Little Monster...

If there's one thing I can count on Bradlee for, it's a smile, and usually a laugh (once he's not looking at me anymore).

For example, at Emma's birthday party, which we had at a local high school swimming pool, he found this hat and goggles in the "toy bin" they have for the swim classes. Of course he was wearing his trusty floaty, and the noodle just added to the fun!!

Last month, Emma, Bradlee and I were driving home from school. In the car, Emma and I were talking about how she wanted to see "The Nutcracker" again this year (she last saw it two years ago). While Emma was talking and talking about it, I could hear Bradlee sighing and trying to get a word in. Finally I said, "What's the matter, Bradlee? Do you want to see it too?" "YES." He said. I said, "Well, honey, I just don't know if you're big enough to go see a big show like that yet." He cuts me off and says, "I KNEW you were going to say that!" I thought about it for a second and said, "You know what, Bradlee? Let's try it. You go see movies, why not a show?!" Excited doesn't even BEGIN to describe him for the next 2 weeks until we went! Asked my mom to come in case he didn't last and I had to leave with him, but he was a perfect audience member! We had prepped him, telling him there was no talking, only music. We also told him he would know some of the songs from listening to Mommy's iPod and watching some of the shows on Disney Channel. Once the lights went down, he was mesmerized! I leaned over to point out Clara, the main character, to him. He looked at me with a deadpan face and whispered, "Shhhh....no talking." :) He's been walking around humming selections from "The Nutcracker" ever since.

Yesterday, and into the night, I had a pretty severe migraine. I was in bed all day. Bradlee decided he needed to sleep with me until Tony came to bed, so he could keep an eye on me. So we let him. He was all cuddled in when he decided he had to go to the bathroom...he got up, went in, and I heard him call for Tony, saying he had an accident (i.e., missed the toilet because he forgot to turn the light on). Tony got him into clean PJ's and he climbed back into bed with me. He said, "Mama, you know that red Muppet? What's his name? The red Muppet who plays the drums?" "Animal?" I answered. "Yeah, Animal. He's on my jammies now." I smiled and said, "You know what, Bradlee? You are really good at making me smile." "Yeah," he replied, "and skipping. I'm good at skipping, too..."  <3>

Amazing munchkin...

A few weeks ago, we were watching "Mary Poppins" on TV.

When it got to *that part* of the movie, I dared Emma to sound spell (aka, "sound it out!") *that word*!! :)

I think she did extremely well! :)

It's been a while!!

Wow...I can't believe how long it's been on here...lots has happened!

At the beginning of the month, we had left the house to see Tony's parents. It was about 6:45 at night...about 15 minutes later, I received a text on my phone that our alarm system on our house had been set off. A minute later, Tony got a call from the alarm company asking if we were safe. Someone had kicked in our back door. Fortunately, we also have cameras with the alarm system, and no one came in and nothing is missing. We had the kids stay at Tony's parents' house and we dealt with our house. Thankfully my parents don't live too far away, so my dad came over to help, too. The police department in the city of Flint is on limited resources, so after waiting 2 hours for someone to show up, Tony called 9-1-1 again and had them on the phone while he and my dad entered and checked the the house. All clear. The men boarded up the back door. We are definitely looking into moving!!!

One thing that concerned me was how the kids would feel when they saw the door boarded up and heard what happened. They shouldn't feel scared to be in their own home! So when they got home (it was early in the day, since they didn't have school on Election Day), I told Tony to have them get their markers and decorate the door!  They went to town! I really think it helped both them and us feel a bit better!!

We have a brand new door now, and we thanked the alarm company over and over again. We are confident that is what scared the would-be intruders away!!! Now we venture into the real estate market!!!

Acorn-y Day!

It was a great day to stay inside! Quite chilly out, so I decided to do some projects with the kids. I cannot take credit for these projects...both of them were done by two separate friends during the same week...ironically, they were both acorn-related!

Bradlee LOVES acorns. He gathers them whenever he finds them! My dad, who has an oak tree in his backyard, taught both kids to put the acorn caps on their fingers and then draw faces on the pads of their fingers to make finger puppets!!! Here are our projects today:

Jeweled Acorns (from Kate, Lauren, Annie and Caroline)!!

First, color the inside of the acorn caps with markers:



Be patient while Mommy squirts Elmer's glue into the caps, then smile for a picture! 

Now we wait....for.....the.....glue......to.......dry....... (we also put glitter in some of the caps!)



Edible Acorns (from Monique, Samantha and Sophia)!!

Emma and Bradlee unwrapped the Hershey Kisses (milk chocolate and almond) while Mommy used frosting to "attach" them to the Mini Nilla Wafers!



Emma and Mommy used melted chocolate to "attach" the butterscotch chips to the tops of the Nilla Wafers to look like the "stems"!  

Don't they look like acorns??? 

To finish the day, the kids and I watched the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's live webcast of their concert tonight. It was called "Cirque de la Symphonie". It was live music provided by the orchestra with members of Cirque du Solei performing acts with it! We heard a ton of music, some of it, the kids recognized!!! :)

To the Zoo!!

On Sunday, we made our annual "back to school" trip to the Detroit Zoo! What a wonderful day! Bradlee had gone to the doctor in the past week, so we decided to switch out his car seat for the booster seat! He was SO excited we let them sit in the "way back" of the van!

It was also quite liberating to walk around the Zoo WITHOUT a stroller, wagon, diaper bag, or having to carry a child! What a milestone!!!!! While I love ny babies, and they will always be my babies, we are enjoying the freedom that comes with them growing up!

After the Zoo...by the way, we are now official members...we had our traditional visit with Snookie and Papa and I'm so ticked I forgot to get pictures of it! We had a wonderful dinner at Buddy's Pizza with them, then headed home.

I do love this tradition...

Open Houses!!

Can I get a HOORAY!?!? It's school time again!! Can you say schedule, schedule, schedule!??! :)

We've had a very exciting week so far with BOTH kids! Both kids had open houses at each of their schools. As you may remember, right now, they got to two different schools because we wanted Bradlee to have the same teachers Emma did.

Bradlee is in Pre-K at Holly Elementary. His Open House was Tuesday evening and he was SO excited! The preschool and pre-k classes moved from one building to their current building 2 years ago (this is their second year in the Holly Elementary building). They moved into basically the same room, with a divider to create two different rooms. Bradlee has been SO excited to go to school on the "other side of the wall"!! :) Mrs. Walters, his teacher, was very happy to see him, and happy to see what a beautiful young lade Emma has turned into! Bradlee gave Mrs. Walters a huge hug and said, "I remember you!!" I think it's going to be a great year! Mrs. Walters asked Bradlee if he would be willing to do the Mystery Box for the first day of school. This is where they have a little box that they put one item in and then the class has to guess what it is! Bradlee was quite excited and has already told us we are going to be doing some practice rounds at home before school starts! Here he is with the Mystery Box!



Miss Emma is, can you believe it, starting 2nd grade at Davisburg Elementary! She is going to do so well, I can already feel it! Her teacher is the former PE teacher, so Emma was VERY excited to hear he was moving back to teaching 2nd grade and even MORE excited to hear he was going to be her teacher! I could tell she was a bit nervous about starting school, which is totally normal, and it didn't make it better that her bestest buddy Allie was going to be in the other 2nd grade class...but once we went to the open house today, she was MUCH better! Two of her friends are in her class and it was all she needed...well, that, and to see her teacher!



I couldn't believe the difference between the 1st grade and 2nd grade classrooms...I don't know if it's also the difference between a male and female teacher, but, WOW! :) I am thrilled with the fact there are TABLES instead of a giant rug for the kids to sit on. Last year we had some issues with a girl in Emma's class writing on other people with the dry erase markers...something that does NOT come out of clothes!

Basically, I'm just really excited for both kids to take the next step in their educational journey!! Hooray for school!!! :)

So proud!

A few weeks ago, my in-laws had a garage sale at their house. We were able to contribute some items to the garage sale and of course, we were there to help out as well!

We got Emma all set up for her lemonade stand...and she told everyone who came that their donation was for the Relay for Life! She really only did the lemonade stand one day, but was still able to make $26!! :)

Birthday Boy!

Last Sunday, the 29th, my baby boy turned 4 years old! He is B-I-G into pirates...so naturally, we had a pirate-themed birthday! Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett gave Bradlee a card with a treasure map inside...the "X" marked the spot of his present! He was SHOCKED to really find a treasure chest with pirate gold and all kinds of pirate goodies in it! Lots of family and friends were able to celebrate with us....it was a great way to spend Bradlee's birthday!

We went to the doctor for his 4 year physical...he is 2 pounds short of being able to sit in a booster seat in the car! To rectify this, Bradlee has constantly been in the "good eaters" or "clean plate" club!! :)

Summer Fun with Strings!

For the last two weeks, Emma has been participating in a camp at the Flint School of Performing Arts. The camp was called "Summer Fun with Strings" and is about as old as me! In fact, I remember helping with registration and such when I worked at the FSPA in high school! ;)

Last Monday, the first day, Emma went to camp and tried each of the stringed instruments: violin, viola, cello and bass. After trying each of them, she decided on the viola. I have to admit, though, that I sort of put the idea in her head ahead of time...but she knew she could pick whatever she wanted!

Last Friday, before going up north, I was able to pick Emma up from camp. She took out her viola and played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for me! After only 5 days! Needless to say, I was impressed and very proud!

Today was the last day of camp...they had a little recital for the different age groups/classes to perform what they've learned. Knowing that these kids have never touched an instrument before 10 days ago, and seeing them play songs today...WOW. :)

My great grandfather played violin in Russia....I play clarinet...maybe Emma will continue in our footsteps??? My only hope is that she at least has an appreciation for music! I think we've got that covered!

Up North!!

What a fabulous weekend we had! The four if us went up to Beulah on Platte Lake and stayed with our friends, Justin and Sara, at their family cabin. We went kayaking, canoeing and had a great time!!! Emma and Bradlee loved being out on the water, as did Tony and I! On Sunday, before we headed home, we took a side trip over to Sleeping Bear Dunes. We had read the book, "The Legend of Sleeping Bear" to them before we left and they were quite excited to climb up "Mama Bear"!! Both kids made it to the top!! It was a great family weekend...

Power Outage 2012

We made it through the storm! Last Wednesday, as most of you probably know, we had a massive storm that came through! I was awakened around 4:15am to the sound of wind, only to discover that one of my bedroom windows was open. When I got up to close the window (since we had the AC on), I noticed how windy it was. Fifteen minutes later, the power went out. I waited....waited...waited.....nothing. So I went downstairs to get my cell phone to set the alarm! Glad that window was open!

We did not recover power until the next day, about noon.....which left our fridge and freezers off for 32 hours total. We lost about 75% of our food! :( Here are pictures of our nicely stuffed freezer and our not-so-stuffed freezer....

We are able to make a claim with our insurance company to get some money for the food we lost...so that's good! I'm just glad we were all okay and our power went on much sooner than some people's!!!

Washington DC!

<p>What a week! Tony, Emma and I spent a week in Washington, DC with 16 of Tony's students and a colleague and her husband. It was a great week! </p>
<p>We flew in on Sunday and visited the monuments. Monday we went to Arlington Cemetery. Tuesday was Capitol Hill, Wednesday Emma and I went to the American Girl Store! Thursday was Ford Theatre and Smithsonians and National Zoo. Friday was the White House, Air and Space Museum and headed home! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Freedom!

I cut my hair! I have been growing it out for probably 2 years or so...mostly for my sister's wedding back in October. It was pretty long then, but I decided to grow it longer so that when I eventually cut it, I could donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. It it a program where they take donated hair and make wigs for cancer patients! There is a minimum of 8 inches needed to make a wig....and I donated (and freed myself from!) a whole 9 inches!!!

The Zoo!

Last Saturday, I took the kids to the Detroit Zoo with Emma's Brownie troop! I just LOVE that Zoo!!! We had a great time, and although it was 90 degrees out, there was a great breeze to help keep us comfortable! Bradlee LOVED the penguins...(and yes, Snookie and Papa, Stosh and Sophie were waiting for us!!!) while Emma really enjoyed just taking all the animals in...I have to say, though, I think she really enjoyed, of all things, the prairie dogs! They have a way for kids to be able to go under the prairie dog hill and then poke their heads up so they are eye-level with the animals!!! It was a fantastic day at the Zoo and we can't wait to go back this summer!!

Relay for Life!

What a weekend it was! Our whole family participated in the Relay for Life of Davison last weekend! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Relay for Life, it is a 24-hour event sponsored by the American Cancer Society to raise funds to fight cancer. I have participated in the Relay for Life for about 6 years now, and the last 4 of them I have been the Accounting/Registration Chairperson. It is an event that I am very passionate about and I am so proud that my kids want to be involved with it, too!

Emma and I are the team captains of our team, the Committee All-Stars. She LOVES this role and comes to all the meetings and even listens for "team captain" announcements so she knows what to do! She is always proud of her team captain t-shirt!!

This year, Bradlee wanted to be involved, too. So we asked him if he wanted to be our Mr. Relay. This is a half-hour competition at the Relay where a guy from each team can dress up to the specifications previously set by the committee. Then they walk around for about 30 minutes and try to collect the most amount of money. All of it goes to the team, and, ultimately the American Cancer Society. This year, our Relay theme was "Fairy tales", so the Mr. Relayers had to dress up like Fairy Godmothers. The requirements were that they had to have: a big poofy dress that went below the knee, a magic wand, a crown/tiara, a cape/wings, a purse to collect money in, and know 3 magic spells! That's a lot for a three year old! :) Bradlee was up for the task...he wore one of Emma's dress-up gowns and tiaras, carried one of her purses and magic wands and we taught him 3 magic spells: 1. "Walletus Openus"; 2. "Abracadabra (or as he says, 'Abratadabra'), I want money!"; and 3. (my personal favorite) "I am good, Cancer is bad. Put your money in my bag!"!! He was FABULOUS...AND.........he won!!!! That bugger won a total of $136 and beat all the other "Godmothers" by a landslide! :)

 

As I mentioned, the theme was "Fairy tales". We decorated our campsite to resemble the fairytale, "Peter Pan". This was perfect, because Bradlee LOVES Peter Pan and Emma loves Tinkerbell!! My dad made the ship (or part of the ship), Lynne has a friend who gave us the flag, we tied a Tinkerbell doll to the pole of the tent and had a sign that read, "Welcome to Neverland, where cancer never wins!" The ship had a "plank", which we put a blow up pool with a crocodile with a name tag that said, "Hello, my name is Cancer" on it. We won 2nd place for Best Decorated Campsite!!

The Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble also was able to perform at the Relay, right before the Survivor Ceremony (which ended up getting rained out!)...it was a great way to combine two of my passions, playing music and fighting cancer! I must say I was a bit emotional this year...for some reason a little more than usual. I just kept thinking about Mr. Lee, who was the director of the Flint Youth Wind Ensemble I was a part of for 7 years in middle and high school. He died from cancer when I was in college. If it weren't for him, I would probably not still be playing music today. I owe him a lot, so it was neat to play at an event that honors cancer SURVIVORS, and those we have lost to cancer.

When it was all said and done Sunday morning, we had a great Relay. Our goal was to raise $72,000 and our total as of Sunday morning was $72,136! Our goal was to have 150 survivors attend the event and we had exactly 150 survivors attend! We were also selected to be a CPS-3 site next year...more on that later! :) My team (I mean, Emma's and my team), raise over $2500, making us a Bronze Team!! It's not too late to help, though, so if you'd like to make a donation to our team, go to http://main.acsevents.org/goto/coggins and click on "Donate!"!!!!! We appreciate your help and support!!

Emma's a Brownie!

The bridging ceremony for Emma's Girl Scout troop was on Wednesday! This is the troop I am co-leader of...10 1st graders! I know why I am NOT a teacher! LOL Anyway, Emma bridged from a Daisy to a Brownie! Here she is with Gramma - who sewed all those patches on for her!!!!

My WINNER!

Last Saturday, Tony's mom, my mom, Emma and I participated in the Healing Hands 5k Walk to benefit the Genesee County Free Medical Clinic. Not only did Emma complete all 3.1 miles, she won 3rd place in her age division and received a medal! I am SO proud of her!!!

Family Time

What a great weekend we had - lots of family time, which was much needed!!

I took Friday off due to the kids not having school. They stayed at Tony's parents' house Thursday night so I could give my house some much-needed love and attention. Tony was supposed to have an in service, but due the great amounts of rain and storms that came through Thursday night, he was unable to get to the school, so he was home with me, too! We cleaned the house, ran errands and went and got the kids and brought them home.

Saturday morning, I took the kids to get their haircuts. Our stylist's name is Chrystal and we just LOVE her! She's the only one that has cut Bradlee's hair and he just lets her go - there's something to be said for someone who can cut a wiggly boy's hair and make it look so good!! Emma wanted hers chopped off a bit, too, so here they are, with their favorite stylist!!

We went to mass Saturday afternoon, then out for dinner with my parents and Karyn for Cinco de Mayo...dinner took a bit longer than anticipated (they were PACKED), but we had a great time! After dinner, Tony and I took the kids down to Hartland (just south of Fenton) for their Relay for Life. A friend of mine from grade school who I've reconnected with in the past few years was on a team there and we thought we might as well go visit! We made a few laps around the track to see the entertainment and different teams and then headed home.....but we made another stop! Some of Tony's students have created a Relay for Life team for the Davison Relay (the one we participate in)...it was Prom night, and as a fundraiser, the team decided to host an "anti-prom" at one of their homes! When we got there, they were SO excited to see not only "Mr. Coggins"....but "Mrs. Coggins, TOO!?!?!" LOL They raised about $150 just last night alone, and it was great to see kids miss their own prom and turn it into something so great! They totally embraced Emma and Bradlee and helped them make s'mores by the bonfire and enjoy music and singing, decorations and fun! Tony has some great students...and we have some great children! :) They finally got to bed about 11:30 last night...but the last thing BOTH of them said was how much fun they had that day!!

Today (Sunday), I finished up some stuff around the house while the kids played...here's a shot of them playing "vet and sick puppy"...Bradlee is the "sick puppy" (note the blue hospital cap) and Emma being the vet - I think she's getting a shot ready... :)

I had a concert with the Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble this afternoon...it was our last of the season, aside from a performance at the Relay for Life of Davison we will have. It's such a nice feeling to know that my Tuesday evenings can be spent at home with my family! Although in two weeks, my mom and I start the training program for the Crim 5K/8K walk!

Little Dude

For Valentine's Day, Aunt Lynne gave Bradlee a Chipmunks baseball hat. Bradlee LOVES it! Last week, he decided that the proper way to wear it was backwards...so he walked around the house with it on backwards. The problem was that when he would bump it on anything, it would turn just a bit, so then it was cockeyed! Tony and I decided we have lived in Flint long enough! :)

We were making dinner on the grill, and Tony asked Bradlee to come test the veggies to see if they were done. He went out and tried EVERY SINGLE KIND!! Red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, orange peppers, summer squash, zucchini! Amazing! He's such a picky eater, we really have a hard time getting him to try new things... I watched him and Tony through the kitchen window and had to take the picture then! :)

We Made It!

Well, it's been an incredibly long week!! Last Saturday, our friends, Matt & Desiree (Bradlee's Godparents) hosting their annual Egg Hunt and Pancake Dinner. The kids had a great time searching for the eggs in the backyard and see what treasures were inside! Of course, the pancakes were a hit, too!!

Sunday night, Emma had a sleepover with Aunt Karyn. Monday morning, Tony and I were up bright and early and took Bradlee into the hospital to have his tonsils and adenoids removed.

It went so smoothly, and the doctor finished about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. He cried quite a bit when he woke, but was soon eating bits of a Popsicle and drinking cold water. We were released to go home and he and I cuddled in bed, watching TV and he enjoyed another Popsicle (the WHOLE one, this time!).

I went into work on Tuesday as usual (Tony and the kids were on Spring Break). When I got home, Bradlee had a fever and was having a hard time swallowing anything. We cuddled him and basically just doted on him to get him to eat anything, and especially drink. Emma left with Aunt Lynne to go on a special trip. We knew Bradlee would be getting a lot of attention, so Lynne volunteered to take Emma over to the Air Zoo in Portage and to the Magic Museum on the way home!

Well, unfortunately for Bradlee, things did not improve and Tony ended up taking him into the ER early Wednesday morning. They were there about 7 hours, getting home around 8am, which I had already called into work. I took over taking care of Bradlee so Tony could sleep a bit. He was treated for dehydration...he was doing much better, and although he still had a bit of a fever, he was also doing a bit better eating (drinking). He and I concocted a "secret" way to take his medicine by mixing it with a tiny bit of apple juice to cut down on the stinging on his throat. It has worked perfectly. He's getting better and better each day and today he finally seemed to have a appetite...and the throat to swallow it with! :)

While Bradlee stayed at Tony's parents house, I had my gall bladder removed (a "laparoscopic cholecystectomy"!) on Thursday morning. It went very smoothly and Tony and I were home around 3pm. I had some pretty bad reactions to the anesthetic, as I couldn't keep anything down for the next 24-36 hours or so...plus I had a pretty good headache/migraine. Once I was able to get rid of the headache, I was able to eat and keep everything down. I even ate a little bit of Easter dinner! I am feeling much better today and have been experimenting with different foods, as I am to be on a low-to-no-fat diet for several weeks while my body adjusts to my gall bladder not being there. So far, so good! My mom even brought home some of my stones that were causing all the problems! Apparently, there were a lot more than the surgeon expected...

I'm glad this week is over, yet I am also glad we chose this week to do it. While Tony didn't have much of a Spring Break, he's, uh, comforted to know that summer break is here in less than 60 calendar days! :)

Thank you for all your prayers. Please keep them coming for a speedy full recovery for both Bradlee and myself!!

Fun!

What a great weekend we had last week! We had our annual "Girls plus Bradlee" trip to Frankenmuth with Tony's mom and sister! The kids had a great time at Zehnder's Splash Village!

On Sunday, Emma's Daisy troop was given a private tour and archery range time at Bass Pro Shop in Auburn Hills. She wouldn't feed the fish (live bait!), but boy, did she love the archery! We may have a new hobby!!

This coming week is Spring Break, and just to prove you can have fun without going anywhere, Bradlee's having his tonsils and adenoids out on Monday, and in a surprising turn of events in the last month, I will be having my gall bladder out on Thursday! We like to keep our hospital in business! :) Prayers for speedy recoveries for both of us would be greatly appreciated!! ;)

Not-so-little-boy anymore...

We are loving this weather! The kids found the dress-up clothes at Nana and Beepee's house!

On Saturday, we went down to IKEA in Canton to pick out a twin-sized bed for Bradlee! He's grown quite a bit taller over the past few months and has not only outgrown the rocking chair we use to rock him in before bed, but also his toddler bed! The problem we've had is that his room is the smallest bedroom in our house, and has a built-in desk that cannot be removed. So we have ducts, windows, a curved ceiling and this built-in desk to work around this small room. My plan was to get him a beautiful wood captain's bed so we could eliminate the need for a dresser and use the under bed storage for his clothes. Well, after measuring it all out, the captain's bed would be the ONLY thing in that room. I was quite bummed. Then I remembered IKEA...they are famous for fitting a lot of furniture in a small space, right?! Well TA-DAAAAAA!!! I found one! We went on Saturday to pick it out and bring it home. Complete with a new headboard, mattress, 2 mattress covers (waterproof, of course!), comforter and cover, along with the bed frame with 2 drawers - all for a great deal!! We got it all in the van, which was even more impressive!!!

I spent most of Sunday putting everything together. It was easier than I thought it would be and fit in his room much better than I expected! We are able to leave his dresser in there along with everything else, except the rocking chair. I had a really hard time taking that rocking chair out of his room...and so did he! He cried when I put him to bed, saying he wanted to rock! So, I had to fight the tears and tell him that even though we can't rock anymore, the cool thing about being a big boy is that we can cuddle now, because Mommy and Daddy can fit in his bed!! :) It worked and we cuddled a little longer than normal to celebrate...

This afternoon when he came home from school, he ran upstairs and was overjoyed to see his new big boy bed was still there!! Here he is all ready for sweet dreams!