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! :)

Ginormous Picture Post!

 Cohen getting sweet kisses from mommy!

 Cousins... blood build best friends!

 Chyenne, Cohen and Kadence (hiding in a fort from a bear!)

 Cohen playing the guitar like Uncle Jones

Everyday excitement to go swimming!

My snoozing boy!

I absolutely adore how he has to sleep with "Monk Monk" every night... it was MY favorite stuffed animal when I was a kid! :)

The messiest eater--EVER!

She's a princess. In her words: "daddy, I'm a princess and you're gonna start treating me like one!" -full on attitude!

Making an X with her arms. She LOVES to make letters/numbers/shapes with body parts!

Me and my awesome husband!

 My Mermaid

 Short and sweet!

 His expressions crack me up! He is ALWAYS making goofy faces!

 Food mustache!

 He likes to sneak into Chyenne's bed and snuggle for the night... she usually enjoys it too!

Nothing more redneck than a toddler swinging barefoot without britches!

 My sexy, hardworking husband!

 She's perfect!

 It's true.

 So cheesy! Goodness I love his smile, it literally melts my heart!

 and his sad face! AHHH! I adore this look!

 Sibling love.

 Mommy and Chyenne--she's definitely starting to look a little more like me as she gets older.

 Admiring her straight (blow-dried) hair in the mirror.

 <3

 He's been a daddy's boy lately and we all LOVE it! I must say, he looks good in Army gear! ;)

 Cohen gets looking good in Army gear from his daddy. :)

 See that truck? Cohen hasn't slept without it (in addition to monk monk) in over a week! It's an Army truck and he adores it.

 She's my country gal!

 He loves to wear his "boy boy boots". I must say, he looks adorable in cowboy boots!

 This is what I came home to the other day... three scratched up horses in my backyard. They got through the barbed wire on our property after crossing nearly 2 miles of fields to get there. We informed the owners and they sent ONE (horrible, mean, cruel) guy to get them... I assisted this mean jerk in walking these beauties home. 4 miles in 100+ degree weather on grass and gravel in flip flops was quite similar to torture. But at least these beautiful horses were safe back in their own field. Chyenne, Cohen, Nana, and I did get to pet the horses and feed them carrots before they left.

 Chyenne is quite the swimmer!

Blackmail for future girlfriends. :)

Breakfast Picnic

Chyenne, Cohen and I had a delightful late morning today. We saw an idea from Frugal Moms Blog (I don't have a link right now, sorry) of a BREAKFAST picnic. Perfect since it gets SO hot here in GA this time of year. I made cinnamon rolls, boiled eggs, hot chocolate, and a cappuccino. YUM! We headed out the door to soak in the beauty of the front yard with our meal, blanket and several books in hand. It was SO relaxing. I may have to make a habit of morning picnics more often! We didn't even get dressed or do our hair. :) Perfect! Note for next time: it's still smoldering hot at 10am in GA, wear summer time pajamas and skip the slippers. All three of us were hot sweaty messes by the time we finished our breakfast and stories.

A Little Update

Summer time in Georgia is in full swing... or full heat! It's been SO hot. We have made the best of it by swimming every chance we get and soaking up all the fun the summer has to offer. Learning comes naturally to Chyenne and Cohen, so as much as I wish, we haven't really been on a learning schedule with "homeschool" for the past couple of months. We learn every day, just in a different way.

Chyenne has been stuck on words, writing, sequences, patterns, matching, and guessing. There has yet to be a day go by without Chyenne quizzing me "what comes next?". She has also been all about math. "Mommy, ask me how many cucumbers I will have after I eat these three?" She's a complete nut, but she makes my world go 'round. She is still a diva. She has the BEST imagination ever. It's absolutely amazing to watch and listen to her interact with her toys... she soaks up SO much from the world around her.

Cohen has been making GREAT strides. I feel like he's grown up SO much in the past couple of months. He has been fully (daytime) potty trained for about 2 months and he's doing GREAT! Next month he turns TWO! We're celebrating his birthday with a pirate swim party. He's so excited, every day he asks "pibate cake?!?" lol. He's amazing. He has been speaking so much lately. I am very proud of him. He almost always speaks in 2-3 word sentences, sometimes a little more words too! He is such a great helper. He will pick up any toys or trash and after placing them in the desired spot, he will run back to me with his hand in the air waiting for a "five!" I'm so lucky to be his mommy. He makes life... enjoyable, to say the least. He's a complete mess-maker and is always spilling something or breaking something else, but his kind heart, loving eyes, and great big smile always melt me to my knees.

We have also been busy remodeling our house! EEK! It has been going smoothly, so far. We've been busy turning our "bonus room" aka 1400 square feet into a studio apartment, complete with full kitchen, full bathroom and laundry room. I'll upload pics of the progress soon. We have a friend who is going to rent from us (well he's actually been staying with us helping us finish it). Extra income always comes in handy.

The biggest news of all?! Colt, my lovely husband, is deploying (again)! We are a bit apprehensive but we have faith that everything will go smoothly. He will be deploying to Kosovo for a year. Better than Afghanistan again! He should have all of the technology to keep in touch with the kiddos and myself. 

Well that's all for now... I will come back and post more details and pics!