as per usual, the kids have been sick.  so imagine my surprise last night when, rather than unhappy wailing, i suddenly heard rambunctious giggling and laughter from the other room

the kids were exchanging tickets (puzzle pieces) for a chance to ride on the slide (large armchair)

this was being done as a solo activity (pictured above), or with gavin standing behind lilah and sliding down together

a few minutes later, the game changed, and one of them would get “stuck” and require the other’s help in rescuing them

gavin, of course, was the ringleader of this operation

last year on halloween, we got a monkey suit for gavin because he was really into monkeys.  but he wasn’t into the suit so much.  (at least, not on halloween.  later, he was more than happy to run around as a monkey.)  i wanted to get a gorilla suit to encourage him to jump in the monkey suit, but you’d be surprised how difficult it can be to find a gorilla suit (at least, when going to halloween stores in real life — this year i found plenty online).

gavin really likes pirates and pirate ships, so we decided to get a pirate costume for him this year.  and we got a bumblebee costume for lilah because they were so cute.  i decided that i could help encourage gavin to want to wear his pirate costume if i was a pirate, too (and that had absolutely nothing to do at all with wanting to dress up like a pirate myself.  nope.  not at all.)

here’s some of our dress-up adventures:

gavin tests out the bumblebee suit

once pirated, encouraging "arrr"'s are performed to get him in a piratey mood. instead, he has a look of "dad, what are you doing?"

but after further demonstrations, he starts to get the hang of it

lilah shows off her stinger

like pirate...

...like son

gavin shows off the broom he and mommy made at Red Butte Garden's Garden After Dark

...and starts practicing for the quidditch team

the day is topped off with the first annual pumpkin rolling contest

we took a camping trip to southern utah’s capitol reef last weekend.  i posted some pics to flickr and on my blog, but here’s the kids highlights.  it was great fun, and the campsite had a couple fruit orchards that the kids, especially gavin, loved.  also, the orchards were great for attracting a family of deer who would wander through the campground to the orchard and have breakfast on the fallen apples.  unfortunately, no deer shots here.

then there was lilah’s birthday when we got back…

lilah models her new birthday dress

gavin, of course, wants to pose, too

lilah (and gavin) had a great time with her new tea set from g-ma & g-pa reynolds.

later, lilah presided over the opening of her presents.  she allowed gavin to help, and even rewarded him by giving him a ride her her new baby doll’s stroller.

but then she reclaimed it for her baby doll.

what’s this for, mama?

lilah tests the juice to make sure it’s acceptable for her baby girl.

gavin doesn’t look nearly as nervous as we are!

Gavin starts school next week!!  He is so excited!  We got to meet his very nice teacher and see his classroom and we got to take a trip to find him a backpack.  Wow!  I know he is going to love it!  He’s got quite a good start on ABC’s and 123’s already but he didn’t want to show off for his teacher when we met her.

Lilah is talking a lot!  And she loves to sing too.  She makes a pretty good attempt at Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Happy Birthday to You.   She says “Hi, Ga..in” every time she gets up from a nap.  And thanks to Gavin, she also loves flying airplanes with sound effects (whoooosh!) and building anything with legos.

Gavin’s favorite thing at bedtime is reading Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever which coming from him sounds like “Best Work Book Eber”.

There was Gavin’s birthday, there was lots of fun with family, there was the kids’ first camping overnight (aside from sleeping in Gma and Gpa McC’s backyard once), there was fun at the beach, a trip to the Exploratorium.  Most of it is undocumented, except in our memories, but we did capture a few moments from our trip.

Here Gavin and Mama are looking at a new book at Gavin’s birthday party.  Gavin was very excited about seeing Button dog, blowing out candles and helping Daddy put together some really fun toys!  He had such a fun time seeing his Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds!

Lilah is celebrating her brother’s birthday.  She enjoyed watching her brother and eating lots of whole strawberries!

Here is a picture of elephant seals we had good close looks at near San Simeon.  They were absolutely huge, made noise of the loudest, strangest kind and very fascinating.

We spent more time at the beach this year, enough for Gavin to fall in love with playing in the water, Lilah to knock over many many sand towers, Chris and I to take a swim… and we all loved it.

Gavin and his Daddy spent quite a bit of time throwing, kicking and chasing the ball into the water and out.

They had so much fun!

Lilah spent most of her time watching and digging in the sand.

Lilah and Grandma looking at the water together.

Gavin enjoying the water with Grandpa.

Gavin is getting a warm-up hug from Grandpa.

Here comes the water! Wheeeeeee!

Gavin digging in the sand on our way back to the trail up.  He really didn’t want to leave the water.

What enthusiasm!

Tired but happy beach pals: Gavin and Grandpa.

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pictures of us at Memory Grove park, with Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds at Wheeler farm and one of Gavin’s lego masterpieces

Here are Gavin and Samosa playing together

Gavin gets close enough to make sure we get a good picture of him

Excited Lilah

Gavin gives Lilah a hug

 More hugging!

We had a nice Easter afternoon at the McClenahans house with Grandpa McClenahan’s sister, Judi Sabella.  Lilah enjoyed hunting eggs, while Gavin wanted to climb the tree and play ball and explore.  They both enjoyed treats found inside the eggs though.  

Lilah is begging Grandpa for more sweets, I think.

Lilah likes finding and opening eggs.

A slightly different version of basketball

Gavin and Meara hang out.

When it got too dark outside, we moved inside and got out the playdough, which Gavin adores and Lilah thinks it must be pretty fun if Gavin is always wanting to play with it.

Gavin and Grandma McC and Lilah making amazing Playdough discoveries

Playdough is more fun with a Grandma…

The next evening we came over for more fun and we tried blowing really big bubbles in the backyard.  Gavin got a few to go up into the sky like balloons disappearing. 

GreatAunt Judi and Gavin making bubbles together

GreatAunt Judi and Lilah watching bubbles

And, down here at the bottom, one more of our resident clown:

Silly girl!

Gavin and Daddy having some fun together on a sunny afternoon

Lilah hamming it up for the camera

The view I have when I cuddle with Gavin… Mr. Bright Eyes

A little smile