Party of Five

Happy 2012!!!!!!!!

2012-01-16T19:12:00.000-05:00

Wow time sure does go by quickly.

Quick update....
Our Christmas holiday was great. Chase got the drum set and pogo stick that he asked Santa for and so far has managed NOT to break his neck. Carson was more interested in everything Chase got than what he got and Cooper could have really cared less haha.

Now that we are into January and starting a new year we are anxious to see what it brings us. Right now I am planning a joint party for Cooper and Carson, turning 1 and 2. We are doing a Cookie Monster theme, I wanted to be original and different and thought this would be a cute idea. There is so much you can do with a "cookie" themed party. I live for this stuff :O)

Well for now I have attached a few new pics of the kids, they are growing SO fast and SO big.

Stay tuned....

The Countdown to Christmas....

2011-12-20T22:43:00.001-05:00

So 4 days and counting till Christmas, one of my favorite holidays. I love all the lights, the decorations and most of all the festivities of the season. I love decorating my house too below are a few pics.

The wreath hanging in the kitchen

I made these wooden blocks!

Our Russian Santa stacking dolls.

The mistletoe :O)

The oversized ornaments I just had to have but have no place to really put them!

The Little People manger display

We started the tradition when Chase was born to ride thru the Bull Run Festival of Lights. Now that the kids are a bit bigger the do a "no-no" and let them out of their carseats to sit in our laps in the front as we drive thru the park looking at lights. They love it!!

Chase loves driving too!

Mommy & Carson

Jack and the Beanstalk

The wicked witch!

Fish jumping out of the water

The appearance of snow falling was an awesome addition this year!

Another thing thats great about the holidays is the family time! Jeremy has been home a bit more and my siblings are home from college for a few weeks. When we all get together, watch out, were crazy!

Uncle Justin giving Cooper silly kisses!

Uncle Jacob & Cooper

Getting some sugar!

Soon-to-be Uncle Jay Jay (Justin) and Carson

Crazy Aunt Kendra & Jay Jay

My sister and I

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CHASE!!!!!

2011-12-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CHASE

Wow, its amazing how fast 4 years can fly by. These past years have been the greatest most rewarding years ever. Not only did we become parents with Chase we also had Carson and Cooper added to our family :O) Life is crazy and hectic at times but we wouldn't trade these little guys for anything!

CHASE TURNS ONE

CHASE TURNS TWO

CHASE TURNS THREE

CHASE TURNS FOUR

Through the years:
Birth-One Year

1-2 years

2-3 years

3-4 years

Celebrating Chases Birthday at Preschool

2011-12-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

Chase had to stand up in from of his classmate as they all sang him "Happy Birthday", it was super cute!

Not often Chase gets shy but it did happen a bit today!

Carson didn't take the time to sing, he was on the other side of the classroom checking out the cake!

Cake Time!

Visit with Santa

2011-12-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Cooper is too young to know the difference, Carson wasn't quite sure what Santa was all about and Chase had no problem at all walking right up to Santa and saying hello!

O' Christmas Tree!

2011-12-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

Trying to get one, JUST ONE, nice shot by the tree with all 3 boys...impossible :O)

Santa Clause is Coming to Town!!!

2011-12-06T12:51:00.000-05:00

Santa came thru the neighborhood this past weekend :O)

Yo Ho Ho- Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party for Chase!

2011-12-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

Chase won't be 4 till next week but we had his party yesterday. Wow, the noise that 11 kids all in one room can make! It was fun though. We played 3 games...(1) Walk the Plank (2) Pin the Patch on the Pirate and (3) Pirate Cornhole. The kids loved the plank game the best!

Each kid had a pirate loot bucket and after each activity they were able to collect some "loot" ( crayons, markers, coins, candy etc etc.)

Jake and the Neverland Pirates is a new Disney show and the merchandise isn't available yet so we had to be creative with decorations. I found some pirate images online and Jeremy printed them out at work using his poster sized printer then my mom had them laminated. All the characters from the show were there at the party and everyone seems to like the fact that they were life-sized :)

I can't believe Chase will be 4 in just a few more days!

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Cake. We made the cake and added an edible image with gold coins and pirate candles!

The "loot" buckets a.k.a party favors

Izzy

Uncle Mike and Cooper :O)

Pin the Patch on the Pirate Game.

Cubby

Mr Sneed

All the kids had headbands and eye patches to get in the pirate mood!

Carson taking his turn "walking the plank"!!

Chase "walking the plank"

Opening presents.

Making a wish!

Waiting for cake and ice-cream.

Chase and all his great friends!

Fall Fun

2011-11-29T20:30:00.002-05:00

Back Surgery

2011-11-29T20:28:00.002-05:00

Ive been slacking on this blog, but for a good reason. Over the past few months I have had some pretty severe back issues. After an MRI I ended up needing emergency to fix a disc in my back that was cutting off some nerves to my left leg.

Surgery was 2 weeks ago and I am healing nicely. A few restrictions are still in place like light lifting and no bending or twisting for a few more weeks but otherwise I am doing great! A 24 hours hospital stay was all it took!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T10:31:00.001-04:00

So Cooper got the "hand me down" costume this year...a duck, while the other boys were Yo Ho Ho..Pirates! Chase is all about pirates these days and I got a great deal on these off Ebay, brand new!!! It was comfortable, easy and they loved them. The boys had a great time. I was really impressed that Carson said "thank you " at every house...it was awesome :O)

Going back a bit...

2011-11-01T10:25:00.000-04:00

So back towards the end of September, Chase had the weekend to bring home his classroom mascot, Clifford. He was suppose to take Clifford everywhere he went and add a journal entry along with pictures for his classroom to see. It just so happened that we were going to New Jersey that weekend so Clifford took a car ride. See the pictures below of that weekend and how the journaling entry turned out.

Times are crazy these days...

2011-10-31T11:13:00.001-04:00

So just a few updates....

Cooper is now pulling up on things to an almost standing position, but he won't sit up. Cooper is getting really good at the army crawl across the floor to get something that catches his eye, but he isn't quiet doing the all 4's crawl. He still hates baby food but loves people food and had his first macaroni and cheese the other night for dinner and loved it...silly boy!

Chase is LOVING school. He asks every morning if that day is a school day, as he only goes Tuesday and Thursdays. I think starting in 2012 we might add him an extra day. It's amazing how much he has learned in just a few short weeks since school started. He knows all his number and letters along with recognition of them as well as how to spell out things...it's amazing!

Carson is a pistol. This kid is as cute as button and mean as a devil, when he wants to be. He is our silent instigator and loves to "pick" to get things started...oh boy! He eats everything and loves it all. His newest thing now to to jump off any platform he can find...we just hope that we are always there to catch him before he becomes to brave to jump on his own and things go badly one day!!

Jeremy is doing well. Its his busy time at work right now...aka "Payroll Season". With a slow economy I would still venture to say he isn't do half bad. He is a natural born salesman, no one can say otherwise :O) He has taken over the "Mom" role a bit more lately due to my pending injury and it learning that being a stay at home mom is a job all in itself haha, but he does it well :O)

I on the other hand and waiting for back surgery, scheduled November 14th at 3pm. PW Hospital. Going back well over 2 months I started having my lower back hurt, then it started to affect my left leg..numbness, tingling then achy. I went to a chiropractor for about 2 weeks only to make the pain worse. I then ended up at a Spinal Orthopedics office that gave me meds and ordered physical therapy. I went to physical therapy for about 2 weeks with no results and ended up in the ER one Sunday night about 3 wks ago in bent over pain :O(. Next day a MRI was issued and its brings things to now. I have TWO bulging disks in my back L4 and L5, L5 is the one that is huge and is pinching off the nerves to my left side. Surgery is unavoidable. Its an overnight stay and the only major restriction is NO LIFTING for about 3-4 wks. Kind of hard when you have 3 kids. We are trying to work out the details now with that but well figure it all out.

Anyway that's our lives in a nutshell for now..

Need a gift?

2011-10-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

Ive started making these adorable 1.5" wooden children's block sets. These are a fantastic size for little hands but big enough to not pose a choke hazard. These blocks have been hand sanded to smooth out the corners of each block and were sealed with non-toxic sealant for many years of play!

Each set comes with a coordinating drawstring bag for easy storage.

Want is personalized? I can add letters or numbers in an array of colors to these blocks to spell out names or number 0-9.

Each set consist of 10 blocks and a matching bag for $12.50

If you would like a full alphabet set which would be 30 blocks total, 26 letters and 4 patterned with a drawstring bag is $32.00

Makes a great baby shower gift as these blocks can be personalized and place on a shelf for decoration.

Contact me if you have any questions. More themes to be listed soon.

Trying to Crawl...already!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-24T07:57:00.001-04:00

So this past week I took Cooper in for his 6 month appt. He weights around 17.8lbs, the size of a large freakin turkey! If you could see his hams " aka thighs" you would agree that he resembles a turkey :O)

The last two days he has figured out how to get on all 4s and rock back and forth. Last night he actually moved his legs and crawled just a tad. I can't believe he crawled at 6 months old! This kid is ready to move and will be moving very soon. He will be crawling before a gets teeth, as there is no signs of teeth in his near future.

Brotherly Love :O)

2011-09-24T07:54:00.000-04:00

With only of "1" of me "3" of them I am out-numbered so I take all the help I can get!!!!

Some Professional Pics Taken at Uncle Doug & Aunt Katies Wedding!!

2011-09-24T07:42:00.002-04:00

Goldsboro, NC Family Reunion!!!

2011-09-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

We got home about 11pm last night from North Carolina. We had been there since Friday afternoon. I was really dreading the long 4-5 hr trip with all 3 kids but it went relatively well and everyone had a great time. Aunt Claudia has a nice big yard, front and back, all flat so the boys loved being able to run around and chip golf balls, throw footballs, play in the ditch and chase around poor Charlie the cat (although I think by the end of our trip Charlie warmed up to Chase a bit !) My grandmother flew in from Colorado which caused the sequence of events to unfold which left us all together at a family reunion. Its been years since we were all together. Even though we were still missing several people the house was packed and we had a great time catching up with everyone.

Its not often we get our picture taken together. Here just the girls. Mom, Me & Kendra

3 Generations. This is my mom and my grandmother

My sister and I

The four of us. Jacob, Kendra, Justin and Me!

Grandma :O)

All of us (well some are missing...)

First Day of Preschool...

2011-09-15T11:23:00.003-04:00

So today will conclude week #2 of preschool. Needless to say he still has a little reservation each time we drop him off but NOTHING like the meltdown he had the first day.

He loves it now. Always smiling when we go to pick him up. As soon as he sees me his first words are usually " I had a great day today Mom".. and walks away with his class.

He has made two friends so far that he talks about all the time, Sophia ( a cute little Chinese girl) and Lucas. Very cool :O)

He stayed once in awhile for lunch and I think he likes it, so that adds one more hour to the 9-12 schedule, extending it till 1pm.

I think soon we are going to start dropping Carson off once or twice a month for the same hours of 9-12, 9-1. Just so he gets use to it, makes some cute little friends and has some social interaction with others.

So far I would say preschool at Winwood = Happiness :O) The

side picture shows Chase holding a hockey stick that he intended to take to Show & Tell at a school :O)

Cooper is 6 months old!

2011-09-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

Really, where does the time go. In one breath is seems like Cooper has been a part of our family for a long time now, and in another it seems like we were bringing him home from the hospital just yesterday.

This kid is adorable and is getting his own little personality more and more each day.

He laughs and tries to talk back to you. Recently he begun fake coughing to grab attention.

Cooper loves vegetable baby food but literally gags when he is feed fruits. Its the weirdest thing ever.

He also won't eat from a plastic baby spoon, only the regular metal teaspoon, I guess he thinks he's already grown!

He is starting to sleep a bit better at night. Usually going down around 8 and up around 5 for a bottle, most of the time hell go back to sleep until the other two animals wakes up then its impossible to sleep any longer with all the noise that those two can make first thing in the morning.

Cooper loves toys, already. He loves his jumpers, we have two, on on each level of our house. He bounces, spins around and has a good old time :O)

Cooper goes to the doctor next week for his 6 month appt. I can't wait to see how much he weighs for this boy is a "big-un". His things are huge!!!! We laugh and call him bubba or the michelin man because of all his rolls. He was the smallest birth weight baby we had but has defiantly made up for that!

Cooper is Getting So Big!

2011-09-04T21:26:00.002-04:00

Rub-A- Dub-Dub..my boys are in the tub!

2011-09-04T21:25:00.001-04:00

Every once in awhile as a special treat I let the boys go "swimming" in my sunken tub.

Chase in my makeup!

2011-09-04T21:19:00.000-04:00

Chase LOVES to play with my makeup, in this picture he said he wanted to look like a baseball player and keep the sun out of his eyes...good job kid!

Holy Sh*t!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-04T21:17:00.002-04:00

Oh boy! Please tell me this is just a phase, a very short, VERY short phase that Carson is going thru. If he goes to bed without pants on odds are when you go get him from his crib his diaper will be off and there will be crap everywhere...literally!!!!! Its straight to the bath for him, and straight to the laundry room for all the linens.

As a Mom I'm asked to deal with many things and I think I handle them all quite well, THIS however is really nasty and makes me wanna throw up...causing that much more of a mess to have to clean up!

Bermuda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-08-23T11:56:00.002-04:00

So these last few years Jeremy and I have been able to travel the world and visit some pretty amazing places, thanks to ADP! Each year Jeremy has a chance to attend ADP's Presidents Club trip, based on performance of course. If you know Jeremy you know that he is a natural born sales man so he has made club 4 times out of the last 5 years, as well as achieving other spiff trips here and there. Just in the past 5 years we have been to: Puerto Rico, Ireland, Monte Carlo and a cruise on the Baltic Sea just last year where we visited Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Russia. And of course this year...Bermuda :O)

Out of all the places we have visited this club was MY personal favorite!!!

The people were so hospitable, the land was gorgeous and the flight was only 2 hrs :O)