Griffin Celebrates 7

Griffin rang in his seventh year with a Halloween themed celebration: costumes, ghost cupcakes, digging for gummy worms, and pizza logs.  (Okay, the pizza logs aren't really Halloween themed, but they are a kiddie favorite.)  The digging for gummy worms was a huge hit in our first grade crowd, but freeze dancing was a close second.  The kids had some serious moves.

Christmas Tree Hunt

The search for our christmas tree is one of our most favorite holiday traditions.  This year it was even more holiday perfect with a bluebird sky and snow gracing the branches of the pine trees.  We hiked into the farm, enjoying snow that was at some points, a least half a foot deep, searching through rows and rows of trees, eager to find our family tree.

Brennan and I were convinced we had found that tree, a beautiful Fir, bushy and full, but the rest of our family was not as convinced.   And after intense family negotiations, we opted to head to the opposite side of the tree farm and keep searching.

And that is when we found it.  Like all our trees of Christmas past, it was a chubby, bush of a tree that is much too big for our living room.  But, well, that's how we like our trees.

We decked the halls of our house the next day, decorating our tree and our home to get it all ready for Christmas.  We sung along with Christmas music, drank hot cocoa and ate candy canes until all the lights were up and blinking.  Then, at Brennan's suggestion, we snuggled in on the couch and watched Miracle on 34th Street.

It was a beautiful beginning to our holiday season.

Hair

When you are a mom to three boys, there are certain issues you simply do not expect to deal with as a parent.  One of those includes hair - hair cuts, hair styling, just, well hair.  Most boys don't seem to care a bit about their hair and a quick finger comb through in the morning rush is enough grooming for the day.

My middle child is the exception to all this.  Brennan loves his hair.  He does.  He is very particular about his hair and refuses to cut it, but prefers it longer with a shaggy style.  Brennan's love affair with his hair spread to his impressionable younger brother Griffin, who now is also rocking the hair love.  And now, I am a parent to two boys who insist their hair not be cut and carefully style their hair each morning with actual hair products.

Griffin has informed me they can not get their hair cut because it would take away their "flip" and then demonstrated for me his technique of tossing his head to the side so his hair would fall just so.  The flip is big in our house.  There is a whole lot of hair flipping going on.

The only one who has remained immune to this hair madness is Aidan, who recently cut off all his hair and pronounced how happy he was to have it short and easy to brush.  His brothers rolled their eyes at him, embarrassed by his inability to perform even the smallest hair flip.  I think they flip enough hair for all three of them combined.