Busy Weekend!

It has been quite the weekend! It seemed like anything that could have happened or be planned was this weekend!

On Friday, we went to Tony's parents' house for dinner. Tony's Uncle George was in town from Kansas and treated us to Gina's, a local pizza place that he basically will visit JUST to eat there! Bradlee was quite entertaining by pulling his own pants down and walking around and sitting on Tony to read his books! :)

The Flushing Relay for Life was Friday - Saturday, and Tony was asked to DJ for it, so while he was getting ready to set up, Lynne, the kids, and I walked around to check out the different campsites. Here they are enjoying their animal suckers Aunt Lynne bought them!

Friday night, Bradlee stayed at Tony's parents' house and I took Emma home. I "let" her sleep in my bed with me (which she LOVED) and Saturday morning we were up early to go see TOY STORY 3!!! It was SUCH a good movie, and Emma just loved it, too! Here she is with her 3-D glasses on!

Then we went to lunch at Jimmy Johns. At first I wasn't so sure Emma would eat well, but one she started, she ate about 3/4 of her sub, plus some chips and lemonade! We then went to a co-worker's house to help her get ready for her daughter's open house that afternoon. I helped by making some pasta salad and some brownies for all the people she was going to have come over! They have a trampoline and swing set, which Emma had a ball playing on...all I have to say is thank God for "sneaky skirts"!!

After the open house, I took Emma to her friend, Maddy's, house for a birthday party. Maddy and Emma have gone to school since Maddy was born (since she's younger than Emma!)...they've been buddies ever since.

Once I picked Emma up after Maddy's party, we went to visit Tony at his DJ gig - which was an open house! Then we went back to his parents' house to pick up Bradlee. While we were there, we had a surprise visitor!! The best man in our wedding, Steve, was visiting from Florida with his daughter, Kaiya! They came over for a little while so the girls could see each other and play together for a bit! It was like they had just seen each other the day before, and not about 6 months or so ago!! They picked right back up and played like best friends again. It kind of reminds me of a friendship I have with someone! :) I hope Emma and Kaiya remain friends for a long, long time!!

On Sunday, we went to my sister, Kat's, apartment for a Father's Day brunch...I have a few pictures of that, but will post them in a separate blog post! :) Sunday night I played in a concert in Saginaw...then we came home and C-R-A-S-H-E-D..... :) It was a great weekend full of family and friends, but I'm so glad it's over! LOL

An event I forgot!

A few weekends ago, Emma and I travelled to Grand Rapids for the baby shower of one of my best friends, Lauren! Lauren lives in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada), but her mom and sister live in Grand Rapids, where she's also originally from! Lauren and I were music majors together and CMU, lived together our last year there, and also walked in graduation together! I'm SO excited and happy for both her and Scott (her husband) on their expectant arrival (due in August)!!

Mom of a Kindergartner...

Yep, you read that right! I am now the mom of a Kindergartner! Emma "graduated" from Pre-K on Friday...I just don't know where the the time has gone!! Here is a picture of her with her teacher, Mrs. Walters:

The flower between the two of them is one that Emma picked out, along with the pot and saucer, to give to Mrs. Walters on the last day of school. She also drew a picture and wrote "Mrs. Walters, Thank you for helping me grow! Emma Coggins" on it and we laminated it and put a Popsicle stick on it and stuck it in with the plant. Emma has had such a great time in Pre-K this year and has come home having learned so many new and awesome things. Case-in-point: "Mama, did you know that another name for a caterpillar is 'larvae' and another name for a cocoon is 'pupa'?"...amazing. She's done so well and I am SO happy she had Mrs. Walters! When I picked Emma up on Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Walters pulled me aside and told me how much she's enjoyed having Emma in her class...what a kid!

When Tony picked Emma up from school, he was informed that they were having a little "show" for the parents! Emma and her friends/classmates performed "I'm a Little Tea Pot", "The Three Little Pigs" and "Who Let the Alphabet Out?" for all the parents. Then they each received a "diploma" saying they are ready for Kindergarten!!

Tony also got some pictures of Emma with her friends and other teachers! One thing we are sad about is that some of these kids she's gone to school with since she started going to the nursery program when she was 8 weeks old (or when they were born and started coming!)!! She will not be attending school with most of them, since she will be going to one of four elementary schools in the district...here she is with only a few of her bestest friends!

Here is Emma with Mrs. Edsall. Mrs. Edsall is the pre-school teacher Emma had last year and also the head of the before/lunchtime/after school program Emma attended until Tony or I picked her up. Emma was telling me about all the things Mrs. Edsall has taught her, "The Pledge of Allegiance, the Thunder song, and she brought in Turtlini (her turtle) so we could sing to it." Mrs. Edsall's son, Danny, was one of Tony's favorite students, so we all have a special place in our hearts for her! :)

The other two teachers Emma had this year were teachers she's known since she was born! Terri (on the left) was one of her teachers at the nursery (and Bradlee's, too!) and Sarah (on the right) is her best friend, Maddy's, mom! We've known these ladies for a long time and have gotten to know them professionally and personally...we love knowing that our kids are in good hands!!! As you can probably tell, they love our kids like they would (and do) love their own!

Next it was on to pick up Bradlee from school. He will be in the same place next year, but Tony still got a picture of him with two of his "buddies"...Miss Gina ("Nina" - on the left) and Miss JoAnn ("O-An" - on the right) are with him every day and he talks about them all the time! Miss JoAnn is the one who taught him how to do the "Obama Bump" - although she calls it "knuckles"!! :) Oh, and that's Boomer that Bradlee's holding! :)

Tony and I had a hard time deciding what to do with our children's education. Our choices were Holly Schools (they are a Schools of Choice, and Tony teachers there), Flint Schools (HA!), or the Catholic school system. Tony and I both went to Catholic grade school through 8th grade. He attended public high school and I continued at Powers, a Catholic high school. While both of our educations were excellent, we just felt that with the state of the economy (including our own personal one!) and the availability of opportunities, we just couldn't pass up sending our kids to Holly. Not only does it show that we support the school district that Tony teaches for, but it will offer Emma and Bradlee so many more opportunities than the private school system. The ONLY thing I will miss them receiving is the religious-based classes...which means we'll have to do "CCD" (they don't call them that anymore, but that's really what they are!) for the sacraments in the church...big deal, right?! :) Tony and I are extremely confident that our kids will get a quality education...and I think we've already proven to be correct!

HOORAY!!! SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

Happy Summer! :)

Happy Memorial Day!

WOW! What a great weekend!!! After all our activities on Saturday, we knew we had a busy Sunday and Monday headed our way...and we were not disappointed!!

Sunday we got up and went to church. One thing I have to say about my kids and church, is that they are awesome. Bradlee mostly just talks, but on Sunday I held him and we looked at books and colored and he was great. Emma usually just sits there and colors! I showed her the words and music for the last song, and she even sang along to a part of it!!

We got home from mass, put Bradlee (and Tony) down for a nap, then Emma and I had "rest time" in the basement. This usually consists of Emma playing quietly while we watch a movie...just so there's some quiet time in her day. This time, she wanted her "project stuff" out so she could make a birthday card for Uncle Garrett (Kat's fiance). She ended up making a card out of orange paper...because "carrots are orange and Garrett rhymes with carrot"!! LOL What a great kid. After the movie, Bradlee (and Tony) woke up and we packed up the car and headed over to my parents' house. What a great time we had!! Dad grilled while Karyn and Emma played...Bradlee ran around the house and outside and we were able to just sit and talk to my parents and some friends of theirs (who I've known since I was born!)...it was a nice time. After dinner, we got the water balloons out! The kids had a ball! I was the designated "dry" person...and Karyn had stated that she didn't want to participate and get wet...well....she took the hose and got Tony, so it all went downhill from there! Tony came up behind her and squeezed a balloon all over her back, so she chased him with the hose...then Emma went up to Karyn and squeezed a balloon on her back, too! We were laughing so hard outside...and Mom, Dad, Aunt Sue and Uncle Larry were laughing so hard inside the Florida Room! :) Bradlee LOVED the balloons, although I think he broke more all over himself from squeezing them than anything!



We had the power washer to return to Tony's parents, so we took that out to their house once the big water balloon fight ended. Emma was asleep after 10 minutes in the car!!

Today (Monday), we hung around home in the morning and until Bradlee had his nap and Emma had her quiet time. Tony had to go to the funeral home for a former classmate of his and once he was home and Bradlee woke up, we packed up the car again and headed down to Fenton. Two of my former classmates (Jen and I went to school from about 4th grade through 12th, Scott and I went to school in high school) recently moved to the area and were having a BBQ! They live on a lake and have 3 kids. Brendan is 6, Megan is 4 and Erin is 1. What a great time, there, too!! Some other classmates came by also...we figured it had been about 12 years since we had seen each other! The kids played so well together and we had a TON of laughs watching them, and each other! Emma had never swam in a lake before and was really looking forward to it...you can almost see her thinking "Okay....pool? or lake? pool? or lake?"

She got used to it real quick and soon was jumping around and playing with Brendan and Megan like she's done it all her life. At one point, she yelled up to me, "Mama! LOOK!!! I don't even have my floaties on!!!" She was quite proud of herself...the water only went up to about her waist at the highest point, which was good. It was a good confidence booster!

I wouldn't let Bradlee go in the lake, since I didn't have a change of clothes for me, but he had a great time just running around on the grass. Scott and Jen had their iPod going, and I caught Bradlee standing by it dancing away....to "Alone" by Heart! :) Gotta say, kid's got taste!

We stayed until about 5:45pm and then headed home so we could get the kids baths and into bed...only 9 more days of school! Then I will officially have a Kindergartner!!! AMAZING! Happy 4-Day Work Week!! :)

100 Posts!?

When I signed on to make this post, I noticed that my official count of posts I have made on my blog is 100 (as of the last one, this one is actually #101)!! Amazing! I hope SOMEONE is reading it! If not, then I guess it's just for me! LOL

It's Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and things are good. Last night (Friday), when I got home from work, after stopping at Walmart, I headed straight out to the garage to do some work. I was going to mow the lawn, but Tony said he would do it, so I let him! LOL I hung some shelves in the garage that used to be in Emma's room before my great friend, Lauren, repainted it for Emma! They are those shelves that have the two metal brackets that you slide the shelving brackets on, then the shelves sit on those. Anyway, I hung those shelves and then took some of our extra LONG screws that we've accrued over the years and made some "utensil holders". Basically, just took two of the same screws and installed them about 4 inches apart so the rakes, brooms, etc. could hang from them. Wow, what a difference! I wish I had some "before" pictures, but that may have broken the camera...instead, I'll make sure I get some "after" pictures....but maybe not until after Thursday. This is because the City of Flint has been on a different trash schedule since the beginning of April...our trash is picked up every other week. Totally sucks. That means that all lawn refuse and trash sits in our garage for two weeks until trash day. The smell doesn't seem to be bad, but all the dang bags is a pain in the butt!! UGH. Someday this will all get better...

So after I hung the shelves and got all the garden tools off the ground, I started moving some things around to try to make the best out of the space in there. What a difference! I can't wait to see it when the trash and lawn refuse is gone!! This was all done before Tony and the kids got home! When they got home, I played outside with the kids while Tony changed. Then I "bribed" them to go inside so Tony could mow the lawn but offering a snack...the three of us enjoyed some Kool-Ade and an apple (or "bapple", as Bradlee would say!)!! Tony mowed the front lawn, then I had to go, so the backyard had to wait.

I left and went to my friend, Mary's, house. I work with Mary at the bank. Her oldest daughter is graduating from high school in a week or so...which means Mary is getting her house ready for an Open House! I took my in-law's power washer over with me with the intention to clean off the siding of her house and then get the majority of paint off the other parts (half her house is wood-sided, the other half is actually siding!)...the power washer SUCKED. Her own hose with a nozzle on it was more powerful...and we even went to get a detergent to use with it! Oh well. So after we decided it wasn't going to work, I headed home. I felt, and still feel, really bad. I just wanted to help, you know!? So I got home about 8pm and stayed outside to put together our new outdoor porch swing that my in-laws got for Tony and me for our anniversary (coming up on June 21st)! It's so nice...they have one, so I know...even though I haven't used ours, yet!! Then it was PAST bedtime! I was so proud of myself last night, though...I got so much work done! There are a few other things I would like to get done this weekend, but most of them require someone other than myself doing them (read: "My Dad needs to help me!"). LOL

This morning, Tony finished the backyard, dug up some of the bricks in the way backyard, and sprayed the lawn (front and back) with some "bug stuff" (we told the kids it was "grass medicine"). We used this stuff last year and it really cut down on the amount of mosquitoes we had around the house...which is awesome for me. I've already got about 5-6 of those stupid bites! Two of them on my upper chest! Yikes! This was a good excuse to keep the kids inside today. Emma's been outside a lot this week and yesterday she was just so hot - almost to the point of heat exhaustion...so I wanted to make sure she took it easy today. She drank a lot of water today and was doing much better by the time the afternoon rolled around...but then we couldn't go out anyway 'cause of the bug spray. Worked like a charm! :)

I was able to get some laundry done while he was doing all that, and also get the kids breakfast, put dishes away and get both kids dressed. When he came back in, he got showered and dressed, I got Bradlee down for a nap and then got showered and dressed. Tony had to leave to DJ around 2pm, which left Emma and I having our "Mommy/Emma Rest Time"... basically, she did a "project" (birthday card for Gramma!), I did

laundry and cleaning, all while a movie was on! Bradlee slept until 4:15pm! A THREE HOUR nap!!! What a boy! He got up, we got in the car, and we went to pick up Karyn and then went to Red Robin for dinner, just the 4 of us. We ran a few other errands (got Gramma's birthday present and some other things), dropped Karyn off at home, and then came home. It was well past bedtime, but I let the kids stay up a little later to watch a movie. That's my favorite time...when we just lay in my bed and watch a movie. Bradlee cuddles right up and hands me his blanket. Then he looks at me, points to his feet and says, "Toes!" In other words, he wants his toes covered! So I cover him up and he just snuggles in! Once he's in bed, Emma does basically the same thing...just wants to cuddle! I love it, and I'm taking it while it's being offered!! :)

Tomorrow should be another fun and busy day: church and a birthday BBQ at my mom and dad's!! Will post more pictures then!! :)

Must be summer

Summer is officially here! The kids have had a great time playing outside at school and at home! Last Saturday, my friends, Julie and Scott, brought their baby, Scarlett, over for a visit. I was the only one home, so I got some quality time with Scarlett...well, until my mom and sister stopped by to meet her! I've known Julie since I was 5, so she's basically another daughter of my mom's!!! Here's me with Scarlett...and the outfit she has on is one that Emma picked out for her when she was born!!

Sunday we celebrated my sister-in-law's (Lynne) 40th birthday. We grilled out and the kids were able to get into their little swimming pool that Tony's parents have for them at their house...this is Bradlee saying, "I have a hot dog, and you do not!"

We've been applying the steroid ointment in Emma's eye for the last, almost 2, weeks now...this is what her "bad" eye looked like after 6 days of the ointment!! AMAZING! Looks even better now!!

Of course, the pool's going to get its use this summer...with BOTH kids! Bradlee just LOVES it as much as Emma does!!!

I have not been feeling well...was diagnosed with tonsillitis (hit me like a BRICK Sunday morning!) and have been on antibiotic since then. Also had a fever and aches all week. Stayed home from work yesterday (Wednesday), but was able to make it today. It's a 3-day weekend! I just want to have a good time with my family!

Races and blue eyes...

What a week! It started on Saturday with the Kid's Crim Classic. It's a day of races sponsored by the Crim Foundation. The Crim is a huge road race held in August and it really puts Flint on the map, so it's a full weekend of activities, months of "training groups", etc. So, to get the kids excited, they do this "kid's classic" each May. Emma's done this in the past (about 2 years ago)...she was all geared up to run run run....then got "stage fright" and ended up walking the 20 feet to the finish line. LOL Bradlee, on the other hand, was MUCH better this year!!! He was even on the local news!!! ABC 12 has a sports show on their weekend evening news shows called, "Highlight Zone Jr"...they feature little kids' sporting events...the "athletes of the future"! This weekend, it was the Kid's Crim Classic!! Here's the link to go to:

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/video?id=7444243

You have to watch the "commercial" first, then go forward to about the 4:30 mark (the start of the Kid's Crim Classic coverage)...Bradlee's in his stroller around 5:06 and then his "race" is at 5:35...he's #98!!! Look at him go!!! Tony put him down at the starting line, and my dad (Boppa) was waiting for him at the finish line (I had the stroller, Emma and the camera!)...Tony said he put Bradlee down, and pointed to my dad and said, "Bradlee, do you see Boppa?" "Yes!" <<"On your mark, get set, go!>> "Okay, Bradlee!! Run to Boppa!" And he took off!! Emma LOVED watching him and said, "Wow, Mama! He did GOOD!" Here's Bradlee with his medal and Boppa at the end of the race!

Emma's race was a little bit later. She had asked Boppa to run with her in her race, so my dad, the funny guy he is, showed up in his warm-up suit! LOL They took off to the starting line when the race was announced, and then ran a quarter of a mile to the finish line! She did SO awesome! The news didn't cover the older kids, but let me tell you, Emma ran the WHOLE way with Boppa (and he didn't even need oxygen at the finish line!)!! Tony and I are SO proud of our kids!!! Here's Emma with her medal from her race!!

Emma's eyes are still healing beautifully. On Sunday, my mom and I were talking with her and we've noticed that her right eye is awesome...only a little bloodshot-looking. Here's her right eye!

Her left eye, however, was healing well, but when she turns her eye, there is a little blister-like "thing" on her eye. So Monday morning I called Dr. Chris and they wanted to see her. I took her in and they checked her vision and muscle balance and both are AWESOME still!! Dr. Chris looked at the "blister" and said that it was the eye rejecting one of the sutures he put in. It didn't like the foreign substance in there, so it built a protective covering over it. Pretty cool, in a way, but still not good for the healing. So he put her on a steroid ointment for us to apply. That's easier said than done...Here's what the left eye looked like on Monday...

Bradlee, of course, not to be outdone by his sister, requested I take a picture of his eyes, too! :)

Tony and I are SO happy with the results of Emma's surgery...Dr. Chris is our hero! :)