Gavin

Gavin turned 5 at the beginning of the month!  It just seems so unreal, that he is this old, and no longer the "baby" of the family.  He is full of personality and so much like his Dad.  He is in his second year of preschool, and has had a great teacher also.  I put him in a different school this year than last year, because this teacher really focuses on having them reading before they are done this year.  When I told Gavin this was why we switched school, he was VERY excited.  His first day of school when he got in the car, I asked him how was school, he said "well, I can't read yet, so not very good."  It took a couple weeks before he understood it wouldn't happen in one day. 

His birthday was on a Sunday this year, (I always hated it when mine were on a Sunday, so after church, everyone came up for dinner.  Once again my aunt and her family were all here, my grandparents, my sister, sister-in-law and of course my parents since we are at their house until we move this month.  Gavin wanted a chocolate cake, with chocolate ice cream so that is what he got.  However, he was worried about what Drake would have and wanted me to make brownies for him, since Drake doesn't like cake.  I think he had a fun birthday.  The only thing missing on both boys birthdays' was their Dad.  Unfortunately Ze was gone for both their birthdays.  On Drake's we were able to Face time on the ipads with him, however on Gavin's he was on a plane and we weren't able to. 

Gavin loves his computer games.  It is amazing how well he is able to maneuver on the computer, thankfully he likes playing games that encourage learning along with a few that don't.   Gavin is able to use his imagination in everything he does.  He doesn't need much to be entertained, and is constantly making up his own games and stories.  His little sister loves him!  From the first days at home, she has responded to him.  Sometimes when she is crying he is the only one who can distract her and get her to stop.  He also loves his big brother, many times his response in asked what he wants to do, or eat, he responds whatever Drake wants.  We love him, and are so grateful for him in our family.  He brings a special joy and light into our family and is always able to make you laugh.  

Drake

*Well, since it has been almost two years since I last updated, I am just going to start from today and go forth.  There is no way I could catch up on the last two years there has been so much.  So two years later here is where we are starting with Drake.*

Drake turned six at the end of last month! I can't believe how fast these last six years went by!  He is in kindergarten this year and loves it.  His teacher Mrs. Kagie is great, and he has made a lot of friends in class.  When I went into volunteer at this class, she told me that she had never seen a class respond to one student quite the way this class had.  She said that he is the leader of his class, and whatever he says to do they all do it.  She is sad to lose him when we move after Christmas, and he his sad to go.

Both boys birthdays were pretty low key this year.  I just wasn't quite up to anything more this year with all we have had going on the last two months since Noemia was born.  On their birthday's I always let them chose what they want to do for the day.  Drake wanted to go to Chik-fil-a for lunch before school, so my mom, aunt, and cousin met us at chik-fil-a for lunch, later my dad felt left out so he let him choose what he wanted for dinner, and he chose Panda Express.  After meeting all the family there, we came back to my parents house and opened gifts and he had brownies and ice cream.

As a joke, my cousin had told him that Justin Bieber was going to come to his party because he was here visiting.  (Drake loves music, and loves his music, but will no longer admit it because his dad has brainwashed him into thinking he is not cool)  So she went and bought a life size cut out of him, and walked it in, you can tell drake is trying not to smile and show he likes it.

Drake is our little protector and responsible big brother.  He LOVES LOVES his new little sister.  He is always checking on her and wanting to help feed her her bottle, give her her bath etc.  It is amazing to see how much he has grown in maturity over the last year.  He is able to make friends with kids all age, I constantly have the eight and nine year old neighbors knocking on my door to see if Drake can come and play.  He is learning to read and is constantly reading words as we drive around or as we read books together.  I am so proud of how much he helps and how much he loves his siblings.  Him and Gavin are still the best of friends and the worst of enemies at times.  He loves BYU football, and watched almost every game with my dad this last year.  He can't wait until next fall when he is old enough to start. 

Okay so my kids are so much fun right now. They are each going through their own phases that drive me crazy but all together I love it. Here are some of the things they have done or said lately:

Drake- Is getting to be so old. He can be such a great helper and big brother when he wants to be. Right now he is very into playing games, for Christmas he got Chutes and Ladders, Sorry and Candy Land. We have to play all three at least twice a day. I try to push for Chutes and Ladders or Go Fish, they go much faster. His latest thing is "Mom, I want to do you a favor...I want you to play a game with me." Is that not the best favor. Or if he doesn't get what he wants or I tell him no, he tells me that I won't be able to go and see his friends, and he won't let me play with him.

A couple of weeks ago we were at Ze's MMA Academy and there were some girls there waiting for their class to start. They were probably around 6 and 8 or 9 maybe. Anyway the one girl was showing Drake her jiu-jitsu moves, and Drake goes and finds Ze and says: "Dad she has moves.." and then to the little girl "I've got moves, I've got the moon walk."

Gavin- Oh what happened to my sweet little easy going boy? Oh he turned three! It is not the terrible twos it is the terrible threes! He has what we like to call nuclear meltdowns. Let me tell you they can last up to 2 hrs, plus! Two weeks ago he had one that lasted 2 hours and 15 min. And he looked like a rabid dog, I am not joking. He gets a crazed look in his eye like he isn't even there,with his crazy curly afro, and then he starts spitting and he was spitting so much it started bubbling and looked foam. Oh and lets not forget screaming that he doesn't like me. Yes, I was so desperate at an hour (we were supposed to be meeting someone) that I tried a cold shower to see if it would shock him out of it. HUGE mistake! So I left him in his room with my mom here, and she said an hour later he just stopped and laughed and said he was happy and was ready to go get Mommy. When she brought him to where we were and I asked him, why he was so upset, (because he started crying when I told him he had to stop hitting the door with his feet and that we were going to go meet his friends to play indoor soccer). His answer: "Because I wanted to be angry, and now I want to be happy." Um, what I am I supposed to say to that?

On a cuter note. We have been practicing our full names, of everyone in my family, and their phone number. It his me that I should probably make sure they know in case of anything. Well Gavin got them all right away. So every once in a while we say them all and practice. Last Sunday my mom was driving home from Church with Gavin and doing the names, and when it came to his he said "Gavin Bola Dutra." Well for those of you who don't know we call him Bola, (ball in Portuguese) we have since he was born, don't know why we just did. Now, he thinks that is his full name. And I am so evil, I don't correct him because I think it is cute.