Stop at the Kirby's

On our trip back to Cinci after the Thanksgiving weekend, we stopped to hang out with the Kirby's. Gavin loved spending time with all of them - Wyatt, Wilson (not pictured), Mia & Maeve... and my good friend Bobbie Jo - and she is such a fantastic mother!

Maeve and Gavin spent lots of time together - she was quite the "little mommy" with him all day - and even helped him eat his lunch.

We then had to enjoy some fun time playing the Wii - Wilson (pointing at the TV) was quite the golf pro on Wii for sure!

Highlights from the ISU Game

There was SO much going on during the game - Gavin was in awe the entire time. And sat still the entire game (we were shocked!).

Reggie Redbird - Gavin loved him - wanted to touch him and just kept staring at him....

Grandpa and Gavin - they enjoyed the entire 1st half of the game together.

I LOVE my Grandma.... and enjoyed the 2nd half with her.

And - we were so happy to see Drew in action. Drew is my 1st cousin and attends ISU now, along with serving as one of the team managers for the basketball team.

ISU- Go Redbirds

One of the highlights of our trip to Illinois was the whole family attending an Illinois State University basketball game. In fact, this was Gavin's very 1st college BB game - and how appropriate for it to be an ISU game (of course - this was probably one of my dad's favorite moments with Gavin for sure - my dad is a huge supporter and alum of ISU - and I also am an alum from ISU). Scott took a ton of great photos during the game - and this was a pretty cool one. GO REDBIRDS! .... and they won!

Spending time with Friends

While we were in IL, I also got to spend some time with my good friends, Dana & Beth and their kids - Keegan, Cade and Cole, Reese. Here is the whole gang - we were trying to get them all together.

And - Gavin got a new music set with a drum.... here were the three boys playing with it.

Thanks Keegan & Cade... it was fun playing with you over Thanksgiving.

Great-Grandpa & Gavin

After spending the weekend in Michigan with Ty and G&G Gillard, A. Heather & U. Tom - we headed to IL to spend Thanksgiving with my family. What a fun week it was - and we have so much to be thankful for. I am so thankful and blessed to have grandparents still in my life and that Gavin gets to spend time with them too. He loves spending time will all of them - Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandama Kastner & Great-Grandpa Cross. Here he is doing one of his favorite things with one his favorite people....
reading books with Great-Grandpa Kastner!

We enjoyed all the time we spent with lots of family over Thanksgiving - all my aunts/uncles, cousins and of course, my parents & Ryan... I love you all so much and Gavin is blessed to have you in his life.... he is loved so much.

"BAL - LOON"

Gavin loves balloons ever since we had his birthday party.... so here he is playing with Cole and Ty's birthday balloon.

When we are at G&G Gillards, Gavin knows exactly where the books are and loves looking through them.... too cute!

Look at those blue eyes - and boy is he getting bigger all the time....

Another Party - YEAH!

Gavin's cousin, Ty turned 3 and we all headed up to Michigan to celebrate his birthday.
We had so much fun - and Gavin loved playing with all of Ty's friends too.

Gavin & Ty were sharing "how old they are" - 1 & 3.
Gavin loves playing and spending time with Ty - he follows him around everywhere. It is always a task trying to get a photo of them both looking at the camera....

Gotta love kid's birthday parties - all the kids love being on top of the birthday boy when opening gifts - Gavin included!

YEAH - I'm 1!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Gavin.... today was the big day - and what a fun day we had indeed!

Below is a recap from the day....

I took this photo at 8:39 a.m. this morning - as that was the exact time that Gavin was born 1 year ago.... we were still in our pj's and Gavin was helping unload the dishwasher.

We sported our very special - "1st Birthday" shirt from G&G Gillard... thanks - and the matching socks too!

We LOVE our new fridge letter phonics - thanks Aunt Heather, Uncle Tom & Ty... great addition to our kitchen

And - Greta & Ella came over to play for a little bit today as well - although we couldn't get a pic of them all together... next time.

Then - Daddy got home from work - and guess what? The 1st snow of the year was today on Gavin's birthday.... how cool to see snow fall....

And - Daddy bought me my new teddy bear for my birthday - I kept giving him hugs and kisses.

I LOVE my new teddy bear.

Gavin - thank you for enriching our lives this past year... it is hard to believe that you are already 1 - and doing new things all the time. You amaze us each and every day with your strong personality and we can't wait to see what the next year holds - many more memories to share with each other. We love you so much - Happy Birthday to our little boy.... Love, Mommy & Daddy

I had so much fun!

Thanks for making my 1st Birthday Party so special.... to view all the photos from Gavin's 1st birthday party visit them online at:

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=e9c3cc9d33d6e921c7e45aad1e0cdff4&sid=0AZN2bNu5asWLFcg

Somebody was TIRED...

Boy - this party wore me out.... time for bed!

THANK YOU....

for all the very thoughtful gifts...



And - LOTS of new books - which I love to look through and read with Mommy & Daddy.





John Deere wagon - G & G Cross





My new chair to watch TV

All My Friends (and Cousin Too)

It was fun having all my friends & Cousin, Ty at my Birthday Party...

* Ella, Maeve, Gavin, Ty & Greta - (and Joe too)

Waiting...

....for my guests to arrive.

I can't wait to have this party... and it's all for me??? I think it is because I'm turning 1....

OH... THE CAKE!

And then there is the "cake" entertainment during the 1st birthday.... the cute little "1" birthday cake before Gavin dived into it.











From the start, he loved picking off each of the icing dots off of the cake.











Then he realized that I can get more on my hands - and there was cake under all that icing.












TOUCHDOWN - this is awesome!













Can we do this every day Mommy?











I think he could have stayed there eating all night - but we had to call it a night... good job eating that cake Gavin! Happy 1st Birthday baby...

The BIG 1st Birthday PARTY

What a special night it was - Gavin's 1st birthday party. We are so blessed that our family & friends could be here to celebrate a major milestone in Gavin's life.... turning 1 (officially tomorrow). Thanks to everyone for sharing such a fun night with us - and Gavin was quite the little "party" man - hanging out with everybody, to eating lots of cake (ice cream too) and then opening presents. And all of this without an afternoon nap (of course....). He crashed at about 9 p.m..... and was down for the count... thanks for such a memorable night... and for being such a fun little boy to party with!

** More photos & video from the party later this week.

One more time....

Earlier this week, we had dinner with Maggie & Mark - so we had to put on the skunk costume one more time (as we had not gone trick-or-treating at their house yet).... the costume may be officially retiring at this point - but who knows, maybe one more time for a good laugh.

More Costume photos

Our friends, The Mercurio's had a Halloween Party in October and we had another opportunity to get the skunk costume out -

Gavin's friend, Gabby joined in on the fun too - and she loved chewing on her tail!

Upside-down skunk

Gabby - your costume is so soft.... and I just want to kiss you!

Go Cats!

This past weekend, we put on Gavin's new Northwestern sweatshirt during the NU and Ohio State game. The Cats didn't come out with a win - but Gavin sure was rooting them on with Daddy!

Trick-or-Treating

We ended up being in Michigan for Halloween this year - which was a real treat for all of us, especially Gavin.

Gavin and his cousin, Ty who was dressed up as a Race Car Driver from Cars.

Hey Ty - did you know I'm turning 1 in a few weeks... can you believe it? I can't wait to play with you at my house.

We walked around Tom & Heather's neighborhood and went trick-or-treating - here are the boys in the wagon getting ready to make another stop.









Does he look tired or what??? But what a cute little skunk he was... and thanks for the candy Gavin - mommy & daddy enjoyed eating it!