And we named him "Tuttle"

As my mom, Trace and I are at Hobby Lobby getting last minute rehearsal dinner things, Jimmy calls to tell me he is bringing home a box turtle. Apparently, my animal loving husband saved him from pending doom as the poor turtle was trying to cross 5 lanes of traffic on Highway 58. Of course, the thought of Jimmy running across 5 lanes of traffic in order to save a turtle we barely know was a little unsettling, but that's why I love him!

While we were checking out (and still discussing the turtle), the cashier overhears us and made the comment that box turtles carry salmonella so be sure and wash Trace's hands after he touches it.

Oh boy... Nana heard that!

Fortunately, my dear hubby, who after nearly 6 years of marriage instinctively knew what my mom would say, had already Googled "box turtles" and learned that they in fact do NOT carry salmonella, another kind of turtle does.

Does he know Nana well or what?

So, we get home and Trace is loving his new "pet". He kept saying, "Hey tuttle, how you... how you doing, tuttle?" We tried to explain that we need to give him a name. "You know mommy's name is Heidi and daddy's name is Jimmy... what is your turtles name?" Yep, all we got was "tuttle". They bonded instantly...

He pet him gently...
offered him part of his popsicle (awww, he's learning to share)...
tried to coax it out of his shell...
even introduced him to Ginger...

and then... we lost him.

We might possibly have set the world record for the shortest "family pet life" in history (about 45 minutes total). One second we are all playing in the yard, we turn our backs for a few minutes and the turtle is gone. How sad, we can't even keep up with a pet that moves 1.2 M.P.H.

We have talked many times about getting 2 outside dogs, but apparently, one child and one dog are all we are capable of right now.

Jimmy looked everywhere... in the grass, in the woods, under the deck. I mean, seriously, how far could he have gone? Of course, he probably took one look at our dog and toddler and figured he'd take his chances on the open road. He's probably halfway back to Hwy. 58 by now!

Oh well, so long tuttle... it was nice while it lasted!

Road Rash

Well yesterday at the park, Trace's face met the pavement. YIKES!!

He was running to the car and all I saw was blond hair flopping in the wind and then nothing but feet! I was sooo hoping he actually landed on the grass but when I saw him come up in daddy's arms crying I knew we weren't so lucky. He was SO tough. He only cried for a few seconds and then I started! j/k

The IMMEDIATE strawberry it left on his forehead nearly sent me into hysterics and if Jimmy hadn't been there to tell me that was "normal" we would have made a trip straight to the ER.

By bath time last night, this is what it looked like. I can only imagine the beautiful array of colors it will turn before it finally heals, but let's just hope it's gone by August 15th.

Won't that look lovely in wedding pictures?!? We'll either have to get creative with the hairdo or some serious makeup!! (sorry Uncle Ogie and Aunt Kadi) Oh boy...I'm afraid this is the first of many!

We're still here...

Just a little update. First of all, the wedding countdown has begun... minus 3 weeks and counting! We are all so excited to make Kadi an official member of the family. Her and my brother have been together for so long (10 years as friends + 6 years of dating) that it seems like she has always been a "Brown".

They have asked Trace and my cousins kids, Abram and Drew, to be in it. Oh boy... my mom is already having nightmares of a 4, 3, and 2 1/2 year old walking/running/screaming/kicking/ turning somersaults down the aisle, but Andy and Kadi insist whatever they do will be adorable and will make the wedding memorable! We are probably going to "bait" Andy with some suckers to get them to walk to him and then plug them up with them to get them through the ceremony! ha!

It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. We are currently starring in our own version of HGTV's "Designed to Sell" and "Spice Up My Kitchen". We have bought and are redoing a foreclosure to "flip". It is a lot of fun but a lot of work. We are painting, recarpeting, putting in a new banister, steps, lighting, kitchen cabinets and countertops, and building a deck. PHEW!

I have spent hours desperately trying to salvage the shower and bathtub in an attempt to avoid Bath Fitters and their $2,000+ price tag. You know my true passion for before and after pictures so I'll share them when we are done!! Right now we are more in the "destruction" phase... not too pretty!

We have been swimming a couple of times and each time Trace gets a little more daring and comfortable in the water. He actually went down a small slide into the pool at Abram's birthday party last week. He landed in a V and went totally under with his swimmies on but popped back up grinning from ear to ear!

Here are him and my dad (Papaw) swimming at my brother's pool, and him with Lincoln (Andy and Kadi's dog). Trace must really love him to share his watermelon... but who could resist ole blue eyes!?!

Blueberry pancakes before church...ummm! He got them all over his bobbie (paci). He said, "I go wash bobbie" so I thought he was going to the bathroom sink. Instead, he was standing at the washing machine about to throw bobbie in when I caught him... so cute! He is growing up so fast!

You may notice his very uneven haircut. We went last week to get his "wedding do" and it got a little hairy! ha! ha!

He managed to chomp down 3 dum dums in about 7 minutes because he has figured out that mommy will give him anything to keep him sitting in the chair!

Coming soon to a bathroom near you! I put his potty in our bathroom last night and we are really talking it up. So far all he wants to do is sit on it with the lid down and fill the little blue pee-pee cup with the water hose and pour it over the side of the deck.

Oh well, you have to start somewhere I guess! Thanks Jill for letting us borrow Ethan and Abby's potty! Do you want it back when we're done? ;)

Flower Child

There's a field across from our house that is full of sunflowers this time of year. Tonight after dinner, we decided to take a walk and get some pictures. You should have seen how hard I had to scrub Trace's face to get the cherry popsicle off his lips so people wouldn't think he was wearing lipgloss!

We almost waited to late, they are already starting to die and wilt. The grass in most places is as tall if not taller than Trace but he refused to be carried and muddled through it like the little outdoorsman he's destined to be. Bless his heart, he had cuts and scratches all up and down his little legs but he and Ginger loved running through the weeds.


The bugs finally got the best of him.

I often have a love/hate relationship with my camera... tonight proved to be no different. There is not one picture of Trace actually smiling. About the time I got him to look at the camera and smile, the delay was so long, the moment was lost. My favorites actually ended up being the ones where I just followed him around and took them without him even knowing it.

A boy, his dog, and the open road... life doesn't get much better than that!

HELP... I'm hooked!

Do you know what that is???

No, I've not fallen victim to the latest piercing craze, at least not voluntarily... that's a fish hook.

Today, Jimmy and I took my two friends, Lynda and Penny, that I taught with for years at Woodmore, out fishing. I am not a fisher(woman), but they enjoy it and of course, fishing is Jimmy's greatest love (besides me, of course, ha!), so we decided to go while they were still on summer break.

I can't imagine why 2 teachers, with 25+ years in an inner city school, find mindlessly floating in the serene, quiet lake bobbing for fish that can't talk back, relaxing, but they do! ha! We were actually joking before the "incident" that the title of this blog was going to be, "A bad day fishing is still better than a good day at school."


The weather was perfect, the wind was pleasant, and the fish were plentiful until... the hook.

It was really my fault, I changed seats midway through the trip and poor Penny snagged me with her rod. I am just thankful I screamed loud enough for her to realize what had happened before she cast the reel!!! Ohhhh, the thought of that makes my stomach hurt!

We made a beeline back to the dock to get some pliers, so Jimmy (my hero) could cut the barbs and pull it back through my ear. (Yes, it went in one side and out the other.) Needless to say, I was trying to "put my big girl panties on" as they say, but I was silently praying not to tinkle in my panties or cry like a baby. I managed to avoid both, God is good!

With all the talk about barbs and spikes, the anticipation of actually pulling it out of my ear was much more horrific than the procedure itself. However, anyone who has ever said, "Ohhh, there are no nerves in the top of your earlobe, so it doesn't hurt," has obviously never had a fish hook caught in theirs!

After Jimmy performed his minor surgery (with only ice for numbing, I might add!) he looked at me like a proud papa and said, "Welcome to the club, you are now officially a Cofer". Hum... after 5 1/2 years of marriage, a shared mortgage, and my carrying and birthing his only son, who knew getting stabbed in the ear with a fish hook would make it official... thanks honey.

Trace did pretty good other than one minor meltdown about not being allowed to get back in the water. He managed to eat every morsel of food I had packed in the first 30 minutes of the trip, but really, what else is there for a little boy to do on a boat after you've throw every toy you brought into the lake to see if it will sink or float?

F.Y.I.- Thomas the Tank Engines sink (quickly).
So after much persuasion, I went to the Minute Clinic for a tetanus shot. You know my fondness for lake water, and the fact that the hook had been laying in a tackle box for years or worse, possibly in a fish's nasty mouth was enough to err on the side of caution.

On the bright side (always looking for that silver lining), I told the nurse that I couldn't remember when my last tetanus shot was and she sweetly asked how old I was. When I said, "34", she said "oh, you don't look that old, I was going to say tetanus shots last for 10 years and you had to have one in middle school, but..."

Bless her little heart, does that mean she actually thought I was in my early twenties!?! I think so! My night cream may be working after all!

She probably just thought anyone stupid enough to be that sunburned with a fishhook caught in her ear can't be that old.

Oh, but yes you can!

I really enjoyed spending the day with them and am so thankful to call them my friends. They have been there through thick and thin and I know they always will be. This will be just one more memory we have to laugh about... that is when the hole closes up in my ear and my right arms stops aching from the shot, just kidding Penny :)

Lynda surpassed Penny in the number of fish caught today, but Penny takes the prize for the weight... I'm the biggest bass that lake's ever seen!

All in all, it was a really fun day and I can't wait to do it again. Next time, I think I'll wear a helmet... and some sunscreen! ha!

Family, Food and Fireworks on the 4th

I'm warning you, this is going to be a long post with a lot of pictures. I took over 100 this weekend, but I promise I will only show a few...or 20. :)

We had a BIG 4th of July in Alabama with Jimmy's family. We all gathered at Mimmie's (Jimmy's grandmother on his mom's side), and by all, I mean 22 people and 3 dogs to celebrate our country's 233rd birthday.

It was the first time we had ever been on the 4th of July and the first summer since Jimmy and I have been married that we weren't there to celebrate a wedding.

Now that all of the cousins are married and having babies, we have grown to quite a large brood. Sadly, we were missing Jimmy's cousins Millie and Kelly and their families, but we had a wonderful time. Thank you SO much Millie for letting us stay at your house!

I am now convinced there is no better place in the country to be on the 4th of July... huge family, beautiful pool, amazing food, and front row seats to the fireworks. It doesn't get much better than that!
Hannah and Trace
Trace, Grace Anne, and Elmo. He pushed that stroller around the pool all weekend, much to his daddy's despair! ha!
This was pretty much Trace's wardrobe the entire weekend... swimsuit, crocs, water wings, and a helmet. He kept getting out of the water and jumping on his plasma car for a quick spin around the pool. Sylvia kept chasing him down to put his helmet on, and I pushed those swimmies up his arm until they were nearly raw, so we finally just gave in and left them all on. Luckily, it didn't slow him down a bit!
Trace LOVED the newest member of the family, precious Darby.
The girls were so sweet to play with Trace and let him tag along. They are little mommies in the making!
Generation 1
I love this picture...Frank (Jimmy's grandfather on his dad's side), Mimmie, and Polly (Jimmy's great aunt). I know it's rude to tell a woman's age, so I won't tell exactly. ha! But they are all over 90 and added together their ages total 275...you do the math!

They are truly inspirational and are the cornerstone of the family. They are so dearly loved!!
Generation 2 (minus the husbands)
The sisters... Sandi, Sylvia (my mom-in-law) and Sheila. They worked so hard this weekend putting all of this together and keeping us all fed! Thank you guys so much, it was wonderful...now go take a nap!

Generation 3
The cousins
Generation 4
The kiddos
We will include Ginger in this generation. She really enjoyed sunbathing on my towel after a dip in the pool. No family party is complete without our Gingie-bug!
The Cofer clan
We ate WAY too much food for one weekend, the shrimp boil was just one of many meals. You notice who is under the table... just waiting for a piece to drop, you would think we never fed her.
Don't eat too much now Mimmie...ha! ha!
We were also celebrating Frank's 90th birthday. He was born on July 4, 1919 as Benjamin Franklin Cofer and served in the Navy during WWII.

He loves to claim responsibility for Trace's name (James Franklin III). I can hear him telling the story now, "When Jim (Jimmy's dad) was born I said I don't like that Benjamin, let's drop it and add James, and 3 generations later... it stuck.

Happy Birthday Frankie... we love you!
The girls helped me make his cake. Aren't they beautiful!
Speaking of girls...this is off the subject, but interesting. In the past 4 generations there has not been one girl born in the Cofer family. As far back as we know, at least the last 12 Cofer's have all been males... that's a lot of boys. Huh, if I'm ever blessed with another baby, I bet I know what it would be?!?

As the day came to an end, we settled in for the fireworks. They were being shot off right below Mimmie's house from a barge in the lake. Talk about a front-row seat!

It was very emotional, sitting and watching the fireworks while Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" played in the background. I felt so incredibly blessed to be holding my baby in my arms and sharing this experience, while so many parents across the country were praying for their babies who at that very moment were fighting for our freedom... I can't even imagine that. I was overcome with pride and gratitude for all that they and those that came before them have done for us.

We were a little nervous about how Trace would do (he's never seen fireworks) but once the initial boom was out of the way, he loved it! Jimmy and I were totally prepared to run for cover but he kept asking for more. I armed him with his bobbie and blanket just in case.
Trace did a whole lot better than Ginger did. You'll notice, I've got one baby, Jimmy's got the other. They were a little too close for comfort for her!
It was a wonderful and very memorable weekend. We really missed the cousins that weren't able to be there, but hopefully we will see them soon and have many more 4th of July's together!

"It ain't easy being green"

I believe that quote was taken from the infamous Kermit the Frog, but lately"green" has come to mean something entirely different.

In this day and age of recycling and trying to safe our beautiful planet for future generations, I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit, I just started recycling 3 weeks ago.

I know, I know, a collective gasp was heard throughout the blog world. I am not proud of this laziness but now that I am officially on the band wagon... EVERYONE else should join me.

My mom has been recycling her garbage for years, and has always encouraged me to do it, but I just never did... until now. Good job Nana...moms really do know best!! Thank you for saving the Earth for my little future generationer!

Last night, as I was trying to prepare for our trip and all of the fun things that go along with that before leaving your house, I just couldn't get over the sight of my once sparsely littered pantry floor. This is what it looked like as of 7:00 pm last night.
Since this picture, I have added another box of diapers, a 24 pack of coke box, 3 more newspapers and a half a dozen empty cans. Everytime I open my pantry door, I now have to say a silent "it's OK, breath Heidi, you are helping save the earth... pick up is next Wednesday" to myself.

A couple of weeks ago, I went out and bought a huge plastic tub to put in my pantry just for recycling stuff. Well, as you can see, I have FAR exceeded the limits of my 60 gallon jug. It just makes me realize how much stuff I could have been recycling all of these years, and makes me feel really guilty. Wow!

I even printed the "how to" and "what to" recycle list off the internet because I am a visual learner (ha!) and have to have a reminder right there in front of me each time I go to throw something away. I think what used to be labeled as a "visual learner" when I was in school, has really just morphed into a nice way of saying that I'm CRS... can't remember squat (I improvised on the S word, you know) to make myself feel better.
Needless to say, I am relieved that starting in September, the recycle pick up will be bi-weekly instead of monthly. I really don't know how much more my little pantry can take. But, I am VERY glad that I've done this and my trips to the big trash can outside have gone from 2 a day to probably 1 every 3 days (unless there are Trace's poopy diapers in them, can't let those stick around long... we abandoned the Diaper Genie a long time ago!)

So, now I'm a believer. Happy Recycling... GO GREEN!

Hope everyone has a very happy and safe 4th of July!!!

Water Logged

Last week, my friend Jill and I took the kids to my brother's pool. It was so nice having it all to ourselves, bringing lunch, and just relaxing (ha, as much as you can with 3 kids under 5, that is!)

I was AMAZED at the transformation in just a few short hours. Trace went from wanting to be held in the water (even with his water wings on) to totally solo!! I think a huge part had to do with him watching Abby swim and jump off the sides with nothing but her swimmies on... oh the peer pressure!

I couldn't believe that by the end of the day, he was jumping (scooting) off the side from his bottom, swimming to the side and climbing up the ladder and swimming alone. He smiled and laughed so much, I think he drank half the pool.

Oh... my baby is growing up!

Here's his... I can do it by myself, determined look.

Cutie pies!
Ethan, Trace, and Abby in the pool with noodles, floats, and swimmies!
It seems like only yesterday, he was 9 months old and we were going to the Y for "mommy and me" swim classes. We were very fortunate that there were only 2 other babies in the class so daddy got to get in too.

After a "dunk" with daddy

Learning to kick... I LOVE those chunky little legs.
"Jumping" off the side

I can remember being so scared of holding him in the water. I had a death grip on him, knowing if I let go he would sink like a rock to the bottom. They are so trusting at that age and completely oblivious to the danger.

Then the grip changed and becomes his. He used to hold onto me for dear life... like he was actually trying to crawl up on top of my head to hang on. There were times I thought both of us would surely drown just from the sheer panic and hysteria.

Now, he's floating off by himself, not even caring if I'm in the water or not. I know that's good and just part of letting go... but wow, it's so hard!

You may notice, there's not one picture of me in the pool with Trace from the "mommy and me" class. Ha!... what woman wants their picture taken in a swimsuit months after delivering a baby??? Let's be honest, he's almost 2 1/2 now and I'm still trying to avoid the camera!

Funny how your choice in swim suits change over the years.

Pre-baby, I was in a bikini... post-baby, it became a tankini... last month, I ordered my first skirtini (probably first of many)!! The more fabric placed in strategic areas, the better :)