were in bed) which is so rare and was very fun! We also went to Bakersfield for the week of the Fourth of July so that we could light our own fireworks in my parents front yard (a long time tradition in my family). That week was awesome because Benjy and I were able to go on a two day rafting trip on the Kern River. We rafted all day, slept under the stars at night and then rafted the whole second day. It was beautiful and fun and only an hour from Bakersfield.

Besides that our summer days have consisted of Gavin's swim lesson in the morning and then some adventure in the afternoon. We either take off for the beach, Wild animal park, the pool, a hike, or the park. It's got to be something active. Gavin's got a lot of energy and we soon found that errands to Target and the grocery store were just so much easier to do if one of us goes while he is napping.

At the Wild Animal park he literally never stopped running! He ran from place to place, barely noticing the animals but loving every little tiny rock and bug he found on the ground. Gavin is famous for his announcements which he shouts for all to hear so he ran around the park shouting and pointing "WOW" and "OH!" (and lots of other long phrases which we are sure are several sentences long but are still very difficult to decifer) everytime he saw something that amazed him. We found out that the tram ride through "Africa" was only 25 min and free with our membership so we thought it might be a nice chance for us all to get off our feet and relax. It turned out to be a wresting match for both of us as we tried our best to keep Gavin from falling out of the tram. He was all over the place and by the end Benjy and I were sweating and I think the giraffes were happy the little "tasmanian devil" (yes, he was literally turning circles in Benjy's arms at one point) that went by on the tram was getting off! We just had to turn on the video camera and laugh!

So, summer is fun. We still have four weeks left and everyday is a new adventure. We eat lots of watermelon, spend as much time in the water as possible and try to keep up with our little ball of energy! He's an absolute blast though and we couldn't have asked for a more entertaining addition to our lives! By the way, in August we will have been married 9 years!