Raegan is three!

I can't believe that my little girl is three!

She had a very good birthday with her Nana. Nana came and picked her up on Monday afternoon for a sleepover. They made crafts, went to Dunkin' Donuts and saw Horton Hears a Who. When Papa got home, they went and had pizza and chocolate milk at Raegan's request. After pizza, the waitress brought her a canoli with a candle and sang to her. Needless to say, she was very hyper when she got home that evening.

Today, Bob and I took her to Toys 'R Us. We weren't really sure what to get her so we thought we would just see what she played with. She fell in love with this keyboard! It's very cute with a working microphone and everything! She also stocked up her Dora kitchen with pots & pans, dishes and more food. Now she is just upset that her kitchen is still in the garage and she can't play with it until we get the new carpet in our basement.

Saturday is her party with her friends. We are taking 5 of her little friends (and her baby cousin and some adults) to Chuck E Cheese. Sunday we will have a dinner at Nana & Papa's house to celebrate Raegan and her Papa's birthdays (his is 4/10) with the family.

She has really managed to turn her birthday into birthweek, but she sure is having fun!

Trip to North Dakota

After much debate and discussion, I took both kids to North Dakota to celebrate my grandpa's 80th birthday. The only reason that I was crazy enough to do this is that my uncle Doug and cousin Jamie-Marie flew into Detroit to meet up with me to get to Minot. We got in on Friday, March 28 in the late afternoon. My brother and dad picked us up and took us all to Mark & Nikki's house to wait for my mom, grandma and grandpa. Grandma & Grandpa didn't know that we were coming so they were pretty shocked to see all of us sitting there. Luckily both kids were still in a good mood and Gavin didn't have his stranger anxiety.

Saturday my parents had rented out the local indoor pool so we had it for two hours all to ourselves. Raegan was in the pool the whole two hours! Gavin got tired after the first hour so my mom and I took him back for a nap. After lunch and a nap, we took the kids up to the drug store for a whirl-a-whip, the local specialty. Saturday night, we went out to dinner with my brother's in-laws, who happen to be my parents good friends, and then had a birthday cake for Raegan.

Sunday, we got up and drove over to Williston for my grandpa's party. Unfortunately, there was a really bad snow storm the night before so we had a long haul! We were able to see most of my aunts and a lot of my cousins and their spouses and kids. It was really fun! Sunday night my uncle and cousin came back to my parents house to stay.

Monday the trip home was ok. Gavin had a little stomach bug that caused many messy diapers and a change of clothes before we even got on the plane. He was fine until we were about 20 minutes out of Detroit, when he threw up all over me, himself and Raegan! Ugh! Raegan left the plane in panties and a t-shirt and Gavin in a onesie. We looked (and smelled) awful and a pretty white trashy!

I forgot my camera so am hoping that eventually my family will send me some pictures!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We had a nice and relaxing day. We went to the early service at church, where Raegan had to point out anytime the pastor said Easter by replying "Ha, ha, he said Easter!" Needless to say, she was not very quite about it. At the end of the service the kids got flowers from the ushers, and they loved them!

After church, we went home to try to get Gavin down for a nap. That worked for about 5 minutes! So we let them play with their plastic eggs for a while and then loaded them up to go to Nana and Papas.

Once we got to Nana and Papa's, the three grandkids had a little easter egg hunt. I must say, for being so small, Gavin and Caden did a great job! We then had a great brunch with Nana, Papa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Beth, and Great-Grandpa Dennis. At 1:00, the kids were ready for a nap, so we went home where EVERYONE got to take a nap! After the nap, Nana and Papa called. They came over and ended up staying for dinner.

Raegan was able to talk to all of my family. She must have gotten sick of telling everyone the same thing, so towards the end of the conversation, when someone asked what she got for Easter, she started reciting her Christmas presents!

It was such a nice day! I hope everyone else had a great day too!

Toddler Talk & Basement Update

First off the fun world of Toddler Talk!
Gavin is a much slower talker than Raegan was. Although, he doesn't have much time to get a word in edgewise with his chatterbox of a sister. He says the typical "mama" and "dada" although Bob will still get called "mama" at times. I think he is getting "more" down. We have been trying to work with him to say a couple of words instead of screaming. We are not getting very far yet, but I'm sure it's sinking in. We don't give him anything without holding it in front of his face and telling him what it is about 5 times! He probably thinks we're idiots!

While Gavin isn't saying much, Raegan is quite the little chatterbox! She really picks up on what we say and it can sometimes come back to haunt us. She frequently yells at our dog "Cara, STOP IT!!" and sounds just like me. The past couple of nights, she has ended up sleeping on the couch after a long battle in the middle of the night to get her to stay into her bed. This morning, Bob asked her why she slept on the couch. Her response "because you put me there!" Then as we were all leaving for the morning, she yelled over to me "see you next week, mom!" Another of her favorites is "probably . . . . yes (or no!)." She is really fun and a realy character!

BASEMENT UPDATE . . . .
We have hired a contractor, Branim Custom Homes. The owner is an ex-cousin-in-law of Bob's. He and his crew came in to start framing today and we just got a call that they are on their way to get drywall. I am just so excited!! Not that much longer now!

Gavin Robert Wheaton - one year later!

So I will finally write a very belated birthday story for Gavin.

On his actual birthday, his Mamaw and Grandpa (my parents) took him out to McDonalds for breakfast. They were continuing this tradition because they took Raegan there for her first birthday to let Bob and I be sick in peace. After that, we took him up to get his pictures taken. He did really well for being starving! It was 2:30 and the poor thing hadn't had any lunch yet. We did get a couple of smiles from him along with a lot of frowns and tears!

We finally made it home and Nana had left him some balloons. He played with those for a LONG time!







The next day was Saturday and his big party! We had the party at Nana and Papa's house due to our basement being destroyed still. He did very well with all of the people that he is not used to. He received amazing gifts - rocking airplane, retro rocket, 4-wheeler, clothes, toys (lots of airplanes), books, etc. Then he had his cake! He didn't just eat his cake, he savored it! I actually walked away for a couple of minutes to do something. We finally had to make him stop! He was going to be on major sugar overload!

He ended his birthday celebration with a trip to the doctor. He weighed in at 20 lbs, 12 oz and is 29 1/2 inches long. He had to get two shots, but handled them really well. My parents treated him with a trip to Chuck E Cheese with Raegan as a treat before they had to leave. He really liked the Bob the Builder ride!

Gavin's 1 year pictures

There's a drama queen in the house

. . . and apparently it's me! Last night at dinner, Raegan was surpisingly quite. After about 3 minutes of silence, she looked at me and said "Mom, you're a drama queen!" I was so shocked, I just laughed. Then I was sure to correct her and let her know that she was the actual drama queen in our house!