I Love This!!!

I absolutely love this corner of my house. Shortly after the birth of Tug, I started to scrapbook. Scrapbooking is such a creative outlet for me. That might be one of the reasons I thought I could do the yearbook at WIHS. But that is another story. In our first house in North Carolina there was no place for me to have my 'stuff' set up anywhere. So any time I wanted to scrap some pictures I had to drag the stuff out of a closet and then put it all back up. That is no fun.

So when we had the house built we live in now (by the way I would never recommend building, not a good experience for us at all) we had a bonus room built above the garage. This room serves two purposes. It's RCM's home way from home and it's my creative corner. We went to Lowe's this past weekend and for $12 got the peg board and hooks to further organize my stuff. I love it!!! And as T was helping me get all the stuff on the pegs he had no idea I had so much stuff. He might have been a tad bit upset that I have been swandering away our retirement on scrapbook items. Hahahahaha : )

What a Whirlwind

I was finally able to talk to my doctor today about the results of my ultrasound. I have a nodule on the left side of my thyroid that is slightly bigger than a centimeter. She suggests I get it biopsied just to be on the safe side. If nothing else, I at least have to have another ultrasound in six months to make sure it stays the same size. She also suggests I get this done before school starts. That just isn't going to happen. I need to get all my records transferred to a doctor in Lake Norman. Driving to Concord once a year for a check up is one thing, but I can't drive back and forth there now with the price of gas. I just haven't wanted to change my doctor or the children's doctor since moving from Salisbury.

Oh, and did I mention that school starts in 3 weeks!!!!!???? I just got back this afternoon from a two day Jostens Yearbook Workshop. It was enlightening for sure. And makes me wonder what in the world I have signed up for. I can't even wrap my brain around it all right now. We stayed at the Embassy Suites hotel which was a first for me. What a place!!!! It was so beautiful and the staff was great.

I have so much school stuff to do but I want to squeeze out every minute of the summer that I possibly can. This Friday we are goint to Wet N' Wild with Nana to spend the day. It will probably be the last "Daycation" before we hit the ground running.

On one other note before I put this tired head on a pillow.....Todd and I have decided that we really want to start a life group but we don't feel a peace about it right now. We are thinking the spring will be a better time for us. We know this is something God wants us to pursue eventually so He isn't telling us no, He is just saying not yet.

Doctor Days

I was going to entitle this post "Ultrasound" but then I thought most of you would think I am pregnant, which I most certainly am NOT. I am pretty sure T and I are done in that department.

Anyway, this Friday is the day of doctors. I am going to get an ultrasound done on my neck, per doctor's orders. I don't think it's anything to worry about and just something she wants to have done as a precaution. Every doctor I have ever seen always wants to take blood to check out my thyroid and every once in awhile I let them. It always comes back normal so I have tried not to stress about this. I ask that you pray they find NOTHING in there that isn't supposed to be there.

Then I have got to get a physical and TB shot for my new job with the ISS system. It's been awhile since I had both done so that should be fun!!! I am also thinking of having a diabetic screening (if there is such a thing) and cholesterol screening as I have had a headache now for three days. Fun times!!!

Also, while I am asking for prayer from my dearest family and friends, our other news while we are making all these changes in our life is that we are thinking of starting our own life group. I mentioned this to my current life group leader and she said she had been praying that T and I would do this. Wow, God. We feel there is a need for a life group within the church that caters to our age group and has small children like us. When you don't know anyone it's hard to find a sitter. Ideally, we would provide a sitter or two, all children can come and play in the bonus room upstairs, and each couple could bring $6 or $7 to pay the sitter. We shall see what happens. We have a meeting Thursday night about this so I'll keep you posted. Until then........

Beach Pics

Doing what Nor-Nor does best, captivating
the audience with her musical genius!!!

Searching for pirates on the open sea!!!

Wild Hogs......I Mean Piglets

We just got back from the beach last night. We stayed at Water's Edge in Garden City, south of Myrtle Beach. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe one night and I had forgotten that they had this bike out front. Definately a good photo op. I LOVE the first of Tug barely looking over the handlebars. Priceless and I crack up every time I look at it. We had a very nice condo and for the first time ever we had a pool at the place we were staying. We are relatively new at this vacation thing with children. So........it was very nice having the pool/ocean combo. With the tropical 'thing' moving its way up from the Caribbean, the sea was very rough. We spent alot of time at the pool. We all had a great time and it was nice to NOT cook.

The Griffin Family Reunion

We have had a very busy summer and for the first time in the history of the Griffin family there was a family reunion. Uncle Bobby put the only thing together at Westin Lake in Columbia on July 5th. He had it catered by Lizard's Thicket. And before meeting and marrying T, I had no idea what the big deal was about LT. However, they do have some of the best country cookin' around. (Way better than Rushes in my opinion). This is T's one living grandparent and she is a riot. The kids have been so lucky to know her. We had a really good time that day. Thank goodness for a lake VERY near by otherwise we would have melted in that SC heat. T is convinced that Columbia is the hottest place on earth. I think I have to agree with him.

Bubbles the Clown

Okay, this is the first time our children have ever come in contact with a clown. We decided to check out the 2nd annual Fireworks/4th of July Celebration at the Lowe's YMCA in Morrison Plantation. Very nice place to do such a thing. HOWEVER......they were not expecting the crowd they got. We stood in line to get faces painted for over an hour and a half!!! Let me say that again, we stood in line for over an hour and a half. Bubbles the Clown was doing very elaborate face painting. Spiderman, American flags on the entire face, you name it and she could do it. Tug was a pirate face and Nor was a princess. The good thing about this wait, which was so ridiculous, was that afterwards we didn't have to wait very long for the fireworks to start. Nor did much better this time. She didn't really like the ones at church back in April. I think because we were way closer.

Our Future Dog Trainer

I know I have mentioned it before, but we really do have the best neighbors in the world. Mr. Jeff and Miss Amanda live next door and they are great, even if they did both graduate from Clemson. Copperstop Gunner is there dog who is now hunter/retriever champion. He is just over a year old so this is quite an accomplishment. Mr. Jeff lets Tug train with him from time to time. They even bought Tug his own lanyard for training purposes. Mr. Jeff is so patient with Tug and Tug is pretty good at this stuff if I do say so myself. Maybe it's in the blood somewhere. My dad used to train hound dogs. Maybe this Tug's new hobby/sport.

Congratulations to the Hearns

Kailyn Madison entered the world on June 17th. She is so cute. We got a chance to visit one day last week. Tug, Nor and I took lunch and I got to hold the baby for a long time. Tug and Nor played with Will while we got caught up on SHS news and being the mom of two. Fun times.......

The Latest Project

I was sitting here wracking my brain trying to figure out what I could do for Tug, since I am addicted to making hairbows for Nor-nor. So this is what I came up with. I was scrapbooking last week and came across the picture of Tug at his birthday party with his friends. I didn't really want to frame it because there is no place in his room to place a frame. This is my homemade picture board. Not bad for a first try. I think it turned out pretty good and the background fabric is vintage. Gram let me go through her fabric bins and take whatever I thought I might need. How fun!!!!

4th of July Fun at Miss Wina's

She is such a big girl with her floaty!!!

We really do have the best neighbors in the world. The Gazaille's invited us over for a 4th of July cookout and swim. We had such a good time. We got over there pretty early and it's a good thing. As I type this it looks like it is about to rain. Nor-nor seranaded everyone with her version of "Tomorrow" from the movie Annie which by the way I have watched at least once a day since school has been out. I think Tug and Nor are both like their father, they love a good musical. Maybe I'll have to break down and buy The Sound of Music just to have a break. Now I have to go decorate a cake for tomorrow's family reunion. Pictures to follow.