I suppose that a convention, with all the travel and downtime, is a good time to update friends and family via this stale old blog. It has been too long since I spoke with a number of you, so let me start by saying that I hope you all are doing well. Here at the Griffiths activity center, we have our hands full with our 3 boys (Greyson - 5 in Feb, Lincoln - 3 in Feb, and Ashton - 15 mos). All around us there is turbulence and upheaval in the world, but at home we have been passed over by the storm and are counting our many blessings.
Greyson is an intelligent, engaging caretaker who soaks up our behaviors like a sponge and then turns into a mini parent - warning the other kids to follow the rules in his best parent voice. He loves playing any kind of video game be it on my phone, a computer, his leapster, or his recently aquired privelage of playing the PS3 for 30 min each Saturday. His lazy eye is getting stronger with 4 hours of wearing a patch over the other eye every day - he takes his pirate status in stride. His glasses seem to get bent every time we turn around, but so far the first pair have made it through intact. He just endured his first real bout with the stomach flu, it was so sad to watch and yet his bravery and optimism in the face of tough circumstances was inspiring to watch. He is such an observant little boy, and will regularly notice that Mommy did the dishes or vaccuumed - always piping up with encouraging words to tell her how great a job she is doing. The other night I honked Greyson's nose as he was getting into bed... He waited till we were almost out the door to ask for one last kiss. He asked me to get a little closer so he could kiss me back from the top bunk and then honked me back. His laughter still rings in my ears like the sound of the sweetest music you have ever heard.
Lincoln has always been an energetic ball of contradictions. He has always been a stout boy (Grandpa's little tank) that loves to be rough and tumble. He has a huge smile and his dimple combined with those baby blues are enough to melt my heart. He has a hilarious sense of humor and his antics are appreciated by the whole family... most of the time! He loves nothing better than physical contact with his brothers; he is always driving Greyson crazy by trying to sit by him when they watch TV (did I say "by" him...? I meant "on" him!). It can be such a crack up to watch Greyson move away from Lincoln every 30 seconds or so, with Lincoln determined to stay next to him. They both move in tandem around the couches for hours on end until Greyson can't stand it any more and calls for parental backup. Lincoln has a soft spot for Ashton and will always greet him by imitating Natalie by pitching his voice really high and saying "hiiieeee baaaaabyyyyyy!" This can be repeated in conjunction with patting him on the head or any available body part until Ashton screams or retaliates. Lincoln has his favorite blanket that was made for him by one of his adoring aunts that he refuses to sleep without. Early on in his blanket relationship he found a corner that he liked better than the other 3. This caused quite a problem for Nat and I as we couldn't tell which corner was his favorite, and resulted in protracted guessing games about which corner needed to be closest to him. We thought the repeated nightly ritual could be dispensed with when his favorite corner became discernable due to his rubbing it so much that it frayed, but he was adamant about maintaining the status quo and "choosing" his corner every night. Lincoln seems like a force of nature - impervious to outside influences and unfazed by life - but we know better. All it takes is a little disciplinary action to bring out his tender underbelly, he is a softy at heart. WHenever he gets in trouble he wants to give us a kiss while he cries. Last night (the night before I left for a 4 day convention) I spent some extra time with the 2 boys before bed, and as I was tucking Lincoln in I told him I was going away to work for a few days and to be good for Mommy. I watched his face fall and he started to cry. He said, "why you want to go away Daddy?" My eyes tear up just thinking about it. He is serious about being a Daddy's boy, and I try to live up to that honor.
Ashton is expanding his horizons daily. Now that he is a little steadier on his feet, he is quick to exploit any gaps in baby security - temporary though they might be. Nat left the baby gate open for a few seconds yesterday and he baby-sprinted through the opening and made a snap decision to go for the stairs. He was all the way up them in a flash and checking the off limits doors (The bath and our room) to see if they were unlocked. He loves nothing better than those moments of freedom - especially if we growl his name a little as we give mock chase. His newest pleasure is getting up onto our couch by walking up the corner and levering himself up using his hands and head on one side of the corner and his feet on the other. It takes him a minute, but don't you dare try to stop him because he will open up a can of baby anger and hit you in the face with it... loudly. Once up on the couch he makes a break for the end table where he likes to stand and play with the light switches or keep an eye on Mommy in the other room. He has fallen once or twice but trying to keep him down from there incurs serious baby wrath, so what baby wants, baby gets at this point! It seems like all of Ashtons teeth have decided to come in at once, but he is a surprisingly happy baby. He picks up on anyone laughing, and joins it with the biggest mouth wide open mostly gums laugh he can muster. It doesn't matter how far away he is when someone laughs, he is in the joke and laughing with you, often while pointing (another of his favorite things to do)
As for Natalie, she is a busy woman. Keeping the house perfect, the meals cooked, the clothes washed, and all 4 of her boys in line is a full time job! Somehow she finds time in there to make monogrammed jean blankets for all the boys, cross stitch a baby blanket, dress her truth, manage our cahs only household budget (Thanks Dave Ramsey) and host the odd get together here and there... I don't know how she does it, but I try to pitch in where I can. We have been making a resolution to lose the weight we gained over the holidays, but we haven't quite hit our pace yet. We have played raquetball with some frequency - Natalie's reflexes are still as sharp as when she was an MVP pro third-basewoman - which can be annoying to those of us who have been playing for longer than a couple of months as she gets a hold of a ball here and there that we thought we had put away. I have to say, she is a steller Mom and a fabulous wife. All of the things that she thinks she isn't doing as well as she could are so minor. She inspires me. She gets more beautiful as time goes by and our love continues to grow and deepen - I am so blessed to have her.
The business has been pretty flat since March of last year. We took a beating last Jan/Feb but for the last 10 months of the year things ran pretty well. We actually wrote quite a few more contracts in 2010 than we did in 2009 - I think what hurts the most is the level of quality (or lack thereof) that today's customer is looking for. Everyone is on a tight budget and looking for the least expensive way to get things done. On the upside, we have been able to do enough business to justify keeping our key administrative staff while making what we need to make to get by, so we feel like we have been blessed in this downturn. A couple small competitors have already closed there doors in the SCV, and a couple more seem to be headed in that direction, so the net effect of the recession should benefit our business in the long haul. Bless my father for running a business in such an efficient, conservative fashion for so many years. We were as prepared as anyone for the crash and have weathered the storm so far as well as we could hope.
I have to say, that with all of the above there isn't all that much more time left over for me to laze around much! It is a good thing that I love what I do and I can't wait to get home at night to spend time with my amazing family. I even get a couple of hours to play my PS3 one night a week or so while Natalie is off with the young women of our church helping them to work on trying to be as successful in life as she is. They are lucky to have such a great role model. As for woodworking, those night stands are still unfinished... they have languished in the corners of our master bedroom for 2 years now while I refurbished the tools I would need to make the drawers. The last tool, my bandsaw is now ready, and now I just have to resaw a few boards and get going. With the small distraction of my boys birthday presents coming up (Making a wooden fort system out of dowels and wood connectors) I should be back in business and finishing the night stands this year. I'm swearing off large complicated furniture as soon as they are done too. Small projects/toys FTW. I can't muster the energy or the will to ditch my kids and wife in my spare time to work in the shop, so I have a feeling my woodworking will be spotty until the economy improves and I can work less. Here's hoping!
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