Birthday Girl!!!

Today is my birthday... the big 3-0!! OMG... I remember when I thought 30 sounded so old! After turning 30 myself I realize that 30 is really the new 20 :)

Ok all joking aside... I had an AWESOME birthday!! It started yesterday when my sisters...and parents...and nieces and nephews... surprised me with 30 balloons and cupcakes and a little celebration!! It was so much fun :) I am so blessed to have five best friends who make everyday a blast... I honestly don't know what I would do without my amazing sisters!

Today I celebrated again with lunch at Autumn's (with my wonderful sisters and parents) and then Mom and Dad treated me to a relaxing massage :) Shaun and the kids took me to one of my favorite resturants for dinner and to top it all of Carter (5) gave me a hug as he was going to bed and as he hugged me he said, "I love my birthday girl." It was the sweetest thing and made my whole day :)

As I think of the last 30 years I am amazed... God has definately had a plan for my life. I am so blessed. Thank you to my family who has made everyday amazing :) Love you guys!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Well, I only have a few minutes left of the first day of 2011... one of my new year resolutions is to update my blog regularly and my goal was to start TODAY... January 1, 2011. I am proud to say that I am accomplishing that goal (well sort of) I doubt I will actually get this posted on the first day of the new year since I am starting at 11:59p.m. Oops! Better late than never though...right?? :)

I guess that one of the most exciting things that happened to our family in 2010 is our NEW HOUSE!!! Shaun and I (and the kids) finally found the perfect home for us after selling ours two years ago. (We never dreamed it would take that long!)

We are so blessed to have found this one!!!! *squeal with excitment* It is an old farm house in the country with three acres :) *another squeal of excitement*

We have not been able to move in yet because it needed a little work first. On top of that we decided to turn the attic (which we had to put stairs in so that we could get to it) into bedrooms (and a bath) for the kids. Ours plans just kind of keep growing.... Shaun is trying to do most of the work himself (with lots of help from his Dad and Uncles) so the process is taking a little (just a little) longer than normal. He is doing and AWESOME job though and I am so thankful and proud of him. :) I have to remind myself that on the days when I begin to get a little impatient. I am hoping to begin posting pics of our progress along the way. (Hopefully that will MAKE me update my blog a little more regularly.)

Well now that it is already January 2nd I guess I can post this :)

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!!

Finally...Introducing Cooper Brian!

Okay, okay so I am a little behind on introducing the newest member of our family...Cooper Brian. :) He is absolutely precious! Cooper was born on December 9th. He weighed 8lbs. 6oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. Cooper was the first name Shaun and I talked about when we first found out we were expecting and we never found another name we loved more and Brian is after Shaun's dad... so Cooper Brian it was!
Funny story I have to share... The day after Cooper was born Carter called me and told me that Nikki said it was Cooper BRIAN (apparently he and Aunt Nikki had been arguing all morning.) I told him that was right... he was silent for a moment so I asked him what he thought it was and he told me, "but you said Cooper BROWN!" Apparently he (and his babysitter) misunderstood me when I called to tell him he had a new baby brother...Cooper Brian. They thought I said Cooper Brown ...and what is even more funny he told one of the other moms that came to pick her daughter up that his new brothers name was Cooper Chocolate!! Luckily for Cooper we got it all straighten out and he is definately Cooper Brian. :)

He is such a good baby and has brought us all so much joy!! The kids cannot walk past him without wanting to kiss and hug (or at least touch) him. It amazes me that they never forget to tell him good morning or good night. It is so crazy how he was instantly a part of our family... he just fits and I couldn't imagine our family without him. We are so blessed!!!
I can see a little of each of the kids in him. :) Cavan is such a great big brother...he is soooo proud of Cooper. He couldn't wait to take a picture to school to show everyone and he must have shown EVERYONE...when he got off the bus he was still carrying the picture of Cooper...it didn't even go in his folder...just in case he wanted to show someone on the bus!Carter loves his baby brother! He can hardly keep his hands off of him, and he is good about telling people they have to be quiet because Cooper is sleeping... I guess he does hear me! :)Cabella is a very proud big sister! She is a really big helper and loves to help me change diapers, give baths and read books to Cooper.
Me-maw and Pe-paw (Brian) came to see Cooper! Cooper had to wear that special sleeper because he had jaundice and had to be on a special light for the first couple of days he was home.

Princess Bella is Three!

All Bella has talked about since Carter's birthday party is how she was going to has a "princess" birthday party...so a princess party is what we had! All of Bella's girl cousins came dressed in their favorite princess dresses and were all adorable. As everyone arrived the kids played musical chairs and as they got out the girls got makeovers...nails painted, eye shadow, blush, lip gloss, princess jewerly and of course a tiara! As the boys got out they were transformed into brave knights. They were given knight armor... a sword and shield (cut out of cardboard which they were able to decorate with markers and crayons.) The kids all had a lot of fun. The princesses loved getting makeovers and the knights loved using their shields and swords! The girls had their own pink princess table set with their own giant cupcakes and personalized "fancy" glasses.

My favorite thing during the whole day was singing Happy Birthday to Bella! It is the sweetest thing to watch her beam as she soaks in all the attention, looking around at everyone in disbelief...it's as if she can't believe everyone is singing just to her. I remember her doing this exact thing on her first birthday and it really is the sweetest thing!

The pretty princesses and the knights at the round table!!Musical Chairs!!! After the party... when everyone had left...I asked Bella what she liked most...her first response was...icecream! Then I asked again...her second response was pizza! If you know Bella you know how appropriate these responses were...she definately loves her food :) So I tried one more time... her third response was...playing! Playing? I asked. Yeah, playing... walk, walk, walk, sit down. Walk, walk, sit down. This was the kind of response I was looking for...she liked playing musical chairs! :) Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Today I took Carter to get his teeth cleaned by Aunt Eika (Erica). He was really excited and he did a very good job. He struggled a little with the flouride part (you can see in the pics). And of course his favorite part was getting a new tooth brush! I was able to snap a few pictures of him and of Bella waiting patiently. After his teeth were a polished and cleaned we ate lunch with Erica and they though that was a real treat except for they missed Cora, Carlton, and Roselyn :)

Tonight Shaun and I took Cavan to "meet you teacher" night and got to see his classroom and tour his school. He is growing up so fast! He seems to really be enjoying first grade and thinks that his teacher is "hilarious." Last night we took him to his first karate class at the YMCA. He said he had a blast and can't wait to go back.

Also, since I am catching up on things we recently got a new puppy! I think we have had him about two weeks. The kids named him Max and so far he has been really good. He is a chocolate lab or as Carter told Aunt Mona when she asked his name... "umm chocolate factory" it took us a minute to figure out what he was talking about. Ha Ha! Anyhow the kids love him and so far he hasn't been to rough for them. They actually have been doing a really good job taking care of him.

First Day of 1st Grade!!

Today was Cavan's first day of first grade!!!. I was only able to snap two quick pictures because the bus came really early for some reason and I think he was a little embarrassed that I was following him trying to take a picture...he barely turned around for me and he was practically all the way on the bus. I miss him already! It was only 12:30 when I looked at the clock thinking it was about time for him to be home... I then thought of how hard it is to send him to school... at least he still comes home each evening... what do parents do when they leave for college!?! I don't even want to think about that yet. Anyhow, Cavan had a really good day... he said his teacher was funny. He was a little disappointed that they didn't get to use their notebooks yet. But he must have really enjoyed seeing his friends again... he said they all played "transformers" at recess and they are going to play again tomorrow. I am really proud of the young man he is becoming... I just can't get over how big he is getting! Carter and Bella must have really missed him too, they both ran and gave him a big hug when he got off the bus!

Emergency Room!

Well, we have had a busy weekend so far. It all began on Thursday evening when instead of heading to Memaw and Pepaws house we made a trip to the ER with Carter who fell and split his head on the coffee table. He ended up leaving with three staples in is head! I do have to say that he did much better than I expected. He was really brave and only whimpered a little when the doctor gave him a shot to numb the area in preparation for the staples. I think he thought he was finished and then she did the staples. He had had all hew could take and burst into tears, each cry getting worse with each staple. I think the red popcicle... and sucker... and icecream helped to make it all better :) Anyhow this delayed our trip to spend the weekend with Memaw and Pepaw and canceled our plans to go go swimming with them on Friday afternoon (Carter couldn't get his head wet for 24 hours). We ended up waiting until Friday morning to head out. We met Memaw, Aunt Brianne and Abbygayle for lunch and then went to the children's museum. The kids all had a blast! The kids have plans of staying the night with Memaw and Pepaw and Shaun and I are going to have a "date night" and pick them up tomorrow afternoon. I am looking forward to a nice romantic evening!!!! Yeah right :)

Catching Up!

So it's been awhile since I've posted... I had a few extra minutes since Cavan went to Reece's house to play for a while and Carter and Bella are taking a nap (I was debating on catching a nap myself but decided to blog instead). Carter is sleeping on his "pile." (I snapped a picture). He has recently decided that he likes to sleep in his "tent" which consists of a large pile of blankets or pillows either on bottom or on top of him. I have let him sleep there for his nap a couple of times and somehow he has made his way down there in the middle of the night the past few nights... or at least that is where I have found him and Cavan in the morning.






Well, I guess I need to catch up on what we have been up to...we have been busy trying to get the most out of our summer before Cavan goes back to school. I can't believe it is already time for him to go back! Oh yeah, how could I forget our latest news... Bella is potty trained (well pretty much) I don't want to jinx us but things went pretty smoothly. For some reason, I decided to tell Shaun that he should take Bella in a let her go to the bathroom and make a big deal out of it since he was going to be home for a couple of days (Toyota's summer shutdown). I thought this might work because she is such a Daddy's girl and loves attention from him :) and WALLAH!! She was potty trained and that was pretty much all it took!!! She loves being a big girl and wearing her underwear :) Ok, it sounds like my peace and quiet is over... Bella is awake and I should probably go get her.

T-ball Trophy

We have had a busy couple of days. On Sunday Carter (along with his cousins Cora, Caleb, and Reegan) had his T-ball pizza party and got his trophy which he was sooooo excited about. After his pizza party we went to the pool for a swim party for all the ball players. The kids had a blast... yeah we had two swim parties on the coldest weekend of the whole summer... I think the kids were all shivering and had blue lips by the time they got out of the water. :)

On Monday night we took the kids to the county fair. Bella loved seeing all of the animals even though she said "mooo" everytime in response to my question on what each of the animals said. She is so funny! We all had fun and ate to much food.

That night as I was tucking the boys into bed Carter's prayer was, "Thank you God for my trophy and for letting me play baseball... and for my trophy. Amen." He is so proud of that trophy!

7 Years Old

Well, today my oldest, Cavan had his seventh birthday. I have been wanting to start a blog... a journal really so that I can remember all the little things that happen with the kids and I thought what better day to start than on his birthday.

Cavan usually gets to celebrate with his two older cousins Rylee and Reeva who turned ten! We had a party at the local pool. The kids seemed to have a blast even though it was a little chilly!!! The girls had a flip flop theme and Cavan chose to have a Superman party complete with the cape that Aunt Mona made him. After the party his cousin Reece was able to come over and spend the night. They thought they were going to have to stay up all night to play with all the cool stuff he got from everyone. They finally made it to bed about 1 a.m. (sorry Mo) with the reassurance they could play some more in the morning. I thought for sure they would sleep in but the were awake bright and early at 7:45 to ask if they could play with the marble "contraption" that Cavan's Me-maw and P-paw got him. I don't think they would have stopped to eat breakfast either if I hadn't reminded them. They really were having a blast. We then celebrated by going to Pea-fections for lunch (one of Cavan"s favorite places to eat peanut butter and jelly.) We topped the night off by letting Cavan blow out his candles and have a piece of cake. :)

I can't believe how much Cavan has grown just in the past year. He started kindergarten and loved it, he can't wait for first grade! He played baseball (pitching machine) this year and discovered that unlike T-ball he can get out. He grew from that mistake of just jogging the bases and ran as fast as he could the rest of the season to make sure it didn't happen again :) He lost his first tooth. He took his first trip to Disney World. He learned to read! All in all he has just grown and learned so much this year. He is very absorbant and wants to know how everything works. I am so proud of him. He is definately a Mamma's boy:) and loves to give me hugs, and I am going to enjoy it as long as it lasts!

A little about the rest of the family-

My husband Shaun works at Toyota. He and his Dad also run a small concrete business on the side. We are hoping that one of these days it will take off enough so that he can do it full time. He is a computer nerd :) and he likes to golf. He's a great Dad and husband...he makes me laugh and one of the things I love most about him is that he always opens my car door for me :) (Hey it's the little things, isn't it? :)

I am finally a stay at home mom again!! I just graduated and completed one of my life long dreams of becoming a teacher... I have however decided to stay at home for a few more years with our younger children. I love getting to be home with them and they will only be little once. I like to scrapbook and be creative. I am blessed with the five best friends and sisters that I could ever ask for.

Shaun and I have been blessed with four beautiful children and are excited to be expecting one more in December :)
Cavan- who just turned 7.
Lilli - our sweet angel who would be 5. (She was born with trisomy 18 and we only got to keep her here on earth with us for three precious months before God called her on to Glory.)
Carter- who is 3 and full of...well everything! He is my wild child, always on the go and full of mischief. For some reason lately he has decided he needs to be the life of the party and is constantly doing things to try and get others to laugh.
Cabella- is 2 and is pretty much following in Carter's footsteps with the whole mischief thing. And as much as I like to say the boys are Mamma's boys, Bella is definately a Daddy's girl! She loves her Dad. She keeps busy keeping up with the boys, she loves her brothers and she loves being the "baby" and the "girl." Anytime we talk about the baby she will say, "No, I the baby." and if we mention that the baby might be a girl she has the same response, "No, I the girl!"
That leads us to the baby who is due on December 6th (Ramona's birthday). We just had our ultrasound on July, 17th and the baby weighed 10 ounces. We decided to be surprised and not find out if it is a boy or a girl so I guess we will just have to wait :)

Well, that is just a little about our family right now... I am really hoping to keep this blog updated so that I can look back and remember the little things and so that I can share my family with other friends and family that we don't get to see often enough.