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! :)

Fall Festival!

What a FABULOUS Friday we had! Emma and Bradlee's school, Davisburg Elementary, held their annual "Family Fall Festival" on Friday night. It was a fundraiser for the school, and included game bracelets for the kids, dinner (a taco bar) and a TON of other activities, including a raffle!

We stayed the whole time, 6pm - 9pm, and the kids just loved it! They had tractor-pulled hayrides around the school property (both kids loved so much, we did it twice!). They also had cookie decorating:

And a CRAFT project!

This is where I got into trouble. There were a couple other kids trying to do the art project...so the "volunteer" in charge of the room asked me if I would be okay if she went to help the other kids. My reply: "No problem! I'm crafty!" Tony's response: "My wife is the stamping queen!" Great. That immediately got a response from the volunteer, who also happens to have a daughter at the high school who just "loves Mr. Coggins"!! :) She asked me if I would be interested in helping with the Santa's Workshop in December...then it moved to "Oh, I need a co-chair!" AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! My daughter's only a Kindergartner! I don't even know what Santa's Workshop is!! We left her with my phone number and I agreed to consider having a table to sell a project...I roped my Mom into helping me! :)

Back to the Fall Festival...in the gym at the school, they had a ton of games, a gymnastics course set up, and a HUGE bounce house! Emma also found some of her friends from class! Here is Emma with Cindra (in the middle, they went to pre-k together) and Emma's new friend, Claire!

Bradlee and Emma both loved the gymnastics course. It was so cool to watch Emma take it so seriously...it was like she was thinking, "I KNOW how to do this..." She would concentrate SO had on the beams and making sure she did her somersaults just right! What a girl! Bradlee LOVED the bounce house...so much so, that the "bounce house supervisor" had to go in when his time was up to get Bradlee out! :)

Finally, both kids liked playing the "Plinko" game! Tony helped them win some tickets to redeem for prizes!!!

We had a great time at the festival and loved meeting the parents of Emma's new friends! :)

A Tribute...

Sixty years ago today, October 7, 1950, my grandparents were married! These are my dad's parents I'm talking about and for the blog, I'd like to pay tribute to them! :)

I have so many fond memories of my grandparents, now to be known as Snookie and Papa! Since they have only ever lived 45 minutes away, we've always been fortunate enough to be able to see them quite a bit! Some of my favorite memories include my sisters and me at their house during our summer vacations...my dad would drop us off on Monday, and we'd stay until Friday! Some years, our cousins, Amanda and Paige, would also join us! We would visit the Detroit Zoo, go shopping and go swimming at the neighbor's pool (there was one unfortunate time Paige jumped off the diving board and landed half in the water, half out and we had to leave early...and the several times Amanda, Karyn and Kat would play "Lifeguard" with rocks they would throw in the pool, then "rescue" them...) LOL :) Snookie and Papa had a HUGE basement with a ping pong table that we would play "tournaments" and even stage productions when we were older and would sing sing sing!! :) Great times!! Here's me, Amanda and Kat - circa 1985ish...and some shots from Tony's and my wedding!

I think some of my favorite memories include my own kids! I love that Bradlee and Emma know their GREAT-grandparents! They know them by name, and Emma even drew them on an anniversary card (gray and white hair, and all!). :) I also was fortunate enough to know 6 of my 8 great-grandparents...and I have memories of all of them!

Here are some pictures of Emma and Bradlee (or, as Papa calls him, "The General" or "Omar") with their great-grandparents:

The next time we are together with Snookie and Papa, I have to make sure I get some more pictures of Papa! He's usually also taking pictures!! :)

For Snookie and Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary, they took the family (13 of us!) on an Alaskan cruise! It's hard to believe it was 10 years ago this past July! We had a fabulous time and will always remember the whole family being together for such a wonderful occasion!!

So, since I wouldn't be here if they had never been married, and for all those wonderful years together, I wish Snookie and Papa / Mom and Dad / George and Jackie / Mr. and Mrs. Kozloff a very very very Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary!