The Twinkies...

I bet ya'll didn't know that I had twins! They are only 8-1/2 years apart...thank Heavens-

Anyhow- I have darling boys...so handsome!

Look at what I can do!

He's 5 1/2 months old...
Griff is sitting up all on his own now...such an active boy!

He will be crawling in NO TIME...

GRRR...

...I awoke to SNOW this morning! UGH...I am soooo tired of it- can't get away from it! I know that I really should not complain. In the big scheme of things, the east is washing away and flooding is severe. They are also having tornado's...I should be thankful that all we have to deal with is snow...ho-hum.

Griff at 5 months

Hard to believe that Griff is already 5 months old. He is a character...

...and so adorable!

I am not sure exactly what he weighs now, but I am certain that he is close to 20 lbs. He is a tank..a drooling tank at that! He soaks everything. I cannot keep anything on him dry. Everything goes in his mouth. I had to "grease" up his fists/hands with Eucerin cream last week and cover them up with socks to help them heal. He sucks on his fists so much that his skin cracks! It looked awful and this was the only way to give them a chance to heal. It worked great and I plan on doing it again if needed. I had to constantly change the socks on his hands because he would chew them up, but it worked! Yesterday I found him sucking on his big toe- I immediately put socks on him! He will "eat" his toes right off!!

I gave him some solids (baby food) a few weeks ago, per the pediatricians advice. He seems to like most everything, but I am not a 100% certain that he really needs it. He makes a huge mess because his tongue isn't trained yet on how to take the food into his mouth/palette. I think most of it ends up on his bib, hands and smeared across his face and into his hair. We are backing off a bit until I think he is a bit more ready...Mom's know best anyhow!!
His next baby well check-up will be at 6 months. Will see what the kiddo weighs by then...

Lilly and Mac are still having lots of fun with him. I think more now than ever. My dad hung up his baby swing on the swing set a few weeks ago and they argue over who is going to push him. Griff loves the attention. He is rolling over in all directions and actually "chases" his siblings that way. They love that Griff is tracking them down. They play peek-a-boo with him a lot and get a kick out of his laugh/chuckle. I will have to tape them playing with him soon. It's just too cute.
My oh my...time is flying by-

Trip to LaPine

Our trip to LaPine started out well. We had sunny, warm weather for a day or so...good thing we took advantage of it right away because it turned ugly fast! Pat, Dad and the kids enjoyed the motorcycles and the numerous trails/jumps that are all around the house. Griff and I drove the truck around and followed motorcycles most of the time. It was a bit windy, so Griff's cheeks were chaffed badly in a short amount of time. It worked best to just keep him in the truck, out of the wind. The air there is a lot drier than it is here, so we all have skin issues when we are over there. Anyhow- the first few days were fun.

Dad spun out in the driveway and buried his back tire a bit- we were laughing and joking with him about being too heavy for the bike, but he really isn't. This is a moto bike he brought down with him for the kids. It is called a Baja. It's a ton of fun and goes anywhere with the big tires that are on it. Even better, the grown ups can ride too!

Dad showed Pat how to put the chuck wagon all together...there are a lot of "accessories" that go on it and a lot of details to remember. It looked great with all the gear on! The wagon looks great out there, almost fits in too perfectly!! We are attempting to find a museum of some sorts to loan it out for display only. We will NOT be selling it!

Here is a short video of the kids hittin' the trails-

So, we had planned on staying over there all week and coming home this last Sunday. Dad was planning on heading out Thursday for the long journey back home. Mother Nature had other plans- on Tuesday we woke to snow and it was freezing outside!! I knew instantly that Dad would want to head home sooner than Thursday, in case there was a big storm coming in. I was right- he left early afternoon that same day. I was sad because I thought we had another few days with him. I was really upset with the weather...ha- a lot of good that does one's self! Mother Nature is in charge- we hugged and kissed him goodbye and had to just hang out inside the rest of the day. He made it home safe and sound by late Wednesday night.
We were hoping to wake up to nicer weather on Wednesday morning, but it was the same...snow and sleet all day. We decided enough was enough. I started the long and pain-staking task of cleaning/packing everything up. We headed out Thursday late afternoon. It was still sleeting/snowing when we left and it was COLD. We arrived home late Thursday night, feeling a bit defeated and tired, but glad to be home. I kept the kids out of school on Friday to just let them rest and catch-up from the trip.
It ended up being a good thing to get home a few days early. I had lots of time to un-pack, do laundry, catch up on the mail/e-mails and get ready for the BUSY week are having now! It also gave us time to finish some yard work we had started while Dad was here and gave Pat a few days to "re-coop" before returning to work on Monday. I guess there IS a reason for everything...as the saying goes :)