Bryce 15-16 months!

Ever since Bryce's birthday I have been a slacker on my monthly posts.  He does so much from month to month and I don't want everything to slip through the cracks!  I can't say enough how precious this boy is!  He is such a joy to us and is just so stinkin' cute!  He is such a happy boy and is learning and doing so much.  Everything just took off once he started walking which was in December.  He was 14 months and that is also when he finally cut his first tooth!  Let me tell you though it has been non-stop since then.  He has went from taking steps, to walking, to running overnight.  Now you cannot stop him, nor can you turn your back on him.  I am starting to see this difference from girls to boy.   At first it wasn't so noticeable but now I am getting little hints.  He is so good but will keep you on your toes...all with a smile or laugh though!  He has also cut 6 teeth, one being a molar!  I think another is at the surface.  We went from having a big gummy smile to showing all these teeth!  I knew it would be that way.  It really helps him though because this boy lives to eat!  He gets that honestly!  In his mind anytime you are eating he should be eating even if he just had a spread himself!  Bryce has now got quite the vocabulary and continues to say words daily!  Every thing is Ma-Ma, Da-da, Co-co and Doooo (dooley).  He does have a version of Kate that I don't quite know how to type but it is something like "Ttt".  He says a lot of animal sounds and loves to look at his books with animals and I think he loves to look at "Country" magazines at Suzy's house.   He reminds me a lot of Cohen with his love for books.  In the car he has to have his truck book now.  I think it is super cute how he loves a car and a ball!  He loves nothing better than to be outside and this cold, windy weather is not helping that love at all.  We need spring to make its debut and stay!  I have to share a lot of random pictures from these last 2 months.  I am always taking some kind of picture of him.  He will say "cheeeeessee" anytime he sees my phone held up.  He is a smart little boy!  We are enjoying him so much.  I only wish I could bottle this time up and freeze him.  We are so blessed!

This is from one of our shopping trips to Target.  This boy is not eager to sit still in a shopping cart!  I had to get a box of cookies from the baby section and open them!  Not the first time doing this!  Whatever works right?!

 Lunch!  His favorite part of shopping.  

One of his sisters thought he should have a princess pillow along with his blankie

American Girl doll toys are just his size!

 Bryce had thrown his ball in the toilet...score.  He was even proud and showed me where it was

Coloring at story time

Bryce likes to play in Dooley's water bowl and food bowl.  His big sis Kate used to eat the dog food too.  

 Playtime with Suzy

Bryce loves to roll off all of the toilet paper.  Not mommy's favorite game of his at all

At story time again....not listening to the story as you can see

I love seeing this face every morning

posing and saying cheese for me at church one night

Helping out at school.  I want to remember this little baby because I know so soon he will be there!

When I get ready Bryce will have some bath time...this view in the mirror is priceless!

Circus Fun and Happy Valentine's

Friday was Cohen's 2nd grade field trip to the circus.  I always love getting some one on one time with my Coco.  Dawn and I rode together to Atlanta and met the kids there.  They had to ride the bus there.  We got there and got seated just in time for the show to start.  I had not been to the circus in I can't tell you when!  It was very entertaining for sure and I think all the kids were amazed at some of the tricks they saw.  This happens to be the last year to see the elephants at the circus.

The kids got to leave with us so we had lunch at Moe's on the way home.  The kids decided they wanted to sit by themselves so they could have their own conversation instead of listening to the "adult conversation".  We laughed at hearing that and of course snapped this cute picture of them.  

The one bad thing about the field trip falling on this particular Friday was that I had to miss Kate's Valentine's party at school.  Sug was picking her up for me and was able to go to her party.  She sent this cute picture of Kate with all her Valentine's goodies.

We did the same Valentine's for Kate this year that we had did for Cohen at this same age.  I took her picture and we taped suckers to it to make it look like Kate was holding the sucker.  I thought she was super cute in this picture ;)

Kelly and I had a great Valentine's weekend.  Sug and Pop had volunteered to keep all the grandkids on Friday so we had date night.  We had dinner and saw a movie.  On Saturday night the girls went to stay with  Bebe and Bryce went to Suzy's for a few hours while Kelly and I had a night out with our friends Alan & Jennifer.  Its always a lot of fun to go out with friends and we had a great time.  And today (Valentine's Day) we took my mama to lunch and visited with my nanny.  We played games with the girls and enjoyed some time at home.  I have to say that it was 12 years ago today that Hubby got down on one knee!  It was a great weekend and a great start to our winter break.  The alarms are off for a week!  We have a fun trip coming later on in the week but until then we are going to enjoy not being on a schedule and maybe some playdates!  Cohen is already enjoying a sleepover with Josie!

My Valentine 

game fun with our little Valentines

Cohen Turns 8!

Over the weekend Cohen had a birthday and is now an official 8 year old!  How I have an 8 year old is beyond me.  That happened way to fast!  Cohen is an 8 going on 18 year old!  I am very proud of her and the little girl she has grown into.  I still get teary thinking how she has grown.   We were watching some home movies the other night and I just cried looking back at her at 2 and 3 years old.  It feels like it was just yesterday and then I blinked and we were celebrating her 8th birthday!  Sadly, I know the next 8 years will continue to fly by!  She is really an amazing little girl. She is so extremely smart and can be so funny. You will see in the pictures I took of her she was more into silly faces than anything.  I told her I was more than glad to take those and would be sure to pull them out years later to see if she still loved them then.    She is also sassy beyond belief but I know she does get a lot of that honestly.  She gives us so much to be proud of and brings so much joy to our lives.  Here is a little bit about our 8 year old Coco:

• loves to read!  We definitely have a little bookworm.
• loves to twirl baton.  She is still all about twirling and loves the girls she twirls with and Mrs. Amy.
• Loves to build legos
• Loves her ipad and will watch YouTube all the time.  Mainly music videos!
• This fall Cohen accepted Jesus into her heart and will be baptized this year.  We are beyond thrilled with this decision and she blows me away with how much she comprehends.  She loves God and seeing her make the best decision she will ever make is definitely a proud mommy moment.
• She is a great sister to both Kate and Bryce.  They both really love her and I know she is going to be a great little "teacher" for them.  

Now for the fun ones.  Cohen really is funny and silly!  She loves to make funny faces and then laughs at herself.  We can have fun playing around for sure.  And like I said...these may resurface in years to come!

Friday night we started our celebrating with a birthday party at Grannie & Papa's.  Aunt Vicki made one of her favorites...spaghetti.  She really loved her party and got some fun gifts.  She told me once we got home that this felt like Christmas again.   We had not been to Gainesville since Christmas.  Bryce had loved the potatoes or "balls" on our last visit and picked right up where he left off on this one too!

More Legos! 

Kate wanted to blow out the candles too

 That night I had to go lay with my little 7 year old one last time.  She may be getting bigger by the minute but I still smile watching her sleep.  She loves that same blanket that she has always been attached to since day 1.

Saturday was her actual birthday and also her birthday party.  We decided to scale back on such a big party this year but still have a lot of fun.  She wanted an indoor swimming party since she can never enjoy the fun of a summer swimming party.  Lavonia has a new Hampton Inn that did the trick and even though we were hesitant, it really went well and everyone seemed to have a fun time.  What child doesn't enjoy swimming right?!  Cohen really wanted to wear her mermaid tail too!  They swam, ate, opened gifts, and then swam some more!  We had agreed to let Cohen have her first slumber party with some friends too.  The girls were so sweet and it went so good.  Cohen has told me that she wants to do that every year now!  I loved watching them play.  OF course we had to do pedicures, a bubble bath with jets, and they also did their makeup!  So girly and so fun.  I loved hearing all their giggles!  When it came time to lay down they all wanted to watch "Annie" and fell asleep during the movie.  We got everyone up and ready for church on Sunday which also went smoother than I thought it might.  Yay us!  First sleepover/slumber party was a success!  Cohen said she loved everything about her birthday and I sure hope she did.  I love my Coco and look forward to making some fun memories this year!

The kids loved this hot shower!  I think when the water felt cool they headed for the hot water.

putting on makeup!

so many bubbles!

relaxing for before pedicures