Growing with Gavin

Gavin

Age: 4 years, 10 months

School: Pre-K4 at Betton Hills Prep (soon to be Kindergarten at Gilchrist)

Likes: macaroni and cheese, dancing, karate, Baby Keegan, drawing

First Love: Jada

Accomplishments: Yellow Tip, knows all his letters and sounds, swims like a fish, first t-ball season under his belt

When I grow up I want to be: The President

newer isn't always better

Since he was about 12 months old, Gavin has had an infatuation with tags. Tags on shirts, tags on shorts, tags on comforters. It doesn't really matter. He just likes the way they feel in between his fingers. For his second birthday, we gave him a Thomas the Train taggie blanket and taggie pillow (which is basically just a normal blanket and pillow edged with different types of tags). Needless to say, 3 years later, that pillow and blanket could use a good face lift. I mean, they could really stand up on their own. So, Nana has taken upon the task of making a brand new, cooler and cleaner taggie pillow for Gavin to use.

This conversation occurred just before bedtime tonight:

GAVIN: Mommy, when Nana makes me a new, cool taggie pillow can I still keep my old taggie pillow?
ME: Sure, Baby.
GAVIN: Because I love this taggie pillow and he'd be lonely without me feeling his tags all the time.
ME: Ok, that's fine.
GAVIN: It's ok. Tell Nana I can love them both! I can love them equal!

He said a bad word

The following is a true story. One day, I received a call from Logan's teacher. Seeing the school's name on my caller ID, I panicked, of course.

ME: Hello? What's wrong?

MRS. Z.: Hi, Mrs. Allison. Everything's fine.

(It's not, of course, or his teacher wouldn't be calling me in the middle of the school day)

MRS. Z.: I just wanted to call to inform you of an incident that occurred in my classroom earlier today. I mean, Logan didn't do anything wrong...really...but just I thought you should know....

ME: Okaaaaayyyyy....

MRS. Z.: Well, during circle time today, Logan came up to me and said that another kid said a bad word.

ME: Yeah, he does that.

MRS. Z.: Yeah, but he came up and said, "Mrs. Z., Michael (not his real name) said a bad word and we shouldn't say bad words. He said, 'F**KING BUTT' and 'BUTT' is a BAD WORD!"

Yes, "butt" is a very bad word in our house. Ah, childhood innocence....

What'd he ever do to you?

This is how I found poor Rudolph in my dining room the other day.

Boys will be boys?

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

To just hang out with Ashley and have some fun!

Look how high they are!

And loving every minute of it.

Gavin, dancing as usual.

Is it too much to ask to get both kids looking at the camera at the same time?

The Keegs Man

He's almost two and that little personality is starting to shine. These pictures need no descriptions. This pretty much sums up the life of the Keegs Man!

yellow belt!

Back in February, Logan earned his yellow belt. Clearly, this post is way overdue as he's about to test again on June 26th for his green tip. I can't say enough great things about Master Murphy and his program. As you might remember, I enrolled Logan into the TaeKwonDo program as kind of an add-on to my gym membership last fall. I had no idea whether he'd like it or not, but the price was more than right for these types of schools. The downside: lessons were from 8:30-9:30pm on Tuesday's and Thursday's. This little guy needs his sleep, and he's an early riser like his Papa, but he was dedicated enough to make it work. In April, Master Murphy achieved his dream of starting his own studio, and Dragon System was born. You can "like" them on Facebook and check out a bunch of pictures of my little rising star. He was the "profile pic" until just the other day. Master Murphy is the real deal. He was some kind of world champion back in his day and is also a retired teacher. His classes strike just the right amount of discipline and seriousness mixed with humor and fun. And he knows that every moment is a teaching opportunity in the eyes of a child.

Master Murphy

So proud!

He's ready to start!

Ok, so he didn't break a board for this picture, but he successfull snapped a similar board in two the week before on his very first try!!!! Jay broke his board and Master Murphy surprised him with a yellow belt as well on this same evening. Can you find him in the background? He's the proud Daddy!

Logan, Daddy, and Malik (a student at my school)

I'm back!

Wow! I can't believe I missed the whole month of May! I've never missed an entire month of blogging since I started this blog more than two years ago! The end of the school year this year just seemed busier than normal for some reason. Work was crazy and then you add into that things like Gavin's graduation, birthdays, class parties, trips to Disney, and other random fun activities, and voila! It's June! I have been on summer break since last Friday and haven't really done much of anything. Just a few trips to the lake with the kids, TaeKwonDo lessons, and Bible School this week. Other than that, we've just been kind of lounging around and taking it easy. I'm glad to be back....and if my 3-5 loyal friends have left, then this will just be a blog about our family, FOR our family! :)

my American Idol judges

Tonight, while singing our bedtime songs...

LOGAN: I like your singing voice, mom.
GAVIN: Yeah. It's pretty.
LOGAN: Yeah, and it's nice.

It's not. But they put a smile on my face and brightened my night just the same. I love those boys.

Future C.E.O.

Like father, like son. My little future C.E.O., calculator in hand.

Member of the $5 Footlong Club

5 years old and he's already eating $5 footlongs (turkey, olives, and mayo) and a bag of chips. Oh, these boys are costing me a fortune!!!!

curiousity

Keeganese: "Mine? Mine go? Go-go?"

Translation: "What's out there, Mama? Can I go? I really, really, really want to go see what's out there."

Daddy Guilt

So, just picture this:

I'm on a run, and having a great run at that. The sky is blue and perfectly clear, spring is in the air, the humidity is low (a rarity in Tallahassee), and it's just a lovely Saturday morning. "Life is good", I think to myself as I turn up volume on my ipod and enter the home stretch of my 5K run. I fed the kids an early lunch before I left, and Keegan should be well into his nap by now. Nothing to do once I get home except enjoy this beautiful weekend. Suddenly, I see my car pull up.

"Now that's weird...Keegan is sleeping, so Jay shouldn't be leaving the house. Must not be my car after all".

But, unfortunately, it is. Jay pulls up alongside me and says something to the effect of "Get in the car. We have to go to the hospital. Keegan fell in the bath and needs stitches in his chin".

"Huh?", I stammer stupidly. I look in the backseat, and sure enough the kids are all there....Keegan with a bandage on his chin and dried tears on his face. My poor baby! So I jump in the car and off we rush to the ER.

"Oh, how suddenly plans can change when kids are involved".


Though there was really nothing he could have done, the Daddy-guilt is overwhelming. Jay hurries the boys to Nana's house (like it or not -- I'm sure they had other plans for this picture-perfect weekend) and meets us at Urgent Care a half hour later. In his hands: a brand new Bert and Ernie. He quickly and effectively wins back the Keegster's love.

TWO hours later (things like this always happen on the weekend, of course, effectively tripling the amount of time spent waiting to be seen), Keegan is glued up within seconds and is as good as new! What a trooper he was!

Everyday Allison's

Well, I guess I didn't download the pictures off of my camera for a LONG time. Didn't have much of a reason to until recently (Disney trip, Easter, Logan's yellow belt ceremony, & Spring Break -- for a later post). But here are some of the pictures I found on our camera of the Allison boys just being their knucklehead selves and doing their everyday knucklehead kinds of things.

Here's Gavin eating waffles at the bar (and probably watching Sponge Bob...two of his favorite things to do).

Now that Keegan likes to sit at the bar too, we're going to have to find another stool that matches the ones we got from our neighbor's yard sale a few years ago. Probably not going to be easy as we've had them for several years now. Of course, we could always just pay regular price at a furniture store and get three new ones, but that's just not how the Allison's roll.

Something was very interesting out there. Enough for me to take a picture. But now I can't remember what it was since it had been over a month since I downloaded photos!

Keegan's watching a movie with his snack cup and a paci in his mouth. Does life get any better?

I just thing taking pictures of kids eating spaghetti never gets old!

Incredible Hulk candy mouth. Yes, we made him brush his teeth right afterwards. Kind of reminds me of those people that would come to your classes in school and make you eat that little red tablet to show where you needed to brush. Eww.

I really don't know.

He's probably pouting because I won't let him play Wii or check the temperature on my iphone (stay tuned for my Weatherman Logan blog post to learn more about this little infatuation of his).

And that's what the Allison's were up to in March.

~~~hAppY BiRThdAy dR. SeUSs~~~

Handsome Boy

Photo credit goes to Ashley, our nanny....the only one who has time to brush his hair!

Backyardigans

Now that the weather is getting a little warmer, hanging out in the backyard is what we like to do best. Keegan absolutely LOVES this little Flinstone feet car. Especially when his brothers push him around on it. Welcome spring! We missed you!

the Tigers are back!

Except they have renamed us the Royals. Same team, different name. This is Gavin's first year playing, and boy can this boy hit! Now if only we could get him to run to first base instead of third!

Love is...

Logan came home from school today with one of his journal entries. You know, the Kindergarten kind where you draw a picture and then write a sentence under it and along the dotted lines. It was, of course, a picture of him playing the Wii. What else would you expect? The sentence said, of course,

"Love is....the Wii".

Now, obviously this assignment was completed for Valentine's Day. A time when most kids are thinking about their crushes or friends....or maybe even their MOTHERS! But no, my child is thinking about the Wii. Now I know the true meaning of having a "one-track mind".