The season for Birthdays!!!

For those keeping track, Jensen just had a birthday in October, Griffin's is in November and Marinne's is in December. It's a very busy time for us!

(and obviously, you can see that Big Daddy and I must be super amorous in the Spring...just like the woodland animals!! Hee hee hee!!)


So, this child had his Sixth Birthday in mid-November.Logan made him this birthday cake...it was a layered cake and it didn't work out so well.
(at least it tasted good!)


Some facts about Griffin at 6 years old....
...He's 75%-ile on weight and height.
...He is funny, always keeping us laughing.
...According to his Kindergarten teacher, he's absolutely perfect!
(exactly where he needs to be in school!)
...He has a crush on Miss Anderson, his Kindergarten teacher.
...He has a wild imagination for story-telling!
(He told me he had a substitute teacher one day because Miss Anderson bazooka barfed in the computer lab and had to go home....that DID NOT happen!
But, believe you me, his story was quite convincing!)
...His favorite color is green. Especially bright green.
...His favorite food is pizza.
...He is a *FANTASTIC* KID!!!!!!!


Make a wish, Big 6 Year Old! The birthday hat came from Miss Anderson at school!



The cake gets the big *thumbs up* from Griffin!!

Max

On the weekend before Griff's birthday, his teacher sent him home with Max and a giant backpack full of fun things for him to do. There was a journal, which we had been instructed to fill out about Max's adventures with Griffin.

There was also books along w/ read-along tapes. And a book of Science experiments to try out. So, we set out making the plans for the weekend w/ Max.

We decided first to try a Science experiment. Griffin picked one with apples.
We were to take an apple and cut it into pieces. We made a chart to place them on. One apple was supposed to be left alone. One was to be sprinkled with water. And the last one, we were to sprinkle with lemon juice. Then, we were to check the apples in 3 hours. And then, in 12 hours. So, we did the first one a dinnertime and checked it at bedtime and there was very little change. Except the apple left alone was just barely brownish.

Then, in the morning, we checked them all again. The apple left alone was completely brown, the one with water was slightly browned and the one in lemon juice was still almost completely perfect. Then, we talked about why it would be this way.
Griffin thought this was so cool!!! On Saturday, Max got to ride in the car so we could go to Chuck-E-Cheese as part of an early birthday celebration.

I think it's safe to say, Max really enjoyed himself!!! When we left CEC, we went to Toys R Us because they had sent him a giftcard for $3.00. So, of course, Griffin picked a giant box of Nerds candy.They gave him a birthday crown and a balloon to wear while doing his shopping.
So, this worked out well for when we were having him look around to make his birthday list of things he wanted. (it was a good thing his real birthday was still a few days away! We had some major shopping to do!!!)

When we got home, we had a tired boy and a tired bunny!! Goodnight Griffin and Goodnight Max!!

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Griffin and Max were going to read/listen to the books on tape...which seemed like a good idea, until the tape player ate the cassette tape.
(Now I remember why CD's and IPod's are AWESOME!!!!)
So, Griffin kinda freaked out, but I told him I'd offer to pay for the tape so Miss Anderson could get a new one and then he was happy.

All in all, I think Griffin and Max had a great weekend!!!!

another Griffin funny....

So, we are having Pasta Frigole' (that fancy soup from O. Garden)
and when Griffin asked what we having for dinner, I told him.

He looked at me disgusted.

And asked for.....

"SLOPPY JONES" for dinner.


(aside from that just being cute....we've only had this once.
And they all hated it and wouldn't eat it. Go figure!)

Gosh...I love this kid!!!

Isn't he hilarious?!?!!? I think so!


I'm dying my grey hair.....and he just said, "What stinks in here?!?!!!" So, I say, "Oh, that would be my hair."

So Griffin says, "Well, it smells like toilet wash!!!"

UMMMMM.....
...thanks a lot!!


I love my JOB!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes.....

Oh. My.

HOT DOG?!?!?!?!?!


One of my pet peeves is using the Lord's name in vain.

I just don't like it.

I will 99.9% of the time say

Oh. My. Gosh.

or

Oh. My. Goodness.

or

some other spin on that.


So, today Griffin is looking out the window and he says....

Mom!
Oh. My. HOTDOG!!!!
Look at the............(finish story only exciting to 4yr. old here!)


How funny is that?!?!


At least he didn't use the Lord's name in vain!!!

Our Morning Ritual....

When our little Princess started getting up at 7am, even on the weekends, we started bringing her into our bed. Well, 6 months later, this is our everyday ritual. Now that school is back in session, it's hard to spend as much time doing this. But, especially on the weekends, we are able to really be lazy and slow about getting up. And we love it!

We share a lot of silliness, tickles, love and laughter.

And sometimes Griff will join us, too!!!



After all these years, there's still a lot of love here!

{My Little Student}




So, Griffin started Pre-K this week. Here he is w/ his
backpack in tow, ready to head to the preschool.

Here my big boy is in front of his school. It's a private school. It was the best I could find.....it's a NAEYC Accredited school. (this is like Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa that I used to teach at --and like Savannah Country Day) I was teaching at Riverfield while we were going thru the accreditation process. As a teacher, I remember exactly how strict and stringent the requirements were to receive this accreditation. So, I feel certain that this Pre-K program will be able to provide Griffin with an excellent environment for
his learning and educational and social growth this year. (I only wish we could afford to send Marinne, as well.
She really wants to go to school, too!!
So much so, she beat Griffin to the door!!!)


Once he was in the door, he headed straight down
the hallway to his classroom.

I was so proud of how "big" he was! He went straight to the door and after a final kiss and a hug from Mommy, he went right in. If he hadn't been to school before, this one final look would have sent me running to this.....

I thought this was a very nice touch! (man, I love this school!)


But, alas, I was too worried about getting home in a hurry to get THIS PRINCESS

home for her nap!! Due to the Pre-K schedule, it's throwing a monkey wrench into Marinne's very long napping schedule. (She's used to taking a 3+ hour nap, from like 1pm till after 4pm every day!) And now we don't get her in bed till about 1:15pm and I have to wake her at 3:15pm to run back to the preschool and pick up Honey. (Have I ever told you that's what she calls Griffin? She almost never calls him Griffin, it's always Honey.)

Poor baby girl is so disoriented when I rush in and wake her, but she actually seems to be taking it all in stride. She will take her paci and throw it in her bed and smile and say,
"Go get Honey now?"


And, we do.

Signs of Spring....

Caterpiller!

Looooove this pic!

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Isn't this sweet?

This is our Redbud tree from in front of our house. Isn't it beautiful?

I've really enjoyed being able to look at it from our formal living room. It's directly out our big front window.

And look what we found while studying the tree....

A Robin's nest......
so Jensen climbed the tree and discovered we had 3 eggs. (yes, I made sure he didn't touch!)

And just this week........
we have 3 BABIES!!!

(photo by Jensen.... sorry the pic isn't great, but in his defense, he was hanging 7 feet off the ground and trying to take the pic!!)

Lookee what we did yesterday....

What do you get when you take 2 parents, throw them into 80 degree weather w/ 4 kids hovering underfoot, working for almost 11 hours straight on an $750 apperatus that says in the instructions, estimated time for assembly 3-6 hours?

Our rockin' new playset for the kids!!!!

This thing is AWESOME!!! It has 2 swings, a disc swing, a pirate ladder, a sandbox, 2 rock walls, a slide, a periscope, a steering wheel and a clubhouse w/ the sunshade!! It looks so fun, shoot, I wanna play on it!!!!

Griff and Marinne had to try it out!!!

While Ike and I were building, we realized that the entire time we lived in Savannah, we never, ever sat in our back yard. Not once. The mosquitoes are just tooooo bad!!!

(Editor's Note: I think the instructions were meant to say 3-6 days.... 'cause that's how long it felt like it took to built that thing!!!!)

And, while I was taking the pictures....I realized I hadn't really shown much of our new house. So here ya go.....

Here is a shot from out near the swing set.....showing our tri-level deck/patio off the back of the house. The top level has a built-in gas grill and a beautiful view (see later pics...) Then, you go down the stairs to the pool deck, then finally down the stairs to the covered patio.

Looking from the upper deck down to the pool.


Another view off the top deck....beautiful!

Looking from the bottom patio, out to the swingset and to the left, up to the pool. In case you can't tell, our yard is HUGE!!! And, this is only one half of the backyard. (the other side is a little smaller, but still sizable.)

Did Nebraska EVEN show up to this game?!

Sorry, Lori....but Nebraska sux!! (Lori is my sister-in-law and she grew up in Nebraska. So, being rivals, we have been having friendly disagreements about just whose teams are better for about 15 years. Usually these disagreements have been based on Oklahoma State vs. Nebraska or University of Oklahoma vs. Nebraska --and admitedly sometimes her team wins -- but it's way fun way to tease her about being a Cornhusker! Seriously? A cornhusker?? (What kind of mascot is that anyway?! Is that supposed to seem Strong? Athletic? Farmy?)

Well, now there's a new team in town.....KU....and KU killed Nebraska! Just take a look at the final score on the scoreboard. (does anyone think this is just a little fancy for a college basketball game? Because I was super impressed!)

For our first taste of the "crazy" known as KU basketball....it was FUN! Griffin was sooo cute! He clapped and yelled. Jensen was a little more reserved, but still enjoyed the action. (of course, he has to be "cool" in case some cute 8 yr. old girl is watching....)

So, here is what I learned.....

1. If you are late....people WILL steal your seats! But me, being the bad-a$$ I am....said, "these are OURS....we have seats 1, 2, 3 and 4 to this guy as big as Ike, who seemed irritated from the moment we walked up the bleachers." Too bad sucker....those seats are OURS! Get over it dude.....and get your own darn seats! I hate people who do that!!!! Annoying!!!

2. These people are nuts about their "game." The place was packed. I mean wall-to-wall people and it was hot in there!! I can't imagine people having the "need" to do this almost every weekend. I think I would much prefer to catch the game on my big screen tv from under my new faux-fur throw that Carla sent me!!

3. The Kansas t-shirt store led me astray. Maybe she didn't know any better.....maybe she was a K-State fan and thought it was funny. I don't know. But she should have told me to buy BLUE shirts. Apparently, KU FANS wear BLUE on GAME DAY!!! I even saw many BLUE KU shirts that actually say..."KU - GAME DAY SHIRT."

Check out the pic....see the sea of BLUE?! How could she sell me a grey shirt and a red shirt for myself and Ike?!

For heaven's sake....the Nebraska uniforms were red!!!! I'm wearing the OTHER TEAM COLOR!

I don't think our plan of going undercover as KU fans worked out like we planned!

4. Did you know that a college basketball game is only 2 periods long of 20 minutes each? I sure didn't. (well I may have in college, but who can remember back to then??) Thank goodness... we were late. Then, there was an intermission with mountain bike stunt riders. And still, but 4 1/2 minutes into the 2nd period....Griffin and Jensen were both already getting bored. Poor Griffin wanted popcorn, but at $10 for a small bucket (prices worse than the movie theatre) I just could not justify it. But, we promised him a treat as soon as the game was over. (maybe that's why he wanted to get out of there?!?!)

5. I've got the cutest KU family EVAH!!!! Check out these cutie-cute pics.....

The KU Family

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