Monday, December 9, 2013

Griffin turned THREE!!

This sweet little boy turned three a month and a half ago.  This is birthday morning at the donut shop!



Preferred eating arrangement on birthday morning...don't ask me...


Griffin had a wonderful little birthday party, mostly family and a few very close friends.  Naturally, we went with a train theme. :)



He got all kinds of goodies.  But I think some of his highlights were a Thomas tent from my parents, 3 Thomas trains (Belle, Flynn, and Kevin) from Chris's parents, some flashlights from good friends of ours, and a tricycle and dinosaur helmet from Chris and me.










Then we had a private little family celebration on his actual birthday.  This is him trying to get his fingers to make three.  So sweet how hard he was trying!



And actual birthday evening at home, with is leftover party cupcakes. :)










Some of my favorite things about Griffin at age three:
- imagination!  Griffin can bring anything to life and is getting really, really good at playing by himself.  He sings almost all the time when he's playing.  Sometimes they are real songs, but most of the time they are made up.
- Griffin also makes up words and names.  He names everything "hobby" "bonin" or "monin." It's kind of weird acutally.  Or he'll tell me he wants "ba weja moon" for supper.  When I say, "Oh.  Okay.  Remind me, what does that taste like so I know how to fix it?"  He almost always says, "ice cream."  Smart boy. :)
- Griffin can count up into the forties, and has been able to for a long time actually.   He recognizes all the letters in uppercase and knows them in lowercase, too, just not quite as well with the funny shapes of lower case g's and a's and stuff like that.  He knows a lot of their sounds, too.  He just doesn't get in to trying to write them yet at all.  I try, but he's just not interested.
- Griffin is GREAT at doing puzzles.  He really good at floor puzzles and it takes everything in me not to get online and buy him new ones all the time!
- Griffin ALWAYS wants to go to the park.
- He always asked to "chase me" with daddy mostly, but when daddy's not available, I try. :)
- Griffin has to put a toy under his pillow every night.  We're not sure where this came from or why, but it's what he does.
- Griffin cries out sometimes that he's scared.  Lately, it's been the whales in his room.  Geez.  We're gonna have to get a handle on our housekeeping if we're letting whales in...
- Griffin is still really into trains.  He loves dinosaurs, too, and trucks or anything with wheels.
- He wears size 4T and is really too big for his size 10 shoes, but we haven't bought new ones yet.   He was 40 inches tall and 38 pounds at his 3 year check up.
- We still really struggle with discipline with Griffin.  He's is sugary sweet when he's sweet or he is enough gray my hair in one afternoon when he's not.  He's very persistent and loyal to his own ideas.  He remembers things for days, or weeks, actually - probably months - that he wants or wants to do.  What some people may choose to label as manipulative, I'm going to call problem solving.  Yes, currently, it probably is manipulation, but he is figuring out how to solve the problem that he has with what mommy and daddy are saying no to.  And he's pretty darn good at it.  Fortunately, so are Chris and I. :)  
- Griffin is getting really good at sharing and it makes my heart smile.
- Griffin can say prayers.  He prefers to just repeat after Chris or me, but if you catch him on a good day, you'll hear one thankful kiddo that will list everything in sight and everything he did that day as something he's thankful for.  So sweet.
- Griffin likes to sing "shop ha ye yu ya" (Shout Hallelujah), Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs, Jesus Loves Me, Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse, Wheels on the Bus.... I could go on

Griffin, I call you my precious treasure often and I mean it.  I treasure you and I treasure moments and memories with you.  I've loved being your mommy the past three years.  You've taught me so much!  I can't wait to see what else is coming our way with you in our lives.  We pray that we can guide your strong, unwaivering spirit on a narrow path with lots of followers.  I love you so much, G.  Thanks for letting me!

Asher's Baby Shower

My sweet sisters and good friends put together a beautiful shower for my little Asher Bear.  It was September 15th, a Sunday afternoon.  The theme was mustaches, and it was oh so cute!

Several of the dearest people to me came and we had a wonderful time being blessed by our friends who are excited about the birth of Asher.

It was at Lindsay's house, which is just across the street from ours.  So, needless to say, it was super convenient!

Chris and Griffin even came over toward the end of the shower, and it's a good thing because Griffin got lots of gifts, too!

Enjoy the pics!










My college roommate and one of my best friends, Jamie, and Sarah, a friend from church

The happy grandmas!


yep.  a mustache on my belly. :)







several people were so kind to think of Griffin and get him gifts!




My beautiful life long friend, Ashley

Jamers and Linds.  What more can I say?

The hostesses!

My two beautiful good friends from work, Nicole and Amy

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Summer with my sweet G

Summer is officially over and I have some favorite pictures of Griffin.  Gotta put 'em somewhere where I'll find them!

Griffin also hit some major milestones this summer and our family did, too!  We have been working really hard on the house.  We moved Griffin's room to his "big boy" room as I showed in the last blog.  Griffin is potty trained.  We went on a lovely little family trip to San Antonio.  And Griffin is really communicating with us well.

I'll put captions on the pics and then do other posts later:
A fun zoo trip with the cousins!


We watered the flowers a lot!

Dino World with BooBoo and guys!

Play Doh!

Fourth of July Parad with Daddy

Griffin and his friend Charley...

Getting brave and sliding down the BIG slide at the park

Whoa.....black mail.

Griffin and his girl friends at small group.  He LOVED learning to play ring-around-the-rosie and still sings it all the time!

Me and my G

Saw the new baby at the zoo!



"mommy!  take aw pitt-yur."

Making cookies for the girls at work...

A poop train!  Griffin started potty training on July 1st and pretty much had it down in 3 days, EXCEPT for the pooping.  He got crazy poop anxiety and we could hardly get him to go in the potty!  So...we literally potty TRAINED him.  He started earining trains for pooping in the potty.  Expensive, but it worked!

Dino World with BooBoo

Donuts, donuts, let's go get some donuts!

Bathtime!

Splash park with Charlotte

I don't really know.....

feeding the ducks 

My cutie patootie!


Griffin and his daddy at the zoo

Make believe....The Misty Island Tunnel....

BooBoo says griffin was standing there singing, "oh mc don-ahd have a fom, e-i-e-i-o."

Griffin got to go eat lunch with DAddy at one of his work fund raisers and see the big trucks!

Just thought this was funny.  Griffin has started to want to take pictures of me.  And most of the time when I go back and look on my phone to delete what he's taken, it's a bunch of pictures of concrete or grass.  He actually got my face!  We may have a photographer in training!!

"coffee" and breakfast with Daddy at starbucks

Butterfly garden at the San Antonio Zoo

The biggest snake I've ever seen at the SA zoo....

my sweet little family of three

the real us




All of the above pics were in San Antonio.  We had a fun little trip just taking Griffin to see things and trying to enjoy our time together.

Griffin has become an expert climber. He can master all the ladders (even the not so ladderish ladders) at most parks.  He climbs up this one at our park and it makes me crazy because it is so high!  Chris is up there getting him down because I was panicking!



Playing outside...playing with trains is about all we do...

Oh.  and play with bowls.

Just because I hadn't taken a picture of my sleeping baby in a long, long, time....

Just a train ride with mommy in FW and Thomas came along.

We played lots of roller coaster in the driveway this summer.  Sometimes in our pajamas.  Sometimes with "ear songs" on.

Playing drums while daddy plays "antar" (guitar, just the "g" sound disappears somewhere...)

Eating a delicious $4 cupcake that mommy's pregnant craving bought for both of us.  Funny, how I haven't had that craving again....

Antoher poop train!

and another!

Does he get any cuter?

yes.


28 ish week along...with proud big brother




Sorry.  Tons of pics.  I just want this fun, fun summer with me working part time at least partially documented somewhere....

Griffin - You are worth making less money and staying home.  You are worth me wanting to pull my hair out trying to figure out what works best to discipline you.  You are worth every. single. grunt. your daddy has had to listen to for me to get in your forts and tunnels and chase you on the playground as my preggo-belly gets bigger.  You are worth every single roll of paper towels I go through just cleaning your messes.  You are worth the sun spots on my face spending time with you outside.  You are worth all the books I'm reading trying to figure out how to - not tame, not control, not bridle, oh yes - positively direct your strong, strong, independent spirit.  I have learned a TON from you this summer and enjoy listening every time I hear you sing Wheels on the Bus, Backyardigans, Jesus Loves Me, ABCs, and Shout Hallelujah.  I love seeing your little hand raise up at church while we sing.  I love how when you sing along to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you have a certain sound and hand motion for the background music throughout the song.  (I have GOT to get a video of this.)  I love how you have developed such compassion any time you hear me say "ow" or "ouch."  I love how you pray for baby Asher to grow "bigga bigga."  I love how much you love your trains.  Each and every one is your little family of friends.  I love how it takes us an entire 15 min to make a 5 min walk to the park because you look for a caterpillar and a bumble bee and a flower and the big dog and the little dog and the airplane and the helicopter and the moon that we sometimes see in the daytime and the tiny ants and the big rock and the "toe tweet" little bird....I love (though it makes me t-i-r-e-d) how you are constantly asking daddy or me to "chase me."  I love YOU, Boogi.  Thank you, God, for the gift of time to spend with this sweet one and a home to safely raise him in.  And I pray the prayer that Griffin prays every night, for him grow strong and smart and brave - and to call his momma every day. :)