Florida in February

Our annual "winter trip" to Florida this year was in February. We went to Fort Lauderdale for a few days and then drove across to Naples for a few days where Chad met up with us for the weekend. Per usual, the kids loved being in the pool and spending time with their cousin, aunt and uncle and especially their Grandmas & Grandpas. Gavin in particular had quite a special weekend with Gram Dody and was often found being her "helper" watering the flowers and playing endless games of pretend with her. Love to see them together. We had a great time and feel so lucky to have spent time with Grandmas & Grandpas! Here are the snapshots of our trip (and since I'm behing on blogging....uncaptioned!):

Our Day With Lo

When the Thomsons were in the hospital getting aquainted with their new guy, we were lucky enough to watch Lauris for a whole day. Gavin was SO excited about the anticipated day of fun and to watch the kids play all day was a blast. I even got 2 hours of quiet time when they all slept (even though there was a slight communication breakdown between Lauris and I over her "covers" at nap). It was a great day...and one Gavin talked about all weekend.

Lauris came bearing gifts--donuts, which the kids were all to happy to indulge in!

Donuts make you dirty....and apparently thirsty. All elbowing each other out of the way to put their mouth under the spout. Three little cuties, seriously, having a blast.

Ahh, such innocent entanglement.

Lauris giving Gavin a check up.

Post-nap chaos.

Meeting Dex

On February 15, our good friends celebrated the birth of their second child, and first son, Dexter Zachary Thomson. We were able to go see him and his proud parents in the hospital and enjoyed every minute of snuggling that little man. We look forward to so many years of watching this little guy grow! Later that month, once they'd had time to somewhat acclimate at home, we were able to go see them AND big sister Lauris so all the kids could be introduced to their new playmate. Gavin is still pretty much only obsessed with big sister Lauris, but I'm sure someday his affection for Dex will rival that he has for her. Sydney...now, SHE's the interested party in the "baby." Fun to celebrate their new family of four!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day goes by in our house without much fanfare and we're all fine with that. However, this year I was able to spend the morning at Gavin's school for his Valentine's Day party. He was SO EXCITED to have Mom there and had to show me his seat, his cubby, all his friends cubbies and pictures and anything else he could find. I love seeing him at school so it was a fun treat for us both. Later that night, per Harris V-Day tradition, we enjoyed a heart shaped pizza with our family.

Special Valentine's Day crafts were all ready to go.

Decorating his mailbox.

And his special heart.

Smiles for mom...kinda.

My little Valentines.