Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas in Pictures

We have had a great week celebrating Christ's birth with our family - here are some of the pictures!
Here is Becca on Christmas Eve Day!
All the kids with fun Uncle Troy
The boys on Christmas morning with their Webkinz

Becca on Christmas Day with her new doll and stroller

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Jesus is the center

I was busy cleaning the house on Friday. Becca was playing with her Little People Navity set - when I came back into the kitchen this is what I found! I said, "You are right Becca, Jesus is the center of Christmas!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Our Christmas Letter - play along at home!



As always, we hope this letter finds you joyful and healthy this Christmas season. In order to keep things fresh, we have decided to make this year’s letter interactive! For those that want to play along, the “numerical answers” to each paragraph are listed on the bottom and you can match them to the corresponding letter!

a) The # of teachers David has had since our last letter. Last February, David’s class received a new kindergarten teacher as his first teacher moved out of state to welcome her first child. This fall, David started 1st grade. He has 2 part-time teachers. So far it is working out well and David loves school. It has been an adjustment for us all to have him away from home all day. He is a great reader and loves to write books.

b) The # of holes Steven played during his first outing on a “real” golf course. Chris was able to take Steven out on a short par-3 course and he LOVED it. He continues to enjoy all thing sports-related. Steven also learned to read this summer and is improving every week. He started his second year of pre-school this fall and he attends 3 afternoons per week.

c) The # of words Rebecca can say. It’s astounding how much Rebecca has changed in the past year. She is a healthy, hungry, active toddler on the go! Her day consists mainly of trying to keep up with her brothers, sleeping and eating. Although she has some tomboy characteristics, she still loves to play with her dolls and stuffed animals.

d) The # of miles Chris drives each day to work. Overall the job is going well and the company is continuing to grow. He joined the local rec. center and has shed a few pounds and is feeling healthier. He is also part of the leadership team & is the treasurer at our church.

e) The # of questions Laura answers in the average day. After a year, Laura realized that the adjustment to 3 children was really about adjusting her expectations of herself. She has scaled back a bit this year with less involvement in activities outside the home. The days are full and sometimes exhausting, but she wouldn’t trade her job for anything.

f) The # of days of summer vacation. It was a bit daunting to have all 3 kids home all day, but it was a good summer. Of course, there was a lot of swimming in our pool. All 3 of the children amaze us with their abilities and comfort level in the water. We took a 2-day trip to Ohio and visited Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate our first Family Day (Rebecca’s homecoming). The boys did a week of VBS and a week of ½ day science camp. They also took some group tennis lessons.

g) The # of hours Chris and Laura were away (without children) for their 10-year anniversary trip. In late July, Chris surprised Laura with a fantastic 5-day & 4-night trip to the Canadian Rockies. They visited both Lake Louise and Banff and experienced some of the most amazing scenery on the planet.

h) The # of months that separate Rebecca and her newest cousin. Claire Elizabeth Baker arrived on June 28th, weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz. She is just precious and we are all enjoying having another girl in the family.

i) The # of grandparents that bless our family. We are continually grateful for the special part that each one plays in our lives and in the lives of the children. For those close, we are thankful for the time we are able to spend together celebrating the big and little milestones. And for those that are far, we are thankful for phone conversations and airplanes (or long car rides) that allow us time together for special memories.

j) The % of rural Guatemalan children that finish 6th grade. As a family, we desire to stay connected to Rebecca’s birth country. We are striving as a family to find more practical ways to serve the underprivileged both overseas and in our own backyard. The boys have written letters to a young girl that we sponsor in Guatemala. They also participate in making sandwiches for the homeless at Kids Church, and have helped provide Christmas presents, food and warm clothing for those in need. This is just a start and we hope in the coming year to find more and more ways to live out Christ’s love on this earth.

k) The # of posts on our blog this year. Laura has been trying to post weekly with pictures and updates about our family.
In the next post you can find out the answers to our "Christmas Quiz" and see how you faired on our grading scale!

Here are the possible # answers - 4, 9, 14, 18, 20, 30, 45, 70, 80, 103, 300

We hope you had fun while catching up with our family news. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Christmas letter - the answers!!!!!!!


Here are the answers to the "Garvey Family Christmas Quiz". If you haven't taken the quiz yet, please read the prior post before reading the answers in this post!






  • a. 4 - We started you out with an easy one, hopefully everyone got this right as the answer was in the letter!




  • b. 14 - they had to skip a few to go around some slower players in front of them. The second time they went they played all 18 holes - look out Tiger!




  • c. 70 - this was is a bit subjective as she has probably learned 20 more since we sent this out!




  • d. 30 - each way that is!




  • e. 300 - I actually kept track for a day! For the record, the eldest probably asked 2/3 of these! I realized that when he talks he produces more questions that he does statements!




  • f. 80 - I guess we could travel around the world in that time!




  • g. 103 - Special thanks to the grandparents that took care of our kids to make the whole trip possible! There are some pictures of our trip in the July archives! If you ever have the chance to visit this part of the world - we highly recommend it!




  • h. 18 - exactly! Big brother Aidan will be 3 in January - all the Baker clan is doing well!




  • i. 9 - this is a bit of a trick question as 2 of them are technically great aunt and great uncle - but they definetly qualify for grandparent status!




  • j. 20 - We may not be able to change a whole country, but we believe we can make a difference, one child or one family at a time - check out http://www.worldvision.org/ , www.heifer.org, www.compassion.com & www.kiva.org



  • k. 47 - this may have changed by the time you received the letter - so give yourself some grace on this one!


Grading Scale:

9-11 correct: Garvey Family Expert


If this is your score - you spend way too much time with us or way too much time on our blog!


5-8 correct: Garvey Family Groupie


If this is your score - you have probably had to endure a few too many episodes of listening to us tell you all our funny kid stories - see now it has actually paid off!


1-4 correct: Garvey Family Novice


If this is your score - we need to get to know you more!
Stick around and next year you too can be a Garvey Family Expert!





Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Becca-Boo

We were out to eat tonight and some teenage girls were commenting on how cute Becca was. They said she looks like "Boo" from Monsters Inc. We told them that we call her Becca-Boo, but that is not why! So what do you think?






Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving pictures!

Well I think we survived the Thanksgiving weekend! It is still vacation around here as David doesn't go back to school until tomorrow (Tuesday).
We spent Thanksgiving Day at Nana and Papa's house and the kids all had a great time - so did Chris as you can see in the pictures! We also celebrated Clay's 10th birthday.

On Friday we went to Grammy's house for another yummy turkey dinner. Then we all bundled up and went to the Fantasy of Lights Parade - the kids all really enjoyed this fun event!

On Saturday and Sunday we all kept busy putting up the tree and decorating the house!
Even though it can be busy and stressful, I am really excited that the Christmas season is here!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Rebecca's first "official" haircut

I took Becca to my hair-stylist this morning to get her first real haircut. I have been letting her bangs grow out, but finally decided that I couldn't stand them hanging in her face anymore. And keeping a barette in is just about impossible. So here is the before shot at home (kind of dark, I know, but you get the idea with the bangs).

She sat so well for Susanne! And of course she charmed everyone in the salon. I had her take a bit off of the back as well - just to get it evened up!

And here is the after shot!

And I just had to throw this one in too - I took this the other day!

Thursday, November 08, 2007

David's first "crash"

When I picked David up from school yesterday he was so excited to tell me about a new girl that just joined his class! He said he played with her so much yesterday it seemed like she had been there all school year. Today he came home and told me that she has a "crash" on him and he has one on her. I asked him if he meant a "crush" and he said "yes, that's the word". Whew... I don't know if I am ready for this next part of the ride!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Halloween!

Wow - what a day we had! Chris actually went into work a little late, just to be able to help David get all set in his robot costume. Chris put A LOT of time and effort into this costume and it was just AWESOME!


David's school had a costume parade in the morning, so I got Steven & Becca in their costumes and Gup and Gams joined us to watch.


David only had a 1/2 day and right when he got home we left to take Steven to pre-school for his harvest party. Then we had trick-or-treating in the evening! We have a high-traffic sub, so it is quite an event around here! All the kids had a great time and were up well past their bedtimes!

Unfortunately, David woke up with an upset tummy and had to stay home from school today - he seems better now though and should be back at it tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Pumpkins, Papa and a Praying Mantis

The boys spent the night last weekend with Nana and Papa and when they brought them home we carved pumpkins (we meaning Chris and David, mostly).
Here is David with his masterpiece -

Here is Papa enjoying his little pumpkin (with some interesting post-nap "bed head")

And here is the praying mantis that Steven discovered on our front porch. I have to admit, I was pretty amazed by it and I am NOT a bug person. With the help of the neighbor boy we captured it for a 24-hour period and David got to take it to school for show-and-tell!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

She Speaks

We officially have a "talker" (or should I say another talker)! The switch flipped for Rebecca this week and she is adding several words each day! Her main words are - baby, apple, cheese, bye-bye, Elmo, Nana, duck and of course - Mama, Dada, "Dadad" & "Steeee"! Taking the good with the bad, she has also learned "NO" and says it quite clearly and often.

Here is a picture of all of us at our church's Harvest Festival last week. The photographer took a bunch of just Rebecca that I have in print form, I am working on having him send me the digital file as they turned out so well! David is going to be a robot for Halloween Day, but we didn't think it would survive the bounce-house so we used his costume from last year for this event!

Friday, October 19, 2007

It's a Girl & "Look Ma, No Cast"

Our good friends Todd & Kinza had a baby girl on Wednesday! They have 2 boys so we were all hoping for a girl! It was so fun to get that phone call! It was a long labor (especially for #3), but everyone is doing well now! Her name is Eva Sharon and she was 9 lbs. 5 oz. I got to see her today for the first time! Can you believe all that beautiful HAIR!!!


In other news, Steven got his cast off yesterday! He has a brace that velcros off and on that he will wear when he's not sleeping or eating for the next few weeks! He was such a trooper!


Friday, October 12, 2007

The mystery of the pinkie toe!

Rebecca's pinkie toe has been bothering her for over a week now. When she bumps it or when we are putting her shoes on she will hold up her foot and say "Ow"! Last weekend, Chris noticed that it was quite swollen. I took her to the ped. on Monday and she thought it was probably broken. We went and had X-rays done and they did not show a fracture. So then I took her in later for some bloodwork (she did not make a peep!) to test for infection. So far the bloodwork has come back normal. I am going to call the ped. back on Monday to let her know if it seems to be getting better. We are thinking maybe a sprain???

Becca is starting to show a lot more interest in talking in the past week. Although she still doesn't initiate a lot of words, she has been repeating words a lot this week! It will be very interesting to see what it is like to have 3 kids talking to me at once!
Here she is reading her favorite book!

And here she is wearing her biggest brothers shoes (or "canoes" as Dad calls them).

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Lessons from Steven

It's amazing what you can learn from a 4 year old!
Steven has done so well with having this cast. I really can think of only one time when he has complained at all in 2 weeks (and that was because it was getting itchy because it was hot out). Not only hasn't he complained, he does almost everything he could before and just works it out! It challenges me, because I think if the tables were turned, I would find quite a bit to complain about. He is reminding me that we can't control our circumstances, but we can control our attitude!
Then the other day, Steven and I were playing Candyland. He said to me "I want you to go first, because I love you more than me". Little did he know that he was living out one of the greatest commandments of God's Word, to "love your neighbor as yourself".

He did go for a recheck of his arm this morning. The Dr. said it is healing very well, but that he thought it should be re-cast for 2 more weeks for protection as it completes healing. Chris was able to talk him into a short-arm cast this time, so at least now he has more arm mobility!

Monday, October 01, 2007

What's a girl gotta do....

...to get her diaper changed around here? I was involved in a heated game of Crazy 8's with the boys and Becca was trying to let me know that she wanted a fresh diaper.
Now here she is cheezing for the camera! She's happy because Mom finally changed her!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

A trip to the ZOO

Steven didn't have preschool on Monday - so Gams, Steven, Rebecca & I decided to go to the zoo. Gams had never been to our zoo, and come to think of it neither had Rebecca. It was a great time to go as the weather was nice, but it was not crowded at all. Steven favorites were the butterflies (they have a butterfly house), the turtles and the anteater. It's been neat to see Steven be "top dog" during the day while David is at school. I am glad we have this year together to let him be the main guy!
Here are some pictures from our visit:

The kids with Gams at the butterfly house

Steven visiting the prarie dogs

Hey Steven, there's a polar bear behind you!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Blogging has it's advantages

Here is the text of the blog that I started writing earlier today - it set in motion a day long chain of events...it was orginially titled "oops - he did it again"!
We are still waiting on the official X-ray results, but it appears that Steven has fractured his wrist. He was standing on the sit-and-spin (believe me, he's gotten "the lecture") and slipped and fell. It is the same wrist he fractured right before his 2nd birthday. Once again he has been a real trooper. There is a chance that what they saw in the X-ray could be the old break, so they are comparing the results today. They went ahead and put a splint on his arm to be on the safe side!
Here he is this morning -

So then as I went to post this picture of him in the splint when he was almost 2 - I look at the picture and realize that it is NOT the same wrist that he fractured before!
I called Chris freaking out about it. When I calmed down, I decided to call the pediatrician's office. At this point we realize that it is definetly not the old break they were seeing as it was the other wrist. So they told me I needed to come into their office to have it looked at. But before I came I needed to go to Urgent Care and pick up the X-rays (isn't there technology now to make this happen more easily). So I took Steven and Rebecca to the Urgent Care to get the films. Then Gams came over because I had a dentist appointment for me (that I had already rescheduled once). I got back just in time to pick up Steven and head over to the peds office to have them look at the X-rays and say "Yes, it's fractured" and give me a referral for the orthopedics. They said they would call the ortho office to make an appointment and call me back. As I am almost home, they call on my cell and say that they need me to come there within the next 1/2 hour, otherwise I have to wait until Monday. So I run in and ask Gams if she can stay until Chris gets home (a friend had already agreed to pick up David from school). It's about a 25 minute drive to where the ortho office is. We made it and they put the cast on quicker than I could fill out the 5 pages of paperwork. My poor Steven is not real happy about the cast. Last time they were able to do it below his elbow, but at this age they had to do it above, so that he doesn't try to pull it off! We go back in 2 weeks to check it - hopefully it will be healed enough to not have to do 2 more weeks!
So now here is Steven with his cast tonight and then in his cast 2 1/2 years ago!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

A smile for today

First of all, I have been meaning to post this picture of my 3 sweeties!
I couldn't decide which one I like best, so I guess I'll post them both.

Now I have two funny stories.
Steven: the other day he told me that one of his grandmas told him that animals don't have thumbs. I told him that was right. He thought for a moment and then said, "Well then I guess they can only count to 8"!
David: In his class, each student along with their name has a number - it is posted on their mailbox, etc. David brought home a little book he had made about school. It had fill-in-the blank statements for them to complete. One page said, "A new friend I have made is..." and David filled in "Travis #20". I don't know why, but that totally cracked me up!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

David the First Grader

Yesterday was David's first day of 1st grade. They only had a 1/2 day, so today will be the real thing - being there all day. David has 2 teachers. One teaches on Monday &Tuesdays, the other teaches on Thursday and Friday and then they alternate Wednesdays! We'll see how it all works out.

Here is my handsome boy yesterday morning!

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Giving Back!

I ran across an amazing article/video last week about a girl that was adopted from Peru!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/21/dodson.heroes/index.html (If you go to the link, along with reading, watch the 2 video clips as well!)
It has stayed with me and affected me profoundly. I am just in awe of what this girl has accomplished at such a young age. It has challenged me to make all 5 of us more aware of the plight of orphans and to find ways as a family to give back. Stay tuned...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Steven's first day of school!

Hard to believe it's that time already! My big 4-year old boy had his first day of preschool today! Not sure if I mentioned it in another post - but Steven is READING!!!!!!! About a month ago it just clicked for him and he really LOVES to read.
Here he is just before school today!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

A visit from Pop and Grandma Jane


We dropped Pop and Grandma Jane off at the airport this morning after a wonderful week-long visit! They were really troopers as the 2 days of rain earlier this week left some puddles in our basement (also their bedroom for the week)!

The boys enjoyed playing games with them -

and Becca spent the whole week making her Pop smile and laugh!
We are so glad there are able to come and stay with us! We always have so many special memories of our time with them!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

The 1/2 matters!

David is officially 6 1/2! We went out to visit Grammy yesterday as she is recovering from foot surgery and we had a little cake and sang "Happy 1/2 Birthday to You"!
David has had a good summer. He has started playing with the neighbors kids much more this year and loves to be around friends. David continues to amaze us in the pool. He is such a good swimmer. He logged 12 hours of reading this summer (in 15 minute increments) for the library summer reading program. Only a few more weeks until 1st grade!

We finally got our patio furniture! This is a "so far" after picture, we still need to get an umbrella (this is the old one) and next summer we will add some big pots of flowers!


If you scroll down a few entries or so you can see the "before" pictures! We are looking forward to having lots of family meals on our patio for the rest of the summer.