Gavin is 3!

On Gavin's birthday this year Aaron was supposed to have the day off, but ended up getting surprised on the Wednesday before when he found out his branch was getting audited.  Because of that he had to at least work a half day on Friday.  That morning was pretty low key.  I can't remember anymore what we did for breakfast and lunch (this is why I should blog sooner after events!), but I know it wasn't anything special.  Gavin never requested any foods and when I would give him choices he wouldn't pick anything specific.  He's really hard to narrow down his favorite foods as well because he will love a food for a day and then refuse to eat it the next.

When Aaron got home we opened presents, don't you love Aaron's awesome wrapping job!  Ever since Austin and Zack got scooters for their birthday he is constantly trying to steal their's so I thought he would be so excited to get one as well.  He was really excited, but he never rides it now.  I'm hoping that will change as it gets warmer because we splurged and bought a really expensive scooter.

After opening presents we headed down to The Living Planet Aquarium.  Gavin is a big animal lover, but we went to the zoo last year for his birthday and weren't impressed so we have vowed not to go back until they have opened the new exhibit this year.  He was really excited to go see the sharks at the aquarium so I figured that would be good.

Austin was cute and really wanted to take a picture with me.  I couldn't refuse that handsome little man!

I had to get one with the birthday boy.  I know that he still has bed head; we totally forgot to do their hair and yes I was embarrassed, but oh well.

They all loved touching the snake.  They also loved touching the sting rays, even though it took Gavin quite a while to get the courage to do it. 

I think their favorite thing there were the river otters.  They were really fun to watch.  They liked the penguins as well, but the way they have the enclosure built it was really hard to see them unless you were an adult.
The sharks were cool, but they were disappointed they didn't have bigger ones.
And their other favorite thing was touching the sensors that are supposed to slightly resemble the shock from an electric eel.  It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to see how much better it's going to be when they open their new facility.

After the aquarium we went and got the kids slurpees and then went to dinner at Javier's.  We had a good day and loved celebrating our little man.

The next Sunday we had a little party at my parent's for him.  Here is his alligator cake, not my best work, but he loved it and that's all that matters.

My mom made him a quilt to go on his new bed.

Some things to remember about Gav:

• He is a huge tease and knows exactly what buttons to push with his brothers, mom, and dad!
• He has the best smile!
• He randomly tells me he loves me all throughout the day.
• He still likes it when I call him my baby.
• He is very adventurous and is often teaching his older brothers how to do things or at least following close behind them in whatever they are doing.
• Even though he is very independent in almost everything, he doesn't have much of a desire to dress himself and we have to force him to do it.
• He still cries frequently when I drop Zack and Austin off at school because he wants to be going with them.
• If he had a choice of food he will almost always pick fruits and vegetables over other foods.
• He has a great imagination, I love listening to him play!
• He's very busy and has a hard time sitting for very long.
• He's very smart and can talk very good.
• He still melts my heart and makes it impossible to be mad at him for very long!
• He's still a mommy's boy which I love! 

We love you Gav so very much!  Even though you drive your brothers crazy and like to make big messes; our house would never be the same without your laugh and your cute, fun, independent personality.  We are so glad you are a part of our family!