Easter

Tavin woke up early Easter morning and the first thing he noticed was his Easter Basket. He ran right up to it and dug right in. I filled the eggs with Goldfish Crackers, Gummies, Raisens, Animal Crackers and Vanilla Waffers. He got a little car, some books, flash cards and a stuffed bunny. 

We went to Great Grandma Elaine's to celebrate Easter. We all brought some delicious food to share and had a delightful time.

Heidi put together a presentation for the girls to perform for us. She had eggs with Bible Scriptures in them. Piper and Cecilia read the Easter story while Raina opened the little eggs. It was darling!

After dessert the kids ran around outside searching for eggs and goodies. I tried my best to get some photos of the kiddos but they were on the move. Tavin was very hard to catch! We also attempted some family photos and some photos of the kids sitting still. Not an easy task!

I thought the bunny ears were adorable but they didn't stay on very long.

Tavin in action.

Tavin found some eggs!

Sara in action.

Cecilia makes time for a smile.

 Piper in action.

Raina in action.

Tavin on the go again!

All the girls!

Running, running and running some more!

Tavin with his new ball from Grandma Sandy.

Our attemps at a family photo. Tavin did not want to sit still, he wanted to run!

The Gillen Family.

Not an easy photo to take. Someone was always doing something.

This is as good as it gets!

Uh-oh, he's up....

....and he's on the move again!

Gobble, Gobble

Tavin was running around with his turkey saying "gobble, gobble." So cute!

Baby Lewis Duce

Baby Lewis Duce is doing very, very well! Everything is there and where it should be!

The Lion Cut

Gracie got a Lion Cut. Pretty Kitty.

Cheers!

Tavin showed us that he could drink out of a big boy cup...he also showed us that he liked to "cheers!"

Gillen Girl Weekend

Tavin had a weekend surrounded by Gillen Girls! On Saturday we all went to Hannie's two year birthday party. (Hannie is the cute little daughter of Heidi's long time best friend, Karyn) Tavin had fun but needed to leave early to get his beauty sleep. Then the Gillen Girls came over for a slumber party. We all went to the library to play and read books. We noticed the sun was peeking out so we made a mad dash to the nearest park! We played on the swings and the slides and ran around in the grass. Afterwards we went back to The Treehouse and ate pizza, french fries, cheese balls and grapes as we all are health nuts (-; We finished the evening with a movie and some popcorn.

Sunday morning we had some home made waffles! Then The Gillen Girls went to church to see their grandparents who had just gotten back from their warm winter down south while Tavin took a nap. After Tavin's nap we all went to visit Great Grandma Elaine in Irene. Grandpa Erickson met us there too! I think the kids had every toy out at Grandma's house, even some lovely musical bells. Tavin had fun playing with his cousins and beating up on Cecilia. I missed the photo opportunity of Tavin sitting on top of the helpless Cecilia as I was in the bathroom for the 5th time in two hours. Baby Lewis must have been sitting right on my bladder! I can feel Baby Lewis jumping around as I type!

Tavin had his 18 month check up today and is now resting peacefully. He weighs 22 pounds and is about 32.5 inches tall. His doctor is very proud of how much he is growing and also thinks Tavin is in the upper percentile with his language skills. Way to go Tavin!

18 Months Old!

Tavin is 18 months old! (tomorrow) Our little man isn't so little anymore. He is so much fun and keeps us very busy. He is always exploring and will climb on anything. Chairs, tables, couches, toys, playground equipment, cats...he will climb on it! He is talking more and is very observant, so watch what you say and do around him because he will repeat it. He likes to look out our window in the living room that looks out onto the street and watch the cars go by and say, "vrrrrrrrrrrrrr, errrrrt!" Between Tavin and the cats the window is covered with face prints, hand prints and little kitty nose prints. Oh well.

Tavin and I have been visiting the library weekly for story-time and of course to play with the toys in the toddler section. He started out a little shy but is now comfortable with the library and the other children that attend story-time. Tavin is also getting some time with different baby sitters and handling his time away from Mom and Dad like a big boy.

Tavin's soon to be little baby brother or baby sister is doing quite well. His/her heartbeat has been around 152 and is very active. He/she was extremely active the other night when we went out to have Toby's cheese balls and chicken. I am definitely showing a baby belly which is much better than just feeling chubby. Now that there is evidence of a baby belly, I've started to talk more to Tavin about there being a baby in my belly. I'm only about 4.5 months along so Tavin has some time yet for it to sink in.

We are finally having some nice weather and we are taking advantage of it too! We went to the park today to explore and play. Tavin likes to run and watch the other kids play.

This little guy is hard to catch!

Extreme close-up! Tavin likes to charge at the camera.

Just look at those precious moment eyes!

Fun on the swing.

Weeeeeeee!

Oh, what are those kids over there doing?

What are these little things crawling around here?