Easter with the family...

We have had SO much fun hiding Easter eggs lately. (And I do mean lately, because though we started a week before Easter we have continued to do it almost every day since. What fun!) Grandma and Grandpa Topping hid eggs around their house for Gavin to find, and he collected them in his new beach pale.
Here's the little man in his ADORABLE Easter outfit, passed down to us by some good friends. My favorite part are the faux dress shoes: Crocs. (We convinced ourselves that they worked better than his tennies since they are the Crocs with no holes and are navy to match his sweater vest. Work with us here.)
Here we are: the little family in green! Brent asked if it was too cheesy that we were all dressed in green that day, but I said, "No, green is for life, and that's what we're celebrating today. Jesus is risen, indeed!"
Grandma Topping is reading an Easter book to Gavin, as he clenches his cars and trucks in his little hands. He informed me the other day that the firetruck wanted to listen to the story too. He moved it right next to us in his room and said, "Firetuck, sit."
Hard to believe, but Brent and I are coming up on seven years of marriage! (I just realized that not only were we all three wearing green, but we were all wearing khaki too.)
How sweet is this?! Gavin is peering in to look at his new baby cousin, Madison.
The proud grandparents hold their new granddaughter, Madison Paige. She had the cutest, daintiest little dress on that day with a matching violet cardigan.
Back (from left to right): Bob (Brent's step-dad), Mike (Brent's half brother), Brent, Karl (Brent's brother-in-law) On couch: Pam (Brent's mom), Gavin, Tara, Jackie (Brent's sister), Madison (Jackie & Karl's daughter)

Snow in April...

This picture is SO classic! Getting on all of Gavin's outdoor gear is quite a chore, I have to say.
But it's totally worth it for him to do things like this! Here's the first snowman that Daddy and Gavin ever built together. The tiny head vanished pretty quickly when the sun came out, and pretty soon the whole snowman was a pile of mush.

Good times at the Butterfly Pavilion

There was a time in the last few months when Gavin's home away from home was the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, very near our house. Between some coupons we had and some excited parents and grandparents, we frequented that place quite a few times in the course of a month or two. Is it just me, or does my son look HUGE in this picture with me?
One of the most special visits to the BP was with Daddy, of course. Gavin loves to stomp in the puddles on the ground and point out the beautiful butterflies. He's also quite fascinated by the beetles and other creepy, crawly insects that live there.
It's hard to get the point across that we only touch the Horseshoe Crab with the back of our finger. Somehow it seems like a lot more fun to splash the water everywhere and nearly take the crab out completely. Intervention, intervention!!!