Christmas Parade 2010

We got up this morning and headed out to the Hartsville Christmas Parade. We met Uncle Adam and Loren up there and had a really good time!

THA representing in the parade. Go THA!

Santa and Mrs. Claus. :)

O and Loren

Loren, Olivia and Cooper - it was COLD!

I love the horses in the parade....they've always been my favorite part.

Daddy and Cooper - my two men!

The clown car - it was a hoot!

Christmas Card

Peppermint Bliss Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Happy Birthday Louis!

Happy 4th Birthday to the most wonderful little nephew in the whole wide world!

Oh yeah, Aunt Mandy hooked him up. :)

The birthday boy - who wasn't feeling pictures at the moment.

Blowing out the candles! Love that little face.

Amy and Josie (she turns the big ONE in March!)

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal blog readers!!! What are you most thankful for today?

I have so much to be thankful for - a job I enjoy, a house to sleep in, good health, the love of family and friends, a husband that loves me at my worst, a God that loves me and forgives me - and for the two most wonderful people I help "create"....Olivia and Cooper!

Like every other Thanksgiving, we spent the day between our two families. We had a wonderful lunch at Nana and Poppy's house and loaded up on turkey and dressing! Later we headed over to Grandma and Papa Alton's and visited with Louis, Josie, Loren, Amy and Jay. It's been a wonderful, yet exhausting day! I think I could OD on some dressing and gravy right now. Ha! And I am looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree and all the decorations in the next few days too!

My two hearts. :)

Griggs Family - Thanksgiving 2010

Me and my two "thank yous!"

Hello 33!

I'm 33 years old today! :)

I've had a wonderful, great, joyous, happy - you name it - birthday today. The kids have been more excited about my birthday than I've been. Ha ha! O was absolutely beside herself all morning....and since Muffins for Mom was today at school, *everyone* at THA knew it was my big day before I left. :) I love my girl's enthusiasm.

I have so many goals for myself this year, it's not funny. I'm still going strong with my running program and I find myself enjoying running more and more. I am so proud of myself I can't stand it - and I've never been proud of MYSELF about anything before. The feeling of accomplishing something that I thought I would NEVER be able to do is unreal. I WILL run a 5k in 2011. 33 is going to be my year. I just know it! :)

Goodbye 32

Today is my last day as a 32 year old! And you know what? I'm totally cool with that.

I can't think of anything specific on why this past year has been great - unless you count the fact that God has provided me with good health, two happy kids, a man that loves me no matter how crazy I get, family that adores me, and friends that I could never dream of living without. Ok, that's specific enough isn't it?

I'm looking forward to another year - and I pray that God blesses me with all the same that he's given me. Because honestly, that's all I need and all I really want. So, bring it on 33! You don't scare me. After all, I'm still pretty hot! :)

Funny

A Diary Review: Moving to South Carolina, 2010

May 30, 2010:

Just moved to Columbia, South Carolina from Chicago, Illinois. Now, this is a city that knows how to live!Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! I watched the sunset from a park while lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14, 2010:

Really heating up.Got to 100 degrees today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30, 2010:

Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. The yard is a breeze to maintain! No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love living in Columbia.

July 10, 2010:

The temperature hasn't been below 100 degrees all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it's kind of windy, but getting used to the heat and humidity is taking longer that I expected.

July 15, 2010:

Fell asleep by the pool.(Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body.) Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson, though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20, 2010:

Morgan (our cat) sneaked into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Morgan had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $2,000 leather upholstery. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells like Kibbles and shits. I learned my lesson, though. No more pets in this heat.

July 25, 2010:

The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer! And it's hot as hell! The home air-conditioner is on the fritz, and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order the parts.

July 30, 2010:

Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. The monthly house payment is $1,500 and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

August 4, 2010:

It's 105 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today for a cost of $900. The temperature gets down to 78 degrees, but this freaking humidity makes the house feel like it's about 95 degrees. I hate this stupid city.

August 8, 2010:

If another wise ass person cracks, "Hot enough for ya today?" I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!

August 9, 2010:

Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts and sat on the black leather seats in the ol' car. I thought my ass was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

August 10, 2010:

The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for two damn months, and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn desert? Water rationing will be next, so I might as well watch $1,700 worth of cactus just dry up and blow into the damn pool. Not even cactus can live in this damn heat.

August 14, 2010:

Welcome to HELL!!! The temperature got to 105 degrees today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for ya today?" My wife had to spend the $1,500 house payment to bail me out of jail. Freaking South. What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?

LOL - Pretty funny because most of it is true right? :)

Already....

It's already the first week of November. And that week is almost over! Wow. Can this year go by ANY faster? I'm happy to report that we all survived Halloween - still have a *ton* of candy, but I plan on throwing some away little by little over the weekend. My goal is to be candy free by the end of the week. Wish me luck. :)

Nothing new to really report - I have started this "running" program with my friend Pam. We're 3 weeks in and it is STILL tough. Of course, neither of us are runners so I think we're doing awesome. Our goal is to run a 5k by April or May next year. I'm not quite at the place where I can say I enjoy running, but I definitely feel better after I do it. Basically we're building up the length of time we run - this program is designed to "teach" you to run if you've never ran before. Of course, my ultimate goal is to lose weight. :) I feel pretty awesome about myself for keeping this up though.

Oh, and I turn the big 33 in about 2 weeks. Yikes!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Our two little monsters racked up on Halloween goodies this year!
And that's a good thing for Mommy and Daddy. :)

Funny story - we stopped at a neighbors house down the road and apparently he didn't have any candy yet. Instead of just telling the kids he didn't have any candy, he ran to his kitchen and grabbed two root beers and two packs of pudding. Yeap, you totally read that right. I laughed so hard I was literally in tears. The kids thought it was awesome. I have no idea who he is, but he is my new hero. Of course, by the time we got back up the street, he had the door closed and the light off! Ha!!!

My kids are awesome!

Olivia made STRAIGHT A's!!!!! We are ssooo proud of her! Especially after the tough year she had last year, I couldn't have asked for a better teacher than Mrs Jenner! Thank you Mrs J for helping my daughter love school again!

Cooper also got a GREAT report! He doesn't get a report card but he did get an "assessment" sheet and did WONDERFUL. I can't even begin to tell you the difference in him from last year to this year. He has a few things he still needs to work on but that's ok and to be expected.

We are so proud of our kiddos!

Boo at the Zoo

Boo at the Zoo is AWESOME!!!!

Al and I took the kids over to Riverbanks Zoo yesterday evening for their very first Boo at the Zoo. We had the best time ever. They got lots of candy, goodies, we made s'mores, danced in a street party, and saw some of the cutest costumes EVER. We even ran into my friend Tommi Lynn and her kids. And the absolute BEST part? The kids were knocked out on the ride home - thank you Boo at the Zoo!!!

Can you find the kids? :)

Lugi and a giant spider.

Olivia aka Vampire Panda/Princess Peach. Oh, one of the Zoo workers actually recognized O's costume as Princess Peach. She was sooooo happy. Of course, nobody else had a clue....but no "I told you so" from Mommy. :)

Family photo!

Me and my two super heroes on our way to the zoo. Aren't they the cutest EVER? Yeah, I think so too.

Two people

These two beautiful, perfect, people were created (or invented as O would say)........

...by these two imperfect people! And with that, made us perfect for each other. :)

What is Daddy thinking?

This is how the kids look when Daddy is on duty. :) I find them to be super cute Rag-a-Muffins, don't you?

O's outfit is incomplete in this picture - she absolutely HAS to pick out her own clothes, and well, she has her own style. I'm a blue jeans, tee shirt kind of girl - O LOVES dresses, skirts, anything sparkly, etc. So she had picked out this outfit. I fought - told her it didn't match.....but in her little world, it was *perfect* - so I gave in and let her. She wore her new metallic pink cowboy boots too. She was rocking it out for sure! Hey, if she's happy, then it keeps all of us happy. :)

I'm pretty sure that's chocolate icing on Cooper's face - although I'm not sure where his other sock is....and come to think of it, I still haven't found it! I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere outside - Molly will find it for me! LOL

Monkey

How stinking cute is this cake I did tonight? ADORABLE! I sure hope Chance likes it on Saturday when he turns the big ONE years old. :)

10-10-10

Happy 10-10-10!!!!

Something about this day is making my kids act like wild monkeys though.

Sally Loves Joey

Have I mentioned lately that O has a wild imagination? Today she wanted to play pretend "Sisters" so she was my little sister, Bella and I was the older sister, Sally. Cooper wasn't really interested in our game so he didn't play. Ha ha! Al wasn't my husband - Sally is only 18 after all! - so he was my boyfriend Joey. And I was taking care of my little sister while our parents were on vacation for 2 weeks. This little game of O's lasted about 2 hours. NO LIE. My girl does not break character in the land of pretend.

Sally's declaration of love for her man, Joey (pronounced like JOOOOEEEYYY).

Bella

Those are new jeans folks - and now they are covered in dirt and side walk chalk. UGH.....little boys are killer!

Red 40 Update

I thought I'd give a quick update on how the whole Red 40 diet has been going.

It's been going WONDERFULLY!!!!! I can not believe how easy it is to actually purge this stuff from our diets - there's so many options out there, it's unreal. Of course, I can't keep Cooper from eating ALL foods with Red 40 in it, but I think we've done a great job at eliminating as much as we can. And believe it or not, most of the stuff I find isn't organic or any more expensive than what we normally eat.

Can we tell a difference? YES, YES, and YES!!! Even Cooper's teachers have told me how great he's doing this year in school. It just amazes me on what this kid is retaining these days - such a difference from last year. He started a hip hop class a few weeks ago too and I promise you - HE remembers more of what he's learned in class that day than Olivia does! Of course, I don't know if eliminating Red 40 has been the only thing that has helped our boy....the fact that he's a little older could be a factor too.

I definitely think we've done a job though - and I most definitely think my Lil' Man is reaping the benefits. Way to go Cooper!!!!

Thanks to Matt Damon

I decided to start this blog for many reasons - mainly for my family and friends that live across the US. And I really enjoy writing, so blogging comes easy for me. Every now and then though, this blog is my "therapy" and I bravely let everyone in on how my crazy brain works.

So, back to the title - Matt Damon is to blame for a MAJOR hormonal moment I had last night. I've seen the previews for "Hereafter" a few times but never really "saw" them, you know? And I still have no idea what the main concept of the movie is - what Matt Damon's character is supposed to be doing - but I do know I'll NEVER see this movie. Last night while playing games on FB (my guilty pleasure), I looked up and saw a part of the preview where a mother and child is running from a massive wave of water. The look of fear and panic unnerved me. And it's obvious the wave wins the race. So, at that moment, nothing in my heart or head said anything. That would happen a few hours later.

I can't explain it....and if I could, I'd probably be rich - but later that night while I walked by the kids room and looked in on them, that imagine of the mother and daughter running from the tsunami wave rushed into my brain. And the tears started flowing. Not just little tears folks - I mean, real LARGE tears that make the snot run down your nose. Al's response "Mandy, those are just actors you know" - UGH. Just like a man.

Yes Al, I KNOW they are just actors. I KNOW the wave isn't really there about to crash down on them, that it's computer animated (or generated - whatever the word is) but I do KNOW that someone, somewhere during that time, actually went through that. Some mother run for her life with her child in tow. My heart was touched folks - thanks to Matt Damon.

Crazy thing though about this though.....during this whole, little, crying episode I was having - my brain was looking around saying "What the heck is going on? I thought we were going for a glass of water and now we're crying?" And my heart was saying "Shut up Brain, she's feeling something here. Let her cry, it'll be ok." Just for the record - my little episode only lasted a few minutes so please don't think I'm losing it.

And no, I'm not pregnant either. It was Matt Damon's fault for making that movie. I'm sure it's a wonderful movie - it definitely looks like it will be, but I'll probably never see it. My heart can't take it.

What's up Nick?

Today Nickelodeon supported and encouraged "World Wide Play Day" - which normally I would say is an absolute WONDERFUL thing. Problem is - isn't Nickelodeon and other channels like that part of the reason "we" felt there was a need to promote such a day?

I'll be the first to admit that I probably use the TV as an easy way out with my kids. Especially at 6am on a Saturday morning. Yes, Mommy likes to sleep a little later than that on the weekends so I'll pull the "ya'll go watch tv" card. Ok, and maybe I pull that card when I'm trying to help O with her homework and Cooper is running around the house at warp speed. I'm sure there's more examples but I'd like to think those are the only two. :)

Anyways, I just feel that although Nick was doing a great thing with this WW Day of Play gig, maybe they should promote playing outside - oh, I don't know - EVERYDAY. Three hours one day just isn't enough in the grand schemes of things. But I jumped on board today - I forced the kids outside in the heat (even though it's officially FALL) and made them play. The only way to keep them from coming in and out every two seconds was to actually go outside with them. *sigh* (That wasn't supposed to be part of the deal!!!!) It didn't last the whole three hours but I did get some outside play time of those two.

Fall

It's Fall! Today is the first day of Fall! Yay!!!!! *Now*, when is this heat going to go away????

It's been a busy few weeks here in the Griggs household. School is in full force and the kids are LOVING it - which makes Mommy and Daddy love it too! :) Olivia got her first interim report yesterday and so far.................................................she's making STRAIGHT A's!!!!!!! How frigging awesome is that?? I feel so much better about O and her teacher this year. And Cooper....wow, what can I say about Cooper? He's doing GREAT in school this year. And I swear that kid is growing way too fast. You should see his legs, I think they sprouted 5 inches!

Cooper - the DS addict. Sad thing is - he's pretty good at it.

Not sure where O gets her sense of style from.....but I have to admit, she's into fashion in a way I can't quite comprehend. Then again, fashion was never my thing. Maybe she gets that from her Daddy and Uncle Marty. :)

This picture always makes me smile....O with her Halloween wig on.

Now that Fall is upon us, I can't wait for festivals, Halloween, hot chocolate, and cooler weather! Hello Fall, Goodbye Summer!

8 is the magic number

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! Eight years have flown by. I can't wait to celebrate even more years with you. I love you!

Clemson/PC Game

My little Tigers finally got to go see the Big Tigers play! Al and I took the kids to their first Clemson game yesterday against PC. We won 58-21! Of course, it was PC. LOL We had a blast and the kids had the best time ever. They loved walking around the stadium, riding the bus to LittleJohn, getting face paint, eating frozen lemonades, and watching the Tigers run down The Hill! Here's some pictures from our day.

Cooper was so happy to have a football - we had gone to the Red Fox game the night before and he didn't get a football that the cheerleaders threw out. So, Daddy made up for it by buying him a Clemson football. :)

O and a BOY cheerleader! She thought he was cute. :)

Daddy and kids at Howard's Rock. Check out Daddy's smile - I think he was the most excited here folks!

C-L-E-M-S-OOOOOOOOO-N!!!!!

Cool Dude = Cooper T.

Oh, you didn't know my Cooper was the coolest little dude EVER? Well, now you do!

He's a basketball loving,

guitar playing,

burning the rubber bike rider,

major chocolatoholic-like-Mommy,

HIP HOP dancing,

COOL LITTLE DUDE!

Cooper started a boys hip/hop class tonight and he had so much fun! He has been beyond excited *all week long* - no joke there AT ALL. Today when I picked him and O up from THA, he jumped out of Nana's car and said "Come on Mommy, I don't want to be late!"

And Al and I can already tell a HUGE difference in Cooper concerning school. He's been able to recognize the letters A and B and can write them like a champ. This is a huge improvement from last school year folks! It's results like these that make Al and I feel like we definitely made the right choice. Ms. Chure and Ms. Eddy are two of my favorite people in the whole wide world right now!

Cheerleading

Watch out THA, the newest cheerleader is in town! Today was O's first cheering opportunity (not sure what word to use here). She seemed pretty excited about it and did GREAT. Trust me, I was worried but O, once again, proved Mommy wrong. Thanks Baby Girl! She was pretty stoked about getting her uniform today - although the cheerleaders have to re-use old uniforms. Needless to say, O got some of the "leftovers" but hey - we still think she's the cutest cheerleader EVER.

If only this skirt was shorter! Argh! But how pretty and adorable is she?

Happy

Labor Day!!!!

Ra-Ra

My little girl has decided she's going to be a cheerleader. CHEERLEADER. Isn't that crazy? I never pictured O as the cheerleader type - and honestly, this may be the *only* year she's a cheerleader - but I'm tickled pink that she's going to give it a try. She has her first practice on Friday afternoon after school so I can't wait to hear about how it goes. I'm almost jealous that Al has Fridays off and gets to be the one to take her to practice. :(

Watch out THA - Lil' Miss O is getting her cheer on!

Give me a T!

Give me a H!

Give me an A!

What's that spell?

THA!!

(ok, so I'm pretty excited that my girl is going to be a Ra-Ra!)

Five Years Old!!!!

Cooper Thomas Griggs is FIVE years old today!!!!

I can remember five years ago like it was yesterday - honestly sometimes it still feels like yesterday! Cooper's birthday wasn't supposed to be his birthday....he was actually due at the end of September. So, it was quite a struggle and a very scary time when Cooper came into this world. For the past four years, I still get that anxious feeling in my chest on this day. I am happy and excited beyond words - but there's always that part of me that remembers the "what if" that could have happened that day in 2005. Al and I are so blessed that God watched over us and Cooper during that time and granted us the privilege of being his parents!

Cooper woke up this morning and said "Mommy, I don't feel five years old - I still feel four." How flipping CUTE is that???

I love the person my little man is becoming - he's absolutely the best little boy in the world. He's so sweet, so funny, and so stinking CUTE. He melts hearts with those baby blues and makes friends with everyone with his funny personality. Cooper - you're awesome!

Happy Birthday Cooper! Mama, Daddy, and Sissy Grace love you to the moon and back.

Cooper's Birthday Party

Cooper celebrated his FIFTH birthday at the YMCA this year. We had a small turnout (which happens to poor Coop *every* year since his birthday falls so soon after school starts) but we had a blast! All the kids LOVED, LOVED, LOVED swimming in the pool and even some of the adults joined them! I kind of wish I had wore my bathing suit too! :)

Josie chilling in the pool. Isn't she just the prettiest little thing?

4 out of 5 of the Griggs kids!

O and Loren - these two fight like sisters!

My sweet, sweet, sweet birthday boy! It's so hard to believe he's 5 tomorrow!

Six days left

I only have six full days left with my four year old Little Man. Then he'll be FIVE.

FIVE.

Whoah.

I am slowly realizing that I am no longer the mom of "young children" but the mom of "young kids." It's kind of cool, exciting, and sad all at the same time. :) He's growing way too, too fast. Cooper is such a great kid - absolutely exhausting at times, but still great. Cooper constantly reminds me that life shouldn't always be taken seriously. He's my little clown, my little joker - and I love it. He thrives on making others happy - a trait I think he gets from Mommy. :) His laugh makes my heart explode.

But still - FIVE????

First Day of School 2010-2011

Today was the first day of school! I can't tell you how happy I am that school is back in and the kids are back into a routine. Not looking forward to homework and all, but hey - I can't have it all I suppose. :) The kids had an awesome first day. Mrs. Eddy said Cooper had a great first day and she could already tell a difference in our little man. You have no idea how happy I was to hear that! O said she had a great first day too - she's pretty excited that there's one new girl in her class. THA is such a small school, that when you get a new student, it almost feels like Christmas.

Ms. OGG - my beautiful 2nd grader!

Getting ready for school with silly faces!

My super cool 4k-er!


Hurts my heart to see them grow so fast! But aren't they the most precious, beautiful, handsome little kids you've ever seen? I believe so too. :)



Here's to hoping we have an awesome year at THA!!!!

A new start

It's that time again folks! School is starting back! Yay!!!!! Public school starts tomorrow around here but the kids don't start THA until Thursday. We have spent all weekend getting everything we need for the school year. Our biggest battle this year - shoe shopping!

O has a pretty decent fashion sense - although she's still hit and miss sometimes. At 7, she still thinks that the more colors, the better. That's not always the case though you know? She picked up some UGLY Sketchers and I *refused* to buy them for her. Now my girl, if she wants it, she's dead set on it. However, Mommy is the same way. I was dead set that I was NOT buying those shoes. Thanks to our new "rules", I pretty much got my way. Of course, I still let her choose which pair of shoes she wanted, but I picked out which three pairs she can choose from. :)

The Boy wasn't much easier when it came to shoe shopping either. He picked up some really ugly Sketcher shoes too (what's up with this brand anyways?) and again, I had to put my foot down. For the record, they both came out of the store with some really nice Nike tennis shoes. They will thank me one day for keeping them in check, I just know it. :)

Now for registration, dentist appointments, hair cuts, and the meet and greet and we're ready for school to start!

Being Sherriff is a Hard Job

We've got some new "family" rules in the Griggs house. Al and I discussed how the kids will be disciplined from here on out because - quite honestly, the old way just wasn't working. I know time out and talking works for a lot of people, but it was going no where with us. Now, before anyone jumps to judging me because I believe in spanking - Al and I don't jump right off and spank our kids. If they misbehave, we correct them and give them a warning. We make sure they understand why they are in trouble and what they need to do to stay OUT of trouble. If they continue to misbehave, then yes, they do get a spanking.

My kids are good kids - and 9 out of 10 times the warning has done the trick. Honestly, kids need a little fear of their parents. I had it - to some degree, I still do! I'm not here to be my kids BFF, I'm here to be their mom. Al and I are in charge of molding these kids into adults, so yes, we've upped the anty (is that a word) on disciplining the kids.

This is the part of parenting that I hate. I absolutely hate being the "Bad Cop" but I know it's part of my job. At least I have an awesome Daddy that helps out. And since the new rules have been laid out - the kids behavior has improved A LOT. They are like two different kids. We are laughing, getting along much better, enjoying each other's company - just being happy. Our course they are still kids and still fuss and fight, but not nearly as much as before.

Sometimes you have to lay down the law. It ain't easy baby, but it's worth it!

Charleston

I want to go back - without the kids! Soon!

Happy Birthday Tommi Lynn!

Happy 33rd birthday to my "oldest" friend Tommi Lynn! By oldest, I don't mean age wise!

I look at this picture of me, TL, and Marty and it makes my heart heavy with memories! TL and I had ssssooo much fun together growing up. We lived next door to each other until she moved away when she was like 12. Or was it 13? I can't remember, but that's not really important (or is it because I wish she was STILL my next door neighbor!). I just know that when she moved, my heart broke! I wish my kids had friends like this in our little neighborhood. But they don't. :( I do hope that they both make a friend (or a few friends like in my case) that they keep for their whole lives. Tommi Lynn may have moved away, but she has always been one of my most dependable friends. Thank you TL for being a great pal and for all the wonderful memories! I love you dear friend and can't wait to celebrate the next 33 birthdays with you (and many more after that!).

I'm having a Ya-Ya Sisterhood moment tonight! :)

August

You turn your head and before you know it, there's August knocking on your door. In two short weeks (jumping up and down), the kids will be going back to school. Summer will be over. Sad for them, but Mommy is really looking forward to getting back into our routine!

This has been the best summer ever - I'm not sure if it's because the kids are at the YMCA and doing some really fun stuff or what. It's just been a really laid back, fun summer. Some days after camp, Al and I take the kids back up to the pool to swim - that has been a BLAST. I think I have enjoyed the pool as much as the kids. :) We've been to the beach for the week, been hiking, taking a trip to Charleston this weekend, spent Saturdays at the zoo, gone for ice cream at the Peach Farm - you name it, we've probably done it. I hope the kids have had as much fun as I have.

Not much else is going on - Cooper's birthday is approaching quickly! It still amazes me that he will be 5 at the end of the month. My little man is growing up faster than I like. His new thing is break dancing - or attempting to "break dance". Check out my FB page and you will see some videos of him. Olivia is still on a mission to become famous and practicing her "singing" every day. Only my kids. :)