Griffin's 4!!!

OK - So I'm the mom of the year. Griff turned 4 last week, and I didn't take a single photo of him on his big day. Dang!

Got a couple of his cake, which I think turned out very cool for getting thrown together at the last minute. Evan and I tried to design flames using Skittles. I'll let you decide how successful we were...

Griff really did have a good birthday. We'd gone to Leatherby's with the Hill cousins/aunts/uncles earlier in the week to celebrate all of the March birthdays - mine included 8^). He had a birthday party/Easter shindig at daycare. AND we had a small gathering with a couple of his guys (Thank you Samuel and Josh Tipton for heading over at the last minute--apologies for not capturing you on film either) for cake, ice cream, and some Power Ranger action.

The first thing Griff said when he woke up on his birthday was, "Just think how big I'll be when I'm 7!" Huh?

We measured Griff and got him on the wall right on time this year! Notice how big he is (I drew in black arrows at his 3rd & 4th bday measurements). Carson was trumped by Evan a long time ago, but Griff's got them both! Yikes.













I took a couple of photos of the boys on Easter, which was only 4 days after Griff's birthday. I'm always on the lookout for photos of my handsome guys, and this year was no disappointment. I suppose the thing that isn't captured here is how painful it was for Evan to even wear clothes. He's my "no shirt, no shoes, no problem" child, and with the weather as nice as it's been, we're having huge issues keeping him covered! It's not even in the 70s yet so I think this summer is going to be a real challenge.

Compsog what?

Evan's 2nd grade did their dinosaur program a couple weeks ago. It was fabulous! The kids all were assigned a dinosaur to research, they built a diorama, and they had a singing program. Evan even shook his dinosaur tail during the Dinosaur Dance. Now that was hysterical! Imagine the entire stage of 2nd graders singing at the top of their lungs and the suddenly turning around and shaking their badonkadonks at you. I was so upset I'd left the video home! Being all boy, the first question Evan asked when it was all over was whether he could smash his dinosaur. Poor Compy!

Evan did a rap during the program - I'd heard him practicing in the bathroom (see my earlier rocker post), but I didn't know what it was for. Hunh. Here are the words:

I'm a Raptor
doing what I can
Gonna eat everything
'til the appearance of man
You will see me -
I'm living below the soil
I'll be back,
But I'm coming as oil!

Evan's report is included below:

My dinosaur is named Compsognathus, or “Compy” for short. The name means petite, dainty, pretty or elegant jaw. I think the jaw is small compared to other dinosaurs, but I don’t think it’s very elegant or pretty.

Compy was a meat eater and ate things such as lizards and insects. Fossilized remains from a Compsognathus’ stomach contained the skeleton of a very fast lizard. Its front teeth were smooth, but the teeth at the back of its jaw were jagged. Since the skeleton in Compy’s stomach was whole, some scientists think it didn’t chew its food.

Compy lived during the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.

Compy walked on two feet. It had long, thin legs, and three toes on each foot. Its long tail helped it keep its balance during quick turns – such as escaping from other dinosaurs.

Fossils of this small, chicken-like dinosaur have been found in Germany and France. The fossil in Germany was found during the 1850s. The fossil in France was discovered in 1972. The German fossil had two fingers on each hand. The French fossil had 3 fingers on each hand. Compy’s German fossil was the first reasonably complete dinosaur fossil ever found.

Compy was approximately 10 inches tall at the hip. Its length ranged from just over 2 feet to over 4 ½ feet. It weighed about 6 ½ pounds.

I think Compy protected itself by running very quickly and by being smaller than most other dinosaurs.


The makers of the movie Jurassic Park made Compy appear to hunt in packs and overwhelm human-sized prey because of the number of Compies in each pack. There is no scientific evidence that Compy behaved like this in real life.