Whirlwind Christmas!

Wow! I feel like the whole month of December came and went in a blink. We have had so many fun things going on, but I have been terrible about updating the blog. I'll start where I left off, right after Blake's trip to Winston-Salem. Here's a quick rundown: Griffin turns 3 months old!, Blake and Griffin have their first guitar jam session, Baby Gray is born, We got a fence!, Friends visit from California, Settlers of Catan, Day trip to Athens, First Jog and Yoga Class (so sore that I could hardly laugh without aching), Another game of Settlers, Drive to Birmingham, Visiting Friends, Santa Claus!!, First Successful Church Service, Dirrrty Santa, Drive to Macon, Brunch, more gifts, Paintball war at Mops' house, Christmas Dinner, Visiting Grandma and Grandpa, Balderdash, Post-Delivery Shower/Youth Group Reunion, Big Green Egg, Egg Nog, back to Dacula... the list could go on!

We had a blast visiting with family and friends and helping Griffin celebrate his very first Christmas. Here are a few pics to commemorate some of the various happenings listed above.

Griffin loved watching Blake play guitar... perhaps we have a little strummer on our hands.

In addition to our fence, we installed a hand rail on the front step. Now maybe the neighborhood children won't fall into the bushes.



Jim and Jill are friends of ours from California. They were stopping by on their way to Mississippi for Christmas. We spent 4 whole days with them and had a blast!!



Marlow Gray Griffin was born on December 17th, 2009. Our precious little niece was almost exactly the same size as Griffin... 7 lbs 15 oz. 21 inches. She is beautiful!!

Santa made a special early trip to Birmingham this Christmas and brought Griffin a TON of toys and treats.
Here is Griffin with Aunt June on "Christmas morning" (really it was Christmas Eve.)

Santa brought Clayton's toys to GG and Pops house too. It was so fun to have the boys together on their very first Christmas!

After church we came home and played Dirty Santa with some of Blake's family friends/extended family. Here is a shot of all of the "kids."

Clayton and Griffin did awesome in the Christmas Eve service in Birmingham. I was so proud of our boy!

Then, it was on to Macon where the chaos began. Mom and Dad's annual brunch was delicious and then it was on to Mops' house where Blake played paintball with cousins and uncles while Griffin and I hung out inside with the rest of the fam.



We spent a couple of extra days in Macon and spent some good time with the family.
Grandma and Grandpa with Griffin:

Dad broke in his new grill while we were in town too and we ate like KINGS!!
The men folk took a break from admiring the Big Green Egg to take a picture:

And we snapped this AWESOME picture of all of the Griffin family cousins. They all cooperated so well!! Believe it or not we got this picture in about 10 seconds with no bribing! Are these kids good looking or what?

So, although I have neglected the blog for a couple of weeks, I feel fully justified. We have been super busy. But, it has been an awesome month. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who made Griffin's first Christmas so special. I hope yours was wonderful too!!

My new desktop photo

This is my new favorite picture of Griffin. He is so precious.

Blake has been in Winston-Salem this weekend visiting friends and family, so Griffin and I (and Millie) have been hanging out. I think that I have fallen even more in love with my sweet baby boy. He is such a blessing and brings me more and more smiles every day.

While I am so glad that Blake has had a chance to spend time with family, meet up with friends and have some guy time... we can't wait until he comes home tomorrow. Our days are far more fun with him around.

Hope that you have had a great weekend so far!

Happy Birthday, Bennett!!

Bennett will turn two this month, so we drove down to Macon to celebrate at his Elmo-themed birthday party. We weren't the only ones to make a trip down, the big guy in red stopped by too!! Here are some pictures of the big event:



When Bennett opened the shoes that we got him, he immediately went over to Griffin (who was napping in his carseat) to say thanks. Isn't that sweet?

Bennett's shirt said "Look Who's Two" and had his name on it and a picture of Elmo.

Bennett is a big dancer- he loves music. So, his grandmother got him a discman. And he loved it! He is also wearing a precious little monkey backpack. How cool do you think he feels?

The proud Grandparents:

Then, this morning, Griffin gave me some cute little smiles for the camera- check it out!


Finally, we have had a huge development this week - Griffin has slept through the night twice!! He slept from about 11 pm on Saturday night to 7 am Sunday morning!! One main reason for this is that he has found his thumbs!! Check out this video that I caught on Saturday morning. Hopefully this will only be a nighttime habit!