Christmas Toddler Talk

Just a few quotes I wanted to blog before I forget:

When we decorated the house for Xmas, I got a small tree for each boy. Coop's is a purple tree with Hot Wheels ornaments. Brady's is a silver tree with Rudolf & Sesame Street ornaments. Cooper asked me later that day, "When Brady gets as tall as my ears, could we please get him some Hot Wheels ornaments also?" I just thought that was soooo sweet b/c obviously Cooper thought Brady got the lesser of the decorations.

We have been enjoying the "Elf on the Shelf" this year. If you don't know about it, then you need to invest. It is a children's book that comes with a little Elf. The story explains how Santa sent this Elf to watch the children for him & the Elf flies back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa. It also says that if the kids touch the Elf then it loses its magical powers. I can't say that my kids have tried to act better in front of the Elf, but they both eagerly look for it in a new location everyday (of course, a few times the Elf forgot to fly b/c he was "too tired")

Homage to Mary

Our sermon at church this morning focused on Mary and how the angels told her to not fear the news she was a virgin carrying the baby Jesus. It was a very good message but I couldn't help but think about a certain Mary that is in our lives. (not to discredit THE Mary)

Mary Paige is my 6 year old niece (Brad's sister Genia's daughter) who lives in Alexandria, LA. She has no fear & is just hilarious. Recently, I was telling her how proud I was to hear that she was playing the hand bells at her church. I then asked what she thought about her church. Her response...."Well, I'm not going back until after Christmas!"....I was confused & asked why....she said matter of factly, "Well, they are having a Christmas program & the only parts left were sheeps & shephards & I am NOT going to be a sheep or a shephard!"

Her personality is fitting b/c she was named after Brad & Genia's Mimi whose name was Mary & she was even more of a spitfire!

MARY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Silly 2 Headed Momma

That is exactly what Cooper called me after we got home from his first surgery...long overdue tubes in his ears. He has had many ear infections, but recently we noticed he was having alot of trouble hearing so FINALLY we got the go ahead from our pediatrician.

We were scheduled for Tuesday morning & we were uncertain if it would proceed b/c there was a winter storm that arrived Monday night. We were a bit late, but made it just fine. Cooper refused to wear his pajamas, but Brady went in Spiderman pj's & Lightning McQueen shoes & bed-head hair.

I have been blessed that both of my boys take medicine well; actually too well b/c they always want more. Coop was given some oral versed & got a bit loopy & had his 4 minute surgery without complication. When he woke up we knew it (the entire hospital knew it), he was delirious & basically hysterical. The nurses said red heads are the worst!

After 30 minutes of me, Brad & nurse Kristi trading off holding the hysterical red head...we got to go home. Calmness occured & the boys sat down & ate pop-tarts. That is when Coop looked up at me & said, "you silly momma, how did you get 2 heads?"

He also was very confused why he couldn't remember "the doctor with the mustache" fixing his ears.

We are happy to report major behavior improvements began that afternoon & have persisted (thank you Lord for hearing my prayers) I guess the poor baby was really suffering the last month.

Santa Party

Santa made a surprise, early visit to our home Friday night. We were so lucky to have invited some friends over to play. He even brought some gifts for each of us! Most of the kids "enjoyed" Santa.

Amanda, Brooks, Bennett, Blakely & Brandon Potts

Melanie, Avery, Ainsley & Scott Smith

Adrienne, Parker & Riley Nash

(we made Jason late b/c of a last minute beverage run)

Brad, Cooper, Me & Brady

Cooper & Brady "enjoying" Santa


That's more like it...Brady like being a Reindeer!

It certainly has been a whirlwind since Thanksgiving. I have presents/UPS packages/lists tucked away all over my house. I also tucked away our main camera somewhere & can't find it (that explains why no Turkey Day pics)

Breakfast with Santa

Cooper & Riley got to go & see Santa at the Dazzle Daze event. Adrienne & I thought they did well when they sat on Santa's lap. Santa even talked about Cooper's brother, Brady, and his dog, Wiggy. They got to do a craft & eat breakfast & then the mom's got to do some shopping (kind of)

Cross Creek Bridge

We can't wait to relax on these benches on the deck


THE Bridge


As the pictures depict, the cabins are coming along (according to Brad the time schedule is on "Heber time") Everything is slower up there, but we predict everything will be better up there also (the food, the friends, etc) THE bridge will connect our lot to the Gostomski's lot. They are our old neighbors from Louisiana & the neighborhood we lived in was called Cross Creek so we found it fitting to name the bridge "Cross Creek"

One "Happy" Family

Happy is the operative word in this post. Tonight, we got everybody bathed/brushed/pottied/quieted & we all four sat on the couch together watching football. Nobody was squirming or pinching or squealing.

I had a warm, fuzzy moment & said, "Aren't we just a happy family" Cooper looked up and said, "Actually sometimes were a mad family...you know like when you kept making mean faces at me putting me in time-out"

So much for warm fuzzies lasting too long...next time I'll keep it to myself!

Bathing Booties

Fly Fishing

Brad's big catch


I decided waders would be great maternity clothes

Tony cooking us lunch on the riverbank

Oops, Brad slipped & got muddy on the riverbank

My biggest trout of the day

Tony "the guide"

For our anniversary (9th), I gave Brad a guided fly fishing trip for us on the Little Red. We spent last Saturday with Tony (our guide) learning to fly fish. We had a blast; it was very challenging yet relaxing. I was definitely the only chic on the river, but I must say I'm a pretty good novice fisher"man". If interested, check out their website http://www.ozarkangler.com/ although, I don't think they can guarantee you can always see such pretty leaves on the trees.

Doctor in Training

I have tried really hard to make sure I get some of the same photos of Brady that I did of Cooper so they will both look back & feel equally loved. The other day, I realized I had never gotten a picture of Brady wearing scrubs. We were given two pair as gifts when Cooper was born & he actually wore them alot. So I dug thru the rubbermaid containers & found the scrubs. One pair was completely too small for Brady, but the other one had hope....kind of....it wouldn't fit over his big head! Imagine that! I thought I could just make a small snip in the seam & squeeze it over his head. While attempting that, the entire shirt ripped about 8 inches, but it did fit over his head (can I hear a hallelujah for c-sections).

Well, at that point, I became even more determined & grabbed the stapler & scotch tape to put it back together. Just as I was putting in the last staple on my wiggly 22 month old, Coop wakes up from his nap & comes around the corner & looks at me like I had lost my mind!?!

Halloween Day & Night!

Cooper's teacher, Miss Kristin

Miss Monica

Pinata time

Group shot

Coop loved the teeth

Cooper & Incredible Luke

I swear holidays are getting longer & longer--it's pretty bad when it takes 5 posts to cover all of the Halloween activities. Ok, here it is....Halloween morning: preschool party for Coop the Mummy (they wouldn't let them dress up as action heroes...had I known this earlier I wouldn't have purchased Batman...anywho) I thought the school did a great party & all of the teachers even dressed up. They had a tunnel to crawl thru/monster heads to hit/a spooky cauldron full of gummy body parts.

Then we went home & packed & went to LA. We T or T'd with the Knowles & had a blast. I regret not getting a pic of them dressed up as a hill-billy family --hilarious, yet scary. They had gumbo cooked & a hayride to take us around the neighborhood. The photo captures the singing/dancing skeleton that my boys were obsessed with. (Be glad I did not get a video of that)

The boys loved T or T'ing & thank goodness only ate 2 pieces of candy that night. We did knock on one door & the man had on a UCA tshirt & we told him we lived in Conway & he was sharing with us that his son plays football at UCA. Right about then, Coop walks up & hands me a Halloween pencil & says, "Hey, give this pencil back to that guy & tell him that's not a real treat" It's just a good thing that I was in my Princess Leia costume b/c I didn't have to be embarrased b/c who knows who Batman's mom is???

Family Pumpkin Patch Outing

A few days before Halloween, we went as a family to the Mayflower pumpkin patch. We had to make sure Brady got to see all the pumpkins & have the photo-ops. The weather was B-U-tiful & we just looked at all of the variety of pumpkins & then went to play on there ghetto playground equipment. If you have been there then I think you will know what I mean by ghetto.

Fall Festival

Have you ever seen Batman play golf?


Brady never took off his mask (despite it blocking his vision)



Family Foto on a hayride

Batman & Robin on their way to fight crime

Jennifer & Jaycee on the hayride

The Sunday before Halloween, our church hosted a Fall Festival. We were a bit concerned about it becoming a disaster b/c we had to wake Coop up from a nap to go to the party (low and behold, he did great). The other challenge was putting Brady's costume on him---he screamed as if he was inside of a haunted house. Once we arrived at church, the boys had a blast and were on their best behavior.