Christmas at Sea World
Caden's Going to be a Big Brother
Big Boo Cast: Episode 416
23 hours ago
Monday, December 20, 2010
Caden's Going to be a BIG BROTHER!!
On Monday, October 25, 2010, we found out that Caden was going to be a...
We snapped this quick picture of our lil man and sent it out to our immediate family. We were thrilled, elated, excited, ecstatic with the news and felt beyond blessed to have another sweet lil one!
TODAY, I am 12 weeks and the word is officially out and I am thrilled!! I know people must have been wondering when I was going to STOP eating those holiday treats and hit the pavement again, but now they know it's just baby... and maybe some holiday treats as well! :) Ha!
Our new little bundle bean is due on July 4th, 2011... another holiday due date! For now, we are THANKFUL that we have been able to carry this child for 12 weeks and we're praying for a safe and healthy, 28 more for baby and Momma! :)
We snapped this quick picture of our lil man and sent it out to our immediate family. We were thrilled, elated, excited, ecstatic with the news and felt beyond blessed to have another sweet lil one! TODAY, I am 12 weeks and the word is officially out and I am thrilled!! I know people must have been wondering when I was going to STOP eating those holiday treats and hit the pavement again, but now they know it's just baby... and maybe some holiday treats as well! :) Ha!
Our new little bundle bean is due on July 4th, 2011... another holiday due date! For now, we are THANKFUL that we have been able to carry this child for 12 weeks and we're praying for a safe and healthy, 28 more for baby and Momma! :) We'll keep you posted as we go...
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Christmas at Sea World!
Saturday, we drove down to San Antonio for the day to go to Sea World with Kk and Albi. Kk and Albi have been planning this for quite some time... ever since they saw that Elmo and his Sesame Street friends would be hanging out at Sea World over Christmas! They knew Caden would LOVE it and so they decided to treat the THREE of us (thanks Caden!!) to a little Sea World fun as part of Caden's birthday present this year!! LOVE that Justin and I benefit from this too!! I must say that Justin and I were DEFINITELY WAY MORE excited than Caden, but only because we knew how fun it was going to be, but by the end of the day, the only thing Caden could say was MORE, MORE, MORE!! And we're hoping that there is more of Sea World where that came from! :)
Ready to go. The weather was gorgeous... a bit chilly, but nothing a jacket couldn't handle... and off we went!
Nerdy entrance pic... :) I think it's cute but KK thinks this pic is nerdy... I'll let y'all be the judge! :)
We were so fortunate to work out our timing just perfectly on Saturday... we ended up seeing EVERY show we wanted to plus some... it was GREAT! The first show we saw was called Azul and it was FULL of exciting divers, birds, Beluga Whales and dolphins. This was Justin's FAVORITE show... but the rest of us are still thinking that Shamu was our favorite... Here are Caden and Albi watching Azul!
The funniest thing about Caden all day was how MUCH he LOVED clapping to the music... and as KK would say, "At least we know that one Cox has some rhythm!" And he seriously does... I was impressed with his beat! :)
Next up we headed to Shamu... a show all about miracles... and let me just say that I basically cried the ENTIRE show. It was so neat! AND they did CHRISTmas real justice... and didn't shy away from the birth of our Savior and for that they deserve some major props! Go Sea World!
Caden clapping to the music. He kept looking back at us to make sure we were watching the show and clapping along!
I'm sorry but I just don't know how you can see a Killer Whale up close and personal and not tear up... God is an AWESOME and CREATIVE God who blows my mind with some of his creations... blows my mind!!
Next up we had to race over to Sesame Street. Daddy hopped the guardrail at the end of Shamu to get us FRONT ROW seats! We were super excited to have such sweet seats! :)
Caden did get a bit freaked out if one of the characters looked at him or in his direction but all in all he REALLY enjoyed the show. He was asking for ELMO all day but I STILL think that he really did enjoy the Shamu show the best... funny isn't it?! Caden decided he needed his OWN seat!
After Sesame Street we grabbed some hot chocolate in our fancy schmancy souvenir mugs and headed over to a 4D showing of the Polar Express. It was a 25 minute clip of the movie with some of the best scenes taken out and thrown together to make quite a 4D show! Caden refused to wear his glasses but he STILL enjoyed the show. In fact, we let Caden watch Polar Express one our way to San Antonio that morning and he made it ALL the way through... a FIRST! So Polar Express is officially Caden's first movie... :) YAY!! 
After the penguins... or maybe it was before the penguins I'm not sure, Justin saw the super short line to the Great White roller coaster and decided that he wanted to ride... and so he did! The rest of us sat and watched as he flew through the air!! It was pretty funny talking to Justin about it on the way home that night because he said how long it had been since he'd ridden a roller coaster (pre-Caden and maybe not since college) and how differently his mind worked. He said that now that he had so much to lose he was SUPER paranoid before the coaster took off and was thinking in his head about what he'd do if for some reason the over-the-shoulder belts came loose... he had a plan figured out in no time, but too funny how our brains change as we get older! We would have NEVER in a million years thought about anything like that, but now... it's a totally different story... like my sudden fear of flying... CRAZY!
Ready to go. The weather was gorgeous... a bit chilly, but nothing a jacket couldn't handle... and off we went!
Nerdy entrance pic... :) I think it's cute but KK thinks this pic is nerdy... I'll let y'all be the judge! :)
We were so fortunate to work out our timing just perfectly on Saturday... we ended up seeing EVERY show we wanted to plus some... it was GREAT! The first show we saw was called Azul and it was FULL of exciting divers, birds, Beluga Whales and dolphins. This was Justin's FAVORITE show... but the rest of us are still thinking that Shamu was our favorite... Here are Caden and Albi watching Azul!
The funniest thing about Caden all day was how MUCH he LOVED clapping to the music... and as KK would say, "At least we know that one Cox has some rhythm!" And he seriously does... I was impressed with his beat! :)
Next up we headed to Shamu... a show all about miracles... and let me just say that I basically cried the ENTIRE show. It was so neat! AND they did CHRISTmas real justice... and didn't shy away from the birth of our Savior and for that they deserve some major props! Go Sea World!
Caden clapping to the music. He kept looking back at us to make sure we were watching the show and clapping along!
I'm sorry but I just don't know how you can see a Killer Whale up close and personal and not tear up... God is an AWESOME and CREATIVE God who blows my mind with some of his creations... blows my mind!!
Next up we had to race over to Sesame Street. Daddy hopped the guardrail at the end of Shamu to get us FRONT ROW seats! We were super excited to have such sweet seats! :)
Caden did get a bit freaked out if one of the characters looked at him or in his direction but all in all he REALLY enjoyed the show. He was asking for ELMO all day but I STILL think that he really did enjoy the Shamu show the best... funny isn't it?! Caden decided he needed his OWN seat!
After Sesame Street we grabbed some hot chocolate in our fancy schmancy souvenir mugs and headed over to a 4D showing of the Polar Express. It was a 25 minute clip of the movie with some of the best scenes taken out and thrown together to make quite a 4D show! Caden refused to wear his glasses but he STILL enjoyed the show. In fact, we let Caden watch Polar Express one our way to San Antonio that morning and he made it ALL the way through... a FIRST! So Polar Express is officially Caden's first movie... :) YAY!!
After Polar Express we took a pit stop at the park to let Caden play and then we went and saw the penguins...
After the penguins... or maybe it was before the penguins I'm not sure, Justin saw the super short line to the Great White roller coaster and decided that he wanted to ride... and so he did! The rest of us sat and watched as he flew through the air!! It was pretty funny talking to Justin about it on the way home that night because he said how long it had been since he'd ridden a roller coaster (pre-Caden and maybe not since college) and how differently his mind worked. He said that now that he had so much to lose he was SUPER paranoid before the coaster took off and was thinking in his head about what he'd do if for some reason the over-the-shoulder belts came loose... he had a plan figured out in no time, but too funny how our brains change as we get older! We would have NEVER in a million years thought about anything like that, but now... it's a totally different story... like my sudden fear of flying... CRAZY!
The moral of this story is the same as the Christmas story... a child changes everything!!
Thanks for a SUPER fun trip to Sea World KK and Albi! WE had the BEST time... and Caden had fun too! :) Love y'all!!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Party, Party, PARRR-TAYYY
We've had TWO Christmas Parties so far this week... SO FUN! First up was our MOPS Christmas Party on Monday morning. We did our normal MOPS meeting stuff and then we picked up our kiddos early and had them come upstairs for songs, cookies and Santa! And if you've read our previous post you know that Santa wasn't really up for discussion with Caden, but I knew he would LOVE singing the songs and as I was pretty sure he'd eat the cookies... if he was forced, of course!
The greatest thing about Monday for Caden was getting to see his buddy Reece. Reece's mom is at my table and we've honestly only been around them a few times, but Caden LOVES Reece. Reece is an older, more mature toddler, BUT he doesn't seem to mind that Caden thinks he's the COOLEST! He talks about seeing Reece ALL the time. We bumped into Reece at the grocery store one day and so now every time we go to the store he thinks we'll see Reece. Just last night as we pulled in he said Reece, Reece?! So cute! There is definitely something about Reece... here is a picture of the two little buds... Reece is the ADROABLE red head! :)
Caden and his other MOPPETS buddies...
Shakin' his jingle bells like he just don't care!!! :)
And now shakin' 'em from his seat!! Pretty soon after this picture was taken Santa made his grand entrance. Caden stood up, and started backing up, then he turned and looked for me, he had a very concerned look on his face and then he came and sat in my lap. Once Santa was attacked by all of the other kids Caden seemed just fine... and continued to have fun and play... just as long as no one put him in the line to see Santa!! :)
Today was Caden's last day of school before Christmas Break... so we had a PARTY!!! It was a Happy Birthday Jesus party! And I can't HELP but laugh when I think about Happy Birthday Jesus because this was a FOREIGN concept to me until about 7 years ago. I had never HEARD of ANYONE throwing a birthday party for Jesus... never! And Yes, I did grow up in the church. But one Christmas, my first to spend with Justin's side of the family... I think we were actually engaged at the time, we went up to Sherman to visit his Grandma. Once we got there, we were unloading the car and I asked my mother-in-law, who you know as Nana, if I could carry anything in, because we had lots of food, presents, etc. And she said, sure... and asked if I could grab the birthday cake. Birthday? Oh Shoot!! Justin forgot to FILL ME IN and I didn't have a present for whoever's birthday it was... great first Christmas with the fam impression. So I pulled Justin around to the trunk of the car and whispered, "Whose birthday is it?" I was in PANIC mode!! And he said... Jesus'... OH MY GOODNESS! Of course... of course it was Jesus' birthday... but we baked him a cake?! And not only did we bake him a cake but we brought him candles and we all held hands and sung Happy Birthday to Jesus?! I felt like I was at the North Pole... I had never witnessed such a thing in all my life! But here I am... 7+ years later and I'm doing the same thing for my little guy at school! Life really DOES come full circle! Now this of course was meant in NO way to offend my family BUT I still get a HUGE laugh every time I think of that day (and Justin does too!!)... the first day I EVER sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! Too much, too much!! :) Every year since I have never been able to look at Justin while we sing... or else I'd lose it!! And now this year... now that the STORY is out, there is NO WAY I'm keepin' it in!! :) It's one of the funniest family-memories/inside-jokes Justin and I share!! Love you Cox Fam!! :)
The greatest thing about Monday for Caden was getting to see his buddy Reece. Reece's mom is at my table and we've honestly only been around them a few times, but Caden LOVES Reece. Reece is an older, more mature toddler, BUT he doesn't seem to mind that Caden thinks he's the COOLEST! He talks about seeing Reece ALL the time. We bumped into Reece at the grocery store one day and so now every time we go to the store he thinks we'll see Reece. Just last night as we pulled in he said Reece, Reece?! So cute! There is definitely something about Reece... here is a picture of the two little buds... Reece is the ADROABLE red head! :)
Caden and his other MOPPETS buddies...
Shakin' his jingle bells like he just don't care!!! :)
And now shakin' 'em from his seat!! Pretty soon after this picture was taken Santa made his grand entrance. Caden stood up, and started backing up, then he turned and looked for me, he had a very concerned look on his face and then he came and sat in my lap. Once Santa was attacked by all of the other kids Caden seemed just fine... and continued to have fun and play... just as long as no one put him in the line to see Santa!! :)
Today was Caden's last day of school before Christmas Break... so we had a PARTY!!! It was a Happy Birthday Jesus party! And I can't HELP but laugh when I think about Happy Birthday Jesus because this was a FOREIGN concept to me until about 7 years ago. I had never HEARD of ANYONE throwing a birthday party for Jesus... never! And Yes, I did grow up in the church. But one Christmas, my first to spend with Justin's side of the family... I think we were actually engaged at the time, we went up to Sherman to visit his Grandma. Once we got there, we were unloading the car and I asked my mother-in-law, who you know as Nana, if I could carry anything in, because we had lots of food, presents, etc. And she said, sure... and asked if I could grab the birthday cake. Birthday? Oh Shoot!! Justin forgot to FILL ME IN and I didn't have a present for whoever's birthday it was... great first Christmas with the fam impression. So I pulled Justin around to the trunk of the car and whispered, "Whose birthday is it?" I was in PANIC mode!! And he said... Jesus'... OH MY GOODNESS! Of course... of course it was Jesus' birthday... but we baked him a cake?! And not only did we bake him a cake but we brought him candles and we all held hands and sung Happy Birthday to Jesus?! I felt like I was at the North Pole... I had never witnessed such a thing in all my life! But here I am... 7+ years later and I'm doing the same thing for my little guy at school! Life really DOES come full circle! Now this of course was meant in NO way to offend my family BUT I still get a HUGE laugh every time I think of that day (and Justin does too!!)... the first day I EVER sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! Too much, too much!! :) Every year since I have never been able to look at Justin while we sing... or else I'd lose it!! And now this year... now that the STORY is out, there is NO WAY I'm keepin' it in!! :) It's one of the funniest family-memories/inside-jokes Justin and I share!! Love you Cox Fam!! :)
So after we ate our yummy Chick-fil-a lunch we all sat down and read the Night Before Christmas. Miss Rissa asked if any of the parents wanted to step up and read and we all politely declined! :) Haha! She's the professional here! :)
Caden needed to get a little closer...
And Will too...
After our storytime we went back to the table and decorated cupcakes for Jesus' birthday party. Once they were all decorated we put a candle in each and sang to our Savior!
Caden's sweet Daddy even came for the PARTY!! He couldn't miss the fun!! :)
After cupcakes it was time for the GIFT EXCHANGE!! We all brought a book and put them under the tree for the kiddos... they were so excited to pick one out!!
A little Christmas-pre-game warm-up unwrapping their gifts...
YAY! Barnyard Dance!! What a great book! Caden was pumped!
Then Miss Rissa passed out a special gift to each of the kids... an Elmo Book!! She DOES know them SO well! Caden immediately sat down to read...
What a fun few days of parties, celebrating the CHRIST in Christmas! Now I still don't know if I can get fully behind singing Happy Birthday to Jesus without wanting to LAUGH HYSTERICALLY (not at the tradition itself, but at my introduction to it), BUT I DO know that I want CHRIST to be the center of our Christmas traditions each and every year. He really is the ONLY gift we need, isn't he?! And the extraordinary thing about Jesus is... he GAVE without requiring anything in return! It is our choice to receive his gift!! And to that I say YES PLEASE! Give me some Jesus for Christmas and FOR ALWAYS!! :)
Caden needed to get a little closer...
And Will too...
After our storytime we went back to the table and decorated cupcakes for Jesus' birthday party. Once they were all decorated we put a candle in each and sang to our Savior!
Caden's sweet Daddy even came for the PARTY!! He couldn't miss the fun!! :)
After cupcakes it was time for the GIFT EXCHANGE!! We all brought a book and put them under the tree for the kiddos... they were so excited to pick one out!!
A little Christmas-pre-game warm-up unwrapping their gifts...
YAY! Barnyard Dance!! What a great book! Caden was pumped!
Then Miss Rissa passed out a special gift to each of the kids... an Elmo Book!! She DOES know them SO well! Caden immediately sat down to read...
What a fun few days of parties, celebrating the CHRIST in Christmas! Now I still don't know if I can get fully behind singing Happy Birthday to Jesus without wanting to LAUGH HYSTERICALLY (not at the tradition itself, but at my introduction to it), BUT I DO know that I want CHRIST to be the center of our Christmas traditions each and every year. He really is the ONLY gift we need, isn't he?! And the extraordinary thing about Jesus is... he GAVE without requiring anything in return! It is our choice to receive his gift!! And to that I say YES PLEASE! Give me some Jesus for Christmas and FOR ALWAYS!! :)Merry CHRISTmas everyone!!
On the Table
Oh the weekend recap post?! Don't you love them?! It pains me sometimes that I cannot seem to find something more original or even entertaining to kick off the start of a brand new week, but alas it seems a post detailing the comings and goings of our weekend seems to fit the bill perfectly. And that is not to say that our lives are not superbly original AND equally entertaining, of course...
This weekend was a FUN one on so many levels. First off, DADDY left for the weekend which left the Chade-man and I to our own defenses and a house that didn't necessarily have to be picked up before we went to bed each night... SCORE! Daddy enjoyed a nice dude weekend with some friends... varmint hunting, paint balling, ATVing, you know the normal boy weekend type stuff. Campfires... cigars... not showering ALL weekend...YES and double YES... a dude weekend at its best.
Now before you go and feel all sorry for Caden and I and thinking to yourself, "Who in the world did they have to entertain them ALL weekend long?" Well... we are never short on that... remember we live extremely original and entertaining lives. Caden and I had a house guest for the ENTIRE weekend... my sweet cousin Chatty drove in from A&M to spend the weekend with us... which we take as a VERY big compliment seeing as she is definitely in the who's who of Aggieland. Chatty is one of a kind and in case you are wondering no her mother DOES not hate her and really named her Kathleen, but through some twists and turns down the bumpy older cousin road ... Chatty Kathy got shortened to Chatty and I REFUSE to let it die! It fits her... if you know her you KNOW that Chatty works! AND extra bonus... Caden is GREAT at saying CHA-TTY! So cute...
So Chatty arrived Friday night with Pei Wei in hand and FUN finally began! Caden, Chatty and I partied a bit past his bed time that night fueled with the excitement of what the next day had in store... and we knew it would be BIG because guess who was coming to town???!!
SANTA??!! We'll get to Santa in a minute, but first we received a visit from KK and Albi who drove in for the day to see their boy and of course their favorite niece! :) OH and FAVORITE daughter... of course! AND double bonus their pesky son-in-law was G-O-N-E! :)
We had been anticipating KK and Albi's arrival ALL week because we were planning on going to visit Santa and hang out at the Domain... Caden was so excited to visit Santa. WE practiced ALL week saying his name and what he would say when he got to sit in his lap. All things were pointing to a spectacular visit with Santa. SO I dressed him in his cutest Christmas shirt and made sure his hair was nice and combed and off we went to visit the big guy in the red coat! We arrived at the Domain and took our place in line with the many other eager toddlers and parents outside of Santa's Workshop. Caden peered through the window and caught a glimpse of the jolly ol' guy and seemed solid... like rock solid... like I'm not gonna let that silly beard and those goofy glass scare me from getting my Christmas wish... no way!
I was so proud... he was being so brave! When it was our turn, I picked Caden up and headed up to meet Santa... and then suddenly... the switch FLIPPED! I felt an UNUSUALLY strong arm clinging to me, I hear wimpers, I heard NO, No, NO! I felt a head nuzzled in my necklace. I felt my 30+lb child wrap both arms and legs around me. I heard ALL DONE! What happened? Where did my brave boy go?! It was the beard... it was too much... or the glasses... or that shiny gold button on his coat... or the BIG black boots. It was ALL of it. So I graciously thanked the kind man who has to put up, with in my opinion, WAY more than any kind soul should have to and said we'd try again next year! AND with that... we took our sad Santa-phobic boy out to Gloria's... there is NOTHING that a little black bean dip and a Sprite can't cure... NOTHING!
And after Gloria's we tried to make up for the lack of Christmas-photo-op-enthusiasm with Santa (which I keep misspelling as Satan every time I type... eeek) and took a few pics by the BIG Christmas tree... I say few... because Caden was in banshee mode and Albi was in "I must protect the Banshee mode." He is in the scene of almost every picture... silly Albi!
After another failed Christmas-spirit-photo-op we decided that it REALLY is better to GIVE than RECEIVE, which come to think of it has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't get any good pictures... or RECEIVE any good pictures... okay so maybe it kind of works... Regardless, we went into a few stores and helped KK and Chatty pick out a few last minute gifts for people. While in Sur la Table which up until this weekend I have been butchering the pronunciation of... I started at Sur la Table, like Table... like go set the table, but then realized that Sur la Table sounded so blatantly unrefined that it could never be pronounced in such a way, so I modified my pronunciation to Sur la Tab-le, like tab-le, like tob-le not tab-le like TAB the drink. And that seemed right enough... Sur la Tab-le. But alas, my French would prove me stupid yet again when I was greeted by a lovely employee of the establishment with the following, "Welcome to Sur la Tab... " The le is apparently silent... of course it is! Those french... So for your future shopping reference you now know the correct pronunciation of Sur la Table, unless of course the woman who greeted me was new and she too was a little rusty in her French. Ha... So all of that to say that while we were in that fancy kitchen place, Caden picked out two special gifts for TWO very special girls in his life. Chatty already got hers but Aunt Emily... you've got something comin'... picked out especially by Caden. KK and I thought it was so darned cute that we just couldn't resist buying whatever it was he wanted to give ... tis the season after all!
On Sunday morning Caden, Chatty and I bundled up in our warmest jammies and hung out around the house. Caden LOVED having Chatty there to entertain all weekend. And he even learned a few new tricks from his college co-ed cousin... how do you like that alliteration?!! He learned how to be a CONEHEAD...
And he learned that people make great tackle dummies... okay so he already knew that but I sure was happy to have someone else to pass the punch to! :) Thanks for coming to stay with us Chatty and good luck on that last final!! We love you!
And there it is folks... a weekend recap with WAY more details than you were bargaining for and I applaud you if you made it this far!! I'm not even sure if KK will make it to the end of this one!! :)
This weekend was a FUN one on so many levels. First off, DADDY left for the weekend which left the Chade-man and I to our own defenses and a house that didn't necessarily have to be picked up before we went to bed each night... SCORE! Daddy enjoyed a nice dude weekend with some friends... varmint hunting, paint balling, ATVing, you know the normal boy weekend type stuff. Campfires... cigars... not showering ALL weekend...YES and double YES... a dude weekend at its best.
Now before you go and feel all sorry for Caden and I and thinking to yourself, "Who in the world did they have to entertain them ALL weekend long?" Well... we are never short on that... remember we live extremely original and entertaining lives. Caden and I had a house guest for the ENTIRE weekend... my sweet cousin Chatty drove in from A&M to spend the weekend with us... which we take as a VERY big compliment seeing as she is definitely in the who's who of Aggieland. Chatty is one of a kind and in case you are wondering no her mother DOES not hate her and really named her Kathleen, but through some twists and turns down the bumpy older cousin road ... Chatty Kathy got shortened to Chatty and I REFUSE to let it die! It fits her... if you know her you KNOW that Chatty works! AND extra bonus... Caden is GREAT at saying CHA-TTY! So cute...
So Chatty arrived Friday night with Pei Wei in hand and FUN finally began! Caden, Chatty and I partied a bit past his bed time that night fueled with the excitement of what the next day had in store... and we knew it would be BIG because guess who was coming to town???!!
SANTA??!! We'll get to Santa in a minute, but first we received a visit from KK and Albi who drove in for the day to see their boy and of course their favorite niece! :) OH and FAVORITE daughter... of course! AND double bonus their pesky son-in-law was G-O-N-E! :)
We had been anticipating KK and Albi's arrival ALL week because we were planning on going to visit Santa and hang out at the Domain... Caden was so excited to visit Santa. WE practiced ALL week saying his name and what he would say when he got to sit in his lap. All things were pointing to a spectacular visit with Santa. SO I dressed him in his cutest Christmas shirt and made sure his hair was nice and combed and off we went to visit the big guy in the red coat! We arrived at the Domain and took our place in line with the many other eager toddlers and parents outside of Santa's Workshop. Caden peered through the window and caught a glimpse of the jolly ol' guy and seemed solid... like rock solid... like I'm not gonna let that silly beard and those goofy glass scare me from getting my Christmas wish... no way!
I was so proud... he was being so brave! When it was our turn, I picked Caden up and headed up to meet Santa... and then suddenly... the switch FLIPPED! I felt an UNUSUALLY strong arm clinging to me, I hear wimpers, I heard NO, No, NO! I felt a head nuzzled in my necklace. I felt my 30+lb child wrap both arms and legs around me. I heard ALL DONE! What happened? Where did my brave boy go?! It was the beard... it was too much... or the glasses... or that shiny gold button on his coat... or the BIG black boots. It was ALL of it. So I graciously thanked the kind man who has to put up, with in my opinion, WAY more than any kind soul should have to and said we'd try again next year! AND with that... we took our sad Santa-phobic boy out to Gloria's... there is NOTHING that a little black bean dip and a Sprite can't cure... NOTHING!
And after Gloria's we tried to make up for the lack of Christmas-photo-op-enthusiasm with Santa (which I keep misspelling as Satan every time I type... eeek) and took a few pics by the BIG Christmas tree... I say few... because Caden was in banshee mode and Albi was in "I must protect the Banshee mode." He is in the scene of almost every picture... silly Albi!
After another failed Christmas-spirit-photo-op we decided that it REALLY is better to GIVE than RECEIVE, which come to think of it has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't get any good pictures... or RECEIVE any good pictures... okay so maybe it kind of works... Regardless, we went into a few stores and helped KK and Chatty pick out a few last minute gifts for people. While in Sur la Table which up until this weekend I have been butchering the pronunciation of... I started at Sur la Table, like Table... like go set the table, but then realized that Sur la Table sounded so blatantly unrefined that it could never be pronounced in such a way, so I modified my pronunciation to Sur la Tab-le, like tab-le, like tob-le not tab-le like TAB the drink. And that seemed right enough... Sur la Tab-le. But alas, my French would prove me stupid yet again when I was greeted by a lovely employee of the establishment with the following, "Welcome to Sur la Tab... " The le is apparently silent... of course it is! Those french... So for your future shopping reference you now know the correct pronunciation of Sur la Table, unless of course the woman who greeted me was new and she too was a little rusty in her French. Ha... So all of that to say that while we were in that fancy kitchen place, Caden picked out two special gifts for TWO very special girls in his life. Chatty already got hers but Aunt Emily... you've got something comin'... picked out especially by Caden. KK and I thought it was so darned cute that we just couldn't resist buying whatever it was he wanted to give ... tis the season after all!
On Sunday morning Caden, Chatty and I bundled up in our warmest jammies and hung out around the house. Caden LOVED having Chatty there to entertain all weekend. And he even learned a few new tricks from his college co-ed cousin... how do you like that alliteration?!! He learned how to be a CONEHEAD...
And he learned that people make great tackle dummies... okay so he already knew that but I sure was happy to have someone else to pass the punch to! :) Thanks for coming to stay with us Chatty and good luck on that last final!! We love you!
And there it is folks... a weekend recap with WAY more details than you were bargaining for and I applaud you if you made it this far!! I'm not even sure if KK will make it to the end of this one!! :)We've got lots 'on the table' or for you Frenchies out there 'sur la table' (don't forget about that silent le) this week... most posts coming up!!
11 Days until Christmas!!!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Three New Posts (Because I've Been a LAME Blogger!)
I've been SUPER lame lately... tis the season, I suppose?!! Excuses or not I've got three new posts to share that I hope you'll enjoy!! Merry Christmas everyone!!
Last Weekend Randomness
The Newest JJCH Commercial
A Christmas Tradish
Last Weekend Randomness
The Newest JJCH Commercial
A Christmas Tradish
A Christmas Tradish...
Since the first year Justin and I were married we have been participating in a Cox Family Christmas Tradish... It's a fun little thing that most families do around Christmastime but it happens to be one of my VERY favorite things about the holidays. My LOVE for driving around in the car, exploring the sights and sounds of the places around me comes from a childhood of doing just this. Ever since I can remember my family would load up in the car and head to TCBY, Dairy Queen, Sonic, etc. and grab a tasty cold treat and spend the next few minutes/hours driving around town. When we lived in Marfa we would go by Dairy Queen get a dipped cone and then head out to the edge of town to visit THE BULL. He was a crazy, slobbery, BIG, OLD bull that spent his days behind the fence. I am not sure how we found out about him or if it was a MAIN attraction in Marfa back in those days, but for our family a trip to visit the bull was like going to Six Flags... exhilarating!
On Sunday nights, Caden, Justin and I typically take a nice drive to the gas station to fill up our car for the week and might partake in a car wash and then we do the same ... although we aren't as fortunate to have found the TOWN BULL... someday... someday!
So all of THAT to say that taking a drive to look at Christmas Lights is the most anticipated thing we do as a family during Christmastime. Last night Justin got home a bit earlier than normal (yay!) so we had a little extra time to head out and check out a new neighborhood. We've already been a few times to look at lights in our OWN hood, BUT KK stumbled onto a blog that listed the top places to visit in our area so we picked one and went with it!!
Before we could do any looking though we need a special drink... Starbucks is usually the name of the game this time of year... Peppermint Hot Chocolate... YES and PLEASE!! And poor Caden... as you can see below gets quite testy when we pull up to Starbucks and he doesn't get to go in... who will pick out his special milk??!! Poor guy... I think we've created a monster! :)
But once the milk in his hand and his cookie is close by, we're good to go. Amazing how that face switched in mere seconds... the power of Starbucks!!
And Daddy got him a little treat too!!!
And Mommy makes three!!
And now we're off! I must tell you that Justin was a little reluctant to travel ALL THE WAY to EAST EAST Round Rock to Forest Creek where this particularly spectacular house that we had heard about was, BUT after seeing the awe-inspiring light show he was like a kid in a candy store... and was CONVINCED that he needed to send out a company-wide email about it the next day so that NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE would miss the opportunity to check it out!!
Here's just a SMALL taste of the show that we watched last night! It was SERIOUSLY the NEATEST thing I have ever seen. I am sure we will be going back before the end of the season this year!! So if you're local... MAKE THE TRIP! You won't be disappointed!!
On Sunday nights, Caden, Justin and I typically take a nice drive to the gas station to fill up our car for the week and might partake in a car wash and then we do the same ... although we aren't as fortunate to have found the TOWN BULL... someday... someday!
So all of THAT to say that taking a drive to look at Christmas Lights is the most anticipated thing we do as a family during Christmastime. Last night Justin got home a bit earlier than normal (yay!) so we had a little extra time to head out and check out a new neighborhood. We've already been a few times to look at lights in our OWN hood, BUT KK stumbled onto a blog that listed the top places to visit in our area so we picked one and went with it!!
Before we could do any looking though we need a special drink... Starbucks is usually the name of the game this time of year... Peppermint Hot Chocolate... YES and PLEASE!! And poor Caden... as you can see below gets quite testy when we pull up to Starbucks and he doesn't get to go in... who will pick out his special milk??!! Poor guy... I think we've created a monster! :)
But once the milk in his hand and his cookie is close by, we're good to go. Amazing how that face switched in mere seconds... the power of Starbucks!!
And Daddy got him a little treat too!!!
And Mommy makes three!!
And now we're off! I must tell you that Justin was a little reluctant to travel ALL THE WAY to EAST EAST Round Rock to Forest Creek where this particularly spectacular house that we had heard about was, BUT after seeing the awe-inspiring light show he was like a kid in a candy store... and was CONVINCED that he needed to send out a company-wide email about it the next day so that NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE would miss the opportunity to check it out!!So to 2608 Collingswood we went and we found this...
14,000+ LED Lights! AND a sign that asked us to tune our radios to their station so we could enjoy the SHOW! Oh yes... and was it EVER a show!!!
Here's just a SMALL taste of the show that we watched last night! It was SERIOUSLY the NEATEST thing I have ever seen. I am sure we will be going back before the end of the season this year!! So if you're local... MAKE THE TRIP! You won't be disappointed!!
Merry Christmas!!
Last Weekend Randomness
Last weekend was our FIRST and ironically, ONLY round of Christmas parties. We got to knock the two parties we have this year out in one weekend, which makes for a VERY fun few days!
First up was our Life Group Christmas Party! Since I've never gotten around to bloggin about the actual transition it seems like I might as well just go ahead and explain the short version here. Justin and I have been visiting a new church closer to home over the past few months and LOVE it. In just the few weeks we've been at this church we feel like we've made more connections and found more potential "friends-for-lifers" than we had during our entire FOUR years at our previous church. God has been working on us for almost two years now and in September we finally decided to start off the new school year with a BIG switch for our family and left our church. Luckily, for us our church search wasn't all that daunting as we feel like we have found a great place to call home for now on the first shot!! This is the church that Caden is going to school at and it is also the host church of the MOPS group I joined, so needless to say this church is quickly becoming a very large part of our lives! Of course it would have helped if the Baylor Alumni Association would have have clued us in on the HUGE number of Baylor grads at this church when we moved to Austin over 5 years ago, but alas... God got us back to our people one way or another! :) And we are thankful!! (for our Aggie, Longhorn, Tech, etc. friends too!)
Here are a few pics from our party that I stole from our leaders! Thanks guys! :)
Our dinner friends for the evening...
Next up, wrapping gifts for a family in need...
And what's a good 'ol FBC Christmas Party without a little gamin'... Catch Phrase was the game of choice for the evening! It was exciting!! Can you see Justin's intensity?! The guys killed the girls but we'll get 'em next time! :)
Saturday morning, our little Cox family of three headed out to the Christmas Stroll in Georgetown. Georgetown has one of the MOST active Chamber of Commerce's EVER. They seriously have some sort of event on the square every weekend. I am not sure how we've missed the Christmas Stroll in years past because it was a HUGE deal. We had a great time walking through Bethlehem Village and took the opportunity to catch a few photo-ops as well. Poor Caden had had a late night on Friday at the church who offered free childcare for parents. He was up until 10 that night and was in serious need of a nap the next day... and it was too bad because the best part of the day started at noon... the PARADE... and we had to miss it. Maybe next year...
First up was our Life Group Christmas Party! Since I've never gotten around to bloggin about the actual transition it seems like I might as well just go ahead and explain the short version here. Justin and I have been visiting a new church closer to home over the past few months and LOVE it. In just the few weeks we've been at this church we feel like we've made more connections and found more potential "friends-for-lifers" than we had during our entire FOUR years at our previous church. God has been working on us for almost two years now and in September we finally decided to start off the new school year with a BIG switch for our family and left our church. Luckily, for us our church search wasn't all that daunting as we feel like we have found a great place to call home for now on the first shot!! This is the church that Caden is going to school at and it is also the host church of the MOPS group I joined, so needless to say this church is quickly becoming a very large part of our lives! Of course it would have helped if the Baylor Alumni Association would have have clued us in on the HUGE number of Baylor grads at this church when we moved to Austin over 5 years ago, but alas... God got us back to our people one way or another! :) And we are thankful!! (for our Aggie, Longhorn, Tech, etc. friends too!)
Here are a few pics from our party that I stole from our leaders! Thanks guys! :)
Our dinner friends for the evening...
Next up, wrapping gifts for a family in need...
And what's a good 'ol FBC Christmas Party without a little gamin'... Catch Phrase was the game of choice for the evening! It was exciting!! Can you see Justin's intensity?! The guys killed the girls but we'll get 'em next time! :)
Saturday morning, our little Cox family of three headed out to the Christmas Stroll in Georgetown. Georgetown has one of the MOST active Chamber of Commerce's EVER. They seriously have some sort of event on the square every weekend. I am not sure how we've missed the Christmas Stroll in years past because it was a HUGE deal. We had a great time walking through Bethlehem Village and took the opportunity to catch a few photo-ops as well. Poor Caden had had a late night on Friday at the church who offered free childcare for parents. He was up until 10 that night and was in serious need of a nap the next day... and it was too bad because the best part of the day started at noon... the PARADE... and we had to miss it. Maybe next year...A few pics of our little Santa Frog... :)
Saturday night Caden got to stay with his new favorite babysitter Miss Abby (her mom works with Justin) and we went out for Justin's work Christmas party. Of course I have NO pictures to show for it, but it was a nice night out and fun to get dressed up for a change! :)
And there you have it... a little last weekend randomness!!
Saturday night Caden got to stay with his new favorite babysitter Miss Abby (her mom works with Justin) and we went out for Justin's work Christmas party. Of course I have NO pictures to show for it, but it was a nice night out and fun to get dressed up for a change! :)Sunday morning before church I FORCED Caden and Justin to take a few pics because they looked TOO cute in their pullovers! My boys are SO handsome aren't they?! Love them!
And there you have it... a little last weekend randomness!!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
One More Before Two!
One More Before TWO! Wow! Caden and I have been practicing his two sign all day. He can say two, but the finger thing is taking it to an entirely new level. Good thing we've got a month to work on it! Each month there are SO many things to record about my budding little man, but this month can really be summed up in one simple sentence: "My name is Caden Cox and I LOOOOOVE to talk!"
I can't get over it really. My little man who was ALWAYS too busy to find the time to use his words has decided that communication really isn't all too bad after all! AND it gets a ROUSING reaction from his biggest fans, so why stop now?!! Each day he busts out with a new word... and every time I'm shocked... you'd think I'd be used to it by now and that the THRILL of a new word wouldn't excite me to the very core, BUT it does!
I love our little conversations and I am enchanted EVERY time he talks to one of his family members on the phone. There is not a day that goes by that we don't talk to KK at least twice and Nana and Bop and Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Josh too. He loves the chance to show off his talking skills with anyone who is willing to participate. Caden and I have several conversations a day as you might imagine but my favorite little bit that we do is:
Caden: "Nana!"
Mommy: "Nana?! Where is Nana?!"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "Waco?! Who else is in Waco with Nana?"
Caden: "Bop!"
Mommy: "And who else?"
Caden: "eeeeeee" (with his paw up in the air, which means the Sic 'Em Bears!)
Mommy: "That's right the Bears live in Waco!"
Caden: "Ree Ree, Tag!"
Mommy: "Ree Ree and Tag?! Where are Ree Ree and Tag?"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "No, Ree Ree and Tag live in Houston."
Caden: "oooo-ston"
Mommy: "That's right!"
Caden: "Tay-Tay, Aldi?"
Mommy: "Where are KK and Albi?"
Caden: "Caaar"
Mommy: "In the car? But where do KK and Albi live, Caden?"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "No KK and Albi don't live in Waco, they live in San Antonio."
Caden: "Say-yo!"
Mommy: "What about Josh and Emily?"
Caden: "Jock, Em-ee."
Mommy: "Yah, where do they live? Remember four claps, just like Nana taught you."
Caden: 4 claps and some babble
Mommy: "That's right Nacogdoches!"
And there you have it... the geography of a family... all of us! We have that conversation AT LEAST 10 times a day. So in between that and singing That Good Old Baylor Line we don't have much time for anything else! :) Joke, joke! Caden's favorite things are still the park and HEB... and CVS takes a close third since he gets to drive the carts with the cozy coup attached. He is doing GREAT in school, and has really taking a HUGE liking to one of the girls in his class or so I hear. It makes my heart happy to hear that he is kind to his friends... I pray each day that his kind and gentle spirit is something that sticks around... it's a treasure to behold!
Now that's not to say that my little man can't be quite the trouble maker because he can. In fact after a BLATANT act of disobedience at school one day (refusing to take a nap and disrupting the other kids) and getting sent to the office to sit while the others slept, I had a mini-mommy-meltdown and YET again changed my discipline strategy. And so far so good... he's always keeping me honest and I think that's probably a really good thing. Just when I think we're getting comfortable, he springs one on me! I wake up each morning and remind myself, "I am his mother, not his friend!" And guess what?! Turns out that being his MOTHER is the best thing I've ever done!
Happy 23 Months Sweet Boy! I love you to the moon and back and back again and again and again!
23 Month Photo Shoot took us to the front our neighborhood in our Christmas Duds! Enjoy...
I can't get over it really. My little man who was ALWAYS too busy to find the time to use his words has decided that communication really isn't all too bad after all! AND it gets a ROUSING reaction from his biggest fans, so why stop now?!! Each day he busts out with a new word... and every time I'm shocked... you'd think I'd be used to it by now and that the THRILL of a new word wouldn't excite me to the very core, BUT it does!
I love our little conversations and I am enchanted EVERY time he talks to one of his family members on the phone. There is not a day that goes by that we don't talk to KK at least twice and Nana and Bop and Aunt Ree Ree and Uncle Josh too. He loves the chance to show off his talking skills with anyone who is willing to participate. Caden and I have several conversations a day as you might imagine but my favorite little bit that we do is:
Caden: "Nana!"
Mommy: "Nana?! Where is Nana?!"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "Waco?! Who else is in Waco with Nana?"
Caden: "Bop!"
Mommy: "And who else?"
Caden: "eeeeeee" (with his paw up in the air, which means the Sic 'Em Bears!)
Mommy: "That's right the Bears live in Waco!"
Caden: "Ree Ree, Tag!"
Mommy: "Ree Ree and Tag?! Where are Ree Ree and Tag?"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "No, Ree Ree and Tag live in Houston."
Caden: "oooo-ston"
Mommy: "That's right!"
Caden: "Tay-Tay, Aldi?"
Mommy: "Where are KK and Albi?"
Caden: "Caaar"
Mommy: "In the car? But where do KK and Albi live, Caden?"
Caden: "Weight-co!"
Mommy: "No KK and Albi don't live in Waco, they live in San Antonio."
Caden: "Say-yo!"
Mommy: "What about Josh and Emily?"
Caden: "Jock, Em-ee."
Mommy: "Yah, where do they live? Remember four claps, just like Nana taught you."
Caden: 4 claps and some babble
Mommy: "That's right Nacogdoches!"
And there you have it... the geography of a family... all of us! We have that conversation AT LEAST 10 times a day. So in between that and singing That Good Old Baylor Line we don't have much time for anything else! :) Joke, joke! Caden's favorite things are still the park and HEB... and CVS takes a close third since he gets to drive the carts with the cozy coup attached. He is doing GREAT in school, and has really taking a HUGE liking to one of the girls in his class or so I hear. It makes my heart happy to hear that he is kind to his friends... I pray each day that his kind and gentle spirit is something that sticks around... it's a treasure to behold!
Now that's not to say that my little man can't be quite the trouble maker because he can. In fact after a BLATANT act of disobedience at school one day (refusing to take a nap and disrupting the other kids) and getting sent to the office to sit while the others slept, I had a mini-mommy-meltdown and YET again changed my discipline strategy. And so far so good... he's always keeping me honest and I think that's probably a really good thing. Just when I think we're getting comfortable, he springs one on me! I wake up each morning and remind myself, "I am his mother, not his friend!" And guess what?! Turns out that being his MOTHER is the best thing I've ever done!
Happy 23 Months Sweet Boy! I love you to the moon and back and back again and again and again!
23 Month Photo Shoot took us to the front our neighborhood in our Christmas Duds! Enjoy...
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