The very last Pittsburgh Post.....I promise!

Ok, I promise this will be the very last post about our Pittsburgh trip.  But we took a trip down to station square and rode the inclines.  Here is a cute picture of beautiful Auntie Margie with baby Dawson in his Pittsburgh Pirates onesie.

Why is he wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates onesie you ask?  Shouldn't the boy only be wearing Cleveland gear?  Well, after he sat in applesauce, spilled milk down his front and then leaked through a diaper, even Mike agreed it was time to buy a new outfit.  Even if it did have the pirate parrot on it.

The view from the top of the incline, beautiful!

The light at the end of the tunnel:  I asked Carter and Ava to clean the play room.  They did so without any help.  This was the FIRST TIME this has ever happened.  I had to include this momentous occasion in my blog because I honestly never thought this day would come, ha ha!

Petting Zoo

Do you remember how I mentioned that the kids loved to visit the McGann's house?  Well, this trip they got to see a petting zoo.  Their backyard neighbors were having a birthday party and invited my kids to come and see it.  Really, they think this place is the coolest.

Ava and her idol, Megan.  She did take a little ride on the pony, but I didn't get the camera in time.

Dawson looking at the goats

Baby Bunnies

Carter's pony ride

Feeding the baby goats a bottle

Yes, Dawson was allowed to hang out in the goat/chicken pen.  He liked it in there, and chased the chickens around.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Little Boy Heaven

What do you do when you have a little boy OBSESSED with vroom-vroom's and an Uncle that owns a tow truck company?  Beg and plead to go visit of course!  Although Uncle Bobby was wonderful and said yes immediately, so there really wasn't much begging and pleading necessary.

Mike driving the gator

I need to add there are at least three little boys in our family that were so happy to see the vroom-vroom's.

Dawson also got a chance to drive the gator.  He figured out how to beep the horn and LOVED that.

Carter and Mike in the tow truck

Our cousin Ryan took them for a spin around the parking lot in the tow truck.

Mike with Dawson and Ava

Apparently Dawson had a big smile on his face the entire ride.

This is the gigantic tow truck they took a ride in.

Checking out the flat bed tow truck.  See the little boy crawling under the tow truck bed?

The kids had a blast and are still talking about going to see the tow trucks.

Another Pittsburgh Trip

We had another busy busy whirlwind weekend with another visit to Pittsburgh.  But we were so EXCITED to go because Brendan and Riley {and Margie too} were visiting.  We haven't seen them in almost a year.

Carter with his idol, Brendan.  Brendan bought Carter a shark's tooth necklace, exactly like his own.

This is how baby dockie looked like for the majority of the evening:  just give me the oreo and I won't scream!

There was a LOT of girl power at the party, so Carter made sure to bring his hunting gear.  In fact the only two boys under the age of ten were Carter and Brendan.

Riley gifted Ava a hello kitty best friends necklace.  As you will see Ava was in little girl heaven.

I'm pretty sure that Ava's feet never touched the ground.  She stayed on Megan's hip, Aunt Margie's hip and 

Annie's hip.  Like I said, little girl heaven.  She disappeared upstairs for awhile and came back with curly hair.

Dawson with his godmother, Aunt Patty.  I wanted to get a picture of the two of them, but he was not going to go to anyone but me.

Ava and her Megan Buddy.  When we left she was in tears because she didn't want to leave Megan.  So we took a picture of the two of them and promised to put it in the frame in her bedroom.

Funny story:  Friday was the day of the party and it also happened to be Mike's 30th birthday.  That morning while Mike was golfing, I was talking to the kids and I said "today is Daddy's birthday, make sure to say happy birthday to him when he comes home."

Carter looked at me and said "What, did facebook tell you that?"

Um no child.  I do know Daddy's birthday.  And what do you know about facebook anyway?

We had a wonderful weekend, despite complete and total meltdowns from all three of them at different points.  Anytime I play fast and loose with schedules I pay for it.  Today everyone seems to be getting back on track.  Dawson slept in until nine o'clock this morning and then took a three and a half hour nap.  AWESOME!

Adventures in Bread Making

I am a lucky lucky girl and recently I received a bread maker for mother's day. Today I thought it would be wonderful to have some freshly baked bread for lunch {don't cringe, gluten free people} so I started to get it ready.  All it takes is dumping five ingredients: water, oil, flour, honey and salt into the machine and pushing the start button.  This should  be super easy, right?


Miss Ava decided that she wanted to help me make the bread this morning.  It is really important to measure the ingredients very carefully because even just a slight amount of difference in any ingredient can really affect how they bread turns out.  I agreed, and told her she had to be very careful.  First we put in the wet ingredients, and she dumped half the honey down the side of the machine instead of into the bread pan.  Ack.  So I had to wipe down the machine I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't affect the bread.  Then came the flour.  She managed to dump at least 3/4 of a cup into the heating element of the bread maker and onto the counter.  That really wasn't going to be good.  So I had to spend at least ten minutes disassembling the bread maker, cleaning out the errant flour, wiping down the flour off the counter, her and me.  I tried to eyeball the amount of flour that had been spilled and double crossed my fingers, hoping the bread would turn out.  Of course at this point, Dawson needs a diaper change, Carter stubbed his toe on a pair of shoes that HE left in the middle of the room and Ava is still insisting "No Mommy, I make the bread."


At least 45 minutes later those five ingredients are in the bread maker and I press start.  Carter had been begging for toast for breakfast, so I have to explain to him that we do not have any bread but when we return from swimming class the bread will be ready and we can have sandwiches for lunch.    Four is a very insistent age, so he proceeded to ask me at least ten additional times if he could please have toast for breakfast.  He was placated with oatmeal, we got dressed and made it to swimming classes.  After we return to the house, Carter runs inside and says "Mommy, someone opened the lid to the bread maker."


What!!!!  Sure enough the lid was opened.  I started to freak out a little thinking who came into the house and opened the bread maker.  But surely someone would at least steal something instead of just opening the bread maker and leaving.  So I asked Carter "Do you know who opened the bread maker?"


He admitted to performing the deed.  Obviously we have a half baked loaf of bread that I had to throw in the trash.  Carter explained that he only wanted to see the "ears" on the bread maker {it has tabs on either side of the lid.}


Goodness Gracious, the lengths I go to just to bake some bread.  


So the kids had Udi's {gluten free} bread for lunch while I had a salad.  And I'm hoping that the second batch that I threw in the bread maker after lunch will turn out.  I banned everyone from the kitchen and that seemed to work.  

Mike's 30th Birthday Celebration

What a fun day spent on the water with our family.  We love you guys so much and we LOVE spending time with you.

Thank you Bo SO MUCH for driving the boat.  Legally, Mike can't drive until he gets a boating license and I was a little too afraid I would wreck the boat.  Dawson had a ball sitting in Bo's lap and driving the vroom-vroom.

The view from the back:  Aunt Tiff, Dad, Ava, Carter and Uncle Jason.

Remember, he was wearing a hat to conceal his pretend bald head?

I was really surprised how much Dawson enjoyed fishing.  He spent quite a bit of time sticking his head over the head of the boat to stick Ava's barbie fishing pole in the water.  This of course made me understandably nervous with his little tip toes barely touching the seat, so I held onto his back.  Luckily we did not have to retrieve anyone from the water.  

Carter also enjoyed fishing quite a bit.  He was pretty dangerous with the fishing rod and I was really scared that he would get someone with the hook when he was casting.  But once again we were lucky and no one took a hook.   Well, except Jason, but that was Bo's fault.  And apparently fish spine are pretty prickly because Mike took one to the leg that drew blood.  But don't worry, that was the extent of the injuries. 

Ava enjoyed playing with the little fishing game that I bought Dawson.

She also liked looking out over the edge of the boat.

Carter and Aunt Tiffany

Daddy wants this to be HIS boat and HIS house.  The one on the right of course, not the left.

This baby found a bag of pretzels and gorged himself.  Of course, since I am an outstanding parent I allowed this to happen because hey, it was keeping him quiet and entertained.

Thanks to everyone for joining us on this fun day.  We came home to swimming at the pool and a dinner of ribs and mashed potatoes, Mike's favorites.  Couldn't be a better way to celebrate!

Brotherly Love

This weekend we had a little celebration for Mike's 30th birthday.  We rented a pontoon boat and spent some time fishing on Portage Lake.  We had a wonderful time, and I took many pictures.  I will share those soon, but first I needed to post pictures of Mike and his "younger brother."  As many of you know for the past couple of months Mike has been receiving samples of Depends, literature on motor scooters, hearing aids and just about anything else that may be associated with growing old.  Then to top it all off, Jason dressed up like this: 

In case you were wondering, Jason is not going bald.  He actually shaved a patch on the top of his head to make himself look bald.  And as a physical therapist, he has access to the necessary "equipment" to pull off the old man look.

Funny thing:  he shaved his head the night before.  All day long on the boat he wore a hat so that we couldn't see the shaved bald spot.  Then when we returned home he transformed into "Old Man Shadle."

Mike wringing his "younger brother's" neck.

Brotherly Love.

Then an announcement:  "Old Man Shadle" is going to be a DADDY in January!

Hooray for cousins!!

Summer Hill Sledding

What in the world are they doing?

Oh

Summer Hill Sledding!

Random

New little happenings in our life:

• Dawson is becoming quite the little bookworm.  He has definite favorites, with the top choice being The Wheels on the Bus.  I have read this book to him at least five HUNDRED times in the past two days. 
• I love my little Ava girl.  She was very upset today at swim class and didn't want me to leave.  Of course she was fine as soon as I walked away, but it just breaks my heart for that one minute while she has a death grip on my neck.   
• Recently Carter found the ipod dock that has been relegated to the basement because we don't use it.  He liked it, so we put it in his bedroom.  It is stocked with plenty of music from the 90's, everything from Tupac's California Love to numerous Ace of Base songs.  {Why, Mike, Why?}  It is hilarious to walk into your four year old's bedroom and see him dancing to Tupac.
•  Total blog brag:  today in yoga class we did the birds of paradise pose.  I was one of three in the class {including the teacher} who was able to go into the pose although I'm still working on getting my leg all the way up.  Meme, you know the one and if you are not sure google it.  Anyways, the class clapped for me and the other girl who could do it.  NEVER in my ENTIRE life has anyone ever clapped about something athletic that I was able to do.  EVER!  I was always more of a music/reading girl.

   

Quick Pittsburgh Weekend

One of the best perks {for me} of moving has been the close proximity to Pittsburgh.  

It is a two and a half hour drive, all the kids slept at least two hours of that drive both there and back.  BONUS!  My Aunt Lee and Uncle Joe had a party for their 25th Wedding Anniversary.   We had a wonderful time and here are some of the pictures.

Aunt Lee, Aunt Pam, Grandma and Dad

Carter, Ava and the best cousin Megan

She kept them entertained not only at the party, but all weekend long.

Reason number 153 why the kids love the McGannsion: swimming at the pool and water color painting each other.

In case you are wondering, I have yet to remove the black paint from Dawson's fingernails, toenails and ear.  Yes, at one point the baby was sticking the black paint into his ear.

Mommy's Little Chef

Today I was making granola and wouldn't you know, one of the little helpers needed to join in.  With his own little bowl of oats, a spoon and a measuring cup he was in cooking heaven.  Dawson thank you for your smiles and "help" while I was cooking.  You make my day in a million different ways!

Now it looks like poor Carter boy isn't feeling good.  He has been complaining of a sick belly since last night, he hasn't eaten anything today and at nap time he actually asked to take a nap.  That's not a good sign.  So far he hasn't had the stomach symptoms, and I'm hoping this will run its course through him faster.

I'M GOING STIR CRAZY!  The only times we have left the house since last Tuesday have been to go to church on Sunday and we went to the park yesterday.  Oh, and I went to yoga last night.  I really hope everyone starts to feel better soon! 

18 months!

Today marks 18 months old for everybody's favorite mountain climber.  What a sweet little boy you are, Dawson.  The language is coming fast and furious now, some of your more recent words include kitty, me, eye, ear, juice, sucker and I swear you said bah-room or bathroom today.  Your biggest interests right now include boom-boom's or trucks.  I find you in the toy room scooting trucks across the floor, pushing their buttons to hear lights and sounds and spinning their wheels around and around.  You also love to read the book Doggies by Sandra Boyton.  We read it together almost every night and you imitate many of the doggie sounds including nn...nn...nn,  aa-roo, and woof woof.  You also love any book with boom-boom's or lift the flaps.  


We had your 18 month check up about two weeks ago, which was a little early but we had skipped your 15 month check up waiting for doctor's records and such during the move.  You weighed 24 pounds and were 32 inches long, which puts you right at the 50th percentile for height and weight.  A great place to be!


Seriously, we have never had a kid that could climb and manuever as well as you do at your age.  You regularly climb onto chairs, couches, beds even up onto the computer desk.  Even the very steep hill in our new backyard is no match for you.  Dawson, I call tell you are going to take off running any second.  You want to be able to do whatever your brother and sister are up to.  Recently you just painted your first picture.  That wasn't in my plans for the day, but you insisted because you saw the older two painting.  Right now you have six teeth on top and six teeth on bottom.

Usually I like to take some pictures when I do posts like these.  But unfortunately we have been hit pretty hard with a stomach virus since Wednesday.  Poor Ava had it the worst, and was unable to keep down anything for three days.  Time has just gotten away from me.  Here is a picture of you cuddling on the couch.  Yesterday you had the stomach symptoms, but today you are just running a temperature and laying on my lap all day.  Look at those pink little cheeks and glazed over blue eyes.  Although I don't like to see you sick, we have been enjoying all the cuddling.  Daddy and I have been fighting over who got to hold you.  Happy 18 months old to my sweet little boy!

Off topic in regards to Dawson's 18 months, but on topic in regards to the sickness that has been plaguing our house.  Anyways, I must say I became really worried about Ava when on day two of sickness I asked her what she wanted to wear and she answered "I don't care Mommy.  You pick."  That really is one sick sick Roover.  Honestly this is the sickest Ava has ever been in her life.  But fortunately she is on the mend.  Hopefully Dawson will be feeling better soon also.