we heart our aunt sam

Sam graduated from nursing school in August and went for a while without a job [she now is a nurse at Sunrise Hospital].  But going from jam-packed busy to

B O R E D was not an easy transition.  One day she decided she needed a project.  Only an amazing aunt would think of her nieces and nephews first!  She found an idea for a house/tent online and without any real sewing experience, decided to make TWO of them.  One for Abbie/Daisy and one for Nate/Ryan. 

Ours is a pirates cave and it’s AWESOME.  Both boys [and all little visitors] love this thing.

 

Seriously aunt sam, you rock.

[and Aunt Ali sewed us a great crayon holder that rolls up.  We love that thing, too.  Good thing my sisters can sew!]

christmas eve & christmas day

We had a great Christmas this year.  Every year gets a little more exciting as Nate gets older.  He was so fun to watch this year!

CHRISTMAS EVE

We went over to my parents for dinner – a Mexican feast.  We did a mexican feast last year and while that may seem strange – it’s pretty tasty!  Just as we finished up dinner, we heard some bells ringing outside and a knock on the door from Santa Claus.  This is the second year in a row he has managed to squeeze in a Marz visit on Christmas Eve! 

Nate was pretty stoked when he realized who was at the door so he ran to answer it and gave Santa a big hug.

The kids each took a turn sitting on Santa’s lap and Santa gave them each one present.

[a tired baby ryan does not like santa.  he loved him on our first visit to santa!]

sam’s good friend stephanie joined us on christmas eve and for part of christmas day!

We all headed home after dessert to get ready for Santa’s big visit that night.

 

CHRISTMAS DAY

Nate & Ryan gave us a great present . . . about 25 minutes of extra sleep in the morning!  It was great – all of the Christmas Eve fun wore them out.

Nate was so excited it was Christmas and Wes & I loved watching his reactions to everything.

Santa’s delivery to the boys:

our tree on christmas morning.  it was looking pretty bare until a very nice box filled of fun gifts arrived from grandma & grandpa G. on Christmas Eve – that filled it right up!  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa G!

Nate was THRILLED!  He not only loves his stuff – but Ryan’s, too!

It was fun having Ryan this year for his FIRST christmas!

We had waffles for breakfast and Nate played with his toys while Ryan took a snooze and then we went over to my parents house to exchange gifts with the Marz family.  It’s always fun to have everyone around to open gifts together.  We had a yummy lunch and then everyone went on their merry way either back home or to a movie.  While Wes was at the movie Nate and I curled up on the couch and watched Mickey Christmas Carol.  He couldn’t wait for the movie to end so he could play with all of his superhero stuff!

[Something to remember: Nate specifically asked Santa for a tool bench, batmobile & a batcave [and at the end threw in a pretend candy cane and a frog which just wasn’t happening].  He was so excited about everything at our house that he didn’t realize that he didn’t get the Batcave until we were driving to my parents house and he was a little bummed about it.  We kept telling him that Santa can’t bring everything and to be thankful for what he did get.

Well, Nate lucked out and he got the batcave over at Grandma/Grandpa Marz’s house.  His reaction was fabulous when he opened it up.  He was THRILLED.]

Nate, Abbie & Daisy played outside for a while before we headed home. 

                  

   

We really missed at least spending one holiday with all of the Griffeth clan this year.  We wish we lived closer and that the end of December wasn’t Wes’ busy time of the year. 

We have such wonderful friends and family – what a great Christmas season it was this year.  We are very grateful for our Savior and we enjoyed being able to focus on Him in December and look forward to teaching our kids about Him all year long.

our week before Christmas

It was a crazy one but we had lots of Christmas fun:

. bowling [a back-up activity when the Boulder City train with Santa on it was sold out].

  

. gingerbread house.  we cheated and got the pre-built one and it was PERFECT for one 3-year old.

 

. wrote our letters to Santa.

. made a gumdrop christmas tree

. made snickerdoodles for Santa.

. listened to lots of Christmas music.

. Polar Express storytime at the library with Hadley & Jake. [this is the best photo i got.  pathetic]

. went out looking at Christmas lights.

. went to the Cactus Gardens at the Ethel M Choc Factory to see their festival of lights.

. watched Moses do a nose-dive right in to the christmas tree and then got to watch sam try to get him out for 10 minutes while Moses ate ornaments and tore open presents.  It was hilarious.

. Thought a lot about our Savior.

We had a fun [and very busy] week before Christmas!

ryan is 10 months old

Right in the middle of the holiday hustle and bustle, Ryan turned 10 months old.  I can’t believe that almost a year has gone by since he was born!

Ryan has quite a personality.  He knows what he wants and will let you know whether he’s happy or not by either laughing, screaming, clapping or a full on throw-yourself-on-the-floor tantrum.   He’s got a loud jibber-jabber that we hear all day that I absolutely love.  He’s got determination to try and conquer just about anything a 10 month old can figure out.  He’s quite the little boy.

 

RYAN at 10 months:

. still LOVES to eat.  He will still eat baby food but he absolutely prefers chunky food that he can feed himself.  We finally found a food he doesn’t like - chunks of butternut squash.  I don’t blame him on that one.  His latest favorites are graham crackers, cucumber sticks & blueberries. 

. He dances to music.

. His absolute favorite places/things to do are climb the stairs, the refrigerator, the pantry, the dishwasher, bathrooms, emptying drawers, his new car from Daisy & the wall sockets.  He’s quite a destroyer of the pantry.

. if you give him a phone, he holds it up to his mouth and yells in it.  He usually says “dada”.

. He wants to walk but doesn’t quite have the balance yet.  He stands up and walks while pushing anything he can find but not quite by himself yet.

. He HATES the car.  The minute his buns hit the car seat he screams until he’s out.  Food will always calm him down but I try not to feed him all day and sometimes holding my hand or Nate’s helps.

. He LOVES his bottle of milk and a binky.  When we lay him down in his bed he always has a binky in his mouth but then he finds another one in his crib and switches them out.  Every time!

. He’s still up once a night for a bottle.  That’s my fault.  I like that he sleeps in a little later in the morning with a middle-of-the-night snack but we’ll be breaking this habit, soon.

. He “talks” all day long but the real words he says are mama, dada & uh-oh.

. He HATES to get dressed or to have a diaper change.  It’s awful.  He’s one strong dude!

. When he’s tired, but not exhausted, I can get some pretty good cuddles out of him.

. He loves water.  He loves the tub.  He loves to splash in toilets.  He loves to splash in Moses’ water bowl.  If I could leave him in water all day he’d be content!

 

. He’s a mamas boy.

. He loves Moses the dog as long as there is a barrier.  He laughs and laughs if there is glass or a gate in between them!

. He’s got some great cheeks that we kiss all day.

. He can still spit up / barf with the best of them.  I’m pretty sure too much banana is part of the problem!

. He’s entered the hard phase at church.  We are officially hall-dwellers.  8 long months until nursery.

. He’s ticklish.  Nate loves to rub his head in to Ryan’s belly and both boys think it’s HILARIOUS.

. We’ve had some great moments with this boy where he’s gotten easier but also some of the hardest days I’ve had so far as a mom have come from this little boy this month.  He went through a little period there where he was on my pant legs to be held ALL day long and he would barely sleep during the day.  But lately he’s been a slightly better napper and has enjoyed a little independence again which has been nice!

. He’s got 6 teeth: 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom.

. He loves to be outside which usually involves dirt and rocks.  Sometimes you just have to let boys be boys and let them play and play in the dirt.  Clothes are always washable.

 

. It’s been interesting to watch a friendship develop between Nate and Ryan.  When Nate is nice to Ryan – Ryan really responds to Nate and it’s fun to see!  But they both also are pretty independent of each other and will often times do their own thing!

This little boy brings so much happiness and laughter to our home – we love you Mr. Ryan! 

what a crazy month december is.

i love the month of december & i have to say it gets better and better every year as nate gets older.  I love seeing the pure joy in Nate and I can’t wait until Ryan is a little bigger so they can get excited together.

however . . . i’m pretty sure this is the BUSIEST december of my life.  I was really hoping it would be full of christmas movies & hot chocolate, baking for fun [not because the event is tomorrow and we’re baking at 10pm], looking at lights, gingerbread houses, santa, nativity stories and more. I’m determined to squeeze in all of the FUN in the next week but the to-do list is a mile long and just when i think i’m getting a grasp something new gets added.  like yesterday – my cute nieces were over and we were having some christmas fun when my phone rang and my dad tells me that we just landed a new client and i am the lucky one that gets to handle it and i have to be in the office mon/tues/wed morning next week for crucial meetings.  Seriously people, the week of Christmas?  Is anything that important?  Sheesh.

The TO.DO list in the next week is LONG.  If I look a little sketchy with big bags under my eyes it’s because I don’t have time to straighten my hair and we’re going to bed way too late.  But I’m determined to get all of the FUN things checked off with the kids and to throw on a little Christmas music while I check-off the not-as-much-fun things.

As crazy as December can be, it will always be one of my favorite times of the year.

Happy week before Christmas.

a nate moment

We're well passed the stage where you try to interpret what your kid is saying as they learn to talk. At least Wes and I always know what Nate is saying.

But last night he stumped us. He was talking about Santa's _____. I kept saying different words asking him if that's what he was talking about and he kept saying no.

And then he looked at me with the typical "come on, mom" look and says . . . "mom, those are all great words but that is not what i'm trying to say."

and we still haven't figured it out.

dear daisy,

Thank you for being willing to give me your car now that you are a big 3-year old. I know it was one of your favorite toys that you’re too big for now.  You can come over anytime to sit in it or push me around. [I could use a safe driver – other than my crazy brother– every once in a while.]

I love my new car.

Thanks Daisy -

Love, Ryan

meet moses

My parents & Sam knocked on our door on Sunday with a cute little 8-week old Westie dog  [a west highland terrier – just like the dog we grew up with] in tow.   It was quite a surprise to hear that they got a dog at this stage in their life but he’s a cute little guy & Nate is SMITTEN.  He played and played with Moses and was heartbroken when he had to leave.  On Monday, we made a special trip to Grandma & Grandpa Marz’s house to see Moses and feed him.  After Nate poured the dog food in the bowl and started watching him eat . . . he says, “guys, you’ve got to come see this.  this is amazing!”

Today he spent the entire day with Grandma and Moses while I went to work.  As we were driving there, he asks me if he gets to spend the whole day with Moses.  I said yes and he responds with a very excited . . . “oh boy!  oh boy!”

He had a blast with Moses today.  He was my mom’s little helper.  Having a baby dog and a baby Ryan all day can be a little much – all Moses wanted to do was eat Ryan’s socks off his feet so Nate did a great job of just playing with Moses.  Nate cried when we left . . . apparently 8 hours with a dog isn’t enough.  I’m just glad grandma and grandpa got the dog!

You’re probably wondering how he got a name like Moses.  Well, my dad always said if he had a son he’d name him Moses.  And he never got a son. 

Welcome to the family, Mo.

 

[sam is quite a fan of Mo.  She’s been dog-sitting a lot this week for my mom!  But starting in a week in a half she will be a REAL nurse at a REAL hospital.  GO Sam.  I knew you’d get the job].

it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas . . .

in the Griffeth house!

 

  

   

 

 

It’s been up for a little while – it took me forever this year!  It was fun to decorate a new house but it also took a lot more time. 

We’ve been enjoying the Christmas season so far with lots of peppermint hot chocolate, peppermint joe joe’s from trader joes, christmas music, christmas movies, 25 days of christmas, the advent calendar, our version of “the elf on the shelf” with a reindeer", visits to santa, etc.

i love this season.