Playing with Costumes

We have a storage space under our stairs in the basement that wasn't very useful.  We decided to turn that area into a dress-up place for the boys.  They love to wear costumes so it was a perfect fit.  The only thing I didn't expect was that they would take all the costumes down in a matter of minutes and leave them all over the floor.  We have some things to work on in the clean-up department.

Sesame Street Live

We took the boys to see Sesame Street Live in Cincinnati.  We made it an overnight trip complete with a hotel with a pool and some sightseeing around the city.  They had a great time minus no sleep for anyone with all of us in the same hotel room with 2 beds.  It was worth it to see how excited they were for the show.

We went to the Newport Aquarium and within the first couple of minutes, Gavin fell and cut up his knee.  We didn't have anything to stop the bleeding but a diaper so he wore that on his leg the entire time.  You have to love family memories!

The boys tried to trick us into believing that they would actually sleep beside each other.

Grant was exhausted after the show and fell asleep as soon as we got in the car.

Gavin turns 4!

We decided to celebrate both Gavin and (our niece) Olivia's birthdays together this year.  Gavin turned 4 on December 2 and Olivia turned 6 on January 4.  We decided to go with an Outer Space theme.  Hannah, Lauren, Grant and Evelyn all wore matching astronaut pj's and Gavin and Olivia wore bright orange space suits.  We turned the basement into a space adventure with the bounce house turned into a spaceship.  We ended the party with a pinata.  The kids had a blast.  Happy birthday Olivia and Gavin!

Christmas 2012

We enjoyed sharing Christmas with both sides this year.  Here are a few pictures of the boys and our attempt at getting a family picture.  Both of the boys made sure that didn't happen!  At least we got some good ones of the boys.

 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We are looking forward to an exciting 2013!

Thanksgiving 2012

Another year of great food and quality time together!  The holidays seem to fly by lately.  It never feels like we have enough time to spend with everyone.

                                                             
The picture above includes some of the relatives and friends on the Ely side.  Judy is taking the picture and Grant did manage to get his feet in the picture.  Olivia and Evelyn were at a small table off to the side.  They had a tea party during dinner and were as quiet and precious as could be!

Gavin and Grant Fall Pictures

Julie set-up a photoshoot with Hannah and Lauren, her niece and nephew and Gavin and Grant to see if we could get some cousin pictures.  We didn't end up with a great one of the 4 of them but we did end up with some great pictures.  Usually, Gavin is the one who doesn't like his picture taken but this time is was Grant who wouldn't sit still.  It was a fun afternoon!