Snow Fun

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our snowy weekend. They say it will snow again tonight. I can not remember this much snow since the "blizzard of 93" when I was in seventh grade. I mean, we are talking 15 years ago!

Here is Cohen patting a tree. Grandpa has taught him well.

My attempt at a picture of the boys together. Cohen was not cooperating.

More Snow!

Pete did a great job with his first ever post, don't you think?!? The boys really had a great time and the snow was just beautiful. I tried so hard to get photos of Cohen; most of the time he ignored me and kept walking away, fast! It is so hard keeping up with him! The whole time I just kept thinking of those Family Circus comics from the Sunday paper, when they illustrated the path that the baby took all over the yard with the dashed lines. I should've just shot video the whole time so you could hear me screaming, "Cohen, Cohen!" just to try to get him to turn and look at me. He avoided looking at me the entire time.

Cohen took off right out of our yard once we got outside. You'd think we were holding him against his will!

There were several times when I was taking a picture of Kent and would look and see Cohen was nowhere in sight. I would ask, "Where's Cohen?" and Kent would say, "Oh he just rolled down that hill" or "he's going into the neighbor's backyard!" My nerves could take no more, so we moved to the backyard, which is fenced.

This morning I took Cohen straight to the backyard. Everything was SO PRETTY!

Here is Cohen ignoring me as he walked past me. He doesn't even look up! I am screaming his name the whole time! He must think he can get away with it with the hat covering his ears! This is one of the few photos of him moving that I was able to get in focus. He's a quick one.

The pretty view from our side yard as Cohen finds his way out of the backyard.

Snow in Georgia?

Finally it has snowed in GA! I have seen a few occasions of snow flurries and unfortunately black ice, but this is the first time we had the opportunity to play in snow that sticks.

On this special occasion Laura was able to get off work an hour early and I rescheduled all my appointments to be with my family and to play in the snow.

Cohen just has no fear! From the sand to the ocean and now the snow. As soon as we put him down he was off and running through the snow towards our steep hill. I started to chase him, but the fear of slipping on ice took over and I stopped to watch. I knew Cohen would recover that night, but God only knows how long it would take for me to recover from a fall. Well, Cohen took a tumble down the hill; he tuck himself in and rolled all the way into the neighbors yard. All I could see was his little head pop up and down over the hill as he took off running again. It was really hard to contain this kid in the vast openness of our cul-de-sac, so we decided to move into the fenced in back yard. We have a pretty large back yard and Cohen loved the freedom of having no one chasing after him. He went off to be one with the land and every now and then he would return to Mommy. His love for the outdoors is so evident.

Kent and I decided to celebrate this moment with a larger than life snow man! This task seem pretty easy until Kent could not roll the bottom of the snowman anymore. So I took over. I rolled and rolled until it wouldn't roll anymore more. Kent and I tried one more roll and it simply would not move, so we decided that spot was a perfect home. The difficulty of moving that first ball did not cross my mind when making the second ball. I guess I didn't think about having to lift it! The second ball was extremely, extremely heavy. I huffed and puffed and using all my might I lifted that 60lb ball ice. Note to self: it does not matter how fluffy the snow is, it is still water weight. I decided that the head would be a decent size and once we put the head on, he was not tall enough. So we constructed a top hat to make him really big! Kent and I took our time on some of his details. Kent took one of his Valentine candy hearts, which was purple, and we placed it inside his chest so he could live. He had a carrot nose, grapes for his teeth and pine cone eyes. We even put leaves on the side of his hat and gave him a bottom lip and eye brows. It was a great moment to spend with Kent. Unfortunately, we lost our snowman the next day. We found him face down in the snow, but there was no sign of foul play. The coroner said his tiny little purple heart with the quote "Hug Me" on it could not pump enough blood through his large obese body. Sadly, it was a massive heart attack. I should have seen the signs with a 60lb mid section.

Laura had a blast hitting me with snow balls and of course the kids started hitting me. I was about to throw one at her and she looked at me and said "it's going to hurt." I turned away only to give her my back as she nailed me with another one. Thanks for the two days of fun, wished snow could be here often. I know others disliked it, but the kids enjoyed it so much. The only thing I can tell you as I close this post is to make sure you have some kids involved in your life. They are such a blessing!

When Kent Grows Up

On the way home today Kent told me that he was almost a man.

I said, "Wow, you are growing up, huh?" Kent said, "When I grow up I'm going to be your daddy." I said, "no..." and then he responded, "when I grow up I'll be Cohen's daddy." I tried to explain, "when you grow up you will be someone's daddy, but not mine or Cohen's." This didn't satisfy Kent. He asked, "whose daddy will I be?" I told him, "when you grow up you will have a wife and you will have children and you will be their daddy." I thought Kent was beginning to understand because he said, "ohhhh!" I could hear the light bulb was going off! And then he said, "Cohen will be my wife!!!!" I busted out laughing and said, "no, no, Cohen will always be your brother! Your wife will be a girl." This was getting deep! I was waiting for Kent to start asking me which girl he knew was going to be his wife, but he said responded with a disappointed "oh man!" I asked what was wrong and he said, "I just really wanted Cohen to be my wife!"

I am STILL laughing!

Kent's Birth Story...According to Kent

Kent told me this story on the way to school the other day:

"Mommy, when I was a baby, I was inside your tummy and it was really dark! And I could see your chest" (weird I know, I think he meant stomach-he sometimes gets these mixed up!)

"Your tummy got really big and you and daddy went to the hospital and your tummy broke open and I was born! And then I said watch mommy, and then I grew up!"

Looking back, he wasn't too far off...he turns five next week.

Long Time No Write

I know, I know. Many of you have been wondering why I haven't been blogging. I really don't have a good excuse. Most nights I just end up falling asleep before I can blog anything and then I do put it off because I am soo far behind. Writing about things that happened months ago just doesn't seem as fun. I thought maybe Pete would take over.....guess not. I really do love documenting the events of my family and since I don't have a single photo album from after high school, I must continue! Enough excuses and complaining. I vow to not disappoint anymore! No more friendly nudges or questioning conversations. I'm back.

Many thanks to Meredith for my blogging "award" to get me back into the game. It worked. More on that later.

The Beach- September

We decided on the spur of the moment to go to the beach for Labor Day weekend in September. Like, we left 4 hours after we decided to go. One of my friends at school has a beach house in Amelia Island and let us have the weekend super cheap after she had a cancellation. We jumped on the opportunity and took some friends with us.

We had a great time and if you've been to the beach in September, then you know it is the absolute best time to go! No crowds and just hot enough. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing Cohen's reaction to it all. He was absolutely hilarious! Cohen has apparently been waiting his whole life (the whole year) for the beach. They were made for each other!

Our first morning at the beach I was sitting with Cohen taking pictures of Annie (who is a whole 40 minutes older than Cohen). I was snapping away when Josh, Annie's daddy, said something about Cohen really taking off...

I turned and looked, expecting to see him just a few feet away and this is what I saw!

I know!!! I panicked and ran over to him. I remembered to take a photo before I got too close when I realized he wasn't in any danger. I am still shocked. Kent hated the sand the first time he went to the beach. He hated it so much he stood in a bucket so the sand wouldn't touch him! I'll post that picture later to prove it. Cohen just took off. Not that this should surprise me, he never was much for being still.

Exploring...

I caught Cohen right before a wave splashed right up in his face. Yes, he crawled straight out to the ocean and continued right into the water. He was not surprised or afraid one bit. The sand was very shelly in some areas and crawling through it all never seemed to phase him. He didn't ask to be picked up once.

Cohen was so comfortable with the sand and surf, he took naps out there each day! I even got to read a little, imagine that!

Kent had a great time too! He was all about making sand castles and caking sand all over Cohen who didn't mind one bit.

We had a great time. Now, I am a Gulf gal, but out of all of the Atlantic beach places I have been, I like Amelia Island the best!

Late Afternoon Naps

Oh, the time change! How it messes up our schedule! It is not uncommon for the boys to take a nap on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes this nap can last extra long especially if we were late getting home from lunch, like today. With it getting dark so much earlier, it makes it especially hard for the boys to wake up. Today, both boys were still asleep at 6 pm. It was dark outside and I considered, for a moment, to just let them sleep. I mean, maybe they would think it was night and just keep sleeping, but then I thought they should eat dinner. Second guessing myself, I thought about the "never wake a sleeping baby" rule. But, would Cohen wake up wide eyed and bushy tailed at 3 am?? Very likely. Kent would probably sleep all the way through...but he may be so deeply asleep that he might have an accident. When did he go the bathroom last? I HATE changing sheets in the middle of the night. I argued in my mind for 15 minutes!

Well, I ended up getting them both up and they ate and were back asleep by 8:45. I know, I'm lucky.

We did have one minor situation. When you wake Kent up, he is VERY disoriented. He takes a long time to wake up and sometimes he refuses and just goes limp with his eyes rolling back in his head. Today, he woke up okay and while I was holding him in the living room he said he had to go to the bathroom. He stumbled down the hall to the restroom. A few minutes later, I walked back to check on him and he was standing on his stool at the sink with his pants and underwear around his ankles. He was just standing there looking in the mirror. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I was going to wash my hands, but I forgot to go potty first!" I looked closer and realized that he had in fact gone potty, just at the sink instead of the toilet!!! Pee covered the cabinet under the sink and formed a puddle under the stool. When I opened the door of the cabinet, you guessed it, pee ALL over the first aid supplies under the sink. Surprisingly, band aids and their wrappers are very absorbent! Kent and his clothes were all dry thankfully and I still don't think he realizes he peed all over the sink... He just kept asking me why I was laughing. :) I'm so glad he didn't get upset, it was just tooooo funny!

Brotherly Love

Cohen absolutely loves his brother. Here is what happens when Cohen finds Kent asleep...

Fun with Nana

Pete's mom came to visit for a week before school started. We had a great time going to the park, playing "Cars" and watching movies. We all love it when Nana vists. She is an excellent cook and one of Kent's favorite playmates!

Chicago

I have been such a bad poster lately and I really do apologize. I have not been allowing myself to put anything recent up until I finish the highlights of the last four months. You will all just have to bear with me as I recap our activities. So, I will pick up where I left off, our trip to Illinois in July, JULY...I know, I'm terrible!

While we were visiting family in Illinois, we took a side trip up to Chicago with my parents. None of us had ever been there and I had wanted to go to the Art Institute for quite a while, so we were all pretty excitied- especially me! I mean, I don't get to go to the second largest museum in the United States everyday!

The first place we went after we checked into our hotel was the museum. I dragged my family all over that place, telling them all kinds of information that they probably didn't care to know. We definitely overstayed our welcome with the two crabby kids we had with us. Cohen even managed to pee all over the floor in the sculpture garden in the Art of the American West gallery!

We decided to take some pictures right outside of the museum. Everyone was fine with this plan except for Kent. There were many Kentless photos on our little trip.

Here was Kent's reaction when we tried to get him to take a family photo with us.

I even tried to make Kent jealous by showing him how much fun Cohen and I were having. He didn't care.

We made our way to Grant Park next along with a million other people because Taste of Chicago also happened to be going on. We made our way through a sea of people and took a few photos in front of the Buckingham Fountain.

Pete's main request of Chicago was real Chicago style deep dish pizza. We found a great place and after a VERY long, standing wait with two overtired children, we were able to sit down and eat. All were excited, especially Cohen and Pete.

After dinner, Pete and I went up the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) to look at the city from the new sky decks that opened the same weekend. Here is the view from the street.

This is the view of the city at night from the 108th floor.

And, this is the view from the sky deck looking down 108 stories. My knees feel weak again just looking at this picture. We were literally standing in a plexiglass box suspended from the side of the sky scraper!!!

We spent the next morning at Navy Pier. The weather and the view were beautiful.

It's always a happy day for Cohen.

So much money was spent riding this carousel. Kent loved it and Pete was able to get all of us in one shot. Pretty talented! It was a quick trip, but we definitely had a great time.

TEETH!!!

For the first time ever, I am pleased to announce that Cohen has two teeth coming in! We have been waiting for this day for months. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if there were teeth in there at all! Cohen is a little over 1 year and 1 month old, but has been eating strictly solid food for about two months. Apparently no teeth was no big worry to him! You can't really see them well right now, so I'll put up a picture a little later, but he has one top front tooth and one bottom front tooth making their way in!

Wheat Free Play Dough

While watching one of our favorite shows, Shark Tank, we heard about Soy-Yer Dough. It is wheat free play dough!!! This mom is so excited! Kent can now play with play dough that is safe for him. Homemade versions worked, but were sticky and just didn't hold up the same as regular play doh. You can fundraise with it and put customized labels on it. So cool!!! Yay for Soy-Yer Dough!

Kent's Fish

Kent loves to go fishing in my Aunt Susan's pond. While we were in Illinois this summer, Dad, Pete and Kent spent one morning seeing what they could catch. Dad caught zero, Pete caught two and Kent caught NINE! The older boys may have been a little distracted with helping Kent, but nine!?! Wow- all with that Spiderman pole too!

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Summer Flashbacks

Well, I've not been very good at keeping up with our blog the past couple of months. I've heard from a lot of you and all I can say is that I'm sorry and I will do better!

July was such a fun and crazy month for us; I was instantly overwhelmed with how to report all the day to day happenings.

We spent the first part of the month in Illinois with my family. It was so great seeing everyone and spending the fourth with them. Kent absolutely loves to go vist Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa, Aunt Susan and Aunt Peggy. He asks every few days if we can go back- that 11 hour drive fades from his memory pretty fast! Kent is quick to remind everyone how easy it is to get to Aunt Susan's house. His directions-- "Make the turn, go up the hill, go on the straight-a-way, around the bend and that's it!" We didn't really know what he was talking about, until we were driving down the driveway/road to Susan's house. Pete and I heard Kent repeating the directions as we were driving and we both realized he had it right! He was describing the driveway!

Cohen went on his first swim! It was a little cold for me, but Cohen didn't seem to mind at all. I had a bunch of pictures of other family members from this day, but everyone was in their swimsuits, so I didn't post them. I have a no swimsuit policy for those over 20. ;)

Here are the boys on the fourth of July. Everyone came to Aunt Susan's for fireworks. Kent HELPED set off some of the fireworks--(I was told it was a guy thing...). We'll just say that part of the evening was extremely stressfull for me...

Cohen loves to watch fireworks; the sound doesn't bother him a bit. Kent fell ASLEEP before the firework show was finished. He can fall asleep under any circumstances if he is tired enough.

Kent and his cousin Beckett had fun running through the sprinkler.

We had a picnic at the park. Cohen loved swinging. Kent had a very eventful evening. First, he pulled his pants down and tried to pee right in front of the slide. I caught him just in time and drug him to the edge of the park, but I'm pretty sure the woman across the street was looking out her window watching the whole thing. Later he got hauled off the playground for continuing to climb up the slide the wrong way. He then spent a good 20 minutes in the car in time out for calling me "stupid mommy"!!!!! Thanks again Toy Story! There were consequences, tears, and a long discussion, but I'm glad to report that the episode has yet to be repeated.

Happier times of Cohen swinging before the drama.

Here is Cohen with his Great-Grandma Jean.

Kent and Pete had a great time playing baseball with our cousins.

This is part of the peaceful ride home. Note the flat, wide openness seen out of the window. No claustrophobia inducing trees or space choking kudzu here!!!