December now???

It's already the first week of December.  I won't be winning any blog awards this year.  2012 is going to be the year of the blog for me - just wait!

Christmas shopping is almost done - woot!  I have a new app on my iPad that lets me play around with borders, etc so I created the one I have here.  If it weren't for the stupid "tag" on the right, it would be absolutely awesome right? 

We are trying the "elf" thing and it's just not working.  The kids treat their elves like toys and play with them constantly.  I've given up.  Both their classes have a "classroom elf" who is following the rules, so I wave my white flag.  :)  It never ceases to amaze me how different the rugrats act at school compared to home.  I know there is no way I was like that.  *smile*

We are also gearing up for Upward Basketball - Cooper is super excited about it.  For such a small little guy, he loves basketball.  Although now that he's discovered wrestling, that may change soon.  He's got speed and accuracy when he shoots so he's actually pretty good.  We found out last week that he has Coach Lon AGAIN - which tickled Cooper.  Poor Coach Lon has been his basketball coach two years already and one year as his soccer coach.  I can't figure out if he just likes Cooper that much or if he has really bad luck.  O is wishy-washy on basketball.  Some days she loves it, some days she'd rather die than play.  So, here's hoping to a "I love it" day when she has her first practice.  :)

Writing our letters to Santa tonight - stay posted for pics!

Getting in the Holiday Spirit

Our Christmas Tree 2011

Obligatory "Kids in front of tree" picture. 

You need Rudolph to make it feel Christmas-y folks!

Catching Up

I am MRSA free!  I think....at least I'm done with 20 days of antibiotics so I *should* be MRSA free.  My wound is healed as well and all is right in my world.  For now.

My birthday was great - very low key and that's fine with me.  The kids still think I'm only 31 or so and I don't correct them.  :)  What's the harm in letting them think their Mom is young(er) and cool right? 

Martin and Randy came down for Thanksgiving and the kids were ecstatic!  They absolutely LOVE it when they come down and want to spend every last second with them.  I know it probably annoys them to death, but they only see them a few times a year.  Thanks to iPods and iPads though, we've been able to stay in touch a whole lot easier and the kids get to Face Time with them.  It's probably one of the coolest inventions ever.  Steve Jobs was a genius.  

We put up Christmas decorations Saturday as well - I'll post some pictures of the tree and all in another post.  I'm almost done with all the Christmas shopping and that makes me very, very happy.  I'm in the Christmas spirit more than ever before.  :) 

MRSA

It's two days until my birthday and I find out I have MRSA.  That's just not right folks, not right.

So, apparently it takes Urgent Care ten full days to call you and let you know the results of a culture they took.  UGH.  And I had just finished my last dose of a ten day antibiotic and now I have to start ANOTHER one.

I feel so bad for Al and the kids - I haven't felt good at all and now it looks like I'll continue to feel cruddy for another 2 weeks.  My system is all of whack and I'm just *tired.*  Al is such a good guy and has just went in with guns blazing and got things done.  I'm lucky.  The kids must be scared I'm near death or something because they've even been a little more behaved. 

Just a little.  :)  

I miss running.  Every time I open the garage door, I honestly feel guilty that I have barely touched my treadmill.  The abscess is almost healed so I hope to be back on it soon.  I think my energy would perk up if I could work out.  We'll see.  I definitely don't want to push it but it's hard to just sit and do nothing. 

Anyways, it's time to take a pill.  Again.  :/

4 days

Just so all my loyal blog readers know - I turn 21 plus 13 years experience in FOUR days.  :)

Wrestling in November

I can't believe it's already November.  Wow.  This year is flying by at a super fast speed.  Before you know it, Christmas will be here! 

Cooper and Olivia are both addicted to wrestling.  I guess they got it honest since Al and I both have been fans of the it at some point in our lives.  Cooper is the worst though and is sssooo into it.  He cracks me up with his impersonations of different wrestlers (He does a really cute "WHHHOOOO" as Rick Flair).  His new found love has helped out Santa A LOT.

I tried showing the kids some videos of the Rock N Roll Express from back in the day when I loved wrestling.  I even went to a match here in Florence and got their autographs!  The kids weren't interested though.  Apparently it wasn't "showy" enough.  Excuse me......back in the day, all the wrestlers needed was  a ring, not all this other stuff.  

Oh, and Cooper keeps telling people that Randy Orton is my boyfriend.  Yeah, I wish!  :) 

Halloween 2011

What does a Rock Star and a Werewolf have in common?

They're brother and sister!  Ha ha!

This year for Halloween O decided to go as a Rock Star/Draculaura and Cooper is a "really mean" werewolf.  Aren't they the cutest though?  They love Halloween......but I really can't wait for all the good candy.  :)  

His Turn I suppose?

So apparently Cooper was NOT to be outdone by his big sister and hurt his eye yesterday at school.  Poor thing looked HORRIBLE when Al and I got him to urgent care Wednesday night.  His eye was red, swollen and causing my poor boy a lot of pain.  Luckily, it's just a small cut on his eye and after wearing a patch overnight, his eye felt ok and looked SO MUCH better.  He must have gotten sand or dirt or something in it and scratched it.  THA went on a field trip yesterday so of course he totally played it off because he didn't want to miss out. 

He's not much on being a pirate but he did pose long enough for me to snap this picture of him when we got home.  I'd like to say he was a good sport at the doctor's office but I would be lying.  He's male so he was a *huge* baby.  I don't mean that in a mean way of course, but we all know how men are.  Ha ha!  Cooper definitely proved he's no exception to this rule.  :)  He cried every time the nurse or doctor looked at him wrong. 

I just hope this is our last trip to the ER or urgent care for awhile.  I'm not sure how much more my heart can take.  (I regret not getting a picture of them together.  How funny would it be years down the road to see Cooper with one eye and O with one arm? Ha ha!)

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

As you can see from the picture, OGG picked out the BIGGEST pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.  Well, I don't know that for a *fact* but I mean, really - can there be a larger pumpkin out there? 

O is so damn proud of that pumpkin too.  She seriously hugs the thing every morning as we walk out the door.  The first day, it was cute.  Now it's getting annoying as heck.  :)  There's no way I'm craving that pumpkin, so we'll be looking for some stencil and paint kits to do something with it.  I think she wants a tiger paw on it - we'll see.  I doubt anyone would steal it.  Unless they have a wheelbarrow handy.  Ha ha!  Thank goodness Cooper picked out a normal sized pumpkin.  Although my mom said it took him forever because he was looking for the "perfect" one. 

Is it me or does this picture make anyone else giggle?  I mean, you can barely get up my front steps! 

It happened to O, Not Cooper

O in the ER  :( 

I thought Cooper would be the child of mine that would have the first broken bone.  But, in typical Olivia fashion, she was not to be outdone and broke a bone FIRST.

Yeap - O has a broken wrist.  Al took the kids to the park on Saturday when she fell off the monkey bars and landed on her arm.  We were more concerned with her shoulder at first because her upper arm looked swollen and she couldn't lift it. I was NOT expecting a broken bone. 

We go tomorrow to find out if she will need a cast.  I hope she does - simply because the 48 hours she's had her "temporary" cast on, it's been hectic.  She won't leave it alone and constantly moves it - so I think a cast would help to keep her arm still and in one spot.  We'll see though.  I'm not the doctor and we'll have to do whatever he suggests.  O wants a pink cast (who would have thought???) so she's a little excited about this. 

Monkey bars are the devil.  

RIP Bluey

Cooper got a Beta fish for his birthday.  He named him Bluey and he and Olivia fell in love.  They never forgot about that fish - and never missed a day of feeding him.

Bluey lasted a good 6 weeks.  Then he bit the bucket.

I came home today to find this sign on the toilet.  I laughed.  O got mad that I laughed so I had to apologize.  THEN Al tells me that they insisted visitation be held and the neighbor came over and hummed Taps as Al flushed.  I mean, how does she expect me NOT to laugh when I hear that?  I really hate that I missed these moment.  Funniest family moment EVER. 

(And I'm debating on getting them another Beta Fish since I laughed.  So don't say I'm completely heartless because you'd be a liar.)

More Pictures

We had some more family pictures made on Sunday by my friend Leslie Wilkes.  She's awesome ya'll!  I can't thank her enough for the great pictures she took.  All for nothing because she's super cool like that.  I owe you a BIG one Leslie!

Our Family 2011

My girl and her freckles.  Love them!

My sweet, sweet boy!

I have a TON more shots that are just as good so check out my FB page to see more. I keep getting compliments on how I'm looking these days and I have to admit, I am really enjoying it!  I hope that after New Years, I can take some more pictures and be even thinner!  :) 



Beat It!

Have you ever wanted to see someone overcome an obstacle so bad that you can feel it in your bones?  Even if you don't really know the person that well?

That's where I am. 

http://www.babypennington.com/

I don't know Kerri or Mel very well - I've seen them all over Hartsville of course, even spoke to Kerri on the phone a few times thanks to Olivia's trips to the office at THA.  But I want to see her beat cancer.  

Check out her blog.  It'll make you laugh.  It'll make you cry.  It'll make you go hug your kids.  Her honesty is brutual.  You will instantly become a cheerleader too. 

New Pictures 2011

We took some family pictures today.  I think they turned out pretty good!  Tell me what you think.



Olivia and Cooper 2011



Cooper Thomas - age 6

Griggs Family 2011

My two hearts

Olivia Grace - age 8

Zombies

Livvie is scared of zombies.  We've fought this battle with her for almost a year now.  And she is NOT wavering in her belief that zombies due in fact exist.

I'm not sure what has her convinced - she saw "Thriller" on tv one day and ever since then she has 100% believed in zombies.  I've explained, Al has talked to her, even my Mom has tried to convince this child that the zombies in that video were actors.  She's not buying it.  I don't know what I'll do if she ever sees "The Walking Dead" on TV.  Ha ha!

Cooper went to a sleepover tonight so Al and I took O to dinner.  She and I had this conversation:

O:  You know there are zombies.

Me:  No there isn't.

O:  They eat you or they eat your brains.  That's how you turn into a zombie too.

Me:  Actually, they bit you and then you turn into a zombie.  IF zombies exist, which they most certainly do not.

O:  They're going to get you.

Me:  *blank stare*

Sometimes I think Olivia says these things to make me worry about sleeping at night.  

Getting my blogging groove back

I know 2011 has been a bad year for me and the blog.  I really didn't mean for it to be, honest. 

I came home from running last night to find Olivia walking (or attempting to walk) around the house dragging her right foot.  Apparently she fell at school that morning and spent the whole day trying to walk on it and just making it worse.  So, today as we sat in the doctor's office waiting on x-ray results to make sure it wasn't broke, I thought "Dear Lord, I HAVE to blog this!"  I'm not sure if that makes me really, really sad or if it means I'm finally getting my blog groove back.

I'm going with blog groove baby. 

O got feathers.  Pretty cute I think!

Livvie Grace is such an old soul.  And so grown.  But it's days like today when I'm reminded that she's still a kid.  Still needs me.  And I love it.  O loves Dr. Bonnie so when we saw her, it wouldn't have mattered if I were in the room or not.  But as soon as we headed to x-ray, well, that's when my girl actually turned into a little girl.  She got shy.  Scared.  I caught her looking for me a few times as my friend Lyn took x-rays of her foot.  I felt needed - I was reminded that no matter how independent Olivia is, there will always be times when she simply needs her mommy. 

I wish she would smile.  Just once.

Oh, about Livvie's foot?  It's not broken!  Yay!!!   And wasn't Cooper supposed to be the kid I take to the doctor about a possible broken bone?  I can't believe Olivia beat him to the punch. 

Nine Years Legal baby!

Me and my Love



Happy Anniversary to me and Alton!!!!  NINE wonderful years babe - who would have thought?

It honestly feels like it's been much longer than nine years.....and I don't mean that in a bad way at all.  I just mean that these past nine years have been everything I expected they would be.  There's not a day that goes by that I'm not reminded somehow by Al that I definitely made the right choice.  He's not perfect.  Neither am I.  But he's the perfect partner for me. 

Why does he loves me?  I have no idea.  And that's one of the biggest reason I love HIM.  He sees my flaws on a daily basis and still loves me.  He's the better of the two of us and probably always will be.  I hope we share many, many, many more anniversaries together. 

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays

Cooper turned SIX years old yesterday!  It's so hard to believe that my Lil' Man is already six years old.  He's such a great kid - Al and I are so blessed to have him.  I say it all the time and I'll say until I die.....I have no idea what I did RIGHT for God to bless me with my two kids.  I thank Him daily.

Top Six things I love about Cooper:

1. Those baby blue eyes.  I still haven't figured out WHERE he got them from, but they absolutely melt my heart. 

2.  He's funny.  Cooper is completely and totally DIFFERENT than his older sister.  O has been a grown up stuck in a kid's body since the day she was born - Cooper is "my kid kid" so to speak.  I love the fact that he's so honestly a little boy and he cracks me up all the time.  His sense of humor is spot on and he loves to make people laugh. 

3.  That cow lick that has caused me grief since he came into existence six years ago.  I'd love to say it's one of a kind but his Daddy has the same cow lick.  But for some reason Cooper's hair spikes it up and he just looks naturally cool. 

4.  His laughter.  It's like music to my ears. 

5.  He still believes that Al and I are super heroes.  I actually hope this one never changes. 

6.  The fact that he's MINE.  I'll probably never love another man as much as I love him.  (Sorry Al - you are a super close second!)

Happy Birthday Cooper Thomas Griggs!  Your Daddy and I can't wait to see how much you grow in the coming year. 

(And Happy Belated Birthday to Al!  Poor thing misses out on a birthday every year since it's only two days before Coop's!  And Happy Birthday Nana, who completely lost her birthday since Cooper stole it six years ago!  Love you both very, very much!)

First Day of School

Cooper doesn't look ready......O does!

3rd grade already??

My lil' man picked out his own outfit for his first day!

Who's ready for school??

First day of school!  Woo Hoo!!!!  Al and I are the parents of a super smart 3rd grader and super handsome 5ker!  I sssooo can't believe how fast our babies are growing up - wasn't O just in 4k like LAST year? 

They both had really good first days and I'm so thankful for that.  Cooper seems to be really stoked about school and eager to learn all he can.  I love it!  I hope that enthusiasm lasts.  Livvie has a new teacher this year but after meeting her, I think she'll do great.  As long as Livvie can suck up and show off how smart she is, there should be no problems.  Ha ha!  

Here's hoping to a wonderful school year! 

New do for school!

Olivia has a new hair do to celebrate a new school year!  How awesome does my girl look?  She actually picked out the cut herself.....and I have to admit, I was nervous at first because it's ssssoooo short.  But it looks great on her and she thinks she is FABULOUS now.  Ha ha!

School starts on Thursday and I'm ready!  I can't say the same for the kids, but Mommy and Daddy are ready.  We do the whole "Meet and Greet" thing on Wednesday.  I know Cooper's teacher already and I think he'll do fine.  Livvie has a new teacher this year so hopefully she will hit it off with her.  It's hard to believe that O will be in 3rd grade and Cooper will be in 5k.  Wow.  Where did the time go??

In other news - my Mom had back surgery for the third time almost 2 months ago.  It's been a slow recovery but I think she's getting there.  She's not 100% yet, but hopefully she's on the right path.  It's been a hard road for her and very hard for me at times.  My mom is a super strong woman and to see her in constant pain for so long has been hard.  But it's made me want to run more and accomplish things I didn't think I could simply for her.   I have to give a big thank you for my inlaws who have kept the kids for the last 2 months.  Thanks Joyce and Alton!  Al and I are very lucky to have parents that are willing to help us out.  This summer would have been tough otherwise!