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! :)