Bryan Avenue

Does this mean...

...I need to start paying him an allowance?

Two years ago today

Today marked a very special day for us. It seems very fitting that it fell on Easter this year, one of the most important holy days in Christianity, signifying new life and hope.

Two years ago today we discovered that we were going to receive a very special gift, the gift of Cohen Gray Hancock, a child we had tried and hoped for for two years.

Little did I know what a gift he would be and that we would never be the same people we were two years ago. He has changed us for the better and he has brought more laughter and more joy into our lives than we could have ever imagined, and I hear this is only the beginning!

As I rocked and sang to him last night and prayed over him as he drifted off to sleep, tears of gratitude and joy rolled down my cheeks and onto his. I was, and still am, so overwhelmed with the goodness of my God, who heard my cries, who saw all of my tears, who didn't turn his back when I yelled and screamed and accused him of abandoning me all those months leading up to Cohen's creation.

Jesus is the giver of new life and the author of hope. And I will be forever grateful and forever changed because of his sacrifice and miraculous resurrection. And I will be forever grateful and forever changed because of the gift of Cohen.

I hope you found something to celebrate today. I know I did!

 

Happy Friday

Many of you are probably enjoying a day off today. Not so down here. Utah does not include Good Friday or Easter Monday in the holiday line up, which is so strange since it's such a religious state and there's no separation of church and state. No worries though--I'm going to make it a short day at work today seeing as no one will be there and I have a million things to do for our busy weekend.

We've got a 4th birthday party tonight, little c's first easter egg hunt tomorrow a.m. followed by a wedding in the afternoon/evening, and my Easter Brunchapalooza on Sunday.

As I'm typing this, the little man is still sleeping. He must know the busy-ness that lies ahead and is resting up for it. Good boy.

Whatever your weekend plans include, I hope you have a wonderful weekend spent marveling at the gift of sacrifice and celebrating the amazing gift of new life with family and friends.
 
 

I left my heart in San Francisco

Little C and I just got back last night from a quick trip to SFO. Daddy stayed home and worked on the basement, building a wine cellar for our 3 bottles of wine.

While there, we played at a lot of playgrounds, got licked in the face many times by a big old yellow lab named Bailie, had a dance party in little c's new bff's crib, wore matching clothes as new bff, slept
hard, ate even harder, crashed a nerd party (okay, little c did not do that, but Mommy did) and enjoyed some down time in a great city with great friends. It was much needed and very rewarding. We're already looking at our calendar to see when we can do it again.

Little c was a rock star on both the flight there and home again. Didn't cry and was very entertaining to the other passengers, especially when he did the chicken dance. Actually, I think he was a rock star all weekend long. He just rolled with the laid back schedule and thoroughly enjoyed meeting Sophia (6) and Parker (17 months), Bailie and Shelly (S & P's Mom).

But it's back to reality and schedules and coordinating drop-offs and pick-ups and obsessing over what to make for dinner as soon as I wake up.

So until we make it back to SFO, we'll be enjoying these memories and looking at the photos of a well-spent weekend.

I can run now!
 

New bff, Parker.
 

SO happy.
 

Feeling at home enough to wear a colander as a helmet.
 

Asking Parker what kind of mileage his ride gets.
 

Stay Bailie, stay.
 
 
 
 

 

This and that

A few months ago a friend of mine (that I've known for almost 20 years!) asked me if I would help her with a bridal shower she was throwing for her daughter's preschool teacher, Jules. Included in the help was making all of the food, decorating, and managing and photographing the event. It was a great experience and I was excited to help. If you know me, you know that I love to throw parties. The theme was a Mommy & Me Tea Party, which is right up my alley since I love all things tea. Did I mention that a lot of the food had to be vegan? It was my first experience cooking and baking anything vegan and it was quite rewarding to make stuff that was good for you AND tasted great.

From that party, I booked an 8 year old girl's birthday party just a couple of weeks later. I only received confirmation from her mom a week before the party so had just 7 days to pull a magic themed party together. Fortunately I have a friend, B, that has a love for detail and a flair for themed parties and she agreed to help me out.

I've been meaning to post some photos from these events but have just been plain old lazy. But without further ado, I present you Jules' Bridal Shower and Amelia's Magical Birthday.
Cake pops by my friend April, who you might remember did Little C's snowmen cake pops. Look at the beautiful Cath Kidston oilcloth tablecloth. I heart it. And it's now in my arsenal of party supplies.
The spread.
These were vegan and oh so good.
And these were not!

Jules' students decorating scrapbook pages for a shower photo album.

And now, Amelia's party...
When the guests arrived, I took their photo in the "photo booth" we set up.
I think the little girls enjoyed wearing the moustaches. I mean, who doesn't love a good fake moustache?
Here is the sweets table. On the opposite wall was the dinner food: pizza, veggies & dip, and fruit kabobs. Upstairs we put out a spread for all of the parents of the party-goers.
Can you tell that I'm so in love with the red and turquoise combo? I really cannot get enough.
Favour boxes with magic themed trinkets. The kids then filled them up with some of the sweets we included on the dessert table.
White cheddar popcorn. This is another thing I can't get enough of. I went back to Williams-Sonoma and bought several more canisters of their popcorn flavouring. Drool.
Cake pops, chocolate-dipped pretzels, cotton candy, red gumballs, waxed soda bottles and jelly bellies. Oh my! 
A close up on the cake pops. I was really happy with how the food labels turned out. This was my first time designing anything.
 
 
 
And a photo from my phone taken the night before when we did a dry run. Unfortunately B's island was a lot larger than the tables we had for the party and our layout the night before did not end up working out.

 So there you have it. Next on the schedule is Ella's 4th Birthday Party in May. Invitations are being printed this week and delivered next week and doilie bunting is being strung as you're reading this! I'll post photos after the party is over.

 

It's like an orange on a toothpick

As promised, here are the 15 month stats.

Weight: 23 lbs 11 oz 40th percentile

Length: 30.75" 42nd percentile

Head: 19.5" are you ready for this? 96th percentile.

And now a fitting quote from a favourite movie of mine.

Stuart Mackenzie: Look at the size of that boy's heed.
Tony Giardino: Shhh!
Stuart Mackenzie: I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.
Tony Giardino: Shhh, you're going to give the boy a complex.
Stuart Mackenzie: Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.
Tony Giardino: Shh!
Stuart Mackenzie: Has it's own weather system.
Tony Giardino: Sh, sh, shh.
Stuart Mackenzie: HEAD! MOVE!

---

Stuart Mackenzie: I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts! Now that was offside, wasn't it? He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow.

It must be all those brains, right Cohen? For all of you softies out there, don't worry, we won't let little c know about his big head until he's ready for it.

Happy Monday

Here's hoping that today is better than any day last week.

Poor little c is cutting not 1 tooth, but 4. And they are all the big ones. Poor guy. I think I wrote a couple of weeks ago that you'd never know that he was teething. Well, he sure let us know last week. The kid has been hopped up on Infant Tylenol and Advil all week. And to top it off, he's got a really bad chest cold. Coughs all night, every night.

But in between the tears and the coughs, he's been pretty great.

Yesterday marked his first trip to the aquarium. Sadly it's kind of a pathetic aquarium but he didn't mind. He couldn't care less about any of the fish, he just wanted to run around and climb on anything, so he was ecstatic. I think he forgot about the tooth pain momentarily.

15 month stats coming soon. Until then, have a wonderful day from the Toothmeister!
Saying "hi" to all the fish. Little c loves to say "hi" to strangers and anything that moves.
Waiting for a penguin to swim by so he could say "hi".
Making out with himself. He loves to kiss EVERYTHING now. Especially a photo of his GG, which he does every night before bed.