Playgroup at the Shore

We had a great day at the shore. The weather was perfect and the company was even better! This is pretty much the perfect picture showing what we do at the beach...EAT!

Kyle did great again...as long as I kept him out of the water.

Emma wanted me to take a picture of her making a silly face. I thought that this was a pretty good one. She sure does love the water.

I did not mean to take a funny picture of Abby but this is how they all turned out. She is such a silly little girl. One more week until we get to enjoy the California coast!

FHE

Last Monday Emma really wanted to teach FHE. She would not tell me what she wanted to do but she said that she knew exactly what we were going to talk about. Emma read a story about faith from the New Testament and then talked about how flowers are like faith. With just a little help keeping on topic we had a great discussion about how to help our faith grow like we help flowers grow.

For the activity Emma had us all make our own flowers. We had lots of fun and can't wait for the next time Emma is in charge. (Trevor is making that face on purpose...he is just one big kid)

Palmyra

This being our last summer out here we decided to go and see the Palmyra pageant. I am not much of a car tripper but I am so glad that we did it. We ended up taking a side road take went right up the side of one of the finger lakes and it was beautiful! The kids did great in the car (much better than me). They stayed entertained with their books and a couple of movies and looking at the great scenery.

This is the stage that they do the pageant on. I don't know what I was expecting but it was not this. The show was spectacular. They started with Lehi and went all the way through to Joseph Smith receiving the plates on the hill. The special effects were amazing including falling rocks, fire, and the Savior descending from the sky. The girls were spellbound.

Kyle was awesome! He really enjoys being outside and was content to just hang out. He slept right through the show.

Getting ready for the show!

The next day we went to the Sacred Grove. We went in the middle of a monsoon but we still had a great experience. There is a very special feeling there that even the girls recognized.

The girls really liked seeing the house the Joseph grew up in. They could not believe that all eight kids slept upstairs in such a small space.

Trying hard to stay dry. It was really pointless. We were all soaked by the end of our time at the grove.

The sun came out as we were debating wether or not to go home. We decided to change into our jammies (our only dry/clean clothes) and go see the Grandin press which was were the first copy of the Book of Mormon was printed. It was cool to see and after a tasty ice cream cone we headed home. It was a fast trip but I am so glad that we did it.

I don't know how this is possible!

This is how I found Kyle the other morning. We have had some hot/sticky weather lately so maybe he got hot but I still can't figure out how he managed this. The top snap was still together and when I tried to fit his arm back in I could not do it without unsnapping it. He was pretty pleased with himself. I will take this as a hint from him that I need to turn the AC on.

Well look back and laugh one day...I hope!

I remember when we first moved to Philly part of orientation for Trevor included safety info on the Temple campus...basically don't leave stuff in sight in your car, don't walk at night alone, don't talk on your cell phone outside and pretty much don't be stupid. Trevor followed all of their advice and after three years in Philly I have to say that I think that we have both become pretty comfortable with our surroundings. Well today we got a little reminder about what life in Philly can be like.

Trevor found his car broken into after school today. The thief had smashed in the passenger side window and ripped out the center console including the radio. (He did leave the Book of Mormon that was in the glove box). Some construction workers saw the guy and tried to chase him down but had to luck. I have to say that we are highly annoyed, angry, irritated, sad, and just bothered that we have to deal with this but we are trying to stay positive and chalk it up to our Philly experience. The good news is that the car still runs. The heater constantly blows on high and the blinkers don't work. If anyone knows a good mechanic who fixes this kind of stuff we have some business for him.

Free at Last

At first glance this picture might look pretty ordinary. Just a cute sleeping baby boy, but this picture is a really big deal. Last night Kyle slept for the first time ever without tape on his face. Kyle passed his sleep study and is now free of oxygen. 24/7. He did awesome his first night without his tube. I can't wait for the skin on his cheeks to start to heal. There is some bad news...Kyle failed his high altitude test which means that at 30,000 feet he still needs a little extra oxygen. It is a good thing that we don't do a whole lot of flying and we we are just so thrilled to be free of the nightly oxygen.

10 months old

Wonder boy has made it to 10 months and for some reason that seems extra momentous. He has grown more this month and any other. He has become a lot more expressive and makes sure that his preferences are known. He has started to reach for people and things which is lots of fun. He has discovered the swing and even though he can't balance very well he still loves them and reaches back when I take him out. We have tried to get him to drink from a sippy cup but he does more playing than drinking He loves his food and takes meal time very seriously. He has become a lot more mobile including rolling everywhere. He can sit well and needs just a little supervision. He has started to get up on his hands and knees but most of the time ends up going backwards which makes him really mad. He likes standing at his activity table and only needs a little support. We have started doing sign language with him and it has been so fun to watch his eyes light up when he sees the more sign and knows more snacks are headed his way. He is babbling all the time now which is cute but embarrassing in Sacrament meeting. He loves his sisters and even tolerates Emma dragging him around by the armpits without any complaints. He is still pretty attached to his mommy and there is a forming attachment to his blanket and his dad. Don't know why the picture is rotated but I had to include it because it is one of the few where he has his glasses on. You can tell by the finger prints on the lenses what he like to do with them. Hopefully he has turned a corner because the last two days he has done better.

We see a lot of this. He is one happy little guy. He has four teeth now and two more on their way.

The 4th of July

Happy 4th from the Griffitts! We had a great day and hope that you all did to. Cute kiddos waiting for the fun to begin. We had a picnic lunch with some friends at a nearby park. The weather was perfect and the company was even better.

This is pretty much what Abby did the entire time at the park. Any time the food table was left unguarded Abby would see what she could get. You can see some evidence of past snacks on her chin. You might have noticed the bandage on her finger. She fell off her bike and mangled her finger. We spent some time in the ER but she was no worse for the wear and it is healing nicely. She has also learned how to use the brakes on her bike.

Here are my softball players. Emma had a great time playing with the adults.

Emma has a great swing. She managed to hit the ball pretty far and even got on base.

After the great afternoon at the park we went home and rested up for our big evening. We decided to brave the crowds and head downtown to see the fireworks and I am so glad that we did. I am such a planner so it was hard for me to just head down without any real idea of what we were doing or where we were going to end up. The girls were great sports with the walking that they had to do but they both said that it was worth it.

Here are the girls snacking and listening to a story about Queen Bee, Horse Horse Collar and the Wicked Witch who ate nothing but candied chicken bones. Trevor has become a really good story teller and the girls are always fascinated to hear what he will come up with next. Kyle was a great sport and ended up sleeping in his stroller during the show. The fireworks were awesome and the crowds were very manageable. It was a late night but the kids slept in until 10:00 the next morning! We had a great time and special thanks to Jeremy for carrying Emma back to the car for us!

Ocean City

Trevor had Friday off at school so we decided to take a trip to the shore. The weather was great and it was a fun way to start the holiday weekend. Trevor thinks that the skin contrast in this picture is funny...and this was right at the begining of the day. The good news is that we all made it through the day without a burn.

Here is my water baby! She spent just about the entire day in the water. It was hard to get pictures of her because she was always on the move.

The surf was pretty good and Emma caught some good waves on the boogie board.

This is how Kyle spent a good chunk of the day. It was definitely worth the time it took to lug it onto the sand.

This is how he spent about two seconds. He did not like the water AT ALL! He started crying and clinging to my arm as soon as he saw a wave coming. Hopefully he will outgrow his fear this summer in California where hopefully the water will be a little warmer. At least he is happy to sit on the sand and watch the the water from a distance.

This is my girl making a sand angel. I prefer it over its cousin the snow angel.

Abby got pretty good on the board too but she stayed in the shallow water. She gave us quite a scare when she wandered off and ended up two blocks down at the next life gaurd stand. It was a very tense 20 minutes but she was found by a nice lady wandering between the two stations. She got turned around and was walking the wrong direction. We have had several talks about what to do when you get lost and she has earned herself a leash at Disneyland this summer.

We had a great day and I can't wait until we get to do it again soon (minus the missing child).