Category — Family Updates

The kids are growing up so fast and changing by the day.  Griff is hardly a baby anymore – he’s doing all he can to keep up with the big kids.  He’s running, talking, battling his siblings with light sabers, and showing early interest in potty training.  Here are some pictures I’ll tuck away for his wedding rehearsal dinner!  Picture #3 marks the historic “first potty fart.”  We’re so proud…

Yes, he worked for that little “toot.”

In the hysterical picture below, he positioned his favorite rag, affectionately known around here as “Ugly Guy", on his new little potty.  He thought that was hilarious, as did the rest of us. 

Even funnier though was the sound effects he provided – the next picture shows Griff making farting noises for Ugly Guy.  For a 14 month old, he has a funny little sense of potty humor.

As usual, I’m months behind on blogging.  We finally got a vacation 2 weeks ago and flew down to Florida to see our families – it was awesome – so I wanted to post a few iphone pictures and video clips.  The kids had a blast, we got to catch up with our parents and siblings, and Travis and I even got a date night.  Speaking of, we just realized our unofficial anniversary (our dating-versary) of 17 years just passed on Friday!!!  That’s craziness.  Anyway, a big highlight was that my brothers, Alex and Jeremy, were down there with us and got to meet Griff for the first time.  Jer took a job with an investment firm in Florida to be closer to family, so he lives about an hour from our parents “farm”, and Alex just flew in for the week from Louisiana, where he still works as an oil engineer (I forgot the fancy title).  Here are some good pictures / video highlights:

My brother, Jeremy, and an ice cream monster:

An epic light saber battle (Shane and George):

The “little” boys playing games at my dad’s new frozen yogurt shop (my dad has strange hobbies that all involve lots of work:):

Angela reading stories to the kids before bed:

Shane and his hero, Uncle George, at Playmobile:

My mom and Griffin:

Shane on Scribbles with Angela:

Jack’s favorite thing to do was collect the chicken eggs each day with Angela:

My dad and Finely, working around the stables:

Uncle Jeremy braids a goat’s goatee:

Uncle Alex and Aunt Nastia rockin’ out to JUST DANCE on the Wii, with Fin getting in on the moves in the background:

Uncle Jer reads a bedtime story:

I SUCK at blogging.  I just can’t seem to get back into a blogging routine.  I can’t even believe how long it’s been since I last updated.

It’s kinda like getting a little out of touch with a close friend, then more time goes by and the space feels enormous, then MORE time elapses and the idea of the phone call to reestablish touch seems overwhelming.  You build it up as if you need to carve out an entire night, so you keep looking for the perfect opportunity, and in the meantime, even MORE time passes.  You get the point. 

So, I’m just going to write like normal and not feel like I have to go back and rehash everything I sucked at documenting the first time around.

My kids are challenging yet incredible, my life is full, my job is amazing but ridiculously demanding, and my husband is my rock.  Our Christmas was fantastic – we spent it with Travis’ family and our dear friends Chris & Emily (and their girls, Nova and Juneau).

Writing letters to Santa the night before Christmas:

Jack got the goldfish he begged Santa for:

Fin got a freakin puppy in place of the coal she really deserved (a puppy who is Henny’s 1/2 brother):

And Shane has slept with his “light saver” ever since he tore the package open (of all his gifts, the cheapest, simplest one is always the winner with him). 

And Griff was cute as cute could be, even in spite of being sick on Christmas Eve.  He was in a bit of a daze with all the commotion Christmas morning:

This is Henny’s little brother, Fritz:

I love this picture of Heather:

More recent:

Someone’s gonna have to teach this dog how to walk!

I’m about to pass out – GI bug been ripping up this place for ~2wks now and I’m TIRED from the lack of sleep.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!  I’ll write more later…

Pronounced “Al-a-va-fa-ma.” 

n. 1) Utopia 2) A place where unicorns exist and lakes are made of chocolate 3) An alternate universe in which your parents answer “yes” to requests for twizzlers 100% of the time.

Not surprisingly, Finley has been living in fantasy land.  She has named it “Alavafama.”  According to Finley, both Halloween AND Christmas are celebrated every single day in Alavafama.  She has tons of cats and kittens there, even her most special one named Filipe, and she gets to eat candy pretty much constantly.  But the best part is her very agreeable mom who lives there.  We hear about Alavafama so often that the boys even talk about it with her.  I think she’s honestly made them jealous that she gets to go there all the time (in her crazy little noggin). 

Hope yours was as fun as ours!

The most amazing part about Griff eating his first lollipop is that he had claws for hands – we put that thing in his mouth and he somehow ate the WHOLE thing without it ever once falling out, and without using any hands.  I think he liked it!

These are a few weeks old.  Griffie just turned 11 months old – I can’t believe how fast his babyhood has gone.  Makes me sad.

Homeschooling is going really well, overall.  I can’t believe how good we have it, actually.  Our kids are thriving, their teacher is creative and proactive, and their classmates are such great little buddies for my kids.  It’s been a hugely positive thing from a self-esteem angle, especially for Shane with regards to academics and Jack with regards to social stuff. 

The 1st real trouble we’ve hit…drum roll please…would be with Finley.  Big surprise.  So she has a lying problem, who doesn’t.  But the real trouble is her constant need to push the limits and test everyone’s reactions all the time.  This morning started off badly when she walked into the kitchen and screamed at Travis: “Hurry up and make my breakfast, you RAT!”  To her defense, I think she heard that line from a move, although I cannot recall which one (I just can’t imagine even her little devil mind came up with that on its own).  Travis sat her down and gave her a SERIOUS talking to.  He then ordered she NEVER talk that way again, especially to grown-ups like himself or me, then also named the nanny and the teacher.

After school today, the teacher asked for a moment to meet with Travis.  She proceeded to tell him that Finley did something naughty and was put in timeout at school today.  Finley then said “I’m not going to timeout, you idiot!”  Our teacher was telling Travis this in shock, as if she expected Travis to be equally appalled and shocked (which he pretended to be, but secretly was not at all).  Finely was then given a school timeout and brought upstairs to Deb  (the nanny).  As soon as Deb said something to Finley about being disappointed to hear she’d talked like that, Finley responded with “shut up Miss Deb!” 

Holy fucking shit.  Where the hell did my kid get a mouth like that?!!  But seriously.  I blame Disney movies for words like that.  If it were the F bomb, I’d own it, but it’s way worse than that.  I’m making light of this, but truly, we have a very large 27lb problem on our hands.  It’s honestly like every now and then this adorable little sweetheart has this poltergeist moment when her head spins and she turns demonic.

I got home from work tonight and had heard all the drama, so I also sat her down for a good talking to.  I held her in my arms and rocked her as I told her how much I hope she doesn’t get suspended from school.  She is currently on probation and another offense will land her suspended for 1 day, and we’ll make sure that’s a fun field trip day.  I don’t like playing Principal, but someone’s gotta do it. 

And here she is in the picture below, making her big brother help her slip on her princess shoes. 

Shane makes the most hysterical “funny face.”  Here’s our little class clown:

It’s funny to watch the boys lately – their relationship has taken on such a typical brother-brother dynamic.  They are all about wrestling, sword fighting, and intentionally irritating the heck out of each other.  They are still very affectionate too though and will hug and kiss one another almost as often as they bop each other:) 

Shane and Finley are truly the best of friends.  They watch out for each other and are just so sweet together.  Don’t get me wrong, Jack is their 3rd musketeer, and Shane and Finley adore him, but Jack is just such an introspective kid and always processing things on a different level – there’s a depth to him that I don’t think Fin and Shane get.  He’s also not a follower and isn’t very good at playing someone else’s game (it always has to be them playing his game).  That works out most of the time, since Finley and Shane would follow the pied-piper off the edge of a cliff (which is something we need to work on, obviously).  Jack, on the other hand, would complain the Pied-piper wasn’t doing what he wanted him to, and Jack would just go his own way.

One of his many nicknames (Guy-Guy is what Jack calls him 80% of the time).  He also answers to My Little Synophrys (the medical term for unibrow:), Griffie-doh, Griffindor (Gryffindor from Harry Potter), Doh-Doh (adapted from Griffie-Doh), Griffers, etc. 

I can’t believe how fast his babyhood is going (and has gone!).  The past 10 months have been a blur; in many ways it feels like MUCH more time than that has passed, and in other ways, it feels like I’ve barely blinked.  Well, here’s Griff, doing his new thing:

Here he is waving.  Or signing milk.  I can’t remember now; it’s all context-dependent!

Doing his happy piggy snort:

We still have no clue who this kid looks like. So much for that olive-skinned baby we saw come out.  Remember that kid?

Turns out we made a baby who could almost pass for having oculocutaneous albinism!  Travis refuses to admit Griff has some cinnamon-colored highlights, but when the sun hits just right (or I adjust the Lightroom settings just so), there is a very subtly hint of it.  It’s funny because we used to jokingly ask each other when we were pregnant, “are you sure there’s no MC1R mutation in your gene pool?”  Turns out (apparently), we were both lying since red hair is a recessive trait!  Hahaha!  I do love this precious little face, it’s just the temper I could do without.  Turns out he’s a LOT like his big sister, just less affectionate!  But he sure has the sweetest little face and I LOVE those big blues.

Anyway, he’s a demanding but very fun baby.  He’s very playful and laughs along with the kids no matter how over his head the joke is!  He’s SO snuggly with his daddy, not so much with his mommy, but he does still like to nurse – I’ll take what I can get.  He eats EVERYTHING, and has since he was ~6 months old.  Of all meals though, his favorite is ribs!  He also likes spicy foods, even buffalo wings.  He’ll eat veggies like they’re going out of style too though, including kale and the other deep greens.  I can’t believe he’s only 10 months old sometimes.

I can’t believe my “little” boy turned 10 months old today.  He took his first steps earlier this week, on Monday, when my grandparents were visiting.  Here he is pushing Finley around in a cart. 

The kid is a TANK.  He’s pretty much polar opposite in build to his sister, who is the most petite human being on the planet, but he happens to be very similar to her in personality, determination, and, unfortunately, now also has her dislike for sleep as well as her demanding personality.  So much for “easy going.”  I misjudged Finley the same way until she was about this age.  Strike two.  Jack and Shane are SO good with him, and he follows his siblings everywhere.  I have a feeling he’ll be able to keep up sooner than we’d hoped.

I don’t have much time to write this week, but wanted to share that my grandparents (my dad’s parents) were just out here visiting us for a week.  It was so wonderful to get that time with them – for me and Trav, and for our kids.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful families who make these enormous efforts to be with us and our kids, and who are so tremendously helpful too!  One of these days I’ll catch up on posting some pictures, although I haven’t taken many lately due to camera problems.