Family Photo Shoot

November 2012~ Nearby Nature in Eugene

Ronan- 8 yrs, Griffin- 6 yrs, Tate- 2 yrs

Gretchen- 34, Josh- 35
(Photo by Ronan)

Happy Birthday, Griffin!

Griffin turned six years old on November 26th!  What a big kid!  He had a few requests for his birthday that were hard to resist.  The first one he asked straight to Josh and I knew he would have a hard time saying no. (; Griffin asked to go to "that one place we sometimes go to...what is it called...Hop I?"  We were confused, so he clarified, "You know the place that has breakfast". Oh!  IHOP! (:  Josh went in to work a little late so he could join in taking the birthday boy out for breakfast.

(:

A new Avengers watch!

Happy Boy!

The smiles continued when he saw the cupcakes he got to bring to school!  How fun having a school day birthday!

Walking to school with Finley

Showing off his art work. (:

His classmates sang Happy Birthday to him in Spanish, and everyone loved the pirate cupcakes!

It was hard to do, but Griffin waited until Josh got home from work to open his presents from us.

He was SO excited about his OSU Beavers beanie!

 He was SO surprised and SO happy to get the Skylanders Giants video game!!

Happy Birthday, dear Griffin Roger!  We love you so very much and we are so proud of the boy you are!

Griffin asked to go to Kowloon for dinner, and we all agreed that it sounded good...especially after having a few turkey dinners and leftovers the past couple of days!  He even got a special piece of Sweet Life cake from the waiter!

Talking to Grammie on the phone. (:

Ruddick Family Thanksgiving

On November 24th, we hosted Thanksgiving with Josh's family at our house!  We had a very nice time with everyone--eating delicious food and having great conversations.  The kids sat at their own table and entertained each other nicely, and us adults got to sit and talk for a long time.

The set-up...

\

Rolls hot out of the oven!  Yummmy.

The kid table.

The rest of us!

(:

We got to hear all about Grandpa's trip to Washington D.C. on an Honor Flight to see the WWII Memorial.  His son, Ron, accompanied him and took some great pictures!  It was a really unique experience and we were all so glad that he/they got to go! (Josh's mom was the one who found out about the Honor Flight, and helped him get signed up for it!) 

Time for Pie!

The Whole Group!

I found this picture on my phone. (;  I think Emma took it.

Nice photo bomb, Jon!

Bradley brought crab legs to share with us!
(His parents live on the coast near Astoria)

Playing around with Grandpa

The cousins had fun playing games together.

Me & my buddy. (: