My Funny Valentine

This Valentine's Day I wanted to do something special and unique for Jeremy.  Thanks to my Pinterest addiction, I found the greatest idea...a year of dates!  

The fancy box I found at Michaels to hold all my big envelopes. (Thank you Michaels for your awesome coupons!)

Each month has a date envelope

Inside each envelope is a date, a marriage challenge, and 3 coffee talk questions (serious type questions that evoke conversation besides always talking about work or the kids).  I found this great website that had the challenges and questions already written out for me.  With the help of my sister in law Lauren, we made each card cute and stuffed them in their appropriate envelopes.

Valentine's night Jeremy opened his first envelope.

This was at home date that we could do once the boys went to bed.  We both love fondue so this was a fun treat for both of us.  Thanks to coupons I got this fun chocolate for free so we kind of cheated and didn't really have to heat chocolate.  (It served it's purpose though).  While eating, we went over our coffee talk questions.

It was a fun to have something different planned than our normal Saturday "catch up on shows on Hulu" night.  We're already looking forward to March's date which is a movie night out to go see the Hunger Games!! :)

I'm excited about the year to come and anxious for him to open each envelope. Hopefully I won't blab them before time. :)

Moving On Up

For almost a year now, Owen has been sleeping in bunk beds.  A few weeks ago he just randomly decided one night that he wanted to sleep on the top bunk.  Having gravitational insecurity has made him a little afraid of heights, so we were excited when he decided he wanted to do this.  Of course, I had to document it. :)

Climbing up (yes he is still wearing his Christmas pjs 2 months later)

So proud of himself..he looks so big to me in these next 2 pictures.

Reading a bedtime story

Time to go to sleep

He has done amazingly well up there. He gets in less trouble because he doesn't like to climb down in the dark, which is a plus for all of us. :) My little man is growing up!

Potty Party

One major milestone in a toddler's life is leaving diapers behind and being potty-trained. For the last few months, we have been trying to move Owen through this milestone.  It's been difficult to say the least.  

One of my saving graces through the process has been Pull-ups.  We used them through the transition over to underwear and still now for naps and bedtime.  

Houseparty.com is marketing company that sends you free products and coupons in exchange for hosting a party and spreading their name. When the opportunity to host a Huggies Pull Up Potty Dance party came available, I jumped on it. (I love free stuff and coupons!)   I was selected and hosted the party on February 25th. 

We had a handful of friends over to learn the potty dance, talk about potty training tips, and snack on yummy food.

Huggies sent me all kinds of funny things in our box.  In addition to a free pack of Pull-Ups for me, each party attendant received a potty training dvd, a book of coupons, a blow up guitar, potty chart and stickers, and this lovely dance mat.

I made some healthy snacks and had a basket out for each family to grab their goodies.

Oliver, Charlie, and Sullivan play with trucks while the mommies watch the Potty Dance video

The screen shot was weird at the moment, but Colton really got into the dancing. :)

Colton and Oliver take a break from dancing.

As usual, I got so busy into my hostess role that I didn't take that many pictures.  Despite the lack of pictures, we did have a good time.  Not sure if we really picked up any more tips, but at least we didn't feel alone in this crazy journey.  PS Owen was actually there.  For some reason, he was super quiet that  day and sat back and took it all in. 

Jen's Baby Shower

The Cox family is growing again! My sweet sister in law Jen is pregnant with Cox granddaughter #2, due at the end of this month.  Back in January (MLK weekend), my mother in law, sister in law Erin, and I threw a shower to bless Jen with all things pink (and purple).


Our theme was sock monkeys and purple.  Jen used to love the story 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed when she was little so we ran with it as the theme.

Our centerpiece.

 The cupcakes

My niece Madison even wore a hat for the special occasion.

 Baby trivia coasters

 The food spread

The honoree sampling the goodies

Emma made the sock monkey feminine.

One of the many cute outfits Adeline will wear.

 Madison was a great helper.

Adeline got her own sock monkey

Emma made this awesome quilt that told the 5 Little Monkey story.

 Jen's parents and brother gave her the highchair.

We had a sweet time blessing Jen.  We can't wait to meet sweet Adeline soon! :)

Our Every Day Life

I haven't blogged in forever because we haven't really had anything big going on. So finally I've decided to just post all my everyday photos from my phone that I've been taking. (oh wait I do have 2 events. I should really get those off the camera.)

Papa and Nana came into town the weekend after Valentine's Day.  The boys (and Papa) enjoyed watched Saturday morning cartoons.

While my parents were here, they let us have an overnight date here in Charlotte.  We got to try out King's Kitchen in Uptown, which is non-profit restaurant that uses it's profits to better the hungry and underprivileged. It was super tasty! We concluded the evening with dessert at Amelie's and a night at the Double Tree.  Thanks Mom and Dad for a much needed date night!

The boys love spending time with the Daddy each night after dinner.  Daddy was reading them one of Owen's new Cars books. I love to see all the boys I love so dearly together.

March 2nd was Dr. Seuss' birthday.  Owen decided to wear his Cat in the Hat gear from his b-day party to preschool that day.  All day long he asked when Dr. Seuss was going to have his party.  He also told me the party was going to be at Papa and Nana's house; I think the reason he said that is my mom still has a ton of Dr. Seuss books at her house and he remembers reading them at her house.

One afternoon this week I went to get Oliver up from his nap, leaving Owen in his room to play.  When I returned, this is what I found.  Owen came up with this all on his own.  He calls himself Diaper Man! If only Diaper Man could poopy on the potty.  Oh well, evidently that's his kryptonite.  

Small group this week was at the Lyes' house. They have a guinea pig named Charlie that was super fasinating to Oliver.  He followed the guinea pig around the table almost the whole time.

Oliver and Owen decided to decorate Owen's cardboard rocket he got for Christmas this year.  Too bad NASA isn't taking any more rockets into space...I think this would be a great design! :)

Warm winter days=playing outside. Owen loves the sand table.

One afternoon we took a trip to Costco with my friend Janet.  The boys were starving so they shared a smoothie. They were too cute up in the front of the cart together.  I couldn't help but think of Lady and the Tramp with this shot.

Owen helping Daddy mow the crazy long grass that has started to get out of hand.

So there you have it.  Nothing super exciting to blog about, but at least now you see what's been going on with the Coxes.  Maybe now the grandmas will stop harassing me about not updating the blog. ;)