Christmas Spirit

Christmas is right around the corner and I have been feeling the Christmas spirit this year. Maybe it all started with waking up bright and early on Black Friday and hitting the stores with Stacey (and some lady ran me over with her cart leaving a bruise on my heel); or maybe it is me listening to Christmas music to and from work; or maybe it is the excitement of seeing Sami have her first Christmas; or maybe the fact that we are heading to Idaho and Utah for the holidays. Whatever it is, I am excited for the upcoming weeks. The boys have been in the holiday mood as well - on Monday night they made the family watch A CHRISTMAS STORY and last night we started watching A CHRISTMAS VACATION, until we got about 6 minutes into the movie and heard a number of cuss words and adult situations and decided to check the rating - PG-13. So, we shut it down. We turned on PRANCER instead. Those Christmas movies really get you in the mood for Christmas. Now, all I need to watch is IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Studious??

I wanted to mention the parent teacher conferences that we had with both Hunter and Ryan’s teachers. These conferences were held a while ago, but my lack of writing on the blog has forced me to talk about them now.

RYAN
Ryan’s teacher said that he is such a good kid in class. He is well mannered and considerate (which is far cry from what he is at home). Mrs. North said that Ryan works very hard in class, especially when doing arts and crafts – he really takes his time and does a fantastic job. He is also pretty good with Math and numbers. However, Ryan struggles in reading and sounding words out. His teacher absolutely loves him and his personality.

HUNTER
Hunter’s teacher enjoys having him in her class. She said that Hunter is a good student and a joy to have in class. She said that he struggles in math and he struggles focusing on getting tasks done. She frequently has to help him stay on track. Hunter does not work hard in school. However, she said that Hunter is fantastic at spelling and reading. In fact, she has a chart of the students and their reading capabilities after taking AR tests. She had to expand the chart because Hunter is off the chart. In fact, he doubles just about every other student in the class! He is an amazing reader and she said by the end of the school year he will be at a reading level that is equivalent to graduating from the Fourth grade.

As you can see, Hunter and Ryan seem to be complete opposite students. It will be interesting to see how they do as they progress in school and get older. Hunter is considering being a doctor right now and Ryan wants to be a Construction worker.

November 29th

Our first real day of snow for the year! On November 28th, the sun was shining and we were wearing short sleeve shirts.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day came and went, and Stacey filled our table with goodies. She prepared a ham (instead of a turkey - a lot easier to prepare), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, stuffing, jello, green bean salad, slush (family tradition), and two kinds of pie. Needless to say, we have been eating like kings as we have been living off of left-overs.

On Thanksgiving, we went around the table to say what we were thankful for. Stacey and I gave rounding speeches on being thankful for our families, and Hunter also said he was thankful for his family. Ryan was thankful for "Astronaughts!"

Welcome Home Gift

When Stacey and I went on vacation in September, we found a little house guest when we returned...

Vote for this Candidate

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Kpio&altl=Hsjggjo

Brackets

We just found out that Ryan has two loose teeth - his bottom front teeth. The teeth are quite loose and most likely have been loose for a while. Stacey asked Ryan why he didn't tell us his teeth were loose sooner. His response was "I didn't want brackets." Apparently, he was a little nervous about loosing his teeth and does not want braces on his teeth! Silly boy! We had to explain that all 5 year olds lose their teeth. He is excited now for the tooth fairy to show up, once his teeth fall out.

Field Trip

Yesterday, Ryan got picked with a handful of other kids to go watch the Dr. Suess Musical called Suessical. It was basically an all day field trip for him, in which Mommy go to go as well. When I got home from work I asked Ryan what his favorite part of the field trip was. He responded, "Daddy, I got to ride on the bus all by myself. It was kind of long and the people were boring sometimes." He was so excited about his bus ride. He doesn't get to ride a bus to school, so this was a huge treat for him. Stacey said that he was so excited to get on the bus and when they arrived at their destination, she saw him with a perm-a-grin sitting on the bus. If you know Ryan, you know how excited he is about buses!! By the way, he liked Suessical as well - but if you talk to him about it, he will tell you all about the bus ride.

Nature's Fireworks

Last night we had a lightning storm in Denver. Lightning, you say? Yes, our weather is quite different than Utah and Idaho. We had rain, lightning, and thunder yesterday. So, as a family, we went into our family room and turned off the lights to make the house completely dark. Stacey held Ryan and I held Hunter, and Sammi just crawled around in the dark. We just sat and watched the house light up from the lightning. Stacey told the boys that if you count after the lightning strikes until you hear the thunder then you can determine how far away the lighting was. We had some that were 6-7 seconds and a few that were less than 1 sec. We had a great time enjoying one anothers company and watching the fireworks.

Hunter's New Hobby

Hunter started fencing a couple of weeks ago. He absolutely loves it and that is all he can talk about. He is some video from his second lesson.

Momma's Girl

I have been getting a lot of people asking me why I haven't written lately on my blog and when am I going to post again. Okay, not really, but I do need to write. First of all, Sammie (Sami - however you want to spell it) turned 8 months old a few days ago. WHEN DID SHE TURN 6 MONTHS OLD? She is growing way too fast and she wants do everything quickly. She is pulling herself up onto everything, she wants to walk, she is crawling on hands and knees, and she even has 6 teeth already. Why can't she just slow down and wait for things to happen?? I can see her now when she is 15 years old and some idiotic, greasy boy wants to take her out on a date. She is going to want to go and I will be fighting her to simply wait and slow down. I just want to enjoy her being little. The thing that frustrates me the most is that she won't stay put in my arms very long. It is almost torture to her to stay in my arms. She wants to be moving every where and exploring everything. The one nice thing is that she will still curl up in my arms and fall asleep at night. That is definitely one of my greatest joys! Especially since she is still a Momma's girl. If Stacey is in the room then she wants her momma. I don't mind being second best as long as I can still rock her to sleep each and every night...until she is 15...

Sammie in Motion

Samantha's Workout Video

Sit-ups, push-ups, army crawls - this video has it all for the baby on the go.

Disciplining Children

Disciplining children is hard! Yesterday, Hunter and Ryan kept fighting and arguing with each other, so I took away their Nintendo DS games because that seemed to be the stem of the argument. The fighting continued so I took away their computer privileges for Sunday and Monday. Ryan told me “That’s okay dad, you will forget about it anyway.” That is probably entirely true; however, coming from a 5-year old I am not how to take it. Either he has great insight into understanding my mind, or else my mind is an open book that even a 5-year old can understand…

Growing Up

I realize that my boys are growing up, but I think they may be growing up too fast. Last night, I was trying to impress upon Ryan's mind the importance that he goes to bed after he ate a yogurt and I simply stated "Ryan you need to get ready for bed." Ryan's response: "Hello...I am eating!" That statement sounds too grown up for a 5-year old!!

Scary

I miss you guys!!

Death Cab for Cutie at Red Rocks

Who?? The name is a little misleading as to what the band is, but I love the music and I got tickets to their concert at Red Rocks. It truly is a great experience to watch a concert at Red Rocks - but very loud -- even from the 43rd row!! Here are a couple of clips that I took of the show along with a clip of someone who filmed a little closer...

More pictures

Just Like Old Times

My buddy Chad came to visit me for the weekend. He was my roommate at Rick's College many years ago. Our wives don't let us get together too often because they think we revert to our College days when we are together. Not true! In fact, we only stayed up until 2 a.m. unlike the 3:30 a.m. mornings were used to. We had a fun weekend together. We went golfing, went to a Rockies game, went to a movie, went hiking, went to Red Rocks, Lamar's doughnuts, and ate a ton of food. We didn't sleep much, but we had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures:

Is that All?

20

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What is that?

The other night, Stacey and I were sitting in the living room, when Ryan walking in holding a white paper cupcake holder. And in his matter of fact talk he said "Mom, this isn't one of your boobie things..." Stacey and I did our best to stiffle our laughs until he left the room, and when he did then we completely lost it. Kids are funny! Below is what he was talking about...

Sammie's First Baseball Game

On April 22, 2008 Sammy attended her first baseball game with Stacey and I. The picture is from a cell phone so it isn't that great but we needed to memorialize her first game. She absolutely loved it and wants to attend more. However, she didn't really enjoy the stadium food but preferred her usual. Rockies lost the game 8-6 but Matt Holiday hit a HR to deep center field. Sammie loved that as the crowd screamed. She also loved the loud music that kept playing over and over.

Go Speed Racer! Go!

Stacey and I took the boys to see the movie Speed Racer last weekend. The boys have been anticipating the movie for quite some time and have bought every possible cereal box that has Speed Racer on it or a toy inside. Stacey and I decided to make it a BIG deal so we took the boys to the IMAX Theater. There is just something amazing about seeing Speed Racer on the BIG SCREEN. The boys absolutely loved the movie, and both Stacey and I got a kick out of watching the boys watch the movie. There was one part where the little boy is in school daydreaming about being a race car driver and Ryan could not stop laughing (though it wasn’t really a funny part). He thought it was so cool to daydream and it actually comes true – I know that is his dream! Throughout the whole movie, Ryan had a perma-grin! There were even a few parts where Ryan got so caught up in the movie that he yelled out and I don’t think he even realized it. I couldn’t stop laughing as I watched him having such a good time. The colors and the effects were pretty impressive for little kids, but pretty over stimulating for adults – but Stacey and I enjoyed the movie because the boys enjoyed it so much.

GOINGS ON

Just a couple of observations and such of the family:

* First off - Samantha attended her first major league baseball game on April 22nd, 2008. The Phillies came into town against the Rockies. Matt Holiday hit a bomb to center field to put the Rockies in the lead, but Manny Corpas blew his third straight save in as many nights in the 9th inning and the Phillies won.

* Ryan has been calling sneezes "Bless You's." It is so cute. Of course, no matter how many times we tell him that a milkshake is called a 'milkshake' he still wants to call it a 'shakemilk.' I love the way he talks.

* One of the cutest things about Samantha is that when she 'talks' she will bat her eyes as if she is flirting. It is the cutest thing. The not so cute thing she does is grunt and groan all night long and keep us up. Hunter and Ryan slept through the night at an early age, but Samantha is struggling and Stacey isn't getting a whole lot of sleep.

* Hunter is in the mode of baseball right now. We went outside and played baseball again tonight. I held Sammie so Hunter played catch against his pitch-back net. I told him to try and catch 10 balls in a row. On the 9th one I would stop him and remind him that he was on number 10 and that he didn't want to drop it (I was putting the pressure on). He would get laughing so hard and throw the pitch and not catch the 10th ball. This happened twice and on the third go around he caught the 10th ball.

Art Show

Mr. Ryan didn't have to go to school last Thursday. We thought this was kind of weird, but they cancelled school because they were getting ready for the school art show. Well, we didn't think much of it and went to the artshow that night. WoW! Were we amazed! The school was decorated from ceiling to floor with art pictures that the kids had done throughout the year. Each room had one item that each child had completed and each room had a theme. For example, Ryan's class is called The Frogs so their classroom was decorated in the theme of frogs. There was a pond and all sorts of creative frogs and animals that you would find at a pond. It was a really neat set-up. Ryan was so excited to show us his artwork, yet he was a little shy and embarrassed. But he was proud to show off his work. It was so cute and so amazing what the school put together. Unfortunately, neither Stacey nor I took a camera or video camera.

Pinewood Derby

So, Hunter had his first pinewood derby last week. We spent a lot of time painting and sanding his car. We tried to do all the tricks to help the pinewood derby go a little faster and get that extra speed to edge the other cars. By the time, I got the wheels on his car for him, I was just hoping that he would win one race. We arrived at the church and saw the new metal track they had laid out for the derby. I had Hunter go test his car on the track to make sure the car worked. His car rolled to the bottom of the track and so I knew that the car would work. Then a couple of other kids started putting their cars on the track and Hunter was beating thier cars every time. I decided that Hunter would at least not come in last place and that made me feel a little better. Finally, Hunter got to race. Somehow his car won his first race. I don't know who was more surprised - me or Hunter. I will never forget the look on his face when he realized he won - I think he was in a little shock and had to look at the big screen that showed the place of the cars, then he looked at me with this huge shocked look on his face. His friends were cheering for him and it finally sunk in that he had won! He was so excited. The next race, Hunter won again and there was still shock and excitement on his face. He won his third race, and I started thinking that maybe we did something right in making his car. However, he took third in his next race and second in the next race. I was humbled. But Hunter ended up winning 5 out of the 8 races he ran. When the final tallies came out, he took 5th place. He was so excited about that and I was impressed that we finished so high. Thanks to Grandpa Griffin and Grandpa McClanahan for thier techniques, help, and equipment. Had Hunter and I tried to do it alone, we definitely would have come in last....or second to last.

Trip to Utah

I have to catch up on our trip to Utah. On March 14th, Stacey and I packed the family in the car and we headed to Utah. We left after work on that day and drove until about 11 pm at night and found a hotel in Rock Springs. The kids did fantastic in our drive. We thought Samantha would have a hard time but she did wonderfully. We stopped for food and gas on a couple of occasions and she fed and that was enough to keep her happy on the trip. Of course, she slept a lot of the ride and made for a horrible night in the hotel as she was up all night long. On Friday, we drove into SLC and went over to Great Grandma McClanahan's house and visited with her for a while and had lunch. Then, we went to Grandma McClanahan's house and visited with Melanie and the girls until Grandma came home. The reason why we went to Utah was to bless Samantha and to let the family see Samantha. Marci and Jon, Amy and Jeremy, Jena -Dennis and family, and Mom, Dad, and Brandon came from Idaho to see Samantha. With Tim and Misty and Melanie and her girls we had a full house. Oh yes, Brook and Emily and family also joined us for the blessing. We figured we had 45+ people in the house for the blessing and them feeding them. Grandma and Grandpa McClanahan were so awesome to host everyone and feed them! The next day we were able to visit with all the family and then they had to head back to Idaho Falls. On Monday, Stacey and I and the family ran around SLC and hit some stores that she wanted to go to. Then, that night we had dinner with the Albrecht's and the Monroes at Ruby River. On Tuesday, Grandpa, Hunter, and I worked on his pinewood derby car. He was so excited to work on that. We cut out the car, buffed the wheels, and placed the first coat of paint on the car. Wednesday, we had to travel back home to Colorado, but we had such a good time in Utah - especially being able to see family and for family to see Samantha!!

Finished

So, I met my goal for the year and I read the Book of Mormon all the way through. My goal was to read the Book of Mormon 7 pages a day and it would take about 73 days to finish the book. I started around Januray 2nd or 3rd and finished on March 25th, about 8 days later than I expected. I attribute it to the fact that we went to Utah last week (gotta blame it on something). But even though I am few days late, I am still excited about reaching my goal of finishing the book and was only a little off on my target. Setting and accomplishing goals are so important in life as well as reading scripture. Do both or combine both and you will be set in your life. I guess now I need to start over or read the Bible...

Talent Show

Today was the Westridge Primary Ward Talent Show. Many of the kids showcased their talents as did Hunter and Ryan. Hunter built a lego castle and put it on display. He named it SKELETONS & MONSTERS vs. KNIGHTS. It was a fantastic lego display that he spent most of the night working on. Ryan made two batches of brownies (with his Dad's help) - enough to feed the whole primary. Both of them were so excited to display their talents and they did a wonderful job. Stacey and I were so proud of them!!

What's Your Lunch Special?

Stacey, Hunter, Ryan and Samantha came to visit me at work yesterday and take me to lunch. We went to a nice sit down restaurant. We sat down, ordered our drinks, and took a look at the menu. We visited for a while and our drinks finally arrived. Hunter and Ryan quickly started slurping down their drinks as Stacey and I visited on the far side of the table. All of the sudden I heard a big SPLAT on the floor. Stacey and I looked over to see Hunter bent over with stuff hanging from his mouth and nose as he had just got done upchucking on the floor. I grabbed a waiter and told him what happened and told him that we were going to leave. They totally understood and told us not to worry about the bill and we quickly left the building. It turned out that Hunter was fine and he had been reading while Stacey drove the family to my work - he just got a little car sick. We got him all cleaned up and doing fine and we quickly ran into Panda Express and grabbed some Orange Chicken.

Don't Smile

One thing that I have always done with our boys when they are in a bad mood or are crying is that I will say "Don't Smile!" However, it is done in a way that is kind of silly and always makes them laugh. Even when the tears are streaming they still get a kick out of it and laugh. Even after the hundreds of times that I have said it, they still laugh. Well, last night I came home from work and Stacey was in bed tired after a long night's battle with Samantha. She was awake but was pretending to sleep for some reason, so I whispered "Don't Smile!" and of course she couldn't hold it in and starting laughing. We ended up laughing and laughing about it for quite some time. Just one of those silly moments in the Griffin family that made us laugh!

Firopractor

Ryan is such a little cutie. I just have to mention that whenever he talks about going to the chiropractor he always calls it the "firopractor" and that he is going to get "adusted."

Going to the Firopractor to get Adusted. It is so cute!

Hunter's busy week

This week has been a very fun and exciting week for Hunter. First of all, at school Hunter dressed up as George Washington, his hero, and his class put on a wax museum exhibit. All the students had sticker on their hand that people were to press to activate the Wax statutes. So, Hunter was the wax statue of GW. His teacher let the students all decide their own thing that they could say and Hunter's went somthing like this, "Hello, My name is George Washington. I want to be remembered for the Washington Monument. If I were to come back today, I would free America from the British." It was so cute! He did a fantastic job. Stacey made a cool costume for him, equipped with a white wig with curls like in that time period. Then, later that night Hunter received his bobcat award in cub scouts. I think I embarassed him some. The ward does not present the bobcat in the 'traditional' manner of turning the kid upside down and the mother pinning the badge on - once the kid does a good turn, then the badge is turned right-side up. Anyway, I asked the scout leaders if we could do that and they thought it would be great. So, I turned Hunter upside down and Mommy placed the badge on him. We were so proud of him getting his bobcat badge. He memorized all the cub scout promises, mottos, handshakes, etc. and worked on the requirements for getting the badge. He is on his way in the scouting program.

Today (Sat. March 1), our family got together with the neighbors - the Feigers and ate lunch. Before that, Hunter and Ryan played with their little boys in the park. The weather was absolutely beautiful today, pretty warm for this time of year - around 70 degrees. After lunch, Hunter and I sat up his baseball pitch-back and he played with that all afternoon. He said that he wants to become as good as Clint Barmes from the Colorado Rockies. It didn't take Hunter long to get the hang of the device and in no time he was easily catching the balls that would come bouncing back in his direction. That kid wants to be a ball player!!

Grandma Griffin Visits

On Wednesday February 20th, Grandma Griffin came to visit us for a week. Hunter and Ryan could not wait for her to arrive. We loved having Grandma here for a week. With her new job she can work from any computer anywhere so it allowed her to come and visit us for so long without having to take time off from work. We had so much fun! Of course, she spent a lot of time holding Samantha and spoiling Ryan and Hunter, but they loved it so much. Samantha even smiled for the first time - over and over again - while Grandma was here, and had a lot to do with her smiling. When Grandma wasn't with the kids, we got to visit with her, watch some movies, and played a lot of Ticket to Ride. But as all things do, her visit had to come to an end. We were very sad to see it end. But we are excited to see her and the rest of the family in a couple of weeks when we head to Utah for the blessing of Samantha. We can't wait!

Garbage Men

Ryan has always had this thing for Garbage trucks. He thinks they are pretty cool for some reason. Today, both Ryan and Hunter got the opportunity to act like Garbage men as they went to my firm and picked up trash outside the building. The wind blew a lot of trash over the past months in to the bushes and trees outside the firm and made everything look grimy. So, Kirby Joseph agreed to let Hunter come and pick up trash and earn money. Hunter invited Ryan to come along as well. We spent over two hours crawling through bushes and thorny trees picking up trash, but in the end the boys did a fantastic job. The collected two large bags of trash and really cleaned up the outside of the building. At times, they would get distracted but we were able to complete the task. Hunter was excited to earn money and Ryan was excited to be a part of the whole thing - though he only earned $1 but did a lot more work than that! However, Ryan did find a dollar bill while picking up trash which he was so excited about. I am so proud of how hard they worked and how good everything looked when they completed their job. They are such good and wonderful boys!!

Captain Underpants and other Strange things

On Grandma Griffin's b-day, Ryan had to go visit the doctor. Ryan has complained of some chest pains at various times in the past 3 or 4 weeks, so Stacey took him to the doctor to get it checked out. Apparently, the doctor did an EKG and took some chest X-rays but they believe that there is nothing wrong with him. He may have a little acid reflux. But while at the doctor's office, they decided to give him his 5-year old shots. He got three shots (just for the record - none were injections of steroids - though I want him to be a baseball player, I don't want him to be one that bad!). He said they hurt but according to him he 'only cried a little.' Mommy was good enough to reward him for being so good by taking him to Target and he got to pick out a toy - he settled on a Star Wars battle droid lego set. He was such a big boy and so proud of himself for being so strong. Hunter reminded me that when he was five he got his shots and picked out an orange tow truck Transformer - honestly, that kid has such a great memory - he remembers where he got every single toy from the time that he was 2. Hunter is now reading his third Captain Underpants book. Actually, he checked it out of the library yesterday and starting reading it today and finished reading it right before bed. I think the book has about 200 pages in it, but it keeps his 8-year old mind occupied and he will read it cover to cover. Strang book and strange title, but apparently the book is a popular book for 9 and 10 year old boys. He is also reading a book called Poppy Returns. This is a little slower reading than Captain Underpants, but he will read a couple of chapters a night and is getting toward the end. I am glad that he is reading as much as he does, and I don't mind that he is reading Captain Underpants, even if Captain Underpants is taking on the Nasty Nose Nuggets....

Book of Mormon in 75 days

It has been quite a while since I have read the Bible or the Book of Mormon, so I decided that in 2008 that I would read the Book of Mormon within 90 days. I set the goal to read 7 pages a day which makes it so I can read the whole book in about 72 or 73 days. I am currently at page 272, which is about a day or 2 behind where I should be. But so far things are going well. I realize that this is probably not the best way to read scripture, but I figured that just reading and finishing the book is better then what I have done recently, i.e. not reading at all. The best way to read is to study, ponder, and pray about the things you read - then ask our Heavenly Father if the things you have read are true. The Holy Spirit will witness to you that those things are true by feelings of calmness, understanding, and burning desire in your heart. I will keep you posted as to when i finish the book.

A Simple Fire Truck

Ryan is almost 5 years old. He has been our baby for so long - but now with Samantha in the picture he looks like a giant compared to her. He seems to have grown up very quickly in the past 2 weeks, but he still is my little boy. Ryan received a present from his Grandma and Grandpa McClanahan on Wednesday - it was an early birthday present. They bought him a lego firetruck. Hunter and Ryan spent quite a bit of time putting that truck together. Hunter has become somewhat of an expert at putting together Legos, so Ryan let him at it and offered some help. Today, Ryan got mad at his Mom and so he broke apart his firetruck. Mommy told him that she wasn't going to help him put it back together because of the way he acted. Well, after quite some time he realized what a mistake he made in breaking apart his firetruck and he asked Mommy to help him put it back together again. She reiterated the fact that she wasn't going to help him. He asked for the directions and she got them for him. He ended up following the directions and putting that firetruck back together. When we got home tonight one of the first things he told me was that he put that lego firetruck together by himself. I was so proud of him and amazed that he could do that by himself. He is really growing up and becoming more and more self-sufficient. He was also so proud of himself for accomplishing that. As a Dad, I get this overwhelming feeling of love when I see my boys accomplishing tasks or doing things that show they are growing up. Even when Hunter does something as simple as putting the trash can away, I see him growing up and I can't believe I have a son that can accomplish a more mature task. I can't wait until both Hunter and Ryan can shovel the snow off the driveway and mow the lawn....

The Griffin 5

It has been almost 2 weeks since Samantha joined our family. We have really enjoyed the adjustment. She has been the sweetest thing - she rarely cries, only on the occasional diaper change and when she doesn't get fed fast enough. We have really noticed how patient she is in everything so far. She lets us do just about anything to her and she doesn't complain. Hopefully, that will continue throughout her life. Samantha appears to be happy - though the only time she smiles is when she is asleep or falling asleep. Hunter and Ryan absolutely love her. They keep telling us "I just love Samantha." Sometimes they say it as they are playing with their toys or doing something that doesn't even involve their sister - but I think they just have this overwhelming sense of joy and love that comes over them and they have to express it. Tonight as I drove home from work, I stopped to pick up Ryan at his friend's, Ben, house. We talked on the drive home and I asked him what he thought about his little sister. He responded with a full heart and tendor voice, "She is the sweetest thing." We all love her so much and have to fight over who is going to hold her next, but she has easily transitioned into our family. Sometimes Stacey and I have this realization that we have a daughter (whenever I say that it seems so weird after having just boys for so many years) and an extra person to our family - a feeling that is hard to explain, except that you will understand when you have children of your own. But at the same time she has felt like she has always been a part of our family and that is why she is so easy to love. Tonight, I got to hold her and she fell asleep on my chest. I just rocked her for quite some time and took in the alone and quiet time I had with her. There is nothing more precious then having a child curled up in your arms with her head on you chest. What a wonderful addition to our household!

Sami Part II

Hunter and Ryan were so excited to come visit Samantha at the hospital. At precisely 7:30am (I am sure he wanted to call earlier), Hunter called me on my cell phone. I told him that Samantha was born and he got so excited. He wanted to come to the hospital right away. He asked how she was doing and I told him a little bit about her being born during the night. He then gave the phone to Ryan for me to tell him about Samantha being born. Ryan was just getting up and I told him about his new little sister, but he then told me that he was 'too tired' and gave the phone back to Hunter. By 9am, the boys were at the hospital as Grandma McClanahan drove them there. I met them in the lobby of the hospital and took them to see Mommy and Samantha. They were so excited, but when they actually saw her they were speechless. They just stared at her and finally Hunter said "She isn't what I expected." Apparently, he expected someone a little bigger and perhaps could move around. With Samantha being extra tiny, it was such a shock to him. But both Hunter and Ryan took turns holding her and they instantly fell in love with their little sister. Ryan could not stop saying 'I love her!' Grandma McClanahan said that both boys got dressed and ate their breakfast faster than they ever had! There was no constant reminder and no pestering - they could not wait to get to the hospital!! What a cute little family we have! After they left, Stacey and I tried to get some sleep but the nurses, etc. kept coming in every 20 minutes to check on Stacey and the baby. We talked to Hunter later in the day and he said 'Do you NEED me to come to the hospital?" So, Hunter, Ryan, and Grandma came back to the hospital and spent more time with Mommy and the baby. They love their little sister!!

Sami Live

Sami Part I

What a wild night of events. I will try and encompass everything that happened the night Sami was born in this one blog but I may forget some things and will need to add later. Stacey and I went to the hospital around 7:30 pm on Saturday January 26th. We arrived at the hospital around 8:00 pm and filled out some paperwork. Then, a nurse led us to room where Stacey would eventually have Samantha. Stacey was asked to strip and put on a hospital gown. For the life of us, we could not figure out how the gown went on. Amid laughs, I asked the nurse to give us a hand. After getting the gown on, Stacey was examined and given a 'mezo-pill' to aid in softening the cervix and possibly induce labor. Stacey was asked to get some rest and around 1:30 am she would get checked in. Stacey and I talked and read some books and tried to sleep, though sleep did not come easy. Around 1:45 am Stacey was checked again and found that she had dialated to a 3 and she did not need another 'mezo-pill.' The nurse told Stacey that within the next few hours she might need an epidural. So, Stacey and I were again told to get some rest until that time. Shortly after that, I heard Stacey groaning in pain as she was having hard contractions about 1 minute apart. I convinced her to get the epidural though she was reluctant because she didn't want to be on an epidural for 10 hours. The pain was too much and she called for the nurse to bring the epidural. Around 2:50 am, the anathesiologist arrived and administered the epidural, a process that took fully 15-20 minutes. Once everything was working fine, the nurse checked Stacey again and said that her bag of water was swollen and would break within the next couple of hours. The nurse left the room to let us rest yet once again. Within 10 minutes, Stacey blurts out, "My water broke." We call the nurse and she comes in and cleans Stacey up. She said that Stacey would eventually feel pressure like she has to push and when that time comes we were to call her again. Stacey and I once again lay down to rest and within 10 minutes Stacey is tell me that she has a pressure and feels like she has to push. We call the nurse again and she comes in to check Stacey. By now the time is close to 4 am. The nurse tells us that the baby is right there and she calls for the doctor. Within seconds, the room fills up with nurses who set up the room in anticipation of the baby. The doctor and resident arrive and tell Stacey to start pushing at the contractions. In the meantime, I am holding Stacey's legs and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the baby. Stacey begins pushing and in a short time the baby's head begins to approach the opening. The resident checks the head and I see hair on the baby's head. This is something new to me, since both our boys were virtually bald when they came out. Stacey does about 6 or 7 pushes and the head is ready to pop out. The nurse says to the doctor "72 doctor." I immediately look over to the heart rate monitor and see that it has dropped from then normal 142 bpm to 68 bpm. The doctor who has patiently been standing in the background comes forward and strongly encourages Stacey to push and get that baby out. Stacey does some good strong pushes and the head pops out. Immediate concern eminates in the room, as the cord is wrapped twice around Samantha's neck. The nurse lets me know that they need to cut the cord and are worried that I might feel bad because I don't get to do it. I hurriedly exclaim that they need to cut the cord and not to worry about me. They cut the cord and ask Stacey to push once again. The shoulders and body come flying out and Samantha is face down. She looked so lifeless as the doctor held her and there was no movement or color to her body. At this point, I am extremely nervous because of the things I have just witnessed - low heart rate and cord around her neck. I immediately think the worst. The doctor turns her over and cleans out her mouth and nose. Samantha takes a huge breath and begins to breath outside of the womb. Color slowly enters her body. The nurses take her to the warming tray and begins to examine her and clean her up. Once she is all clean, she is taken to the weight try where she weighs in at a whopping 5 lbs 7.6 ounces (she would eventually leave the hospital at 4.5 oz) and 18 1/2 inches long. By this point, we are so excited to have our little girl into the world and know that everything will be alright. Once Stacey is stitched up and cleaned up, Stacey and Samantha are moved to another room or the recovery room where Stacey would spend the next 30+ hours recovering. What a cute little girl we have added to our family! Everyone is so excited for this sweet little girl to come into our family.

Sami's First Few Minutes

Bald and Beautiful

Last night, Stacey and I found a coupon in the paper for 1/2 off a haircut, so we loaded Hunter and Ryan in the van and proceeded to get them a haircut. Both boys were in desperate need of a haircut. Ryan, however, was not too excited about getting a haircut. He loves his hair - he loves people combing his hair and making it perfect and he even loves to come his own hair. Ryan is very particular about his hair and will always check it before we leave the house, especially when going to church or school. So, the first thing Ryan told us after we announced he was getting a haircut was "They can only cut my sides and my back." He showed us exactly where his hair could be cut. Well, we showed up to the barbershop and Stacey proceeded to tell the lady how she wanted the boy's hair to be cut. She asked who wanted to go first and both Ryan and Hunter suggested the other should go first. Ryan finally stepped up to go first to show us how brave he was. He struts over to the barber chair and tells the lady the same thing he told us "Cut my sides and my back." She tells him that she needs to take a little off the top. He reluctantly agrees. The lady begins cutting his hair off the sides and we notice Ryan closely watching how she cuts his hair. We can tell that Ryan is not happy with all the hair that was cut off the sides, but it appears that he is fine with that as long as he still has hair on top. All of the sudden, the lady runs the clippers through the top of his hair and Ryan lets out a blood-curdling scream, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Stacey and I run over to him and Stacey is trying to get the lady to stop, but it is too late. When Ryan screams, the lady freaks out because she thinks she has hurt Ryan, but he is upset about his hair. Tears are streaming down his face and he is crying uncontrollably. He tells the lady that he wants her to put his hair back on, but of course that isn't going to happen. Stacey and I are trying not to laugh at our bald son and his passion for his hair. We are trying to console him and trying to stiffle our laughs. Finally, we get Ryan calmed down and the lady is able to finish his hair cut, but he is completely bald and hates his hair. The first thing he asks when he is finished, "Can I wear a hat to church?" Stacey and I feel so bad that we decide to take him Target to buy a matchbox car for him. Before we go into Target he asks if he can wear his coat (which he had not been wearing all night). He puts his coat on and then he puts the hood over his head. He wears his coat that way the whole time he is in Target. When we get home, he will not take his coat off and show his Grandma his haircut. Poor boy! He is going to have some trouble going to church and school this week. But he looks so cute with his nearly bald head!

Day 2

If you notice the dates on these blogs, it has been a while since I have last written something. Okay, so this is going to be harder than it seemed. But I will continue to write a few thoughts, however sporadic, about Hunter and Ryan hopefully, throughout the whole year. I have the cutest (can I say that) boys in the world. One of my favorite things that I look forward to each workday, is coming home. Most of the time Hunter and/or Ryan are there waiting for me before the garage door is even half-way up. They are standing at the door waiting for me to exit my car. Once I get in the house they smother me with kisses and hugs. I absolutely love it. It truly makes my hard work each day and time away from home worth it! Speaking of kisses, Hunter had a Cub Scout Pack Meeting last night and I arrived a little later. After I got there, he came and sat on my lap. I gave him a big kiss on the check and he said "Dad, that is so embarassing!" I was a little shocked, but I knew there would come a time when he would get too old for kisses in public. When we got home that night, Hunter told me that I could kiss him in private but not in public. Oh, the boys are growing up! Stacey is still fully pregnant. We went to the hospital on Monday night because we thought the baby was coming. But her cervix was still hard and she was 'maybe' dialated to a 1. The nurse sent us home with a sleeping bill, which knocked Stacey out hard. We thought the baby was coming, because Stacey was having contractions every 3 minutes. She went to the doctor on Tuesday and they scheduled her to be induced on Saturday night at 8 pm. So, by Sunday morning we should have a new addition to the family!!

Day 1

So, 2008 has begun and the family is all sick. Stacey probably moreso then anyone because of the protruding anamoly in her stomach. But that is just temporary and by February 3rd (at the latest) the baby will be here. Stacey is convinced it will be here in a few days if not by next week at the latest. Anyway, Ryan is sick and sniffly, Daddy is sick and sniffly, and Hunter is sick and sniffly. But we will make it through it. So, I have this plan that I will write in my 'journal' this coming year, and hopefully this will be my 'journal.' I have never been good at writing in a journal so we shall see how this lasts. The night before last, Hunter, Ryan and I did an AB Ripper X workout from a DVD. Hunter really worked hard at it. Anyway, I started feeling the effects of it last night as I was climbing into bed. About 2:30 in the morning, Hunter came into our room writhing in pain and complaining about his stomach. He wasn't feeling sick but he was sore from the workout. Stacey had to rub his stomach and get a hot pad for him. He finally fell asleep and had no other effects in the morning. Crazy kid. When I got home from work last night, Hunter told me that he got in trouble at school. I asked him what happened. He explained to me that there was a girl at school named Erica that has always been very mean to him. She is always saying mean things to him and yesterday she call him an idiot. Hunter responded "I am glad that my sister is not going to be like you...she will be like me." This made the girl cry which led to both her and Hunter getting into trouble. I couldn't help but laugh at his response, but it really hit its mark. Well, that closes the first entry of this journal. Let's see if we can get more!