Birthday Boy Turns the BIG 3

On Saturday Cooper celebrated his 3rd birthday. It is so hard to believe that he is 3 years old. Time really does fly. It seems like just yesterday I was standing in his nursery praying to God to bless us with a healthy baby. I still remember standing in the door way of his room rubbing my big ol' pregnant belly thinking "is he ever going to come." Well, three years later we are extremely blessed with our "little man."

Unfortunately, we had to cancel Coop's party on Saturday because he had been sick all week long and I didn't want to take a chance of him being absolutely miserable at his big monster truck birthday party. We went for the next best thing: a night at Chuck E. Cheese. The ride of the night for him was definitely the horsey ride. I think we probably spent fifteen dollars on the horsey ride. He loved loved loved it. We had to take him off so other kids could ride it and as soon as they were done he was right back on it. He did briefly pause for a game of air hockey but it was short lived and we were right back to the horsey ride.

In honor of Cooper turning 3 here is Coop's top 3 list:

Favorite Cartoons:

1. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
2. Go Diego Go
3. Backyardigans

Favorite Foods:

1. Breakfast Bars
2. Sausage Balls
3. Watermelon

Favorite Toys:

1. Balls (football/basketball/soccer) it doesn't matter what kind, just play ball!
2. Motorcycles / Race Cars/ Monster Trucks
3. Horses

Favorite Movies:

1. Ice Age
2. Shrek
3. Cat in the Hat

Cooper's Night Time Favorites:

1. Tucking in requires: a hug, kiss, noggin, and high five

2. He only wants to be tucked in with the "big covers"

3. He sleeps with his "puppy" and whatever the small toy of choice is for the day

Favorite Places to go:

1. Gaggy's house

2. The park

3. "Out of town" aka (visit Uncle D and Aunt Abby or visit Uncle Chris and Aunt Penny)

If he could he would:

1. Ride his bike ALL day

2. Sleep with Mommy and Daddy every night

3. eat breakfast bars for every meal and snack

When he grows up:

1. He wants to play basketball

2. He wants to play football

3. He wants to chew gum

Here is Coop enjoying his birthday Horsey Ride!!

Conversations with Cooper

Cooper: "Mom, I think we should have named Cane, Skittles"
Me: "You picked out the name Cane, why do you want to change it"
Cooper: "I like Skittles better"
Me: "Do you really think you want to change the dogs name"
Cooper: "No, mom I don't want to really change it. That would be silly."
Me joking: "Well, I guess we could call him Cane and Skittles"
Cooper: "No, Mommy his name is Cane we can't call him Skittles too."
Me: "Okay, well Cane it will stay."
Cooper: "Ya know Mom, I think it is silly that you have two names."
Me: "I have two names?"
Cooper: "Yes, your name is Mommy. I really don't like it when people call you that other name."

Fun Fun Fundraising

Tonight we were lucky enough to be a part of what will hopefully turn into a yearly tradition for the Reynolds' family. Reynolds' MHS held a benefit to raise money for families in need this Christmas. We had a fantastic turn out and fantastic food but most importantly we raised money for families that need help during the Holidays. Howard and Lisa did an amazing job organizing and getting the whole shabang together. Tonight was a huge success and thanks for letting us be a part of it. I will admit that Cooper stole the night with his karoake version of "Jingle Bells." He was a huge crowd pleaser and he loved every minute of it. I am ever so grateful that the kids were able to take part in such a special night. I only wish they understood what a special night it was and how many people will be helped because of it. In such hard economic times I am humbled by everyone's generosity. HUGE THANKS to everyone who came tonight. You are AMAZING!!

Cooper belting out "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way, HEY"

Playing with Uncle Hayter Dee and Samantha

After an hour Cooper was exhausted and required some extra special love to last through the evening. Good thing Zack was there to tote him around.

Mantha gettin some Brylee love

It's Official

WE HAVE PIGTAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Better late than never, right? Here are some pictures from our amazingly blessed Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning, Cooper getting some practice in

Cooper lovin on Gaggy

My cheeseball

As most of you know, my husband is a big dork and as most of you know my Mom is a Christmas fanatic. This is the result when you mix the two.

Mom wanted a new picture of Bryan for her stocking holders and Bryan was being his usual goofball self :)

The fever finally broke

This is how Coop spent most of his week: miserable, with a temperature and cranky! Poor thing, every time we thought we were about to kick the pesky fever it would creep back up and we were back to square one BUT a cancelled birthday party later we think we are FINALLY on the mend.

My little trooper. His fever finally broke last night but it sure has been a long week for everyone. I am so blessed to have an amazing family here in town, with Bryan being out of town all week I don't know what I would have done with out them.

Luckily, Aunt Lee came to our rescue on Monday and postponed her trip to Atlanta to hang out with Cooper while I went to work. I had so much going on at work on Monday that I just couldn't put it all on a sub so honestly, Aunt Lee, really did save us. Cooper's fever was still pretty high and felt yucky but Lee's lovin and squeezin made it almost all better.

I did get a sub on Tuesday and was able to spend the day with him. He was STILL running a fever and grouchy grouchy but we made it through the day. I hate that he was sick but I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with him and thoroughly enjoyed our snuggle time on the couch. While Coop was watching Mickey Mouse I tryed to get some cleaning done, well, my little helper decided he needed to vacuum too.

He just HAD to wear his Alligator shoes. He kept saying his feet were cold and ONLY the alligator shoes would do. Every Mom knows you do NOT argue with a sick almost three year old. Whatever he wanted was his :) By Tuesday night we were hoping the fever would be gone but no such luck so it was high ho high ho off to Gaggy's we go.

Mom came to my rescue on Wednesday and got a sub for her classroom. She and Coop stayed in and enjoyed their day watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. I called the pediatricians office to see if I should bring him back in or if it was normal for his temperature to still be this high on day 4 of antibiotics. They scheduled him an appointment for Thurs. moring. Luckily we didn't have to take him to that appointment because the pesky old fever was none to thrilled to see Coop's Daddy because when Bryan got home last night Coop's fever was gone within a couple of hours.

Bryan kept him home today just to give him some extra rest time. We took him out for the Reynold's benefit dinner and he lasted a whole hour before he was exhausted and begging to come home. We are going to try school tomorrow but I have a feeling that Mommy or Daddy will be getting a phone call to come get their little grouch.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and prayers this week!

Conversations with Cooper

Although he is sick, he still has his since of humor and sweet sweet personality.

First thing this morning:

Cooper: "Guess what Mommy?"
Me: "What buddy"
Cooper (crawling up on my lap and whispering in my ear): "Santa Claus is coming to town"


Later on in the day I hit my knee on the bathroom door

Cooper: "Mommy are you OK. I am so sorry you got hurt"
Me: "It's ok I just hit my knee"
Cooper: "Wait Mommy. Let me kiss it and make it better like you always do"

At the after hours clinic while they were taking blood (a finger prick)

Cooper: "she needs to hurry up my finger is getting tired"

Poor Little Man

My little man is sick. I needed to work on my classroom friday after school and of course, my wonderful hubby volunteered (ha ha) to help me so Mom and Dad were super excited to take the kids out to dinner and let them spend the night. Well, while Bryan and I are still at work rearranging my room for the 900th time Mom called and said Cooper's eyes were itchy and watery. We all thought it was allergies so they gave him some Benedryl and they were off to bed. Unfortunately he woke Mom up at 4:45am coughing, coughing and more coughing. We went to get them on Saturday morning and Cooper was feeling much better. Since Coop was feeling better we went on with our plans to have Christmas pictures made that evening. The pictures went fantastic, Cooper was by no means 100% himself, but Denise was wonderful and the kids loved her. I am super excited about seeing the photos she took. Sorry, I digress, on with the story. Last night Cooper woke me up about 11:30 to go potty. I was helping him get his pants down and he was on FIRE! I admit, I panicked a little, I woke Bryan up to find the thermometer and took him temp 104. I wanted to immediately take him to the ER but my calm hubby told me to give the Motrin a few minutes to start working. It finally kicked in and his temp started coming down, not enough for me to put him back in his bed, but it did come down to 102. He slept with me (he slept I was awake worrying). We woke up this morning and his fever was still at 102 so I thought we were over the worst. I was wrong, around 9:30 it shot back up to 104 AND off to the after hours clinic goes Cooper :) Diagnosis: Walking pneumonia and out of school until Wednesday. Poor guy, while the Motrin is working he is fine but as soon as his temp starts rising his cheeks get flushed and he is miserable. Now I know there is never a perfect time for a little one to get sick but right now is sooooo far from the right time. Bryan is leaving in the morning to go out of town till who knows when. Cooper's birthday is on Saturday and I haven't done the first thing for his monster truck party. Oh Yea, and remember the fact that I just rearranged my whole room at school until 8 o'clock on friday night (Bryan really enjoyed that date night). Well, I have not made seating charts yet and I have an inservice on Monday that I really really need to go to. I have to cook 2 dishes to take into work. Does anyone know a sub I can get to cover all that for me tomorrow??? Luckily Aunt Lee is coming to our rescue tomorrow and keeping Cooper. He is thrilled that he gets to play hookey from school and hang out with Aunt Lee :)

All I have to say is....................

YOU ASK FOR IT

1. We took this picture right after the babies got out of the tub and as you can see before we put their pj's on

2. It was taken in Cooper's bedroom and the walls are blue (which is really funny because when I had a boy I promised Bryan that I was not going to paint the walls blue)

3. They are playing with a toy on Cooper's head rail that has been there since it was his crib (and yes it is still there......and yes, we really need to take it off)

4. I love love love this picture of cute baby bootie :)

You might wonder what in the world would possess me to post a picture of my babie's naked booties. Well, let me just tell ya. My friend, Tina, tagged me for her little game. The game: go to your fourth file, pick the fourth picture, post it, list four things about that picture and then tag four other people to do the same. Now for my list of four people:

1. Tiffany

2. Stephanie

3. Kristen

4. Rachel

SURPRISE!!

Happy 40th Birthday to Uncle Bill and Uncle Hayter Dee!!!!!! This past Tuesday we went to a surprise Birthday party for two of our favorite Uncles! There was a DJ and dance floor at the party and Brylee was not shy about shaking her groove thang. She was obsessed with the dance floor and would NOT come off of it. Cooper's favorite part of the party was, of course, the cake. Funny how not to long ago he would not have anything to do with sweets and now his sole purpouse in going to any birthday party is the CAKE!!

Don't let this shy look fool you, she was a dancing machine

getting in the groove

mouthful of cake

and his turn to boogey down (with Alex)

Family Traditions

What a blessing.......a whole weekend with my Mom's entire family! This is one weekend that we look forward to all year long. My grandparents (Mam and Pap) rent a cabin in Gatlinburg every year before Thanksgiving and our whole family stays for the weekend. They also buy everyone tickets for a show on Saturday night, this year's treat was Dixie Stampede. We arrived Friday night to a yummy yummy dinner and a late night with lots of games and laughs. On Saturday we drove into Gatlinburg and splurged on another family tradition the "Smoky Mountain Candy Kitchen." Cooper had the best view in the house on Uncle D's shoulders watching them make taffy. He even got a piece of taffy straight of the machine. I think Cooper would have stayed there all day discussing all the candy he wanted, and watching them make taffy. Saturday evening we were off to Dixie Stampede and a magical show. The highlight of the night however was Dana and Abby being asked to come down to the show arena and participate in one of the games. Good job D and Abby bringing home the win for our team :) The sweetest moment of the night was during a scene when they portrayed the Three Wise Men bringing Mary gifts for Baby Jesus. I was tellling Cooper that it was Baby Jesus and he looked at me with the most serious look and said, "Mommy why is Jesus here? He is supposed to be in Heaven."

I must admit simply looking at these pictures makes me teary eyed. I have such an amazing family. Of course, we are wacky, as all families are but in the end these people are the world to me. I am so lucky that I have been able to share my thirty years of life with the two most amazing, inspiring, good hearted, honest, God-loving people in the world My Grandparents. They have given me so much in my life, material things aside (and Lord knows they have given me that as well) they are simply amazing there are no words to describe them. I thank God daily that not only have I been blessed to have them in my life but that my children have also been able to know them.

My Grandparents watching over "Game Night"

This picture gives "family game night" a whole new meaning
Cooper, Dana, and Abby enjoying the Candy Kitchen
Pap with his Great-Grandbabies
Mam and Brylee

Unfortunately on Saturday night on her way into the cabin my Gradmother took a pretty bad fall. After a short trip to the ER everything checked out just fine. However, this week she has had some complications (pneumonia) and is back in the hospital. I post this simply because I know that the people that read my blog are Prayer Warriors and I ask that you please keep my Grandmother in your prayers!! ( Update: she is home and doing really well) but please keep her in your prayers! Thanks!

Book Fair

Hey Guys! I just got an email from Scholastic that their Warehouse Sale is coming up. I love to go and stock up on books for the kids. I have been to both the Knoxville sale and the Johnson City sale and they are both great. The one in Knoxville is of course bigger, but they both have a ton of books and they are always atleast half off the cover price. Here is the website in case you want to check it out:

http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/events/warehouse/

Trick or Treat

Cooper and Brylee really enjoyed their night of trick or treating. We decided this year to "kick it old school" as Bryan says and visit friends and family on Halloween. We started off visiting Aunt Peggy/ Uncle Venus and Aunt Gi Gi / Uncle Warren (the kids great aunts and uncles). They had a great time visiting and collecting their goodies. We made a stop at Aunt Bek's for healthy treats and a quick ride on the four wheelers. Then we were off to Poppy's and Gaggy's house for dinner and trick or treating fun. Mom and I took the kids to visit some of their neighbor's and gain candy :). Brylee pooped out after the first set of houses so she went back to watch Mickey Mouse with Poppy and Daddy. Mom and I continued on the trick or treating trail with Cooper. He had so much fun scoping out houses with their lights on so we could trick or treat. He got so excited when he would see a porch light on and announce "that one Mommy they have their light on." It was so fun to enjoy Halloween through his eyes this year.

Introducing:

Cooper the South Rebel Soccer Player and Brylee the Ladybug

Swinging with Aunt Gi Gi

Brylee LOVED her new Barbie cell phone that Gaggy put in her treat bag ( I know not the most flattering picture of me but we were having too much fun)

Beautiful Blue Eyed Baby!

Cooper and Gaggy trick or treating
Gaggy stealing some cuddles
caught red handed with her hand in the cookie jar

Cooper enjoyed coming back to Poppy and telling him all the exciting details of the night

Party Time!!

Last weekend we enjoyed a SUPER FUN Halloween party, thanks to Ms. Becky. Becky, thank you so much for doing this for the kids. Cooper and Brylee had so much fun playing with everyone and showing off their cutie costumes. Cooper was so excited to be a "South Rebel" soccer player and has already adopted his Daddy's old jersey number. Brylee was adorable in her little Ladybug attire. The party was a HUGE success!

The always protective Big Brother hanging on to his "Sissy Brylee Grace"

Bryan was a big hit with the kids. He was the tire swing swinger! Thanks Babe, your the best Daddy!
Super Dad, playing soccer with Griff and Coop

Coop was more than a little imtimidated by such a BIG soccer net

Coop

Griffin loved the slide.....

and so did Cooper........

and Brylee did too!!

Brylee loved the swings

Daddy giving Coop a little pep talk

My Little Man

My Little Punky

Yummmmmy!!

My friend Steph, posted this on her blog awhile back and I finally fixed it. It is super super yummy. Bryan and the kids LOVED it. So I thought I would share it with everyone that reads our blog because I know your lives are just as hectic as ours. I for one appreciate a dinner that honestly takes all of 5 minutes to prepare.




Crock Pot Taco Soup
4 chicken breasts
2 cans corn
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans black beans
1 can Ro-tel
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 pkg dry ranch dressing mix
1 pkg dry taco seasoning mix
1 cup chicken broth
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Tortilla chips
Sour cream

You need at least a 6 quart crock pot for this recipe. I use Sam’s frozen chicken breasts- run them under hot water for a minute and put them in the crock pot frozen! (Isn’t that great!) Then dump all other ingredients (except cheese and chips) on top of chicken. This really means dump-don’t drain anything!) Cook all day on low or 4-6 hrs on high. Before serving, remove chicken and shred with 2 forks and return to crock pot.Top each individual bowl with cheese, sour cream, and chips. SO YUMMY!

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!!!

Okay so not really lions and tigers and bears BUT lions and elephants and camels! Last Sunday Josh, Sarah and Griffin invited us to go to the circus with them. Brylee spent the evening getting spoiled by Gaggy and Poppy while Bryan and I took Cooper to the circus. He absolutely LOVED it. He sat in his seat the entire time in awe of everything. His favorite things at the circus were the tigers and the motorcycles, he was not really fond of the clowns but who can blame him they kind of freak me out too.

Cooper hitching a ride into the circus

Sarah and Griff before the BIG circus

Cooper begging me NOT to make hime ride the elephant

Happy Birthday Uncle Joe

Happy Birthday Uncle JOE!!!!!!!!!! We love you bunches and bunches and bunches and bunches! In honor of Josh turning the big 2-9 we are inspired to list the top 10 reasons we LOVE UNCLE JOE.

10. He knows how to wreck a bicycle

9. Great dinner specials at the Chop House

8. He says "Ocho" like a Champ

7. He knows how to flip a four wheeler

6. He knows how to break a 10 pm curfew (even on prom night)

5. He will stay up and play Mario with you until 2am even when your hubby has gone to bed

4. He washes his work clothes with your clothes and gets ink ALL OVER everything

3. He has a thousand nicknames

2. He takes longer to get ready than any girl we know :)

and finally for the #1 reason we love Joe

1. He is absolutely the best friend we could ever imagine and more importantly he is the BEST GODFATHER to both of our children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh and Cooper at the hospital the night Cooper was born

Josh and Brylee at the hospital the night Brylee was born

Thank You for being in our lives. We love you!!