Compassion

I think one cool thing about having Griffin turn three is that you can get a better sense of what kind of person he will be someday. He is silly and loves to make jokes and make us laugh. Not that I get all of what he is doing. Like when he sings, "Yankee Doodle went to poopie riding on a potty". But I think it is pretty creative.

Anyway for some time now he has been concerned with the homeless people he sees off the ramp at the interstate. He calls them the "sad man" and the "sad lady". I had to explain awhile back that the "sad lady" may not have a home or a warm bed to sleep in. At night he adds her to his prayers and also says thank you to God for our house and his bed. When we pass the homeless people on the street, he always tries to think of what we can do to help them. It is very sweet and compassionate. The other day we did not see the sad lady at the ramp, and he said, "Oh good, the sad lady is happy now because she is at her house". We have brought bottled water for the sad lady before and I just need to remember to bring some food sometime. I know he would love to help her out.

Some Firsts

Here is Griffin all ready for the SEC game on Saturday. At the last minute he decide to accesorize with my shoes. Well they are cute...

There are some firsts going around at our house. One, Gray is finally getting his first tooth. So far it is just a really sharp edge, but after what seems like 4 months of teething, we are finally getting somewhere. And two, Griffin has learned to go potty standing up like a big boy. His aim is actually quite good (thank goodness) but he hasn't quite learned how to put the seat back down. I guess I am in for years of training in that area.

This past Sunday evening I took the boys to Create and Celebrate up at church. It is a family arts and crafts time followed by a worship service and dinner. It is the start of the Advent season. Brent had to be fly to Salt Lake City that afternoon, so I took the boys myself. Griffin and I had a great time doing the art projects together. Dinner went pretty well too. I was kind of worried about how to handle both of them on my own, but I had plenty of help and they boys were good. After dinner the boys got to visit with the Legendary Santa (also knows as "creepy looking Santa" for any non-Richmonders). Griffin told him that he wants Edward (a train) and some girl trains. Here is a video of the boys on Santa's lap.

Children's Museum

Last weekend we took both boys to the Children's Museum. They just recently added a dinosaur exhibit where you can ride on the dinosaurs or dig for fossils. They also have a dinosaur slide and you can hide it dinosaur eggs. Both boys had a great time and we got some cute pictures.

We love our doggie

For any of you who have met our dog wonder, Elvis, you know how skittish he is. He has come along way from the rescue dog we adopted 4 years ago. When we first got him, he wouldn't even take a treat from us and wanted little to do with us. Now he is a different dog. His favorite spot is on the couch curled up into a little circle, but he is also "playing" a little bit with the boys. If Griffin calls him to camp out under the dining room table, Elvis will usually jump off the couch and go hang out with him. Since it has gotten colder, we decided to break out Elvis' doggie jammies. He loves them. Gray really likes them too. I can't believe Elvis let Gray get a hold on him.

That's Bisgusting!

All of the sudden Griffin is changing the way he pronounces some words. Lately it seems that his Ds and even his Ms are becoming Bs. So we now have "bisgusting", "bessert", and "bosquito". He used to say them correctly but he is going for a new sound I guess. Another funny Griffinism is "banilla wipers" for Vanilla Wafers, and he loves "naple syrup" on his pancakes.





This morning in the car Griffin was talking about his Papa. Very sweet, I know. He is excited to see him for Christmas. But then he started talking about playing with Papa and his jeep. I am assuming this is Griffin's toy jeep since Papa does not have a jeep. Anyway he said that Papa "likes to spit on my jeep" to get the wheels clean. Apparently it makes him very happy when Papa gets the jeep clean. So Papa...are you really spitting on his jeep?





The boys got a fabulous electric Christmas train as an early gift from their Grandma and Grandpa. Both boys love watching it and would probably do so for hours. The train is very cool- it has real smoke that puffs out of the smokestack and the little eleves "work" to get the train to go. It is entertaining but very loud. Here is some video of this marvelous present that we are sure to enjoy for years to come.

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving! The celebration was a little different this year because we didn't travel and decided to just have Thanksgiving at home with the four of us. It was kind of quiet at times, but it was great to have the time together as a family. And it was definitely nice to have Brent home for a change without wondering when he was going to have to go back into work.

We had a few firsts for us- our first time to use our china (after 7 years we figured it was time) and our first time to cook Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice to just cook for a few people to get some practice before we would host for a bigger group someday. I decided to brine the turkey overnight since I had heard so much about that. It was relatively easy- you just soak the turkey in a solution of water, salt, brown sugar, sliced lemons and oranges, onions, and garlic. Then in the morning, you just roast the turkey as usual. We also made stuffing, squash casserole, Rachel Ray's green beans (very good), and pumpkin pie. There is still a ton of food leftover, but that is just how it goes. Griffin was very excited about eating turkey. He kept saying, "I never saw anything like this before. I love turkey".

While I was cooking, Brent and Griffin went outside and did some yardwork. We had a ton of leaves on our deck and in the backyard. Griffin had a great time jumping in the leaf piles (and Brent did too).

We had a little fun with Gray too. We are always in awe of his chunky thighs, so we put him in the roasting pan. It gives new meaning to "turkey drumsticks".

Here is some video of Gray trying (and somewhat succeeding) at crawling. He is reallly trying but he hasn't quite figured it all out yet. With a little determination, he can still make it across the room. I knew this would happen right around the time we had our Christmas tree and decorations up.

Happy Fall Ya'll

We have had a few days of beautiful weather. Not really Fall-like since we have had temps in the mid-70s. But it has given us another chance to play outside and just enjoy the beautiful weather. Gray is having a great time playing in the leaves. There is also a pic of both boys in their matching knit caps for this winter. It is hard to tell but they both have a plaid train on them.

Today Griffin had his preschool Thanksgiving program. He has been practicing some of the songs at home every morning. One of them is about an acorn and he is pretty good at this one. I am sending a video of him singing it. Check out his Indian Chief hat.