abcdefghijklmno...PEE PEE!

Guess who hasn't bought diapers in TWO weeks?!?! I will admit, we are still doing pull-ups at night because Mr. Coco isn't consistently dry in the mornings. And, I cheated today when we took Claire to the doctor. She was miserable with an ear infection and I didn't want to take a chance. Of course he stayed dry but wanted the pull-up off as soon as we got home. He is loving the new "freedom" he has in his "choo-choos." (Thomas undies...Thanks Auntie She!!!) I am just so proud of my big guy! The downside, he would prefer to be nakie at home so his little cheeks are REALLY chapped! But there is nothing cuter than him running around in a sweatshirt and socks...and that's it!

Long overdue.

I have been waiting for this post until I got the pictures I wanted to put with it. On New Year's day we packed up and headed out west for my Grandpa Wayne's 89th birthday party. My favorite aunt arranged a wonderful surprise party for him. It has been WAY too long since I have been back to that part of the Sooner state and I was as happy as sand burr in some one's sock to get back there. (A nod to the pesky little suckers that can ruin your day in a hurry!) My favorite aunt and uncle have been hard at work remodeling their house and it looked AWESOME! I can't believe it is the same house we used to run through with the pink Barbie car and cap guns. I hope to get a video up of our kids carrying on the tradition. I ate more fudge and homemade goodies in the few days we were there than I did all last year. Mmmm, my favorite aunt knows the way to my heart!

My mom worked REALLY hard on a DVD for Grandpa. She scanned every single picture that we have from Grandma's collection and put them to music. I loved going through and picking out just the right songs for each family. The DVD ended up being 2 hours long and we were really worried that Grandpa wouldn't be able to see it. Enter Grandpa. I have to tell him who I am because his vision is pretty bad especially when he just comes inside. As soon as he figured out it was me, he grabbed me and squeezed me so tight. At that moment, I regretted staying away so long. Yes, it is hard to travel almost 8 hours in the car with two young children. Yes, it's hard for them to be away from home and be totally out of their routine. But yes, it is worth it. I cried as he hugged me more and I remembered, we aren't promised tomorrow. As I type this, I miss my Grandpa.

We turned on the DVD and he immediately saw his picture from World War 2 and then one of him and Grandma. I cried more because I was SO thankful that he was seeing the fruits of my mom's labor! He LOVED it! I put together a VERY condensed slide show of the old pictures that I think are amazing. I can't wait to blow them up and fill my house with my family history.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

(P.S. My dad was holding cousin Christie in his graduation pic, not Mike!)

The party was wonderful. The cake was SO TASTY as usual, thanks to my favorite you know who!!! Cohen loved wheeling "Great Papa" around in his wheel chair. There is something about little boys and "old folks." They just seem to have so much to talk about. He wanted to sit on his lap and love all over him! Grandpa was loving it until he lost what little circulation he has in his legs thanks to my 40 pound two year old! I will forever treasure the picture we got of ALL of us at the party! It isn't very often we are all together and I am so thankful we have a picture!

Snowed in.

We have been snowed/iced in for a few days now. I learned that school is cancelled again tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. I have been so productive and the kids are having SUCH a wonderful time together. I love to hear them play together. I realized yesterday after walking by their rooms that my productive time has come at a cost. Their rooms look like war zones!!! My instinct was to be irritated but I stopped myself. I KNOW that when it is time for them to pick up their rooms, they will be more than happy to help....they always are. I also know that they are learning so much about cooperation, teamwork and how to share. They played all day yesterday and Claire was so helpful with the little guys when our neighbors came over to play. Then it was time for bed and can I just say how glad I am that a bedtime routine if FIRMLY in place at our house. It may vary by 30 minutes here or there (especially in the summer when we tend to stay outside a little longer!) but for the most part, we are set in our ways! There are a lot of things that I tend to be lenient on, but bedtime is not one of them. It is so nice to put them in their rooms, say prayers and that's it! I was just so proud of my little boogers yesterday. I will tell you what Big Daddy was up to soon. I will give you a hint....it involves the "man cave" and the guys in our lifegroup will benefit from it on Sunday.

Now that we are all fed it is time for baths (I already had mine!) and quiet time. I have a VERY important project I am working on that NEEDS to be done tonight! Which leads me to my next and last point for the night. Do you know how insanely HARD it is to keep a secret from your mother who also happens to be one of your very best friends? Ugh. I can't wait until February 7th. She turns 50 and I get to let the cat out of the bag. And no, we are not getting her a cat.

**UPDATE**

Remember THIS adorable little momma to be? Thankfully she wasn't snowed in this morning and they made it safely to the hospital in time to deliver their bundle of joy today. We don't have any stats yet, but I sure can't wait to meet him!!! Congrats to the new parents!

Oldies.

About a month ago Big Daddy came home and was so excited about a new radio station. He was so excited that oldies station "isn't playing oldies anymore!" So I took a listen to 105.1 and he is right, it is ROCKIN'! But I soon realized that 105.1 is still oldies. The only difference...so are we. But hey, that's when music was good.

When Steve Perry and Randy Jackson were still with Journey.

When I was too young to understand what Madonna was really singing about.

Before Jessica Simpson butchered "Take My Breath Away"

Before Scientology.

When they were still in the closet.

Ahhhhh, the good ol' days.

Laughter Lives Tuesday-Gotta Go.

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

Two and a half years ago I was waddling around our neighborhood 38 weeks pregnant with Cohen. Three weeks prior to that I had been told that our sweet "little" boy was already between 5-7 pounds. I knew that the earlier he came, the better off we would be. (Plus, the docs said he was ready!) So on the evening of September 20th we set out for a little jaunt in hopes that it would encourage the eviction of little Coco from my womb. We got a few streets over and I stopped. Something happened. "Uh, Big Daddy...we need to head home." He looked at me with a face filled with three parts excitement and one part panic and asked, "Whyyyyy?" "Well, either my water just broke or I peed my pants...either way, we need to go home." So off we went. As we reached our street I began to have the distinct feeling that it was in fact the latter that caused my pants to resemble those of my newly potty trained 2 year old. We approached some neighbors. It was Miss Carmen and another neighbor whom I had never met before. So imagine my embarrassment when my very well spoken 2 year old said, "We have to go! Mommy just peed her pants!" I waddled off wet pants and all. Thank you Claire for always keeping me ever so humble. Oh, and by the way...my water did not break, but Cohen was born the next morning!

Quarter House.

Saturday we were very busy preparing for a baby shower for our friend and neighbor Miss Carmen. I didn't get a lot of great pics because I totally slacked in that department. But I will share this adorable picture of Miss Carmen and Miss Jenna with their baby bumps. Carmen (left) is due February 19th and Jenna will be induced on Friday if she hasn't already had her sweet boy by then. Please keep them both in your prayers as they welcome their new little ones into the world.

Claire was lucky enough to spend the day with Nanny while we prepared for the shower. After the party, I met Nanny and Claire at Hobby Lobby. After that we met Papa at Colton's steakhouse for dinner. Big Daddy and Coco were at home having an evening of guy time. Claire LOVES steak. Her favorite restaurant is Texas Roadhouse. I mean she. Loves. Steak. So Papa was asking her if she wanted the sirloin, the rib eye or the porterhouse. He was kind of kidding about the porterhouse because it was an 18oz. steak!! Well she decided that she wanted the "quarter house" steak. I said "NO WAY!" But Papa said that if she wanted it, she would have it. I thought it was crazy and was already planning on enough leftovers for a pot of soup. WRONG! My little carnivore ate the ENTIRE 18 oz. T-bone steak. And of course....I just happened to have my camera.

WIDOCV the final installment.

This year we went to the Chateau on the Lake for breakfast with Santa (and Grandma Connie!). Let me tell you, it was a class act. It was so BIG which meant that we weren't all piled on top of each other. They had a huge movie screen playing the Polar Express, crafts, a playground, face painting and balloons. They arranged for the kids 3 and under to go first to sit on Santa's lap which was a GENIUS idea! Then while they waited in line there were things for them to do such as coloring and Mr. Potato Head's to play with. They brought Santa in on a real fire truck. (The old really cool looking kind!) Cohen LOVED that. Both kids sat on Santa's lap and told him what they wanted then they each get a toy to unwrap. It was really fun and it raised money for K-Life. I would love to tell you I have amazing pictures to share from this super fun morning....but I forgot my camera. So here is one I snapped with my cell phone. I was so thankful that Grandma suggested we go!

Now we arrive at Christmas Eve. I was going to make gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate, but I had fallen ill with a really bad cold. I was still functioning because as mothers, we really have no choice, but I wasn't up for baking. So the night before I picked up a Wilton gingerbread house kit. It was already put together and it came with everything we needed to make this adorable house! Although we added some of our own touches. We really had a great time getting this treat ready for Santa. Judging by the note he left, he enjoyed eating it.

Christmas Eve is always spent with Grandma and Grandpa D and Big Daddy's family. I just love spending time with them. They always have entertaining stories and I can honestly say the majority of the time we spend over there is spent laughing at someone or something! This year it was the vision of Aunt Sandy running through the kitchen with a broom chasing a bird while yelling, "THIS IS SERIOUS!!!" at the boys.

Christmas morning started with Claire crawling into bed with us. Here is the conversation.

Big Daddy: "Claire, I think I heard some jingle bells last night."

Claire: "Well, I saw sugar plums dancing around my head."

Santa always leaves everything in the basement so on Christmas morning we wait upstairs for our family to arrive. We use this time to enjoy the last bit of quiet for the day and most importantly discuss the real reason for celebrating Christmas. Last year we just talked about the logistics. But this year we have been talking about WHY he was sent to earth. (Word from the not so wise...4 years old may not be the most appropriate age to mention that Jesus was sent to die for our sins. Claire's eyes got as big as silver dollars and she said, "MOM, I don't want that baby to DIE!") Whoops.

We enjoyed a morning with Grandma Connie, Nanny, Papa, Uncle, Ashley, Livi, Papa Melvin and Auntie Ashley's homemade cinnamon rolls. Mmm Mmmm. Here are a few pics from Christmas morning.

Claire and her dollhouse. Dear Santa, next time can you put the dollhouse together yourself?

This is the apron I made for my momma.

Cohen got some really cool stuff this year. His favorite thing.....this blanket. Stop by our house and you will most likely find him chewing on this thing.

Claire and Papa playing "Littlest Pet Shop" aka....you guessed it! TALENT SHOW!!!

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a gun toting Republican in his bathrobe.

Uncle, Auntie Ashley and Loo Loo.

Can I just tell you that Big Daddy was VERY good to me this year?! Every gift he got me was so thoughtful. Last year we did not get each other anything so we were excited to shop for each other this year. He got his early because I wanted him to help pick it out. As I type he is sitting in front of it watching ESPN! He put A LOT more thought into my gifts. My favorite was my set of rings engraved with the kids names. LOVE them. He also picked up a few little things at The Market which is one of my favorite stores here in town. He went all over town looking for a turquoise teapot and it is just adorable. So imagine my surprise when I opened another teapot from him. He informed me that the turquoise one didn't whistle and he thought I would want one that whistles! How cute is he? He also got me TWO packages of Under Armour socks. I LOVE those things!

After everyone left, I wanted so badly to play with the kids and their new toys but my body would not allow it. I went upstairs turned on the fireplace and a Christmas movie and actually snoozed a bit. Then I got up to get in the shower, came out and this is what I found.

We finished up Christmas day and Nanny and Papa's. We had a delicious meal that was completely fat free I'm sure. We were joined by Auntie She, Hunter (for a bit), Garrett, Papa Melvin, my cousin Cody and his girlfriend. We agreed when we left that my mom is a great cook. We got home....and CRASHED. It was a Very. Merry. Christmas.