July 4th

We spent the week of July 4th in GA at my parents and were able to see a lot of family and friends which was great!  Cohen loved swimming in the pool everyday and going on the lake on "Pops' boat".

With our friends the Muschara's going to see Coldplay!

  Cohen loved the lake this year!  Climbing down the ladder from Pops' boat.

 Getting ready to swim in the lake

Buddies: Cohen, Marley and Colt

July 4th watching fireworks on the lake with some of our favorite people

Cohen and Colt loved the fireworks, but Marley slept through the entire show

Our friend, Silas, is a firefighter and let Cohen come to the firehouse to visit and check out all the cool firefighter equipment.  Cohen just loved it!!

 Wearing firefighter pants

And the coat

 Spraying the water hose!

 

Loves his Pops!

House Completed....back in June

I have fallen so far behind on my blogging, life just gets in the way!  I think I even forgot to mention that our house addition was completed back in June.  I still have not really taken any pictures of the new addition except from the outside but we love our new laundry room and master suite!  We went ahead and had a new patio put in which has been great this summer for Cohen to ride his tricycle and scooter, and to eat outside when it's not too hot and humid!  We had a fire pit built as well and are really excited about using it as the weather gets cooler.  There is still so much yard work to do but that will come with time.

Trip to D.C. with Army Friends

At the beginning of June we took a trip to visit some of our good friends from Ft Campbell, the Folk's.  Chuck was in Adam's unit and they were deployed together and Bree and I became quick friends once we met and spent almost everyday together when the guys were deployed.  Army friends quickly become family, especially during deployments, and that bond seems to last.  Bree and I helped each other get through the first 9 months of the guys deployment and the day we found out Adam was hurt she was there at my house as soon as I called and took care of everything, along with my parents, from that point on until after I left to go to D.C. to see Adam.  Needless to say, she is a great friend and I was so excited to see them and their two boys, Daenen who is 4 years old and Ethan who is 9 months old.

The Folks are now stationed in Alaska but were in the "lower 48" for a couple of weeks visiting family and friends so we decided to meet them in D.C. for a long weekend since it's not too far from Charlotte.  We stayed in Arlington, just outside of D.C., and took the Metro most places which was really fun for Cohen and Daenen.  We spent most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday sight-seeing around Arlington and in D.C.  The highlights for the kiddos were the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum and the Dulles Air and Space Museum where they were able to see all the airplanes, helicopters and the space shuttle.  Chuck and Adam also took the older boys to the Monster Truck show in Baltimore which is a little boy's dream!  We did not take many pictures at all but here are a few from our trip.

Family Birthday

My Grandmother, Cohen and I all share the same birthday...how fun!!  It is such an amazing coincidence and fun celebration for all of us.  The weekend after our birthday we went to GA for a long weekend to celebrate.

On Friday mom, Adam, Cohen and I went to a place called Noah's Ark which is local animal rescue and rehabilitation center and children's home.  We had a great time there and saw all kinds of animals.  Saturday we had party with our friends at the Moore's house.  There were 7 couples and 13 kiddos.  We all had a blast!!  I only took about 3 pictures...Maggie has become the official photographer for our events ;) and now sends them out to everyone.  Then on Sunday we had a family birthday party at my parents house.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

 Opening a present at Mimi and Pops' house on his birthday

Getting Pops to help him open his new dinosaur

 

At the animal rescue

 

Ostrich at the rescue

Enormous water slide the Moore's got for the party!

Cohen and Marley...they just love each other!

At Mimi and Pops' pool

 

Cohen's dinosaur birthday cake...obsessed with dinosaurs right now!

Three generations of birthdays

Marley loves icing!

 Cohen loves icing!

Opening gifts with his buddy Colt

Uncle Ben teaching him how to squirt water :)

House Part 2 and another visit to GA :)

Here are some recent pictures of the house addition taken about two weeks ago.  Not much has been done since then; we are waiting on the tile to be done in the bathroom and laundry room.  The guy who is doing that has been really busy apparently so we are in a holding pattern right now.  The pictures are not too exciting to look at since it is just walls and windows but we super excited about the progress!!

 

I took the picture from the new hallway which was part of Cohen's old room.  This hallway now extends into the new part of the house.  The picture is looking into the remaining part of Cohen's old room which will now be the office.

New hallway and new doorway to outside

Looking into the laundry room (the washer and dryer is currently in a very large cabinet in the middle of our kitchen--it will be so nice to have a laundry room!)

New master bedroom

Another angle of the master bedroom

New master bathroom

Cohen and I took another trip to GA this past weekend, even though we were just there for Easter the weekend before.  Adam did not go with us because he had appointments at the VA on Friday and Monday and also wanted to get some things done around the house and in the yard...much easier to do without an almost 3-year-old running around (as those of you with children well know!).  We went to GA for the birthday party of our friend's, the Muschara's, son Colt.  He turned 5 and we just could not miss the party!  Cohen, Marley and Colt had such a great time playing together and I know Colt had a blast at his birthday party.  Of course, I forgot my camera like I usually do when we go out of town and the only pictures I took were with my phone.  I did "catch" Cohen and Marley playing "doctor"...probably the cutest thing I have EVER seen.  They were lying on the floor taking turns being the patient and the doctor.  Here are a few shots from my phone...not the best quality.

And a couple of pictures of the two and them jumping on Marley's new "big girl" bed in their undies.  It is very hard to keep the two of them clothed!!  They are two peas in a pod!