Someone has been naughty...

...and I will give you one guess who it was :)

Thankful...

Today in school, the little ones in Alex's class went around the room and said things that they were thankful for.  One child said he was thankful for his "daddy", another one said she was thankful for her "mommy" (I think house, toys and food were also mentioned), but our little smarty pants told the class he was thankful for his "guitar"!

Glad to know that in our house the guitar ranks above everything else (including Larry and I)!

I just love this kid and love the fact that he keeps me on my toes with the things he says :)

Visit to the Opryland

We decided to take a day trip up to Nashville to go look at the lights at the Opryland Hotel.  Part of the wonderful thing about living in Huntsville is that we are only an hour and a half away from Nashville and can do things like this :)

We loaded in the car, sang christmas songs and had a really great time!  Once we got there, Alex was in awe of all the lights.  It was so neat to see his face light up!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Opryland:

Alex riding on the reindeer - of course he said "yeehaw" as soon as he got on it:

Alex and Daddy standing in front of the tree:

Alex loving the reindeer decoration:

Sweet boy:

Looking at more decorations:

 Cheesin' for me:

Silly kid:

Alex and his "mamingo" (aka Flamingo) - he really loves these things:

Pointing at the lights:

Pictures of the decorations inside the Opryland:

Visit to Santa

Alex went to see Santa today at our local mall.

For a kid that HATED Santa last year, he seems to have warmed up to him...

He was so cute this year!!  As soon as he saw Santa, he ran up to him, gave him a big hug and sat right in his lap!  He told Santa about the toys he wanted and gladly accepted some stickers and reindeer ears :)

I think that now that he is getting used to the idea that Santa brings presents to his house and that he is making a list of growing demands, he really likes him!

I'm so glad he is starting to understand a little bit about Christmas...kids really do make this time of the year magical!  I can't wait to experience the holiday season this year!

Introducing...

Jaxon Charles Cothren!!!

Today was my 20 week appointment and everything looks great with our little boy!  He is measuring on track and becoming quite active!  We are looking very forward to bringing him home at the end of March/beginning of April  :)

The doctor's office gave us a few 3D images and this was one of the cute ones.  In my opinion, Jaxon is already looking like his big brother - I can't wait to see them next to each other!

A Few Funny Stories...

Alex has been extremely "helpful" today.  Yes, I am using the term helpful very loosely :)

He decided to feed the dogs a snack after breakfast...all by himself and spilling the food all over the floor in the process.  After he did that, he was trying to push the dogs over to the right dog bowls to eat (they weren't hungry at all and were not very willing)!  Buckwheat started to eat out of a green bowl that we have.  Alex informed him "no Buckwheat...you are black, you eat out of the black bowl"!  Good to know!

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I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Alex wasn't in the living room but the backdoor was open.  Not a good combination!!  I walk over to the door and Alex is sitting in the yard telling the dogs to come outside and go potty.  The dogs were standing in by the door looking at Alex like he is absolutely nuts :)  Needless to say, the door has been locked all day!!

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And finally, for the really fun story....

We are working on potty training with Alex.  He does not like underwear (well, he doesn't like being naked either...but that is another story for another day)!  His reasons for not liking the underwear vary - one time it is because they are a "little bit too dirty" and another time it was because they "hurt my pee-pee" (yes, both of those responses came yesterday right before our "incident")!

I made him sit around naked because I was not putting a pull-up on him.  He finally calmed down about being naked and was sitting on the floor watching TV.  I noticed he was playing with his boy parts, but that isn't really abnormal when he is wearing underwear or being naked!  Before I knew it, Alex was standing in front of me with his finger under my nose telling me to "smell my finger...it stinks"!  My child had taken his finger, stuck it UP his behind and then put it under my nose for me to smell!

...and I have another boy coming?!  This is going to be interesting :)

Alex's Christmas Tree

This year we got Alex a little 3 foot Christmas tree for his room.  We let him pick out some ornaments, a star tree topper and some bells (thanks Daddy!).

We put the tree up and decorated it on Saturday afternoon - he had a great time and I loved seeing his eyes light up when we turned the lights on his tree!  He loves that little tree :)

Here are two pictures:

Hanging up the ornaments:

The finished product:

Chalk Drawings

For Alex's birthday, Aunt Jenny got him a 3D chalk drawing set complete with stencils and everything.  Alex could not wait to open it!  We let him go to town on the driveway with his new chalk and he absolutely loved it!  I really think his favorite part was having his Daddy sit next to him on the driveway and create sidewalk art with him.  Seeing my boys spend time together warms my heart so very much!

Here is Larry's finished product of Buzz Lightyear and Woody - I didn't realize that I was married to such an artist :)

Too Cute Not to Share

As I was going through my pictures and trying to catch up on some posts, I realized that I never shared these pictures of Alex in his "Big Brother" shirt.  My plan for our big announcement was to dress Alex up in his shirt, sit him in his share, have him smile nicely and capture a great moment on camera!  Yeah, that didn't happen :)

Here are the pictures I got instead:

Someone looks less than thrilled to be a big brother...ha!

Train Ride

Larry, Alex and I went on a train ride put on by the North Alabama Railroad.  Alex was so excited to go that he woke up telling us it was time to go to the choo-choo.

When we pulled up, he started saying "going on choo-choo train"!  We were there a little early, so it gave us some time to stand around and wait...ha ha!  Alex, of course, made friends with a few boys there.  They were running around a wooden platform and playing tag :)

Eventually, it was time to get on the train.  Once we got inside the trainccar, we quickly found our seats. The announcer came on and told us a little about our ride, the rules and regulations for being a good train rider and a little history about the train and depot.

After the ride started, Alex loved it!  He was so excited to see out the window and look for the "animals" that the railroad people put out there for kids to find!  We looked at the beautiful scenery around us.  And we waved to cars that were waiting on us to pass thru intersections.

We had a great family day - enjoying each other's company and trying out something that none of us had ever done before!

Here are a few pictures of our train ride:

Our train:

Alex pointing at our train:

Our train, again:

Hiding behind Daddy:

Loving on Daddy:

Riding on Daddy's back:

Daddy and Alex on the train:

Alex is excited:

Looking out the window:

Showing Daddy all the sights:

Love this face:

Daddy and Alex:

School Pictures

Alex had school pictures done this year.  He had them taken about two and a half weeks ago.  When I picked him up that day, his teachers told me that they really had to work to get some smiles out of him...definitely sounds like Alex!

I got the proofs of the pictures recently and really liked how they turned out.  Now comes the difficult part of picking which one to order!

Here are our two options:

Any votes on which one to order?!

First Starbucks Drink

Today it was so cold outside (45 degrees).  Alex and I had to pick up a few things from Target.  When we walked in, a Starbucks drink sounded so yummy!  I ordered mine and Alex said he wanted a drink, too.  I was about to get him an apple juice box, but asked him if he wanted a warm chocolate milk instead.  He said yes, I ordered it, gave it to him and he was pretty much in heaven :)

I'm not sure if the chocolate milk was really that good or if he liked having a cup like mine and drinking out of it like a big boy!  Regardless, it was a fun moment with my little man!

Here is a picture of my big boy enjoying his very first Starbucks drink:

Canvas Portraits

We recently ordered and received Canvases of our family pictures.  They came in and Larry hung them up immediately.  We could not be happier with how they look, both the pictures and the way they are hung on the wall!

I love them and highly recommend the company that did them for us Canvas People.

Here is a picture of our canvases hanging on our wall (FYI - this picture was taken with my cell phone, so the quality isn't all that great):

Happy Halloween

This year Halloween was so much fun!  Alex had a blast and really got into trick or treating - I'm thinking the candy that people gave him was a pretty good incentive for participating in the holiday :)

Alex dressed up as Scooby Doo.  We got the costume last year when he was REALLY into Scooby.  Thankfully, this year he loves Scooby Doo just as much!  Most of the day, he asked us when it was time put on his costume and go trick or treating.  We kept telling him that we would put it on after dinner - as soon as dinner was over, he was racing to the closet and reaching for his costume!

After he got dressed, posed for a few pictures and grabbed his trick or treat pumpkin, the three of us went to a few houses on our street.  It was great seeing him say "trick or treat" to get his candy and then "thank you much" after he got some!  I went home after the first couple of houses to give our trick or treaters some candy and Larry took Alex out to a few more houses.  When they returned home, Alex had a big smile on his face and a full bucket of candy - he was a happy kid!

Here are a few pictures of our cute little Scooby Doo:

Cheesin':

Silly kid:

I just love this little Scooby bum:

Showing me his light from Grandma Karen:

Cute kid: