MINI Sweatshirt

The cutest little sweatshirt I just bought for Kenna!!! AND Moosejaw is have a HUGE sale!! It's another one of my favorite Michigan based companies :) 

LINK---->

Moosejaw Kid's Crocodile Tears Zip Hoody - Free Shipping on Moosejaw orders over $49 at Moosejaw

Definitely Surprised!

Love my new purse :)

HHS IN THE NEWS... AGAIN!

I am proud to be a Cobra! We all are doing great things here at HHS but my friend and collegue, Teresa, goes above and beyond everyday for her students.  She is an amazing teacher! I know first hand about her aaa-mazing-ness.

She taught my class for 7 months while I was out on bed-rest and maternity leave. When I came back to teach I had BIG shoes to fill.  The students talked about her everyday and I think most wished I stayed out the rest of the year so they could have her instead of me. ( she really is THAT wonderful!!!)  I have to admit, when I returned I felt like I was the substitute in her class.

Click on the picture to see the news report.

Every year, at the end of the year, I have my students write letters to me and tell me what they liked and didn't like about the class, something they would have liked me to do to help them learn and something I did well that made them understand complicated scientific concepts, and finally they get to leave advice to the incoming freshmen. (I type up just their advise and give it to my classes the first day of school the following year) That year I had them write letters to Mrs. Caraker and me. I didn't read her letters but I can only imagine they were all begging her to teach biology so they could have her next year as their 10th grade teacher :) Heck, maybe I should tell her to teach some of the in-services at District so she can be my teacher too. We are all lucky to have her at HHS.

Jalapeno Tilapia

It's kinda a recipe.. really you can make this however you want. It is one of our favorite meals, the twins even like it as long as I make it without jalapenos.  And its healthy! We eat this almost every week because it's so good, fast, and easy.
Recipe:
tilapia filets (any mild fish filet will work)
butter
2 Jalapenos (slice into rounds)
1 lemon (slice into rounds)
fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Rub a stick of butter on the foil where the fish will lay (not a lot, just so it doesn't stick)
put the fish on on the foil and sprinkle a little salt and pepper to taste.
put the lemon slice and jalapeno on top. and the sprig of parsley on the side.
Fold up the foil to make a pouch.
Place the pouches in the oven, 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

 YUM!

A DAY AT THE PARK

It's always a good day when a park is involved.  Carter and Kenna are so brave it's scary (to us as their parents).   They love to climb, swing, slide and try to do what the big kids are doing.  We went to John Chestnut park in Palm Harbor, the WHOLE family (hounds included).  We had to take two cars because the dogs are so big they didn't fit into the back of my SUV with the stroller.  Their combined weight is somewhere around 200 lbs :)  Anyway, the park is nice because there is a dog park and a play park right across the parking lot from each other.  So while Chris and the dogs were burning off some energy in the dog park, the kids and I were doing the same in the play park.   It makes for a nice and calm rest of the day in the Cox household.   Everyone is worn out from playing.

He is such a cute boy!! 

Down the slide all by themselves. yay! Go Kenna!

and look at Carter go!!

we all liked climbing through the tubes.... Mommy too.  One tube was inclined and I had to help push their little butts up so they didn't keep sliding down :)

Kenna is a CLIMBER!!!! that girl climbs on EVERYTHING. I looked around the corner yesterday and there she was sitting in the middle of the dining room table. oh that girl, she is gonna give me heart troubles one day...kidding. 

haha driving the "car" it is soooo funny to look at this picture and the next picture and see their different personalities.. Does Daddy or Mommy drive wild like this??

and Kenna driving one handed with the other in the air... haha I love my little DIVA Princess :) Mommy does not drive like that!!! I might be more like the Carter picture, lol.

Here she is, strike a pose!! I love her, she's my beautiful princess!

A day at the park is ALWAYS a great day!  Have a wonderful Sunday.

Oh Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is up, yay. The twins are so excited they have not stopped touching it and the lights and the ornaments. We lost only 2 ornaments during decorating with two, two year olds, I consider that successful. Oh ya, and we only have ornaments in the top half of the tree. LOL.... Did I mention we have 2! Two year olds!
It's starting to feel like Christmas around here, even if it is 80 degrees :)

Looking Back... Two Years Already?!?

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CARTER AND MAKENNA!!

I spent about a half hour this evening looking back though my pictures of the twins.. Starting at before day 1 through today.... I have to admit a couple times I had tears, but they were happy tears! We have been blessed with double the love and we couldn't be happier! I picked out pictures to share that have both my bundles of joy in them.  I only picked pictures from one computer so there is a big chunk of time missing, but I can still see them grow and change through the ones I picked.

15 week ultra sound.  I know most people can not see anything in this picture, but I can see both my babies perfectly.   See the little arm right in the middle...?

Birth day!! Exactly 2 years ago today and I remember everything like it was yesterday.

yep.. and I remember this :) both crying at the same time. twins :)

My brother took this picture. I love it! 

This is the only picture I picked without both the babies in it..... but I just LOVE this picture, you can see how small her little hand is. I remember taking this picture.

Such a proud Daddy! 

Sleeping. This is one of my favorite things. Having both my babies sleeping on me. 

Michele came to visit!!! She is a natural, holding both babies like it was  easy :)

Carter always had to be close or touching Kenna.

summer 2010.

The Cosner side of the family. All 4 generations.

Spending time in Michigan last summer.  

HAHA timeout?? or playtime??

Last summer at the Miller's pool.

At Gymnastics last summer.

This was the past fall. Pat and Nancy brought their new kitten over.  I'm happy it lived through the visit.  Carter and Kenna chased and loved that kitty all over the house.

carving pumpkins with Daddy and Auntie P

They love to do crafts... painting was super messy.

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday @ Disney.

I can't believe its been 2 years already and I am so excited for the next.  They are growing and changing everyday.  I love you both very very much!

Merry Christmas

We went to Disney for the twins 2nd birthday and got to meet Santa!!!!! He was so very nice and we all told him what we wanted for Christmas.  We were all so happy that Santa was visiting Disney from the North Pole the day we were there! If you click on the picture it is a cute card from Disney.

I have more pictures to post soon.

Thanksgiving (part 1) FOOD and Family

We had such a nice Thanksgiving with FAMILY!!! We drove up to my sister's new home in Georgia, her hubby is stationed at Ft. Gordon.  I love the area they are living, it is nice and new, every store and restaurant is very convenient and Paula has decorated their apartment so cute.  The twins did great in the car, I think mainly because we had a double screen DVD player :)
The twins are soooo funny with Auntie P and Uncle Eric.  We have been calling Eric "Uncle Bubba" and Carter must think his first name is Uncle because he called him just "Uncle" all weekend; while Kenna called him "Bubba".  They had a funny little argument about what his name was.. Carter called him Uncle and Kenna would correct him and say "it's Bubba" then Carter would think about it and say "No, Uncle" and back and forth.

Paula and Eric made a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  They both LOVE good food and so do Chris and I!! So the whole weekend we ate and ate and ate, it was AWESOME!! Paula made this warm brie and dried fruit wrapped in a pastry appetizer.  I just saw a commercial for it today.  The blend of flavors was really tasty.  We all ate a little bit on each cracker, Chris just popped the whole piece in his mouth ( I have a classy hubby ) ha ha ha.

injecting the turkey

 Then Eric made his concoction of spices, honey, and beer to inject into the turkey....it was SO good. The whole house smelled like spices, turkey, and beer all weekend. The turkey was tender and had a fantastic flavor. We ate it for dinner, then lunch the next day and snack the next. It never lost any flavor, the leftovers were just as good as the first round.

Paula and Uncle made the whole dinner and I am thankful for that!  Anytime I don't have to cook is wonderful. They did such a great job we really enjoyed being at their house for the holiday.  Paula also made pumpkin pies for dessert.  She made big ones for the adults and baby pies for the twins.  She made my favorite kind; pumpkin pie with coconut... its so good, try it!

Thank you so much for having us over for Thanksgiving and feeding us all weekend. I know the babies can be a handful at times. You guys are the best!!! We love you both very much and are excited to spend Christmas with you!!

Sister Time

My sister, Paula, and I picked up fresh wreaths over the weekend, but they were too plain and boring for us. So we decorated!! My sister and mom are the two craftiest people in our family.  I have lots to live up to when it comes to being creative.  Anyway, I went with a lime green and red theme and she went with the traditional gold, cream and bronze. We even found special ornaments for the center of our wreaths.

First we had to lay it all out where we wanted everything to go.

  Here I am starting to pin it all on....

 Paula is trying to get her bow to flow through the wreath........

 AND...... Here they are, our finished Christmas wreaths! They are beautiful!
If you look close our special ornament in the center is an Army ornament for our hubby's.  Both of our husbands are in the Army. The ornament says "I love my Soldier". Cute huh!

 We hung them both of Paula's door for the picture. Then mine made the trip home and is hanging in Florida, while hers is on her door in Georgia.

It was fun making our wreaths together and I am reminded of her every time I walk in my front door.  I'm sad we might not see each other this Christmas, but I have a little piece of us hanging on my door.  I  love my sister, I swear I don't know how I would make it without her! 

You're awesome "P", we just had another fun weekend, I'm writing about that next!!

First Competition

Proud Cobra Coaches!

This past weekend was the first competition of the season which we have been preparing for since June. The team has had a few bumps and bruises along with a couple sprained and 1 fractured ankle. Just keeping all of them healthy is a full time job! Yesterday, we were down a cheerleader due to an injury (the fractured ankle).  I know she was sad about not being on the mat with her team, but she will be back for the rest of our competitions.  I think competition is more nerve wracking as a coach because I can't do anything, I just have to sit and watch.

I LOVE LOVE our competition routine this year.  We have a ton of tumbling and a sweet dance (yeah Melissa!!)  I am so very proud of my team, they work hard and it paid off....  1st place Co-ed division!! We still have work to do (as always) however, I think this is a great place to start from!

The twins went to a birthday party this past weekend with Chris and I was told they had a BLAST.  Chris said Carter did not stop running and playing with the big kids and kenna was cute as always.

 They ate a cupcake while Chris was holding both of them and I'm sure Chris was stressing about the cupcake getting EVERYWHERE... I can see it now. haha Chris does NOT like to get dirty, so to have cupcake all over the three of them is hilarious! Can you tell he is not happy by his face...Good job staying calm Daddy!

 They got a special present from Grandpa, Uncle Phil and Aunt Diane in the mail this past week.  Iowa cheerleading outfit and t-shirt!! We had to wear them out to dinner.  I know, its the wrong colors for Mommy's team, we need red and gold. What college team is red and gold? I want to get a uniform for Kenna for the HHS competitions.

Sunday morning breakfast (when Chris cooks) is my favorite.  He made massive breakfast sandwiches this morning.. 2 pieces of toast, 2 pieces of cheese, egg, sausage, hashbrown patty, with hot sauce...... YUUMMMMMM! 

The twins had their breakfast too... eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns.  Chris makes the best breakfasts!! He still has a bit to learn about making dinner but he's coming along :) and now to get back to my lazy lazy Sunday.