Griffy's first haircut!

Griffin had his first haircut today - at 15 1/2 months! And it was compliments of his daddy! Here are a few pictures of it...bye bye baby whispies and hello little boy!

Itching for Spring!

We had an absolutely beautiful morning today...and it has us all itching for springtime! the kids and i both get a little stir crazy when we can't get out to run around at some point during our day - but freezing cold or rainy weather obviously prevents that. this morning it was near 70 and sunny so we had an outside play date and a picnic at the Likes. it was a good change of activity for everyone and gets me excited for the months to come!

Haley's Lingerie Shower

We had a lingerie shower and a girls night out / bachellorette party for Haley while we were home as well. Lots of fun and lots of cute stuff. We had the shower at mom's and then went to a dueling piano bar afterwards. I must admit that i am pooped - we stayed out late and my dear griffy was up at 5:45 the next morning!!!

get ready joel, she's armed!!

at Red Sky

haley's performance

Can't wait to see everyone in 3 weeks for the big day!!!

Haley's Shower

Haley had her atlanta bridal shower this past weekend. the kids and i were home wed-sun and enjoyed our time there. avery got to go to haley's shower (while big daddy watched griffin) and she thought she was big stuff! she played shy at first and wouldn't talk to anyone and wouldn't let me put her down, but when some of her 2nd cousins arrived, she immediately got down and branched out. the shower was fun and haley got some good loot!





hailes and myself






haley and all the girls





ann and crystal




aunt hailes

this pic is on twice but i can't figure out how to delete it!

Kangazoom!

its been almost a week since i've posted, but we are still alive! brent and i both had a stomach bug the first half of the week so i was out of commission! but he's better and i'm almost back to normal now...

the kids and i drove down to ATL yesterday for a few days. we have 2 showers for aunt hailes on saturday so we wanted to make the best of our travel time by staying a few extra days! we met my lifelong friend (literally friends since birth) Lindsay Dye Markus and her little guy Bryce who is almost 10 months old at a "bounce-house" type place today called kangazoom. the kids had a blast climbing and falling and rolling around. i think we need to purchase one and keep griffin in it until he 2! his poor little noggin would appreciate it! today, he would climb up something, purposefully fall off, and then just lay there and belly-laugh! i enjoyed the short but precious time catching up with lindsay.

griffin and bryson

trying to keep his balance

having a "ball"

what a big girl!!

Happy Valentines!

We had a little Valentine's party today at our house with Avery's 2 best friends (Caroline and Carter) and Griffy's best buddy (Creighty). Avery and I made heart shaped cookies last night - she LOVES making cookies - she talked about it all day and had a blast doing them. Its a major mess, with flour and dough everywhere, but her excitement makes it worth it! She loves to do it all herself (she is my child) - cracking the egg, stirring up the batter, using the rolling pin, and of course the cookie cutters!

Before lunch, we let the girls have their hand at decorating the cookies. It was really funny to watch their personalities come out - Avery was wide open with sprinkles everywhere and in piles on her cookies, Carter only wanted frosting because the sprinkles were too messy, and Caroline was very detailed and particular when she did hers. They all loved it.

After lunch we took the cookies outside and let everyone eat and play for a while. We've had weather in the 65-75 range all week so its been wonderful! Great weather for sand, sidewalk chalk, and bike/wagon rides.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

15 months

Dear Griffy -

you are 15 months old already! where have the days gone? We had your MD apt today and you weigh 23 lbs, 5 oz and are 30 1/4 inches long. both measurements are around the 30 percentile but your big ole noggin is close to the 97th!!! Dr. Cooley was impressed with your mischievous smile and your wild self as your ran around the room. she also promised not to turn me in for all the bruises and the scrape on your forehead. (while on the subject of the MD visit, I must add that Avery begged both the doctor and the nurse for a SHOT - a bandaid didn't cut it, she wanted a shot too!)

you are such a sweet boy but very wild. you love to climb on any and everything. i have walked into the room numerous times to find you standing on top of the little choo choo or in avery's shopping cart. thankfully you can't shimmy into chairs or the couch yet. you continue to keep a bruised forehead and have at least 1 good fall a day. I am thankful that your wild side is balanced out by a lovey side. you love to cuddle when you wake up for 5-10 minutes before doing anything. and you "check in" with me throughout the day by running to me and offering a hug and a very loud kiss, then returning to whatever you were playing with. i'm glad you are a snuggle bug!

you have finally started waving "bye-bye" and blowing kisses but are still not saying anything in english! you'll repeat things on occasion but overall, your vocab consists of mama, dada, hi/hey and "ba" (ball). you absolutely love your sister and think that anything she does is hysterical. you play well with each other (a lot of the time) and have started making up games together. your latest trick is to grab something of avery's and take off running, looking over your shoulder and laughing as she chases you! too funny!

you are a joy in our lives wild man! we love you...