Things going on...pt1-Hart

As you know there have been a lot of things going on since the last time I really blogged...like growing and birthing a baby. So, I have decided to catch you up on things.

1. My sweet Hart turned 2...


He had his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese and got lots of presents. This little man melts my heart. His name really is appropriate as he is one of the quietest, most loving (when he wants to be)and smartest little guy ever. His favorite thing right now is his little brother.


He loves him to pieces and likes to give him lots of kisses and hugs. He is the first one to tell me the baby is crying and has tried to "help" calm him by picking him up (SCARY!!!) Good thing I was right there. Hart has also reached a milestone, a very sad one for me- he is now in a big boy bed as of last Wednesday. I didn't even get a real picture because I thought for sure he would end up back in his crib that very night. Luckily, Brad snapped this one on his phone.

But he has been VERY good about staying in the bed. He does sometimes like to call Grayson's name over and over which Grayson isn't too thrilled about.

He also started school...



And HATED it for the first couple of days...or weeks. But ever since Graham has come, they say he has been a perfect angel.
Well, now I'm super tired and jealous of Brad who is playing Rockband 3 in the next room. I'll update on every one else soon so stay tuned for part 2-Grayson and more about my Graham Graham. Here is a precious pic of him to tide you over until then...

My sweet, sweet baby...

Grahama Archer Cook
born at 4:30pm
7 lbs 9 oz
20 and 1/2 inches long

Stay tuned...

Getting "Greg"

Every year we go to the Christmas tree farm to pick the perfect Christmas tree and this year was no different. We love to go take the tractor ride, pick the perfect tree, chop it down, drink hot chocolate and cider, and see the real reindeer. It's a fun tradition we started just last year and hope to do every year.

After getting lost (like always), Hart fell asleep, and had just woken up from a nap. I guess that's why he's mean muggin in this particular photo. All the others, I just don't know, I guess that's just his face.

So many choices...

Found one! I attempted to take this tree down all by myself. My saw was sharp and I was determined!
...I was unsuccessful.

Grayson decided to step in and handle this monstrocity (7 1/2 feet tall). And while he was at it, he named him Greg, Greg the tree.

We then went to see the real reindeer. He only wanted to show us his butt....


Got Greg all tied up and ready to go!

The end. Oh look at Hart's shirt. Perfect.

FHE: Nativity

I LOVE Christmas. We are trying our best to have Christ be the center of this Christmas season while still having fun with the gifts and Santa and all that other fun stuff. Anyway, we did our own little Nativity tonight for Family Home Evening. It was pretty awesome...


Mary and Joseph (yes those are snuggies. don't hate.)...

Joseph kicking Mary off the donkey for a little fun of his own...


The Wise men or mad man in Hartley's case


Baby Jesus..


See the "wise man" in the bottom left corner. All he wanted to do was go "night night" under the blanket which was supposed to be his robe. He is a silly little fella.

Day 3 New Moon challenge...take a pic with a wolf!

For your enjoyment...

so fun to have nerd friends

Me and some friends of mine have a private blog that we use to keep up with each other. It is so fun and we do some crazy stuff sometimes. Since new moon is coming out in 3 days, 3 hours, and 13 minutes we all decided to have some fun. We had the challenge of taking a picture with/of something related to new moon every day until we can all get together this week and go see it. We are seeing it at midnight thursday, friday (with our husbands) and saturday with a big group of girls. Here is our latest challenge- to dress up as a new moon character. This was really fun! (click on the names for more info)

Here is Jane




And Aro...




And my personal favorite, Laurent...



Ahhh, so nice to have geeks for friends!

how you know you are obsessed with New Moon...

1. When your child tells you they don't have to eat because they are Edward and vampires don't eat.
2. When your child has his whole class choosing a side...vampire or werewolf.
3. When both boys, even 18 month old Hartley, crawls around the floor roaring. Being werewolves of course!
and lastly
4. When your child make this face cause it's how Edward looks...



Only 16 more days til I get to see it at 11:58pm!!!!!!!

18 months old!!

I can't believe it. Only 6 month til he is 2. Kinda makes me sad, but then I think about how fun it will be when he is out of the scream-as-much-as-i-breathe stage. I conned Brad into taking Grayson with him to visit his youth for church so that I could take some picks of Hartley and they turned out much better than I thought. I envisioned only getting those famous screaming shots, but I got some pretty cute ones. How bout I let you see for yourself...





Daddy came back! This was taken in the dirty garage, but you can't tell can you?

A bonus from the other day...

Hair cut

Before...


After...

We are DONE!!!

This picture pretty much speaks for itself. My kids hate the camera.

i got a BENZ!!!!

Ha ha made you look. I didn't get a benz but i got to drive one...



And pose with it too...



I considered laying across the hood for the above photo, but Kim told me that was raunchy, and that she had to get it back to Enterprise in perfect condition. So I just opted for the stand by the door pose. That sun flare is cool huh? Kim took that with her iPhone. Oh and it doesn't even drive all that well. The bat mobile, (my black van) in my opinion drives much better.

Toddler tenderness

As Windy said in her post, these 2 love to fight...constantly. But, they're like a little married couple. They will be fighting one minute- screaming at the top of their little lungletts. Then all of a sudden, they are best friends again...

THE BEACH

We recently went on a little family vacation at the beach. While there, we visited the coolest State Park ever. After we survived the tropical storm, it was some serious fun. It was GORGEOUS. Just look at the stormy sky. Made for great photos...






Can you tell there was a GINORMOUS man in the left side of the photo? No? Good. He was surely cramping my style and I didn't know what I could do photoshop wise. Seriously, he was huge. Thank goodness for photoshop.


Grayson being "strong"


We took way more pics, but they were with the iPhone and I only brought the "big" camera for a couple shots cause sand in a $1000 camera is not something I was willing to risk.

Grayson's Birthday Part 1

Happy birthday Grayson!!!!!
Well, as Bradley said Tuesday night, "Can you believe this time 3 years ago, you were pushing Grayson out?" No I couldn't believe it and it kinda brought up some memories I have since suppressed. Like the whole giving birth in a teaching hospital room full of about 40 teachers, doctors, residents, and students...*shudder*...Anyhow, Tuesday Grayson turned the big 03 and had a super fun get-to-do-what-i-want-cause-it's-my-birthday day. He chose the splash pad, which I did not know about until a few days ago, ice cream and after all that, Maamaw, TT and josh came with PRESENTS!

The birthday boy himself...


I told Brad there was no wet t-shirt contest...







By the end, Hartley was done. It wasn't really his cup of tea...

And since mommy left the splash pad to get drinks JUST as the ice cream man was coming, we had to get ice cream afterward.


part 2 coming soon...