Wordless Wednesday

family and fall

My girl is obsessed with hats, unfortunately most of her hats do not fit this year--so we must buy more! :)

 In between school, work, more school, more work, etc, we have a little time for family fun. Here we were leaving the movies. Cohen is SUCH a daddy's boy. When daddy's around, he claims him immediately. Chyenne is perfectly content with the extra cuddles from mommy. She is so sensitive that daddy has to be careful with his voice tones around her. She had a twenty-seven (yes I timed it) meltdown the other morning because she refused to give daddy night kisses and he said "oh that's fine, I gave all of my kisses to mommy and Cohen anyway!" She's still daddy's number one girl.

 But overall, she is a mommy's girl! She is so much like me, minus the whole girly-girl, diva thing. She is opioniated, passionate, hilarious, caring, sarcastic, omniscient (or so she thinks), witty, and highly competitive.

 Cohen adores pumpkins. We have bought him SIX mini pumpkins (on seperate occasions) thus far. He has always adored the color orange since he was a little baby. So I'm betting that has something to do with it. :)

 He's such a ham. He refuses to take good pictures for me anymore. SIGH!

 Here are the proofs from Chyenne and Cohen's first school pictures. The quality is not that great, but we had to order them (the one on the left).

 SEE?! He tries to humor me but he just looks like a goofy old man when I take out my camera or phone for a picture of him.

 WE have been working on our marriage. I gripe less, he respects me more. Win, win? YES!

 My piggy princess with Miss Piggy. She could not be any happier--unless maybe she saw a REAL Miss Piggy.

Cohen dotes on daddy ALL day long. I guess it's because daddy lets him get away with anything and everything. Colt told me the other night "I am so glad I didn't deploy this time, all of these extra hugs and kisses from Cohen is so worth the headache of my new job!" -We're so glad too! :)

Routines

I have never been one much for routines. I'm a firm believer that children naturally develop their own routines.

Since I started teaching preschool and the kids have started going to preschool, we have stuck to a pretty tight schedule. I sure miss staying up late and waking whenever I wish.

For now, our schedule is as follows:
I wake up at 6:15am, shower, get ready, prepare breakfast, and finalize lesson plans.
Between 7:20-7:30am I wake the kids. Oy! Cohen is a morning person, just like his daddy. Chyenne? Well she takes after me and doesn't fully open her eyes until I put her in the car. LOL!

They eat breakfast, use the potty, I help them get dressed, do hair, brush teeth, and load them in the car by 8:10am.

On Mondays, we're at school from 8:30-12:30. We eat lunch immediately after school.
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we're at school from 8:30-1:30pm and we eat lunch at school.
On Thursdays, we have music class, so we're at school from 8:30-1:00pm. We eat lunch after school.
On Fridays, the kids stay with my mom or sister, as it's only the 4/5 year olds. I get to leave school around 12:30.

The kids nap some days...Cohen more than Chyenne. I could use a nap every day.

Dinner is served between 6pm-7pm depending on schedules, (i.e, Chyenne has soccer games at 6 on Mondays, so we eat a snack before and dinner immediately following).

They get a bath EVERY single night. I bathe them immediately after dinner. They get in pajamas, read stories, snuggle, and get in bed no later than 8:30pm. I prefer to put them to bed at 8:00pm so I have time to clean the kitchen, get ready, and be at the gym by 9:00pm.

Saturdays and Sundays haven't been regular for us--yet! We've had so much going on lately with the military. I hope to get in a better weekend routine real soon. Hopefully getting back in the groove for church every Sunday and FAMILY DAY every Saturday.

I'm exhausted, but this schedule seems to be working with the kids.

He's HOME to stay--for now!

Several months ago hubby applied for a STATE-SIDE position with the Army. He didn't think he got the job because they sent him away for training for his Kosovo deployment... well halfway into his train-up he called and said "can you pick me up if I get a ride close to home?" umm YES!

He got the new JOB and he won't be DEPLOYING now... or in the next THREE YEARS! We are SO excited!!!

Chyenne is still a little to apprehensive about all of it to be happy that Daddy is home. We've told her that he doesn't have to go away with the Army for a long time again but she doesn't believe it. She's far too smart for her own good. She said she "hates afghanistan-ddd!" and I'm sure she would say that she "hates Kosovo" if he went there too.

Cohen is just happy to have daddy back. He follows daddy everywhere.

Hubby is especially excited that he won't get to miss any of Chyenne and Cohen growing up--for now.

I'm excited and anxious to live like REAL PEOPLE. A normal life without seperations. ah!

Chyenne's First Pageant

Last blog I mentioned how Chyenne was in her first pageant on the 21st of August this year. She had SO much fun.

My sweet girl is a natural on stage. The words we used to describe her for her "about me" portion were: imaginative, articulate, and peppy. TOTALLY her. :)

The pageant host was Georgia's Heavenly Faces and boy did she look heavenly. The title of the pageant was Miss Boots and Bows. She participated in all of the categories that the pageant offered. She was contestant number 17.

For beauty wear, she wore a navy blue dress, white dress shoes, white dress socks, a navy blue and white bow and a pearl necklace. Her hair was curled and she (of course) wore NO makeup. She was absolutely stunning!

She was such a doll on stage. When they announced her name and number, she pranced onto the stage with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips. SUCH a DIVA. She charmed the judges and all of the viewers.

She kept spinning around in circles like a ballerina. SO cute. I was highly impressed with how she didn't FALL. She is an extremely clumsy princess.

After beauty, we had to rush to change her into her WESTERN WEAR. Of course my princess LOVES pigs so we had her a piggy princess shirt made. We paired her pig shirt with a tiered denim skirt, her pink cowgirl boots, and mommy-made bows (with pig centers). She also carried her cowgirl hat on stage.

She was fanstastic. She did her little "spin-arounds", blew kisses, and waved. Absolutely adorable.

She did not want to get off the stage when her turn was up. She is such a star!

We had a good little wait (well at least 30 minutes) until they did crowning... in the mean time, the judges were scoring the "most photogenic", "best dress", "best attire", "best western wear", "prettiest smile", "best hair", "best eyes", "best personality", "miss bows and boots princess", "little miss boots and bows queen", etc.

She was so silly during the waiting time. Cohen was ready for a nap, but he looked adorable sporting his "world's best brother" shirt. He certainly is!

Next came time for crowning. When Chyenne first decided she wanted to do the pageant, she said "I really want to win a big crown"...

Her age division (3 years old, and 2-5 years) was up.

They had all of the girls in her division line up. Then they called out the winners.
They called her name SO many times! She won "best hair", "best eyes", "best smile", "best western wear", "best personality", and "QUEEN!" for her division! SO PROUD OF HER!  

 (slightly OCD, lining her trophies up)

SO incredibly proud of my sweet girl! She's already planning her next pageants...but daddy is going to have to build her a new shelf if she wins any more!
SIX TROPHIES, A HUGE CROWN, AND A SASH! SHE ROCKED!

Changes

Life has been full of changes lately.

Colt, my husband, is leaving for Kosovo any day now. Whew, I'm not sure we're ready for another LONG YEAR away from him.

School started back for me and I have a full schedule. That is enough to drive anyone insane. :)

I also got a new job! I am now a K-4 teacher for a semi-local Christian preschool. So far, I LOVE it! It's been 2.5 weeks and I my students have already made great strides. My kiddos get to go to school there for free too! :) AWESOMENESS!

Chyenne started soccer and I am coaching her tot shot team. She likes it so far. Cohen is SO jealous, he REALLY wants to play. Next year little buddy.

Cohen is a whirl-wind. He's constantly talking, moving, touching, messing, breaking, loving, giving, pushing, hugging, kissing, etc. He is simply amazing.

Chyenne is growing up so fast. She's SO smart and SO considerate (most of the time). She is a complete girly-girl still, and such a diva. She works hard to be good at everything she does. I am one proud mama! Just over a week ago, she entered her first PAGEANT! Now don't get all crazy and think "whoa, this broad puts her girl in makeup, spray tans and $1000 dresses!" That is most definitely NOT the case. She was in an all natural pageant with a $35 (well I couponed to get it that low) dress, in her naturally pale skin, and beautiful natural glow. She was amazing. I will blog next about how well she did. Needless to say, we have a pageant queen on our hands. :)

We have been renovating our house and it's driving me absolutely crazy. I LOVE what we're doing with the place... I just hate the mess and choas it causes. I will definitely be able to breathe easier once it's all completed.

Pirate Birthday Bash!

If you're anything like me, you spend several months coming up with ideas on throwing a spectacular birthday party for your little one.... and well it never turns out quite the way you invisioned. Whether it be lack of time, money, resources, etc, SOMETHING always gets in the way of making a party equililent to say a Kara's Party Ideas Party (the link thing is messing up, but just google "Kara's Party Ideas" and you'll find an AMAZING blog to tons and tons of AWESOME parties!)

Anyhow, we decided to throw Cohen (who just turned TWO) a PIRATE BIRTHDAY PARTY. He LOVES pirates so it's totally fitting.

Firstly, I custom made his invitation on tan cardstock... made it look pirate-ish. I rolled them and tied them with red ribbon. Everyone seemed to like their invitations.

In the invitation, it said "X marks the spot" for the pirate party... so of course we had to build, paint, and hang an X on the mailbox for our house to be found. :)

Next, we had a sign, welcoming our guests. We also lined the (NEW) walkway with black, red, and white balloons. AWESOME.

The pool gate had this sign... *handmade of course*

 As soon as our guests walked in, this is what they saw... notice the pirate flags and other decor.

Entrance table. Framed invitation, number 2, eye patches, and tattoos. Totally pirate.

More decor.

 Gotta represent for the Army. :) Nah, really it's HOT in GA, so we needed a bit of shade.

 The wind was taking a toll on my banner, so whatever. This is about the best picture I got. GEE.

I made a pirate-ship shaped watermelon, the cake, pirate marshmallows on sticks, pirate cookies on sticks, X marks the spot PB&Js, and we served tons of food (good pirate grub too. BBQ sandwiches, hot dogs (some of which looked like little octopuses), fruit, chips, dip, veggies. The whole shabang!)

 Captain Cohen's Pirate Cake. Boy did he LOVE it. Despite the fact that it was pure HELL to make and I almost, seriously chunked it in the trash as I was making it. OY! At least nobody complained that the fondant looked like crap. It tasted yummy... I guess that's really the best one can ask for in a cake.

 The "Pirate Booty" table was essentially there to hold the presents.  Cute touch, huh?

Here is our "pirate" that was hanging along the walkway to the party. LOL

 We had a "plank" set up for the kids to walk... it was quite adorable watching a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds walk the plank. Cohen enjoyed it. :)

 Here's the TREASURE table, sans the awesome sign I made (and totally forgot to hang up by it)... the sign said "TAKE YER TREASURE MATEY!" ha.

All in all, it was a GREAT day. The weather was perfect and the rain held out until after we (as in me, because someone wasn't interested) blew out his candles. He opened presents (he got a TON) and the weather was nice again. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. :)
Now to plan for his next birthday...

Cohen is TWO!

On Thursday, August 4, our sweet baby turned TWO!

We celebrated lots! On his actual birthday, we took him to Chuck E Cheese for pizza, fun and games. We won over 1,400 tickets and he had a blast playing with mommy, daddy, and sister.

After Chuck E Cheese fun, we came home and put together his two "big" birthday gifts. He got a "man grill" and a tent. He adores both of them. (As does big sister)

Cohen has grown up soooo much in the past year (don't they all)! Well in the past several months, Cohen has made great strides to becoming a BIG boy! He finally weaned from nursing AND potty trained at nearly 22 months old. He still wears a diaper to bed, but Thursday (8/04)  night he told me "gone gone diaper!" so I let him sleep in undies. Guess what?! The little guy didn't have an accident all night! He woke me up around 3 AM saying "pobby mommy! pobby!" (potty). I promptly took him potty and he went right back to sleep! He has only wet half of the nights since his bday. He's growing up so fast and I couldn't be more proud of him!

He's talking so much now too. Big sister Chyenne was a talker from the time she knew she had a voice... well Cohen didn't take to talking more than a few words and grunts until about 19-20 months of age. Now, he always speaks. His little voice melts my heart. Current favorite phrases: "no! That's mine, Chyenne!" "It's all gone gone!" "Mommy do it!" "I daddy's big boy!"

I know I've said this before, but Cohen is ALL BOY! Literally, everything he does is exactly what a typical boy would do. We'll be INSIDE playing and he'll beg to "go out on porch and peeeeee!" So that's what he does, he'll go outside on the porch just to pee off it! (Thankfully we don't have neighbors too close). He adores trucks, cars, dirt, balls, bikes, DINOSAURS, PIRATES, legos, blocks, noise, climbing, jumping, sliding, wrestling etc. He is a complete joy and I love watching him grow every day.

Cohen also has a really kind heart. He often proclaims his love for one person and runs to whomever he loves at the moment to give hugs, kisses, and tons of snuggles. If anyone has a "boo boo" or an "owie", Cohen is there to kiss it all better. He's really an awesome little guy. I can't believe it's been TWO YEARS since my sweet boy was born. I couldn't imagine a better son for God to bless me with and likewise, I can't even think to imagine my life without Cohen. He definitely has my heart.

It seems like just yesterday I was holding my big, round, enormous (you get the point) belly anxiously anticipating his arrival to this world. I constantly wondered who he would be. Well two years later, I know the answer. He is MY pride and joy! :) He was born weighing a whopping 7 lbs 13 oz and I instantly knew he would hold my heart for the rest of his life.

On Saturday, we celebrated Cohen's second birthday with a huge pirate pool party. Picture post to follow! :)