Throwback Thursday--Gymnastics

I'm a little behind this month.  The last month of school.  Trying to pack up my classroom, plan for summer, and wrap up all the loose ends makes May insane!  Plus, we have prom, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Graduation, Baccalaureate (which I know how to spell without looking), and finally the BIG gymnastics performance.

I don't think I could have been MORE pleased with this big kid at his gymnastic performance!  

He was such a joy to watch and laugh at!

He started his performance shy and timid, but was a shining star by the end of the hour.

He 'wowed' all of us with his beam skills.  

**Thanks for the help Mrs. Brandi!**

 Showing off his handstand skills. 

 Look guys!

We can crawl backwards on this beam thing here on the ground.

Or not...

 Forward rolls on the mat. 

 And lastly, showing off his muscles for the crowd.  

He is so stinking cute I can't STAND it! 

 So very proud of my 2012 Douglasville Gymnastics Olympic Athlete!

Thomas Hayes Cochran--you are the apple of my eye.

I love you so much big boy!

One year ago we were starting gymnastics and you could barely walk without running into...

well everything.

Now, you are a more coordinated little man with some mad tumbling skills.

Climbing the Mountain

 Have you ever seen a rear end that makes you giggle?

She was determined to scale the slide and had a blast climbing up and laughing at herself.

 She would turn around and then just laugh at the water going down the side of the slide.  

She was fascinated.

 We splashed water at her and she giggled.

She went down the slide just once.

She had so much fun playing outside at the lake this weekend!

 Check out the rolls.

Girlfriend has rolls on her arms

She's got a pack of rolls on her legs.  

But my favorite roll is the rolls right above her wrist.

Ultimate baby squish.

The Girl

 She is the sweetest little chunk of baby love.

 Her curiosity will be the death of me. 

 And her independence is so fierce.  She is my child through and through.

 She makes my heart melt with her baby grin and her baby laughter.

It pains me to know that she's about to turn 1.  

Two more months and my baby girl isn't a baby anymore.

I'm not sure I like thinking that I'm done with babies... 

Maybe I can convince the husband that we need one more?

The BIG Kahuna

This marks the 2nd summer that Dad has rented the slide.

It is seriously the MOST fun thing ever.

The best part is that kids and adults can BOTH have a ridiculous load of fun.

What's NOT to love about this mess?

Its a HUGE inflatable slide that we love!

Daryk and Quentin kept joking about this year's 'Co-Pay Challenge'...

Wondering which one of them would bite the dust and require a trip to the ER.

Daryk won, but not for reasons that you think.

Bless him.

He was very cautious on the slide.

His gall bladder decided to say hello SUPER early Monday morning.

 The NEW Pell City Hospital is fancy and wonderful.

Always an adventure.

Memorial Day Part 1

There was a lot of napping involved. 

This is Polly.

She is one of our family's dearest friends.  

It is safe to say she's probably been witness to many important moments in my life.

She is a precious woman and someone I love spending time with.

Such a sweet spirit in her heart.

And this is PawPaw.  

We all know he loves a good nap.  

We also know that when he gets tired he rolls his foot around in his sock in his recliner.

I guess the lawn chair duo was acting as his recliner for the time being.

He worked hard and played hard all weekend.

You can see this kid spent more time sunbathing in the nude than anything else.

He drew on the sidewalk with the chalk in the nude.

He ran around all day Sunday nekkid.

He refused to remove his swimming shoes, though.

Deep love for those.  Or he's just afraid of hurting his little bitty feet.

He's so pasty white.  

You would never know that we spent 4 days at the lake.

Sheldon in Training

Have you ever seen The Big Bang Theory? 

You know Sheldon, the freakishly organized and routine oriented character? 

I'm pretty sure I'm raising a similar child. 

He has to have things IN PLACE. 

He doesn't like for his hands to get sticky, or be dirty, or to touch gooey things. 

He lines up things in his bed every night, just so, in his sleep order. 

Mickey here, Minnie there, his sleeping cow from Chick fil A (thanks Yee-Yee), his blanket, his pillow, his book, the juice. 

Everything has to be jussssssssst right, or he has a MELT DOWN.

Technically, he prefers his Daddy to line everything up.

Apparently, he does a better job than I, but in case of emergency, I'll do.

This is a prime example of Rain Man/Sheldon-esque behavior.

We lined up the chalk before we could draw on the floor of the garage.

Then we knocked it over with the tractor.

Rinse.  Repeat.

And don't you DARE touch the chalk or move them out of the order that HE put them in.

Meltdown follows.

I believe my friend Kisa said it best, he did get that organizational gene honestly.

Don't believe me, just check the 9,000 baskets and bags and bins that organize my cabinets and closets.

Or check in the clothing closets... we color coordinate everything.

It rained. We played.

Monday it rained.  Hayes wanted to puddle jump.  We let him.  It was good fun.

Meeting Maggie

My best friend in all the land had a baby girl 8 days ago.  

I finally met her today.  

She's precious and tiny and makes me smile.  

Her name is Maggie Louise and she's perfect.  

She has tiny toes and a tiny nose.  

Her itty bitty mouth is the cutest thing I've ever seen.  

I also got to see my other favorite human, Lauren.  

Her little angel is Braelyn (I hope I spelled that right) and she's so cute!  

She's a little bit younger than Elizabeth and I'm pretty sure she's the prettiest baby girl ever.  

Her big brown eyes and her soft skin are just amazing.  

She just grinned and drooled on us this afternoon.  

I didn't take pictures because I'm a terrible friend and I looked horrible this afternoon.  :)  

But I got to talk to my friends.  

And we got to have adult time.  

And we talked about stuff that made me laugh.  

And I love them. 

Dessert Walk

We went for a walk after dinner Monday night. 

She was obviously very uncomfortable. 

Couldn't enjoy herself. 

Found it very difficult to relax after dinner.

She fell asleep about 3 minutes into the hour long walk.

We found a wallet while we were walking around and returned it to the home it belonged to.

Hayes kept asking to go home and we explained that we were taking it back to the house it went with.

He was less than patient. 

He did, however, conclude that every lot with extremely tall grass (read:  abandoned or foreclosed home) was where Simba from The Yion Ting (The Lion King) lives. 

Precious boy. 

Mother's Day

Daryk reads his new book after feeding Elizabeth.

Sunday was Mother's Day. 

I did exactly what I wanted to do. 

Had breakfast at Cracker Barrel. 

More specifically, had pancakes at Cracker Barrel. 

Best.  Breakfast.  Food.  Ever. 

Went to church with my family. 

Had pictures made at church, wrestled Hayes trying to get a good picture. 

Probably didn't get a good picture because I was wrestling Hayes. 

Took a nap. 

Post nap window browsing with my main squeeze.

Everyone took a nap.

At the same time.

For about 3 hours.

It was amazing.

Had Burger King for dinner because I didn't want to cook. 

Played with my babies after dinner.

Dinner Saturday night with my old man faced 2 year old.

He just loves saying cheese.

And he loves his Ye-Ye.

Plus, he really liked hanging out with his cousins Hunter and Reese.

For Mother's Day I got new running shoes and a new Otterbox phone cover.

Exactly what I wanted (and bought for myself 2 weeks ago).

And Daryk agreed we could go to Disney World in October. 

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

And she sleeps...

Look familiar?  It should. 

When she's not thrashing around like a crazy baby, she's sleeping on her belly in this position. 

And where did all that HAIR come from?  

Elizabeth might actually have enough hair for a hairbow sometime soon!

Her sweet, sweet face on her Taggie Blanket.  She is in love with that thing. 

If I didn't know any better, I would think I birthed twins... who are 19 months apart. 

She sleeps JUST like her brother 90% of the time. 

On her face, butt up in the air, snoring like an old man. 

I love her. 

Mall Date

Miss Piggy over here eats more than her big brother on ANY given day.  She ate 3 chicken nuggets and about 5 giant fries from Chick fil A a the mall tonight.  Baby girl is not missing any meals and she certainly doesn't have any food aversions like her brother.  Although, I blame myself for that. 

As a first time parent I was terrified to give him anything that I wasn't supposed to (though I don't know who's rules I was following, because I basically made up my own for most of his infancy/toddler days) and he doesn't eat much other than fruit because I was afraid he would choke, not be able to chew, etc.  Hayes didn't get most of his teeth until he was almost 15 months old.  I should have been giving him everything he wanted before that, and after so he would eat like a normal person. 
Oops. 
Mom of the Year, right here.

Mother's Day Tea

Sweet handprint for Mother's Day



He looks just like his daddy. 



Yesterday I got to have tea with Hayes at school.  He and his buddies in class had a GREAT time showing off their art work via SWEET handprints and cute picture frames.  I arrived a few minutes late (true to form) and was worried I would miss the whole thing.  Hayes ran to the door, and Ms. Dawn opened it.  Then Hayes grabbed my hand at the door and 'escorted' me to the table.  He had his snack, and most of mine, while we enjoyed his friends and I chatted with the other mommies!  I so enjoyed the chat with Suzanne, Stephanie, and Sunshine.  His teachers, Ms. Robbie and Ms. Dawn, were fun to talk with too.

This is the picture in the frame that Hayes gave me for Mother's Day.  He was playing in the 'big kid' playground at school (the big kids were on a field trip to the elementary school) and he obviously was having fun.  His sweet smiles are something I look forward to all the time!  Hayes is such a joy and so much fun to be around.  Just look at that sweet grin and tell me that you didn't smile back! 

5 A Day

Baby girl has a deep affection for all things that she deems edible.  Including citrus fruit rind.  She spent the latter part of dinner trying to break into the lemons and limes with her two teeth. 

She is a problem solver, this one. 
She figured out how to get them both in her chubby baby hands.
She figured out how to get a taste of each. 
And she learned that they aren't the same. 
Her determination is remarkable, and annoying. 
She is only 9 months old. 
She shouldn't be walking, but she is.
She shouldn't be the cutest baby in the world, but she is.
She is so much like me that it scares me. 
Look at all her hair!
We might actually get a bow to STAY in that hair this summer.