Our Little Fashion Diva

Who says you can't wear a red turtleneck, a pink fairy costume, a striped summer hat and Uggs in December !?!

The Day After Christmas...

This pretty much sums up what we did the day after Christmas with the exception of playing with a few toys and going to the doctor.

Daddy, Abby & Izzy taking a nap in Sam's room

Edited: I got a call from the doctor on Thursday saying that Samuel had strep--he did not have a sore throat. I took Abigail on Friday and got a call on Saturday morning saying that she also had strep. This explains why they both had fever and were throwing up.

HO-HO-HO!

Santa has arrived!

Samuel came running into our room around 7am yelling "get up, get up, Santa came last night, come look." Tom went downstairs and turned everything on while I changed Abby. Samuel was so excited to see his Star Wars figurines & Sponge Bob Lego set along with his new matchbox car track and much more. Abby immediately started pushing her stroller across the floor until she discovered the easel. She loves to color! Then she saw her cradle with her new bitty baby in it.

Abby talking on the phone saying "ello, ello" while pushing her new stroller.

Guess what Samuel wants to be when he grows up?? You got it, a Redskins Football player!

Here they are playing with Sam's new states puzzle.

Stocking time!

By the time Memaw and Pepaw arrived at our house Abigail had already messed up her PJ's from having explosive diarrhea (sorry to be gross) but this continued throughout the day. We headed over to Grandma'ma & Papa's house late afternoon. Around 8pm Samuel told us he didn't feel well, little did we know that once we got home, he was going to start throwing up! (Someone is always sick during the holidays in the Cochariddle family, so I guess this was our year! ) Minus the illnesses we had a fun day. Santa was very good to our family this year!

Christmas Eve

This year we hosted Christmas Eve at our house. Abby was not feeling 100% but the kids still had fun playing, especially Samuel & Andrew. They spent a good portion of the night playing with their playmobil submarine (from Memaw & Pepaw) in the kitchen sink with no shirts on while Memaw prepared a delicious meal for everyone. Grandma'ma & Papa arrived with a yummy birthday cake for baby Jesus-a new tradition that grandma'ma started last year. My sister and her family came over after dinner and joined us for dessert. It was a wonderful night spent with our family!


After dinner we opened our "special" Christmas pj's from Grandma'ma & Papa.


Samuel and Olivia sprinkled food on the lawn for Santa's Reindeer!

Samuel was very serious this year while getting things ready for Santa's arrival. Everything had to be perfect! He left a glass of milk & 4 cookies for Santa, 9 carrots for the reindeer and a handwritten note on our new Christmas plate that he and Abigail made. We hope that you have a very MeRRy ChRisTmaS from our family to yours.

A Samuel Funny

Samuel had a sleepover at his girlfriend Alexa's house on Friday. Apparently, they had a blast because Sam was in no hurry to come home on Saturday.

I received this e-mail from Alexa's grandmother and had to share. This cracked me up to the point where I had tears streaming down my face because anyone who knows my mom, knows she would not dare "toot" in front of anyone. My mom still spells out curse words for crying out loud. Love you, mom!

I just need for you to share this laughter with your mom as it is funny and your Son is so adorable.
Uncle Dan, Alexa, Samuel, Jen and Brandon stopped over to my house last night after dinner and we all were having some laughter, when Uncle Dan, tooted, well Samuel was sitting next to him and announces, "you tooted", so Uncle Dan replies,"nope not me, it was G-G",
Well I laughed and said it wasn't me, as I don't toot."

So Samuel pipes in and announces,
"well my Grandmama does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So please make your mom laugh and enjoy her wonderful grandson and all the joy he brings not only to her but the world.

Happy Holidays and with love,
G-G

Gingerbread Houses

We had our annual Gingerbread House Decorating party on Wednesday night. As always everyone had a great time. The kids played, the moms enjoyed catching up over a glass of wine and the dads went to happy hour!

Samuel working hard on his house. Abby enjoyed stuffing her mouth full of candy! The crazy kids!!!

Foreign object

The foreign object was successfully removed from Abby's ear. :-) I'll update later.

Edited: It was a gold earring backing.

18 month appointment with a twist.

Abigail had her 18 month checkup today. She is 24 pounds 9 ounces (50-75%) and 32 3/4 inches long (75-90%). She's a peanut in comparison to Samuel. At 18 months he was 31 pounds and 34 1/4 inches long.
Abby has been having cold symptoms for several days. Yesterday, her left ear had some fluid coming out which I didn't think much of. To be honest, my first thought was great, the ear tubes are working. During the exam the doctor looked in her right ear, perfect...she looked in her left ear, looked again and informed me that Abigail had a foreign object in her ear and it appears to be silver. She attempted to remove it but was unsuccessful and recommended we see her ENT.

As luck would have it, when we got home the ENT office was at lunch and wouldn't return until 2pm. Luckily they were able to fit us in at 2:40. Unfortunately, the doctor made several attempts to remove the object but had no luck--her ear is too swollen. His gut tells him that she's going to need it surgically removed. We were sent home with drops in hopes that the swelling will go down by Wednesday and allow him to remove it. If not our appointment will turn into a Pre-Op appointment and the surgery will more than likely be on Friday. The procedure will be similar to when she had her ear tubes surgery. Please PRAY that on Wednesday they are able to remove it!

Other than that, Abigail is a healthy 18 month old toddler. Her vocabulary is increasing daily but for the most part she chooses to point and grunt and say "mama!" :-) Words she says regularly: mama, dada, thank you (dank you), grandma'ma (mamama), papa, wow, bob (spongebob), night night, no (mostly to Samuel) and hello.
Words she can say if she feels like it: pepaw (papaw), memaw, ball, nose, more and Izzy. I'm sure I'm forgetting some but you get the point.
She knows where all of her body parts are.
She can make the appropriate sounds for a cat, dog, bird, cow, chicken, monkey, donkey, pig, mouse, rooster, bee, horse, snake, sheep...again it's late and I can't recall all of them.
I'll update after her appointment on Wednesday.

Oh Christmas Tree!

The kids had a lot of fun decorating the tree this year. Of course, none of the ornaments stay on the bottom half of the tree. They are constantly being rearranged by two little people. But, isn't that what Christmas is all about!?

Finding the Perfect Tree!

We finally ventured out this weekend to get our Christmas tree.

The search is on....

Oh Christmas SamPeek-A-BooFound it....the PERFECT Tree!!!

Santa's Lap (take 2)

I think it's safe to say that Abigail did not like Santa any better the second time around.

Samuel's Winter Show

On Thursday, Samuel participated in his school's Winter show. This year the theme was "Holidays on Creme Island." Samuel's class sang "I'm a Little Coconut" and "The Macarena Song" which stole the show. What a hoot it was to watch all the kids sing and dance on stage.

Whoo hoo!!!

Tom had his final MBA exam last Wednesday, December 12th. He will officially graduate in the Spring 2008. We are all very proud of him and very excited that it is over!!!:-) Way to go, honey.

The Magic Elf

I forgot to tell you all about our Magic Elf! He showed up at our house this week and surprised Samuel and Abigail!

THE LEGEND OF THE MAGIC ELF

One Christmas long ago, Santa Claus was reading his mail. He loved getting letters from boys and girls around the world telling him all the wonderful things they had done during the year. But that year, he noticed that the letters had changed. The kids were demanding extravagant gifts with few manners and little mention of goodness. Santa was concerned. As much as Santa loved giving gifts...he didn't want Christmas to lose its real meaning. So Santa created a host of Magic Elves...all with snow white beards, stocking caps and twinkling eyes. He gave the elves wings, sprinkled them with magic dust and sent them on their way to help children learn the meaning of Christmas.

Our elf listens all day long, and at night he reports their behavior to Santa and then returns to a new spot in the house. Each morning he brings a daily message for us to read. Samuel was SO excited when he found the elf the first day, and he can't wait to go to bed at night so that he can find the elf the next day!! What a fun tradition!!

Timeout!

Miss Abigail has started head butting and hitting. For some reason she only does it to me. I remember Samuel going through a phase of only biting me. Hmmm, maybe I just bring out the best in them. But seriously I need to nip this behavior in the bud before she starts doing it to others. The other night we were having a nice evening watching a Christmas special, and all of a sudden she headbutted me in the stomach...THEN my face. As I was talking calmly to her telling her that it hurt mommy and that hitting & headbutting was not nice... with a very serious face, she looked at me and smacked me in the face! She definitely knew she had done something naughty. Consequently, here's Abigail's first experience in TIMEOUT!

NYC

On Friday, we drove to Memaw & Pepaw's house in Princeton, NJ. Saturday morning, we woke up and took the train to New York city for a fun filled day! This is our second year taking the kids into the city during the holidays, and I hope it's a tradition we can continue for years to come. Our first stop was Macy's Santaland to see Santa Claus. Both Samuel & Abigail loved seeing the decorations. Abigail was not impressed with Santa! Actually, she did not like sitting on his lap one bit. Since October she has been saying "ho..ho..ho" over and over anytime she sees a picture, ornament, etc. of Santa! Samuel on the other hand has never been afraid of him. Once again, he walked right up, jumped in his lap and started talking. When we asked him what he told Santa he wanted for Christmas his response was "you will have to wait and see on Christmas morning." What a little stinker!

(Sorry Santa, you'll have to take my brothers word for it...I have been a good girl this year but I'm outta here!)

By the time we finished with Santa, we were all hungry. Well, poor Abigail was exhausted from seeing Santa, so she slept while we ate. Checkout Samuel's lunch...you are looking at New York's largest hotdog!
After lunch we walked 20+ blocks in the freezing cold to FAO Schwarz. The line wrapped around the outside of the store, but surprisingly it only took about 10 minute to get in. Samuel and Abigail were in heaven, along with the hundreds of other kids, it was a madhouse. After we left the toy store we headed to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas Tree. We then took a taxi back to Penn Station and called it a day!

Sunday morning we woke up to our first glimpse of snow this season. Thanks Memaw & Pepaw for a great weekend!

Very Thankful

Today, I got a phone call from my mom around 5:20 saying that she and Abigail had been in a minor accident while on their way to my work. My heart skipped a beat, but she quickly reassured me that they were both okay. I could hear Abigail in the background yelling "mama" which was a good sign . I immediately said a quick prayer and thanked all of our angels up above for watching over them. It's times like this that make you step back and realize how precious life is.
So what caused this accident you might ask? A woman who ran out of gas in the center lane on West Ox road! Luckily, my mom saw her in plenty of time to stop but unfortunately the man behind her didn't and ran into the back of them followed by someone else rearending the man. As a result, not only did they get hit once but twice! After driving by the accident and feeling helpless, I went to a nearby shopping center and waited for them. Thankfully all that were involved are okay.

Thanksgiving 2007

As I sit here thinking of all that I have to be thankful for, I realize we are blessed in so many ways. Here are just a few reasons why I am thankful, my sweet (most of the time) husband & my two amazing kids, being close to my family and friends, being healthy and safe, the list goes on and on!

When we asked Samuel what he was thankful for he responded, "the beach, toys, movies and my family" ;-)

We had a great time in the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving! Thanks Grandma'ma & Papa for a wonderful week! It is always nice to spend time with everyone and to watch the cousins play together. We had such a fun-filled week--running on the beach, playing football, watching movies, decorating sun catchers & a gingerbread house, shopping, eating, playing our annual game of Bingo, and much more! This year the weather was fantastic, most days was high 60's-70's--perfect! Both Samuel and Abigail had a blast running on the beach, splashing in the water and collecting seashells.

HaPpY ThAnKsGiViNg!!!

Many, many, blessings and love to you all!

An Annual Event

Samuel and Abigail received this card from Papa the other day and it just cracks me up! The inside says It's the annual Turkey Drive....for over 17 years we have been going to the Outer Banks. I am so thankful that my kids are growing up with such a fun Thanksgiving tradition.

We hope everyone has a SAFE AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Kitchen playroom?

Our Family

I am proud to say that Samuel did not leave me out of this family portrait! **see "little artists" post. He has been drawing a lot lately but this was the first time he actually painted a recognizable picture. In case you can't figure out who's who's- (left to right) Abigail, mommy, Samuel, daddy & Isabelle. Oh and Isabelle doesn't have a face because she's looking in the other direction! Isn't he becoming a good little artist?

Duck Countdown

Samuel has been asking me for the last 2 weeks if it was time to leave for the Outer Banks. My response "No, honey not this week. We leave in ___ days." Saturday morning he must have asked 3 or 4 times before 10am so I came up with this idea....a turkey countdown. Samuel drew his very own Thanksgiving turkey (very impressive, don't you think?) and then I traced his handprint for his second turkey. Of course, we couldn't leave lil sis out of the fun so she made one too. I must say she worked darn hard coloring on her paper. Each day we put stickers on the number of days we have left so whenever Samuel wants to know, he can figure out all by himself!