The Griffin Family

Whirlwind week!

2011-10-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

I promised more updates and here you go!

Last Tuesday Jayson and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. Time sure does fly when you're having fun! Here's a picture of us on the big day... Aren't we cute?

Brier had his last soccer game of the season on Saturday and the whole family was able to be there to cheer him on this time.

The boys spent some time playing dress up in the Halloween costumes, trying to decide what one they wanted to wear this year. Would Spiderman be recycled for the 3rd time?

It looks like Mario and Luigi are the winners for this year! Stay tuned for pictures from Halloween night...

Sunday we had lunch together as a family wearing our Dallas Cowboys jerseys. This is something Jayson has been begging us to do for awhile now. I couldn't manage to get a picture of all of us together, but here is a (relatively bad) picture of Tyler and I. Too bad the Cowboys lost... AGAIN..

The last 6 months... a Review in pictures

2011-10-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Tyler turned 2 years old in June

Me and my niece Elizabeth on Memorial Day

Beating the heat in our redneck baby pool

One of many many trips to Topsail Island

Mother's Day at the Cracker Barrel

Playtime with Tyler

Brier visited Grammy and Grandpa in Miami... they took him to the Jungle Park

Enjoying the new grass (and the sprinklers)

We love self portraits

We visited my mom in Texas - this was before we headed out to Schlitterbahn

On the trip home, we found out Tyler busted his eye at daycare and needed stitches

I teach my kid all the cool tricks

It's soccer season again!

We're working on Tyler - he loves Mickey Mouse. We're getting him ready for our trip next June!

Did I mention the self portraits?

We took a beach trip this year

The kids had a blast

They are regular beach bums

Best friends

Our beach house had a pool

Did I mention soccer season?

Watching buddy play soccer

More self portraits... you think we look alike or what?

Heading to this game

Enjoying the beautiful fall weather

Crazy kids!

More updates on a regular basis, I promise!

Oops

2011-04-07T06:38:00.001-07:00

I just realized it's been 7 months since I've last posted on here. Crap. I guess I better get hot and start posting pictures of the babies again. I promise to try harder! Sorry!

Labor Day

2010-09-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to have people over to cookout for Labor Day weekend. I don't know if I have ever thrown a get-together together so quickly before. I really enjoyed seeing some of our friends and hanging out with some new ones.

Brier had a good time playing with the girls. He really is such a ladies man.

Tyler got a chance to hang with his girlfriend, Caison too! She was born a month later than Tyler and she is so cute!

We played some corn hole and enjoyed the back patio, now that the big, unused picnic table was gone.

Finally, a family picture with all of us in it. Too bad Brier didn't smile!

First day of Kindergarten!

2010-08-30T05:46:00.001-07:00

Friday was Brier's first day of kindergarten. He woke up early (as usual) and excited and was ready to run out the door before I'd even had breakfast. I can't believe my baby has grown up already. I expected him to have a very hard time when I dropped him off at school because he's been at home with me for the last three weeks. Boy was I surprised! He literally was annoyed that I was even still hanging around the classroom and he said to me, "Mom, go home. I'll see you after school!" I was expecting tears and a clingy little boy. I guess I should be thankful it went to easy, but it almost made me sad to see how independent he was. Then again, this child is so much like me it wasn't surprising in the least bit.

I'm an Auntie!

2010-08-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday morning at 9:39am, my brother TJ and his wife Amy welcomed a new baby girl to this world.

Her name is Elizabeth Leigh and she weighed in at 5 lbs and 15 oz.

The little peanut has blue eyes and reddish brown hair. Brier and I went to go see them at the hospital and it reminded me that my children are growing up too fast.
I miss this baby phase...

GOAL!

2010-08-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Brier had his first soccer game of the season on Saturday morning.

Of course, his biggest fan (Grammy) came to cheer him on and this time Uncle Damien was able to come watch too.

Tyler was pretty well-behaved during the game, even though it was 100% humidity and about 92 degrees outside.

Finally...

2010-08-18T07:35:00.001-07:00

And here's the video you've all been waiting for! Check out my kid's skinny chicken legs. :)

Quick catch up

2010-08-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy over the past few weeks getting ready for daycare and trying to wrap up the summer. Tyler started going to Kiddie Academy on Monday of this week and he seems to be adjusting rather nicely. He is teething like crazy and trying to break in the rest of his molars - as such, he's not very happy lately. I'll be happy when he starts smiling alot again. Like this...

I co-hosted a baby shower for TJ and Amy at the end of July. It was a Dr. Seuss theme and as you can see it was alot of fun! All of Amy's friends from NC State were there and they got alot of really great gifts.

Tyler is walking all over the place. No more taking a few steps and falling down - he is full-fledged walking 20+ steps at a time!

Two more weeks until Brier starts kindergarten! He is getting so excited and I get more nervous by the day. I know he's ready and he'll do great!

Baby's first haircut

2010-08-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

So along with some other firsts over the weekend, Tyler had his first haircut on Saturday. I was a little sad to get his haircut because I was afraid we would be cutting all of the red hair off, but I'm happy to report that he's still ginger and I love it! He was so well-behaved... much more so than Brier ever was. He just sat and watched the little TV they had and was as patient as could be.

TYLER IS WALKING!!!!

2010-08-09T07:37:00.001-07:00

I am the proudest mommy on earth. My son - the one who was born with clubbed feet... the one that the doctors thought would not be walking until 18+ months... IS WALKING. And not just one or two steps at a time. He's walking from one side of the room to the other, like a little drunk person. It's so amazing and unbelievable. I am going to try and get a video of it to post soon - I promise.

God is good. Miracles do happen.

My boys, the models

2010-07-19T08:08:00.003-07:00

I am biased - of course I am. I'm their Mom. But HOW BEAUTIFUL are my kids????

My son, the comedian

2010-07-11T17:39:00.001-07:00

So tonight I was talking with Brier at dinner and I said that Tyler was going to get a fat little belly because he was eating so much. Brier said, "I'm going to get a fat belly too!" I laughed and said, "I truly wish you would because you are so skinny!"

We then proceeded to have a 10 minute conversation about the difference between skinny and fat, short and tall, bald and hairy, etc etc and all the other opposites. We discussed how people come in all shapes and sizes and different colors and how having all of these different people make this world interesting. Well I asked Brier "what other ways can people be different?" This was the rest of our conversation:

Brier: Well Mom, they have different size heads.
Mom: Well that's true, but what do you mean?
Brier: Well your head and my head are oval, and Tyler's head is round.
Mom: Yep, that's true, Tyler's head is round.
Brier: But Daddy's head is square. No, rectangle.
Mom: Rectangle??
Brier: Yeah, like the Incredible Hulk head!!

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants!

Success!!

2010-07-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

The boys photo shoot was this morning and it was alot of fun. While Tyler decided to be clingy and cranky and would hardly let me set him down all morning, Brier was an angel and did everything we wanted him to do. Heather is going to edit the pictures this week and I will post a bunch of them once I get them later this week.

I couldn't be happier - my children are so beautiful (yes I'm bragging!) and Heather has such an eye for capturing a child's personality. I'm so excited to show you the results of her hard work!

A whirlwind week!

2010-07-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

The last week has flown by and I can't believe we've already come to mid-July. I started off last week by taking the boys up to Saltville to spend some time with Nana and Papa Jay in Saltville. The drive up was pretty uneventful and the boys were so excited to see their extended family. I gave the boys a kiss and headed back home, only to board a plane the next morning to head to Washington DC for two days. I started a new job working as the Director of Sales for Wiser Together Inc. And guess what is directly below our office in Georgetown...?

Oh yes, Georgetown Cupcake! This place is LEGENDARY. I managed to convince our CEO to buy cupcakes for the whole office to celebrate my first day. ha! This place is so awesome they have their own show coming to TLC next week. You should check it out!

After my first official day of work, I met up with Jayson for a much-needed date night. He's still working up in DC at the EPA, doing emergency response stuff for this crazy oil spill. We headed out to Cafe Asia (our favorite restaurant in Arlington) and then hit the Front Page to see my cousin Eric and then also managed to see a band at the Clarendon Ballroom.

It was alot of fun and a welcome break for Jayson who has been working 12 hour days for the last 15 days straight. Yes you read that right - 15 days in a row! Including July 4th!

After coming back from DC I went back to Saltville to celebrate July 4th. Every year, Jayson's brother Jon and his dad Jay play in a golf tournament and they cook a pig and have a party and this year was no exception!

Since I didn't have Jayson to hang out with, I borrowed his best friend from high school Eric. :) We had alot of fun and it was nice to get away with my 2nd family for a few days.

I'm ready for my close up!

2010-07-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited about this weekend. My dear friend Heather Lauffer is going to take pictures of the boys. They are having their very own photo shoot somewhere over near NC State. I've posted some of Heather's pictures on here before but I can't even begin to tell you how talented I think she is. I am very lucky - I have several friends who are digital photographers and I envy their eye for capturing people in the best light and making them look fantastic. Heather is no exception! She makes my kids look beautiful and I can't wait to see the finished product. You should check out her website too! www.heatherlaufferphotography.com You might recognize a few of the kids. :)

Yes it's been a long time!

2010-07-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

So it was brought to my attention again this weekend that it's been way too long since I've updated the blog. Alot has happened in the last few months so here is an update in a nutshell:

1. Brier turned 5! He's starting kindergarten in August and he is so ready to be out of the house every day. He's still the same sweet little boy he's always been and I have enjoyed having him home with me every day for the last year.

2. Tyler is already 1 year old! My baby is growing up way too quickly. I can't believe he's already a year old - he is getting bigger and bigger every day. He's on the verge of walking right now - he still cruises around and will walk all over the place with his walker toys and if he's holding onto your hands.

3. I started a new job on Thursday of last week. I'm the Director of Sales for a start up company called Wiser Together Inc. It's an interesting company with a very unique product. www.wisertogether.com if you want to check it out.

4. Jayson is STILL working up in Washington DC because of the oil spill mess in the gulf. He comes home next Monday and not a minute too soon.

Well that's the short short version. I promise that now that I'm working from the house, there will be many more updates. It should be much easier now that I'm supposed to be parked in front of the computer every day!

Slow down TIME... please?!

2010-06-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Every time I think life is going to slow down, it somehow takes off full speed ahead! It's hard to believe we have moved onto June already and Tyler is almost going to be a year old. WHERE DID THE LAST YEAR GO????? I guess that expression "Time flies when you're having fun" has some truth to it. Brier turned 5 last month and I have about 5 unfinished posts to upload pictures onto so that I can catch up. Maybe I will just give up and start again next week...?

Flag football!

2010-04-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Brier is playing flag football this spring and I don't know who is more excited about it - him or Jayson! Brier is ridiculously talented athletically (and no, I'm not just speaking as his mom, it's insane how athletically inclined this child is) and he scored two touchdowns in the first game!

I'm not sure if he will take this sport and run with it (pun intended) but we loved watching his first game!

Last weekend we went to Saltville for my mother-in-law Marti's 60th birthday party. I will be posting those pictures soon - it's ALOT of pictures and it's going to take forever... Check back later this week!

TJ and Amy get married!

2010-04-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

My brother TJ got married this weekend to the wonderful Amy Lynn of Bethlehem, PA. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the ceremony was beautiful too! Not too much to tell... I'll let the pictures do the talking!

How cute is my brother in this picture?

The Hawkins clan...

(Photos above taken by Nicole Faby - www.nicolefabyphotography.com)

April already?

2010-04-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

I know I say this all the time, but time just seems to be FLYING by. I can't believe it's already APRIL! It's hard to believe that a year ago I made the decision to leave my job and stay home for awhile. It's been a fun year - we've gone lots of places, played with lots of friends and visited lots of family. But I will be returning to work on May 3rd and I am not too excited about it. Since I'm going to be working again, we've been trying to cram in more fun and April has been no exception!

April started out with a trip to Emerald Isle with my friend Nicole and her son Luke. It was quite an adventure with all three boys squeezed into the backseat of my suv. It's a good thing we are stopping with two kids because with three, that backseat was rather tight!

We had alot of fun on the beach and the weather was beautiful.

The boys played together and Tyler enjoyed it much better than last time.

All three of them were covered head to toe in sand, but it really was alot of fun.

Brier and I spent some time dyeing Easter eggs so that the Easter Bunny could come by and hide them for us.

Brier really got into the egg hunt this year - he hid the eggs and re-hid the eggs... we'll be finding plastic eggs all over this house for years to come.

Grammy and Grandpa and TJ and Amy came to have breakfast with us on Easter morning too. I hope this is a tradition we keep going because it was alot of fun!

Tyler is still crawling all over the place but he's figured out that standing is alot more fun. He's just starting to pull up on the furniture and I'm hoping he'll be standing and cruising by his 1st birthday. This is such a change from when Brier was a baby... he walked at 9 1/2 months! I hope Tyler stays a baby for just a little while longer.

Does anyone even read this?

2010-03-29T12:10:00.001-07:00

OK I'm convinced that no one reads this blog. No one has mentioned that I haven't really updated it in months, and no one certainly mentioned that I uploaded a few pictures three days ago. So until I hear from anyone else, I doubt I will post again...

Or will I? :)

Is it really almost April?!

2010-03-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

Well I finally decided to load the software for my new camera onto the computer so I can download all of the pictures I've taken over the last 3 months. I will do a proper blog update soon but for the time being, enjoy these!

Out of the mouths of babes...

2010-01-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

Conversation with Brier tonight at dinner:

Brier: Mom, I want to eat lunch at school with my friends

Me: Oh yeah, we need to get you signed up for the lunch bunch

Brier: Yeah Dad, I have a girlfriend!

Jayson: Who is your girlfriend?

Brier: Sara and Celeste.

Me: You have two?

Brier: Yeah, and Hannah and Samantha too.

Me: Do they get jealous you have so many girlfriends?

Brier: Of course they do, they're girls.

I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard!

Oh wow - overdue!

2010-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Yes we are overdue for an update - I have so much to write and very little time to do it. In the meantime, enjoy this smiling face and his new teeth!

Early December update

2009-12-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

We've had a very busy December so far so I thought I would go ahead and do a quick update. We started off the month going to visit my dear friend Elizabeth. Her and John just had their second baby - a boy this time! John Owen (Jack) Bryant is the most adorable little guy!

Brier had a great time playing with Laura Beth during our visit and I can't believe LB is almost as tall as Brier already!

On the 3rd of December, Jayson and I donned our best holiday sweaters to attend the Ugly Sweater Party at the Melting Pot with Griffin and Steve. I thought I looked rather cute, but Jayson's sweater definitely was the winner of the evening!

Tyler has been trying his hardest to crawl lately. We can't keep him turned on his back - he flips over with lightning speed and has been trying to figure out how to move around. He's got a commando crawl down to a science and I have this feeling he'll be crawling before the new year. Oh, and in case you are wondering, YES Tyler always has his mouth wide open. In EVERY picture.

My mom came for a visit last week as well and she and Brier got to work in the kitchen, cooking and baking the entire time! I even convinced her to make my favorite - chocolate covered peanut butter balls!

Tyler and Brier wouldn't cooperate to take pictures in front of the tree, but we managed to catch this one.

Brier went to visit Nana and Papa Jay again this past weekend, but unfortunately I only have a few pictures from his trip because Tyler and I stayed home this time. This one cracked me up and I thought I would share!

Happy Half Birthday, Tyler!

2009-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe my little man is already 6 months old today. I know they say time flies when you are having fun, but it seems like I blinked and my child is growing up too fast. Enjoy the pictures!

Tyler as a newborn:

Tyler at 1 month:

Tyler at 2 months:

Tyler at 3 months:

Tyler at 4 months:

Tyler at 5 months:

Tyler at 6 months!

Run Forest Run!

2009-12-08T16:50:00.001-08:00

This past weekend marked the 2009 Raleigh Jingle Bell Run to raise money and awareness for the Arthritis Foundation. If you've never heard of the Jingle Bell Run, it's a 5k that they have in the beginning of December, complete with runners with reindeer antlers, bells on their shoes and Santa Claus hats. Click here for more info: http://jinglebellrunraleigh.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=313261 It's actually alot of fun but it always seems like the 65 degree weather we have around this time of year disappears the morning of the race and it's 30 degrees and COLD. This year was no exception and all morning long I lobbied with Griffin to skip the race and eat breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. As you can see from the picture, I didn't win that battle. And it was cold. And RAINING. Don't I look happy? This is the kind of stuff I do because I try to keep in shape.. What do you do to keep in shape? Leave a comment! :)

Thanksgiving update

2009-12-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

I'm almost a week behind on updating this blog, and as I just remarked to a friend this morning, "I feel like I'm more busy now that I don't work than I ever was when I was traveling with a full time job!". Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures out.

We spent Thanksgiving day over at my Dad's house and we had a great time. Donna cooked all of our favorites: deviled eggs, snowy mashed potatoes and butternut squash, plus the traditional thanksgiving fare. It was a great dinner and I was happy not to have had to cook this year. :)

Tyler wasn't feeling very well for most of the day but he did manage to sneak in a nap while laying on Grandpa's chest. I wasn't surprised when I caught them both passed out like this on the couch!

Another Thanksgiving down... only 24 more days until Christmas! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving with yours as well.

What I'm Thankful For...

2009-11-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

So I thought I would take a moment to write down a few things that I am thankful for this year. It's been one heck of a year and with alot of ups and downs, I don't want to lose sight of what's important in my life. These are in no particular order - they are just written down as I think of them!

1. My husband. This year I have seen friends break up, get engaged and get divorced. It's times like these that remind me how lucky I am to be married to a pretty wonderful guy. He's funny, he's a great dad, and he's HOT too. :) I am the luckiest girl in the world!

2. My son Brier. Brier has always been my buddy and I have enjoyed every moment of watching my first born grow up into a very funny, very thoughtful little boy. He's wide open, wild, and crazy on a daily basis, but he's my little man. My favorite part of the day is putting Brier to bed and playing "I love you more than ____" with him.

3. My son Tyler. Tyler has been a handful since the moment he was conceived, but he is the most special person in my life right now. I've been priviledged to be able to spend almost every waking moment of his life with him and each day I get to watch him grow into the happiest, most beautiful baby boy. I am truly blessed to be his Mommy.

4. My health. I have seen many family members and friends deal with cancer, obesity, diabetes, and other countless ailments this year and I am never one to not be thankful that I am a healthy and happy person. I eat well and take care of myself so that I can be around for a long time for my family.

5. My family. This year marks 5 years since my sister passed away very unexpectedly. As I see friends lose their parents and siblings, I am reminded that life really is precious and we should spend time with the ones we love as much as possible.

6. My FRIENDS. Thank God for Facebook! I have some of the most wonderful friends in the world. They are my extended family - my sisters, my brothers... I don't know what I would do without being able to call some of my closest friends when I need someone to talk to, to vent with, to laugh with. Facebook has done wonders for reconnecting me with friends I haven't talked to in years. Being a military kid, I have friends all over the world - but I've lost touch when we moved and as we've grown up. Facebook has changed that reality and now I get to see updates on so many people's lives that I would have otherwise stayed out of touch with.

7. My dogs. I know some people are laughing at this one because I try to find Harley and Max new homes on a weekly basis, but there is nothing better than the love that a dog has for someone. It's unconditional and constant, even when they are in trouble or have peed on the floor for the thousandth time. I love my dogs and it will be a very sad day for me when they move on to doggy heaven.

8. FUNemployment. haha Enough said. :)

I'm thankful for so many things... I will probably have a part 2 to this post, but the baby is crying so I have to cut this short.

So I leave you with this - What are YOU thankful for?

RIP Esperanza Turner

2009-11-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything, but things have been crazy and hectic for the past week or so. I found out late Sunday afternoon last week that my dear friend Nicole's mother, Esperanza (Betty) Turner was in the hospital after suffering from a stroke and the outlook didn't look very good. I met Betty when I was in college and she was visiting Nicole, and from the moment she came into my life, I knew she was a very special person. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who could have a bad thing to say about her - she was the most kind and loving person I think I have ever met. She was always happy to see you, always had a great big hug ready for you, and wanted to know everything that was going on in your life. Nicole summed it up at the funeral when she said that one of God's special angels was back in Heaven to watch back over us again. It is with sadness, but fond memories, that I remember her today. RIP Betty...

When tomorrow starts without me, and I'm not there to see.
If the sun should rise and find your eyes, all filled with tears for me.
I wish so much you wouldn't cry, the way you did today,
While thinking of the many things we never got to say.

I know how much you love me, as much as I love you..
And each time that you think of me, I know you'll miss me too..
But when tomorrow starts without me, Please try to understand..
An angel came and called my name and took me by the hand,
It seemed my place was ready - In Heaven far above,
and that I'd have to leave behind, those things I dearly love..

But as I turned to walk away, a tear fell from my eye.
For all of life, I'd always thought, I didn't want to die.
I had so much to live for, so much yet to do,
It seemed almost impossible, that I was leaving you..
I thought of all the yesterdays, the good ones and the bad..
I thought of all the love we shared, and how much fun we had..
If I could relive yesterday, just even for a while,
I'd say goodbye, then kiss you ‘til I saw that special smile..

But then I fully realized, that it could never be,
'Cause emptiness and memories, would take the place of me.
And when I thought of all those things, I might miss come tomorrow,
I thought of you, and when I did, my heart was filled with sorrow. .
But when I walked through Heaven's gates, I felt so much at home.
When God looked down and smiled at me, From his great & golden throne,

He said, "This is eternity, and all I've promised you.
Today your life on Earth is past, but here it starts anew.
I promise no tomorrow, but today will always last,
and since each day is the same day, there's no longing for the past. .
But you have been so faithful, so trusting and so true,
Though there were some times you did some things you shouldn't do. .

But you have been forgiven, and now at last you're free,
So come and take me by the hand, and share my life with me.."
So when tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart,
for every time you think of me, I'll be right there - in your Heart..

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

2009-11-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

Tyler is definitely rolling over now - only problem is that he can only flip over one way and hasn't figured out how to turn himself BACK over. He gets rather frustrated and tells me all about it! Enjoy!

October is over already?

2009-11-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

Well Halloween has come and gone and I wanted to share some pictures from this year. Can you believe it's already November? We started off the day carving pumpkins with Brier and I have to say I'm very proud of our handy work!

Brier dressed up this year as the red Power Ranger and Tyler was a puppy. We absolutely wasted the $20 on his costume - it was 80 degrees when we set out to trick or treat and he was sweating in the costume, so we took two pictures and then took it off him.
We did something different this year - we actually "tailgated" while trick or treating with our neighbors Chris and Jessica. Chris was ready and prepared with a cooler full of beer, water and juice boxes! It definitely made Halloween a little more fun for those of us who are parents now. :)

Also, I'm attempting to upload a video of Tyler this week. He's mastered rolling over one direction (with his shoes on too) and man is he fast! Until I figure it out, enjoy this one...

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina at the staaaaaaate fair!

2009-10-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

We had a busy week! We took Tyler and Brier to the State Fair on Wednesday and they both had such a good time. The weather was gorgeous and Brier was so excited to ride all the rides. Of course he rode the ponies, he had to get all suited up to jump, and Jayson took him for his first ride on bumper cars, which he wasn't a big fan of. He didn't understand that you were SUPPOSED to run into the other people. He couldn't wait to go in the fun house and down this big slide either!

We also managed to get a night out on Thursday and Jayson and I headed over to the UNC game. We met up with some friends of mine from college and we had a great time!
This picture was right before we considered leaving the game - see how happy we are? That's because Carolina was beating Florida State 24-6... (sigh)

Brier also had his last game of the season on Saturday. Grammy came out to watch the festivities and Brier got a medal with his name on it for playing with the Arrows this year.
Here's Brier and his little friend Zoe. He has 3 different girlfriends, by the way...

Tyler has been growing by leaps and bounds. We started solid foods this week and he's not a big fan of the rice cereal.

I started him on bananas this morning and they were a big hit!

He also loves his bumbo seat - this is the face he makes every time he's in it!

The Five Senses

2009-10-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

So Brier is learning all about the 5 senses in his preschool class and today they made a book (complete with drawings) about each of the five senses. I had to share because this is so funny that I couldn't make this up if I tried!

My favorite thing to hear is: a bell.
My favorite thing to see is: Miss Beth (his preschool teacher).
My favorite thing to taste is: fruities.
My favorite thing to touch is: leaves.
My favorite thing to smell is:...

If I thought my son had my sister's sense of humor before, now I KNOW that he does! :)

Oh yeah, I forgot!

2009-10-18T10:38:00.001-07:00

Jayson's parents came for a visit this weekend to watch one of Brier's last soccer games. They came in friday night and took us all out to dinner for mine and Jayson's anniversary (yay! thanks guys!).

We got up really early on Saturday for the game and stood in the semi-drizzly, 40-degree rainy cold to watch my little athlete score two goals. I love being a soccer mom - I love it even more when Brier has a supportive audience cheering him on! He was so lucky yesterday because not only were Nana and Papa Jay there, so was Grammy.

Tyler stayed bundled up like this the whole time...

The weather changed fast here over the last week. It went from 75 degrees one day to 45 the next. What happened to fall?? We have tickets to go to the state fair this week so I will post those pictures when we get back.

Have a good week everyone!

Tyler's final casts

2009-10-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to update this blog for well over a week now and it just seems like every time I think I'm going to, I get sidetracked again. Either way, I wanted to post some updates regarding Tyler's feet. We got his final set of casts off on Monday. It was such a relief to know that the surgery went well and that he was healing nicely. Tyler's legs looked so skinny compared to his thighs that were bulging out the top of the casts!

We headed straight from Dr. Caudle's office over to the prosthetics folks to get Tyler's new Dennis Browne shoes. He has to wear these 20 hours a day for the first few months, and eventually he will only be sleeping in them at night.
I have to tell you - we HATE these. Tyler hates them. I hate putting them on him. I hate watching him try to sleep with them on. They are a nightmare, but they are a necessary evil to prevent his feet from reverting back to what they started at. As you can see, Tyler is still trying to get used to them.

We go back for a check up in two more weeks, and hopefully by then Tyler will have gotten used to these shoes a little bit more. In the meantime, it's just one more thing to deal with at our house. yay.

Making Strides for a cure...

2009-10-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning walking in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k. I took Tyler with me in the stroller and headed out to North Hills Mall to meet up with my dear friend BP and his wife Christy, whose mother has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and has already started her chemotherapy. Every time I participate in one of these events, I remember how truly blessed I am and that my family has been relatively healthy. I do have several friends and relatives who have been affected by breast cancer, and today I walked in their honor. It was incredibly inspiring to hear the stories of the survivors, and to see three people in my own life who have been diagnosed and have beaten this disease. Linda Stone, Marti Griffin and Ashley Marble.

If you have the opportunity to raise money for one of these events, or even to volunteer your time, you won't be disappointed!

September is already over?!

2009-09-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, where has the time gone!? I can't believe we are already done with September and completely into autumn already. Alot happened over the month of September, so you are in luck - lots of pictures in this post!

We started the month of September with a visit from my Dad. He's been working in Ft Worth, TX since June and this is the first time he has been home since he left. We had a chance to go over to his house and hang out and celebrate both Labor Day and an early birthday for him. We had a great time with my stepbrother Damien and his girlfriend Cheryl, my brother TJ and his fiancee Amy, Dad and Donna, and some of Donna's friends from work.

Brier also started two-day, half-day preschool this month. I'm not sure what I think of the place yet, but Brier seems to be liking it and getting adjusted to being in a structured environment again. Look how cute he was on the first day of "school"...

Tyler FINALLY had his surgery on September 16th. Dr. Caudle performed a bilateral percutaneous heel cord lengthening. In plain english, he cut Tyler's achilles' tendon so that it can grow back longer, in order to increase his range of motion in his feet. I was very impressed with Wake Med - Tyler was in on time, out on time, and we didn't have any complications whatsoever. Tyler didn't even seem to realize what was going on - he was alert and happy and just being cute!

Tyler is growing by leaps and bounds too! He's almost 4 months old now and I can't believe how quickly time is passing. He's doing all the normal baby things: attempting to roll over (it's a little difficult with his casts in the way), giggling, cooing, DROOLING... he's been very entertaining recently. We're counting down the days until October 12th when he gets his last set of casts taken off forever, and we can finally give him a decent bath!

Brier is still playing soccer and has been getting better and better each week. He's been scoring goals and learning the basic fundamentals of the game. He is having fun too and that's all that really matters!

More updates to come soon!

Yes I know...

2009-09-23T13:13:00.003-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated. I promise it will happen this week. In the meantime, check out my little buddy!

My super star!

2009-08-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Brier had his first CASL soccer game this Saturday, and I have to say, it was quite an event! He's playing in the Under 5 league, which is more like the Under 5 chaos party! We weren't exactly sure what to expect when we got there - the kids had a 30 minute practice before the game and then they split up into 4 squads and actually played 3 on 3 against each other. So our team of 24 kids is actually a league of their own.

Brier's team won 2-1 and Brier scored the first goal! Sadly I didn't get it on film as I was holding Tyler, but here's the after celebration.

Brier's pants were too big (of course) and he ran around the field holding them up the whole time. It was rather comical!

I hope this is something that he wants to continue as he gets older - I was so happy and proud watching him play. :)

It's August and it's HOT

2009-08-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Alot has been going on for the month of August. We started out the first week of August with a visit from a friend that I used to work with - Heather Devito. She came into town to meet the baby and to go to the Def Leppard and Poison concert with us. What a great time we had! Griffin and Steve came with us too and we ran into a good friend of mine from high school, Greg Woodard and his girlfriend Emily. As you can see, we rocked out.

We were lucky this week because Dr. Caudle decided to give Tyler a week off from his casts. We scheduled his surgery for September 15th... I just keep telling myself it will all be over soon and he won't have to wear any casts in less than two months.

We took advantage of him not having casts on and decided to give him a bath every night. (He's only had sponge baths so this week he wasn't the smelly kid! yay!) He loves the bathtub and he had a good time kicking and re-discovering his knees.

We also decided that this would be the last chance to go to the beach this summer so we packed up both kids and headed for Atlantic Beach. We stayed at the Sheraton (with my hotel points) and Brier and Tyler were both up and ready at the crack of dawn. Sadly, it was really too hot for Tyler to be on the beach and he was miserable most of the day. Because he was miserable, I was miserable too - we spent most of the afternoon in the hotel room. BOO! Brier and Jayson had a good time though and Brier wanted to spend more time in the pool than on the beach. It figures!

Brier also had his first gymnastics class this week. I thought I would sign him up to see if he liked it because all he does is turn cartwheels in the house. Although I thought the class was kind of lame and definitely overpriced ($40 for 3 weeks!), he seemed to enjoy himself and was definitely the "star" of the class. I'm not sure that he will continue to take classes, but he's going to have fun with this one while he can.

Brier also starts soccer this Saturday - he's playing on an under 5 team with the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL)and his first game is Saturday morning. We picked up his uniform today, and as expected, it swallows him! My child is so skinny... I will post pictures next week of his game - it should be a good time!

New casts this week

2009-07-29T07:39:00.001-07:00

We finally got the “swamp” that our pool had become cleaned back up and Brier and Jayson tested it out on Monday. I’m going to sign Brier up for real swimming lessons next year, but I think he might not need them!

At our orthopedist appointment this week, we discussed Tyler’s surgery coming up. It looks like it’s going to be mid-September that he will have this done. I got some good pictures during the process and spared you from the ones where he was screaming. Enjoy!

The zoo and a night out!

2009-07-26T10:29:00.001-07:00

We had a pretty busy week in the Griffin household. I took the boys to the zoo on Wednesday. The ride down to Asheboro was relatively quiet and Brier and I played “Are we there yet?” the entire way there. I totally forgot that the zoo was SO spread out in NC… it’s a five mile trail to be exact. We decided to only visit “Africa” this time and see the North American animals on the next trip. I am never doing that again. I repeat… I AM NEVER TAKING A 6 WEEK OLD BABY IN 95 DEGREE HEAT TO THE ZOO AGAIN. Tyler cried the entire time we were there and everyone kept looking at me like I was crazy because I couldn’t make him stop. Sigh… I did manage to get some good pictures of my angel while we were there.

I wanted to add some updated pictures of Tyler on here. Jayson managed to snap some funny ones of him while I was at the grocery store – Tyler seems to “pose” for Jayson, so he gets all the credit for these. We go back tomorrow for his 4th set of casts. I will post pictures of his progress sometime later this week. I’m hoping to have a better idea of when his tendon surgery will be after tomorrow too.

In other news, I actually had a chance to get out of the house and attend a wedding shower for my friend Fran on Saturday night. She’s getting married in Hawaii in September, so the shower was a great opportunity to meet her family and friends and celebrate the upcoming wedding. She got a lot of great gifts and the restaurant we ate dinner at was great!

I have an official Girls’ Night Out scheduled for Friday of this week, so there should be some fun pictures after that night out too. Stay tuned!

Tyler is a month old!

2009-07-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Pretend I posted this last Tuesday... because that's when I started initially writing this blog! A month has already come and gone and our new little man is growing up so quickly. We've finally got his reflux under control and we're starting to see his personality appearing more and more. Brier loves his little brother and takes every opportunity to hold him and kiss him on the forehead. I couldn't ask for cuter children!

Brier has definitely been having some fun this summer. We make weekly trips to the mall playground so that he can get out and play with some children his age. When we went this week, it was total mayhem as some Mommy group was there with about 50 kids. NO JOKE.

We also had a chance to go to Brier's friend Christian's birthday party last wednesday night. Christian's parents are good friends of Jayson's from college and we had so much fun hanging out with them. Tyler wasn't too keen on all the sounds and lights and chaos, but all in all we had a good time.

And just for fun and because some people have been asking, here's a picture of me, one month after giving birth. Please ignore the fact that I obviously have no makeup on and couldn't be bothered to fix my hair. :) I've almost lost all 43 pounds I gained (only 9 more to go!), but my old clothes are far from fitting again. I'm loving P90X and I encourage everyone to try it!

Early July catchup

2009-07-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

Alot has been happening in the past 2 weeks. For starters, they put Tyler on Axid and now Prilosec to help with his reflux. I don't know that it's helping much, but at least he isn't screaming and crying constantly every time I feed him. We're still trying to get him to figure out the whole "sleeping" concept at night. He currently wakes up every day at 5:30am for a feeding and doesn't go back to sleep. So guess who's up right along with him? I used to consider myself a morning person, but WOW, that's too early.

The 4th of July came and went and we attempted to go see the fireworks at Brier Creek. As soon as we got there, we realized that was probably a bad thing to have the baby there, so Tyler and I went back home. Jayson and Brier went back and had a great time! Sadly I didn't get any pictures except right before we left the house.

Jayson is up in DC this week for HAZMAT training, so it's just been Brier and Tyler and I this week. We're trying to get into some sort of routine, but as anyone with a newborn knows, routines are hard to come by this early.

On Monday morning, we had our 3rd visit to Dr. Caudle for another set of casts for Tyler. When we took his casts off, his feet looked GREAT! Dr. Caudle said that they were progressing very well and that we're basically in a state of maintenance at this point until Tyler is old enough for his heel-cord-lengthening procedure. For more information on his treatment, google "ponsetti method" and there are some good descriptions of what he's having done. Dr. Caudle decided to give Tyler a week off without casts (yippee! Now he doesn't weigh 12+ pounds!) and we go back for another set this week. This was a big deal not to have casts on because it meant that I could give Tyler his first real bath. Well, he didn't like it AT ALL. I don't know if the water was too cold or if he was just miserable because his skin was so dry and peeling, but he cried and screamed through the whole thing. And for 10 minutes or more afterwards.

More updates next week!

The redneck yacht club...

2009-06-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

So Jayson has been BEGGING for me to let him buy an above-ground, quick set pool this year, and I finally caved in and said ok. We have "weeds" in the backyard and no real grass, so I figured, Why not?

The pictures below are of the new pool. Now granted, Brier has played in this pool every day, several times a day since it came home, so it was money well spent, but I can't help but feeling like a total redneck. I think the crowning jewel of this ensemble is the astroturf carpet that Jayson bought to keep the grass from getting in the pool.

Our "challenge" baby

2009-06-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I can't help it. I keep comparing Tyler to Brier... Brier was such a good baby - never really gave Jayson and I any trouble whatsoever. He was never sick, he was a good eater (when he was a baby!), he slept when he was supposed to, he's very well behaved now, he has good manners, you name it. Tyler is the EXACT opposite. We already knew he was going to be a handful because he was going to have clubbed feet when he was born, but little did we know he was going to give me so much trouble when it came to EATING! He has reflux apparently, so he's started screaming during every feeding. As you can imagine, that was rather exhausting at 3am as I'm trying to feed him and hoping he goes back to sleep! We had to go back to the pediatrician yesterday to address these issues and he's now on medication for it. I *think* it's working?

In other news, yesterday was Tyler's second visit to the orthopedist for his clubbed feet. We took off the first set of casts (which they let us keep as some sort of bizarre souvenir), and he slept through the entire thing. The saw was so loud, and I figured we would be contending with a screaming baby all over again. Well, he screamed all right - the entire time the doctor was trying to put the new casts on him. WOW. Either way, he has his second set of casts and we go back in 2 weeks again. I was really amazed at how different his feet looked already. You can tell that the casts are doing something - but this is a long road ahead. It's not as bad as I thought it would be (yet), so we're doing OK.

Enjoy the pictures!

Tyler Chase Griffin finally arrives!

2009-06-22T06:52:00.001-07:00

After 39 long weeks, Tyler finally decided to make his entry into this world. I started having contractions on Saturday morning, June 13th. We went to the hospital, only to be sent home because I wasn't progressing. A few hours later, we were back, with my labor stopping and starting all night long. Tyler was finally born at 7:10am on Sunday June 14th. He weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 14 ounces. As you can imagine, we were totally in shock, as this delivery was much easier than Brier's was. Then again, I was miserably uncomfortable for the last two months of being pregnant, so it should have come as no surprise that he was so big.

We have been home almost a week now and we are all still getting used to each other. It's been an adventure so far and I am not looking forward to Jayson going back to work this week. Jayson's parents came for a visit this weekend and my mom is coming this week. Then it's really just me and the boys during the day...

I will try and post more pictures as we take them. My friend Heather took some pictures last week and Nicole is coming over to take more on Wednesday. It's nice having friends who are photographers! I will try and document my weight loss on here too - it's going to help keep me motivated! I've already lost 25 of the 43 pounds I gained, so I'm very excited about that.

Thanks for looking!

The sod is beautiful

2009-06-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

I meant to update this sooner, but Jayson mowed the lawn yesterday so I wanted to get a good picture with the yard all cleaned up. THIS is the product of all our frustration in April and May. Isn't it beautiful?? We haven't had grass like this since we moved into this house five years ago and we're so proud now!

A proper update

2009-06-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

We had a busy time these last few weeks! I took Brier to the Marbles kids museum to check out the new updates since the last time we went there. He had so much fun playing with the enormous train table, the indoor pirate ship and a huge jumping ball pit that looked like peas and carrots!

Last Friday, Jayson decided that he wanted me to shave his head for the summer. If you know Jayson, he has had the same "spiky, rhino" hairdo forEVER so this was quite a big deal. In the middle of shaving his head, we had some fun and made a mohawk. Not to be outdone, Brier wanted his head shaved too, and now both of my boys are sporting fuzzy buzz cuts. I'm not sure I like the haircut on Brier, but for the summer, it will do.

Brier had his 4 year old checkup two weeks ago, and for being a brave boy and getting his "shots" (a finger prick to check his iron level), we promised him he would get a pool. Little did he know, he was getting a blow up pool for the backyard. We tend to buy one of these every year because they wear out, lose air, get moldy, you name it. This one had a basketball theme, and it was more of a pain in the butt than anything. That fancy bridge that went on top was annoying, so we pulled it off. Check out the pictures of my redneck and his water park...

On Saturday morning, we attended Brier's Big Brother class at Rex Hospital. The idea was supposed to be to introduce children to what happens when mommy goes to the hospital, how to hold the baby etc. My kid was TERRIFIED of the fake baby dolls. He wouldn't go near them. So Daddy had to show him how to change the diaper etc. This doesn't look good for when the baby comes home!

By the way, I have 11 days left. Why won't this kid come early? Seriously...

Pour some sugar on me...

2009-06-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Guess who got tickets to see Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick in august? Oh yes my friends... ME!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.

Catch up for May

2009-06-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy May! We didn't stay home much and we made a point to be out and about.

I had a great Mother's Day this year. We continued the tradition of going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with my dad and stepmother, my brother and his fiancee, and Jayson and Brier and I. It was alot of fun and I hope we decide to keep this tradition going every year!

On the 16th, our friends Derek and Courtney got married at the Carolina Inn on the campus of UNC. It's one of my favorite places at Carolina and the wedding was beautiful. Courtney was gorgeous, as usual, and we're so happy for the both of them.

On the 19th, Brier turned 4 YEARS OLD! It's hard to believe my son has grown up so fast. We had a small party at the house with my side of the family and Brier got alot of really cool toys. He's been such a good boy lately and he's ready to be a big brother!

We finally got the sod finished in the front yard! I will put some before and after pictures out really soon - I want Jayson to mow first before I take pictures. We've had a good amount of rain, so everything greened right up for us. It's very comforting to look out the front window from my office and see beautiful grass and not those awful piles of dirt anymore!

We had a very low key Memorial Day and we stayed around the house. It was nice not to feel like we HAD to go do anything and it was great to just hang out as the three of us, considering in less than 2 weeks, we will be a family of four.

I'm getting very close to having this second baby and many people have been asking how I'm feeling. In a word: CRAPPY. Worse than with Brier and definitely worse than I expected. I'm so over being pregnant and I'm just ready for the baby to make his appearance. Jayson has guessed it will be the 12th (I'm due on the 18th) and I've always said the 7th, which is this Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed!

I will try and update more frequently - especially when the baby gets here. I have found that for some reason, when I try to add pictures to my blog, my whole computer crashes, so I apologize in advance for the slideshows instead.

Dang...

2009-06-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

I was doing so good. I was blogging several times a week. And then it all stopped. I have alot to catch you up on, and I promise it will happen soon!

We've been busy!

2009-05-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

So last week marked my first "official" week as a stay at home mom, and as such, I didn't want to actually STAY HOME much. I took Brier to meet up with my friend Heather and her two sons, Hayden and Landon, so that they could have a play date. We had plans to go to the Natural History Museum to go to storytime and look at the dinosaurs etc. Well, so did every second grader in the state of North Carolina. It was so busy! We decided to go to Pullen Park instead and the boys had a fabulous time!

They rode the boats...

They rode the train...

They rode the carousel...

And they even fed the ducks some cheerios.

The boys had a great time playing and I had alot of fun with Heather.

Later in the week, Brier and I decided to make some homemade banana bread. Brier was a great helper in the kitchen! The banana bread turned out awesome, and I've thoroughly enjoyed plenty of it myself!

90 degrees in April!

2009-04-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Last April, it snowed. This April, it was 90 degrees outside! So Brier and I decided to take a quick road trip to the beach to visit Emerald Isle and get a little bit of sun. I know what you are thinking - and NO I did not put on a maternity bathing suit and proudly parade around the beach with my belly showing for all to see. I did wear a tank top and shorts, however. Here are some great pictures of Brier playing on the beach.

He did nothing but run through the tidepools for a solid hour and a half. I got tired just watching him!

This was the end result of all that running...

Busy busy busy

2009-04-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

Look what I planted today!

It's OK... you can be jealous. Those are double knockout roses on the right. I can't remember what the plants on the left are - I planted those a long time ago and they proceeded to immediately DIE. They came back this year out of the blue so we're not sure what to think! I am excited to have flowers blooming on all sides of my house at the moment.

The stupid Sod guy

2009-04-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

The saga of the sod guy continues... I know I haven't written about this on here yet, but if you have even looked at my Facebook lately you would know that we've had a month-long battle going with a doofus that we contracted with to replace the grass in our front yard.

Here's what the jacka$$'$ "crew" left in our front yard. Nice huh?

After numerous phone calls, threats of litigation, complaints with the Better Business Bureau and me calling him 18 times a day until he responds, I think we may have gotten him to finally refund our money. I made him send me the refund authorization code last night. We'll see if it was bogus or not...

Fingers crossed, I hope I never mention this guy again.

And for good measure, NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH XTREME TURF LLC.

I repeat: NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH XTREME TURF LLC.

April update - attempt #2

2009-04-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well my feeble attempt to keep this blog updated more frequently miserably failed, but I'm trying again so please be patient! I wanted to take a minute and update some major things going on in our life.

1. We are definitely having a boy - I had another ultrasound yesterday and we saw his little boy parts (again, this is the 4th time for me) and so the name we chose was Tyler Chase. I hope he doesn't hate me for it later, but I love it. I'm due June 18th and I'm almost 32 weeks now. It doesn't seem like we are down to the home stretch, but in less than 2 months we will be a family of four.

2. I left my job at CEB at the beginning of April. Many of you know that I was part of a pilot program since July of last year to help redesign the sales department at the company. I just didn't have it in me after all was said and done to continue working there - not to talk bad about anyone at CEB as I still have some great friends there, but I don't think management knew what it was doing at all. I've been blessed with the opportunity to stay at home for a little while, and I couldn't be more excited. I now officially work for Brier!

3. My dearest friend Griffin got married on April 11th in Afton VA at the Veritas Vineyard and I've got some pictures from the fesitivities to post. She looked so beautiful and the ceremony was perfect.

The weather was iffy the whole weekend and it stopped raining long enough for the wedding, but it had to have been at least 45 degrees during the ceremony. I was so cold that my kneecaps were shivering!
Here's a picture of Jayson and I at the rehearsal dinner.

4. Jayson's grandmother passed away in early April and Jayson took Brier to the graveside service up in Newport News VA. Since Brier doesn't have to wear "church clothes" to our church yet, I had to go out and get him a little suit. Doesn't he look adorable? He wasn't that keen on wearing it but Jayson said he did great that day!

5. Last weekend we made the trip up to Saltville to visit Jayson's parents and his mother was so thoughtful and threw us another baby shower for baby #2. I got lots of good stuff! Here's a picture of me with one of my favorite gifts...

Well that's all for now - more to come soon, I promise!

Oh wow. Yes it's been a LONG time...

2009-02-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

So it was brought to my attention earlier today that I needed to update this blog as it's been almost 4 months since the last time I did. Needless to say, I don't know where to start. Here are some highlights:

1. We are expecting! We found out in mid October that we are expecting baby #2 in mid June. We have found out we're having a boy, but we don't really know what to name him. Many of you may remember how hard it was to pick a name for Brier and that had Pam never picked up that baby name book and found a name that meant "Heather" (so that we could name him after my sister), he would still be unnamed to this day! Brier is very excited to be a big brother and we are thrilled to be welcoming anoter addition to the Griffin family. I'm taking name recommendations, so please send them to me. carriegriffin1011@hotmail.com :)

2. Jayson's brother Jon has come to stay with us for awhile. Jon is Jayson's younger brother and he moved down to Raleigh from Abingdon VA to pursue his career in teaching and coaching. It's been fun having "Uncle Jonny" around and Jayson has enjoyed having his brother close by again.

3. We took another trip down to Orlando - wanted to take another trip with just Brier before the new baby got here. This time we went to the Magic Kingdom and Islands of Adventure. Brier had so much fun and really enjoyed the Spiderman and Dr Seuss areas of Islands of Adventure.

He finally got his picture taken with one of the characters at Disney too - Buzz Lightyear! This is a major improvement over last year, as he was terrified of them.

4. I've decided to go back to grad school starting next month to pursue a Masters in Human Resource Management. I've been out of college for over 10 years now, so I'm nervous about the online format, but excited for the new career opportunities I will have when it's all said and done.

That's a quick update - I will try and be better about updating this. I have a friend who will remind me if I don't. ;)

Catch up time! Most of October...

2008-10-31T07:07:00.001-07:00

Yes I know - it's been almost two months since I've updated the blog. Sorry! I wanted to let you know what we all have been up to lately. In early October we took Brier to the UNC-UConn football game and he had an absolute blast! He wasn't too excited about the fireworks that went off every time we scored (they were incredibly loud) but he had fun cheering on the Tar Heels to a big win!

Brier and I decided to have a Mommy and Me day and we went to the NC State Fair. I was a little nervous about taking Brier all by myself, but he was very well behaved and he completely shocked me when he decided he wanted to ride the BIG Ferris Wheel. We had a great time just the two of us!

Brier and I also went over to visit Grammy and Grandpa one day, and Grandpa surprised Brier with a fun project - decorating their own Halloween cookies!

On October 29th, Mommy made the trip down to Atlanta with her girlfriends Griffin and Alicia to see the New Kids on the Block in concert. It was an awesome show and worth every penny!

Home sweet home

2008-09-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

Jayson and I made the trip down to Jacksonville last weekend to see my dear friend BP Cox get married. As some of you may know, I had the priviledge of coordinating and directing this wedding, so I was very excited! BP married an awesome girl named Christy Kurek who went to high school in Jacksonville and I am very happy and excited for their new life. I don't have many pictures from the wedding as I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but here's a few to share.

While we were in Jacksonville, my mom (Grandmama) came to town to see Brier. When Brier got up on Saturday morning and realized someone else was in the house, he cautiously walked to the stairs to see who it was. When he saw it was my mom he yelled "GRANDMAMA!" really loud and ran to give her a big hug. Mom hasn't been here since February or so, so Brier has changed alot in that time period. They had a good time reading new books and playing with the airplanes Mom brought him from the air show she went to in Wisconsin. All in all, it was a great weekend!

We spent Labor Day this year cooking out on the deck with our long-standing dates, Derek and Courtney. It's so much fun to have friends who are always a sure thing when none of us have plans! :) We grilled out and played our usual game of Cranium, where Team C (Carrie and Courtney) yet again dominated the boys. One day we'll find some worthy opponents...

Two week catch-up!

2008-08-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Boy, every time I think I'm doing a good job of keeping everyone caught up on what we've been doing, two weeks goes by and I'm behind again! Sorry!

We've had a busy two weeks and the next week is no exception too. Brier had a good time spending a weekend with Grammy and Grandpa when Jayson and I went on a beach weekend for a bachelor/bachelorette party for our friends Dave and Nicole. Jayson went to Myrtle Beach and I went to Ocean Isle. Brier went to Garner! Grammy and Grandpa took Brier to their house for some fun time - Grandpa and Brier built Brier his own little rocking chair for their back porch. "I'm a great helper!" Brier told me when he got home. I'll do my best to add pictures to this post soon. Grammy always takes a million pictures when Brier is around!

I did want to add a few pictures from my trip to the beach too. This is the first time I have been to a bachelorette party in almost 3 years and I had so much fun! There were 15 girls on our trip and they were all awesome and I'm so happy to have spent some time with them. We took a group shot on the beach - yes we had on matching outfits - that was part of the fun!

Jayson and I also loaded up the car again this weekend and headed to Luray VA to go tubing and camping with our closest of friends!

Brier got to spend the weekend with Nana and Papa Jay this time and he had so much fun! They got to go out to dinner and go shopping and Brier played and played. When Nana and Papa Jay got all packed up and ready to go back to Saltville on Sunday morning, Brier put his shoes on and got his little backpack and was ready to go with them! Sadly I don't have any pictures of them from the weekend, but as soon as I do, I will add them as well.

We did however take several pictures from our camping trip and we really had such a good time.
We had 18 people total in our group and it was great getting to meet some new friends and hang out with old ones.

Howdy partner!

2008-08-13T05:17:00.001-07:00

Today was Cowboy Day at school, so Brier got to dress up and wear his cowboy hat. He kept saying "Yahoo!" the whole way there! I don't have much to tell - the pictures say it all. :)

August catchup

2008-08-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's been forever since I've posted, so I'd like to take some time to catch up on everything we've done over the past few weeks.

Jayson and I tested our hands at creating our first "Box Car" for Brier's Box Car Derby at school on Friday August 1st. We decided to make his box look like "Lightning McQueen" from the movie Cars, and I have to say, I was quite impressed with our efforts. We were so excited to see Brier "race" his car, and we both took off work early to watch the race. Jayson stood at the finish line and I stood at the starting line, and we were all ready to go. As soon as they yelled "GO!" Brier took off running, eventually setting down his box car in the middle of the race and CRYING. If you know Brier, he is the fastest little boy I've ever seen. I was actually shocked he was so upset! We chalked it up to stage fright...

On Saturday August 2nd, we decided to pack up Brier in the car and head down to Emerald Isle for the day. We couldn't find any of our beach chairs, and we had no umbrella or anything, so as soon as we got to the beach, we dropped $83 on two chairs, an umbrella, and a large shovel for Brier. We had a great day at the beach and Brier played and played and played. The last time we went to the beach, Brier was afraid of the water. Thank goodness for his life jacket because he LOVED it this time!

On Saturday August 9th, we headed over to Dave and Nicole's house for a birthday party. Dave was turning 28 and they decided to have an 80s themed party. This was the perfect opportunity to re-live my youth, tease out my hair, and to wear entirely too much makeup. I pulled out my Bon Jovi tshirt and Jayson wore his orange Crush shirt and we rocked it out!

4th of July in Saltville

2008-07-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I know it's been a few days, but I am slow in posting these blogs.

Jayson and I got up early on July 4th and packed up the car with Brier and Harley and Max (our two Jack Russells) and set out on the 4 hour drive up to the mountains of southwestern Virginia. The drive was relatively uneventful but as soon as we hit the Virginia border, it started POURING down rain. I thought to myself "There is no way possible that it's going to rain on July 4th?" Oh of course it was possible. It rained all afternoon. This was a problem because for days we had been talking to Brier about going swimming in the new wave pool in Saltville, and he wasn't going to understand that we couldn't go because of the weather.

We immediately headed down to Abingdon (a neighboring town) when we got to Jayson's parents house to go see his Aunt Judy. Judy has been in the hospital for a few weeks - she is battling cancer. Sadly her cancer has spread to her lungs and she has been having difficulty breathing, so she had to be on oxygen. It was good to see Judy but I could tell that she really wasn't feeling very well. Brier did his best to cheer her up but dancing around for her and singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". We all pray that Judy gets well soon and comes home soon.

On another note, let me back up for a moment... Yes, this small town that Jayson's parents live in has a wave pool. To say it looks out of place is a gross understatement. I have to admit though, it was pretty nice! Brier wanted to swim so bad that night so we let him wade into the shallow water but asked him not to go out too far. Before we knew it he was sitting on the floor of the pool in his clothes. Niiiiicccceeee.

We ended up sending Brier home with Nana for the night and we piled 9 grown adults into a friend's Tahoe and headed off for a bar in Bristol called the State Line. As you can imagine from the name, the bar is on State Street, which effectively straddles the state line between Virginia and Tennessee. Well, it was closed. DUH, it was 4th of July. We ended up at a place up the road called the Fast Lane. We had fun, we drank too much, it was a great time all around.

The next day Jayson and his father and his brother all played in a golf tournament at the Saltville Golf Club. Oh yes, did I mention that this town also has a golf course? Yet another thing that looks out of place. If it wasn't for the golf course and the wave pool, what would the people of this town do to stay busy??

After the first round of golf, there was a large barbecue and Jayson and I had the distinct pleasure of introducing our hometown buddies to the joy that is "Fip Cup." We had some good competition going on and the Flip Cup festivities lasted far into the night!

Sunday began with another early tee time for Jayson. He and his teammate Neil did so well in their flight that they won 2nd place in the tournament! YAY Jayson!!!! I was so excited for him. We finally got home on Sunday night close to 8pm and needless to say were exhausted...

I will try and post pictures from this trip, but I didn't remember to take out my camera the whole weekend.

Erin gets married!!!

2008-06-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

On June 21st, Brier and Jayson and I packed up the car to make the 10 hour drive north to upstate NY for my cousin Erin's wedding. It was definitely adventure - we forgot to get off the New Jersey turnpike and we ended up in the Bronx at one point. We finally made it up to Saugerties and we had so much fun with all of my family, many of which I haven't seen in way too long. Erin made the most beautiful bride and the ceremony was very sweet and touching. All of the Griffins were involved in the wedding in one way or another - Brier was a ring bearer, I did the second reading in the mass, and Jayson handed out lavendar buds to throw at the bride and groom after the ceremony. Brier did very well walking down the aisle like a big boy, I didn't trip on my way up to the alter, and Jayson survived his first Catholic wedding. ha ha

The venue for the reception was absolutely breathtaking. It was a place called Grandview, right on the bank of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie. There were beautiful mountains in the background and the sunset was just gorgeous. We took lots of fun pictures outside, including this one of all the cousins from my Dad's side of the family. I say all the cousins, but honestly, that's probably only half of us!

Don't Jayson and I look cute in our matching outfit? Yes, we plan this sort of thing.

Brier was a very well behaved child throughout the wedding ceremony and the reception. He danced and played and blew bubbles and danced and played and just looked adorable in his 3 piece suit. I always thought I had the most adorable child on earth, but he never fails to deliver on the cuteness factor when there's a camera around!

The "after party" lasted long into the night, with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins taking over the hotel bar until the wee hours of the morning. All in all we had a blast and I can't wait to see my family again soon!

Busy busy busy!

2008-06-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

I started off the weekend bright and early by dragging my butt out of bed at 6am to meet up with Griffin to run the Komen Triangle Race for the Cure. If you are unfamiliar with the Race for the Cure, it's a fundraising event sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to raise awareness and money to help fund breast cancer research. This is the 3rd time I have run this race and every year I run it in honor of my good friend Ashley Marble and my mother-in-law Marti Griffin. The race did a number on me - it was about 85 degrees out and super humid, but Griffin and I did great and celebrated our 3rd race together by going to breakfast at Bob Evan's with our families. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the race to post - I didn't bring the camera with me!

We finished off the day at a birthday party for my brother TJ. We went to the pool for a cookout and we had lots of fun! Brier is a regular water baby and he didn't spend much time out of the water. He had lots of fun playing with both Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle TJ.

The Redneck Yacht Club

2008-06-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend for the Griffin household, and as such there are many stories to tell. We started off Saturday by meeting our friend Griffin and her boyfriend Steve for a day on the boat at Jordan Lake. Steve has a beautiful speedboat and I was looking to lots of time in the sun and plenty of action on the water. I did try wakeboarding again (the first time I have tried in over 7 years) and I am happy to say that I actually got up on the board this time! The first time I tried it back in 2000 I was working out every day and still didn't have the strength to pull myself up. Not this time! But I am sore in every muscle in my back and my arms are like jello. Wakeboarding is hard work. Fun but hard.

Brier was such a big boy on the boat. Steve let him drive the boat while I was wakeboarding, and he even got out on the innertube with Jayson. We went really slow but he had a great time. Jayson couldn't try wakeboarding because of his knee surgery, but has vowed to do it at least once before the summer is over.

Saturday night we went over to my Dad's house and had dinner with all of them. My cousin Seamus was in town with his girlfriend Alex and we were so excited to hang out with the two of them and my brother TJ. Seamus just graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis MD and will be heading into the Marine Corps shortly. We are so proud of him!

Sunday was spent playing in Brier's new pool out in the backyard. It always loos like a Redneck water park because Jayson somehow rigs up a slide, a large cardboard box and a patio chair.

May update

2008-05-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a solid month since my last update and alot has happened in May! First and most important, Brier turned 3 YEARS OLD on May 19th! Our little baby has grown up into the most beautiful, comical little boy. He is completely potty trained now and he has an incredible sense of humor. Jayson and I are constantly laughing at some of the things that come out of his mouth. We are blessed to have such a wonderful child.

On May 17th we took Brier on his first plane ride down to Orlando FL to go to Disney World. We stayed at the Coronado Springs hotel on the grounds of the resort, and we really enjoyed it. Brier's favorite part of the whole trip was the hotel pool! He got to swim every night and he was hot stuff with his little life jacket! He even was brave enough to go down the big waterslide with the big kids. I had to go down with him of course, which was kind of fun in itself.

The first night we were in Orlando, we took Brier out for a special dinner at the RainForest Cafe, a personal favorite of mine. It's a rainforest themed restaurant with all kinds of animals that move and thunderstorms that happen about every 30 minutes. He loved it. He had alot of fun looking for "Dory and Nemo" in the enormous fish tanks they had there. After dinner we walked around Downtown Disney for a little while and we came across a really cool water fountain that the kids can just walk right into. Brier was completely soaked by the time we left but we got some great pictures.

Our trip consisted of a day at the Magic Kingdom, a day at Epcot and a day at the Animal Kingdom. I still think that after 30 years, my favorite is the Magic Kingdom.

In other news, we finally decided to get our patio out back expanded. It's been 4 years overdue, but we are very excited to be able to enjoy our backyard (even if it has no grass!) and are looking forward to hosting our first barbecue in June or July. More details later!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

We had the best Mother's Day this year! Jayson's mom and brother came for a visit and we had a big family breakfast with the Hawkins side of the family at the Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning. Brier had made me a bracelet at school and I proudly wore it to breakfast. I can't believe how fast our little boy is growing up. We are in the thick of potty training (almost done, from what I can tell!) and he's so opinionated now.

My little man on Christmas Eve

2008-04-29T06:15:00.001-07:00

Catch up time!

2008-04-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family! I have had many requests over the last year to continue to sending out pictures of Brier and Jayson and I, so I figured I would start a blog again to also inform everyone of what we have been up to. Hopefully this will be easier than uploading the pictures to his baby website (that was very time intensive!). I will do my best to update this on a semi-regular basis...

The most recent news in the Griffin household is that Jayson finally got to move back home permanently and will be working from the RTP location of the EPA again. Not only are we so happy to have him home, but he is so thankful to not make the god-awful trip back and forth to DC at 4am again! Brier is so excited to have Jayson home and the stability that follows has been immediately noticed.

Brier is also close to turning 3 years old... only 20 more days to go! We're taking him to Disney World for his birthday and I don't know who is more excited : Jayson who is now 34 and has NEVER been to Disney; me... who is 30 and has been a million times and knows what they are in store for and is STILL excited to go; or Brier, who just doesn't know what he is in for but is so excited he is going to get to meet Mickey Mouse and Chip and Dale! We will be down in Orlando from May 17th - 21st, and this will also be Brier's first plane ride. We've been doing everything we can to talk up this trip because this might be the last family vacation we take with just him!

That is all that's going on for now. Check back often!