Brain Potpourri

I'm standing at the Rec Center, manning the computer cart for the Jazzercise One Day Sale, passing the time on the internet. Might as well blog some randomness.

*Mattie is getting so big. So much better at walking. I can't believe she will be 15 months next week. Her latest obsession is the stairs. The gate is pretty much up permanently. However, when I do take it down, her eyes light up, mouth goes wide open, she drops to the floor and makes a bee-line for the stairs. I've noticed following her up, that she has the cutest little hiney wiggle.

*At dinner last night, Noah asked Logan which team he was rooting for (saints/vikings). Logan says, "I'm cheering for the team that wins."

*Yesterday while walking, Mattie fell forward to her hands, then stood back up in the middle of the room. That's the first time she's done that.

*The new oven/stove is a dream. Almost nothing beats the smell of fresh baked bread. Matt made a 2nd batch of zwieback last night. Mmmmm. Heaven.

*Don't tell anyone that walks by the computer cart right now that I have peanut M&M's stashed underneath. Hey, that's one reason why I Jazzericse.

*My nephew is turning 12 on Saturday. We are going to Houston this weekend to celebrate with him. The boys can't wait. Noah gets to have his 2nd sleepover and Logan is getting to have his 1st! When he found out he would be included, his jaw dropped to the floor. "I'm going to have so much fun."

*We will probably try to go to the Houston Zoo while we are there. Last week Logan was asking his daddy about animals. "Dad, are porcupines real? Are tigers real? Are lions real?" "Don't you remember Logan, we saw them at the zoo?" To which Logan says, "I've never been to the zoo." Poor little man. He was 11 months old the last time we went. It's time to go back.

*Grandma and Grammy are teaming up to take care of the kids in April while Matt and I go to New Orleans. Now all we need is Grandma Ruth to make an appearance so it can be 3 on 3. Last time it was 3 grandmas to 1 Noah. Watch out for naked babies in the backyard! :)

*Noah's getting excited about his 3rd season of flag football. Games will start at the end of March.

*I'm hoping Logan will get to play YMCA soccer this spring. I have a feeling Matt and I will be going in opposite directions on Saturday mornings. It begins.

*Mattie has her first Little Gym class tomorrow morning. I will have pictures to post, for sure. I bet she will have a blast! She can climb to her heart's content.

OK, I think I have successfully emptied my brain....if that is at all possible. I think I have the slow shift, which is fine by me. I think I'll read some Eclipse!

Breaking The Oven In Right

What better way to christen the new oven than to bake!
Matt pulled out his Grandma's recipe for Zwieback.
He spent an afternoon with her over Christmas learning just what to do.

His number 3 helper!
(Noah and Logan would be 1 and 2)

The dough has risen and they are ready to bake.

Golden brown goodness.

SO Yummy!

Video Game Junkies

Quick story. Boys were upstairs playing in there room. Daddy turned on the Wii. One little Wii chime and there was a thundering heard of elephants coming down the stairs. Kinda like Pavlov's dogs.

Out With The Old......

So, the ignition mechanism went out on the oven. Again. For the 3rd time. Decision time. Do we spend another $300 on a service call? Or do we find a new stove?

In With The New......

Don't let the pretty pictures fool you. Wasn't so easy as 1, 2, 3. Finding the stove was easy. We made a quick trip to Lowe's. They could deliver it the next day and they would haul away the old one. Apply for the Lowe's card, 10% off, no payments no interest for 6 months. SOLD! Long story short: after 1 trip by me, 4 trips by Matt, 2 trips to our house by the salesman, and 2 days later, we have a working oven. Oh, and we got another 10% off because the oven that came in on the truck was damaged so they brought us the floor model. Matt has one more trip to Lowe's to make. He wants to speak to the manager and let him know in person just how helpful Kendall was to come out to our house twice, on his own time, to make sure we were happy. Still trying to decide if it was worth the hassle to save the $130 installation fee. For now, I'll blame Milburn for installing a not-so-universal gas connection when they built our house.
Happy Cooking!

Baby (Girl) Steps!

Ugh. I was hoping it wouldn't be sideways. Guess I know for next time.
Just tilt your head when you watch! :)

A Walkin' Girl!

Look out! Here comes Frankenbaby.

Notice that her eyes were not looking at me.
She was watching football!

So excited about being a big girl.

Reaching for Mommy. Check out those teeth!

She was so proud of herself. She would walk from Daddy to me, sit down, crawl back to Daddy, stand up and do it again! The other thing she likes to do is cruise around the coffee table, let go and walk to me sitting on the couch. Then she'll go back to the table and make another lap. I'm not ready to give up my baby!

Gettin Cozy with the Coupe

Mattie has recently discovered the Cozy Coupe.

This thing is fun!

She's also discovered that she can push it all over the house!

She loves to "push" Logan around.

This girl is going to be walking soon.

Christmas with the Cotherns

The cousin pic for Grammy. Not bad for two little girls who didn't want to sit still.

What is it?

A cool Spiderman pinball machine.
Mattie helps Claire open her present.

Grammy and Grandpa had a big surprise for the boys.

The BIG boys had just as much fun with it!

Not only did we celebrate Christmas together, but Matt cooked a masterpiece meal for Bob and Sharon's 40th wedding anniversary.

Yum. It was awesome.

Happy 40 Years!
You make it look easy!

And one other celebration to note: Claire is going to be a BIG sister in July!
Congrats Rob and Julie on the news of a new baby Cothern to celebrate next Christmas!

Brehm Family Christmas

Saturday after Christmas, we headed up to Kingsland to have Christmas with the Brehms. I never end up with too many pictures when this side of the family gets together, because Chey is there. She takes pictures. Lots. And they are A-Mazing! In fact, the last 3 pictures on this post are from her.

We had a great time spending the day at Great-Grandmama and Great-Grandpa Jack's. The boys spent most of the day outside playing football with the cousins. We ate. And ate. And ate some more. The kids tore through their presents in about 60 seconds, and the grown-ups (and I use that term loosely) had a hysterical garage-sale exchange.

Hey Noah, can I borrow some money?

We love movies! Thanks Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Chey!

The Clone Troopers stopped by.

The annual grandkids-in-front-of-the-tree picture for Grandma.

We are so blessed to be able to get all 25+ of us together to celebrate the miracle of Christmas.
I'm looking forward to the summer lake and beach trips already!

Time to sleep, pack up and head to Grammy's for one more Christmas celebration.

Burning A Hole In My Pocket

Noah couldn't wait to spend his Christmas money, and Logan can't wait to be just like Noah. New Year's Day we took a family trip to Target.

Noah picked out his Spark Scooter and Logan found a Spiderman Scooter just his size.

Can you see the sparks?

Getting the hang of it, but we still need more practice.

"When can I ride it to school, mom?"
Um. When you're 16?

In Mommy's Footsteps

Yay Tech!

*Not that she has much choice right now!

GO TECH GO!

As Tech prepares to play Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl tonight, let's take a trip down memory lane.....

Go Tech!

Raider.....Power!

You may not know that Tech has been to the Alamo Bowl before....twice. I was there, 13 years ago when they lost to Iowa. You have to look really closely, but this is me, stunting with Thomas, in the middle of the River Walk.

Let's Go Raiders! Beat State!