uh oh....

Gavin has a new skill. I don't know when exacty he mastered it - today was the first time I watched him actually do it.



We are in some serious trouble. It's time to hit the store for some more kid-proofing supplies - fast.

I am sorry that posts have gotten to be more widely spaced than earlier this summer. I'm really busy getting my classroom together and will most likely be keeping posting to weekends, when I have time to take and upload pictures and put them up for all to see. I'll do the best I can to keep up with the Gavin updates!!

special visits

Gavin's Grammy drove down from Dallas Thursday night to spend some time with him. The dynamic duo spent all day Friday playing together - coloring, taking a walk, building big block towers - while I went up to school to work on things in my classroom. It was great to come home and find them happily eating a snack together. Gavin and his Grammy had a great day!

We ran to the grocery store to grab a couple of things, and my mom decided that Gavin needed a new toy. So he came home with an Elmo that talks when you shake it. Gavin was quite a fan.



Gavin decided that Elmo needed to sit in his little chair.

We had a little bout of cranky after our trip to the store. Gavin makes a pretty sour face when he has a mind to:

Thankfully, Elmo and Grammy were able to bring Gavin out of his funk and get him back to his happy self.

like father, like son

Scott was teaching Gavin how to play the X-Box after dinner.

Gavin was very in to it. Oh boy.

announcing....

We heard a heartbeat today. So, I've decided that I've waited long enough to announce what most of you already know - we're having another baby! The due date is February 27th. We won't have an ultrasound until our 20 week appoiontment (tomorrow is 12 weeks) so that's when we'll (hopefully) find out if we're having a boy or a girl.

back to work

I went back to work today. It's unofficial back to school time for me, since I'm just getting my classroom together - moving furniture, setting up workstations - and starting to plan for the year; next Monday is the first official day back with meetings, workshops, etc. including the whole faculty.

Gavin returned to Kelly's house today and was welcomed with open arms. He doesn't cry anymore when I drop him off. He just snuggles into Kelly's shoulder (my mama's leaving me! woe is me!) and apparently is his normal crazy self soon after. I'm so happy that he's a part of their family. He's a very lucky kid.

new shoes

Gavin has been wearing just one pair of shoes for the past several weeks - well, the past few months really - that he inherited from Allison. He looooves his camo crocs. Today we went to REI with Scott at lunch time and found Gavin a new pair of shoes. They are still camouflage color, but instead of plastic/rubber they are canvas - AND he can't pull them off his feet as easily and throw them at me! At least, I hope not. That's become one of his favorite grocery store games!

When we were at REI, Gavin had to try on nearly every kid shoe they had on display. It didn't matter if the shoe was big enough to fit my feet - he didn't care! Once we decided on the shoes we wanted for him, he refused to put his old shoes back on. So he walked through the store in his bare feet, carrying the box containing his new shoes while Scott carried his old ones. Goofball! I took a picture with my camera phone - grandmas, you should have gotten that picture today. So cute.




Doesn't he look fabulous in his new shoes? He's trying them out around the house today as he gets used to them. It's pretty funny when he gets on a roll and then falls down. Just on his knees, I'm not mean! And then he gets back up and right back to whatever mayhem he was into before.


Today is my last full day home with Gavin for the summer. Tomorrow he heads back to Kelly's house to play with Blake and Allison so that I can get my classroom furniture, etc. all squared away before my "real" first day of work on Monday the 18th. Gavin's Grammy will be coming to visit on Friday so maybe, if my classroom is ready, I'll play hooky and take one more day to be with my boy.

all kinds of summer fun

We've been enjoying the end of my summer at home. I'm not really ready to go back to work. Being at home this summer has been a lot of fun.

Gavin loves wearing his sunglasses, even if it's just inside while watching the Olympics and enjoying pizza for lunch. He's so funny!



Bryant came over to help Gavin play in his bike trailer turned stroller.

Gavin is apparently following in his father's footsteps. He was transfixed and just basically enthralled with the measuring tape. Such a future engineer!!

new bicycle helmet

I don't post anything for a few days, and then I go and post twice in the same day. When it rains, it pours.

Scott came back from his week in San Antonio today, and Gavin was ecstatic. Then Scott opened up a box that had been delivered while he was gone. Inside it was Gavin's new bike helmet. And I thought he was excited about seeing his daddy!

He tried it on after his bath - before pajamas (or even a diaper) had a chance to enter the picture.

He loves that helmet so much, in fact, that he wouldn't take it off when it was finally time to put on his diaper.

We did finally get him to remove it by just taking it away and saying "night-night" to it as we put the helmet to bed with his bike in the garage. Gavin was not amused. :) Now he's in bed, hopefully dreaming sweet dreams of riding his bike and wearing his super-cool new helmet.

hooray for air conditioning

First thing this morning, Gavin and I hit up the grocery store. I rushed to get dinner in the crock pot, and then we met up with Roxanne and Thompson for lunch at Central Market. Gavin and Thompson played on the playscape after we ate. Man, was it hot!! Gavin, of course, spent most of his play time in the direct sunlight, much to the dismay of his very sweaty mommy. When we got home from Central Market I put Gavin down for his nap, and after he woke up we found some things to do that did not require us to go outside in the million-degree heat.

Gavin loves building with his blocks. He loves throwing them even more (didn't choose to capture that on film, though, sorry). It makes clean up time more like a game - where on earth did all the blocks go??

After we found and put away all of the blocks Gavin pulled his little chair over to the coffee table and asked to "towo" (Gavinese for "color"). I got out the paper and crayons and he got to work pulverizing his crayons on the paper. He really likes to bang them against the paper and then pick off the chunks of wax left behind and hand them to me. He's getting much better at holding the crayons and using them to mark on the paper.

Here is his finished product. He's so proud of himself! Okay, well, maybe I'm making that up, but I'm proud of him! It's so much fun to see him growing up and learning.

Do you see the chunks of brown crayon? Those would be the pieces he likes to pick off the paper and hand to me :)

Aaaaaand I'm editing this post to share with you why Gavin cannot be trusted with crayons out of mommy's view:

So far I've found one teeeeeny little red mark on the wall. It had better be the only one!!

the zoo

Yesterday we drove to Waco to visit the Cameron Park Zoo with Missy, Ellsworth, Bryant, and Missy's parents who are visiting from California. It was super hot, but we had a good time seeing all the animals.

Gavin was pretty excited to see the enormous tortoises. They were huge!



Smart one, here, taking a dip in the water to stay cool.

Here Gavin is enjoying the air conditioning while checking out all the fish.

We checked out the tepees. Gavin was getting sleepy by now - can you tell?

Having a little snack while checking out the rhinos.

This rhino was just in front of the fence, but we almost didn't see him hiding in the shade of the trees!

Now this animal had the right idea. What elephant doesn't enjoy a little water sprinkler action?

We were inspired by the elephant to have some sprinkler fun of our own back at the Herring's house. Uncle E took the boys out back to get soaked.

Bryant was a little more comfortable getting sprayed in the face than Gavin, but I think they both had a very good time!

My camera decided that it didn't have enough battery power for a lengthy video, but you get the idea of how cute the boys were in just the few seconds you get to see here.

at the lake

Gavin, Scott and I met up with Tommy, Roxanne and Thompson at Emma Long Park for some swimming and hot dogs.

Gavin was wearing Tommy's hat on top of his own but took it off right before I took this picture. It was pretty cute!


Thompson really liked the potato chips!! (I have to admit, so did I. They went pretty fast.)

Scott and Gavin spend some time together at the picnic table.

A Durham family portrait. (It's the best of the two we took.)

We had a lot of fun, and we ate plenty of hot dogs. Gavin has a little red spot on his back where I apparently missed a spot with his sunscreen - oops - but other than that we all came away relatively sunburn-free. Gavin loved floating in his innertube-with-a-seat thing and watching the boats/watercraft on the lake. I think we may have to go back again soon before I go back to work!! The water was nice and cool and definitely a nice break from the 100+ degree heat.

sleeping beauty

I peeked in to see how Gavin was doing during his nap, and I found him all snuggled up with his doggie. I couldn't resist the photo op. (It's a little blurry, since I turned off the flash in hopes of not waking him.)

It's the little moments like these that make life a bit better every single day.

the big dipper...

It started with grilled chicken and ranch dressing, and somehow we've graduated to pork roast with ginger-cranberry gravy. What a diverse palate my picky little guy seems to have! Apparently, if he can dip, he's in heaven.

It can be a messy business, but he's eating. I'm a very happy momma.