Happy Anniversary Nana and Poppy!

I'm a day late on this but yesterday was my parents 36th wedding anniversary! How cool is that? They got married on May 30th 1972 and still going strong after all these years. I admire my parents tremendously and hope that Olivia and Cooper realize how special all their grandparents are.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We love you!

Melons, melons, watermelons

Watermelon is a big hit in the Griggs household. Cooper and Olivia *love* it so we usually eat a pretty good bit of the juicy, red fruit every summer.

This watermelon was so juicy and sweet. It was sssooo yummy!

Olivia acting silly eating her melon.

Cooper couldn't eat his piece fast enough! =)

Cute pic of Cooper.....he was licking this toy ice cream cone like it was the real deal. He is so silly! LOL

Our little funny girl

I think Olivia's teacher said it best when she told Al and I that Olivia was hands down the sit down, stand up class comedian! She is ssssoo funny and always has me and Al in stitches. Here's some of the latest things she's said:

O: Mama, I don't want my party at the skating rink anymore, I want it at Chuck E Cheese.

Me: Ok, that's fine.

O: Ella (little girl at daycare this summer) can't come. She doesn't like me.

Me: OOOKKKK

O: She can send me a present though, I'll take a present from her.

Me: *smirking* I'm sure Ella will appreciate that Olivia.

Or:

O: Mama, I have little girl boo.bies (broken up so no pervert can Google that word and find my blog).

Me: Yes Olivia, you do.

O: I want big girl boo.bies like yours!

Too funny!

Or:

Me: Olivia, can I live with you when you grow up?

O: No Mama, I'm moving and not telling you where I'm going.

Mean little thing!

Losing Weight

Al and I have been "half way" doing Weight Watchers for awhile but last week I decided to get back into it full force. I've done really well and I'm down 2 pounds! Woo Hoo! I haven't really told anyone that I'm counting points and all again just because it always stresses me out to hear "So, how much weight did you lose this week?" so keep it on the down low for me. I'm secretly doing little things to help Al out too (like getting fat free hot dogs for supper, baked chips, etc) so that he can get back into the swing of it too. I'm also walking at night a few times a week and that's helping a lot. I hate to diet so this is something I really need to try to work on. We've lost weight on this before and I know I can do it. So, wish me luck! =)

Why can't a ladybug be a pet?

Olivia has a thing for lady bugs. She loves them and thinks they are the best things ever. Right now, she's wearing a pair of pretty little red lady bug earrings that she WILL not let me change. Like I said, lady bugs are her *thing*. So yesterday when we rode over to Nana and Poppy's, Olivia discovered a tiny little lady bug on the front porch. She let it crawl over all her, which really surprised me since she's terrified of any other bug. And then this happened:

O: Mama! Can I have a bag?

Me: What do you need a bag for?

O: I want to take the lady bug home.

Me: Oh Olivia, you can't put a lady bug in a bag. She'll die....she needs to be outside to live.

O: I want her to be my pet!

Me: Baby Girl, lady bugs are NOT pets.

O: Well they should be!

It took me forever to convince her that a lady bug was not an acceptable pet. Thank goodness the lady bug finally had enough sense in her little bug brain to fly away!

The infamous "lady bug"

Olivia letting her "pet" crawl on her arm.

Poppy with the kids on his new mower after we finally convinced her to let the lady bug stay outside and it flew away. *whew*

Our new ride. =)

Olivia in her tap outfit. Just wanted to show you all how cute she was in her tap costume too. =)

Blog Poll

Ok, if you read my blog, leave me a comment. I know about my "regulars", but I'd like to know who all checks out my blog. Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing something and it's out in cyber space and no one sees it.

So, for me, leave me a message. I'd really appreciate it!

Dance, dance, dance

Olivia's dance recital was yesterday afternoon and she did great! Olivia takes tap and ballet, but after yesterday, I've learned that Olivia isn't feeling ballet at all! LOL They performed the ballet number first and basically Olivia just stood there and looked at everyone in the crowd. =) Oh, she did move her arms a little so I guess that counts for something huh? She did 100% better on the tap routine. She was really into it and knew the routine really well. So, after the show I asked her if she still wanted to take dance next year and she said "yes, but no ballet, I hate ballet" and I was like YEAH I CAN TELL! Ha! Here's some pictures....I didn't get any really good ones with her skirt for the tap routine, so these are all the ballet skirt pictures.

I guess I should have known how she felt about Ballet from her expression huh?

Very cute picture of her!

I thought this one was funny! Cooper was checking out Sissy's ballet shoe and Olivia actually SMILED!!!! Mark it on your calender folks!

This girl has tons of attitude.

Her hair was so pretty! She wore this feather thing all day, even after the show! ha ha!

New car!

So, Al and I just paid a fortune to get the a/c compressor in my van replaced. Now, a few short weeks later, we find out that the evaporator is leaking and it'll cost another $1000 to fix it. So, Al and I made a decision. We bought a new car.

I feel like I could throw up! LOL I'm totally stoked about my new 07 Jeep Liberty, but I hate that I now have a car payment. I really enjoyed not having one! But, we just couldn't see putting more money into the van after all the trouble we've had. It's white...the Trail Edition, 4WD, low miles, great gas mileage, and we love it. I'll have to take some pictures and post on here later. It was the promo car at the dealership so it's basically new because no one has ever owned it. That makes us pretty happy.

So anyways, just wanted to share our good and scary news!

Crayons and Spraypaint

How much trouble can a 2 1/2 year old little boy honestly get into? Well....if that little boy happens to be our Cooper - LOTS! Cooper is a very sweet and loving child, but behind those beautiful baby blues and crooked grin lays a wild man! I don't know what Al and I are going to do when this kid gets older!

This is Cooper showing me where he colored on the wall in the living room. He was proud of his art work. Mom not so much.

In Cooper's defense here, I did tell Al to get the spray paint and put it up high enough so Cooper couldn't reach it. I had already took it from him a couple of times but he kept sneaking around me and kept getting it. Cooper saw a perfect opportunity when Al was distracted with Olivia and decided he wanted to paint himself. It took me a good 15 minutes of scrubbing with warm, soapy water to get this mess off him! You can't really tell it from this picture but his calf and all was COVERED.

Olivia is standing behind him here saying "Cooper, you put permanent paint on yourself, it'll never come off" and he was whining about it. How hard core does he look with it on his face though? LOL That was actually the easiest part to get off for some reason - thank goodness!

Wild man, I tell ya, he's a wild one!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I have had a GREAT Mother's Day - I am very thankful for my two beautiful babies and my awesome hubby!

Olivia's school has a Mother's Day program that 3K - 5K put on every year. The theme this year was something like "Under the Sea"....all the kids had to dress up as some sort of fish. Olivia, of course, had to be a mermaid. Luckily for me, she wasn't the only mermaid in the group! =) The kids did really well and Olivia was so excited to have me and her Daddy there. She wouldn't allow us to bring Cooper, or invite anyone else. I thought it was sweet though, she's looking out for her mom! Here's some pics from the program.

Me with my most favorite mermaid in the whole wide world. I even got her to *almost* smile!

Olivia walking by after the program so all the parents and visitors could see how the kids were dressed. She was walking pretty fast!

Olivia's class on stage. Notice she's sitting beside her BFF Raeva. Those two little girls love each other to death!

Olivia and her class getting ready for the program to start.

Al and the kids have really made this Mother's Day special for me. Olivia got me 3 wind chimes, Al got me a new picnic table, and then surprised me this morning with some hanging flowers for the porch. I love my family - even when those two kids drive me bonkers!

Have a great day to all my mommy friends!

Sluggers

Al's mom bought the cutest shirts for Al and Cooper - they say Lil Slugger and Big Slugger. How cute is that? =) Al hates that they match and didn't want to wear them out but I insisted and he gave in (after I made him feel guilty by saying Cooper would remember this one day and think his daddy didn't love him - ha) and I made them pose for this picture. Too stinking cute!

You can't really see the writing on the shirts from this picture. I still tease Al by calling him "Big Slugger" - ha!

This is just a really cute picture of Cooper Thomas! I guess I take A LOT of pictures of the kids because now he will say "cheese" and try to smile. =)

Olivia - the only girl Slugger in the family - this was at her last softball game. She did really well, hit the ball TWICE! She got out both times though because she doesn't run right away when she hits the ball. It's very funny.

Coach trying to help Olivia get ready to hit. The helmets are way too BIG for Olivia and when she moves her head, the helmet falls down in her eyes. Poor kid! Olivia loves Coach though, when you ask her who her friends are on her team, she always says COACH!

Before and After

Al's truck has needed a new paint job since we bought it. I was going to surprise him for his birthday, but we found a guy that would paint it for a lot less than where I had planned on taking it, so I went ahead and took the money I saved up to paint his truck. The first picture is the "before paint job" - the pin stripe was torn off in places, etc. The second picture is the "after paint job" - we opted for no pin stripe and painted the area over the tires (whatever that is called) white like the rest of the truck - Al wanted it that way because the newer Rangers are painted that way. Of course, Al already has bought some new FX stickers to put back on the rear area and we still need to install the bed liner and the tool box. We are STOKED though....it looks great!

Before
After

"Mama Wuvs Me"

At the mexican restaurant in Hartsville on Sunday Cooper hugged me and said "Mama wuvs me, Mama wuvs me" and planted a big ole kiss on my check. He is sssoooo sweet and loving! My kids ROCK.

You can't really tell from this pic, but Cooper was climbing up the wall at the skating rink on Saturday afternoon.
Olivia and Cooper were invited to Landon's birthday party on Saturday at the skating rink and Cooper actually got on skates and "walked" around for a little while.

And you know what? Cooper has been accident free for almost a week! Go Cooper!

My Sweet Kiddos

My kids look out for their Mommy. =) Nana took Olivia to Wal-Mart the other day and Olivia INSISTED that Nana buy me not one, but THREE different colored wind chimes. It really was a nice gesture - I just don't think Nana wanted to buy THREE. Ha! Here are some pictures of them....one is a nice multi-colored one, one is pink (of course one had to be if Olivia is alive and breathing) and the last one is purple. =) Oh, and I was supposed to get these on Mother's Day but since Olivia can't keep a secret to save her life, she told me what she and Nana had bought me on Friday so Nana went ahead and let me take them home! =)

Pretty isn't it? =)
Here is the pink and purple one.....Olivia insisted that I needed a purple one too because and I quote "Purple is my Mommy's favorite color" - awwwww!!!!

Should I also mention that I already had two wind chimes on my porch so now I have FIVE wind chimes on hanging on my porch....we're going to be known as the crazy people in the neighborhood with all the wind chimes....LOL!

Gone Fishing.....Be back later

Olivia has wanted to go fishing for awhile now. I'm not sure where the whole fishing desire has come from, but she's been nagging us to go FOREVER. So, Michele invited us to come fishing at her parents house this morning. Olivia was ssssoooo excited and I think they had a really good time. Of course, they made me *extremely* nervous getting near the edge of the water. And to my happiness, no kids fell in the water BUT (not to my happiness!) my really nice Canon digital camera fell right in the water. UGH!!! So, I got an early Mother's Day gift and went and got me another. And to my daughter's delight - it's pink and we love it. =) Here are the pictures I managed to save on my memory card.....

Olivia, Cooper and Hunter ......Hunter was giving them a quick lesson on how to fish.
Olivia with her own fishing pole......
Michele trying to help Cooper fish.....notice how Olivia looks like a pro! =)
She caught a fish!!! One of only two that were caught while we were there!!! Go Olivia!
Daddy and Cooper fishing. Cooper was scared of the fish and would point and say "eeeewww". LOL

We had a blast - thanks Michele for having us! We definitely plan on taking the kids back over there (maybe later in the evening when it's not ssssooo hot) and catch enough fish to have a big, nice fish fry!

Roars.....

Cooper is so funny. You don't have to be around him long to realize that he's a little clown and loves to make people laugh. He's definitely more laid back than his Sissy. Cooper LOVES dinosaurs - the more he has, the better - but he calls them "roars" instead of dinosaurs. It's very cute! Especially when he deepens his voice and says "RRROOOAAAARRRR" - I have to get it on video and upload it for everyone to see.