"Sew" Busy

Hello there friends and family. Once again, I've fallen off the face of the blog universe. Busy, yes. But this time there is a new excuse. I have rekindled a hobby-- sewing. And I'm having "sew" much fun. I will soon post a blog showing my creations, but first I want to brag about Gavin.

Gavin is now 18 months. And all I can say is that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stage. His personality is so fun and he is learning so quickly. The joy of his discovery and learning is so infectious.

In as few words as possible, here are some highlights of Mr. Gavin:

*He uses sign language for the basic necessities of life (more, food, milk, etc.). This started at 15 months and is very effective.

*He LOVES dogs. All shapes and sizes (except the big ones that bark really loud). "Dog" was one of his first words and is still the word he uses the most and universally for many other animals.

*He's big and healthy. Weighing in at over 29 lbs, he is in the 90th percentile for his weight and 30th percentile for his height.

*Gavin sleeps well, eats well and laughs a lot. Praise the Lord!

*He loves to play with balls and actually throws pretty well. He also will kick the ball around like a soccer ball.

*He's a flirt and he loves to entertain. He loves to wave and smile at folks while we are out. Sometimes he acts shy, but it doesn't take much to warm him up.

I could go on, but hopefully you start to get the picture. And no, he's not perfect. We deal with tantrums too, but those pale in comparison to the rest of our joyful moments.

Here are a few snapshots of our handsome boy. Photos are in order of older to most recent at the bottom...

He loves to talk and laugh on the phone. It works with remotes and other things too.

Gavin had his first laser treatment on Jan 28 for the port wine stain on his face. It looks bad, but the procedure was amazingly painless. Gavin was a star patient. We'll be going back every 2-3 months for 6-8 treatments total.

First haircut. He did fairly well but every now and then was a little disturbed.

Sick and Tired. He was out!

Grandparents, and Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins, OH MY!

These days the greater Toth family numbers 22. After Christmas, we ALL converged in Mazama, WA, at Andrew and Connie's mountain retreat to be together for a week. It was phenomenal.

I was looking forward to the time with Tony's family, but I was also trying to mentally prepare for the chaos that might ensue as a result of having 12 kids and 10 adults under one roof. I was pleasantly surprised to find that having the whole clan together was not chaotic at all. The kids enjoyed each other, the snow, the dog, the babies and the adults did some of the same in addition to relaxing, watching movies, cooking fantastic meals, etc. Sure, there were times of high energy and high volume, but that was part of the fun.

Gavin was S-P-O-I-L-E-D. He soaked up the attention from his cousins and everyone else like a sponge. And it was such a blessing that his cousins were so willing to play and engage with him on his level.

This was the first time in 6 years that the whole family had gotten together. Hopefully we won't have that much time pass before the next reunion.
Studying cousin Ellie (his most faithful playmate and caregiver of the week).

Slide show time with Bapa.

Time to bundle up for Gavin's first snow adventure. It's quite a job to get a 16 month suited up.

Gavin is smiling here, but it took him a bit to warm up to the snow. He got used to it a bit but still wanted to be held or cuddled and never really got to exploring on his own.

Even sledding with mom was a little out of his comfort zone. I didn't quite expect our easy going guy to be so tentative. But I guess snow and cold are still a bit foreign.

Reading time with Aunt Tonia and cousin Cyrus.

Guy time with cousin Ethan.

Tony, Mimi, Bapa, Gavin and I took a walk down to the Mazama Country snow. The 30 minute walk put Gavin to sleep as we pulled him in the sled. It sure did help to walk on the edge of the groomed trails.

The Mazama house during one of the light snow storms.

The entire Toth Family. Beautiful family. Beautiful picture. Mimi's dream come true!

Mimi and Bapa with their grown kids.

Heading home from the Mazama Country Store. "The End."

Christmas in Sequim

We had 11 in our house for Christmas-- it was a blast. It was the best way to spend our first Christmas in our home. We celebrated with Tony's parents (Andy/Bapa and Dorciane/Mimi) and brother David and family (wife Kei, kids Elitza, Ivan, Cyrus and Larissa).

And this year, with Gavin's enthusiasm, love for family and people and general interest in everyone's business-- he was a great source of joy and entertainment.

We tried to preserve a few important traditions-- cinnamon rolls, PJs on Christmas eve, stockings first thing Christmas morning, Christmas eve service at church, and the telling of the Christmas story by Bapa. We also did a few non-traditional things--chicken tacos (Tony's favorites) for Christmas eve dinner and Salmon for Christmas day dinner. (We didn't even have mashed potatoes or stove top stuffing.)

This is the big Christmas Story production. Bapa used Gavin's Playmobil nativity and toys as props. Notice Tony as the star.
" Look what I got!" Gavin greeted his stocking stuffers with enthusiasm and then proceeded to go around and "greet" everyone else's treasures. If you have it, he wants to play with it.
Surprise! A new table for Gavin's play corner. Tony and Bapa worked feverishly to stain the table (and get it dry in the cold garage) in time for Christmas morning.
My handsome boys in their cozy new robes.
Christmas morning family picture.
Our Christmas morning PJ picture.

Christmas Greetings!

We have been enjoying this month of preparing to celebrate our Savior's birth with our little man and family from out of town. This will be our first Christmas in our home (in five years). What a joy!

Here are some photos of our big Christmas tree-- 8.5 feet! A friend of ours helped us get it and we love it. After three weeks it still remains unscarred. Our toddler is probably more baffled and intimidated than he is mildly curious.

Becoming a Student Again

The second and third weeks of November brought us to California for Tony's first two intensives at Fuller Seminary for his Doctorate of Ministry Program.
In a previous blog I told of all of the reading Tony was to do prior to this trip. And ladies and gentleman, he pulled it off--17 books (I was mistaken with the 19) or 4500 pages in two months.
We had a great trip. Tony was in school all day and then went to Mexico for the High School Mission Trip pre-trip during the weekend between. He was busy and often exhausted from all of the thinking. He really enjoyed the class and was constantly sharing about interesting studies and other information he was learning. The 50 page paper he has due in April is a big undertaking, but I definitely think that God is the one that has it all worked out. He has Tony learning and growing already.

We stayed with Tony's brother David and family in Altadena in their new studio apartment. The digs were wonderful, but it was even better to see them daily (even if briefly) for two weeks. We had a few nice meals and hang out times with them too.
Gavin and I did a lot of running around visiting family and friends (as many as we could without going crazy). It was wonderful to catch up and spend times with people very special to us.
I snapped lots of photos, but as usual, I didn't catch every event/person. (I'm missing photos of our visits with Julie & Ashely and their kids, Tiffany, Robyn, Jenn & Ryann, Danny, Casey, Marie, and probably more. :( )

But here's a nice taste of our trip...

Perhaps the only family photo we took... leaving from Seattle Airport.

Fun times playing with Henry (and mom Jenny).

Lots of time with Cousin Oliver-- they adore each other.

Awwww.....

A visit to Santa Barbara with my sister Colleen, Philip and Oliver

With just a couple weeks of walking under his belt, Gavin loved the weather because it meant a lot of time spent walking. He couldn't help the big grin-- he's so proud!

Some quality time with Grampa.

The Arboreatum with Elitza, Ivan, Cyrus, Larissa and Aunt Kei.

Cousins!

More Cousins-- Rocco and Sicily (Warren & Nichole's kids)

Beautiful Larissa

More time with Grampa and Gramme.

Lots of extra energy to burn these days... tried to get it all out before the plane ride back home. Key word: TRIED.