Smile

What makes Griffin smile this big?

Playing school with his big sister.

It's a win win situation. Griffin loves the attention and Sunny has a captive audience.

I love this one. He has such joy on his face. They usually play school together every day. Mostly it is Sunny reading books and Griffin "talking" really loudly back to her. She likes to pretend she is teaching him to read.

How cute is that smile? I can't get enough!

He is precious!

Family Home Evening -- Week 9

This is how adorable little Griffin looked during FHE last night. He has such kissy cheeks.

Ryan, I know you won't like yourself in this one, but I liked the look on Griffin's face. Look how chubby he is!

Lila and Griffin were snuggling on the couch. They are so sweet and love each other so much. The problem is that Griffin is only a few pounds smaller than Lila, and she really can't hold him anymore.

This week most of us are on the mend. Poor Jax would be the main exception though. He is feeling pretty yucky and has been having problems with coughing and with his ears. Sunny still has a yucky cough, Lila still has a runny nose, and Griffin is still coughing and has a runny nose. At this point I think my kids will never all be healthy again. But I'm hopeful that some warm weather might help the situation a little bit. Regardless, they are better than last week, and I'm grateful for that.

On to FHE. This week we talked about Reverence. This was very easy for them and they knew all about it. Sunny demonstrated how to NOT be reverent and then Jax showed us the correct way. Lila provided a first hand look at what NOT to do during the prayer (laughing and jumping) and the kids got a kick out of trying to correct her.

For our activity we sang some of the kids favorite primary songs while they took turn using stop and go signs. It was pretty funny and the kids loved it.

I'm glad we are actually having FHE, but I am feeling a little discouraged with the quality. I'm trying to cut myself some slack while we are not feeling well, but I really want to do better. Any ideas for some fun activities?

Update to the "Seecrit Work"

Jackson came home today with his trusty notebook. He said he had taken it out to recess to work on the mystery. This is what they came up with today.

Clue #1 Jacob said he saw a Bear fighting a Bobcat in the winter.
Clue #2 Brianna's sisters friend said she saw a Bobcat out there.

Here is the list of clue's or things they were looking for today:

leg bone

tress on the ground

smock (smoke)/fog
dear heart
stinky leg
bobcat sadow (shadow)/bobcat fighting bear

It takes all I have not to laugh or smile while we are talking about this. He is so serious, and I play along with it. This is so stinkin' cute! What a funny kid I have.

I'll let you know the answer to this mystery when they solve it.

Seecrit Work

I couldn't pass up this opportunity to share with you the world of Jackson. I'll try to explain quickly. Tuesday after school Jax came home and said he had some important business to work on in the basement and nobody was allowed down there. He worked for about an hour and then came up clutching these 4 papers. He wouldn't show them to anyone. I have begged and pleaded for 3 days and he finally gave in and showed them to me and told me the story that goes with them. I won't be able to tell it as good as he did,but I'll try.

It all starts with this: He and his two friends Caitlyn and Rochelle are in a little mystery solving club. They have solved lots of mysteries together, but this one will be the last because the mysteries are getting "too creepy". When asked what other mysteries they had investigated he thought for a minute and said, "The one with the footprints, and this one. So just two"

This mystery is that there are some deer bones at the edge of the playground at school and they are trying to figure out what killed it and how the bones got there. The first picture is all the clues they have.

1 foot
1 stick
1 bone
3 kids
seecrit work
(you get the picture)

At the bottom it says "How did the deere die?"

Picture #2 says "how did it's bone get their?"

#3 says "What cild (killed) it?" Then it is a picture of a tooth and says "sharp teeth"

This last picture says "Why was it by the scool?!!"


After he told me about the "mystery" we talked about it and I tried to plant some answers in his mind, but I could see that he had already thought about and dismissed most of those ideas as wrong. They are going to work on it today and he will let me know how it turns out!

Hilarious!
(This is all very top secret and serious, so don't tell him you know, and definitely don't laugh)

p.s. The answer to the first mystery about the footprints on the playground, according to Jackson and Caitlyn and Rochelle, is...A Coyote!

Sunny...Again!

Sunny came down this morning for school and informed me of two things: we needed to take her picture before school, and she only wears long dresses/tops with jeans now.

I told her I would take her picture today, but not every morning. (She so reminds me of you Aunt Jess :)

About the whole outfit thing...I don't know where she is getting this from. But she wanted me to take all the long tunic type tops and from the top bar of her closet and put them on the bottom bar so she can get to all of them herself. She says that is all she will wear (and leggings when it is warm) because she likes them. She also hasn't let me do her hair all week. If you've noticed it's a bit scraggly that is why. She is washing it and brushing it, but it is so long and thin that it is very hard to do. I'm going to try to get her to cut it if she wants to keep taking care of it herself so it might look a little better.

Sunny has such a "different" personality. I can't explain it except to say she definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer! I love it.

6 Month Check Up

Finally went in for Griffin's well baby check up this morning (kind of ironic to call it that, don't you think?!?)

I took just him and Lila since the big kids were in school. First of all, Lila was hilarious! She was so good it was amazing. She walked by herself the whole time w/out holding my hand. She talked to all the nurses and the doctor and she wasn't scared to be there at all! She held Griffin for most of his appointment, and was just a joy!

(I was also worried about taking her potty b/c I had so much stuff to carry, but she was great and went before we left and didn't have to go again. I love her being potty trained.)

Griffin was in a great mood too. It made the whole trip much easier. The bad news is that his ear that he was on antibiotics for is still not better, and the other one has actually gotten infected too. So that means more and stronger antibiotics for him. I'm so NOT thrilled about that. (I don't think I've ever shared my opinions on antibiotics - or medicine in general - on the blog before, and I probably won't, but lets just say I'm not a fan of them) Hopefully he'll finally get well soon.

Here are his latest stats:

Head -- 16.75 inches -- 12th% (up from the 7th :)
Length -- 27 inches -- 59th% (down from the 65th)
Weight -- 17 pounds 2 ounces -- 32nd% (down from the 40th%)

So, he is growing great. He is lots bigger than both girls, and almost identical to the size that Jackson was. I really like that b/c I feel like now I see that even though Jackson had problems and was born a pound and a half smaller than Griffin, he must have caught up quickly and been really healthy!

Also, I feel like Griffin is a pretty big kid. He is a good size, but it is only the 32nd%. So, no offense to anyone, but "Where are all the monster kids?" I can't imagine a 6 month old much bigger than Griffin, but they must be out there somewhere! (Along the same lines, I know where all the tiny kids are, so I'm not just singling out big kids. The tiny ones would be my 35 pound 5 1/2 year old and 24 pound 2 year old :)

So, that is all then news on Griffin. He is great, we love him tons, wouldn't trade him for the world!

Fashion Designer In The Making

l

This is what makes Sunny so fabulous. She had 5 dollars that Nana had given her for Valentine's Day. Usually we just save money that the kids get, but they are starting to want to keep and and decide what to do with it themselves. We told the big kids they could use this 5 dollars for whatever they wanted.

Last night Sunny and I were at Walmart and she was looking at all the aisles and trying to decide what to get. First it was an alarm clock, but then we walked by the clothing section. They had lots of racks of clothes for 5 dollars. She was hooked. She spent forever going over each item and trying to decide what she wanted.

I was a little bit surprised when she picked this dress. It is just a hot pink shirt with a black jumper over it and is a size 7/8 (so quite a bit big for Miss Sunny). But, she wanted it and it was her money, so I let her get it. Little did I know she had a plan in mind. She came downstairs for school this morning in her new ensemble. The dress, with jeans underneath, and pink and black leopard print shoes. The pictures aren't so great, but it actually works and looks cute. She is so original.