Christmas Day

Christmas Day was spent with my family relaxing, eating and opening presents. Gavin of course was the biggest recipient of gifts this year and found himself totally spoiled by his Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts. It was border line out of control to be honest. However, watching his face as all these new treasures were opened before his eyes, was truly the best part of Christmas for Chad and I. Here are some pictures from our day....

Soon to be a part of Gavin's new room....handpainted originals by Uncle Kyle. Monkeys in bathingsuits is totally normal...which is one of the reasons it is absolutely perfect!

Apparently Gavin thinks his Uncle Chad is really funny.

Best gift of the night for Gavin bought by my Dad...although it requires some explanation. This gift was tucked away in a side room to be presented later...somehow he found it in the other room and then we found him playing on it all by himself...we tried to take him away, he cried. Hence, the gift was given pretty much immediately. As the day/night progressed, wherever we would place this golf cart (yes it is for ages 4 and up but like that would ever stop my Dad?!?) Gavin would just go over and sit on it. No matter what was going on, he would just wander over and take a seat. He was hysterical.

Case in point...put "away" behind the couch, he just would wander over by himself and chill in it.

Another hit gift...his very own chair which is so fitting b/c lately he is obsessed with little chairs. Wherever there is a kid chair, he just wants to sit in it.

Reading with Grandpa.

Excited about opening a BIG present.

Just keeping a beat.

Simultaneously driving the golf cart and hugging Mickey Mouse--two favorite activities of his.

And we ended the night with a little Guitar Hero World Tour.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is traditionally low key for us...we go out for dinner with my family and usually just spend time at home. This year we spent some time with just our own little family. Chad & I helped Gavin open a few presents that we got him which were a huge hit and spent some time playing and goofing around. It was fun to be able to enjoy a little bit of Christmas just the three of us.

Learning how to slam dunk, just like his Daddy.

Working on his form.

All smiles.
His preferred spot to open gifts.

My two favorite guys.

Horsing around. "Ahhhh..." Come on, I know you can hear it.

Best friends....and Maddie doesn't even know it.

Our blurry but happy family.

Merry Harris Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we went to Detroit to celebrate Christmas with Chad's family. The kids had a GREAT time together. There was lots of good food and time with family and an abundance of fun presents to open. Gavin officially "got it" when it came to opening presents and he was often found in front of whoever was opening at the time offering his services. His highlights were ripping the paper, opening boxes and emptying them of tissue..oh and ripping off tags which led to some guessing from time to time of whose gift was whose. He had a blast though and with all the craziness Chad and I were involved in at home, we were happy to get our of our house for a few days. Overall it was fun and relaxing...until the ride home. We sat in a blizzard for hours and it took us a total of 9 HOURS to get home. I kid you not, it was brutal. I think Gavin's brain needed some major recupe afterwards since he watched movies for 4 1/2 hours straight. Terrible, just terrible. Here are some pictures of the good part though.... :)

There was lots of cuddling aka wrestling per typical Gavin style.

Cousin hugs.

Gavin liked tackling presents that were just his size.

Examining his new chirping Gavin the Grasshopper book.

He just loves books -- in fact he pushed my arms out of my lap and climbed in so that we could read the new ones.
Anxiously opening a box.

Our family.

Trying to get the three kids for a picture.

Huge hit with the kids....Elmo laptop.

Gavin discovered how to push the button to make these snowmen sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" over...and over...and over....

Only a Grandma could get her grandsons to do this. Priceless.

Jammy time.

Scary Santa

So every year we do Christmas with all the Persenaire's...aka the Looneys. This is all my Grandma Yonker's sisters and their kids and kids and kids. It is a fun night filled with lots of laughing, kids running, aunties guarding their pots of barbecues and always a strangely familial Santa. Yep, every year someone unluckily gets recruited to be Santa Claus and this year was no different. This was the first encounter Gavin has had with Santa where he even noticed and well....you can judge for yourselves how it went over...

Basically...it was pure and total terror on his part, but I gotta be honest, everytime I see these pics I can't help but laugh a little bit!

Christmas Playdate

Monday morning I hosted a Christmas playdate with fellow Moms and kids. In total it was to be 6 moms and 7 kids and we picked names for a gift exchange among the kids. All was good until Sunday when I got the following calls...

3:00 pm Mom #1 - Lauris has a cold, should I not come?

5:00 pm Mom #2 - Husband's Grandpa passed away and can we STILL come even though we'll be late b/c of the funeral.

7:00 pm Mom #3 - Elena has the flu and is puking everywhere, we're definitely out.

9:00 am the next morning Mom #4 - Are we still on? The roads are really bad and I'm not sure I should come.

After ALL of that...only Becca & Elena couldn't come due to the flu but the rest were all able to make it and the kids had fun opening gifts while we ate, drank coffee, ate, talked and drank more coffee. Here are some pics of the kids with their gifts...

Can I have a goose egg with that shiner?

I mean seriously...my kid is a disaster! Just after I have been explaining his black eye to people for the last few days, this morning he ups and takes a fall giving him the mother of all goose eggs on his forehead. He was playing next to me on the floor as Chad and I were "discussing" my lack of ability to get into my blog and I think he tripped....head first into the computer desk. His head is immediately huge and indented at the same time. It is so bad, I can hardly take him out in public. We had to go to the grocery store and I contemplated keeping his hat on the whole time....I didn't which led to MULTIPLE comments such as, "uh-oh, who has he been fighting?" or "i'd hate to see what the other guy looks like" or "poor little guy, look at his head." Probably behind all these comments are the thoughts, dude what is your mom's problem. I feel terrible everytime I look at him even though it isn't my fault. Thank GOODNESS his Christmas pics were last week! :)

"My First Shiner"

As a result of the party mentioned in the previous post, Gavin came home with a first....

It was the end of the night (7:00, yep, that is the end for us) and there was lots of hyperactivity, screaming, wrestling, grabbing and running and Gavin happened to be the recipient of a head or a knee to the face...resulting in his very first black eye. It immediately got swollen and dark but it wasn't until the next day that it literally showed up as a shiner.

I tried to take a good picture but with Gavin that is impossible so this is the best I could do on the Monday morning after in the bathtub.

For the record, the pictures don't nearly give it justice.

Yonker Christmas

On Saturday we celebrated Yonker Christmas with all my aunt, uncles and cousins. Gavin was basically out of control. He learned what opening presents is and wanted to help everyone rip off their paper. He also skipped a nap that afternoon so his usual hyper-self was escalated. When he sees Anne's son Sam, he goes crazy and just starts bear-hugging in anticipation of a wrestling session. So...he acted accordingly and as the afternoon went on he got increasingly less balanced on his own two feet. Keeping up with him was a nightmare. However, he had a great time and it was fun to all be together and celebrate Christmas.

Gavin pointing to all the pretty ornaments, wanting to touch them all.

The parents gave my grandparents a gangster tour in the city...this was the comic presentation.

Gavin helps Great Grandpa Dody with her present.

Gift hit of the night with all the kids...and some dads too. Wrestle-Mania.
Happy, hyper boy.