We'll Be Eating Christmas Cookies for a Fortnight

Christmas cookie night is now officially an annual family tradition at the Griffin house. As of tonight, we've churned out three expertly decorated batches of cookies in as many years. Morgan is now old enough to remember the last cookie baking extravaganza and, in fitting fashion, informed us every time we deviated from the previous year's proceedings. I, of course, was there to enjoy the fun but someone has to operate the camera. (As a side note, we just finished reading the complete works of Beatrix Potter for the second time. Any perceived reflection of her writing style in this post is purely coincidental.)

Morgan's 4th Birthday Bash

For Morgan's 4th birthday party we did a Prince Phillip theme. Prince Phillip cakes aren't available at supermarkets so I labored over a shield cake for 2+ hours the night before. We had at least a dozen kids present. Morgan had a great time with all of his friends. Thanks to my mom and mom-in-law for all their help!

Decortaing the Tree & First Snow

The week since our Thanksgiving trip has absolutely flown! In addition to all the unpacking and preparations for Morgan's party, we set up the tree and decorated it in the Motz family tradition (that is, with Richard Clayderman playing in the background). On Friday of the week we also got our first -and possibly only- snow of the season. The kids discovered it before they were even out of their beds in the morning and we headed out for awhile after breakfast. You may not be able to tell in the photos, but they are following another Motz tradition by wearing Wal-mart sacks over their shoes.


















Both kids spent a lot of time eating the snow.

The Thanksgivings

Since we won't be able to travel for Christmas, we did two Thanksgivings this year. On Tuesday we arrived in Abilene...watched Shannon play basketball that night, worked out at the base on Wednesday, cooked and ate on Thursday, and then drove the rest of the way to Liberty Hill that evening. On Friday morning we loaded up for another drive to the Roost for the Griffin family gathering. On Saturday morning, Matt and I enjoyed running a few country road miles. Afterwards we took the kids on a brief trip to a nearby river. That night we went out to a movie and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory while the kids walked and played all over Liberty Hill with Papa Wes and GG.
.



Morgan was in the mix as usual.

All of us girls helped cook the meal.

Haleigh even made several pies!

The kids table.

The whole group.

Motz family + spouses and kids

Motz siblings + spouses

Mawmaw's 10 great grandchildren!

The whole Griffin crowd.



Wading in very cold water

Even Emma braved it for a little while.

Sharing a Bedroom

Last night we moved Morgan into Emma' room. They will have to share for a year or two, until Viola is old enough to move in with Emma or until we buy a new house. They were pretty excited about the move and actually did really well on their first night together. We know it's a super girly room for a little boy, but Morgan doesn't seem to notice. This weekend and the next we will be remodeling Morgan's old room- new paint, ceiling fan, and blinds. It should be just about 9 weeks or so until Viola arrives!

Kitchen- Before & After

By now, everyone has seen these pictures on Facebook but we still wanted to do an official "before & after" blog entry. This project was fairly painless as far as kitchen remodeling goes, and we think it made a world of difference. The hardest part was probably choosing the paint color- that and actually having to paint over all the purple (thanks Matt!). The kitchen looks so much brighter and cleaner now. It's also great to have a working dishwasher and vent hood.

Backyard Project: The Camera Dolly

Here's the latest of my backyard projects. It's a camera dolly that runs along tracks made of PVC pipe. Even though I built it for a camera, the kids didn't waste any time making good use of it. Turns out it also makes a great ride. Thanks to my dad for helping me build it. Wish he could have been here to see it finished.