Happy Birthday B!!

My sweet and adorable hubby is celebrating his 3oth birthday today!! I have been asking B what he wanted to do for his birthday and he kept saying, "just a night in with you guys." I kept thinking for his 30th birthday surely I should do more but, he kept insisting that he didn't even want to go out to dinner. So, as I sit here listening to him read Cooper his bedtime story I am so grateful to God for giving me a husband that only wants "family time" for his birthday! He did make two requests 1) he wanted to pick the kids up from school a little early and 2) steak and shrimp for dinner. I will have you all know that I was nice enough to fill those simple requests and even went a step further and ordered him his favorite ice cream cake. Cooper and I decided after bathtime that we should tell Daddy our favorite things about him.

more to come......

20 things you may not know about me

My friend Tina tagged me in this fun little game :) Here you will find out 20 things you may not know about me.


1. I was engaged when I met Bryan.
2. Bryan and I met playing volleyball. I was the referee and he was playing. I was chatting with my friend Bek after the game and he came over to talk to us. I didn't know that he was Bek's little brother. We talked for a bit and he asked me to go to his softball game with him. I told him I would go, but only if he came back to my volleyball game at 9pm (thinking there was NO WAY he would come back). Needless to say, I knew I was in deep trouble when he came back to the gym that night for my game.
3. I am a true "daddy's girl" in every sense of the word. My Dad is my hero.
4. Bryan has been trying to teach me to white water kayak since we started dating. I love it although I am not very good.
5. I am the first person in my family to earn a Master's degree, and I only walked at graduation because my Papaw asked me to.
6. I lived in Charleston, South Carolina.
7. Every guy I have ever had a serious relationship with has been in the military EXCEPT for Bryan.
8. The epidural did not "take" when I was in labor with Cooper and it was pure misery.
9. The epidural was pure magic when I was in labor with Brylee. I didn't even realize I was ready to push until the nurse announced to my friends they had to leave the room so I could have a baby.
10. I love to read celebrity gossip magazines.
11. I love to make decorative cakes. I made Cooper a 3 dimensional frog cake for his 1st birthday. I made Brylee a princess tiara cake for her 1st birthday.
12. I really want to return to school and earn my Doctorate degree.
13. I love to skydive. Bryan actually bought us a skydiving package as my wedding gift.
14. I have a very unnatural fear of sharks. I will only get in the ocean if the water is crystal clear and I can see the bottom. (My husband loves me for this when we are trying to plan vacations.)
15. My favorite book is Watership Down.
16. I managed a hair salon for two years.
17. I worked at Annie's Room, wedding dress store, while planning my wedding and I REFUSED to wear a white dress.
18. I promised my parents I would wait until after I graduated from college to get married. I graduated in May and got married in June.
19. I would like to have another baby, but Bryan says "NO WAY!"
20. I would like to learn how to sew.

Now I tag the following people to complete this litte game too:

1. Kristen O.
2. Tiffany
3. Rachel
4. Joanna
5. Emily

Today was a good day because....

• I got to take a nap with Cooper. We snuggled up in "Mommy's bed" and took a long nap. I woke up to him kissing me on the nose.
• Today Cooper climbed up on the couch sat down beside me and said, "Mommy I will always be your baby." His comment came completely out of the blue and absolutely melted my heart.
• Brylee has learned to "jump." It could possibly be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
• I watched my kids play with bubble wrap for an hour straight. They had a ball with it. They ran around in circles stepping on each others bubble wrap and giggling their little hearts out.

Conversations with Cooper

We finally had some snow. When Cooper woke up the ground was covered and he was over the moon excited. He walked to the screened door and ask:

"Mommy, can I go outside."

Me: "No buddy not right now it's too cold. Let's have breakfast first."

Cooper: "Well, can you bring it inside so I can play with it where it's warm."

Family Traditions

Christmas is full of great memories and family traditions for me. I am so blessed to have a husband that enjoys spending time with my family and shares in my love of traditions. For the past 29 years I have woke up on Christmas morning at my Mom and Dad's house to open presents. Even after Bryan and I were married we still continued to stay with Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve night. When the kids came along we discussed staying at our house for Christmas morning. Well, the discussion was very brief. We just couldn't imagin being anywhere other than Mom and Dads. We enjoy our traditional Christmas morning cinammon rolls, sausage balls and hot chocolate. Dana and Abby also stay at Mom and Dad's so it is one big happy family Christmas!

The kids were thrilled with all of their new toys and as they continued to open I couldn't help but think we were going to have to get a bigger house just to house all the new Christmas toys.

Another family tradition is that after we open our gifts under the tree my Mom writes clues for us to find our final gift. Cooper and Brylee got to join in the scavenger hunt fun this year and they were so excited to find new rainboots.

Monster truck boots for Coop, of course

girly poka dots for Brylee

Coop and Gaggy, he LOVES LOVES his new basketball goal
Brylee got her very own chair

Cooper picked out Aunt Abby's jammies for her so he had to help her open them
Coop and his tennis gear from D and Abby

Poppy giving guitar lessons

Gettin some Christmas LOVE!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve Morning! Isn't that nice of Santa to drop off Brylee and Cooper's presents one day early! Santa dropped off our presents early because he knew we were going to spend the night with Gaggy and Poppy and be at their house on Christmas morning. Between Santa Claus and Mommy and Daddy the kids were absolutely spoiled rotten. I have already talked to Santa and we are both going to cut back next year.

Cooper opened his first present, which happened to be a motorcycle with a rider on it. He was thrilled and way to busy playing with his motorcycle to open his other presents. He loved his motorcycle so much that we had to pretty much force him to open his other gifts. Brylee on the other hand was unwrapping them quicker than I could get pictures. She was her neat and tidy self though. As she unwrapped her gifts she brought me all the paper to throw away, even the teency tiniest peices.

Brylee's favorite present from Santa was her Tadoodle. It is an art station that has markers and sings and plays while she draws. It encorporates her two favorite things so it was a must on Santa's list.

Cooper's favorite as I mentioned earlier was the motorcycle and rider. He loves this motorcyle. A very close second is the movie "Cars." He has since been obsessed with this movie. He wants to watch it every time we get in the car and he sleeps with his two big "Queens."

Brylee thought it was much more fun to play her piano with her bootie

Cooper loves his HUGE "Ice Spy" I absolutely love "Books R Fun"

Another great puzzle book from "Books R Fun"

Brylee with her first Cabbage Patch Baby

We are SO SO BLESSED!!

Christmas with the Reynolds Family

We spent December 23 with Bryan's family celebrating Christmas. Bryan's Mom's house was the first stop on our Christmas list. The kids enjoyed opening their gifts and spending time with their aunts, uncles and cousins. Bryan has a big family (he has 3 brothers and a sister, add in all the spouses and kids) and it is one HUGE party! The kids were OVERLOADED with toys and loved each and every one! Cooper loves all of his monster trucks and his Diego jammies!! Brylee got lots and lots of food for her new kitchen!! Uncle Howie and Aunt Lisa got both of the kids a Curious George book and a Curious George of their very own! They love their George's and are giving them lots of love.

Cooper loving the drums Nanny brought him back from her cruise

Diego jammies, you just can't get any better than this :)

Brylee loved all the goodies she got for her kitchen

Brylee and Aunt Lee

Oh No! Poppy is the BIG 6 - 0

Happy Birthday Poppy!!!!

Merry Merry Christmas

I can finally share with everyone the absolutely amazing pictures that we had taken before Christmas. I didn't want to post them before Christmas because I was giving the prints out as gifts to our families. I have had them for a few weeks and I can't stop looking at them. It seems like every time I come to the computer I end up going back through them. They are simply amazing.

One of my friends, Tina, recommended Denise Skelton, and I am so grateful!! I called Denise and scheduled our time, but I had to cancel because Bryan had to go out of town for work. Well, my sweet sweet hubby worked a miracle and suprised me by coming back into town and re-scheduling our appointment (with a little help from Tina). It turned out to be the PERFECT day. We even had real SNOW to play in.

This is one of my absolute favorites because it "captures" our family just as we are.

Warming up Coop's hands (it was SOOOO cold)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of Coop

From Our Family to Yours,

We hope you had a Blessed Christmas

Sorry, I had no intentions of the post being this long. However, when I started uploading pictures I kept going back and adding more. These pictures are like Pringles, once you pop the top you can't stop lol. Every time I would go to add one I would think "but I have to post that one too." You can see our slide show that Denise created for us here and you can see ALL of the photos here (I know can you believe it there are MORE fantastic pictures.

I really truelly have to thank Denise from the bottom of my heart. I am so unbelievably grateful that she shared the evening with us and captured such special memories of my babies. When I scheduled the appointment with her she sent me an e-mail and ask me a few questions about our family and what I wanted her to capture. Well, I told her what every Mom says "Everything my kids do is special and cute to me so I want to capture it all." How is that for a vague answer. I have sat and stared at these pictures in amazement of how special they are. Denise was able to capture Cooper and Brylee's expressions and the things they love dearly in these photographs. Denise somehow managed to catch the "little moments" that Bryan and I treasure as parents. Denise, I am so grateful for you and your God given talent. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! We look forward to our summer play session!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST IN CASE! If you are looking for someone to do your family photographs I highly recommend Denise (if you couldn't already tell). She is more than a photographer she is: a bow putter backer (she put Brylee's bow back in her hair more than I did :) AND a wardrobe changer (she helped us change both of the kids THREE times), and she is absolutely FANTABULOUS!!