Gavin's 5th birthday & Fall Family Gathering

I wish I could keep up with this blog more often, but this is my favorite season and its been busy! A good, fun busy - lots of togetherness with friends and family.

I'll start by sharing that our son turned 5 years old at the end of September! I can't believe he is FIVE! I remember every detail of his coming into the world, which seemed to go really well, and then quickly turned chaotic after discovering he had to be placed in the NICU for having a collapsed lung (both of our children were born early and were in the NICU for an extended period of time). 

 Daddy & Gavin 9-27-06

Gavin in NICU after surgery

I will never forget the amazing doctor who performed the surgery on Gavin's lung, and his comforting words that my husband and I held onto when we were tear-soaked & panic-mode, wondering what was going to happen to our baby - "Your son is a fighter.This will all be a memory. Before you know it, you'll watch your boy running around, trying to keep up with his energy. You'll look back in disbelief that he ever fought such a battle."

Gavin at 3 1/2 months during a visit with the amazing doctor who took such wonderful of our baby!

I didn't know it then, but now looking back, I can see God's mighty hand in Gavin's entrance into the world. He has a plan for this wonderful boy, now 5 years old!

On Gavin's birthday we kept it simple (I like simple :), since we had a party planned for the weekend ahead.

We started our day off with cupcakes for breakfast :) Chocolate cupcakes, per the birthday boy's request

I took Gavin to the Dollar Tree to pick out 5 toys. I praise God that my son is grateful for things/toys, no matter where they come from or how inexpensive they are (he doesn't know the difference at this point). We don't own a lot of toys (by choice) and this has actually been a huge blessing! I've always loved that Gavin treasures the things he does have, they are so special to him, even rocks and twigs! 

After the Dollar Tree I took Gavin and Haley to McDonalds. Aunt Tina and Uncle Nate sent Gavin a McDonalds gift card. They love the play place! Here is Gavin with his Happy Meal and one of his new shirts from Aunt Tina and Uncle Nate :)

We also went to the library and played on the playground. It was a beautiful day!

Saturday we celebrated Gavin's birthday party with family and also had a Fall Family Gathering! Loved this! I spent some time in the kitchen the night before, preparing all sorts of goodies and decorating :) It was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time! 

My step mom made Gavin's cake - farmer/fall theme! This is tradition in our house - she makes the cake every year!

Here are some of the goodies I made

I also made apple stuffing, pot roast, spaghetti bake, and roasted vegetables. We also had coffee brewing, pumpkin spice tea from mom, & hot and cold cider. Lots of other treats too in the dining room.

Birthday boy and his sister went missing and we found them decorating one of the cakes with all of the candy corn and M&Ms LOL

Uncle Justin & Daddy. They purchased this huge Nerf gun together (I will reason in another post, that YES, we do let our son play with toy guns)

 

Later on we had nerf gun wars between me & Danielle and Adam & Justin. Gavin joined the boys team until he saw that Daddy got an unexpected cake thrown at his face by Mama. 

I wish I had gotten this all on video - Gavin was laughing hysterically (I'm talking his famous belly roll laugh, clutching his stomach) and the site was just too much - our stomachs were sore from laughing so hard. Daddy did NOT expect that! Daddy got Mama back, though - cake all over my new shirt..dining room carpet...kitchen walls. Ahhh love to just be a kid sometimes! And love when our kids watch their parents being kids! It was a great ending to a fun day. I was so happy that Gavin had so much fun on his special day:)