Things I like

G and B are home together since G has been fighting a fever for the past day or so. When I arrived at work, I had an email waiting for me from G entitled "The Things Griffin Likes about Mommy."

I like my Lunchables that she gets me.

I like all the books that she reads me.

I like that she cuddles with me at night.

I like that she still helps me put my shoes on the right feet.

I like that she buckles me into the car so I am safe.

I like the vitamins she gives me to stay healthy.

I the yummy food she always cooks me.

I like the snow man she helped me make.

I like that she helps me learn spanish at the Spanish Schoolhouse!

I like to sleep in her bed while she gets ready for work.

I like my mommy's, mommy.

I like that mommy is sooooo thin and pretty!

I like that mommy takes me places (sometimes far away)

I like the snacks mommy makes me!

Most of all, I just love you, MOMMY!!!!

Griffin

"I'm the Birthday Boy"

Wow! My boy is four! And he reminds me of this fact everyday. He was so excited that friends and relatives were coming to his birthday party, and he was excited about presents and swim party!

We had a John Deere themed party on his actual birthday. My friend Jennifer even made the cake for us, and it was perfect. I rented the clubhouse in the neighborhood so we could hang out, eat cake and swim afterward. It ended up being a perfect day, so we were blessed.

He invited some friends from his new school plus several family friends. There were 7 kids total, two friends of mine from my old work, plus his granddaddy and Bernice, Aunt Kelly, Zachary, my mom and my sister. It was a fun day.

We had a pinata where every child got three hits to the pinata. We had to enlist cousin Zachary, he's 11, to break that sucker open. It was tough! But the candy fell and it was every man for himself.

G was itching to open his presents. He came up to me and said, "I'm the birthday boy, and I say we get to open presents now." Wow. :) But he was able to wait until we got home.

After everyone left, Aunt Kelly, Zachary and the three of us had sushi. Not very kid friendly, but he was pretty eager to try several things.

All in all, we had a fantastic day and we are looking forward to more. Next up, I'll post a little yearly recap I like to do for him.

Music to Tame the Savage Beast

On Memorial Day, G and I invited our friends to see a concert with us at the Dallas Arboretum. The artist's name is Eddie Coker. He's apparently a popular performer all over the country but especially in the area. We braved the heat and found some shade under a nearby tree. The performer was really good. Lots of fun and very interactive with the kids. I should have known better to get the boys together. G and Graham had NO interest in listening to the concert. They would rather run in circles chasing each other in a nearby open area (in the sun.) They loved it though. Run free children!

After the concert, we were invited to their neighborhood pool to swim. Opening weekend equals mass chaos. It was fun though. We got home around bedtime. He was asleep in the car, of course. I took him inside, changed his clothes, and tucked him into bed. Ten minutes later, he was up. Oh no! Will he be up all night? He came downstairs and sat in my lap for a few minutes, got up and said, "Good night mommy. I'm going to bed." That was it. What a big boy.

Is he even mine?

I so badly want just a little bit of my son's looks, actions, pinky toe to look like/resemble me. He doesn't have to be my twin, but he can at least do something to remind me that he's mine. I did carry him for 9+ mo! LOL. Anyway, here's more proof that I'm just the mother ship that brought my husband's twin into the world. :)

Something more than scribbles

My son has never been a colorer. I hear stories of other people's children who sat in their highchairs at 18 months and colored while mommy made dinner, not mine. He's been running since 11 months old with not a lot of interest in coloring except for a few minutes here and there, so needless to say that I was almost in tears when G drew this for me during our "iced in day" out of the blue. It was something more than a singular scribble on a page or EVERY color in the crayon box rubbed all over the page to where everything is black.

A pretty, pretty rainbow!

Watch it wiggle

We've been in the mood for jell-o lately. So G and I have been making jigglers. So fun. We were "creative" the first time because I only had seasonal cookie cutters, so we made astronauts out of gingerbread men and then stars for a space theme. Then we bought hearts for Valentine's Day. A pan a jigglers never makes it back into the refrigerator after we cut them out. We devour them all!

Bonkers!

I took G to a place called Bonkers last night. It's so hard to explain, so I posted a pic. It's a two story warehouse where they built these play things made of parachute straps that you can climb on and inside are slides, bridges, and other fun things, etc.

The first time I took him he was only 15 mo. old and needed a lot of help to get around. That is my speed in this thing. Now he can run through it in a matter of seconds. Next time we need to invite a friend to go with him because mommy is not fast enough. Now he never complained, mind you, but he just kept saying, "Come on, mom." "I'm waiting for you mom." The height of the openings is such that he can just run through it, but I am on my hands and knees crawling the entire time. Not ideal for work clothes or jeans. Anyway, we were crawling over a bridge where these soft pylons were hitting us in the face, and G turned around in the middle of the bridge and said, "I love you mom!" And then just kept running. Too cute! Great bonding time, I guess. ;)

Dinosaurs Alive!

In the beginning of December, G and I went to an exhibit at a local museum called Dinosaurs Alive! They were animatronic and very realistic in every way. They made noise, moved their eyes, tails, arms - they did everything but walk! While G LOVES dinosaurs, this exhibits really frightened him, and actually it kind of scared me as well. They were so lifelike. He wouldn't get very close. The only animatronic dino he would touch was one that was broken. :)

The museum also had a petting zoo and a little zoo. He had a good time feeding billy goats, pot belly pigs and a donkey. They were pretty gross in mommy's eyes, so we headed back to the museum and scrubbed up. Ha! Ha! It was a good day, and we were thankful for the beautiful weather.

Christmas

Before the cruise, we opened presents. Santa was very good to us. G is a blessed little boy. Mamaw got G and B each a Coaster that you sit and ride on. I've seen them before at fairs. They can't wait to try them out!

He loves this costume

So I'm convinced he's going to be a broken down Elvis impersonator when he's 35 at some club off the strip in Vegas only because he was Elvis for Halloween when he was 3...just more therapy I will have to pay for.

Below are two videos I took this morning. He wanted to wear the full gear.

Fall

I LOVE Fall! I really do. I love the smells, the colors, the festivals, just everything about it. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of fall in Texas, but I take all that I can get. We went to a Greek festival last week and the State Fair of Texas on Friday. We bought mums last night and planted them. This is the first year for me to plant a fall plant, so I'm excited. G picked purple mums that have probably a hundred blooms that will open in the next week or so. They will be gorgeous.

This morning G and I decorated pumpkins. What fun! We will go to the local pumpkin patch next weekend.

G is 3!

So after all of the parties, presents, and soccer games my little boy is finally three years old. We had a quiet night with my sister (meme), another couple and their nineteen month old (E). It was a nice evening. I cooked a fancy dinner and what three year old dinner couldn't be complete without sangria! G had a great day and was pooped. Patches the cat has taken to love G and sleeps with him most nights. They are quite a pair. So sweet!

Awwwww!

Last night as I was tucking him in bed, he turned and looked at me with those sweet, innocent eyes and said, "Mommy, you are my best friend." Awwww, doesn't that just make your heart melt?

Now I shouldn't tell you that later he told Patches, the cat, the same thing. A mom will take what she can get, when she can get it. HA!

Honest is my son's best policy

We were entering Costco last night and G always has to show the Costco card to the greeter. He says very loudly, "That man (the greeter) has a big tummy!" Well, he did. It was true, and I know children are truthful. I don't know if the man heard, but we kept walking and didn't look back. We just talked about how we didn't talk about those things.

It's our fault because at home we tease daddy that he has a big tummy and we are always playing big tummy and little tummy with G.

Uggh. I know the time is coming when he will say something truly embarrassing. I'm just biding my time.