Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful (and busy) Christmas. We started the celebration on Sunday evening with dinner and presents at Pop and Chan's house.

On Christmas Eve, we went to church with my family and then to dinner with Matt's dad's side of the family. Here is Griffin on Great-grandmother Bebe's lap and reading with Great-Aunt Lacy.On Christmas morning, we stayed home and played with everything that Santa had brought. Griffin loves his new chair that Santa brought him.Then Weezy, Mamere, and Great-Grandad came over with more presents. A little while later, Mimi, Papaw Al, Aunt Holly, Uncle Jason, Harper, and Aunt Heidi also joined us for Christmas brunch. Griffin and Harper took a time out from the festivities and sat down in the hallway together.

After naps for Griffin and Harper, we went to Mimi's house for more presents. Griffin enjoyed climbing over the gift boxes almost as much as he enjoyed opening them to find out what was inside.

It was a full (but fun) couple of days. We are so lucky to have all of our family so close by that we are all able to get together without traveling (with the exception of Aunt Heidi who came in from Orlando where she is going to school).

Pictures with Santa

I'm behind on my blogging again--we actually took these on December 10th, the day after Griffin turned 18 months. He didn't cry when I sat him on Santa's lap, but he did have to check him out and make sure that he was okay.

Santa won him over with the book and he was content to stay in his lap...but he wouldn't smile for anything.

He never did smile while he was on Santa's lap. This is the only picture that captured a smile...and he didn't know Santa was peeking around the tree behind him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was another big day for Griffin. We went to Mimi's in the morning to have breakfast and watch the Macy's parade. The little ones had a ball playing together, especially with a rabbit pull-toy. Griffin would run in circles from the den, through the kitchen and dining room, and down the hallway, around and around and around, pulling the rabbit behind him. Harper kept chasing after him, squealing the entire time.

Our next stop was Aunt Patricia and Uncle Ralph's. Maya and Chance, two of Griffin's cousins, were there. Griffin loves to play with "big kids" so he was loving all of the attention from them.

Then we went to Weezy's house for dinner. Griffin's great-grandparents, Mamere and Grandad (Matt's names for them), spent the evening with us. Griffin enjoyed his first real Thanksgiving meal. He had a couple of deviled eggs (he loved scooping the yellow part out with his spoon, but he didn't want anything to do with the white part) and some sweet potatoes. He started out eating the sweet potatoes with a spoon but quickly decided that they were more of a "finger food."

It was a busy day, but we're thankful that all of our family is close so that we're all able to get together!

Thanksgiving Eve

I had the day off work, so Griffin and I spent the whole day together on Wednesday. We went to Long's Drugstore with Aunt Holly and Harper for a pancake breakfast. After we had finished eating and put the babies coats back on, Holly and I were paying the tip and gathering up our bags. I knew Griffin had gone over to the door and was looking out the window. The next time I looked over, he and Harper were sitting in opposite corners of the doorway. It was so funny that I had to run out to the car and grab the camera.

After breakfast, we took Griffin and Harper to class at The Little Gym. It was nap time after that so we headed home for a while. Once Griffin got up from his nap, he and I picked Mimi up from work and went to the Fantasy of Trees. Griffin's eyes got huge as soon as we entered the convention center and he saw all of the lights. I let him get out of his stroller and he climbed into a couple of the display areas--the ones with trains and stuffed animals were just too much to resist! I heard a couple of other parents comment to their kids that "you're not supposed to do that" but he was so cute that I couldn't help but smile (and take pictures!).

He went on his first carousel ride and was quite in awe when his horse started going up and down.

He did have a little meltdown while we were there, but having a cookie with Mimi fixed that.

Happy Halloween!

I know I'm a bit behind on my blogging, but life has been more than a little hectic lately. And even though I'm sure you're all out of Halloween mode and have moved on to thoughts of Thanksgiving and Christmas by now, I just had to share these pictures. Isn't this the cutest little pumpkin you've ever seen? Griffin's friend Wyatt (the jester) came over to trick-or-treat. We went to Aunt Holly and Uncle Jason's house so we could see Harper (the cow). On the walk over to Harper's house, we met up with Weezy who had a box of Teddy Grahams for Griffin.

After we left Harper's house, we stopped by to see Pop and Channa. Griffin is checking out the treats that "Chan" put in his treat bag.
Pop is acting like he's going to get Griffin--I doubt Pop could tickle him too well through the pumpkin costume, but it still made Griffin giggle.
Our final stop was at Mimi and Papaw Al's house. Griffin had fun sitting on the porch and watching all of the big kids who stopped by for treats. He also had fun riding his firetruck up and down the sidewalk and all around the house. Mimi also had some special treats for him--animal crackers and goldfish. What a night for a toddler!

Halloween Party

Griffin dressed up as a frog for the Halloween party at The Little Gym tonight.

He had a blast playing with "Weezy" (formerly Grandmother Debbie). I couldn't get a great picture because he wouldn't stay still long enough, but he was a very cute little frog!

Pumpkin Picking

On Tuesday night, we took Griffin to pick out pumpkins. Once he had his little pumpkin, he carried it all around while we looked for bigger ones to use for our jack-o-lanterns.