Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Small Group Fun

Every other Sunday night, our small group from church gathers to dinner with one another. The other Cox family (yes there are two of us) hosted this past week and they have an AWESOME backyard full of fun play things. The boys were in heaven!

Our friend Caron was smart and brought her camera to capture some of the fun memories. Though she took them off all the kids, I'll just share the ones of my cuties.



Almost all the kids (minus 2).  More than half of our group is pregnant so there will 4 more babies to add to the mix soon!







Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sweet Adeline

Jeremy's brother Adrian and his wife Jen had a baby girl on March 31st.  Adeline Jade was a whooping 11 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches long.  Jen is a rockstar! 

We are lucky that Adrian and Jen live close by and we get to see them often.  Sadly I forgot to take pictures the first time we met Adeline, but Jen took these cute pictures the first time she came to our house. 






The boys were very enthralled with her and as you can tell, Adeline could have cared less they were there. Owen wanted to give her lots of kisses and as usual had to be reminded to be gentle. Maybe one day they'll have a little sister of their own. I know they would be great big brothers and protectors. :)

Abby


In January 1998, all my brother wanted for his 12th birthday was a dog.  My mom had finally given in to his constant requests and allowed him to get one.  My dad and brother went to get her one night from another city while Mom and I stayed at home contemplating names.  When BP walked in with her that night, she was so tiny and cute.  Surprisingly we had all come up with the same name without even previously talking about it. 

She was such a cute puppy! But like any puppy, she was mischievous. She chewed and ate anything...her favorite being the crotch of ladies' underwear (gross I know!).  As a puppy she would get so excited when people came to visit, that she would always pee in the floor. 

As the years passed, she finally calmed down and spent her days sleeping on the couch.  She always was a healthy dog except for the sty on her left eye.  

April 30th, 2012 at age 14, Abby dog's kidneys began to fail.  She stopped taking liquids and could barely moved.  My mom sadly had to make the decision to let Abby go.  It was a sad day but now she's not in pain .Thanks Abby dog for serving us so well as our family pet for so long. You will be missed!

OIiver @ 17 months

Oliver is becoming such a little boy. My baby isn't a baby anymore. :)

This month his language has really exploded. He will try and imitate anything you say. He is using many multi-syllable words; his favorites are: basketball, outside, apple, balloon, and baseball. He uses all of our names now when calling us; he calls Owen "Oh-wee" and Daddy has now changed into Dabby for some reason.

He loves books and can be found many days pulling and "reading" books by the shelves.

He is very affectionate and gives great hugs. He really has never met a stranger either; he'll go to anyone!He has moved up to the toddler class at the Y. He loves it in there because there are more toys and they go outside. (He is obsessed with going outside!)

Like his brother, he has an infatuation with Curious George. It's the only show he actually will sit down at watch. He also loves the two George stuffed animals we own.

Milk and bananas continue to be an obsession for him. He must have both as soon as he wakes up.

He is still taking 2 naps a day. He takes a short one in the morning at the Y and I'm trying to hold onto it as long as possible because we don't get home from preschool until 1:45 3x a week.

Thanks to the lovely model of his big brother, he started to try and bite. Owen sadly taught him that when they were fighting over a toy and now he thinks it's appropriate. He has also learned to say no and swat at you. Ow vay!
 
 He's a climber too! One day I found him standing in the kitchen chair after I put something in the oven. He LOVES bath time and must get the whole bathroom wet before he gets out! :)

His love for all kinds of balls continues.  He loves putting the baseball on the tee and "hitting" it.  He also likes when you lift him up to dunk the ball in the basketball net. 

It's hard to believe we are only 1 month away from a year and half.  His life seems to be flying by!

 

Fun on the Lake

My brother Brandon owns a boat club on Lake Norman. While my parents were in town last weekend, my brother reserved one of the boats for us to take out Sunday afternoon. Even though it was overcast and a bit chilly, the boys loved being out on the water.

The skipper and Papa waiting to take off


"Where we going Uncle BP?"

Oliver decides he needs to steer the ship with our captain

Oliver loved the front of the boat.  Cooper, BP and Lauren's dog, decided to join him.






We all love the water and are so thankful for BP and his hospitality. :)

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Pinterest Inspired Food Week

It's no secret that I love Pinterest. I use it to plan future parties, crafts, and most of all to get new ideas for dinner. This week's menu seems to have been more pins than usual. We had some really great meals so I thought I would share so you too could have some dinner inspiration. :)

This first one isn't a dinner but a snack. These were healthy, easy, and a fun item that Owen could help me make. The boys devoured these things! A comment on Pinterest said to substitute applesauce for the brown sugar..DON'T..they won't turn out right!


This chicken was sooo good and I don't like mayo.  The chicken was moist and flavorful!


This casserole was very flavorful and loved by everyone in our family! It was a little labor intensive but worth it!


We did this a few weeks back but it's worthy of blogging. This chicken was so amazing! The sauce is "smack your mama" good!


Last but not least, Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork. This combined a bunch of Jeremy's favorites.. Dr. Pepper, chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, and pork. This recipe is by the Pioneer Woman, who is amazing! This recipe said to cook in the oven for 6 hours but I just put it in the crockpot all day and it turned out great. We halved the amount of peppers to reduce the heat, and it was still spicy! The boys couldn't eat it the first day, but when we covered it with more bbq sauce it tamed it down a lot. This had a great smoky flavor like it had been smoked on the grill all day. It's a definite repeat!

Monday, April 23, 2012

April Date Night




For this in home date night, we each picked a game and we hung out in the floor playing games.  Jeremy 
picked Jenga. Sadly he won when I got a little heavy handed and knocked it over. 
For my choice, I picked Banagrams, my new favorite game.  Jeremy reluctantly played, knowing that this game takes forever with only 2 people.  He was a good sport though! :)
My final WINNING tiles. 

We finished up the evening going over our coffee talk questions and catching up on missed The Office episodes. It was fun to do something a little different! :)