A slice of life...

Griffin is growing up so fast! Last week he spent a wonderful sunny day with my mom. She bought him two new hats, took him to the park with the bouncy horse, and got him McDonald's for lunch. Life was good. After lunch we went out to hit some balls with Griff's tee-ball stand that Sean got him. He likes to hit a few, then watch us do it. He says, "Momma's turn. I watch." Apparently, those nuggets went straight to his belly! Then, a few days after that, he found my Ipod, and insisted that I put it on him. He immediately started bobbing his head to the music, and walked down the hall towards his room. He wouldn't stop to talk to Sean, he was in his own little world. We can't believe he's already a teenager. Ignoring his parents with his headphones on and closing himself up in his room. After a minute, we went to check on him and he was in the office pulling out a Family Guy disc which he insisted on watching. Oh, they grow so quickly.

And finally, today, I was making dinner and I got a text message from my neighbor across the street, "Your son looks so cute mowing the lawn with his daddy." I looked outside, and Griffin was following Sean around with his bubble mower from Grandma Pam, mowing the lawn. (Major points to Sean for mowing the lawn!) Of course, by the time I got out there with my camera, Griffin had declared that they were "done" and it was time to play. I managed to stage a few shots, and he was not a very willing participant. As you can see from these fabulous photos. (Keep in mind Griffin had just woken up from his nap not long before this and still had a major case of bed head. I think it adds to the charm of the pictures!)

We're all done!

No more mowing! We're done!

Okay, I'll help dad put the mower away.

I will not touch my little mower.

Seriously mom. No more pictures. We're done.

(Griffin has discovered his pockets. He likes to walk around with his hands in them.)

So, that's just a little slice of life around here. Much more fun now that we have warmer weather, but don't be fooled by the shorts and tee shirt. It's not that warm, Griffin just doesn't have time to throw on a sweatshirt when there is fun to be had.

One Hundred Years of Reading!

Well, I finally finished reading One Hundred Years of Solitude yesterday. Maybe it was because I had to fit my reading in between cleaning up and chasing after Griffin and Sean, and actually finished the last part of it while sitting in a McDonald's watching Griffin play on the playground, but I just wasn't that excited about the book. I guess I'm not exactly in a literary state of mind. I picked it up because it seemed like I was reading a lot of books that had the same theme of heartache and dysfunction, and wanted something very different. Plus, it's a classic, Nobel Prize winning book that's on Oprah's book club, and I always trust Mama-O!

It was interesting at the beginning, but the whole middle through the very end was long and complicated and just left me feeling like, "Where is this all going?" In the end, it went where I thought it would and I just kinda like, "Yep, that's how it had to end". I'm glad I finished it, and it wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'd put it on my top 10 list. I'm also not sure why it won a Nobel Peace prize. I guess I don't know what the criteria is for that, but I felt like the author had a pretty narrow view of human nature, and although you wanted to like the characters, they were all rather unsavory. I'm interested in hearing what some of my fellow reader's thought of it. As for me, I'm ready to move on to something new.

Here's a little something...

There's a cartoon that Griffin likes about submarines called, "Dive, Olly, Dive!" When it comes on he gets real excited and shouts, "Die, Olly, Die!" So, we were at the grocery store and walked past the Redbox machine and Griffin shouts out, "Die, Olly, Die Die Die!" I got a few weird looks, but I had to laugh.

Evening

One of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is freedom to spend leisurely afternoons after I get Griffin down for a nap. Usually, I'm running around the house cleaning, or doing something that feels productive, but occasionally I allow myself to enjoy the luxury of free time. I just finished watching a fabulous movie called Evening. This was actually the second time I've seen it, I watched it several months ago on cable. It's one of those movies that I just sorta happened upon randomly, and turned out to be the kind of movie that has really stuck with me. It has it all, laughs, tears, romance, and heartache. The whole cast is amazing (especially dreamy Patrick Wilson, sigh). Glenn Close, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Meryl Streep. The funny thing is, the girl who plays Meryl Streep's younger character looks just like her, and the whole movie I'm like, "Man, how'd they do that? She even talks like her!" Turns out it was her real life daughter. Now if you see it, I'll save you the distraction of being so amazed at the perfect match.

The movie is about an old woman who is nearing death (I told you there would be tears), and the memories she is sorting through. So most of the movie is a flashback to a wedding weekend in the early '50's. As I'm watching it, I had the thought. Why don't women wear great hats anymore? I think that's a style I could have gotten into. I think of all the fabulous pictures of my grandma and great-grandmothers, and they were always wearing these beautiful hats. Could you just see me, all decked out in my heels, gloves and pearls wearing some stylish hat? Haha! Maybe not, but I totally would have done it back then. I wear a baseball hat a lot, but I don't think it's quite the same thing. I think we need to bring hats back! Ladies, who's with me?

Well, I won't go on and on, because it's not as interesting having this one sided analysis in blog form. I love having that feeling after watching a good movie, or reading a good book, that you've just been impacted in some way by what you've just experienced. I'll spend weeks sometimes just processing through the story and the characters and how my life has been affected. This movie was based on a book by the same name, and I am so going to pick that up after I finish reading the one I'm on right now. If that ever happens. I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, and it feels like it's been 100 years of solitude since I started it. And I'm still only half way through! It just goes on forever! I'm not ready to give up on it yet, but it's a struggle. Actually there's a funny story about that book that I'll tell in another post, because this one is getting ridiculously long. Some people rely on this blog to get them through long hours at work, so I don't want to blow all my good stories in one post. Plus, this is a Friday evening post, so I need to save some good stuff for the week while said people are actually working. So, more to come later in the week. Until then, if you're looking for a good movie to curl up to during this Easter weekend, try Evening. It's not earth-shattering, but it's good stuff.

Buzz, Buzz!

Whew! We have been some busy little bees around here. March just seemed to fly by! Since Sean's birthday our days have been filled to the brim. Between keeping Sean healthy, keeping Griffin entertained, trying to keep up with stupid housework (when I have a big deal job, I am so getting a housekeeper!) and keeping up with the job search, I've had my hands full. Oh, and our very busy social calendar too. This weekend we went to a fun party with some people Sean works with on Friday, and we had our dear friends Joelle, Phil and Natalie over for dinner on Saturday. I've got bees on my mind, since that is Griffin's new fascination. He's always saying, "bumble bee." and running to the bathtub. I think he's actually thinking of bubble bath, but it's pretty cute. With each day he gets to be such a big boy. He's grown a full inch since his birthday! And every day he figures out some new phrase. A few days ago we were reading a dinosaur book, and he turned to the page with the T-Rex and said, "dinosaur eat you up!" He cracks me up!

Well, that has to be all for now. I have to go clean a pitcher of iced tea of the kitchen floor. That's what I get for trying to blog in the morning. Then we're going to library story time, Griffin's favorite.

Happy Birthday Sean!

My darling husband is turning one year older today! He's getting to be such an old man, but I don't think he'll ever grow up! He's downstairs playing Xbox with his brother and laughing his butt off right now. For those who know the joy of Sean's true laugh, it is too funny. Our birthday plans are simple, hang out during the day, maybe catch a movie together while Grandma babysits. I will not reveal his birthday present yet, not that he ever checks the blog. But just in case, it will remain unnamed. I'm actually really proud of myself because he is a hard one to shop for, but this year I totally nailed it. And to top it all off, I think he'll be really surprised. He's always harassing me with every Christmas and birthday to give him his present early, or just a hint. I usually end up caving, because I'm WEAK! But not this year. In the evening we'll have a little barbeque with the family, and a few neighbors. I have his cake all made, and a little collection of pictures on the bulletin board. Looking though the literally hundreds of thousands of pictures we have of the past several years was lot's of fun, remembering fun family times together, and the little every day moments that I so often forget. Here are a few of my favs (it was so hard to narrow them down! I have 26 on the bulletin board!!)

There aren't enough positive things to say about Sean. He's such an incredible, genuine, person. He's an amazing father, the love he has for Griffin is unbelievable! My grandpa, who always has such a way with words, once said about Sean, "Now, I always loved my kids, but Sean's just a damn fool about it!" I think that really sums it up. He's an incredible husband too, helping me to keep things in perspective, and is always there with his sense of humor, even when mine is gone. I am truly blessed to have Sean in my life. Of course, he would not appreciate all this attention, because he likes to stay off of the radar. But on his birthday, he has to put up with it. So, Happy Birthday to my dear husband Sean. It's hard to believe how much time has gone by, but it's so exciting to think about all the time that's ahead of us.

Born to SKI

We've been talking about taking Griffin skiing since we moved to Utah. Well, my dad has been talking about it and I've been saying, "He's not ready!" A few weeks ago we visited my dad, and Griffin immediately wanted to try out the skis. He put his feet in the bindings and was ready to head out the door. After that, every time we go to visit my dad, Griff walks in the door and says, "where the skis?" We could tell, he was ready.
So, after three days of snow, we finally decided today would be the perfect day to go up. We bundled Griffin all up, headed over to Grampa's for breakfast (Griffin could barely be bothered to eat, he wanted to get on those skis!), and then went up the mountain for some fun in the snow. On the way Griffin kept saying, "Go to the mountain to skeeee!" It was literally all we could do to finish bundling him up and get him all ready to ski, he just wanted to GO! I felt like the mom on the Christmas Story, pulling on gloves and boots, picking him up when he fell over. It was exhausting.
Griffin picked out this helmet and put it on...

It was too big and backwards, so we found a smaller one for him. And we found some awesome sunglasses in the lost and found, which were good to have because it was so bright outside! We truly couldn't have had a better day. It was beautiful and sunny, and the snow was perfect. It would have been a great powder day. Finally, Griff was all outfitted and ready to go. Whew.

Here are Griffin's first moments on skis...you can see that he's a natural!

The we scooted around for a while, just to get used to it, and of course, had to take some pictures. Here is Griffin and his proud Grandpa and his proud Mama...



It was not easy getting him to hold still to pose. Not that that is any different from any other activity. He kept saying, "No, my ski!" I was a little nervous about sending Griffin up on the lift. I'm not sure why, I've ridden lifts a million times. I guess it's a little different when you send your own little two year old up into the air. But, in true Griffin style, he loved it!

The funniest thing was Griffin and his tongue! Apparently, this is a Lindsay trait, because my Grandpa does it, my dad, my cousin Lindsay, and myself, all stick out tongues out when we're concentrating or working hard on something. Oh, I think Alex does it too. Maybe it's a genius trait. Or, it could be that it felt cool in the wind. Either way, it was cracking me up!

You can tell my dad is a great ski instructor, because he was very good and natural with Griffin. He knew all the right things to keep Griff moving and happy. It is not as easy as you might think. I was most impressed with his skiing backwards skills. He helped Griffin a lot, but he also let Griffin do a lot on his own. Griffin did two runs, (that means two times up the lift and down, for those of you who don't know) and we decided to take a little break. That was a lot of work for the little guy! Plus, it was still shady and pretty damn cold! Griffin was none-to-pleased as we veered away from the lift towards the lodge. He kept saying, "No break! No break!" He did not want to stop, but I think he was entertained enough just walking in his ski boots, which is kinda tricky, that we were able to get him into the lodge to sit down. He kept pointing out the window at the other skiers saying, "Ski, ski!" He sat long enough to eat (well, crush to pieces) most of a muffin, and a sip or two of hot chocolate. Then, he decided the break was over, he put on his helmet and his sunglasses and he was out the door. In the little video, you can hear Griffin say, "Go ski." As he wriggles out of the chair. I tried to get a few pictures, but he was not having it. We were wasting precious ski time!

So, off we went again. Griffin was amazing! I mean, I figured he'd love it, but I did not expect him to take to it so well. He was very balanced, and comfortable. He did fall some, because his legs were tired and he was skiing all on his own for the second half of the day. Well, my dad was right next to him the whole time, but he would go on his own down the hill in stretches.

He did two more runs after our break, and we decided to call it a day. Of course, Griffin wasn't totally crazy about that decision, but he was so beat. And his silly gloves wouldn't stay on. We ended on a great note, even though Griffin was saying, "No bye-bye ski" the whole way out of the parking lot. He (surprisingly) made it all the way down the mountain before he zonked out completely. It was an awesome day, so much fun! You could just see how proud my dad was as he showed him off around the resort to his co-workers, and told everybody that this was his two year old grandson. I look forward to the many more ski trips we have ahead of us. If Griffin could have his way, it would probably be tomorrow. Sorry for the extra long post, but I am so proud of my boy! I couldn't put all the video clips on this post, so I uploaded them onto Youtube. Go to http://www.youtube.com/lizarrington80 to see them all.