First Softball Game

Olivia had her first softball game tonight. And it ended in a TIE!!! 2-2, what a great game! You would NEVER believe it, but Olivia Grace was the tieing run! Yeap, my Baby Girl hit the ball, got a DOUBLE and ended up coming across home plate. Al and I were jumping up and cheering her and the team on the entire game. Yeap, I'm one of *those* parents! LOL

Here's some pics:

When I got there, Olivia was moved from catcher (the equipment didn't fit her so she was having a hard time) to left center. But all she did was twirl around and play in the dirt. Oh yeah, she sat out a couple of innings too! =)

Olivia "on deck."

She almost looks like she knows what she's doing doesn't she?

Here she is on SECOND base - she hit a double! Al was so proud!

Here's her team getting ready to shake hands with the other team. If you look closely, you'll see Olivia was hitting the other girls hands....silly girl!

I can't tell you how happy I was that Olivia did so well. She's the youngest kid on her team so I think she did pretty darn well. So, her team, GarWebb.com is 1-0. Woo Hoo!!!!

The Cat in the Hat Sleeps Over

Olivia is at her first sleep over. I can't believe it....she actually spent the night! I am sssooo proud of her. I guess she really is growing up. *sniffle* I can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and find out how much fun she had. =)

Here's some cute pictures of Olivia - they celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday the other day at school by making their own "Cat in the Hat" hats. Olivia's was sssooo cute. Here she is sporting her hat.

Her "silly" Cat in the Hat pose.

How cute is she? =)

And this is how I found Cooper this morning. I think he really missed his Sissy last night! He cried after her when Al and I dropped her off. I felt sssoo bad for the little guy. But we did take him out to eat and I think he enjoyed that. Him and Olivia play Hopstoch all the time so I guess this was his way of saying "Go get my Sissy!" Ha!

His "oh no, I've been caught playing with Sissy's toys" look. =)

So, I do have to give kudos to my friend Michele for taking a look at my laptop and cleaning it up. She said it was a mess and was really infected with a virus. It's super fast now and like brand new thanks to her. Thanks Michele!!!

Seriously Folks

Ok, I want to take a minute and post a serious blog. And I don't CARE what your views on the whole "illegal immigration" stand are....that's not the point of this blog.

A girl that is a member of my church was brought over to this country from Mexico by her parents as a 2 year old. Therefore, yes, she's illegal. She has grew up here, married a guy that is American and now has a 2 year old son. She decided to right a wrong and take the steps she has to take to get a work visa. I'm trying to keep as many details out as possible because I don't know if she would care if I wrote this about her. So, she went to Mexico and was denied a work visa for 30 days. She has another appointment towards the end of March. This means people, that she has to stay in Mexico for 30 more days without her son. She can not leave. I know she has some comfort with her husband there. If she is denied again, she may have to stay in Mexico for 10 years to qualify.

I find this CRAZY. And my hearts breaks for her since she is away from her little boy. I don't care what nationality you are, illegal or legal - a mother being away from her kids for a long period of time is heart breaking. I feel so bad for her. So, I want all you guys to pray that she is granted a work visa when she goes back and gets to come HOME. SC is her home - this is her first trip to Mexico and hopefully her last. Please keep her in your prayers.

Favorite Part

I have no pictures to share. I'm sorry.

So, until I get my computer over to Michele's and have her get whatever virus I have on it off, I won't be able to post any cute pictures of the kids. I promise to take it to her ASAP! Anyways, last night Olivia had softball practice AND dance lessons. Since softball is new and she just started I asked her how it was going. Here's the conversation that followed:

Me: Olivia, how was softball practice?

O: It was FUN! *insert shriek*

Me: Great...what is your favorite part of softball practice?

O: *twirling around in a circle*

Me: *confused look on face* What does that mean?

O: I like to hit the ball!

Me: Oh, ok....that was my favorite part when I played too.

O: Mommy, you didn't ask me what my favorite part of dance is.

Me: Ok, what's your favorite part of dance?

O: When it's over. *insert giggle*

WHEN IT'S OVER!!!! Can you believe the nerve of my daughter? She changes her mind on dance like she changes underwear. One Monday she loves it, one Monday she hates. I have no idea what to do with her. She WILL finish out this year in dance, but I guess you can say it's up in the air about next year. She just completely caught me and Al off guard with that comment.

In other news, Cooper is still under the weather a bit so I think I am taking him to the doctor tomorrow. He's just not himself. So, hopefully I can get some different meds in him and have him back to his happy self again soon.

Sickies...

Well, my hope that the kids and I wouldn't get sick didn't last. I woke up Saturday morning feeling like CRUD. I had started feeling icky Friday night but thought I could shake it. Cooper woke up Saturday morning feeling bad too. At around 4pm, Al and I put the kids in the tub and afterwards Cooper layed down and said he wanted to go "gait gait" - I layed down with him and we both slept until 7am this morning! Geez!!!! What is that? A 16 hour nap? LOL I do feel better but I'm still coughing. Al is still coughing. Cooper's nose is running like crazy. Olivia is the only one that isn't sick. I hope she doesn't wake up in the morning feeling bad!

I hope Coop feels better in the morning, I hate when the kids are sick!

Leap Day!

It's a Leap Year - Woo Hoo! How cool is it to have an extra day if Feburary? I've always wondered how that works if your birthday if Feb 29....kind of a crappy day to be born huh? =)

Not much is going on - Al is sick with the yucky stuff that is going around but so far the kids and I have been ok. Keep us in your prayers that we don't get sick either! Olivia had softball practice the other day and did pretty well. Al and my dad said she was kind of in her own little world at some points but hey, she's still only 4 years old! She had a good time though and that's all that matters.

Here's a cute little pic of Cooper that Amy took that other day. Have a great weekend!

A must read

I thought this was something worth posting! Thanks for emailing me this Christy!

Rick Warren (REMEMBER HE WROTE "PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE")

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and va lleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD.

Robots like Cookies too

Can someone explain to me why my kids are so hyper on a Tuesday night? Could it possibly be because Nana and Poppy sent Cooper a cookie (in the shape of Boots the Monkey) home the size of a football and that Olivia has been cooped up in the house all afternoon and didn't get to go to softball practice? Oh, and let's not forget that Poppy said she had several Push Ups, cookies, a hot dog, and other misc. food this afternoon. Geez, they are WIRED!

Evidence that Cooper really enjoyed that cookie!

Olivia insisted I take a few pictures of her doing her "robot" dance.

Is it bed time yet????

Anna said I needed

to add some pictures to my blog, so here are two I *think* I haven't posted before. I didn't snap any pics of the kids over the weekend because we didn't do much this weekend! =) We had a pretty nice and relaxing weekend.....the kids spent Saturday night with Gamma and Papa so Al and I took advantage of the night away. We had dinner with Michele and Chris and then went shopping for Olivia some clothes to practice softball in. Of course, I couldn't resist a shirt for Cooper that read "Short Cute and Loveable"! That's my little man to the tee! ;)

He looks sweet and innocent enough here (this was taken at Kyan's party in October) but I have created a "Coopey Monster" - Cooper now INSISTS on going "gait gait" (which is his way of saying "night night") with ME every night. He throws a fit until I lay down in the bed with him and we even have our own little routine.....we lay down and cuddle while watching Blue Clues (or Spongebob) and then we cut the TV and go to sleep. Usually I fall asleep too and my night is ruined! LOL Al will put him in his bed but it never fails that most nights he ends up back in the bed with me......

Which leads us to Sissy. Her thing is to go to bed on her own or have Al lay down with her for awhile but she almost every night gets up and gets Al and drags him BACK to bed with her. So, Al and I have not slept in the same bed for the whole night in a while. Saturday was probably the first time in weeks. No lie.

I know we need to break these habits, but I just can't make myself do it - especially with Cooper. I mean, he won't be little forever and I know he'll eventually get to where he won't want me so much....so I guess I'm being "needy" and letting them both get away with it for now. Both kids are very "mommy" right now so I know it makes Al happy that Olivia feels like she needs *him* at night and not me......I don't know....right now I think I'm just going to enjoy snuggling with my little man and worry about the consequences later. =)

Got to be kidding.....

But I'm not when I say that I have yet ANOTHER nail in my tire when I got to work. For those of you that don't know, I am a MAGNET for nails, screws, etc in my tires. When Al and I had the Jeep, I had nails in every single one of my tires in a period of a month. UGH. And I thought I had rid myself of the "nail curse" but it's struck again! Oh well....

In other news, we got a new roof put on the house yesterday (which is probably where the curse resurfaced) and we are ssoooo glad!!!! It looks great and Al and I are really excited about putting some new siding on the house in the fall and having it look super spiffy. =)

The kids are doing good....nothing new to really report. Olivia had softball tryouts on Tuesday and she did GREAT. She fielded the ball really well and even hit the ball TWICE. We were so proud. Al and I joked that she would be a first round draft pick for softball. =) Cooper had a great time running around cheering on his big Sissy. She's a 4th generation softball player so I hope that it's something she really enjoys. We'll see though, you never know with Olivia Grace. I wish I had taken my camera and took some pics but there's plenty of time for that!

Outta here!

They are gone - the chicken pox are gone! Woo Hoo! Olivia went back to school today and she was sssoooo glad. She has really missed her teachers and friends. Mrs. Chure called her on Saturday and Olivia thinks she's just hot as snot now. =)

It's still up in the air if Cooper will get them now or not. *IF* he does, then they should show up next week according to the doctor. Please, please, please pray that my little guy doesn't get them. I know Olivia had a mild case and I'm thankful for that, but I can't afford to miss more time off of work. So, we'll see. Every morning I cross my fingers that I don't see anything when he's getting dressed. So far, so good. =)

The Griggs know how to party!

As Nana would say "If Mohammad can't go to the mountain, then the mountain will go to Mohammad!" That was our thinking when we decided to have our very own little "Valentine's Party" for Olivia. Since she's been out of school all week with the chicken pox and missed all the fun things at school, we thought it would be a nice treat. We had pizza, cupcakes, brownies, and Diet Coke (Olivia's favorite drink!). Nana and Poppy stopped by with some balloons that were a big hit with the kids. By the way - they are STILL fighting over those stinking balloons! LOL

Olivia eating a cupcake.....well, she eats the icing, not the cake part!

Cooper preferred the brownie bites. =)

Do you see it on the board? Cooper actually drew a heart all by himself! How cool is that! I'm not sure if he knew what he was doing or not!

Olivia with the balloons Nana and Poppy brought over. Three are supposed to be hers and three are supposed to belong to Cooper. This has caused many fights in the last 12 hours! LOL

Me after a long day with Olivia.....chicken pox suck! Poor O has cabin fever like mad!

Nana trying to divide out the balloons!

Cooper scooping out what candy he got from Nana and Poppy.

The infamous Poppy. I thought it was time to get a pic of him on here. Gramma came by and gave the kids some candy before I got home, so I wasn't able to get a picture of her to put on here.

We had a really good time, but the kids got way too much candy from their grandparents! Olivia is feeling much better and I think will be ok to go to school on Monday. She misses it like crazy - especially Ms. Chure and her BFF Ravea. I won't lie and say I'm not looking forward to her going back either! But man, we had a lot of fun last night - the Griggs family can throw one heck of a Valentine Party! =)

Happy V-day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Chickety Chick....

Thomas Hart called yesterday and guess what? Olivia has CHICKEN POX!!! Yeap, you read that right. Thank goodness she has had the vaccine for it and doesn't appear to have a bad case of it. She's more upset that she's missing school than anything. Olivia had perfect attendence up to this point and THA has some fun things planned for the week of Valentine's. =( But from what I've been told, she should be ok in a few days.....probably won't go back to school this week but shouldn't suffer too bad. She's not really itching or anything but they haven't blistered up yet so I don't know what is in store for us. Oh, and so far Cooper doesn't look like he's got them.....which doesn't mean he won't but I'm hoping that since he had his shot not too long ago that maybe it'll keep him from getting them. Pray that it does! And say a little prayer that Olivia recovers quickly from her chicken pox. =)

Stock Car Museum

Yesterday Al and I decided to take the kids over to the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum. I haven't been since I was little, so we thought the kids would really enjoy looking at all the old cars. Olivia seemed to like looking at all the old cars and Cooper enjoyed the wide open space to run around in! LOL

1951 Hudson Hornet - if your kids love the movie Cars, like mine do, then you know this car was in the movie. =)

The kids walking the museum with Daddy....there were tons of cars from all different time periods of racing.

#43 Baby!!!! Richard Petty is probably my favorite race car driver......although I'm not a big race car fan!

Olivia with Dale's hand prints. She kept coming back to them and looking at them. She wanted to know if he did his handprints on his own or if he was told too? What difference does it make? LOL She called it "the famous racers hands" - cute!

Cooper by one of the cars there. He wanted to climb on it......but that's his new thing these days....climbing on everything. There may be a monkey tail in those pants!

Olivia posing by Petty's old car.

Cooper and Daddy by one of the Hemi engines used in the cars.

So, we had a pretty good time looking at the stock cars - I guess if Al and I were really into racing, then *we* would have had a blast. But I figured since we live so close to a famous race track, the kids should at least know something about it. Plus, it's all about building memories, right? =)

Bed Time Prayers

Al and I are trying to get Olivia and Cooper into the habit of saying bedtime prayers and prayers at supper. Olivia does pretty well with the dinner prayer (that's what we call it anyways) but her bedtime prayers can be just too funny. Here's the one she said last night:

O: Dear God, God is great, God is good....thank you for my Mommy and Daddy. Dear God, I hope you have a good Valentine's Day. Please send me lots and lots of candy so I can have a good Valentine's Day too God. I love you God. Amen!

Notice how poor little COOPER wasn't even mentioned in his Sissy's prayer? LOL And I love how she brown noses to God for candy for Valentine's Day....too funny!

Passing down my jewelery

Olivia is so funny - of course, all my blog readers know that already! =) For Christmas Al got me one of those circle "diamond" necklaces. Now, I say "diamond" because *I* picked it out and I got a fake one that didn't cost nearly as much as a real diamond necklace. Olivia sees me wearing this necklace a lot and came up to me the other day holding it:

O: Mama, when you get really old, can I have this necklace?

Me: *snicker* Yes Olivia, you can have Mommy's fake diamond necklace when she dies.

O: Yay! *runs off and jumps on her bed in excitement*

How silly is she? Awww, to be young again when little things like that made you happy....those were the days!!!!

Is there no Good News out there?

I'm really getting to the point where I HATE to read the news online these days. A few days ago I read a story about a 3 month old baby boy being thrown out in the woods and a couple bird watching found him. How horrible! And now the police suspect his father because the family was homeless and didn't have any money. It just upsets me so bad - I mean, leave the child at a frigging hospital or police station and WALK AWAY. There's no sense in killing the child. Then yesterday I read a story about a one year old and 3 year old that freeze to death in Canada because they sorry a$$ dad was drunk and passed out while walking them to a neighbors house. First, why was he walking two small kids to a neighbors house in the winter (that was like several miles away) and second, why didn't they have *warm* clothes. Of course, HE lived. And today I read a story about a 7 year old that is in critical condition because he was found hanging in the bathroom at his school. All of this just bothers me so much these days.....I guess because I have several friends that want kids so bad and for whatever reason, they can't have them. It just makes me so sad that I know such good people that would do anything for a baby and then worthless people like I mentioned above do the things they do. I just couldn't imagine hurting my children or not having them in my life. They give my life so much meaning, make me so happy, and give me so much to look forward to in the years to come. Sure, there have been some sacrifices that Al and I have had to make (none that I don't think ALL parents make), but we would do anything for those two little mean monsters! =) I don't know.....it's just something that has been heavy on my heart for the last few days so I decided to blog about it.

I think I should just stay away from the news period!

My Silly, Silly Kids

As you can see by the pictures, Cooper has learned a new trick in the tub. He'll lay down in the water to where it's not in his eyes, nose and mouth and just laugh. He really gets a kick out of it - and when he laughs, so do I. Nothing is more contagious than hearing your baby laugh. It's the sound I hope I hear during my last moments on this earth (one day a long time from now of course!). I'm not sure where we are on the potty training issue anymore....I feel like we are having a bit of a set back at the moment but we'll see. Al and I aren't stressing about it though because he still has plenty of time to learn. But keep your fingers crossed!

Olivia told me the funniest thing on the way home from church tonight - she informed me that she was SURE she was going to have a nightmare tonight about her having to wrestle a tiger. I don't know why she thinks this, but as of this moment, no nightmare. She's such a hoot. I can't believe that she's almost five years old already - and still is too lazy to learn to ride her bike! =)

A 5 year olds vocabulary

Olivia is ssooo funny. Yes, she is almost 5 years old, but she thinks she's going to be 10 years old.....or even 16 years old! Al and I can't get over how much Olivia has learned these last 4 years...she surprises us with something new everyday. And we love it! Sure, Olivia has a strong personality, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

So, Olivia has come home the last few weeks saying some really big words. I mean, words that are kind of hard to explain. For one, she can tell you all about gingivitis. Which I find really, really funny. Don't worry, she doesn't have it, but she knows what it means! And just this weekend, I heard her tell Cooper "Wow, Cooper that sure is IMPRESSIVE"....I mean really, impressive? How many almost 5 year olds even KNOW what that means? Oh, and she told Nana that it was "very rude to Interrupt people" - how funny is that? Especially since she's the one doing most, if not all, the interrupting. =)

Olivia definitely never, ever ceases to amaze us - she keeps us on our toes for sure! She can spit out words that *I* don't even use a daily basis - it's just so fun to watch her learn all these new things. She's not the only one though - her little brother is not far behind her at all. In Cooper news, he's still doing well with the potty. We went to the store and got him some undies and he seems to really enjoy wearing them. Al said he felt like we would be diaper free in a few months. I sure hope he's right, for more reasons than one. Do you have any idea how happy I would be to NEVER, EVER, EVER buy diapers again?

I think my heart will explode!

Bye Bye Pee Pee!

Can I just brag about my son? I mean, he's only 2 years and 4 months old and he's doing sssooo well with using the potty! He has really made an effort the last few days. I know most of you aren't going to care about this BUT he did a stinky in the potty last night and pee peed in the potty this morning. I am sssooo happy! =)

Cooper is so funny though, when he gets done with the potty, he'll flush the toilet and say "bye bye pee pee!" It's so funny in his little voice!

Olivia got her report card from school and she is doing so well. Al and I are very, very proud of her. She does have a few little things she needs to work on, but Olivia loves school and is really absorbing all that Mrs. Chure is teaching her. We love this school and are really hoping to get Coop in there for 3K in August.

Not much else is going in the Griggs household.....

Family Bed Is.....

the new DEVIL!!! ha ha! I'm losing my fight at keeping Cooper out of my bed. I started a really bad habit of putting him in the bed with me and letting him fall asleep. Al will carry him to his bed once he's good and asleep but he keeps finding his way back to my bed. UGH! I don't know what to do with this kid! Any suggestions? He's a little toddler ninja when it comes to crawling up in the bed - you don't know he's there until morning time. =) Oh well, maybe I'll just start sleeping on his toddler bed or something. Ha!

Oh, for those of you that don't live in SC - we actually got a little snow yesterday. Of course, it was only about a centimeter's worth, but hey....it was snow. And the rain washed THAT away so it was all gone by this morning. Bummer. Olivia really had her heart set on throwing snowballs. =) I can't say I'm sorry the snow didn't stick around....my friend Jenny lives in Iowa and she battles feet of snow in the winter. No thanks!!!!

Taking it in Baby Steps

Cooper sat on the big potty TWICE last night! I was so happy and *proud* of my little guy! I'm not rushing this potty training process because I want Cooper to feel like he's in control of deciding to use the potty. For the last few weeks when I would ask him "Cooper want to go sit on the potty?" he would answer "NO!" - so we didn't. So a few nights ago I asked him to sit on the potty with his clothes on and he thought that was the neatest thing EVER. I was very surprised when he told Al that he wanted to pee pee in the potty last night. And then to do it TWICE!!! Of course, he didn't do a darn thing, but hey, it's a baby step in the right direction right? =)

So, does anyone really care about my son's potty issues? I mean, I don't know who all reads my blogs (I know some people) and I just wonder.....is my kids lives really that exciting? LOL I wish *MY* life was more exciting so I could write about myself for a change! =)

Playing outside

My kids LOVE playing outside. They will *cry* sometimes because we can't go outside if it's raining or too cold. But, the weather on Saturday wasn't too bad, so I dressed them warmly and outside we went. We probably played outside for a few hours.....the kids rode around in their little cars, played on the swing set, etc. Olivia and I even got our exercise by playing freesbee for awhile. And you know what? She's pretty good!

Cooper going down the slide. He loves to go down head first which scares the daylights out of ME!

I'm not sure what Olivia was doing here......

We found a flower in the yard! In Jan! Can you believe that! Of course, not two seconds after I took this picture did Olivia pick the flower and give it to me. Oh well, sorry little guy!

Olivia "posing" for me. I love that show on TLC called "Jon and Kate Plus 8" - well Olivia watched an episode with me where the twin girls were taking some modeling pictures. Of course, she wanted to take some too....this was her attempt at it. She's *supposed* to have her foot up against the wall and lean on it but I couldn't get her to understand what I was saying so this is how she posed. LOL Oh, and this was a few days ago...I meant to put this picture last! =)

Cooper in the Barbie Jeep....it's his favorite. =)

Cooper looking cool on the "Harley" - ha ha!

Olivia being silly on the swing set!

And here is Olivia all dressed warmly.....she insisted on wearing a "noggin" and her scarf. I tried to explain to her that it wasn't THAT cold, but she insisted. How cool is she? LOL

Must not have kids!

I was watching TV this morning with the kids and I saw a commercial for "Gelli Baff" - which is basically this stuff that you put in the water of your kids baths and it turns to jelly like slush. Yes, someone invented some CRAP that turns to jelly in the tub. Oh, and did I forget to mention that it comes in 3 wonderful colors? No fear though parents out there, after your kids play in the slush, simply pour the "Gelli Out" powder on it and it dissolves and turns back into water. Simple enough right?

Thank gosh Olivia and Cooper didn't see that stinking commercial! I mean really! Whoever invented that stuff does not have kids for sure. I can't think of a single parent that would even consider getting that for their kids. Unless they were crazy. Al and I have a hard enough time getting Cooper to keep water in the tub....can you imagine the mess if he poured "jelly" out onto the floor?

No thanks, but I'm adding "Gelli Baff" to my list of kids items that are the devil! And this is one that I don't even have to buy to know it's T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!!!

You know you're a mom...

when you put a link to a potty training site on your blog!

http://pottytrainingsite.blogspot.com/

It's definitely making me feel positive about training Cooper!

Mr. Al Griggs

Al says that every picture I put on this blog of him isn't good so here is one of him that IS good. =) And yes, he is wearing the infamous purple shirt. I think he looks really good in this purple shirt. The picture is kind of small, but if you click on it, it becomes bigger.

1st Week Weight Check

I won't tell you how much I weighed in BEFORE I started on Weight Watchers last Monday but I would like for everyone to know that I am down.................

3 POUNDS!!!

How awesome is that? In one week baby! I don't know how much Al is down because I'm not even sure if he has weighed himself yet. I'm just really, really happy to have some loss on the first week. Man, if I can do that every week, I might aim for way more than just 22 pounds. =)

WW

So, Al and I started back on Weight Watchers on Monday. Please wish us much luck! I lost 22 pounds when I went on it earlier in the year and Al lost a whopping 42 pounds. I am trying very hard to stay dedicated. I would love to lose another 22 pounds! =)

Monday will be one full week on it and I will post how much I have lost.....if any! I've been so busy at home and at work that I haven't wrote down my points every day like I should but I have been keeping up w/them daily. So, I hope to see some results soon!

Nothing much going on with the kids. Olivia starts back at school on Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to it. She's been at daycare while she has been out and I'm just tired of her being there. So, now Al and I have to really focus on getting Coop potty trained so he can start 3K this fall. Wish us luck!

Resolutions for 2008:

1. Stick to WW

2. Potty train Cooper

3. Sneak healthy veggies into the kids foods

4. Stick to my resolutions =)

Moon Sand is the New Devil!

Whatever MAN (and yes, I think a man invented this and not a woman) who invented MOON SAND, should be strung up by a rope and shot! That stuff is the new devil. And of course, my kids love the stuff. Nana and Poppy (bless their hearts) bought some for the kids for Christmas even though I protested! Olivia does ok with it when it's just her, but of course Cooper wants to do whatever Sissy is doing and he just makes a HUGE MESS!

The kids playing....Olivia didn't get too much on the floor, but I had to vacuum all up under Cooper's chair. I swear he just threw the stuff on the floor or something!

My sweet little Cooper who thinks he's the exact same size as his Sissy. =)

Olivia sporting her "I inherited my Mom's fake smile" smile. Poor kid!

Olivia also got a hopscotch pad from Santa this year. This was her putting it together. I tried my hardest to get her to put it together right but she had to do it her way. Imagine that huh? I thought it was pretty funny that it was in a straight line!

Olivia telling Cooper "da rules" - she of course was making it up as she goes!

2008

Happy New Year!!! I know I am a day late, but hey....can you believe it's 2008 already?

Wow, I hope everyone has a wonderful, wonderful year ahead of them!