Randoms From February

Here are some random photos from the month of February that need a home.

Hank has been begging Randy to take him ice fishing this winter.  Since Randy isn't exactly a skilled fisherman, he asked one of his buddies to show them how.  They went past Park City to a frozen lake and Max ended up with his leg through the ice before they even started fishing!  He just couldn't resist trying to put his foot in the spot Randy specifically told him not to.  It's safe to say he learned his lesson.  He had to wear a baggie on his foot the rest of the day!  Hank managed to catch the only fish caught by anyone the entire day.  Beginners luck!

Rita's Italian Ice loves when Sarah and I come with our noisy kids.  I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Tucker enjoying his cotton candy ice.  We inevitable leave that place every single time because of Sam's ear piercing screams.  He just gets too excited hanging out with his cousins.

This dessert just screams Grandma Yvonna's house.  She hosted Bunco this month and didn't disappoint.

I love this tradition so much.  My stomach always aches afterwards from laughing so hard.  These women are some of my favorites for sure.

Sarah has officially joined the Dirty 30 club!  I can't believe my little sister is 30.  I guess that makes me nearly 34, ahhhhh!  Brett planned a fabulous surprise party for her and I can't believe I didn't blow it.  It's hard for me to keep things from Sarah.  

We spent the whole weekend celebrating my best friend.  Kate, mom, Sarah, and I had a fabulous time shopping the day before her birthday.

Tucker was definitely loving some Randy time at Sarah's party.  That little punk won't even give me the time of day!

Sarah and I had to have a little mini photo shoot at the end of the night.  I think this picture adequately captures how grateful I am she was born.  I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have her as my sister.  She's the best friend I could ever hope for.  Brett gave her a trip to Hawaii for her birthday and I can't think of a more deserving person for that vacation.  They're going to have a blast!

A Ski Date With My Boys

I never would've guessed at the start of the ski season I would be able to take Hank and Max skiing by myself.  My little skiers have proven me wrong.  We happened to take advantage of some exquisite weather and ski our little hearts out while Randy stayed home with Sam and recovered from his bout with pneumonia.  

It is such a thrill for me as a mom to be able to enjoy the great outdoors with my boys.  Especially when we are doing the sport I enjoy the most.

I'm so impressed with the improvement they've both made this year.  It's so fun to ski with them and not worry about them falling every 5 seconds.  We pretty much dominated the beginner hills and took a break to eat some lunch at the car.

Cookies are a must for a ski day.  Hank and Max were in great spirits.  Max asked me if there was another mountain at Sundance to ski on.  I told him there was a higher mountain if he was up for trying.  He didn't  hesitate to say yes.  Hank on the other hand wasn't so sure.  Even though I took him up there last year and he did great, he didn't want any part of a steeper hill.  After some bribery and discussion he agreed to take at least one run up there to show Max.

Part of our agreement was stopping at the Bear Claw Lodge for some hot chocolate.  Max was feeling pretty excited, and hyper.  We got a good laugh from this picture.

Here we are at the summit of Sundance.  I am so proud of my boys getting down that big mountain as well as they did.  Max was absolutely fearless.  Hank claims he hated every second of it but I highly doubt that.  He did awesome.  The poor little dude hates to be out of his comfort zone which is probably why he still insists on using his edgie-wedgies.  I'm just happy they want to ski with me. Hopefully we get at least one more ski day in before all the snow melts. 

I May Have Posted Prematurely

So it seems I may have deemed Sam potty trained a bit prematurely.  How silly of me to think simply going #2 on the toilet would be all it took.  I am scratching my head with this one.  I've tried everything and after a month of potty training, I'm exhausted and so is Sam.  I mean if he can't go in the playroom while playing Minecraft, when will he be able to go?

I tried having him cruise around the house with no pants for 1/2 of the day.  Didn't work, in fact all that accomplished was a lot of mess and pink eye!

Pants are a necessity for Sam now.

We've endured a lot my little Sammy Boy but I'm afraid you are just simply not quite ready.

Instead of completely abandoning the potty progress we've made, I've opted to go the pull-up route.  I've never been a fan of the pull-up concept but it seems to be just the transition we need until Sam is fully committed to being completely potty trained.  He's officially broken me down, exhausted me beyond the point I thought I could go, and had me more confused about my parenting choices than ever.  You've won this battle Sam.  I concede...for now.

Mr. Potty Boy

This little munchkin decided to be done with diapers, much to my dismay.  I was fully prepared to potty train him much later in the year but I decided to humor him and see what happened.

As long as he had Wreck-It-Ralph in his corner he could accomplish anything, right?

He insisted I take picture after picture of his new underwear, particularly his butt.

I couldn't believe how quickly he caught on to the whole potty idea.  He did not have one accident the whole first day, not even during his nap or during the night.

Could it really be this easy???

Then he decided to wear Max's underwear and pee like a big boy.

He really is too much this one!  Unfortunately going #2 proved to be much more difficult.  Hank and Max had similar trouble but Sam is turning out to be even more stubborn than his brothers.  Heaven help me!  The poor little dude has been terrified to go.  It has tested my patience like it's probably never been tested before.  

Good thing he's the cutest little buddy I could ever have.

And oh, such a little rat.  I really don't think there has ever been a bigger one...ever.

The hours we have spent on the toilet watching videos on you tube, and playing games on the kindle seemed endless.  He just simply refused to go, no matter how bad his poor little tummy hurt.  I begged, pleaded, bribed and finally had to use some extreme measures to get something going after 5 days without a bowel movement.  I really hope I didn't scar him for life.

After days and days spent at home, I'm happy to say that as of today he finally went #2 on the toilet! 

My little angel did it!  It's very bittersweet for me.  We are officially done with diapers for good at the Griffin house.  I can't believe it!

Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters came to Salt Lake and I couldn't resist buying tickets for my family.  I knew the kids would love it but they exceeded my expectations.  Originally all 5 of us were going to go but Sam was really sick with an ear infection.  Grandma Jackie came to the rescue and stayed home with him so we could go.  This picture captures Max's excitement perfectly.  I have never seen him happier, EVER!  We thought it would be fun to ride the train up to Salt Lake which gave Max more time to be giddy and make us laugh.

Hank wasn't feeling quite as jovial.  Max didn't care.

We spent the majority of the time on the train making hilarious Crazy Helium Booth videos.  I laughed until I cried.  I'm sure we sufficiently annoyed the other people on the train, oh well.

Max's smiling didn't end on the train.  He giggled the entire show.  He's never going to be able to watch a normal basketball game again.

Hank enjoyed the show as well and learned some new dunks to try on our little hoop at home.

I tried to capture Max clapping and dancing.  I was so entertained watching him.  He recapped the entire show the whole way home. 

Hank got to go down on the court and get an official Globetrotter's ball so he was pretty pumped about that.  Randy was such a good sport to come.  He had been home really sick that entire day.  He didn't complain once but I'm pretty sure this outing contributed to him getting pneumonia a week later.  How could he miss out on this quality family bonding moment?  Next time, Sam will come for sure!

The Toughest 6 Year Old in Town

My adorable Max was so pumped to celebrate 100's day at school.  He was in need of a celebration after  his recent injuries.

He never ceases to amaze me with his toughness.  The way he handles pain is pretty amazing in my opinion.  It's a good thing too, because it seems like he always has some sort of bleeding going on. The other day, he was playing at his friend Ryan's house.  I got a text from his mom saying Max got going too fast on their treadmill and fell pretty hard.  When he got home, I realized the incident had caused a hole in his pants and a big chunk of skin off his knee.  Now Max officially has 2 pairs of pants without holes in the knees! 

After weeks of trying to wiggle his baby tooth, we finally decided it was time to get rid of the shark tooth.

I kept telling Max it would be easy.  Chris would just give him a shot and then he wouldn't feel a thing.  Well, the first shot didn't exactly work and the second shot really hurt him.  He winced in pain but held still until the tooth popped out.  Afterwards he told me I was totally wrong, it hurt really bad.  Coming from Max, I believe him.  He definitely deserved a trip to Target for a toy after that.

I don't know what I'm going to do when the top teeth come out.  I won't even recognize my little Mino.

The very next day, Max was running under the bleachers at Hank's game and came out bleeding.  He hardly cried and couldn't wait to show all of Hank's teammates his battle wound.  He ran around the gym with my phone, which had this picture on it, to show everyone the picture.  I guess he didn't realize they could just look at his actual bleeding head!  Here's when you know your kid has had lots of stitches.  I looked at this wound and determined it not bad enough for stitches.  No rush to the Instacare like we have in the past.  I'm getting good at this injury thing.  Max is giving me lots of practice!