Saturday, October 27, 2012

Beet Harvest

A friend's daughter and her husband have a large farm operation and harvest beets, they invited us out to see it.  Griffin was SO excited!  Of course, the boys had to dress the part, so here they are in their fun farm shirts that Uncle Corey got them.  Can you tell that Griffin adores Preston?!  :)


 These two boys make my heart melt!
 I had no idea sugar beets were so huge!
 Griffin got to ride in the beet lifter....he was thrilled!
 Preston decided that napping would be more enjoyable.  :)
 It was a cold, windy day, but lots and lots of fun! I think it is so interesting to see how farming operations work.

 Look at what we saw on the way home!  A bald eagle!  I spotted it and had to turn around so that the boys could see it, too.
 Beautiful!



So, what does Griffin think of his brother?

We get that question a lot....what does Griffin think of his brother?  How is the transition going from being an only child to having a sibling?

I'm not going to lie...it's been fabulous!  I truly think Griffin was completely ready to have a sibling....and he truly WANTED a sibling.  I remember being in the Target parking lot one day well before Preston was born and he pointed to a family and he asked why they had so many and why we only had one, I asked, "So many what?"  His response, "Kids."  He has always wanted more kids in our family, and so did we.  We are so incredibly grateful that we have been blessed with Preston.

Here are a few fun things that Griffin does and says:

Most days in the morning when Griffin wakes up he will typically yell for me. I walk upstairs and he asks if I brought "the little guy".  When I tell him yes, he says, "Good, I made some room for him."  Then they snuggle in bed together.  

Griffin shares his coveted white blanket with Preston.  This is a VERY big deal. :)

On the first day that Preston went to daycare with Griffin, Griffin woke up and threw his hands in the air and said, "This is the day I have been waiting for!!"  Of course, that was a very tough day for me, but it made it easier knowing that Griffin was so happy and that they were together.  Mary our daycare provider sent me a photo of Griffin smiling ear to ear holding Preston.  She said that anytime he made a peep he ran over there to help and that he was so proud to have a little brother at daycare.  Before Preston was born, he was the only one without a sibling.

Whenever we read books he makes sure that Preston can see all of the pages.

The other day he asked me to bring Preston up to watch Transformers with him, because he knew Preston would want to see it, too.

When is snowed for the first time Griffin was thrilled that Preston could see his first snow fall!  He had me get Preston's snowsuit, hat and mittens out immediately!

The other night we brought the bath seat upstairs and had the boys take a bath together.  Griffin was dancing around he was so happy!  He made bubble beards for both of them.

My parents told Griffin that they would have a special night just for him, he told them he wanted Preston to be there, too!

I can't begin to tell you how happy all of this makes us.  It's amazing to see Griffin have such complete and genuine joy over his little brother.  And, we feel exactly the same way!!


Fall Photos

The leaves were amazing, so I took the boys out for some fall photos at the very beginning of October.  I think it will be an annual tradition.  We had fun walking down the trail and Griffin was so proud to have photos taken with his little brother.












Preston's Baptism

Griffin giving Preston some pre-baptism advice:


As the pastor was baptizing Preston, Preston was smiling!  The Pastor said, "I wish all of you could see this, it's amazing, he's smiling!"  It was a very sweet moment for us.




Preston and his Godparents, Jesi and Nate. 

Preston wore the same outfit that Griffin and my brother were baptized in, and the blanket was made by my grandmother. Griffin had it at his baptism and my grandmother has since passed away, so it's very special to us.  Jesi and Nate gave Preston a bonnet with a blue ribbon that he is holding in these photos, he'll also have it when he has his 1st communion and confirmation, then he will give it to his wife to carry on her wedding day....isn't that the sweetest!?!?



This was the pastor's 1st baptism!  He is also an adoptive parent, so it was very meaningful to him and to us. Brian and Heidi were our congregational sponsors, and we will be theirs when their baby is baptized.
 The whole crew!

Nonna's Birthday

Nonna shared her birthday with Preston's baptism this year.  We wanted to celebrate both important occasions, so we had a nice picnic lunch at the local apple orchard/winery and finished off lunch with some delicious caramel apples from the orchard!  Then, we took a stroll through the orchard.  It's amazing to look back at how HOT it was that day, just a month ago!  Today we got chilled to the bone at the pumpkin farm! 




Griffin thought it was cool that he could use a ladder to pick apples.


Big news! The training wheels are GONE!

On the way home from church one day Griffin said, "I think today is the day that we should take my training wheels off."  We were both shocked because he had no interest in biking without them....so we scurried home and headed out to the driveway before he could change his mind!  Jamie went up and down the driveway with him several times with a towel around Griffin's waist.  He was making progress, but wasn't quite there.  Then, the neighbor kids came over one night and they did it!  They walked alongside Griffin, encouraged him and gave him tips.  In no time he was riding his bike!!  Since then, he has showed EVERYONE that comes over that he can ride.  This includes the milk man, people from church that have dropped of meals, and our mail lady.  We also bring the bike along when we visit ANYONE.  He's already requested a bigger bike for Christmas!





Backing up a bit....

I thought I'd post a few cute little video clips of sweet little Preston.

This one was from 8/1/12.  Griffin wanted to make sure Preston wasn't lonely in his cradle, so he filled it up with some of his favorite stuffed animals.



A this was quite unbelievable!  On his 6th day of life, we had him doing tummy time (which he is still NOT a fan of!).  He pushed his arm under himself and rolled over!!


And, he loves talking to his mobile!  This video was taken on 8/26/12.  Every time I got the camera out, he quit babbling...but Jamie got him to say something!


And here he is rolling over the second time, on 8/27/12.  He cried a bit here, but he did it!


And here Preston is talking on 9/15/12...soooo cute!