Thanksgiving

These past few weeks have been a little crazy and busy, and so was our Thanksgiving, but we are finally moved and somewhat settled in our new house :)  We closed on the house in Clarksville on Tuesday the 15th of November, drove to GA to parents house late that night and spent about 5 days with them.  Then Adam and I drove to Charlotte (we left Cohen and Cooper with my parents) on Sunday the 20th and closed on the new house on Monday.  Our goods were delivered on Tuesday and the movers were at our house until 1:30 AM!  We did very minimal unpacking then left to go to Atlanta on Wednesday for Thanksgiving.  Adam's mother flew into Atlanta from Colorado Springs to join us for Thanksgiving at my parent's house and we all had a great time!  This was the first year my mother cooked Thanksgiving dinner instead of my Grandmother since my Grandmother had broken her hip twice last year and is not able to cook a large meal anymore.  My mom did a great job and we all ate way too much!!  We stayed in Atlanta until Saturday then Adam, Cohen, Cooper, Adam's mom and I drove to Charlotte.  Adam's mom then flew back home home out of Charlotte on Sunday and Adam and I started the unpacking process.  So NOT fun!  Especially because the new is about 500 square feet smaller than the old house and does not have a garage (only a carport with a small shed).  The "new" house is actually an older house built in the 1950's but we like it so much because of it's character, great school district and location close to the city.

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving:

Adam, his mom and Olsen

Benjamin and Cohen

My mom and Granddaddy

The Jones family and Cohen

The Stead family--Cohen never looks at the camera!

Nana and Cohen

While we were in Atlanta we also visited our friends, the Muschara's, who had a get-together for several families including the Cox's, Moore's and Basham's.  We all had a great time, especially the kiddos!  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Not sure what he is trying to do??

Marley and Cohen obviously mesmerized by something!

The kiddos making turkey cookies--Maggie's creative idea!

Marley enjoying her turkey cookie!

Collin and Cohen

 

Sam and Colt with their cookies

House SOLD!!!

We have had quite a lot going on lately and will be even busier in the weeks to come.  For starters our house in Clarksville finally SOLD!!  It has been a few weeks now since we got a contract on the house.  We were so excited that we did not have to end up renting out the house, which we were about to do because we had already put a contract on a house in Charlotte, NC and were planning on moving there regardless.  We were just at a point where it was time to move on with our lives.  Since Adam is retired now and has absolutely nothing to do, he was getting bored out of his mind.  He is not the kind of guy to sit around and play video games all day--thankfully!  Because Clarksville is a military town and is so transient, a lot of our friends have long since moved on.  We were just ready for the next phase and tired of our lives being on hold.  So, the plan is to move in about a week and a half; we close on the house in Clarksville on a Friday and then the house in Charlotte the following Monday.

So now, in the midst of all of this moving, Adam is in Israel for 10 days!  He is on a trip with the Wounded Warrior Project on what they call a "Soldier Ride".  The WWP does soldier rides in cities all across the country.  It is an adaptive cycling event for warriors and the community and is typically a 3-4 day event.  Adam is now in Israel on his first Soldier Ride with about 10-15 other wounded warriors for a 10 day trip.  They are riding their bikes about 6 of the 10 days and are doing a lot of sight-seeing.  I am so excited for him and cannot wait to hear about his trip!  We have been communicating by email but no phone calls.

Right before Adam left for his Israel trip, we returned from a trip to Tampa.  Went traveled down to Atlanta to leave Cohen and Cooper with my parents and then flew out of Atlanta to go to Tampa for a conference.  It was a mentor conference so Adam and I can become mentors for other wounded warriors and their families.  We have been getting involved with this over the past few months and are at a place in our lives now where we are ready to give back and help others who will be going through similar circumstances and life changing events.  Not that we are experts by any means, but maybe we can at least offer an open ear or some words of encouragement.  We were in Tampa for 5 days and had a great time!  The conference was a 2 full days and was very informative and interesting.  We also got to visit the VA hospital where Adam was an inpatient for so many months.  We saw a few of his therapists, nurses, his physician and also got to spend some time with great friends!  Everyone was thrilled to see us, especially Adam, and to see how well he was doing and how much he had recovered since leaving Tampa in April of 2009.  Of course, they were all bummed that we did not have Cohen with us; I think he was the highlight of everyone's day when we were down there ;)  After the conference we flew back to Atlanta then drove to Charlotte that same day because I had two job interviews the next day.  Both jobs were great opportunities and I now have a new part-time job in Charlotte!  Everything seems to be falling into place just at the right time :)

Happy Halloween!

Cohen had a blast this Halloween!  Adam is out of town right now so my mom came to visit for a week and got to do all the Halloween activities with us.  Over the weekend went to a pumpkin patch with some friends and had a great time.  The kids rode a barrel train, played in the corn, fed the animals and we all went on a hay ride.  We carved a pumpkin over the weekend and Cohen loves his "punkin".  On Halloween, Cohen got to dress up for preschool then we went to the place I previously worked to visit and get some yummy treats.  I was not sure how well he would get the concept of trick-or-treating last night but it did not take long at all for him to catch on.  After we left every house he said, "I want some more trick-or-treating"!  He did great walking from house to house, knocked on the doors and usually said "trick-or-treat" and then "thank you" at the end.  Although the "thank you" part is still a little hard and has to be prompted ;)  Here are a few pictures from our Halloween weekend.

Go DAWGS! Cohen's first football game

We took Cohen to his first Georgia football game this weekend!  Our great friends, Wes and Maggie, came in town for the game with their children, Colt and Marley.  At first we were not going to take Cohen since he's only 2, but we decided to take him and are so glad we did!  He had a blast with Colt and Marley and the kids were so good at the game!  Cohen was very intrigued by the whole football scene; he loved the marching band, Hairy Dawg, watching the football players and snacking on popcorn, pretzels and lemonade.  We made it to halftime then Maggie and I left and went back to the hotel with the kids.  Wes and Maggie stayed at a hotel so close to the stadium that you could watch the game from the hotel rooms.  It was a perfect location so we could take the kids back, give them a bath and put their pj's on while the guys stayed to watch the rest of the game.

 The guys watching the Georgia football players come off the bus

 Maggie and Marley

Colt, Marley and Cohen

The Muschara's

The Stead's

Cohen and Colt very entertained at the game

Nashville Zoo

Adam and I took Cohen to the Nashville Zoo last week.  The last Cohen had been to the zoo was in Tampa when he was an infant.  Cohen had blast seeing all the animals, playing on the jungle gym and riding the "choo choo".  When we left he fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the parking lot!

 We forgot to take our stroller so we had to rent one there.

 Climbing on the jungle gym

Riding the "Choo Choo"

 Brushing the animals at the petting zoo

 Passed out in the car after we left the zoo!

Adam's Retirement Party

My parents and I had a retirement party for Adam last weekend in Atlanta at my parent's house.  I felt a little strange every time I said "retirement party" since Adam is so young and likely has many years of work ahead, but he definitely deserves the recognition and celebration!  I was going to try and make it a surprise but I did not think I could get Adam to Atlanta and pull it off without telling him, so I did end up telling him about the party.  We invited close friends and family and had a great time visiting with everyone!  Here are some pictures from the night.  I started taking a few pictures at the beginning of the night but didn't get very far...hopefully my mom took more pictures than I did :o

 Adam's friends from college, from left to right:  Leah and Spencer, Erin (her husband was at home with a sick baby :( ), Cristin and Bryan, Carrie and Adam, Kelli and Jason, Kelly and Great, Maggie and Wes

 Left to right:  Bryan, Spencer, Adam, Jason, Wes and Great

 I ordered the cake from a local bakery.  It turned out pretty good!  Adam was in the Cavalry when he was aviation in the Army so I thought the stetson would make a cute cake.

 Ryan, Cohen and Eleanor.  Ryan and Eleanor are my friend's, Sharon and Jenn, children.  Cohen had a blast playing with them!  The rest of our friends decided to leave their kids at home and make it an "adult" evening.

 Me and my cousin, Lorra

 My Grandmother and Aunt Jan

 Aunt Jan and Jerry

 Jenn and Eleanor

 Family friends, Bruce and Charles, and my Uncle Jerry

Sharon, Maggie and Erin