Halloween Parties Galore!!!!

Wow, this weekend was a busy weekend for parties and the Griggs family! On Friday night, Al and I loaded up the kiddos and went to Thomas Hart's Halloween Carnival. Olivia and Cooper had sssssooo much fun! Olivia must have played every game 500 times. And let me tell you, she actually made several basket ball baskets and got the baseball in the pumpkin a few times. She's got a little arm on her for sure! Cooper was just happy to be there eating popcorn! =)

Olivia and Savannah at THA. They are in the same class and were comparing costumes. Too cute!

Olivia and Mrs. Chure - she is the best teacher EVER! We are so happy that Olivia has her because she's learning so much. Olivia kept wanting to go over to Mrs. Chure and talk to her. I tried to talk O into getting a butterfly on her face and she wouldn't do it but as soon as I told her that Mrs. Chure was doing it, she was all for it and got the cutest little butterfly on her cheek. Little Stinker!

Wonder Woman and Sully (from Monsters, Inc). He wouldn't wear the little head piece on his head so it's hard to tell who he is - ha ha. We were getting ready to go to the Griggs' family Halloween party on Saturday. The kids had fun riding the hayride provided by Uncle Adam and playing all the games too. We were beat when we got home. Although a couple of people thought Cooper was the Cookie Monster and I was like "Has anyone other than me seen Monsters, Inc??" LOL

Sully =)

The kids =)

Red Ribbon Week

It's Red Ribbon Week at Thomas Hart so you know what that means. Yeap, the school is teaching kids to say NO to drugs. Which is a good thing by all means. Of course, leave it to Olivia to find humor in any situation. My mom calls me today and tells me that on the way home yesterday she had this conversation with Olivia:

O: Nana, do you do drugs?
Nana: No, Olivia I don't do drugs.
O: Drugs are bad Nana.
Nana: Yes, I know Olivia.
O: Does my Mommy do drugs Nana?
Nana: No, Olivia.
O: Does my Daddy do drugs Nana?
Nana: NO Olivia.
O: Does Poppy do drugs Nana?
Nana: NO Olivia, no one does drugs!!!!!

How funny is that! But isn't it *wonderful* that Olivia is paying that much attention in school? I mean, at 4 years old she knows drugs are bad. I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She just cracks me up with her list of "who does drugs" she went through with my mom. And my poor mom is sick and can barely talk and she said all Olivia wanted to do was talk about how mean people do drugs, etc and all she wanted was for her to be quiet. Poor Nana! LOL

And I can not believe how Cooper's speech is just exploding! He came home yesterday and immediately said "I eat Mama, I eat" - OVER and OVER again. It was cute the first few times but by 100, it was driving me nuts. I am glad he's talking more though!

Anyways, not much going on at the Griggs household.....stay tuned for THA Halloween pics!

More fair pics

Ok, so here are some more pictures from the fair the other weekend - of course I had to include one of the cutest little nephew in the whole wide world.

Jay and Louis - Louis is the sweetest baby EVER. He was sssssooo good at the fair and enjoyed taking in all the sights. I wish there had been more the little guy could have rode on though! Maybe next year Louis!

Cooper, Aunt Amy (her first ever blog appearance), and Olivia on the "Bee" Ride. Notice how they put the smallest kid on the outside of the ride? Poor Cooper might have fallen out if that thing went fast! LOL

Loren on the pony - we ran into Adam, Tina and Loren on the way out. Too bad we didn't know they were going or they could have tagged along with us too!

We went by and looked at all the exhibits too and saw where some of the schools had done pumpkin decorating contests. This Sponge Bob pumpkin was by far Cooper's favorite!

Olivia on the Swings - she LOVED this ride. She rode it several times which really surprised everyone. We thought she would be really scared but she wasn't at all. I was so proud....the swings are one of MY favorite rides too!

I'm still battling my sinus infection but I am starting to feel a little better. My head still hurts but not quite as bad as before....which is a great improvement. I'll more pics later. =)

Sinus headaches suck

Yeap, they suck majorly! I have had a headache for over a week now and finally broke down and saw Dr. Bonnie. I really hope the meds she gave me will bring me some major relief soon. I seriously don't feel like I can move my head without being in pain. This sucks!!!!

Anyways, Thomas Hart has their annual Halloween party on Friday and I really hope I feel up to going to it by then. I'm hoping and praying my head will be better by the weekend. Olivia and Cooper are looking forward to the Halloween party - especially the pony rides they are supposed to have there. It should be a lot of fun.

Oh well, I'll blog more later - right now I need to go put my head down somewhere before it explodes. =(

Fun at the Fair

Wow, can you believe it's been over a week since my last post? Sorry guys! I was sick a few days last week and just didn't have the strength to get online and blog. =( Anyways, yesterday, Al and I took the kids to the Florence Fair. We rode out there with Jay, Amy and Louis. The kids had a really good time. There wasn't much that Cooper and Louis could really get on, but Olivia had a ball. Next year, Cooper, next year! He was so mad that Sissy could ride on rides and he was too small. Here's some pics:

Cooper and Olivia looking out the window of the helicopter ride. They LOVED it!

Cooper in the petting zoo - he kept saying that the goats were "bite biting" him. He would just laugh and laugh - it was too cute. And doesn't he look so different with his hair cut so short? Al got his hair cut on Wednesday and actually used the razor on him. He took it like a little champ! =)

Daddy and Olivia playing the fishing game. Olivia was so BAD at this game....she couldn't catch a darn thing. I think she finally snagged something thanks to Al's help and won a silly little stuffed flower. Yippie.

Now you see why we call her "Freckles" sometimes? She had just got off the Carousal and was informing me that she *would be* riding it again and this time by herself. Excuse me.

Olivia riding on the pony. We put Cooper on one and he totally freaked out. Olivia really enjoyed it though. I think Cooper probably would have liked it too if Al had been walking beside him. Maybe next year Coop!

All in all, we had a really good time. I got some cute shots of Louis and a few more of the kids I'll have to post later. We ran into Adam, Tina and Loren on our way out and I got a pic of Loren on the pony too. It was sssssooo hot on Saturday though - I actually got a little sun burnt. IN OCTOBER!!! What is up with that? Oh well, we had a great time and the kids crashed at bedtime. Gotta love that. =)

Oh yeah and Clemson won baby!!!!

Children of the Corn

Building memories.

That's what I keep telling myself that Al and I are doing by doing so-called fun things with the kids. We could have went to the Sweet Potato Festival in Darlington today (where I knew we would have tons of fun), but nnnnnoooooo....I just *had* to take them to the corn maze. We loaded up the kids and drove out to Pims Farms. I will admit - that maze was HARD. You basically walk around LOST until you come to a number on a post. Then you look at the nifty little questionnaire they give you and depending on your answer (if it's right or wrong), you either get MORE LOST or find the next number. And the questions are answers *no one* would know the frigging answers too. I mean, do you know if corn has a.) 250 b.) 1,000 or c.) 3,500 uses in the world? I had no frigging clue! Al and I basically got to where we just let Olivia lead the way. Needless to say, we didn't make it out with the Farmer coming and getting us. How pathetic are we?


Olivia in the corn.....she wasn't too thrilled about all the walking she had to do. She takes after Mommy in the "laziness" department. =)


Cooper found number 8!!!! Only two more numbers to find to get out of that heck hole! LOL Why didn't we use the emergency exit we passed 20 minutes ago????


Proof we made it out alive...the kids got to ride the "cow train" afterwards. They LOVED it.


Mommy, Cooper, and Olivia on the wagon ride around the farm. It was such a nice and pretty day and the kids loved the ride. Isn't the field behind us just so pretty and green?


Al at the beginning of the maze. He's just like all men and suck at directions! =)

Honestly, it was a lot of fun. I think they have the corn maze open at night too. I couldn't imagine going through at night......especially since we couldn't even make it out during the day. I don't think I'll be attempting a corn maze again for awhile. Ha ha!

Could be a dream.....

Or a nightmare - I'm not sure which!

Ok, so let me give you some background details.....I love the show that comes on TLC or Discovery (can't remember) called "Jon and Kate Plus 8." Basically this couple has 8 kids....a set of twin girls and then SIX boys and girls. Crazy! But, it's one of my favorite reality shows because one of the little boys (Aaden) is so stinking cute that I wish I could reach through the TV and bring him home with me.

Another important detail to know - I have crazy dreams. Just ask the ladies I work with, they can vouch for this! LOL

So, anyways, I dreamed the other night that I had six kids....3 boys and 3 girls. All the boys looked like Cooper and all the girls looked like Olivia. How funny is that? And all the Olivia were Olivia's at Cooper's age, not the age she's at now. That's weird. And to top it off, we were all at my grandma Alma's house and I was asking her to help me watch them and fix them some lunch. So she calls and orders us all pizza...another weird detail because my Grandma Alma didn't eat pizza.....EVER.

I guess it's a nice dream because it had my Grandma in it but it is still considered a nightmare because I HAD SIX KIDS!!!!! Could you imagine?

I would like to steal Aaden though. =) Three is managable right? Nah, my two are enough!

Parent/Teacher Conference

Al and I went and met Mrs. Chure for our very FIRST ever, ever parent/teacher conference. And let me tell you, Mrs. Chure had nothing but good things to say about our daughter! We are so proud of her. She told us about some of things they were learning in class and even showed us some of the class work that Olivia is doing. Oh, she showed us Olivia's "journal" and let me tell you, that was a *hoot*! Olivia had "wrote" about how she bloodied Cooper's nose and she got in trouble by me and Al was (and I quote) very angry. That's funny because Al WASN'T EVEN THERE. How stinking funny......I just can't get over how funny Olivia is. There was all kinds of stuff in that journal. Thankfully, nothing too imcrimidating. =) (I'm sure I'm spelling that word wrong...sorry, you know what I mean!) Honestly, we learned a lot about what goes on in Olivia's class. We are sssssooo impressed with Mrs. Chure and THA. And can I tell you how grown up I feel after going to a p/t conference? I don't know if I should be giddy or sad....I kind of feel a nice mixture of both. =)

Crazy, crazy kids....but man, I love them

Cooper and Olivia LOVE to be outside. They love to play on the swing set and ride on their toys. They are definitely "outdoorsy" kids and I can't really complain - I get some really cute pictures! =)


Cooper on his "Harley" - he loves this thing but still prefers Sissy's Dora 4 Wheeler. =)


I call this "the stand-off" - Cooper would drive up close to Layla and then stop and point and say "Layla Move" but she would just lay there and act like she didn't hear him. It was too, too funny. Finally Layla got tired of him bothering her so she got up and hid. Smart dog.


Olivia tonight - she was telling me all about the pumpkin patch she went to on her field trip. She was SSSOOO excited and even drew a little face on her pumpkin. Oh, and I think the bus trip was the most exciting thing to her.....she told me that she wanted to go to a school that had a bus she could ride on. It sure doesn't take much to impress my kids! LOL


Olivia did this to her little brother tonight....she's recently got into this thing where she puts bows and stuff all in Cooper's hair. I will admit that he'd make a VERY CUTE little girl. LOL How sweet is he?

School Play

Olivia was so funny last night! She wanted to play "school" - and it was so much fun. She, of course, was Mrs. Chure and I ended up being Mrs. Jenny. We played school for awhile and then....(bad Mommy moment here) I got tired of it. So, I let Cooper be my substitute and he ended up being Mrs. Jenny. How funny is that? =) On another note, Coop didn't feel well this morning and was so ill. I think he must be teething or something - I'll be so glad when all his teeth are in. He's a little monster when he doesn't feel good. Oh, and Olivia goes on a field trip at school tomorrow. She is so excited. They are going to the pumpkin patch and then to the Sonic for lunch. I really wish THA would let parents volunteer because I really wanted to go too! LOL Oh well, I'm sure she'll give me all the details when she gets home. She's really looking forward to picking out a HUGE pumpkin.

Wonder Woman goes to FunDayGo

The kids got invited to Logan's (little boy in Olivia's class) birthday party at FunDayGo this morning. THAT PLACE ROCKS!!!!! The kids had ssssooo much fun - now Olivia says she wants *her* next birthday party there. Great....it was fun but I'm sure it was expensive as all get out! We'll see....

Oh, and after the party, Olivia had to dress up as Wonder Woman. She wanted to wear the costume to the party but I wouldn't let her. I know, I know, I'm such a bad mommy. =)




Olivia bouncing in one of the big inflatable things....I don't know what you call them. LOL




Olivia coming down the big slide...she must have went down that thing 199 times.



Cooper playing - most of the stuff was a little too big for him but he still had a great time.



Cooper on the way back to Hartsville - he was wore out.



Wonder Woman =)

Look what Caleb did!!!

Olivia NEVER surprises me anymore. I think she can still catch Al off guard from time to time, but I've learned to *always* expect the unexpected with the first born. So, Friday night we had our usual "Friday night dinner" with my mom and dad. We eat supper w/them almost every single Friday (kind of like the Gilmore Girls expect my parents are cool - ha ha) and visit with them awhile. After dinner Olivia and Cooper were off harassing everyone and I was playing on the computer. Olivia walks in the room, looks at me and says "Mommy, look what Caleb did!" She had stuck a ball under her dress to make her self look "with child" - I almost died laughing. Of course I tell her to go in the living room and show Nana, Poppy, and Daddy. FYI - Al didn't find it as amusing as I did. He's such a prude. =)

And I swear if I hear "Mommy, I'm hungry", "Mommy, can I have something else to eat" ONE MORE TIME I will lose my ever-loving mind. That's all Olivia could say all weekend which caused Cooper to mimic her saying "Me eat, Me eat, Me EEEEEEEAAAATTTTT" over and over and over again. I guess Olivia is going through a growth spurt or something because she ate constantly this weekend. Cooper had to eat just because he saw someone else eating - he's too funny. Seriously, they had my eye twitching by Sunday night. I have never looked forward to bed time like I did last night. =)

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!!!!