Quinn is FOUR!

Oh my goodness!  You, my dear Quinn, are four years old.  Time sure flies, doesn't it.  You have been asking about and "Mom, I be so excited for my burfday" for weeks and weeks.  It got to the point that every morning when you woke up, you asked how many more days until your birthday, September two!

Well, when that birthday eventually arrived, you didn't believe me, or the boys, that it was actually the day.  I think when we had your party in the evening, swimming and pizza and cake and ice cream at Great Grandpa's house, you finally believed us.  And, then, in true Quinn fashion, stressed out about the amount of attention you were getting and sort of ran away into Grandpa Huber's family room to escape some of the chaos.

Your dad and I cannot believe you are four years old.  Watching you grow and learn is the most fun thing every.  You are such a smart little fart, with a pretty strange sense of humor and we all cannot help but marvel sometimes, at the kid you are turning into.



You like to say prayers, with help.  You like to tell horrible knock-knock jokes.  You love to sing and dance and we find you humming some of your favorite songs regularly.  You are so good at playing with toys and using your imagination.  You still love animals and DINOSAURS, but are slowly moving towards Lego's, super heroes and more big kid things.

Speaking of dinosaurs, you are still pretty obsessed.  Grandpa Karl calls you "Blue" or "Charlie" because those are the names of your favorite raptors from Jurassic World, a movie you watch almost weekly.  You even have dreams that you are a raptor trainer and can ride on their backs and make them smile.  Generally, there is a dinosaur figurine in your hand or a book close to you.  Your practically a Dino encyclopedia and listening to you say names like, "Therozinosaurus" is pretty fun.

Countless times a day, you walk up to me and say, "Mom, guess what?"  I play along and act interested and surprised with my response of "What?", and you yell with a giggle, "Chicken Butt".  You also sing the first line of Sir-Mix-a-lots, Baby got Back, "I like big butts and I cannot lie" all the time.

Your favorite foods are Little Cesar's pizza and McDonald's chicken nuggets.  And yogurt and bacon and crackers.  You are a complete couch potato and cannot start to function in the mornings until about 10 am, after you've had your fill of screens and sunny delight to drink.  You love kindles and ipods and ipads and can navigate most games pretty well.  You also love to jump on the trampoline and tackle your brothers, usually knocking them down in the process.

Though you won't admit it, the return of Uncle Willie from two years in Lithuania made your life complete.  His lap was your throne before he left and even though it took a couple weeks, his lap is once again where you perch yourself whenever he is around.  The two of you play lots of fun games together.  He asks you every time he sees you, even when you are sitting on his lap, if the two of you are friends.  You laugh, give him a sideways glance, and tell him no.  It's pretty funny.



You also play other games with him, that only the two of you seem to get.  A week or so ago, he was hanging out with us after school and he said in his high pitched funny voice, "My favorite house is the 7-11."  You, repeating that same tone said, "My favorite house is a....bush!"  That got the whole car rolling with laughter.

You love the shows paw patrol, the lion guard and wild kratts.  You love Darth Vader.  You think that the hulk is pretty incredible, but flash is your favorite superhero.  The thought of going to Disneyland in a few weeks is blowing your mind and you are loving preschool, which makes me so happy.  You love to run errands and go to target and get Slurpee's and go to the zoo and eat churros.  Pretty much, you are the coolest sidekick around.



I am so happy to see you growing up, getting bigger and stronger and faster and smarter.  There was a time, when two kids were going to be the only kids in this family, but goodness gracious, I'm so happy I listened to those voices from heaven telling me that there was someone special who needed to be in this family because that was you and I don't know what we would do if you weren't here.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

The Color Run 2016

Back in April, we signed up under the team "Lithuanian Express", led by our fearless leader to participate in the Color Run on August 20.  In May, when the boys were off-track, we practiced "walking without whining" for three weeks, where I took the big boys on a 2-3 mile walk while Quinn was in school.  After those couple weeks, I was confident that Wyatt would do just great walking a 5k and I already knew that Elliott could probably run the thing.

Fast forward to Saturday, the 20th.  Our team also included the Binggeli's, Meranda and Pedro and Natalie.  We arrived early in the morning and on time and participated fully in our matching t-shirts, sweat bands and enthusiasm.

Elliott decided to run the whole thing with Willie - they finished in about 30 minutes.  Wyatt and I walked, mostly with James and Jack and the two of us finished in 54 minutes.  The others were either before us or behind us, with Haley and Molly bringing up the rear, Molly riding in the wagon.

As if we weren't coated in enough color at the finish line, we threw the packets of color they gave us all over ourselves and were sweaty and sticky rainbows when it was finished.

Upon purchasing the celebratory slurpees and diet cokes, the boys declared this activity one of the most fun things they have ever done and asked if we can do it again next year.

Of course we can!

Before Pictures:






After the race:

Quinn's first day of preschool

Friday, August 19th was Quinn's first day, of his second year of preschool.  He is in the 3-4 year old group, even though he will turn 4 on September 2.  Being the oldest has it's perks I suppose, there is a little girl in his preschool class who is turning three on August 31.  I'd rather my kid be the oldest than the youngest, that's for sure.

He is also the biggest.  No shocker there.

We lucked out and signed him up with the same teacher, Mrs. Beuhler, that he had for the mini 3 group from January - May of this year.

He was nervous at orientation, but when it was time to go on Friday, he was ready.  He knew what to do, and did it well.  Most importantly, he was happy and excited to tell me all about the first day on the ride home.  Hooray, Quinn!

The Griswold's go :: Las Vegas

We'd had the idea for a while - a quick trip to Las Vegas to eat some good food, hit up some outlet malls and then head home.  After some back and forth we decided to make it work as the tip-off to the boys second summer 3 weeks off track.

Bad idea.

Long story short - it was one of those ill-fated trips from the beginning.  I'll spare you the details but they involved heat (114 degrees in the shade), poorly planned sleeping arrangements, and two parents who couldn't get on the same page.

Either way, the kids had a good time.  We ate chicken fingers at Raising Canes, went to the Hoover Dam, shopped, ate at Shake Shack (which Elliott declared to be the best hamburger of his life) and sweated a lot.

Back to School :: 2016-17 School Year

Well, as of today, the boys have been back to school for a whole week.  They returned to dual immersion Spanish and new grades, Elliott 4th and Wyatt 2nd on Tuesday, July 26 and we had back to school night a couple days after.

Back to school is pretty uneventful, mostly because it was just three weeks from when the previous school year ended.  Elliott's English language teacher, after the second day of school was hospitalized and he finished out the week with a substitute.  We received a letter from the administration yesterday that his teacher of two days, had a stroke! and had resigned her position.  I feel so bad.  We never met her, Elliott was unable to describe what she looked like, how old she was, or anything specific about her so she will forever remain a mystery.  A new teacher has been hired and will start on Monday.  I look forward to meeting her.





Otherwise, we've fallen quite nicely into our routine.   The boys keep growing up faster than I'm ready for.  Quinn starts school in two weeks and then I'll have two hours, three days a week where I will be completely by myself....whatever will I do?  Probably mope around and be lonely.