Bouncing Baby Birthday Boy!!

For atleast a week before his birthday, Payton begged me to let him open just one present. It would always end in "No" and him being fairly upset. (It didn't help that Reily would open his birthday cards as they came in the mail and leave the gift cards lying around) I would just note that those are the rules in Birthdaytown....take it up with the mayor. He never let up. Quite tenacious.


So, I gave in. I told him he could open ONE present the day before his birthday. It was the ol' box-within-a-box gift. Hee...Hee...Hee. Sometimes, I LOVE being the Mayor of Birthdaytown.

He unwrapped, untaped, untied. Until it ended with...

A lump of coal...

for trying to celebrate your birthday a day early.

Sincerely,

The Mayor of Birthdaytown

I guess the power is going to my head. I may not get re-elected. But, it was fun while it lasted.

He did turn 11 the next day and he got to open all of his presents. He even got to play his new wii game ALL NIGHT LONG! That was a happy birthday to him!

We love you Peej. Thanks for tolerating us for 11 years. You're a great kid!

Fa La La

Taylor sang with the Elementary District choir at the Irmo tree lighting. It was a quaint little affair complete with hot chocolate, cookies and Santa on a fire engine. And, I totally dig the master of ceremonies in his festive red & green garb.

They all did a great job.

That's our girl...the ONLY on without a coat. Hmmm...I guess we didn't get that memo. Is it winter?

Macy's favorite part was Ms. Irmo.

Blaman, Cuzer, Cleanup, Blixen?

Can you name Santa's reindeer? It's a lot easier than the 7 dwarves. But, that may just be because of the song.

Rudolph goes Hollywood. Name them? Why when there's an ENTIRE song about them! But, do you recall?...



The 3 year old...shouting out to Santa's non-existent reindeer and the rest of the fam.

The difficult pre-pubescent brother...refusing to give them names that are anything but rubbish.

And...the show off!! Of course. She knows them ALL. (She must have practiced. She was throwing in some pretty creative compound reindeer names last week.)

Gobble, Gobble...

Funny...I never made the connection...Gobble, Gobble is all we've done for the past few days. We have about 2 more days of turkey left. But, the stuffing, potatoes, gravy, and cranberries are gone. So, what's the point?

We had a wonderful (and delicious) Thanksgiving. Grandma and Grandpa Griffen came into town for the week. What amazing guests they are!! Grandma even brought her own rubber gloves.

(She also left them behind. I DO hope they are enchanted and will continue the work she started) She worked pretty hard during her vacation. She was my "clean-up fairy". Doesn't everyone need one of those? She just scooted around behind me washing my pots and pans, re-organizing drawers, entertaining children, and even walking the dog (Now, that's LOVE!).

So, after all her clorox-toting love, I had no choice when they stong-armed me into letting them eat the apple pie on Thanksgiving Eve. It was mafia style. They scared me. I turned over the pie...or it was concrete around my ankles and into the river.... I let them have the pie. They look sweet, but when dessert is involved they turn into the Corleones.

We had a lot of fun bowling with Grandpa on the wii. The kids have taken a liking to Wii Music. I'm not so sure I love it. It's a lot of noise and not a lot of game.

We had a GREAT week! It's always nice to have guests. Especially during the holidays.