"Ho Ho Ho! Merry Tis-mas!"

Yes, that's what I've heard for the last 2 weeks from my little Bradlee...he's so excited about Christmas, yet I know he has no idea what it's all about! Then he tells anyone who will listen that it's "almost Jesus birthday SOON!" :)

It's been a while since I've posted an update...and so many things have happened, I just don't seem to have the time or energy to write anything! : We had Emma's birthday party with her friends at her gymnastics club...it was SO SO SO much fun! We are considering having Tony's 40th birthday party there next year! LOL

Back at the beginning of December, Santa was at the bank (my work)...and each year I've taken the kids! It's free, you get cookies and punch, and you can take as many pictures as you want! :) Emma hopped right up and started talking...Bradlee clung to me for dear life and pointed to the other side of the room saying, "I go over there..." He was terrified. Wouldn't wave, say hi, give a high-five, yell what he wanted for Christmas, nothing. Ever since then, he tells everyone that Santa is pretend. We finally convinced him that Santa was real...I think the shock of actually seeing a Santa really surprised him. Crazy. He's been talking about Santa ever since. He tells everyone that he wants "M&M's and suckers" for Christmas. EVERYONE. And, it hasn't changed since Thanksgiving! :) SO...you can guess how many M&M's and suckers he's going to be getting tomorrow night! LOL

When we were at the parade for Emma's Daisy Troop, we were in the first trailer of the parade. As we're pulling out of the parking lot to start the parade route, we pass by the Santa float, which ends the parade. All the Daisy's are waving and yelling, "Santa! Santa! Santa!!!!!!" Bradlee WHIPS around to see, and starts yelling with the most serious look on his face, "M&M's AND SUCKERS!!!! M&M'S AND SUCKERS!!!!!" Hilarious is an understatement. :):)

So Bradlee keeps telling us he wants to go see Santa, because Santa is real, and he wants to sit on his lap. So I figured we would take both kids to see Santa again at the mall, just to satisfy his curiosity! :) Emma, on the other hand, has been pretty good...although this week or so she's been rather grouchy, mouthy and not listening so well...the other night, I ended up taking her bedtime movie away from her because she was acting up...she BURST into tears and said, "Mama! I'm just so afraid I'm on the 'naughty list' now! I need to write a 'to-do' list so I can do things that will get me back on the 'nice list'"!!! WHAT?! :) So then I had to convince Emma that she was on the nice list, and that she would have to be pretty bad in order to be on the naughty list. HA!

We took the kids to see Santa tonight. The "elf" helper asked if we were going to be getting pictures, and our response was, "Maybe". I figured that if Bradlee got scared, I wouldn't get a picture of just Emma, or worse, Emma with Bradlee screaming! :) Well, Emma went up to talk to Santa first, then I took Bradlee up and put him on Santa's lap. He was a little hesitant at first, but I said, "Bradlee! Why don't you tell Santa what you want for Christmas?!" Well, that just did it...for the next 5 minutes that he sat on Santa's lap, all he said was "M&M's and suckers, Santa. M&M's and suckers!" LOL What a great experience! :) I asked Emma what she told Santa she wanted. Her response, "I forgot to tell him. I just wanted to make sure I was on the nice list!" :) LOL Here's the proof that we are a "Scared-of-Santa-FREE" family! :)

Where has the time gone?!

Last weekend, my mom and dad took Karyn, Emma and me to see "The Nutcracker" at The Whiting, here in Flint. This is something we used to do for several years when we were younger and now that Emma's older, we've started it up again! She just LOVED it!

Today, Emma turned 6 years old. SIX. Can you believe it!? So amazing to me! Actually, as I write this, it's about 11:15pm...so it's not even officially her birthday, yet! She was born at 11:36pm on December 8th...I do believe I was in quite a bit of pain right about now 6 years ago, though! :)

We had a party for the family on Sunday and I made this butterfly cake for my birthday girl!

Today, Emma took Jell-o jigglers to school for her party in class. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner, just like we did the day before she was born 6 six years ago!!! Before we left, I made sure to get a picture of the birthday girl...and her "I don't understand why it's not my birthday" brother! :)

Happy Birthday, Emma! I love you!

Frankenmuth!

Last Saturday, Emma, Bradlee and I went to Frankenmuth with my parents, sisters and Garrett for our annual trip for chicken and ornament hunting! We had a FABULOUS time!

My mom rode with the kids and me, and on our way, we passed a little Zoo outside of Frankenmuth. There, we saw a man with a reindeer! So, we hopped out and went and got a picture taken with one of Santa's reindeer!! Emma asked the man if it could really fly and he responded, "Only on Christmas Eve!" :)

We ate dinner at the Bavarian Inn and it was delicious, as usual!! Bradlee loved the squash and chicken, and of course the ice cream, and Emma loved the chicken salad and the chicken! We had a great time just talking and laughing, and Boppa had a good time playing with Bradlee! My mom said, "Now I know why Boppa wanted Bradlee to come...he wanted someone to play with!"

After dinner, we went to the "Christmas Store" (Bronner's) and looked around. Bradlee LOVED playing with Aunt Kat, who was in charge of him! :) Here, he's trying to get a ride on her foot...it didn't work too well because Aunt Kat was laughing too hard! :)

Each year, we have a "tacky ornament" contest...this year, Emma even got into it!! When I tried explaining what "tacky" meant, I just said that it was ugly and not very pretty...she immediately said we should try to find a "Go Blue" (U of M) ornament! :) LOL That's my girl!!! The winning ornament was found by my mom...a "lovely" metallic donkey...complete with shoes! :)

Once again, I can always count on Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett to wear out at LEAST one of my kids whenever we're together! This time, it was both of them...Bradlee just had a place to actually fall asleep!!!

We had a wonderful time together...it's a wonderful tradition we have! This year was the 31st annual trip and I think I've made 30 of them (I missed last year!)!

It's been a while...

Well, it's been a while since I've updated you on our lives! I cannot believe November is almost over! We have our fair share of sickness this month, which is probably why I haven't been on here in a while...Emma was out of school for a week at the beginning of the month with a virus...followed by Bradlee for one or two days...I think we're just a sickly family! It's supposed to get better as the kids get older, right?

Last Sunday, we went to visit my grandparents, Snookie and Papa. We hadn't seen them in a while, so we had a day free and decided to make the best of it! Boy did we ever! The kids were on their most excellent behavior and we had a wonderful lunch with Snookie and Papa, as well as Kat and Garrett, who also joined us! After lunch, Kat, Garrett, Emma and Bradlee played hide-and-seek, of course.....Snookie and Papa both took some pictures while we were there, and I hope to get some copies, which I will post, 'cause I think they are going to be good ones! One thing's for sure, I can always count on Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett to wear at least ONE of the kids out for the ride home!

Of course, this was Thanksgiving week, so the kids and Tony only had school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday morning, Tony got a call from the secretary at Emma's school, telling him Emma had a fever of about 103. Great. So Tony went to pick her up and took her right to the doctor. She was diagnosed with a "strep-like" bug and was put on antibiotic. She was pretty miserable Wednesday night and Thursday...but still managed to eat some turkey, green bean casserole, and 2 pieces of pie!! We also watched the parade, dog show and Harry Potter on Thanksgiving morning...

I've also realized that November has been a crappy month for pictures! Hopefully that will change today, as we have our annual Kozloff Family visit to Frankenmuth!!! :)

Concert season!

On Sunday, I performed in a concert with the Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble. It is a local volunteer group I started playing with 4 years ago. I LOVE it. We are playing some good, challenging music and I have made quite a few new friends also! At the beginning of October, I was elected by the band to serve as the President of the board of directors for the group! What an honor! I am hoping to make some changes that are needed for us to continue to move forward and improve!

Anyway, this is one of our first concerts that begin a pretty crazy season! We performed at a senior living center in Frankenmuth and it was a great performance!! Tony has also become involved with the group and is the announcer for us!! At the beginning of our 2009-2010 season, Emma requested we play "Peter and the

Wolf". I mentioned it to our conductor, Roy, and FINALLY this
year, it was on our play list! Tony did the commentating for it and Emma even came to the rehearsal to hear how it was going to go! She gave Roy two thumbs up and was so excited for the concert! On Sunday we performed it, and Emma made Roy a GIANT picture of Peter, the wolf (who had already eaten the duck, so there were only feathers!), the cat and the bird on a tree!! It was
so great, Roy not only showed the entire wind ensemble, but also the audience before we played the piece! Emma just sat next to Gramma and raised her hand so everyone could see who made the beautiful picture!!! I was so proud! :) The concert went really well...and now we start working on CHRISTMAS music for our Christmas concerts we have next month! There's nothing worse than having "Sleigh Ride" in your head in the beginning of November! :)

Bradlee Update!

About a week and a half ago, Bradlee started a stuffy, drippy nose....now, this wonderful Michigan weather hasn't helped, but a week and a half?! Seriously?! Anyways, yesterday (Wednesday), Tony got a call from the daycare about 11am and was told Bradlee had a fever. Tony was able to leave school and pick him up, and took him directly to the doctor! Normally I wouldn't do this...I would wait it out and see how he does, but the face the nose has been drippy for the last week and a half had me thinking sinus infection (especially since I'm just finishing up an antibiotic for the same thing!). Well, the pediatrician said he has a really good cold...that's the cause of the stuffiness...but the stuffiness is causing all the drainage and stuff, which caused an ear infection in his left ear, which, as it comes to find, has lost its tube! He prescribed an antibiotic, which we did not give him...

You're probably thinking...."You crazy mother! He was diagnosed with an ear infection! Give him the antibiotic!" Well...here's the reasoning behind my madness...

Today, Thursday, we had an appointment with the ENT for a check-up on his ears/tubes! When he's had an "ear infection" in the past year (since he's had the tubes), we've gotten ear drops from the ENT to clear it up....

So we went to the ENT and I told them what the pediatrician had said, and that there was a prescription waiting if we needed it...the ENT looked in the right ear and saw "the most beautiful tube in the world!"!! When he looked in the left ear (the one the pediatrician said was infected), he found no tube, but a "beautifully pink ear drum"....i.e., NO INFECTION! So...how can one doctor see and infection and one doctor say it's clear?! I don't get it. The ENT did give us a prescription for a nasal spray, so that should hopefully help the stuffiness!!!

We went to get the nasal spray and Bradlee actually ASKED for it! So I sat him on my lap and squirted the nasal spray in his nose, he "sniffed" and then got down to go play! AWESOME! I'm even more glad we only have to give it to him once a day!! :)

So, ears look good...nose, not so much...but hopefully we'll see some improvements soon!!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. In fact...it's my absolute least favorite holiday. I don't like dressing up. I don't like all the amounts of candy and sugar. I really don't like being scared - you know, like things jump out at you - scared. I think it's that element of surprise that gets me. I just hate it.

However, even through my hate of this holiday, I still make sure I allow my kids to make their own opinions of it...and of course, they love it! :) They are both a little apprehensive of scary masks and such, but for the most part, they're pretty good.

We carved pumpkins on Thursday night. Bradlee wanted nothing to do with it...Emma did a great job! I ended up carving Bradlee's for him...with the Mickey head! He loved it! Emma made a face (complete with cheeks) on hers, and Tony did a free-hand star!

Saturday night, Tony had to DJ a wedding reception, so I took the kids over to my parents house. They live in the city of Flint, which had their trick-or-treating on Saturday night instead of Sunday. So, we walked up to the house and saw that Boppa (my dad) had been busy!

Emma was "okay" with the hands coming out of the ground...she had found the idea in one of my magazines and given it to Boppa to do! Boppa brought their dog, Maggie, and we took the kids trick-or-treating in their/our neighborhood. It was C-R-A-Z-Y. My mom went through 10 bags of candy in 2 hours! Nuts!!!Lots of rude people, too, of course! Bradlee had no problems standing next to the "scary guy crawling out of the ground with smoke"! :)

On Sunday, we went to the "trunk-or-treat" at church! Emma and her friend, Evelyn, had a great time walking and running around! Evelyn's sister, Isla, is our "future daughter-in-law"! LOL She's adorable and Bradlee just loves her!

After the trunk-or-treat, we headed over to Tony's parents house to trick-or-treat in Flushing, which kept theirs on Halloween. We only went to a few houses, and the kids were WORN OUT! Good thing, we definitely don't need all that candy in our house! We went with our friends, Matt and Desiree, and their kids. Here's Emma and "Batman" (Dorian)!! :)

All-in-all, it was a nice Halloween. I'm glad it's over, though...here are my "Ariel" ("as a mermaid, NOT a human!) and my "Cozy Cow" (or as he says, "Tozy Tow"!) :)

Handsome and Beautiful...still

Tuesday was "haircut day" in the Coggins household...I started at 2:45, then the kids and Tony went in starting at 6:30pm! I think I've passed on my "enjoyment" of getting my hair done to my daughter...I just LOVE the massage my stylist does, and how she styles my hair, talks to me, gives advice, etc. My whole family goes to Chrystal (the stylist)...my mom, Karyn, Kat, Tony, Emma, Bradlee, Emma, Lynne, and even some of our friends that we've referred! :) She's an awesome stylist...Here is Chrystal working on Emma's hair!!

And the finished product! It's not that much of a difference...she wanted her hair cut up to her ear lobes so everyone could see her earrings. Chrystal told her that she would just trim it a little and then put it behind her ears...Emma was good with that. She also let Emma bring home some of her hair that was cut off...it was about an inch and a half or so! She's still so beautiful!

Bradlee also got his haircut. When we walked into the salon, he ran over to Chrystal's station and gave her a huge hug! He sits so well in the chair and lets Chrystal do her magic...and she's SO good with him, too!!! Here's my handsome little boy!

Well, we all feel a little lighter after our haircuts! :)

Cute just doesn't cut it...

Bradlee is the light of my life. Emma is too, of course, but right now, I am totally in LOVE with my little boy! I cried when I found out I was having a boy...I have been surrounded by girls my entire life, I had no idea what to do with a boy!!! Honestly, I was terrified.

This little boy of mine has completely changed my mind about boys...he's cute, adorable, sweet, rough, and just plain awesome...all at the same time!


Emma was at a birthday party on Saturday afternoon, so Lynne and I took Bradlee with us to Great Lakes Crossings in Auburn Hills to do some shopping. We let him play a bit on the "playground" in the mall - and he loved just sitting on this little mushroom head!! It was directly in front of where we were sitting so he would go play (the playground is filled with soft "food" objects, like watermelon, hot dog, corn on the cob, cupcake, a tipped over drink, mushrooms, etc.) and run around like a crazy monster, then come over to us, sit on the mushroom and grin at me like this!!

We went to a coney island in the mall for dinner. Bradlee ordered a hot dog and french fires, his favorite! He didn't finish in time for us to leave to pick Emma up, so we got a little to-go box and took the rest with us. We had worn him out so much, he was trying so hard to eat in the car, but was so tired...just so cute! He was still holding part of a french fry when he fell asleep in his seat! The two stuffed animals next to him in the seat are his and Emma's new friends..."Perry the Platypus" is from "Phineas and Ferb" (on Disney Channel, I HIGHLY recommend it!) and the little alien is from "Toy Story" and one of Emma's favorite characters!

I had a great time spending some one-on-one time with Bradlee...he's such a sweet little boy! I'm hooked! :)

Oh, the Drama! :)

It's official. I have a "big girl".

Today, October 16, 2010, Emma lost her first tooth!

If I said it was a simple ordeal, I would TOTALLY be lying...nothing is simple for Emma! She's my drama queen...

Her tooth has been loose for a few weeks now. She's been playing and playing with it, and the adult tooth is also coming through behind it. Finally, this morning when I got home (I was volunteering at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk), the ROOT of the darn tooth was visible from the front...so I told Emma we needed to just pull it out. She wanted NOTHING to do with it! :) I finally gave up, but I was more worried about it really hurting her when she ate or her bumping her chin or something. Finally, while drinking strawberry milk. the cup got caught on the tooth and pulled it right out! It didn't hurt, she didn't cry, there was no bleeding or even any drama about it...so I guess I was wrong and should have just let her go all along! :) Ah well...the rest of the day she was telling everyone "I was just drinking my strawberry milk, the cup got stuck on my tooth, and it just popped out! I took a risk and it just popped out!" LOL Whatever....she's excited and looks so cute with a missing tooth!!

When it rains, it pours...at least we have clean gutters!

Last weekend was quite eventful!!

As the title of this entry says, we had our gutters cleaned out! They said the back one was just cluttered, but the front one was "really bad" and was so clogged it had standing water! Yikes! So, here is a picture of our newly cleaned gutters! (And before you ask, I did not take these pictures. The reason we had to hire someone to clean the gutters is because Tony wouldn't let me on a ladder to clean them out myself!)

Saturday morning we had a new furnace put in...we had a guy come out and check out our furnace before we turned it on for the summer (something I am proud to say my dad taught me!) and as it kicked on, flames, yes you read that right, FLAMES shot out of the front of the furnace! We turned it off in 3 different places (the thermostat, the furnace and the gas line!) and quickly came to the conclusion a new furnace was a must. I can't say I'm surprised...the old one was about 25 years old! It was bound to happen sometime!!! At least it happened before December 31st so we can still get that energy tax credit! :) Here's the old furnace in our driveway...the installation guys threatened to leave it on my driveway as a lawn ornament! :)

Here's our new one! :) It doesn't look smaller than the old one, but trust me, it is!!! Plus it's 95% efficient!! Our house will be nice and toasty now!!! If I had taken a picture of the old one installed, you wouldn't have been able to see the water heater to the left!!!

Saturday we also had a visitor! My friend, Julie, stopped by for a quick visit with her baby, Scarlett! I couldn't believe how big Scarlett has gotten!!! Too bad her mommy didn't put her in some GOOD clothing! :)

So, now that I've mentioned it, I have to talk about it! GO GREEN! :) Emma was the funniest in regards to the big game on Saturday...she's been "Go Green" since she was born and she's been working SO HARD to get Bradlee to say it, too! On Friday, she sat at the dining room table for about a half hour trying to get him to say "Go Green!"!! She said, "Now Bradlee, say 'go green!'" and Bradlee would respond, "No go geen, go boo!!" LOL Emma looked at me rolled her eyes, sighed and said, "Mama, this one is going to be tricky..." :) He basically changes his cheer depending on who he's talking to! :) Emma and I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday morning, and she picked these up for our house...

On Monday, on my way to pick the kids up from school, I paused several times to take some pictures of some BEEEEE-U-TEEEEE-FUL trees!!!!!! I am enjoying fall in Michigan! :)