I hate Family Bed!!!

One of my coworkers' grandson calls his mom and dad's bed the "family bed" because they all sleep together. This might work for some families, and some families may enjoy co-sleeping, and that's fine by me, but I HATE FAMILY BED!!!! Neither one of my kids are good bed mates. Olivia kicks all night and steals my covers - Cooper likes to sleep sideways and plant his head right under my rib cage. I wake up in the morning feeling like I've been beat up or something. It just doesn't work for us.

The last two weeks though Cooper has been "sneaking" into bed with me and Al late at night. As clumsy as he is in the daytime, he's like a toddler ninja at night. I can't even feel when he gets in bed. I just wake up and he's there and I have no idea how long he's been wedged between the two of us. And that makes me ill....very ill. It's like he's getting one by me or something. I do triumph though because once I realize he's there, I make Al go put him back in his own bed. And you know what? He stays there for the rest of the night....what's up with that? Why didn't you just stay there in the first place? I don't know how to break this habit but I'm going to work on it. Again, no offense to the co-sleeping families out there. =)

This isn't a great pic of Cooper but I was trying to coax him down the big slide.


Olivia - she's such a little comic! Her teachers asked her to draw a picture of something she does with her family so she drew a picture of me reading to her and Cooper. When Mrs. Chure asked her where her daddy was, she said "oh, he's in the picture too, you just can't see him because he's in the bathroom stinking!" I laughed until I had tears!

Oh, and Mrs. Chure said that Olivia was scaring her because she went from being a class clown to listening very well in class and behaving and doing a wonderful job. Chure said she is a great student and has the best personality *ever*. So, I have one little thing to say - TAKE THAT EMMANUEL!!!!

Sloppy Kisses

Nothing melts my heart more than Cooper giving me sloppy, open mouthed kisses. He's so sweet these days and I can't believe how much he's growing! All weekend long, he wanted to kiss me and his daddy. Right smack in the mouth too! It kind of grossed Al out, but I just ate it up. Cooper and I had a major kiss-fest this weekend. LOL I guess since Olivia isn't a very loving child, that I have to cherish every moment I get with Cooper. They are as different as night and day. Olivia shows affection when *she* wants you to have, whereas Cooper shows his affection all the time. Olivia is so much like her Great Grandma Alma, it's not funny! :)

Oh, and this morning Olivia told me she dreamed that she had a baby sister and that she (Olivia) was seven years old. She also mentioned that Cooper wasn't listening to me and his daddy and got put in jail and had to drink hot water and eat stale bread. Too funny! But then she proceeds to ask me where she and Cooper came from. UH OH! So, I told her that God put her and Cooper in my belly. "Can he put a little sister in your belly for me?" Hmmmm.....NO, NO, NO! :) Ok, so I didn't scream that at her, but I did tell her that no, he wouldn't because he thinks that two kids is enough for mommy and daddy. And we agree with him. =)~

Wedding with Pizza and Cake

Olivia in her new outfit her Grandma got her for school. She looked too, too cute!



Olivia has informed me and her Nana that she is once again going to marry Caleb. For those of you that have kept up with my blog *this* long know that Caleb is Olivia's man from daycare. Olivia told Nana on the way home from daycare (they went to pick Cooper up after getting their nails done) that her and Caleb were getting married at Chuck E Cheese. And it doesn't stop there - she's going to wear a pink sparkly wedding dress with silver shoes and he's going to wear a pink tux with gold shoes. And yes, there will be pizza and cake for all. Oh, I almost forgot....they will dance their first dance on the stage with the big fake Chuck E Cheese rat. How stinking funny is that?

Oh, and Cooper said the funniest thing today too! I guess he hears Olivia say "I want that! I want that!" every SINGLE time a toy commerical comes on that he's starting to do it now! He saw something on tv today and in his tiny, cute, sweet little voice said "I want dat!" Al and I just laughed when he did it. It won't be so funny next week though. Ha ha! Oh.....*drum roll please* Cooper has now been pacifier free since his birthday! Almost a month! Way to go Coop!

Can I just say how impressed I am with Thomas Hart these days? Olivia made a little "book" and had drawn all of us - even the dog! It's so stinking cute! And this afternoon she announced "Mommy, I live in America!" Man, she's learning so much and getting so smart!

And can I just say that even though I have a feeling OJ will get off AGAIN, man wouldn't it be great if he finally went to jail for something!

Spirit Week

This week at Thomas Hart is "Spirit Week" - remember those from school? Man, I use to LOVE Spirit Week at my school. It was so fun. Olivia is just like Mommy....she couldn't *wait* for it. Today was "crazy hair day" and Olivia couldn't make up her mind how she wanted her hair done. At first she told me she wanted it "crooked" then she wanted pony tails all over. Well, as much as I love doing silly stuff like this, I'm not really good at it. It's a flaw....and I hate it. So, Olivia's pony tails all over ended up being three silly pony tails on her head. She seemed satisfied with that....I guess she knows her mommy's limits on creativity! LOL Anyways, Olivia has dance on Monday nights. Today was Crazy Hair day - see where this is going? Olivia would NOT let Nana take her hair down so when I got to Brenda's tonight, there she was with her hair up in pig tails....three of them. But thankfully, her buddy from school, Madeline also takes dance there and she too left her hair up all silly looking. Yay!!!! I really should have taken a picture of them - they were too cute! :)

Five Years!!!!!

Not the best pic of the two of us, but oh well! We were having fun! Al and I celebrate our FIVE YEAR wedding anniversary today. I honestly can't say that it feels like it's been 5 years already. I hope we have many, many, many, many more years together. He's the bomb yo. =)

You know you're a grown up when.....

You know you're a grown up when you are GIDDY over the fact that you're about to attend your first PTO meeting for your child's school. Al and I went to the PTO meeting tonight at Thomas Hart and had a good time. We saw tons of new faces and even a few we knew! And to top it off, not only did we get to tour Olivia's room, but she won highest seller in 4K for their fund raiser. Go Olivia! She has a $10 gift card to use at Wal Mart to get any toy her little heart desires. Fun, fun. I can't wait to get involved and be a "cool" mom! =)

In other news, Cooper beat up his daddy last night. Ok, not really but he came pretty close! Olivia wanted us to all lay in her bed "as a family" and read a book. Ok, no problem....right? Well, halfway through reading, Cooper throws a book and hits Al right under the eye. Cut his eye a little, but not too bad. What's up with all the blood shed in the Griggs' household?? Ha ha!


Al before the beat down! =)

Ding! Ding!

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls.....welcome to the Griggs Daily Fight Match! In the this corner, wearing pink shorts, we have Olivia Grace Griggs. Her favorite pastimes are playing outside and tormenting her baby brother. And in this corner, wearing baby blue shorts, is the one and only tormented baby brother, Cooper Thomas Griggs! He enjoys time outs and giving his mommy millions of sloppy, open mouthed kisses. Ok, so you know where this blog is going right? I'm in the kitchen this morning and suddenly I hear Cooper let out this horrific cry. Definitely one he can't FAKE. So, I run in the living room only to be met by the one and only Olivia screaming "But he hit me first!" I scoop Cooper up and I ask O what happened. She says that Cooper hit her with a book so she hit him back. OK....just what I need. But then Coop moves his hand and there is BLOOD everywhere! Yes, Sissy had whacked Cooper right dab in the nose with the book. Boy, I saw red! I threw Olivia in timeout and tended to Cooper. He was fine in a matter of minutes and all was well in the world again. I talked to Olivia and explained to her why she can't be hitting her brother like she does because he's smaller, etc. But I have to tell you - they really scared the beejees out of me! All I could think of was - "what if his nose is broke!" These two fight like cats and dogs these days but you can tell they love each other to pieces. And I know it'll just get worse. I just wish Al had been home to help me with them when it happened, it was totally chaotic!

Why do my blogs keep doing this space thing at the bottom? It's really annoying!!!!

Soon to be.....

Al and I are getting ready to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary on the 14th. WOW!!! I can honestly say that I'm surprised sometimes 1. I'm a married woman and 2. I had two kids before I was 30. I wasn't sure where my life was going until I met Al and I thank God every day that I found him. He is probably one of the nicest and most genuine guys you will ever meet. I'm so glad I'm out of the dating pool! :)

Anyways, the point of this blog......I've been mentioning to Al that I *still* couldn't get my engagement ring on comfortably. I could get it on, but I'd probably end up losing my finger. So, I haven't wore my wedding bands since I was pregnant with Cooper. TWO YEARS!!!! I finally broke down and told him that if I still couldn't get the ring on (it has a thick band so I could get my wedding band on, just not the engagement ring) by my birthday, I wanted to get them re-sized. AGAIN. UGH.

Well, you know I had my little reunion the other night so I thought "I have to squeeze these rings on" and I couldn't find them. I totally freaked out. Al stayed calm so I immediately knew something was up. He fessed up that he had taken my rings the week before to get the re-sized and they would be ready by our anniversary. How stinking sweet is that? So, today he came home with a little box and I was ECSTATIC!!!! Just ask Michele....I think I flashed my rings in her face immediately as she got out her car. LOL I'm in hog heaven that I actually have my wedding rings on again.

Now all the hot guys in town know I'm a married woman. :)

Tiger Football

Yay Clemson football has started! I am so excited about it this year because Al and I are going to go to at least one game together this year. He went a few times last year and didn't take me ONCE....can you believe??? I'm really looking forward to it because I've only been to one other Clemson game when I went to visit Kelly there many, many, many, many moons ago. Ha ha!

And speaking of Clemson - they won last night! Woo hoo! I love football season!

Me and Al

I had to share this picture of me and Al - it's sssooo good! =) Thanks Vaci, I stole this off the myspace reunion page!

Labor Day weekend

It's so nice to have a day off from work to spend with the kids. It's 2pm and they are down for naps and we've already been to McDonald's and Walmart. They have wore Al and I down! LOL We have had fun today, I always enjoy having a day off because I don't feel like my weekend was rushed.


Cooper LOVES this Clemson hat. He wore it for most of the day.


And of course, Olivia had to have her picture made with one on as well. :)


My "11" year high school reunion was this past weekend. It was a lot of fun! We didn't have a huge crowd, I think only 12 or so people came, but we all enjoyed catching up with each other. This is a picture of me and Jenanne....I can't believe we've been buddies since high school.....and she's still freakishly tall! :)


Our class! :) At least the best ones that cared enough to spend a Saturday night reconnecting! There's Danielle, Lyn, Laviecette, me, Meredith, Michele, Jenanne, Karen, Robert, Jamie, and Shellon. After dinner we all headed to Applebee's and hung out at the bar and talked some more. It was really fun. I see Lyn, Michele and Jenanne all the time but it was really nice seeing the others. I hope for our next reunion, we have many, many more that decide to come!

Celebration and Notes from the Teacher

Nana and Cooper had a wonderful birthday! We all went over to Nana and Poppy's and grilled out steaks and had cake. It was YUMMY of course.

Olivia managed to get icing all over her face. I can't tell you HOW this happened but I'm sure she did it on purpose. :) She's so mean! All she wanted to eat was the icing, she didn't care for the cake.

Cooper on his birthday. He had his 2 year check up as well and he is 26lbs and 2 feet 7 1/2 inches tall. He's gained 3 1/2 pounds since his last check up - I'm so glad! I was really worried that Cooper wasn't gaining weight like he should. He is still in the lower percentiles on weight but he's growing just fine. Perfect little boy. :)

Cooper, Nana and Olivia getting ready to blow out the candles. Actually, Olivia blew them out for Nana and Cooper. Ha ha!

In other news, Olivia had a note sent home from Mrs. Chure saying that Olivia was doing well in school but she still had to remind Olivia that she's not the teacher. I can totally see this - and I will admit, I do feel sorry for Mrs. Chure for having all those kids in the class. From what I hear, all 10 of them have the same type of personalities and are really giving her a run for her money! Olivia can now tell us the months of the year, the days of the week, and she's starting to learn how to write letters. I'm impressed for only 2 1/2 weeks of school! I just hope she makes it through the school year without getting kicked out! Ha ha!