Report cards

I know I've been slack in posting this month, but there really hasn't been anything interesting to post about! The kids did get their report cards the other day. They are both doing really well in school! Olivia is just thriving in 5k - I swear that little girl is a sponge and just absorbs everything. She had checks and check pluses on everything. It's amazing to see her write complete sentences and read simple sentences. Al and are I very proud of her! Cooper got a good report card for 3K as well. School is a little more work for him, but I expected that. He's learning TONS but still needs to work on a few things like colors and shapes. I'm proud of my little man and very happy that he's come out of his shell and really getting into the grove of things. School was a big adjustment for Coop so I'm really anxious to see how the rest of the school year goes - I really think he knows more than he's letting on to his poor teachers! Anyways, it's terribly cold outside so everyone stay warm!

Snow Day 2009!

So the weather people were right - we got SNOW!!! Of course, it closed down all the schools. So, the kids and I are enjoying probably the *only* snow day they will have this year. =) We went outside for a while - a while meaning a whole ten minutes - it's FREEZING cold outside and Cooper was ready to go back in. Olivia probably would have stayed out longer no matter how cold she was. We may go outside again later, but for now, I prefer to stay in my nice, cozy, warm house! Here's some pictures:

Olivia making a snowball to throw at me. Stinker!

Olivia and Cooper playing in the back yard. We didn't have any snow on the ground this morning but by 9am, it was covered. Not much though, but enough for the kids to enjoy it. Olivia was upset though that there wasn't enough snow to build a snowman. LOL

Olivia posing in the snow.


Cooper right as he ran out into the yard. He loved the snow for all of 5 seconds and then was ssssooo over it. Just like Mommy. ha ha!

Random things in my head

I have a bunch of stuff I want to blog about so here goes:

1. Can you believe that the weather people (whatever the official title is) are calling for SNOW here in SC? Isn't that crazy!!! Al has called me twice at work to tell me that he may have to work tonight or stay very late tomorrow. =( I'm not looking forward to snow *if* we get any - a centimeter of it will shut down EVERYTHING here.

2. Cooper has a new big boy bed! He's got his very own cute double bed now. As you know if you've read my blog, Cooper is my snuggie buddy at bedtime. I thought I would love him being out of my bed but truth be told - I've slept HORRIBLE the last few nights without my little man. I may sneak into bed with him tonight - ha ha! He's doing fine with the transition and slept all night long - it's just Mommy who's having an issue with it. Al made the comment yesterday "wow, with that bed in his room, it feels weird - like we don't have babies anymore, we have big kids now." Seriously I almost cried.

3. Olivia keeps giving me a list of things she wants for her birthday coming up the first of April. She's patiently and impatiently counting down the days until she turns six years old. Which is another thing Mommy is having an issue with! *The firstborn* is getting too big - it really needs to stop. Now. Right now. I know it has to happen but man, does it have to happen so flipping fast? Anyways, I have to keep reminding Ms. Griggs that her birthday is NOT Christmas and she will not be getting tons of toys. She's either ignoring me or doesn't understand what I mean. I'm going to guess she's ignoring me. =)

4. Al and I are debating on getting a puppy for the kids. We've been back and forth on this for awhile now. We tried it once when Cooper was still an infant and it was just too much for me to deal with. Now that both kids are older, we are thinking of getting a weenie dog (sorry can't spell the correct name for them). We haven't made our minds up yet....Cooper almost kills my mom's dog, Lulu on a daily basis so we may hold off and wait a little longer. Like when Cooper goes to college or something. He's wild - and very lucky that Lulu loves him to pieces or he'd be missing an eye right now.

5. Going back to #2 - why do "they" make mattresses with designs on them? I mean, we got a better deal on some beige mattresses with flowers on them over plain white ones. What's the point? You cover the mattress up w/a waterproof cover (if you have kids you do!) and then with sheets. No one is ever going to see the pretty flowers on Coop's mattress.

6. Al's socks make my feet sweat. I found this out today when I put a pair of his new socks on because my feet were cold. My feet are always cold - ask Al. He complains about this all the time. I don't know why, but my hands and feet pretty much stay cold all the time. Freaky. I know. Something about his socks make them sweat....doesn't make them hot or anything, just sweat....it's hard to explain.

So, that's about it I guess.....don't be jealous of my exciting life now. =)

Bowling

Olivia got invited to a bowling party for a friend in her class. This was her first time bowling and she had a pretty good time! She did get tired of bowling after about 5 frames because the balls were so heavy. I think that if they had balls that were really light for the kids, it would have been a huge hit with her. Olivia doesn't like to do anything for a long time that she feels is too much "work" - ha ha!

Olivia didn't like her bowling shoes - she thought they should have been more "fashionable" - LOL.

Here's Daddy helping Olivia - it looks like she might have a strike but trust me, that ball was moving so slow that she only knocked down like 2 pins. =)

Olivia checking out the bowling alley.....maybe in a few years when she's a little older, this will be really fun. I'm glad I left Cooper with Grandma though - he wouldn't have been able to do it at all and would have been running all over the place! It was a fun party though and we were glad we went.

Dragon

I let Pam talk me into going to Zaxby's for lunch today. I didn't want to order my usual "House" salad so I decided to try the "Bleu" salad. (What can I say, I'm a wild one sometimes.) It's got crumpled up blue cheese dressing on it and all that good stuff. Well, the cashier asked me if I wanted "blackened" or "buffaloed" chicken on it. For some reason I suddenly felt *froggy* and told her to hook me up buffaloed. Big mistake. I should have known it was the wrong choice when she giggled at me. Never good.

When Pam and I sat down to wait on our food (she went the safe route and got the House salad - wimp!), I looked down at my receipt and saw where it read TONGUE TORCHER - in all caps just like that! Holy Cow Batman was it ever!!! Every bite of chicken - which was drenched in buffalo sauce, honestly I think they marinated it in that stuff - had to be followed by half of my sweet tea. I'm pretty sure I can do a wicked impersonation of a dragon right now. My husband would probably love that salad - and thank goodness my gallbladder is out now or I would be in PAIN.

Next time Pam, I'm getting the House. I should know by now that my wild woman days are over. I'm officially retiring her. =)

I'm rich!!!

In giftcards that is! I cleaned out my purse today and found all kinds of giftcards. So, I went online and looked up the balances and I have almost $50 in Wal-Mart giftcards, $10 in Brusters (yummy!) and $11 on a Red Lobster gift card. It's like Christmas all over for me! =)

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

That statement is so true when it comes to OGG. She's high maintanence folks, I won't deny it. I have no idea where she got it from.....wait, yes I do, she got it from Nana. =)

Olivia's world at school revolves around diamonds. Example: they do "sentence builders" every week. Basically the student tells the teacher a sentence and they break up the words and have to put it together correctly at home. Olivia's really good at it too. But here's what her sentences are:

Did you know I have a diamond? (this week's sentence)

My favorite thing is a diamond.

I love diamonds and rubies. (What the hey?)

So, you get my point.....I just find it very amusing. And ironically, her birthday is in April so her birthstone is a DIAMOND. Of all thing. Perfect isn't it? I feel so bad for her future husband......I really hope he makes a lot of money - I can't fool her with these fake diamond wannabes forever! =)

Facebook

I'm now on Facebook so please look me up and be my friend! =)

Fun at the Zoo

Yesterday was one of those days where you just don't want to sit at home. I mean, the kids have been home for the last two weeks and haven't even been able to play outside but a day or two because it's been so stinking cold and rainy. Saturday was no different - it was chilly, damp and just miserable outside. I got online and was playing around and came across the website for the Riverbanks Zoo. It's been awhile since we've been - and we've never taken Cooper so after debating it awhile, we decided to ride over to Columbia and spend the afternoon at the zoo. OMG, it was so much fun. The kids had a FABULOUS time! I think I may invest in a family membership so that we can go more often. For under $100, it's a pretty good deal. Here's some pics!

The kids with the elephant statue. Cooper called the elephants "Dumbo." We got to see the elephants really up close because they were being fed. It was really neat and probably my favorite part of the zoo.

Cooper in the little farm area of the zoo. He was attempting to fake milk the cow. Pretty gross in my opinion.....

I think Olivia was tickled pink when this bird (sorry, I have no clue what kind it is!) landed on her sleeve. It sat there for awhile too! Cooper kept saying he wanted a bird to sit on him but every time we got one close, he would scream like a little girl! It was so funny.....even strangers were laughing at him! =)

Oh, apparently Al's Clemson sweatshirt attracted the birds though because several of them were all over him for awhile. It kind of creeped me out....all I could think of was "The Birds"! LOL


The Tigers - these three were playful the whole afternoon. Very fun to watch them....they almost made you forget they could eat you up in two bites!

The kids on the tiger statue....

It was a really fun day - we saw tons of animals. The Gorillas (which was amazing and I wish we had seen them longer), lions, a sea lion, zebras, giraffes and tons more. The bears and the alligator weren't out yet. I definitely want to take the kids back!

Happy New Year!

It's officially 2009! Wow, 2008 went by sssoooo fast! It was a great, wonderful, truly blessed year for us. I can only hope and pray that 2009 is as good to us as last year was.

We didn't do much for the New Year's. Al and I were both off yesterday so we basically spent the day with the kids. We didn't pop fireworks or anything Wednesday night because Olivia had a sore throat and was running a low grade fever. Thursday we did take the kids to lunch and watch football. Go Tigers! I know my boys lost but they played an OUTSTANDING game (which is way more than I can say for the other SC team that lost yesterday - ha ha!).

Anyways, nothing new to report - the kids go back to school on Tuesday so I'm really looking forward to them getting back into their routine. They have really enjoyed spending a week with their Daddy and now spending the week with Poppy (although Poppy is ready to go back to work now - ha!). I've been talking school up to Cooper especially since he's the one that doesn't like school that much. I really hope he doesn't give me a hard time on Tuesday. Mornings can be challenging when Al leaves for work before they wake up and it's just me getting them both ready for school. So, routine - routine - routine.

Happy New Year everyone! May you have a wonderful, blessed 2009!

My Few Christmas Pictures

So here are the very few pictures I actually took of the kids on Christmas. Enjoy!

Santa came!

Wow, Christmas was sssooo much fun this year! Santa was very good to Olivia and Cooper! I enjoyed it so much - the kids got everything they asked for and then some. I really hated to leave this morning to come back work because I really wanted to play with some of their new toys! =)

I know you won't believe this - but I took very FEW pictures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was HARD for me since I'm a picture-holic *but* I really wanted to focus on enjoying the kids and watching them open their gifts and seeing their reactions. They are only little but for so long and in a few years, they won't believe in Santa anymore! Plus, you miss so much of that when you try to get all those cute pictures. It's not the same to see it in a picture instead of in real life. So, I purposely kept the camera at bay. Now, I did get some cute shots of them at my in-laws house so I will try to post those later. Again, I only took a few!

Al surprised me with a some black Rainbow sandals which I've been asking for for what seems like FOREVER. He's so great because he always listens and gets me things I ask for. I'm so spoiled! My parents gave us a new Dyson vacuum and it's the bomb. I'm in love with that thing! Our old vacuum was the one I bought 13 years ago when I moved away from home. So, we really, really needed a new one. You would not believe the dirt that thing can suck up. Crazy!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Santa Pic and School Pics

Al and I took the kids on Saturday to see Santa. It was quite the adventure and pure TORTURE waiting in line at the mall, but the end result was well worth it! Olivia and Cooper sat on his lap together and I got a decent picture of my two kiddos! Thank you Michele for uploading these for me. =)

Cooper told Santa he wanted moonsand (which my response is - oh no Cooper, he may not have time to get you moonsand this year! Ha ha!) and Olivia said she couldn't "remember" what she told him she wanted. I had to pry her off his lap though, she didn't want to leave!

Olivia's 5K picture. She's so pretty!

Cooper's 3K picture - he looks like such a big boy!

The Griggs as Elves!

Check us out! =)

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/6xFWtEK2W4zSKfhH58m3

Proud little girl

Olivia won Terrific Kid for the month of December at Thomas Hart. I'm so proud of my little girl! Way to go Baby Girl!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids until after the New Year. Cooper is *really* looking forward to no school....he inherited his loath for kindergarten from me. I hated going to school until I was older. I'm not sure what they do in 3K all day but according to him it's "bowing" (that's boring in 3 year old talk folks).

Anyways, nothing new to report in the Griggs household. We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas with my uncle Mitchell, Aunt Jackie, Keisha, Ashley and Madeline. It'll be a lot of fun and I always enjoying seeing Madeline (and you too Keisha - *wink*). The kids love their Uncle Mitchell too and he's bringing deviled eggs - which are Olivia Grace's absolute favorite! =)

Hmmm.....where to start.....

You wouldn't believe all that's gone on since I last posted! Let's see, where to start? Well, for starters, the motor in the Ranger BLEW. Yeap, you read that right - the motor went out in Al's truck. Perfect timing I tell ya. So, we've spent the last week and half carpooling and weighing our options. Spend a fortune to fix a 93 Ranger or look and see if we could find a good deal on something newer and used. After talking about it, praying about it, and asking everyone we knew what *they* would do - we decided to look for Al a new truck. He bought a 2006 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab. It's black (just like his old Ram - ha ha, and he said he's NEVER have another black truck) and loaded. We got an AWESOME deal on it so I can't complain. I really think Al is on cloud nine right now. =) I like it simply because it's got 4 doors and a back seat - I hated only having one vehicle we all could fit into.

We had a really fun weekend this weekend. We made Gingerbread houses over at Gamma and Papa's house on Saturday. And we went to the park and the kids put their letters to Santa in the mail box by the HUGE Christmas tree in the middle of town. I'm ready to get the kids fed and off to bed! I'm beat! =)

Making gingerbread houses at Gamma's. The kids really enjoyed this! So Tina and myself - it was the first time either of us had done one.

Tina and Loren's train.

Olivia and her finished house - her Aunt Mary helped her with hers.

Cooper cheesing with his house - I did all the hard work folks - he simply ate candy off the house and stole some of the icing! LOL

The Christmas Tree in the middle of town - see Olivia to the left? That thing is HUGE.

Don't you just love Cooper's face? He was mad because I asked him to stand beside me instead of sitting on the ground. Stinker!

The kids putting their Santa letters in the "Santa Mailbox" - whoever thought of that idea is a genius.....the kids loved doing this!

The kids in their Christmas clothes before church this morning.....aren't they the cutest ever? =)

Christmas Parade

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to town for the annual Christmas parade. We met up with Adam, Tina and Loren and had a really good time! The kids had a blast and I think the adults really enjoyed it too.

Santa on the fire truck - the kids went WILD.

You can't come to our parade without seeing the Red Fox! It's our school mascot for the high school.

Loren, Cooper and Olivia - December 2008

Loren goofing off before the parade.


Cooper.......being Cooper! =)

Random pics to check up

How did I manage to get behind in my posting? I still haven't posted pictures from Louis' birthday party on the 29th. Sorry folks....these pics will have to do. I have some pictures from today that I want to post tomorrow so I got to move on!

Olivia dressing up as a "bandit".

Sheriff Cooper T. (ignore the cheese face folks - ha ha)

Sweet Louis! Here he is skating at his party. I can't believe the little guy is 2 already! He had a great party (even though he did have a USC cake - ha!) and got lots of neat stuff. It was a lot of fun - we love you Louis!

Cooper practicing his football stance. =)

So, today we headed into town first thing this morning and went to the parade. It was a ton of fun and we had a great time with Adam, Tina and Loren. After the parade, we went and ate lunch, did a little shopping for Olivia a Christmas dress and then relaxed until it was dark enough to go look at Christmas lights. I LOVE doing this with the kids because it was one of my favorite things to do as a kid during this time.

I picked up my Christmas cards that I ordered online at Walmart.com today and they looked HORRIBLE. I was totally bummed because I really wanted to get them out by Monday. I showed them to Al and he turned around threw them in the trash! I agree, I either had to order new cards or just not send any out. They weren't even close to being acceptable - so I'm working on getting a refund from Walmart.com and I re-ordered some on shutterfly.com. I've ordered from there before and they do awesome work, it's just a little more pricey. Oh well. Lesson learned....don't use walmart.com because they do cheap work!

Another one

Olivia lost a second tooth! Right beside the first one she lost last week. =) Now she *really* looks like a little Snaggletooth.....but don't call her that, I learned the hard way this morning that being called Snaggletooth hurts her little feelings. =(

The kids Christmas program was last night and they did great. Cooper was really into. He loves to be in front of a crowd and show off.....not really sure where he gets that from. Ha! Olivia looked very cute in her new pink Christmas pjs. I took some pictures but they came out too dark so you'll just have to take my word on it. =)

Nothing else really going on.....we're looking forward to the Christmas parade in the morning and then the Tree Lightning in the evening. Supposedly Hartsville purchased one of the trees that wasn't chosen to be in the White House this year. So, that might be really fun to go too. I still need to upload the pics off my camera....I'm working on it! =)