Boo At the Zoo

This was our first Boo at the zoo Trip to the Columbus zoo with my baby niece. The kids had fun and they all looked adorable.

Gooey Sensory Fun

Saving Cream art is one of my favorite sensory activities to do with the kids. Sure its messy but its so much fun. You can touch it, smell it , change the colors of the saving cream and design anything you want to with it. The kids always have fun doing it. After our morning creative play time yesterday morning I was about 40 min short of activities before Deano got off the bus. We had already had our music/dance time, puzzle and blocks done,reading time,computer time, we played doll house,coloring and finger painted,and tons of trips to the potty since we are in full blown potty training mode now. I had to figure out one last thing to keep her occupied. She loved playing in it. Diana is my child who loves to get down and dirty. She is not afraid to put her hands in anything. When Deano was younger he did not like his hands messy at all. Ideally I like to use plain white shaving cream so I can mix up colors but I was stuck with blue since that is what daddy had yesterday. It still worked and she had fun. As a bonus she smelled good like her daddy all day :)

Meet the Newest Friend In Our House

Please meet the newest edition to our family. PIG. Or you can call her Pig Pig.
The other day I was shopping in Kohl's with my mother. As we get to the check out she is with Diana and gives Diana this pig from those displays right next to the checkout counter. While it appeared Diana loved the furry stuffed pig I reminded them both of ALL the stuffed animals that we have at the house already. I actually think they could have their own half of a room. It didn't matter what I thought Grandma and Diana had no second thoughts about taking Pig Pig home.
Diana loves Pig. Everything she does she does with Pig. They play together, eat together, read together , dance together and even potty together. Tonight Pig Pig has Diana's underwear on. Dean never had just one thing he kept for a snugly thing. I tried for years. Finally at around 4 years old he found Jimmy the dog. When my husband got home from his deployment in 2006 we bought him Jimmy at a Hallmark in the Mall where we lived. Dean was 2 years old then and it took him 2 years to get attached to Jimmy. From then on out they were together forever. When Jimmy started to get old and got holes in him I wished then that I had bought a back up Jimmy and kept it close by. I never did find another Jimmy. You bet your bottom that I will be running not walking to Kohl's tomorrow to make sure I get a back up Pig Pig. I hate for her heart to be broken if something ever happens to Pig. I think all children should have a special something to comfort them.

Yummy Halloween

Today was craft day in the Cox house. This was a simple, messy, yummy fun,time consuming project for Deano and Mommy. Deano had fun decorating his very first Gingerbread Witches House. Im not sure where the candy went more . Was it on the house, or was it in his mouth? :O)

Bi Golly I Think We got It

Over the past several months I have been working with Diana on potty training. Somedays are good some days are well not so good. This past week she has told me more when she has to go potty. So I pick her up and run to the potty with her. For the most part she goes. The other day while sitting her on the potty she made poop and it scared her. She didnt know what it was in the potty but she didnt want to be sitting there over it . LOL poor thing.
I am using the timing method with her for potty training. Every half hour we go. If she goes potty she get 1 M& M. She loves this. As soon as we go she does a WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO and then a hi five, followed by the toliet paper then flushing the toliet and waving to the pee pee and saying bye pee pee. Shes so excited.
This morning I woke up and decided that we would try again today full blast underware only. No pull ups no diaper. As soon as we got down stairs I fed the kids breakfast. She had an accided right away. But I took her to the potty and she went again. Out of the whole day she only had 2 accidents. I think we can call it a successful day. We will have to see whats in store for us tomorrow.
While sitting there with her its sad thinking about her not being in diapers anymore. My baby girl is growing up. I just want to freeze her right here right now. Its hard to belive she will be 2 in 2 weeks. Where does the time go???
You can tell from her picture shes so proud of herself. Sorry about the color I just got yet another cell phone and have to fix the color setting on it.

He Makes Me Laugh

Boy was today a nice cold Fall day. The kids and I went out and pick up more art supplies to do some arts and crafts. We set out for Hobby Lobby but as I was driving I decided that I wanted to make this a quick trip and I knew that I would spend hours in there. We went to Joann's instead. Needless to stay 1 1/2 later we were on our way home. I love to look around, Dean does too. I was on a mission looking for materials for a project and I knew Dean was on the end cap of the isle asking for something and I kept saying hold on I'll be right there. Low and behold I turned around to my cart and there was half a cart full of Styrofoam balls, squared, and rectangles. Oh God love him. We finally get everything together and get ready to check out when Dean sees a watercolor coloring book. The kind that all you need is a paint brush and a cup of water.
We get home and put our things away and Dean takes his book downstairs and says "Mom can you get me a cup of water please". Well sure I tell him. First I though OK hes thirsty and then it dawned on me that he wanted the cup of water to do his paining with. A few hours later my husband and I were standing in the kitchen talking and up walks Dean from the basement. He stops by the desk and is chugging a cup of water. First I thought oh he got a cup all by himself and got himself something to drink. Then it dawned on me hey he just walked upstairs and he has the same cup in his hand. Dean please tell me that's not the cup of water I gave you to paint with. He looks at me with this innocent look and says Mom its OK theres no paint in there. The paint never got into the water. Oh my I said to him. I hope you cant get sick from that. I tried to explain to him that the water would be clear but theres still something in there.
As he walks by me to put the cup in the sink he says with an innocent comment followed by a shoulder shrug " well I hope my nose doesn't grow bigger" then he runs off into the family room to play not another word. LOL. That kids is so funny. The things that will come out of his mouth are just funny. I guess the water was not harmful as he was running around fine the rest of the night. Ahhhhh I love that kid.

Just Us Three

I love my kids :)

Happy Birthday To You

Wow. Six years have past since Dean was born. I can still remember it. Almost every min of it :). I can not belive hes already six. This year we did not have a friend birthday party. I do not think he needs a big birthday party every year. Aunt Trisha and Baby D came in from out of town which was a surprise for him. I rented the WII for him and we had a family party. Dean loves the WII and has asked Santa for one. :) HO HO HO :O)
He had a great time. He beat grandpa in boxing. Boy was that funny to watch.
This Years theme was Star Wars. Last year I made his Birthday Cake. Boy did I have a hard time with that. This year I was smart and ordered one from the get go :)Happy Birthday Big Boy

One Tired Fish

Today was Diana's first day of swimming lessons. We are taking a mommy and me class. I was pretty impressed wth the class. There are four other girls in her class. The kids played ring around the rosie and then they went under the water. They used kick boards to hold onto while on their backs, they floated from their backs and rolled to their tummys, learned to wait until we counted to three to jump off the side, they learned the proper way to get out of the pool, and they played a few other games. It was a half an hour class packed full of fun activities for the kids to do. Diana had a blast and was tuckered out. I would have loved to get pictures of her in the pool but I am careful now not to take picture of the swim classes. You never know about the other parents these days.

The Pay off For Travelers Insurance

I have been booking filghts for years now and I always decline the insurance on the trip at the end.  I booked a trip for my Husband recently and for some reason it was a no brainer for me click insure my trip.  Boy am I glad I did that.  I spend hours researching for the best flight deals  before I book any flight.  In the end I hate to pay more for the insurance but now I know I will always take that option to take the insurance. 
Today I was out finishing up Dean's birthday shopping before I left to take my husband to the airport.  I was to be leaving with in 15 min to take him to the airport when I got a call from the Lawyers office saying they had just received a fax that there had been a request for a continuance for the court date.  My first response was are you freeking kidding me.  Then I was like well OK  at least I have the trip insurance covered.  It was really an easy process to filing the claim.  They emailed the forms to us, we faxed the court paper and eticket to the insurance company and it was done. 
Thank goodnees for Travel Insurance   I will never book without it again.

Looking back .......

We have been spending some time with my niece lately. I just love her. She really is a good baby. Shes adorable and so sweet. Princess Di and Deano just love her. We have laughed over the past few months on how much Delaney weighs and how much Princess Di weighs. Well Delaney is 22 lbs at 8 months and Princess Di weighs in at 25 Lbs. Dean was nice and chubby just like Delaney but I don't remember Princess Di being chubby. We recently downloaded our pictures off our cameras and I was amazed at Princess Di's pictures as a baby. She was so adorable. Diana and I sat there forever looking at the pictures. I cried of course the whole time :) I miss that baby stage. Its amazing to thing that in less than a month she will be 2.