Let the Summer Begin!!!

I know it may seem early, but us Coggins' take full advantage of our summers! Especially when it's so nice outside!!!

Well, as you may have heard, "The Rapture" was supposed to occur last weekend... :) Tony and I decided that if we were "left behind", it was because we had offended Jesus' mom...an animal knocked her over in our backyard, and then when Tony found her head while mowing the lawn, he put it back up on the blocks....see? It even sounds ridiculous! :) LOL We've laughed about this one for a while, now!!

The same day the world was supposed to end, Lynne and I took the kids on a road trip down to Farmington (about an hour away) to see my friend, Kristin, at the Relay for Life of Farmington! Kristin and I met at CMU and have remained in touch ever since! Emma loved having her face painted, and Bradlee liked playing the little kid games, like the sucker tree!!! I'm really proud of the fact that Tony and I have taught our kids about Relay for Life and that we participate in it and are involved in it so much!! It's so important to both of us, and I believe we can pass that passion onto Emma and Bradlee!!

As you can probably tell, Emma got her haircut SHORTER last week! She just loves it short and loves telling Chrystal how short she wants it! :) She's becoming quite the little lady, and I can't believe she will be a 1st grader in only 13 school days!! Here she is chewing gum...it's white gum and she's holding it with her front teeth....if the gum weren't there, you would see a lose tooth trying to come out , with a gap next to it! :)

For as long as I can remember, I have been organized. And almost obsessed with being organized. It's not that I'm really consciously obsessed with it, I just know how I like things!! Well, I took my sister (Kat) to the coupon class I belong to a few weeks ago, and she was amazed at my coupon box! Then a friend of mine posted a picture of her coupon stash on Facebook, and it was crazy...an accordion folder that was STUFFED! I posted a picture of mine in response... :)

What can I say? You need a coupon for fish sticks? Assuming I have one, I know exactly where to find it! Don't laugh at me...my methods work and have saved us over $2000 in the last year alone on groceries!! :) Hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I'm going to try my hardest to take some pictures at all our BBQ's we'll be attending! :)

How Much are Those Kiddies in the Window?!

Sick of the rain, yet?? Every day the kids have come home and said, "NOW can we please play outside?!" We haven't even had a chance to mow the lawn yet, so even if we were to have an opportunity to play outside, I wouldn't for fear we would lose them! :) I am waiting for some nice weather so I can transplant some flowers the kids brought home...they're taking over my kitchen window sill!!!

Last Thursday, I took Bradlee to the ENT specialist for his post-op check-up. He passed with flying colors, and the doctor even let me look in Bradlee's ear and see the tube! He said he used a different type of tube than the first time, and this one will stay in a bit longer than the first and it's opening is slightly smaller, which means it could get blocked by wax or mucus, but drops will clear it up easily. It was neat to see it in his ear and Bradlee, of course, was an excellent patient! :)

On Friday, we went north to Birch Run to do some shopping for some summer clothes for the kids...while walking past the Oshkosh store, I saw two ADORABLE mannequins!! :)

Not only were they 50% off, as the sign says...but I also had a coupon for an additional 15% off! What a steal, I had to bring them home with me! :)

Silly kids...

Emma is incredible. I've mentioned before how I thought her eyes were getting worse again: crossing, her closing one to read something, etc. Well, we went to the eye doctor yesterday (Monday) and low and behold, I was W-R-O-N-G. Emma has perfect vision. Yes, I mean, PERFECT vision. We're talking 20/20 vision. Incredible. She flew through the letter chart, then the nurse brought out the tiny little number chart and she read two lines at the bottom. Then Emma said, "Oh, I can read that last line." So she did. The nurse had to bring out a magnifying glass to see if she was right! :) Dr. Chris said her vision is great, and with her history and the surgery she had, he would totally expect her eyes to cross every now and then...especially when she's tired. The worst part was doing her eye drops...ugh. I don't even want to talk about it! :/ Anyways, he wants us to keep an eye on it (pun intended) and if it gets worse (like, when she's not tired), come back in. Otherwise, he'll see her again in 3 months!!

Tonight, I FINALLY took Bradlee to get his haircut. It had been probably 12 weeks since the last one...and man did he need it! He LOVES Chrystal and does so well on the booster seat int he chair while she cuts his hair! :) He even tells her how he wants it "pikey"! :) (That's "spikey" for us common-folk!). There was a ton of hair on the floor when we left, and a VERY handsome little boy holding my hand! :)

Bradlee Update

Well, it's been another interesting week. Bradlee went to school on Monday, and was out the rest of the week. We got a call from his teacher who said he was pulling on his left ear and saying it hurt. He had no fever, but just wasn't his usual self. So I took him to see Dr. Banerjee and although he said there was no infection in either of his ears, his left ear's tube looked like it could have been a bit blocked, so he prescribed an ear drop to help flush it out. Tuesday, Tony stayed home with him, and by the end of the day, his nose was stuffy and he had a slight fever. I believe he caught the cold I had last week...but the stupid FDA has decided that kids under 4 years old shouldn't get decongestants, so there's basically NOTHING we can/could give him to help the little guy! So, he was home on Wednesday as well. Thursday morning we called the doctor again to see if there was ANYTHING we could give Bradlee to help his stuffy nose, which was also causing the cough, which was causing a lack of sleep, which was making a VERY irritable 2 year old! :) We ended up getting an antihistamine-cough syrup...and it's worked FABULOUSLY!! He's been sleeping through the night, coughing less, and his nose is just about cleared up! HOORAY! :) I know it seems like the kids get sick so frequently, but looking back, I really think it's mostly around the season-changes...wow, sounds just like their mom.... :)