New Niece!

We are very excited about the birth of our new niece: Erin Kristine Murphy was born on September 28, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 13 oz and was 19 inches long. Deanna and Erin are both doing well, and we can't WAIT to meet her and see Connor put his big brother skills into action!

Isn't she adorable???

Denver

Ben and I headed to Denver this past weekend for Scott & Sarah's wedding -- Scott was Ben's roommate from Vermont Law School and Sarah also went to VLS. It was fun to catch up with Ben's law school friends and have some fun without having to worry about a sitter, or what time Griff would get up after we'd been out a little late. :) However, I was not entirely prepared for the ridiculous amount that I would miss Griffin. I hadn't been away from him for more than a quick overnight (i.e. less than 15 hours) before this past weekend. It was an experience for me, but I know Griff had an awesome time staying with the Atkinson family...not only Liz, Dave, Claire, and Hannah -- but also Ryan, who was home on leave from Afghanistan. I'm told he and Ry bonded and Griff gave him a BIG hug before he left. We'll be keeping Ry in our thoughts and prayers - we know he'll come back in a few months safe & sound.

Ben was a groomsman and the wedding was held at a beautiful mansion in Denver. Great gardens & views!

Having some fun after the rehearsal dinner...

We spent some time and had some drinks on the rooftops across from Coors Field, where there were games two of the days we were in town

So They Think They Can Dance

Caught a couple quick pics of Griff and Ty dancing together on Thursday....in circles. Laughing. Totally being clowns and knowing they were SO funny. Griff is very into being a goof & trying to get laughs....we are in Denver right now and are missing our little clown bigtime!!!

This & That

I had some various pics from last weekend that I wanted to post....

We watched the Bears WIN on Sunday...here's Griff in his little Cutler jersey from Uncle Jeff.

Maybe if I hide in here, Kristin Cavallari won't find me?

Don't worry, Griff, she's probably too busy walking her dog in LA while wearing 4-inch heels (per US Weekly, anyway).

Saturday night we had dinner at the Club in our own room...so Griff got to run around, play ball, and he also got the treat of playing Golden Tee with Morgan!



Breakfast out. Griff scarfed down a ridiculous amount of pancakes (and was silly with Daddy, as usual).

Puppy Love

I just got a new Blogger app and wanted to see how it works....so I had this cute pic of Griff and Tuck to share. :)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

Veggin'

The past couple of weekends have been great...great because we haven't had any major plans and have just been able to hang out together, and with friends. I have some pics of this and past weekends I wanted to share.

Veggin' on the couch with puppy

Watching the ND game with Daddy

All boys like to drink during football. Beer OR strawberry smoothies. It's all good.

Griff's fav: the stacking blocks. Surprisingly, he doesn't like to stack 'em and knock 'em right over, he asks me "beees" to help him stack them up, so he can point, identify, "wow!" and make corresponding animal sounds.

Claire, on the other hand, has been providing entertainment to us via stacking cups instead of blocks



Liz & Claire


Claire brought over stickers and asked Ben to "pick one." I guess this counts. (Griff, however, wanted several stickers...and on his belly, ONLY).

Ben was riding Claire's scooter this weekend, barefoot, and learned why riding scooters barefoot simply isn't safety-smart: the breaks BURN. But he got some burn cream and some fun vintage Mickey band-aids!

Griff was absolutely against taking a picture with me.

ABSOLUTELY against it.

And a video from the soon-t0-be Guiness Book of World Records holder:

Discovery Zone

There's an awesome new park not too far from our house: Discovery Zone. Our nanny found out about it on a tip and took the boys there this week and said it was amazing. She raved so much that I decided to take Griff this weekend so he could let out some energy and sillies. And guess what? She wasn't kidding -- this place is AWESOME. The only downside is that it opened in June and we're just now discovering it! It is absolutely perfect for toddlers -- it has tons of little houses and play businesses (police station, Dairy Mart, theatre, etc.) as well as a firetruck to ride and play on, a schoolhouse complete with school bus that rocks, and a big music area. There's so much more, too....a huge sand play area if parents are so inclined (I wasn't), and most of the flooring is the soft rubber, perfect for safe play. AND, there are so many sounds...in fact, there are a lot of spots on the floor where if you stomp on them, they play music, or make firetruck sounds, or police sounds, or give safety tips. Swings, slides, climbing walls for tots....the place is absolutely tailored for kiddo fun. We will be frequenting Discovery Zone....a lot...this fall.


Lots of mazes and little games for little hands

Driving the firetruck, with lots of buttons that make tons of fun noises (this was his fav spot, I'd say)...in fact, when another little boy came up to play, his mom told him "no" and to wait, and as I took Griff's hand to let the boy have his turn, Griff turned to the little boy, shook his finger at him and admonished him "no, no, no". Ok, bossy flossy.


They also had a lot of "porch" swings set up around the park, and Griff liked to sit and swing at times to take a rest.

Lots of good stuff to look at...a mural of animals playing musical instruments

Drivin' (again)

And one of the best parts? Claire and Liz met up with us here and Claire was able to play

Playing the musical pipes

Rolly slide - close second for his fav

Claire in the police station. Her first [and last] time.

Thinking hard about what she'd done

And Daddy came up, too, and met us for a picnic lunch

Auntie Liz spoiling him (by letting G play with her phone)

Kisses

New hat

I wanted to take a pic of Griff in his cute new hat for Grandma Kris (since she made it for him and it fits perfectly)...and in the midst of snapping shots got the above. What an awesome pic!

I am Speed!

Ben decided this weekend that since Mommy always "gets to" (ie does frequently) buy Griffin toys, that it was his turn. So he took Griff for a "daddy toy" shopping spree. What did they come home with (and go a little over budget with)? A Lightening McQueen car...that Griff can actually DRIVE. Ever since we watched the movie Cars in the car when driving down to my parents recently, Griff gasps whenever he sees anything Lightening McQueen...so this find was perfect! After surviving the initial (extreme) meltdown after seeing his car out of the box...and not understanding that it needed time for the battery to charge before it could be driven...he took it for a tool around the yard. And no, we were not able to make the "recommended" initial 18-hour charge!!!

Realizing his new machine has some get-up...whoa!

Zooming To this point, all of Griff's cars have been self-propelled, so he is very used to pushing, pulling, or using his feet to move them. It's taking some time for him to understand that this car is different and moves with the push of a button. Thus, he often gets out to supplement the power by pushing.

Here's a short video of the learning curve:

What else did Griff bring home this weekend? Meet Gilbert ("Gill") Pucci, the newest addition to the family. Griff is very enamored with Gill and will gasp and point periodically (as if he had forgotten Gill was there) at the bowl.

Muffins with Mommy

Today was the best morning that I have had in quite some time. First, Griff slept in....until 10 a.m. That's right, my little man slept from 7:30 last night until 10 this morning...he is one growing boy (he is growing UP and his feet are growing OUT...in the past week he has grown out of all of his shoes and I've had to break out the new pairs...one size up to a 6). Then once he got up he and I headed out for some breakfast...Ben was playing early golf, and because it is a little chilly today (!) we weren't able to hit up the pool. So we headed to our traditional Mommy-n-Griff low-key breakfast out location: Starbucks for our faaaavorite rasberry muffins. As we were sitting there having muffins, milk, and tea (for Momma) I just couldn't believe how handsome and grown-up this little boy sitting across from me (in a normal chair, no high chair or booster necessary) was. I got teary-eyed and then dug for my camera to capture his adorable little mug. After muffins we hit the library for some playtime and then we met daddy for lunch at the Club. It may be too cold to swim on the last weekend the pool is open, but this day so far has been unbeatable.

Lovin the fishtank...he told the fish "bye bye" time and again, but kept coming back from other activities to make sure they were still there. Mommy's gonna cave, and after Griff wakes from his nap (that's right, slept 'til 10am and back down already for another nap, unbelievable) we may head out to get Griff a fish of his very own.

"All done", Griff proclaims after every book or puzzle...off to see if the fish have moved