Day after Christmas Bowling tradition

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This was the first time Griffin has actually bowled. No pins were knocked down, but he didn't care. He loved getting another chance to hang out with his "cousins" and eat as many french fries as he could.

Christmas Day

And this was only half of the Gunderson grandchildren...

Livi the fairy princess

Griffin got a "choo choo" from Santa

And he also got Playdoh which was promptly tasted!

Christmas Eve

Best family picture we could get :)

All the Lyons women- Olivia, Megan, Camryn, Pam, Erica and baby Lyons

Griffin' sporty look...minus the bead necklace.

Can you find the little boy amidst the presents?

He literally threw himself into the unwrapping this year!

'Tis the Season...

...for naps on the couch at 9:30 AM.

Brunch with Santa

Griffin, mom, dad, grammy, grandma and uncle Evan all went to have brunch with Santa today. We missed the other half of the family who was home sick with the flu. As you can see Griffin has no trouble sitting on Santa's lap but isn't 100% sure about his scratchy beard. Afterwards we went to the Duke Energy train display, which he loved even more than he did last year when we took him :)

Brownie Baking Mishap

Tumbling Class

Popping all the bubbles.

Hanging on the bars.

Practicing the balance beam.

Doing sommersaults.


Griffin started his tumbling class last week at the Cincinnati Sports Club. By far his favorite part is the fact that his friend Maya (My, as he calls her) is in the class with him.

Proud Laugh

Griffin has many different kinds of laughs but I think this one is his proud laugh, for when he does something we should praise him for.

Little Helper

Griffin loves to help do dishes (he even says "dishes" now). He will stand and rinse dishes for an hour if you let him. This usually results in an outfit change but well worth the "extra help". He looks like he is getting in trouble in these pictures by the look on his face, but he's not! In other news, Scott is out of town this week in Knoxville and we miss him like crazy. I am about to enter my third trimester of pregnancy which is CRAZY. This one has really flown by. We still have not found our ideal house but remain hopeful :) Happy Holidays!

One Year Later

Here is Griffin with Snowmen at the zoo two years in a row. So neat to see the changes :)

Festival of Lights 2009

...and somehow we didn't lose any of our fingers and toes to frostbite :) JK, we had a ton of fun with Grammy and Grampy this year at the Festival of Lights.

Ring-Around-the-Rosie

Griffin loves to play Ring-Around-the-Rosie but it makes his mom, aunt and grandma very sick (none of us do well with circles) so we taught him how to do it himself. I promise this is the only game we make him play by himself, and as you can see he loves being the center of attention.

Still Look a lot alike!

Megan and I used to joke that our children (only 4 months apart) looked a lot alike as babies. Even though they are a little older there are still a lot of similarities :)

Early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas early with the Moore family since they won't be on town for it. Big G and little G both wore their sweater vests for the occasion.

Grandma's Lap

Gavin and his mom and dad left today to head back to California... we miss them so much!

Family Pics

These were taken when we celebrated Thanksgiving.

Santa

This was Griffin's 2nd time meeting Santa and Gavin's first. They both told Santa what they wanted for Christmas and promised to be good little boys. For Gavin, this means sleeping more than 2 hours at a time at night and for Griffin it means not whining to try and get what he wants.

18 month appt

Griffin had his 18 month appt last week so here are the updates from that and from everyday life in general:
*He is in the 3rd percentile for weight (yay! still on the charts) and 25th percentile for height. Neither of these are due to him not eating either. He eats constantly, probably 5 meals a day.What is even better is that he isn't a very picky eater. He eats whatever we eat now, no separate meals for him anymore. I hope this statement doesn't come back to hit me in the face :) He especially loves pasta, pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, casseroles, oatmeal, yogurt and any and all fruit.
*He is consistently saying about 10 words now but has probably said close to 40 words ever. His favorites right now are boo-boo, baby, juice, shoes, choo-choo, yellow, two (when he counts everything is 2) I-want-dat, momma and dadda.
*He is doing everything an 18 month old should be doing according to the development charts. Stacking blocks, feeding himself, running, etc.
*He is truly a momma's boy. Only mom can put him down at night and get him up in the morning. This has its ups and downs for both mom and dad :)
*He loves his cousin Gavin, whom he refers to as his baby. He cannot control himself around him though yet so we can't leave them alone together ever. Gavin would be kissed/hugged nonstop.
*He has discovered his whine and how to use it. This may have something to do with all the changes in his life lately but we are hoping it gets better but scared because he is about to get hit with new changes shortly (another new home-hopefully and a baby sister in March). His sister, by the way, is about 1-1.5 lbs and measuring ahead of schedule. I feel her move all the time, especially at night.

Grandpa's Little Helpers

Grandpa stayed home on Friday work from home, and thanks to his grandsons he got a lot done :)

Holiday Junction

Griffin loved the train table, train display an train ride at the Museum Center. Even more fun was enjoying it with his mom, grandma, aunt and cousin Gavin.

Not a Baby Anymore

Seeing pictures like these makes me realizes how big our little "baby" is getting...

Fun with "baby"

Griffin has a newfound obsession/love for his cousin and doesn't let him out of his sight. He calls him "baby" and loves to help do everything for him. He helps change his diapers, plays with him, gives him pacis when he cries, hugs, kisses, squeezes him, helps give him baths, gives him toys, and so on. He is really going to be a great big brother in a few months.