The Bear and The Bomb

I wanted to compare Grey and Tucker at about the same age. Here they both are around 9 weeks. What do you think?

Tucker aka Tuck Bomb

Grey aka Grey Bear (as he refers to himself)

my sweet boys

This is where Matthew and a team of students are spending 10 days...India! Quite a few of the students going went last year. Sweet Trish went last year as well so they can all teach Matthew, "the leader of the trip," the ropes! It has been confirmed that they arrived safely yesterday at around 1 pm our time. They are now 9.5 hours ahead of us which is just crazy to me! They are already in tomorrow!

Wednesday night we rushed around getting all the necessities for traveling across the world. Grey, Tucker, and I sent him off Thursday morning to meet everyone at the church. I did shed a few tears in the realization that he was really going to be SO far away and flying across many oceans. In those moments I was quietly reminded that the Lord desires for us to share Himself with others making Himself known and that is exactly what Matthew and all the others were going to do. He is the hope of glory. That's our calling as believers and they were being completely obedient to that calling. That's what matters.

So I began to pray. I began and am continuing to pray with a steadfast spirit that He will be made glorious and others will be drawn to Him simply because of who He is. That fear would be foreign to any heart on this trip. That His Word would be clearly communicated and the Holy Spirit would invade the hearts of the people of India. That each person sharing the gospel on the street would be changed from the inside out. That they would fight battles and grow. That they will come back to Fort Mill, SC and continue to obey their calling as believers. Pray with me!

TEC at 2 months

Tucker Ellis Cavin . 8 weeks

Tucker went for his 2 month well visit today. It's safe to say he's a healthy baby! He did cry through the entire exam but the Dr. was able to listen and see everything he needed to. He weighed in at 13 lbs. 3 oz. (90th %) and is 23'' (75th%). He is growing at a steady pace. He did get 3 shots which required much more crying but settled down when he got to eat. Imagine that! He won't be 2 months until Sunday but we are heading out of town yet again so we went ahead this week.


Matthew, Grey and I are enjoying him so much. He has started smiling ALL the time along with laughing and cooing which really melt my heart. His features are changing a little each day. He is still pretty much on his same schedule but I am desperately trying to stretch out his eating times. The size of his thighs tells me he's getting plenty of nutrition :) I'm really holding out for him to sleep all the way through the night some day soon. He pretty much sleeps from around 9 until 4-4:30. Then until 7:15ish. He sleeps really well but I'm not ready to start my day at 4 so I don't consider it "through" the night.


Sometimes I just look at Tuck's sweet little face and wonder why God chooses to give us such special gifts. It puts the terrible twos in perspective for me :) I see God's measure of grace in my two boys' faces and am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be their mother. I have many moments of weakness in motherhood but am constantly reminded of the grace that has been given to me and I am to pour that on my children. His strength is truly made perfect in my weakness!

the neverending birthday...

My 26th birthday "official" celebration started on Saturday. This is the first year since we've been married that Matthew has been in the country on my birthday. Needless to say, I expected good thigns. Matthew had arranged for us to go to the Melting pot for dinner. He got the one and only Karen Adams along with her two wonderful girls, Meredith and Lauren, to stay with Grey and Tucker. I hadn't been this excited about a date in a long time. (probably due to a lack of time with Matthew) We both knew the Melting Pot would be delicious, plus prime for good conversation. We arrived as early birds at 5:30 only to find out they didn't have a table for 2 until 10:30! We were extremely dissappointed. Good thing our anniversary is in a few weeks :) We did, however, pass an Italian restaurant we've been wanting to try so we decided on that. Man was it a GREAT choice! We did manage to have wonderful conversation while bopping along to the tunes of the great Natalie Imbruglia. I knew I wanted to stop in to Trader Joes while we were downtown so we did that. Matthew had never been and loved it. We will be making monthly trips there now :)

Yesterday, my actual day of birth, I woke up to the warm, delicious smell of homemade french toast with warm peaches.
I traditionally have always opened birthday presents at breakfast. Matthew had already told me I wouldn't have mine from he and Grey until later. Thankfully my mom and dad had mailed my present so I was not disappointed! (I'm so spoiled, I know) Being sharp as tacs, they had heard me mention that I wanted Photoshop Elements and they delivered! I am so anxious to get working on our pictures.

This was a day I could decide what I wanted to do and I wanted to take Grey to the library. So after a snuggle on the couch with my two boys, we headed out.

I spent the afternoon reading Grey's books to him, reading my new book, making cards, having lunch served to me in the hammock and relaxing like nobody's business. Tuck and I took a little snooze on the couch.

After our snooze, Grey and Matthew made their birthday presentation. A Firepit! I have been wanting one for quite some time. Matthew said it right when he said "I know you like a good experience more than a cheesy gift and this will provide great experiences with our family and friends!"

I also enjoyed both Grey and Tucker all day. Here's a pic of little Tuck man. He's changing so much and I am truly falling more and more in motherly love with this little life!

The afternoon was somewhat of a letdown when I discovered that the popped tire that Matthew waited at Wal-Mart 2.5 hours to get fixed, was STILL ON MY CAR! What?! Leave it to Wal-Mart. They put a new tire on the back drivers side and the tire that we needed was the front passengers side. Silly. We were on our way out to go shopping when we decided to go ahead and get it fixed. Not what I wanted to do on my birthday. We got a free tire out of it though.

We came home so I could cook my favorite summertime meal. I wanted to cook on birthday because it's something that I LOVE to do! I love love love to make dinner for our family and sit down at the table together in the evening. Here's the outcome...tomatoe pie, corn on the cob, fried eggplant, and peaches!

Grey and Matthew enjoy it as well!

Matthew had given me a Hoops and YoYo card that talked and Grey was obssessed with it! He got the biggest smile and laughed and laughed. I think that's the only present he's going to get from us from now on!

We were going to end the day with s'mores but our unexpected trip to wal-mart kind of shot that plan. Just another reason to celebrate tonight! Matthew and I watched a movie and had brownies and ice cream instead.

There's my recap of the day. Nothing spectacular but it was great! It was nice having Matthew home and him allowing me to do whatever I wanted all day. I just enjoyed time with the family. Looking forward to next year but as in my regular fashion, the celebrating will continue...

On the Road.Part 3

Last week Matthew took a group of leadership students to Liberty University in Virginia to staff a Student Life Camp. Again, I was dying to be there but there will be many years to come when I'm not nursing a baby :) They had a great trip serving the SL staff.

Me and the boys headed to Columbia for a visit to Papa and GiGi's house! Steph and I decided to make the trip together again this summer with two new additions! Tyson and Tucker were such great sports partaking in all activities. It was quite a different pace with the two little ones.

We did manage to swim, go to Saluda Splash, go on a picnic, go to the zoo (Gigi took all the older kiddos), and eat really well. (did you doubt that?!) Grey hung with his big cousins all week. Jacob, Hannah, and Maddie took him under their wing and he is still pretending they are all together. I also enjoyed some really good time with Steph. There's nothing like encouragment to the deepest parts of my soul from a sister.

Tyson and Tuck bonded through joint snoozing, screaming, and watching their siblings and cousins play all week. They are 10 days apart and I cannot wait to see them in about 4-6 months together!

Looking forward to another week next summer at Camp GiGi as Steph refers to it!

T-Rock after his bath

mmm...homemade peach ice cream
Mads and Grey swinging

Picnic at Saluda Shoals

Grey watching all the kids play in the splash park...not interested in participating. maybe next year

Enjoying popsicles after a good swim

Tuck and Uncle Christopher

Tuck and Papa

On the Road.Part 2

While Matthew was at home, we had a great time in Simpsonville. We got to play in Poppie and Marmie's beautiful new yard! We went to the park to play and ride the train, had lunch at Anitas, caught lightening bugs, and just enjoyed some time together. I did get some pictures from this trip!

Tuck hanging out outside in the laundry basket. (Grey enjoyed this on the beach at about this age)
Grey helped Marmie weed

This is the cradle my dad made for us and I slept in it for 4 months!

On the Road.Part 1

I was anticipating July knowing that all four of us would be transformed into nomads. Matthew has quite a few trips this month so therefore I have made plans for me and the boys to not just stay at home alone.

Last week Matthew traveled to Toccoa, GA for Student Life Camp. I personally was heart broken that I could not go this year. I LOVE CAMP! I was glad to get daily reports of what the Lord was doing and knowing that great things were happening but my heart missed connecting with our students and encouraging them in a camp atmosphere.

We, however, traveled to Sumter for the week. My really good friend Ashley and her daughter Brooke (Grey's great buddy) invited us along to visit her parents. What a GREAT trip we had! Mrs. Linda and Mr. Chuck were super stars to allow us to invade their home for quite a few days. It's no joke inviting an extra baby and a 2 year old to come stay with you when you're used to quiet. Oh, the help I received was more than wonderful. Of course I didn't get ANY good pictures which I'm completely bummed about. We swam, played, and ate better than ever!

I was so excited to get home and see my sweet Matthew. I was half way there when I received a call from him telling me he was potentially exposed to a flu that we could not risk our two young boys getting. So we finished our drive home, me in tears, just to pack up and leave again. We made an unexpected trip to Simpsonville for the weekend...

Garrett is 2!

We got to celebrate Garrett's second birthday with him on July 4th! We had a blast with the family. After the party we went to a park that had train rides. It was really so much fun!

Date with Daddy

The month of July is about to get a little crazy as I(Matthew) will only be in town for 6 days. With that in mind, I thought it would be a great time to do something fun with Grey. Previews for the new Ice Age movie have been coming on t.v. and everytime Grey stops what he is doing and watches the preview very intently. Then he says, "I see dat. I see Ice Age." So I decided it was time to test the waters of the movie theatre.

Yesterday we left for a 10:00 showing of Ice Age 3. All morning long (and the day before), he was so excited about going to see it. I tried to show up strategically after the previews to maximize my time of actual movie watching. To be quite honest, using a variety of snacks and popcorn, my goal was to squeeze 30-45 minutes out of him. When we walked in he was absolutely blown away! It was dark and big and loud, and the first thing he said was, "Daddy, hold me."

This didn't seem like a good start, but as soon as he sat down, he loved every minute of it. At one point in the movie, Diego was chasing some sort of animal and as he got closer and closer Grey was saying, "almost! (there) almost!" After about 40 minutes, I had to remind him that we had snacks and popcorn. By the time it was all over, everyone had left the theatre and Grey was watching the credits still eating popcorn! As we were walking out of the theatre, he said, "I miss mommy. Daddy, I like dat. Dat was fuuuun!" He did such a great job. I look forward to other movie days with Grey to mix into our daddy and grey date schedule.

***On a side note, I (matthew) will probably be posting more on the blog. I considered creating my own blog (which after a few posts, some of you will probably wish I did), but since this is a blog about/for our family, I didn't see the need to separate myself from the family.***

Summer Cut

I decided today that I was going to shave Grey's head. I hate paying for a haircut that I never like so it was worth trying. I think he looks like a stud myself!

before the summer cut

after! yes he looks old

He was so good while I was cutting, he got and ice cream sandwich!