Happy Birthday GG!!!

To a "Spectacular" Grandma, very "Loving" Mom

and the "BEST" Mother-In-Love in the World!

We send you all our love on this special day!

Happy Birthday and We LOVE you!!!

(PS. I know this picture is from Christmas but I thought it was too cute of GG and Cohen)

Happy Birthday Papa O!!!

We wanted to wish YOU a happy, Happy Birthday!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day....

And we LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!

21 Months & A 3-day weekend!

Happy Friday to ALL! This week has been a long one for sure and I am so ready to enjoy this 3 day weekend.

Today Cohen is 21 months. I've said it before, he is growing so fast and I know there is no way of stopping him. He is our fast growing little man! Nothing major has changed since last month. He has added more words to his vocabulary, tries to be very independent but still needy at times, and "out-ide" is still his favorite place to be. He mimics things you say or do. For example, a phrase I often say is "oh jeez" and then he will repeat it. However, the other night he was playing and dropped something and the next thing we heard was him saying "oh jeez". Charlie and I just started laughing. And has said it a few times on his own since then. It is very cute but just a big reminder that a kid will quickly learn anything you say or do.

Although I am looking forward to this 3 day weekend, it is also going to be a SAD one for the Gibson household too. I had mentioned not long ago that we had a very bad incident with our dog, Bogey. Well, after that happened, he broke through our gate at the stairs to the bonus room and a few days later, starting chewing on the molding around the garage door. These sort of things is something that even as a puppy, he never did. And it has brought us to making a decision that we have dreaded to even think about. This will be the last weekend we will have him as part of our family. We feel that he is acting out because he doesn't receive the attention he use to get prior to Cohen. Bogey is a good, friendly dog and it breaks our hearts to make this decision. But he deserves to be happy and have someone that can give him more attention. And since he cant handle staying in a crate while we are gone, we just can not trust him to have free range in the house. Taking the chance of something getting destroyed that is not replaceable or would cost way too much to replace. I am thankful that we were able to find him a home and I know, thanks to my parents, that he is going to family that will offer him the attention he deserves. The family lives on a large piece of land where Bogey will have plenty of space to roam and there will be someone at home with him almost everyday. A few things that I know Bogey will enjoy the most is being able to lay on a couch, something that I stopped once we purchased new furniture and sleeping in the bed with someone. We were informed that he will be able to do both of these which makes me happy. Though it is going to be the best decision for all of us, it still is going to be hard to cope with. And I am sure it will take us some time to get use too because he has been a part of us for 5 years now, since he was 8 weeks old. Please say a little prayer for us!

Well the work week is almost over and time to enjoy another quick weekend. I hope everyone has a Great Memorial Day weekend!

Lovin' all the babies....

For me, it seems that there has been a number of babies come into this world this year and still more little ones to come. Earlier this year, a few friends welcomed theirs. In April, my cousin-in-love Tricia, had her second, who we just got to meet this past Sunday. On Monday, a dear friend and who happens to be the BEST hairdresser, Deanna, welcomed her first, Makenzie Jess Hopkins. Who was a beautiful baby girl and I forgot to take my camera when I went to visit, so no picture to show. Then on Tuesday, my cousin Derrik and cousin-in-love Michelle, welcomed their second, a baby boy. I had the pleasure of getting to meet and hold precious Nathaniel Adair Nabors yesterday. He was 7 lbs 3 oz and 19 1/2 inches long and I might add that this little one came into the world with indecisive parents about the name. But thankfully, they decided and we can stop referring to him as "little dude" (LOL). Since mommy Michelle was ready to be in the comforts of their home and after she and baby received clearance from the Doctor, they were released after spending one night in the hospital.

A funny story that I just have to tell. When they arrived home, Michelle went to change his diaper and lets just say, Nathaniel was producing plenty of poop. We all shared some laughs with it. But what was funny, when we got in the car to leave, I asked Cohen about the baby and did he like seeing the baby. All he kept saying was "Baby poop" and that was it. My son definitely has some toilet humor....

Within the past several days, I have had the pleasure of holding a 5 wk old and two "very" newborns and I have absolutely LOVED IT! It is such a wonderful feeling and what joy it gives you when holding a precious one. And seeing the blessing that God has sent down to each family!!! Nothing like it.

There are a few more mommies-to-be, either for the first time or second, that will be holding their bundle of joy later this year. And I cant wait to be see these BLESSINGS take place for them!!!!

Adorable Alexander!!!

Sunday, Cohen and I along with GG, made our way down to Columbia to meet the newest addition to the Howard Family, 5 week old, Alexander Boggs. Who is absolutely an adorable baby boy! It had been a while since we had seen the Howards so it was really nice getting to hang out with them. And we also had the pleasure of seeing Aunt Jane and Uncle Mont. Cohen and Hamilton seemed to have had a blast playing together as well. When it was time to go, Cohen wasn't too thrilled to leave. And we hated to leave as well but it was time to head back to Greenville. Thank you Tricia and Craig for allowing us to come visit. It was wonderful seeing you all and getting to hold that bundle of joy you have been blessed with! Cant wait till the beach!!!

Aunt Libby (aka GG), Cohen, Cousin Tricia, Big Brother Hamilton, Uncle Mont and Baby Alexander

Two Sweet Little Boys!

Happy Birthday Papa!

We wish you a very Happy Birthday and Love You Lots!

Great Friends, O.K. Pizza & Not-so-good service

Crystal, Whitney, Lauree, Lisa, Amy, Kristen, Me, Lindsay & Shea

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For our Girls' dinner and chat No. 7, we decided to check out a new place that had opened up in Greenville - "American Pie Factory". As always, it was great to see all the gals and everyone seems to really look forward to these each month. This time, we were able to work it out to have it when Whitney was in town from Florida and we had the pleasure of meeting a new addition to Lisa's family, eight week old Claire. She was absolutely adorable!

I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with this place. The pizza was alright. I've had better and I've had worse. It appears that everyone was o.k. with the food but the service from our waitress, not-so-much! The number of times she had to fix someones bill was ridiculous. But most importantly, it really doesn't matter how the service or food was, spending time with the girls was worth it.

Getting ready to begin...

I am getting more and more excited about Cohen's Big Boy room and can not wait anymore. Within the next few weeks, my goal is to start working on cleaning out the other bedroom. I am thrilled that we finally have settled on a bed and now, all I have to do is place the order. Since the bedroom is fairly small, a twin or daybed was really the only choice we could go with if we wanted Cohen to have floor space to play on. I started focusing on daybeds but was finding that majority were on the feminine side. However, I finally found one and absolutely loved it. I have really enjoyed searching and finding accessories for the room and I just hope that once all of it has been put together, that it looks good. Something that I have really wanted was a vintage metal stop sign. Last year, I had found some traffic signs on PBK but just didn't want to pay the price for them. I kept checking to see if they would mark them down but one day, they were gone. I wasn't having any luck until I made a stop by Hobby Lobby on Saturday. As Cohen and I were making our way to the check out line, I just happened to go down a section that would put a big smile on my face. I spotted a metal traffic light wall art, so of course I wanted to check it out. Lo and behold behind it was a metal stop sign. I am sure that I would have bought it regardless but it was only $6.00. The traffic light sign was only $5.00, so I just couldn't pass on buying it too.

Since we decided to go with a tan color (thanks to Linds' suggestion), the color that is currently painted in the bedroom will look great. So we saved time and money! I still have several things that I need to get such as a curtain, shelves and would like to get some bins or totes for the closet. Hopefully I will stick to my goal to have the room cleaned out and can officially begin the process. Cant wait to share the final outcome!

So Blessed!

I hope every mommy out there had a great Mother's Day! I know I did and was quickly reminded of how blessed I am to have Charlie and Cohen in my life. Becoming a mother is such a wonderful blessing and I am very thankful God has picked me to be Cohen's mommy. The weekend turned out to be nice. Friday night, we just hung out at home and attempted to finish our Mother's Day gifts and I would find out that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. This year I decided to place Cohen's hand print on a plate. I was for sure this would be something Cohen would love to do but that was not the case. I was able to get the paint onto his hand but when it came time to placing it on the plate, Cohen wasn't to thrilled about it. Even with M&Ms, we couldn't bribe him. I kept thinking to myself, "way to go Tonya and waiting to the last minute, now I am going to have find a last minute gift".... Charlie brought up the idea of waiting until he was asleep. Wasn't sure it would work but worth the try. Of course that meant I had to rock him sleep and it didnt take long. He was out and after battling with a balled-up hand, we made it happen. I think they turned out really cute and both GG and Grandma loved it.

On Mother's Day, I was able to sleep in which I really needed it. I was suprised by my two boys with sausage biscuits. Even though we were getting crumbs everywhere, I didnt mind at all. It was fun just hanging out with them in the bed. I was then surprised with the sweetest card ever. It was one of those you can record your own voice and to hear the sweet voice of my 20 month old son say "luv u" was so precious. And Daddy did great picking out a beautiful picture frame that has a sweet saying about family, plus he put a picture of us three in it.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to my in-loves for our celebration of Mother's Day which was also Pops' birthday and an early birthday for GG.

Happy Birthday POPS!

We hope you had a great one and We love you!

Doggie Disaster

I can not express how happy I am that today is Friday and less than two hours, I will be through with work. This weeks has been, in so many ways, RUFF! And I am glad it is almost over....Not sure what all is planned for this weekend, but we are getting together with the in-loves on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day, Jerry's Birthday, and an early celebration for Libby's Birthday!!! We hope to take a drive up to the mountains for a family picnic, but not sure is the weather is going to allow it. Originally we were going to attempt Saturday which I am glad we pushed off a day, because for some odd reason, I have been procrastinating on finalizing the gifts. So I will need tonight and tomorrow to finish. I know what I need to get, it is just making myself go get it. Very unlike me, I usually have any gift bought, wrapped and ready to be given to that person in weeks ahead of time.

In other Gibson news, I came home last night to find out that we had a Doggie Disaster. I am glad that it was Charlie that came home first because I am not sure how I would have reacted. Apparently Bogey tried to get out of the gate and was not successful, except to have made the entrance way to our bedroom look like a bloody murder had taken place. He is now without three of his teeth. Charlie took a picture to show this disaster and I just could not believe it. I decided to not post the picture in fear of grossing anyone out. The blood was not only on the carpet but it made its way onto the curtains and on the couch. It was amazing to see the distance of where the blood splattered to. Charlie worked very hard to have it all cleaned up prior to my arrival and yes, I will be making plans here soon to have the carpet professionally clean. But in the meantime, I just don't know what to do about Bogey. Poor Bogey! I feel so bad for him. We have realized that he does not like to be confined. We have battled with, although not to this extreme, these issues before.

So why did he feel the need to try to chew his way out? Could this be "doggie" separation anxiety? I don't know but it is breaks my heart and is frustrating at the same time. Bogey is good dog and for the most part, always has been. We decided to shut all doors and make sure everything was picked up. I placed clothes basket and other things on the leather couches to insure he could not get on them. So just maybe he will do fine being able to roam most of the house and not destroy anything.

Does anyone else battle with this sort of thing with your dog? If so, how do you handle it? I am just hoping that with a little more freedom given and no gate in his way, our problem will be solved.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!! And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and mommies-to-be!!!!

A good night for tacos!

Silly me didn't realize that yesterday was Cinco de Mayo until I saw a comment made on Facebook. I mean, it's not like it is a holiday that I would normally celebrate or anything. But it is for sure a fun one and great excuse to eat tacos! Funny thing is, we had been talking about making plans to go out to dinner with another couple, whom we haven't hung out with in a long time. Tuesday night seemed to be the night we picked and we knew the place would be El Jalisco, a place where we use to go all the time. Needless to say, we knew it would be packed but nothing sounded better than some Mexican food. The wait ended up not being too bad and the food was delicious. It was great hanging out and catching up with our friends/neighbors, The Bryants. Lee and Melissa had just returned home from California, where they were living temporarily for Lee's job. However, receiving the news that they were EXPECTING, they decided they wanted to have the baby in the great State of South Carolina, their home! We are so thrilled for them and can't wait to meet their little boy in October!!!!

A Scarf for me?

How exciting it is to win a prize! A prize from the ever-so-sweet and creative Lindsay. She started a TV Hiatus week. Check it all out @ When a Duet Becomes a Trio. This is something that I wish I would attempt. When you have favorite shows, especially as many as I do, it is hard to turn it away and not watch them. I give her props for trying and I know she will succeed. She just might be that inspiration to turn off the tube myself.

~~~

The prize I won was a beautiful scarf. Although I haven't seen it yet, I know it has to be gorgeous because Linds has fabulous taste. So I can't wait to receive it. I won this prize by making comments on her blog. You could win a prize too so go now and visit her blog!!!!

"The Adorable Trio"

(Linds, this post is not intended to be part of your TV Hiatus week contest #2, just wanted to brag on my win...LOL!!!!)

Could never go "Overboard"...

The weekend turned out to be really nice. Friday, after work, I headed over to my in-loves to meet my better halves. Of course I found my little man doing what he loves the most, playing "out-ide"..... It was brought up that Pops mentioned "Silverbay" and if you know me, I am always up for some seafood. Every time we go, I always eat way too many hush puppies and can't wait to dive right into a plate of (any kind) shrimp! And of course, I always eat way too much and feel yucky afterwards. But it is worth it!!!

~

Saturday, GG and I drove to the Gaffney outlets where we joined my cousin-in-love, Lindsay and her mom for some fun shopping and lunch at The Cracker Barrel. We had a great time and tried not to go overboard with the shopping. I am "thinking" that Cohen might be set for summer clothes. Got some adorable clothes at a great price. You just can't beat a $1.99 or 50% off reduced price sales racks.

Clothes for Cohen was my main agenda for this shopping trip, however, I also ran across some other great items that I had to purchase. One thing Cohen will need come this fall, is a lunch box. Although I know you can get a lunch box anywhere, I had my mind set on one at Pottery Barn kids that would match his preschool backpack and have his name placed on it. But where I would have spent $19 plus cost of having it personalized and the shipping costs putting it around $30, I found one on sale and got it for $5.98. I just have to take it and have his name put on it. Hoping that it doesn't cost to much but I am sure it will come out under the one from online.

Something that I am just really excited about and know that it will go perfect in Cohen's big boy room, are these two sconces that look like car headlights. Since I haven't had any luck finding a decorative traffic light, I thought these would be cute hanging in his room. I passed on them the first time but during lunch, I decided to call "the" man that would have to install these sconces to see if he would even want to. He was OK with it and so I made the purchase. This has officially put me in the "I want to do it now" mood and I am ready to get started on his room. I was even able to find a cute night light that looks like a traffic light.

Sunday, we were bad and slept in. I hated that we missed Church but I think we all were just so tired and needed some extra sleep. We managed to get some things done around the house and I officially have all "my" clothes in either my closet, dresser or a container under the bed. Why do I think I need to have this much clothing? (lol). Later on, Cohen and I took a drive to see Grandma and Papa, who just arrived home from a trip to Georgia where my dad participated in a tennis match. We ended the night with some pizza and playtime "out-ide". The first weekend in May turned out to be really fun and cant wait to see what the rest of the month offers!

Weekend Randomness

I just cant believe the month of May is here and we are really close to summer time! Love this weather!!! And really looking forward to hanging out by the pool. Just maybe I will actually get and keep a nice tan all summer, unlike the past two where I remained my whitey self.....

• As I sit here watching the clock, I wish I was at home with my hubby. Today started his mandatory day off once a pay period, without pay. This was something Charlie was informed of a few weeks ago and is to last until the end of June, then it will be re-evaluated. We are just praying for the best outcome. We are very thankful that we both have jobs and are blessed in so many ways. So I know it is in God's control on what happens from this point.
• But with his day off, he and Pops have been busy. First a 45 minute drive to the dump to discard an old, and I mean, a very old chair. Afterwards, headed to the landscaper place to purchase a scoop of mulch. Cant believe that I am saying this, but I am excited about seeing the new mulch in our yard, now we just need flowers. Last I heard, they were working around the pool, getting it ready for some good use...
• I am excited about this weekend mainly because tomorrow morning Libby and I will be joining my sweet cuz-in-love, Lindsay and her mom, Cindy, at the Gaffney Outlets. Really looking forward to hanging out with these lovely ladies and do my best not to spend too much money!!!
• At some point, I really need to get some house cleaning done. BAD!!! There is stuff everywhere and not to mention the mopping, dusting and vacuuming that is calling my name. I just need more time in the day.
• It appears we have a sick puppy at home. Last night, I walked up on a surprise in our kitchen floor and let's just say "It was not pretty". I will spare you the details but it was gross. It happened again at 1:30 am and again at 3:30 am. Charlie and I were both hating it. And our stomachs were not going to be able to handle anymore so Charlie thought it would be best to let him remain outside until the morning. Poor Bogey, but hopefully it has passed.
• Need to finish getting together the Mother's Day gifts for our moms. I am really excited about them and just know they are going to love it!!!

So I hope I just didn't bore you with my randomness! I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys whatever it is you have planned!

Happy Birthday Uncle Mont!!!