Griffin, Vivian and Georgia's Lives

Griffin had a fun time at his day care Christmas party Thursday.

The kids all sang songs like Jingle Bells and Friends.

Then they played ring-around-the-rosy, which was big fun.

Temporary tattoos are Griffin's favorite new thing, since he got a Mater tattoo on his belly at Colin's birthday party a few weeks ago.

Colin's mom was nice enough to give us some extra tattoos and we each put one on (at Griffin's request) the other night. Griffin liked it when Daddy counted down the time the washcloth had to stay on.

First he picked out the Piston Cup tattoo, but there was an application mishap so his second choice was the Dinoco one, which he's very pleased with.

Christmas-time is cookie-baking-time around here, and Griffin was very helpful with this year's baking.

He liked to pour in the ingredients and mix the dough.

Griffin did an excellent job of placing the hershey's kisses on the peanut butter cookies in the center.

Much faster than we expected, Griffin has passed another big milestone -- moving out of his crib and into a big-boy bed! When we stayed at Drew & Paige's house, Griffin slept in a little inflatable bed and did great. So we asked him if he wanted a big-boy bed for home and he said yes. Then we saw one come up on craigslist and brought it home, thinking it would take him a while to warm up to it. Nope, he wanted to sleep in it right away!

He was thrilled to get into bed all by himself Thursday night. I had laid out his sleepsack for him, but he said he was done with the sleepsack as well as the crib, so we went with blankets only. (He was already napping with just blankets.) It went great!

In the morning he still yelled for Daddy to come and get him and didn't get out of bed until Daddy came in the room -- we'll see how long that lasts.

We had a bigger crowd for our holiday brunch this year and it was lot of fun. Griffin was intrigued by the idea of having a party at our house and was very glad some of his friends got to come.

Griffin got a play doh set as a gift and Daddy broke it out for the kids to play with. They had a ball.

After the crowd thinned a bit Griffin entertained everyone with a redition of Jingle Bells and She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain.

After helping Nanny and Memaw decorate their trees, it was Griffin's turn to decorate at home.

Last Thursday we went to the nearby tree lot to pick out a tree. Griffin got to help us make the final selection. It was pretty warm, in the 40s, so we looked around for quite a while. Griffin was thrilled when the lot attendant gave him a fruit-flavored candy cane.

Griffin used his newly acquired ornament-hanging skills on our tree. It was a little harder to hang ornaments on a real tree however -- the branches were floppier.

Griffin continued his Thanksgiving tradition of getting sick, but luckily his only symptom was a fever that was Tylenol-controllable. So on Saturday we headed to the mall with hopes of getting the Santa picture (see earlier post for that photo). We were really surprised to get the Santa picture since Griffin had been telling us, basically since last Christmas, that he did NOT want to sit on Santa's lap.

Our Thanksgiving trip to see Mommy's family was lots of fun. We flew in and went to Aunt Stephie, Uncle Jad, Drew & Paige's house on Thanksgiving day. Normally we travel earlier, but we waited for Daddy's tenure vote (on Wed.), which was approved! (Still 2 more votes to go this year, but it's a great start.) Griffin was supposed to take a nap there, but he was too excited, so we let him play. Later in the afternoon we headed over to Nanny's for dinner.

Although his expression is a little confused, Griffin loved the ferry ride over to Nanny's. He kept asking to go back on the ferry boat.

We were very surprised that we were able to persuade Griffin to sit for a Santa picture the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Having Drew & Paige there made all the difference. He told Santa that he wantes gummy space shuttles for Christmas.

Griffin had a great Thanskgiving in St. Louis and Springfield. He had a wonderful time playing with his cousins Paige and Drew. Here they are all posing with their chocolate turkeys. More to come on the trip soon ..........

Griffin had fun seeing friends this week.

On Sunday Soma, Basil & Kadyn came over and Griffin was delighted to show Kadyn his train set.

On Wednesday Anna and Soma joined us for dinner at Chima. We were celebrating Daddy's "yes" tenure vote that day -- the first (and toughest) of three tenure votes he'll have this year.

When we left Griffin gave Anna a hug. He was very relieved that it was Anna our friend and not Ana the babysitter coming tonight.

Soma got a hug too!

We finally got around to raking up some of our leaves and Griffin had big fun jumping in the leaf pile.

Griffin has really been enjoying Music Together this session. He is mouthing along to the songs, dancing, and really enjoying playing the instruments. Here he is playing the cowbell with Daddy. He has also started singing the songs a lot at home.

Our neighbors Kelly, Jackie & Miss Karen came over the other day to play.

Griffin was thrilled that we would all play foosball. His version of the game mostly involves him setting things (toy helicopters, etc.) on the playing field and picking up the ball, but everyone was patient with him.