Monday, October 27, 2008

www.alandgriff.com

We have moved for space reasons. I think I am going to be able to post today. I hope to fix it so that this space referred you directly. But you can do it manually until that happens.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Can't post pictures

I have now exceeded the ability to post pictures.
Daniel and Angie are fixing this problem for me.
Thanks for being patient!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Momma Stomp

Every night before bath, the boys and I play Momma Stomp. This involves me (you guessed it) stomping my feet like Godzilla and yelling, "ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!" to the general delight of Thing One and Thing Two. Griff screams and runs away as fast as he can. Allan, on the other hand, at least half the time, comes charging directly for me -- he is absolutely fearless. The other part of the fun comes when I hide around the corner and call, "Griffey! Allan!" and the boys come sneaking around for me to jump out and scare them. (I can not tell you how adorable they are peeping around the corner together.) Griff loves this so much that, when I am chasing them through the house, he will point behind the door and tell me "Dis! (this)" and I'll say, "what?" and he'll imitate me and say, "Griffey! Allan!" and then run back in to the living room ready for all of us to assume our respective positions. And if I only yell, Griffey, he will yell back from the living room, "Allan!" to remind me to make sure I don't overlook his brother. If the Momma Monster is going to get someone, it might as well be Allan.

Gasp, gasp......

Last Sunday the whole family packed up and headed out to the arboretum for a run. It is a two-mile loop with some challenging hills (especially challenging if you are pushing the stroller!). Jay took the first lap and I took the second. By the end, I was pretty wiped out.

Griff: Momma, run, run?
Me: Yes, Momma run run.
Griff: Momma *gasp* *gasp*

My hand to God, he did a pitch perfect imitation of me wheezing up the hills.
Thanks, Griff, that's very helpful.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Back up...

We are back up and running, for the moment. We are at 99 percent of capacity, though, so I hope that we get our domain issues fixed really, really soon.

We haven't had much commentary of late so I'll try to give you the Reader's Digest version.

To jump in to the Way Back Machine, we had a good run at the Race for the Cure. We finished about a minute slower than last year, but I blame that on Jay entirely. He insisted that we start back farther than I wanted to (to be polite, damn the British!). Unfortunately no one gave the memo to the slow-a** people who decided to start up front even though they intended to walk or run about a block and THEN walk. Or walk/run five or six abreast. Honestly, this is not hard. Walkers and slow runners to the right and back. Faster people to the front and left. It isn't rocket science. Still and all we had a good morning for it and then hit Jim and Montell's for brunch served up courtesy of Markus, the short-order cook.

The next weekend Jay went out of town for a wedding and the boys and I went home for Cousin Edward's wedding. I got to see all of about 5 minutes of it as Allan decided that he 1) loved the sound of his voice echoing in the church and 2) could not live without climbing the steps to the altar or choir loft. I felt like I was wrestling a bear. All of that aside, the boys had an excellent visit with Bailey -- who kept calling them "short britches" -- and with Bo and the cats. They both loved the four-wheeler, too.

Last weekend was the pumpkin patch -- pony rides, train rides, slides, the works. What we didn't end up with was a pumpkin. I refuse to pay $10 for a pumpkin -- much less $40 so we each can have one. We'll pick some up at Kroger. Don't worry about the pumpkin patch, though. We left about $40 bucks there anyway by the time we paid for the petting zoo, hot dogs, etc. Good clean fun isn't cheap. We also visited with the Ks who have twins of their own -- three years old. O and Griffith got in to the Little Tykes cars and spent about a half hour ramming in to each other. It was all a little much for Allan who kept making a break for the garage to see what he could get in to. He finally settled for riding the teeny-tiny big wheel. Santa will probably be bringing one of those this year.

Unfortunately Griff and I have contracted a stomach bug. He has been vomiting on and off since Tuesday. Poor little guy. Poor us. He has coated the crib (3 times), our bed (once), the couch (once, but a herculean effort coating both sides of one cushion, the top of another and the throw pillows), numerous quilts, his brother (once), his mother (twice), his father (once), and the rug (more times than we can count). Jay and I switched off Tuesday a.m. with Jay taking 4:30 a.m. to 6 and me thereafter. I had down 3 loads of laundry by 8. As Griff was standing there watching me and Jon and Kate Plus 8, he managed to vomit all over the nicely folded stack of dish towels. Sweetie, that is not helping.

We both seem to be recovering if slowly. Dad is stopping at Kroger to rent a steam cleaner because we can not get the couch clean and can not wait any longer to steam it. We were trying to wait Griff out but since he did fine all day yesterday and then hurled again pre-bedtime, we aren't really sure there is a reasonable end in sight.

Pile on!



Lots of fun sharing our playset with Matt. Who isn't as much of a nerd as the socks suggest.

Lots of laughs with Matt


Nose to nose


Big Al was delighted that Matt and Nicole came over. Mostly Matt, though.

Pumpkin pickers 2008


Pumpkin picking 2008


Big Griff coming down....


Big Al coming down.....


The slide at the pumpkin patch.

Getting his seat


Allan getting himself up in to the saddle.

He's a natural.


Big Al showing his winning form.

Thanks for the ride, pony!


Taking a ride.


Big Griff on the pony.


Heading off for the pumpkin patch.


Pumpkin picker.


Griff in the pumpkin patch 2008


Pumpkin patch 2008


Pumpkin pickin'


Tripping him up.


Sneaky pumpkin!


Tripping up Big Al like that.

Pick a good one!


Allan picking out pumpkins while Dad and Griffith pick out a wagon.

Allan on the move


Allan running through Miss Julie's backyard to get to the trampoline.

Hair drying.......


Griff using Bailey's electronic bugcatcher as a hair dryer.

Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy......


Upsy-daisy


Trampoline fun


Griff and Allan doing PT on Miss Julie's trampoline.

So...


the boys go outside to play and the next thing I know Griff comes bustling in, grabs the dishtowel and heads back out the door.

Getting it all straightened up.


Teamwork.

The little maitre d's


Griff wiping off the table while Allan adjusts the umbrella.

Snuggling with Christina


Big Al winning hearts all over the place.

Story time


Christina was supposed to be reading to Allan, but he wouldn't let her get to the end of Pip & Squeak so she just had to leave him to his own devices.

Two-fers


As if it isn't bad enough that he still drinks from a bottle, Griff occasionally taunts me with this sort of behavior.

Griff riding chicken


Photo (and costume) courtesy Ellen. Griff was well-pleased with the effect -- as you can plainly see.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Will update soon

Stupid blogger locked the blog because of unusual activity -- said activity being my having purchased a domain THROUGH blogger that was supposed to automatically switchover seamlessly. As if.

I am a crack team of ace IT folks working on getting this accomplished. Hope to add pictures and commentary tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

P.S.

The boys had their 30 month checkups today and their flu shots.

The stats:

Allan is 23 pounds and 3 ounces. He is 32.5 inches tall. This places him solidly in the 3-5 percentile.

Griffith is 29 pounds and 7.5 ounces. He is 36 inches tall (3 whole feet!). He is in the 50th percentile on height and weight. He is in the 75th percentile on his head. (Jay didn't ask about Allan's head. It is big, too, though.)

Griff didn't cry AT ALL when he had his shot or blood drawn. Allan whined some but more for effect than anything else.

Allan went to the cardiologist on Monday for a follow-up. Good news there, too: EKG was good, lungs sound clear. Come back in 6 months. Yes, ma'am. We like those kinds of appointments.

No real progress on the domain.

What a pain in the a** computers are.

I swear this was supposed to be a painless process but it isn't. I have even called in some techno-geeks who are going to help solve this, but no dice so far. And I have used all but 2 percent of my space on blogspot so I need a solution fast. Ugh.

At any rate, below are some pictures from the last couple of weeks including a recent trip "home" to visit Bailey, the farm and all occupants thereon.

Two heads are better than one.


I think it is this one right here, Griff.


Which one of these makes it go?

Getting a tutorial from Bailey.


Sad sack....

I'm not sure


that cat has any idea what kind of peril she is in.

Beginning to buckle at the knees.....


This balancing stuff is hard work.

Down he goes....


On the way down....


Allan taking a tumble.

Uh-ho!


Big Al fell quite a lot (the ground is uneven, he's a little shaky and the dog kept running past him) but he didn't mind at all.

On the move


Big Al motoring around Bailey's back yard, chasing the dogs, cats and just exploring.

Heading out


Big grin for Bo.


Fetch and catch.


Catch, Bo!


Bo and Griff playing fetch


I'm not sure who was in charge.

Poser


Miss B.

Checking out Bailey's 4-wheeler.