Christmas at the Cox's

lunch with santa - hehe. just kidding, papa jerry.

reading a new book.

in his pjs after opening gifts.

something santa brought.

christmas breakfast. this was the first time we used our fine china. it's so shiny, i loved it. lee cooked breakfast for me. pillsbury cinnamon rolls and bacon (thick slices from the meat market!). will had his oatmeal and a cinnamon roll and a bite of bacon.

very excited about a steak and twiced baked potato dinner with spinach salad tonight! definitely a treat.

a wonderful Christmas day. it's cold and slightly overcast here in georgia with moments of bright sunlight that pour in the windows. chocolate is abundant. tummy is full. house is warm. family is well. a wonderful day to remember and celebrate that Jesus, the Saviour is born.

North Dakota - Trip 1

my husband has to travel occasionally with his work. last week he had to go to north dakota. he left very early monday morning and was supposed to get back late tuesday night - for 3 hours of work to do up there.
the high was 1 degree i think on monday or tuesday. i think the low was -20. exposed skin would freeze in 10-30 minutes, maybe less.
something was wrong with the plane he was supposed to leave on to come back to atlanta on tuesday. so the airport says they won't have a flight going out until the next morning. they give everyone a very modest voucher for dinner and a hotel. this is fine except when lee discovered all hotels within 60 miles are booked because of a big oil boom or something. and they close the airport at 10:30 and kick everyone out into the -20 degree weather. lee asked one of the airport employees what he should do and the guy said - walmart is open 24 hours.

hmmm.

luckily, i guess, a guy had found the last hotel room available apparently and offered to share it with lee. please note this is a stranger. please note - the room they had to stay in was the honeymoon suite. i know this was not funny at the time, but that part cracked me up. they brought a rollaway bed for lee to sleep on.

lee finally got home at 7:30 wednesday night. his flight from north dakota was delayed a second time that morning and caused him to miss his flight in denver. i'm glad he's home. i think he is happiest of all.

here are some pics from his trip.

it's a rainy christmasy day

licking the spatula - now, who could have taught him that?

it was raining really bad today - cold, icy, blowing in your face rain. but, we had to go to joanns for some more meringue powder. had to take advantage of coupon commotion week! he was a trooper.

he really is sweet most of the time. however, terrible two tantrums have begun.

lee's gingerbread creation. he is very creative.

my gingerbread house. this was a lot of fun and i realized how much i love strawberry wafer cookies.

trees

our tree still has no ornaments - i would like to keep it that way this year. even though i love my ornament collection, it's still pretty without them, right? hahaha

peek a boo!

emmanuel

all the angels exalt you on high
what a kingdom to depart
but you left your throne in the sky
just to live inside my heart

all the heavens cannot hold you, Lord
how much less to dwell in me
i can only make my one desire
holding onto thee

i will always make my one desire
holding onto thee

all the heavens
third day

the past few weeks

we've been raking!!! leaf pile!

driving trains

dressing up - halloween - i was about to be really sick in this picture. lee greeted the trick or treaters.

and praying

and God is still giving

lee came home at lunch yesterday reporting that he got a raise! effective that day. nice!

God knows we're broke

After a year of tight finances and a summer of living a little loosely, I started looking at our budget a little more seriously. Okay, I started looking at it, instead of just entering receipts. And I was reminded that we are no longer a double income family.
So, I knew God wanted us to manage our money better. I started cooking more and looking for things to do that didn't cost much, because where can we be tempted to blow the most money? Food and Entertainment

So, our first date in September - we took a walk on the Suwanee Greenway - free! church friends babysat - free!

We had a Sunday School fellowship at Stone Mountain and saw the lasershow - free, because we were in a church van. a friend babysat for free.

i couldn't believe it - i didn't even ask for these tickets, but ben was able to get them for me for free. lee and went to this concert. got to see jars! and third day of course. free! grandma babysat - free.

i've really been wanting to buy an entertainment center and some more storage furniture because the clutter is getting to me. in october, we received the dresser from family and the bookshelf from a neighbor who was going to get rid of it. free!

in september we took advantage of museum day and went to the high - had to pay for parking, but museum was ----free!

God knows we still want to have some fun and don't have a lot of money. He knows I want a neat looking house (well, neater - i do have a toddler). He cares about my sanity. He cares about my marriage. For the past two months i have seen God in these details and look forward to what's to come.

i almost forgot - one of lee's coworkers gave him two tickets to the georgia tech/v tech homecoming football game. which was one of the best games in georgia tech history! and lee got to go with a friend. for - you guessed it - for free!

cupcakes and sickness

paul's girlfriend, nikole, came over thursday night and we made these cupcakes and decorated with fondant icing to look like nintendo characters. she wanted to practice because paul's bday is coming up. i thought they turned out cute. she bought the premade fondant - worked pretty good. a lot less scary and time consuming than making fondant icing.

here we are dying the icing.

will has his first stomach bug - he stayed in the recliner with daddy for half an hour yesterday. this is NOT NORMAL. he is always on the move and never wants to cuddle. also he got into bed with me this morning (because i now have whatever he has) and fell asleep and rolled around for 2 1/2 hours. NOT NORMAL! but it was sweet, and all i felt like doing was lie in bed anyway. i'm ready for us to get well. i know he's tired of watered down apple juice, bananas and toast and applesauce. he misses his milk.

petting zoo and other pics of will

will loved the pheasants and pearl guinea.

nana says, pet the bunny. will's first time seeing a bunny - and most of the other animals there.

i know this is gross, but it cracks me up. this is the sliding door to our screen porch.

so much more

"earth is crammed with heaven
and every common bush ablaze with God
but only he who sees, takes off his shoes
the rest can only sit and pick blackberries"

elizabeth browning

i saw this yesterday written in the margin of my Bible in Exodus when Moses sees the burning bush. i think my old testament professor shared this with the class one day many years ago. i think i may have even blogged this poem before. i guess i really like it. sitting and picking blackberries sounds very pleasant and yummy, but God has so much more to show us and give us. If we will only have eyes to see and a heart to worship and obey.

will's stats

we just went to will's 15 month check up. as the doctor says - he is disgustingly healthy for which i am so thankful!

weight - 24 lbs. 4.5 oz. (44%)
height - 31.5 inches (59%)
head circumference - 18 3/4 inches (62%)
bmi - 17.2 (this is perfect - wish mine was perfect!)

he got three vaccines - mmr, chicken pox, and we went ahead and threw in the flu shot just for fun! yeah right.

i think he has 4 molars now which i'm pretty sure explains some of the rough nights (and other times) we've been having on occasion here.

we have our occasional battle of the wills (or as i like to call - Battle of the Will), but he is an absolute sweetheart.

building with blocks

will did this on sunday. 4 blocks. yay!

animal sounds

sorry, you can't hear will very well - maybe we can get a better video soon. but, this is him doing some of his animal and other sounds. he does tractor, snake, fish, dog, bee, and monkey.

will is 15 months

modeling shot. i'm gonna say this is his 15 month picture (even though it was taken a day early).
this is on the front stoop of our house. he is so handsome i can't stand it.

he runs now - when he runs his cheeks jiggle - love it! his poor cheeks get some major abuse. i will be so sad when they are gone.

will hears an airplane. there are lots of airplanes that fly over our house - i never noticed them much until will started telling me about every single one.

this is the swing in our backyard. will loves to watch us swing - sometimes he will swing with us for a few seconds.

daddy time! and color coordinated too!

brush after chocolate

i went to the dentist this morning - mom, don't read this.

had 4 cavities - small ones, but still 4!

i love chocolate way too much.

i'm starting to brush my teeth after lunch. i'm a sahm after all. the dentist said chocolate and candy was okay as long as you brush afterwards. halloween is coming up so when you go get your halloween candy buy some flouride too!

the High

a detail pic of a quilt in the folk art section - love folk art.

lee is excited to be on a date that lasts more than 2 hours. i had forgotten how much he loves museums - he enjoyed it more than i did. i'm pretty impatient and like to speed through. he likes to read about every piece and learn as much as he can. one of the many ways we are different from one another.

my first trip to the high museum of art - i'm excited! i studied this piece of architecture in college. love richard meier.

me and my sweetie! afterwards we ate at Figo - we got to eat outside - food was so tasty - and then instead of sharing a piece of pie, lee got two pieces! we couldn't decide between the key lime pie and the peanut butter pie. both were excellent! i'm a big pb and chocolate freak, but i have to say the key lime was the best. great date! oh, and the tickets were free because it was museum day. we just had to pay for parking. God loves me.

A Mother's Prayer

Dear Lord,
So far today I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or very indulgent. I'm very grateful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on, I'm going to need a lot more help. Amen.

The Toddler's Busy Book - Trish Kuffner

14 month update

i'm in the separation anxiety phase with will. just really started about a week or two ago. he's always been so independent and busy, so i was surprised the first time it happened. i always think, not my child - yeah right! i started a new Bible study at a different church and that either triggered it or really it was inevitable. very upsetting for me, but as with everything - this too shall pass.

there's been another change too. he has dropped his morning nap. the first few days, i had to adjust more than he did. it's really wonderful now though because this routine allows so much more freedom. plus he goes to bed a little earlier and gets up a little later!

a few weeks ago, he began singing. this is the sweetest thing ever.

about the same time, he developed a strong attraction to his blankey (really, he has three - they're all the thermal kind with a little embroidered picture on them - and of course he loves the tag).

he doesn't say any words yet, except ma ma and da da. he also says zzzzz for bee. and he says na na and tuh tuh sometimes. oh and of course the car sound (loose spitting of lips - what do you call that?) for car, tractor, truck, bus. and he does a squeal for train. anything with wheels is his favorite.

today i flushed the toilet and he bounced up and down dancing to the "music". then when it stopped flushing he clapped (you always clap after a song) and then he did the sign for all done by waving both his hands. i laughed so hard.

he also loves to wrestle. if you are on the floor he will most likely run at you and bury his head into you.

he loves to be outside. one of his favorite things to do is push his big stroller around and point to the sky when he hears an airplane.

it's hard for us to listen to any music now, unless he's in his high chair because he knows the volume button and likes to turn it all the way up and then run away. this is pretty funny to watch.

doesn't he sound the cutest? even though he can frustrate me sometimes (unrolling the toilet paper, trying to open the oven door, playing in the trashcan, etc.), he is a wonderful little boy - wait, he's still a baby for a little longer.

rain rain rain

i wrote this on monday -

this is the 8th straight day it has rained - and i mean really rained and stormed. the ground is saturated. 2 years ago we experienced a major drought. we were to the point where we didn't even flush the toilet very often. (if it's yellow, let it mellow - if it's brown, flush it down).

"there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven" ecc. 3:1

this past summer, i've never seen so much rain. there is a lot of flooding nearby. i think the death total for georgia is 9 now.

today - the past two days have been sunny and clear. there's nothing like a week of rain to make you appreciate the sun.

singing

will has started singing a lot in the past week. he also loves sitting on top of things like my red dustpan. he is my buddy.

a date in the woods!

okay, this is actually at our house the night before our date. my orange slice smile isn't nearly as good as lee's. we agree it's because he has a bigger mouth - literally and figuratively.

we checked out the suwanee greenway. this is about 20 minutes from our house. in some places you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. this pic doesn't really look like me, but there weren't a lot of good pictures to choose from.

check out these awesome pics i took - i love my camera!

Praise God - the Mighty Creator