Gigglin' Gus survives his first tornado

Our plans for going to a softball game got derailed by the rain (a.k.a. tornadoes) last Wednesday night, so I ran out quickly to grab some fun stuff for a pumpkin carving, pizza eating, cookie makin' night at home.

In all the years I taught school I'm embarrassed to admit, I had NO idea there were such things as pumpkin carving kits. Every year, I would ignore the zero tolerance laws at school and sneak in the biggest carving knife I owned wrapped in a towel and concealed in my school bag, then I'd lock it in the cabinet in my classroom until the party began. No pumpkin I ever planned turned out the way I had pictured it in my head. I was always amazed at other peoples beautifully detailed faces, when I couldn't manage anything more creative than 2 triangular eyes, a pitiful nose and crooked smile. Inevitable, I would always manage to cut through the nose into the eye or mouth leaving a gaping hole in the poor pumpkin's face. It was pitiful pumpkin carving if I'm being honest, but luckily, it doesn't take much to impress 5-year-olds.

This year, I found a kit at Target that had it all, including a little childproof knife... you could imagine my excitement!

So the party began...
It took a little coaxing but he finally put his hands in the slime and dug out the seeds.
Picking the face. He originally wanted a "cross" face, but eventually decided on Gigglin' Gus...

Apparently, this is how I looked while he was cutting with his "childproof knife." Jimmy managed to capture my true feelings, even though I thought I was doing a better job of hiding my fear. ha!
In between pumpkin carving, watching the news for weather updates, and checking out the window for tornadoes, I cooked this jack-o-lantern pizza I had picked up from Papa Murphy's.

Several times, I seriously thought we were going to end up eating this pizza in the basement by lantern light. I was nearly ready to move the party downstairs by the looks of the sky outside and the tornadoes reportedly miles away from our house.
After pizza, we followed up with some much needed Halloween cookies... it was a very stressful evening! ha!
Meet Gigglin' Gus. Trace practically cut the entire thing by himself. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so attentive and engaged with something for so long.

Happy Halloween!!

Gone Bobbie Gone?

We have passed a bittersweet milestone this week. Gone is the beloved "bobbie" and therefore, sadly... gone are the naps.

It's been our family's "dirty little secret" that Trace, at 3 months shy of 4-years-old, still slept with a paci up until last Monday night. He only had it for naps and bedtime, but we have known for a long time that it's past time to kick the habit.

It's just, when you have a child that happily climbs in the bed lugging his bobbie and blanket, and then puts himself to sleep without much ado, it's hard to see that end. He has been such a great sleeper up until this point and I will admit, it's not because of my excellent parenting skills, but in part because of the bobbie. ha!

I was always amazed at the peaceful contentment that would consume Trace's body the minute he put bobbie in his mouth. You could really see it as a baby, but even now, when he was tired, sick, or hurt, the bobbie miraculously made everything better.

We have had in-depth discussions about how to get rid of it... give it to Santa, throw it into the ocean on vacation, trade it in on a favorite new engine, send it to another "child in need." But we've just been too lazy (and selfish) to actually make it happen.

Then suddenly, Jimmy came home the other day with the plan.

His friend's wife had read in a book that you snip the end off the paci and give it back to them. Then, each week you snip a little more off until eventually they are left with nothing but the little plastic piece that lays across their mouth... and nothing to suck.

So last Monday night, he did this to Trace's last remaining bobbie...
The look on Trace's face when Jimmy handed it to him was priceless. He immediately pulled it back out and said, "Ohhh, daddy look, my bobbie's broken!!" He wasn't near as interested in it after that and while he went to bed with it in his hand, I think the magical spell was broken.

The next day at nap time, he asked me if daddy could get his tools out when he got home and fix his bobbie.

My heart broke a little bit. :(

I'm almost afraid to type this but... we are one week and 2 days into life without bobbie, and there has not been one meltdown and strangely he hasn't even asked about it in days.

However, with the ying comes the yang... there has also only been 1 successful nap taken since last Monday (my pregnant body is in withdrawls) and he's still figuring out how to "settle" in bed at night. One night it took all 4 of us (Ginger has been very supportive) laying in his bed until nearly 11 o'clock telling many, maaannny stories about Thomas the tank engine's adventures to get him to sleep.

Here's a little picture tribute to the beloved bobbie. It's been a lovely ride.

The love story began with the standard, hospital issued, blue bobbie...

They have shared many firsts...

First time lounging poolside...

First tax season...

First time to the beach...

First fireworks display...

First pumpkin carving
(It came in awfully handy when you didn't want him
to eat things like sand or pumpkin seeds)

First haircut...
(look at that terrified, little face)

First necklace...

First attempt at disrobing...

He even learned to share his bobbie...

And it aided in countless cuddles on the couch...

Things will get very interesting around here in February, when Girby makes her appearance with her own stash of purple and hot pink bobbies. That might be when the meltdowns begin.

Wonder if she will love them as much as her big brother did? Guess we'll see!

Fall Break

Fall Break started off with a bang last weekend with 3 parties to go to. Saturday, we went to Kadi (my sis-in-law's) sisters engagement party at their parents house. They are getting married in Hawaii in May and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to go, but will have a three month old and 4-year-old my then. Somehow, that trip just doesn't seem possible... or pleasant. :(

That night, we celebrated my Aunt Carol's 60th birthday at Barts. It was a great party and it was so good to get to catch up with family I don't get to see that often.

Aunt Carol and Unc...Toasting the birthday girl...
Carrie, Casey, Aunt Gail, and I...
The next day we had my friend Jill's daughters b-day at Pump-It-Up. Trace was in HEAVEN! I think that's where we will have his party next year. Since he turns 4 three days before my due date in February, I am more than willing to pay for a low-key, low maintenance party somewhere where I don't have to entertain, cook or clean up anything. Call me crazy, but I'd say that will be money well spent!

Happy Birthday Miss Abby!

I thought this was hilarious. Ashley's mom just had her baby sister 3 weeks ago. She found this ball and stuffed it in her shirt... so cute!
We've tried to do some fun stuff this week while Trace was out of school. It has been beautiful weather and we enjoyed an afternoon at Andygriff Park (as Trace calls it) with my friends Penny and Lynda and Lynda's grandson Xander. I can't believe I forgot my camera. Xander was so sweet swinging for the first time and going down the slide.

We went and watched my friend Lu's daughter play softball one night and I admit, I really hope Trace wants to play ball someday. I actually told Jimmy on our first date, that I couldn't wait to be a dugout mom... I can't believe he didn't ask for the check right then!

I grew up on the ball field, it was just what my family did and I can't wait until the days we are watching him (and Girby) from the sidelines, eating hotdogs and nachos from the "section stand" for dinner. He literally brought half of the ball field home with him, and slept in it all night because he fell asleep in the car. Oh well, that's what boys do!

On Thursday my mom, Trace, and I took a little trip to Atlanta to start phase one of my nesting fetish... Project Playroom. This is what the soon-to-be playroom looks like now...


It gives me high blood pressure just walking into Jimmy's office. It has become our "catch all" room. I open the door, sling something in, and then walk away as quickly as possible.

But hopefully our little trip here will change that...
I love this place. It is the meca of home decor and organization, however, it's also like a corn maze inside. I get completely lost every time I go. I asked no fewer than 4 workers where a department was and half of them looked as lost as I was. The other half said, "just go through the blah, blah, blah, department and you'll run right into it, you can't miss it."

Ah, yes... yes you can.

Eventually, we left with what we came for, a 6 piece wall organizational system, 4 shelves and 18 multi-colored buckets to hold all of the toys!
I could not have done this without my mom, she watched Trace and pushed the heavy stuff while I tried to make sense of all my scribbled gibberish and measurements.
After we left Ikea, we met my cousins Casey and Carrie and their kids at the mall to let the kiddos play. Casey lives in Atlanta so we don't get to see Drew and baby Cole very often.

This picture pretty much sums up the enthusiasm level of our little Atlanta playdate...
As usual, my boy was in full force and coupled with his cousin Abram, their "spirit" was amped up to say the least. Carrie (who has 2 boys) and I have long laughed about how Casey's life is SO about to change when Cole gets a little older. She used to tell us about taking sweet Drew to the mall sans a stroller and casually shopping her way through Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. We both were like, "you mean she just walks behind you, for hours, not touching anything???"

Oh sista... life as you know it, is OVER!!

Drew and Trace...
Precious Cole and my mom...
They all loved the carousel...
Keith and Lucas...

We've spent all of fall break feeding and flirting with this sweet fella... Rosco. We think he has been abused and after a week he will still not let us touch him, but he may be the next member of the Cofer clan.
This is about the 5th dog in the last month that has shown up at our house. We apparently are the "McKamey" of the county. People just drop dogs off on our road and they eventually end up in our yard. Some haven't been very friendly or stick around too long, but this one is very sweet and skiddish and we have kinda fallen in love with him.

He's a blue tick hound like Smokey, and since Jimmy and Trace have been watching reruns of The Dukes of Hazard on CMT, Rosco (as in Picko Train) is his new name. I want to burst into Rocky Top every time I see him trot up the sidewalk for another cup of food. He was very malnourished when he showed up, so Trace has been feeding him mounds of food everyday... much to Ginger's dismay!
Hopefully, we'll eventually win his heart and he'll make a great outdoor "guard" dog. Until then, I'll be buying dog food and treats in bulk.

Nesting...

It's happening.

Actually, it started happening around midnight on June 7th.

Why is it that when there's a bun in the oven, your brain is suddenly overloaded with ideas and projects your body doesn't have the energy nor manpower to complete?

Since the moment I found out I was pregnant, I have been plotting... planning how to make this baby best fit into our home. It is so true what they say. It's like something takes over your mind and you spend sleepless nights thinking about shelving and organizers, arranging furniture and cleaning out pantries.

First, I decided within a matter of minutes that we needed a new house. Not newer, not bigger, not better... just different. I became obsessed with driving and scouring Hixson for the perfect house in a flat neighborhood, in the school zone I wanted, with a fenceable, level backyard.

Jimmy lovingly discouraged me at first... then when I began dragging him around, looking at houses, peeking in windows, and basically stalking neighborhoods, he reminded me (a little less lovingly) that we had built our home to specifically accommodate his business equipment and hobby toys with an unfinished basement and multiple garages.

Oh yeah, I remember that.

So my hormone fueled nesting obsession turned to converting his office (right off the kitchen) into a playroom for the kids. We have a big bonus room upstairs but Trace rarely goes up there by himself to play, therefore the majority of his toys end up where???

In my living room.

I pictured my living room (already cluttered with train tracks and a 225 piece Tinker Toy set) with a mini kitchen playset, barbie dolls and piles of coloring books.

It took a few weeks of convincing, but after I used the angle that he would be gaining a "man cave" with a couch and TV, lots of extra square footage, and an entire floor separating him from his beloved wife and children... he agreed!

From the minute I got his reluctant OK, I have been on-line picking out the exact "organizing" shelf unit from IKEA that I want to line the big wall of the "new playroom". Of course, the 3 deer heads looming there now will have to be relocated to the new office/man cave... somehow dead deer heads and baby's playrooms just don't go together.

In typical "me" fashion, I was ready to have this all done yesterday.

Boy, he knows how to squelch my fire. "Hon, you know hunting season is coming up so we will just wait until after that to do all of this."

Seriously, does he know who he's talking to? Does he know how HUGE, miserable and cranky I will be by the end of hunting season?

I had already planned in my mind a little family trip for fall break to the Atlanta Zoo on the way to IKEA (and possibly dessert at the Cheesecake Factory).

I will keep pecking (nagging) away and hopefully it will get done before there is yet another deer head to be hung in his "office".

I've already started thinking about what I can do during those long wintry weeks we'll be quarantined in our house with a newborn. I'm gonna recycle the curtains and a painting from his old office to put in our bedroom, which naturally means the walls will have to be repainted to match.

And probably the bathroom too. See how one thing just leads to another...

This nesting thing is exhausting!

Heartbreak and Victory

Well, this post is two-fold... heartbreak AND victory.

If you just watched the same game I saw, and are even the slightest Tennessee fan, your heart is certainly broken. That was just plain painful to watch.

However, with all the hoopla going on on TV, there was plenty of hoopla going on at our house as well.

I know this picture could later haunt me with thousands of dollars in therapy bills, but this is what my living room looked like for much of the second half of the TN/LSU game.

• 

You see, Trace has had some issues with the #2 part of potty training and likes to have Jimmy and I there to coach him through the process. He had been holding it until I put a pull up on him at bedtime and well... you can imagine the problems that has caused.

(That's another post in itself, bless his heart)

Let's just say, Miralax has been his best friend lately.

So... when the pooping drama began in the middle of the 3rd quarter, we took shifts cheering and pleading with Trace on the potty in the powder room while cheering and pleading the Vols on to victory in the living room. We would shout out plays from the couch and Trace would high-five which ever parent was in there with him doing the "ultimate parenting duty."

Jimmy actually admitted it was easier coaching me through childbirth than Trace through a poop. ha! (I'm sure I'm going to hear about that one when he gets old enough to read this)

But when TN intercepted the ball in the LSU end zone and he had to watch it on instant replay instead of seeing it live, Jimmy got desperate and went to the closet, grabbed the little training potty that has been collecting dust for months and planted it right down in front of the big screen.

We continued to eat our bar-b-que from the couch, look over the potty, and watch the madness unfold.

Yummm, anyone want to come over for dinner and a UT game next weekend??? ha! ha!

As the game came down to the final seconds, we were all in the floor on either side of Trace and his potty, thinking we had actually won and had already hollered, high-fived and hugged before the play was called back.

Sadly, we know the outcome of the game. PURE HEARTBREAK.

But I'm please to announce Trace had a victory!!

Believe me, if you had actually been here to live through the two dramas, you would feel just as much joy for my boy, as you felt agony for Dooley and his boys.

On a much lighter note... our day began at the Children's Autumn Festival at the Riverpark.


I painted a punkin for "Girby" to sit next to Trace's on the front porch.
Yes, we have already discussed that you DO NOT ever, ever write with sidewalk chalk on any other car besides this one!