Atlanta Trip for Work

I'm back from my work trip to Atlanta. I have to admit, I had a GREAT time while I was there even though I missed my two little monsters and Al! We stayed in the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. This was the nicest, fanciest hotel I have EVER stayed in! I felt so out of place when we first walked in, but I have to say, every single person that worked there was super nice and always helped me out. After work on Thursday, Pam and I met up with my brother and Randy and went out to dinner with them - I will post pics of that on my next post. Then on Friday, we pretty much worked an eight hour day so we opted to meet up with my friend Jz at the hotel bar - I'll post those pics in another post too. But on Saturday morning, our boss let us off right after breakfast so we headed over to Centennial Park and walked around and then went to the World of Coca-Cola and took the tour. OMG, it was ssssoo much fun! We watched a really cool 4-D show and then went to the tasting room and tried out all the different flavored drinks from around the world. I definitely want to take the kids back there! They would have a ball and it was very inexpensive.....we were literally across the street from the Coke building, the aquarium, the kids museum, and a bunch of other stuff. So, we did a lot of walking on Saturday! After the Coke tour, we went and had lunch at the food court of the CNN center and decided to take the tour of the CNN center. It was ok.....not boring, but not really what I had expected either. But, for $12, I learned a lot about how the news works! LOL Anyways, here's some pictures......

History lesson here folks - this is the world's tallest escalator.....I can't remember how tall it is, but trust me, you don't want to look down! This is where you started the CNN Center tour.

There were CNN flags and huge billboards all over the place and the hotel. I was really hoping I would get a glimpse of Anderson Cooper. I did see Fredrika though!

The Olympic Rings at Centennial Park. They shoot up water and have some really cool water shows.

This is an over-view shot of the Park. The round hotel in the background is the Weston....you can see all the damage from the tornado that hit downtown. A lot of the windows were blown out! Even our hotel had a ton of broken windows in it. The Weston's windows are curved and the company that originally made them are out of business now so they are in quite a pickle! I've stayed at the Weston before too for NAFED, and on the tip top is a revolving restaurant.....very cool!

This was my room. I was the ONLY person that got double beds.....every one else got nice big King size beds.....not that I'm jealous or anything....I'm just saying....

More pictures to come!

Anxiety!!!

I leave for my work trip tomorrow and let me tell you, I am having major anxiety issues already! I miss my family ALREADY (crazy I know) but I'm also nervous about going to Atlanta on the anniversary of 9/11. Not that I think anything will happen, because I know (and pray) that nothing will but that is in the the back of my head. I mean, Atlanta is one of the major cities in the US! So anyways, I'm a worrier - I just need to chill. I know this, you don't have to tell me!

Did I mention that it should be a super fun trip though?

Mixed feelings....

I'm leaving for a work trip on Thursday and won't be home until late Saturday. Am I being silly that I have such mixed feelings about leaving my kids? A part of me *can't wait* but then the other part of me already misses them! I'm crazy, I know. I know it's nice to get away every now and then, but honestly, I love being around my kids - even when they are driving me absolutely nuts. They are my two most favorite people in the world. And I know Al is fully capable of taking wonderful care of them, so I have no worries there - it's just that I haven't been away from either one of them for this long of a period. Well, unless you count the week that Cooper and I were in the hospital and Olivia stayed with my parents and in laws, but that doesn't really count! Ha ha! So, I have no idea how I will handle leaving Thursday morning - Olivia keeps telling me "I'm going to miss you ssssooo much Mommy" and I seriously tear up every time. *sigh* On the plus side, I will get to visit with my brother and my friend Jz while I am down there so I am really looking forward to that! I miss seeing my brother and I haven't seen Jz since high school. It should be a really fun trip.

Who wouldn't miss these little angels??

Hints

Does anyone have any suggestions for helping Olivia recognize her "popcorn" words every week? She's having a heck of time with the words "here" and "and." Each week, she has a list of words they are supposed to learn (to read I'm assume) and we've been going over her list this week. But each time we get to the word "here", she gets hung up. I made flash cards last night and we did those in the car before school started today. I'm hoping the flash cards will help. I feel like Olivia is just memorizing the words during class, but not really learning how to read them, you know what I mean?

And Cooper actually had a good day at school today! Yippie! There might be hope for him yet. =)

Is it September already?

I can't believe it's already September! Where is this year going? I swear August flew by so fast! So, Olivia started dance last night - she's only taking tap this year because we found out last year that Olivia Grace DOES NOT enjoy ballet. I really hate it too because I thought she was super cute in her little tutu. Oh well.....at least she's really happy in tap. She was a little nervous because she's in a totally new class this year but one of her friends from school is in the class with her so she fell right in it.

Cooper had his 3 year check up today. He's in the 30% in height and weight - he's still a runt! But Dr. T doesn't seem to be worried considering that Cooper was early and steady growing. He does have to go see an eye doctor because his left eye is turning inward. It's nothing serious *now* which is why we need to get it looked at and all at this point. I'm sure it'll be nothing more than a patch over his right eye for awhile to strengthen the left. We'll see though....I'm not worrying about it until given a reason. Other than that, he had a great check up and is a very healthy and wild little boy!

So, that's the Griggs family update for now! I hope to post a few more pictures from Coop's party tonight or tomorrow. Check back later! =)

Birthdays!!!!

The end of August is full of birthdays for our family! Al turned the big 3-4 on August 28th and Cooper and Nana celebrated a birthday on August 30th. Happy Birthday!!!!!

Here's some pictures from Cooper's party yesterday. We had it at the Playzone in town and the kids had a ball. I still can't believe my little guy is now a THREE year old!!!!

Cooper is all into Spider man now so I ordered him a Spidey cake. I normally make the kids cakes but the Spiderman cake pan looked too hard for my liking. So, opted out this year. =) Plus, this one came with a free toy!

The birthday boy! =) Apparently the cake was reaalllllyyy good!

We got him a 12" bike for his big day. He loves to ride Olivia's even though it's too big so we got one his size. He's had a ball on it!

Olivia trying out Coop's gift.

Just some stuff.....

The kids have been in school for about two weeks now and they both LOVE it. I keep getting cute ideas of how to do Olivia's hair so this morning I *bribed* her into letting me braid her pig-tails. I think they turned out quite cute! I'm so bad at doing hair (look at my own!!!) and just not GOOD at that stuff so I'm trying really hard to get better so that Olivia can live up to her "girlie girl" fullness! =)

Here's Heidi....I mean Olivia! =)

Ok, I added this because this was Cooper's breakfast on Saturday. He wanted grits - check. I thought he was done eating those when he asked for a pop tart. Ok, pop tart - check. As I walked by his bowl, this is what I found....and he was EATING it. Yuck! Even when I was pregnant with him and getting weird cravings, I *never* wanted grits with pop tarts! He's a strange kid!!!!

Check it out!

Please check out the "Cake Wrecks" blog on the right. It is so frigging hilarious and I'm sssooo glad I found it! =)

Last night....

was not one of my best Mommy Moments! Since the kids are in school now, I'm making more of an effort to read them a couple of books every night before bed. Cooper and Olivia ADORE this....so how can I go wrong?

Well, for starters, I guess I should be more careful with the books I choose to read to them! I picked out "There are Monsters Everywhere" because Olivia loves that book, so I just knew Cooper would too. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. He sat there looking at the book the whole time with this confused, almost terrified look on his face. My gut said "Ok, maybe you should stop and get another book" - but since when do *I* listen to my gut? I kept reading and put the kids to bed afterwards. I seriously thought he was fine until he woke up twice last night and ended up in my bed. I think his little body was attached to mine all night long. Now, I'm not 100% it was the story that scared him, but I have a feeling it probably didn't help any!

*sigh* I will just blame it on Al.....way to go Al!!!! =) Anyways, sorry it's been almost a week since my last post. It's been busy and it's been hard work getting the kids used to their routine again. I signed Olivia up for tap lessons again this year yesterday so I'm excited for those to start up. I think I will get out the Pooh Bear books tonight! =)

First Day for BOTH kids!

Today is Olivia *AND* Cooper's first day of school!!!! Olivia is in 5K and Cooper is in 3K. They were sssooo excited about going to school this morning - it made it so much easier to drop them off. Cooper was a little scared when Ms. Jenny and Mrs. Susan got him out the car, but he went right in after Olivia (who I had to FORCE to give me a goodbye kiss this morning!). I can't wait to pick them up this afternoon and see how their first day was! Oh, and I managed NOT to cry but I really, really, really wanted too. I thought Al would pick on me so I sucked it up. =)

On the way - Cooper LOVES his Spiderman lunchbox and kept saying "I can't wait to eat out my lunchbox!" - it was so cute!

Olivia LOVES her Disney Princess book bag with matching lunch box.....she thinks she's styling....


Ha ha - Cooper was saying "cheese" and closed his eyes - stinker! He's so grown....I can't believe he's almost 3 and in pre-school. I told you he loves that lunch box!

My babies! =)

My little Mini-Me....she's so pretty and prissy.....

Al's Mini-Me! Ha ha - everyone tells us that we got one each!

So, the suspense is killing me and I can't wait until 2:30 to pick them up! I have no worries really about Olivia, but I am still a little nervous about Coop. I think that since his classroom and they stuff they will be doing will resemble his daycare routine enough that he will be comfortable. No phone calls yet so that's a good sign right? More news later!

Meet and Greet

Tomorrow is the big day! The first day of school for BOTH my kids! Al and I took them to Meet and Greet and they got to meet their new teachers. I was really worried about Cooper - he doesn't handle change as well as Olivia but after seeing his classroom and meeting his teachers, he's SSSSOOOO excited and has been crying to go to school! Olivia was so happy to go back and see Mrs. Chure and Ms. Jenny! She's got a new teacher this year - Mrs. Mandy and she's tickled to death that her teacher's name is MY name too. Silly girl!

He looks so grown up in the picture to me! Only 2 more weeks until his birthday!

Olivia in her "America" dress. She picked out the non-matching head band herself!

I'm not sure who's more nervous about school tomorrow - me or the kids......

I love....

Ebay! I love, love, love Ebay!!!! Olivia has been having a fit for this "Groovy Girls" mermaid doll and I finally found it online and WON it! Yay!!!!! Seriously, Olivia has told me *every, single day* that she wants this doll from Santa so I'm so excited that I actually found it.

My kids start school in 3 days!!!!!

Sidewalk Chalk

I got this idea from Emily's blog - so thanks for the idea Emily! I've had some sidewalk chalk in the junk drawer in the kitchen FOREVER, so I finally decided to let the kids take it and play. They had a blast! We did this a few days ago and Olivia AND Cooper have asked *every* *single* *day* if they can go outside and do sidewalk chalk again. I think Santa has a good idea what to put in those stockings this year! =)

Cooper "scribbling" - love that farmer tan. =)

I love this pic - I think because his feet and hand are in it! *clearing throat* I actually wrote his name though. Ha ha!

Olivia doing what Olivia does best - bossing her little brother around!

This is hard to see but Olivia wrote her name in pink sidewalk chalk. I love her "messy" handwriting, it's so sweet!

Cooper says........

Cooper doesn't say his name is Cooper - rather his name is "Big Boy" - how cute! But seriously....I need to teach him to say his name....he just WON'T do it!

Kids Chips and Kids Sauce

We had a really fun day out today and guess what? The batteries to my camera died the SECOND I turned it on and I missed out and several really nice photo opportunities. Total Bummer.

We started our day out with lunch at the only Mexican restaurant in town. Olivia and Cooper LOVE the "kids chips and kids sauce" - which is simply chips and mild sauce. Seriously, that's all they ate. I ordered them some rice and beans because they claimed they wanted that too, but didn't touch them at all. *sigh* Then we headed up to McBee and went to the peach farm. OMG, there were TONS of people there! I don't remember the peach farm being that busy last time we were there. We ordered ice cream and got some yummy boiled peanuts. I even talked the kids into going through the little museum there with all the old cars in it. Cooper enjoyed it because they also had several John Deere tractors but Olivia wasn't really impressed. Oh well. I did get out into the crowds for tax free weekend but didn't find anything I couldn't live without. I do have a few things I need to get the kids before school starts so I need to get busy on that. Speaking of which - can you believe that school is starting on the 14th! YIKES!!!!

Ok, I'm off to buy batteries for my camera.....I can't keep missing photo opportunities!!!

Summer time fun

We had a very busy Saturday afternoon. First we had the playgroup get together which Shandy hosted at her house and ROCKED IT OUT with a homemade slip and slide and blow up water slide. Then we headed over to celebrate Landon's first birthday. Remember that Olivia was sick on Friday? Well, I thought she was all better so we went out and needless to say.....we weren't home long Saturday afternoon before Olivia was sick again...ugh! I guess we just tried to do too much too soon. Oh well, Baby Girl is all better now. =) So is Mommy thank goodness.

I love this picture of Livvie.....she is growing into that "little girl" look so fast!

In case you can't tell from this picture - Cooper really enjoys sprinklers. =)

Oh yeah....this is his attitude to the tee. Notice the big vein on the side of his neck......

He was scared of the inground pool at Landon's party so he settled for the "baby" pool. Number of "babies" in the baby pool = one.....Cooper! LOL

Olivia - Landon's party was a carnival theme. It was very fun and probaby the reason Olivia got sick again Saturday afternoon! Rachel and Todd had popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs, cake, and roasted peanuts - all carnival treats of course! And if you know Olivia, she has to eat or nibble on *everything* so all this good sugary food didn't help any! But it was fun....and we just had to help Landon celebrate his big day! =)

It's been a bad few days

Sorry for not posting since Saturday! Olivia had a stomach bug over the weekend and I guess I caught it from her. I didn't feel well on Monday but went to work anyways (when am I going to start listening to my gut??) and ended up leaving early. Man, am I glad I did because I was so sick the rest of the day Monday and into early Tuesday morning. I have not felt that bad in a really long time! Thankfully I feel much better today and am back at work. Olivia is over it too but now my poor dad has the bug. Please pray that Cooper and Al steer clear of this mess. I don't think I can take another sick child right now! =)

I have some cute pictures of the kids that I will try to post tonight or tomorrow!

Post for Amy

I thought I would post these pictures for Amy of Louis. He's getting so big and is the sweetest little guy ever! Al and I have the best nephew in the world and we love him to pieces!

I love those chubby little thighs!

Red Kool Aide is the Devil!

Olivia is sick. Actually, she was sick last night, threw up a few times but I thought she was better this morning. My gut told me to keep her home, but it's Friday and I thought she would be ok at daycare since she said she felt ok. Well, she kept begging me for something to drink this morning. Against my better judgement, I gave her a small amount of cherry kool aide (honestly, it wasn't but a few sips worth) and the moment she drank it, I got a really bad feeling that I had made a HUGE mistake.

So, off to daycare we went - I actually got out the house on time considering I had to give Olivia a bath this morning....and was a few blocks from daycare when that red Kool Aide came back to haunt me. Yeap, Olivia threw up those few sips of cherry Kool Aide. It's the devil - plain and simple. So, I pull over....help my crying daughter clean herself up.....call the daycare, call work, and call Al to tell him that I should have listened to my gut. When am I going to learn to listen to my gut!!!!

Please pray that red Kool Aide comes out.....I've only had my new car for 2 1/2 months!!!!

Swim Lessons

Olivia started swim lessons on Monday. She loves it! Olivia loves the water and has been asking Al and I for awhile if she could learn to swim so we signed her up at the Y and she goes for the next two weeks.

She was a little timid (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?) at first but warmed up after a few minutes.

Olivia learning to "doggy" paddle and keep her head above the water.

I don't know what her instructor's name is but Olivia calls her "Coach" - how funny is that?

Olivia's favorite part is where they get to jump into the pool. =)