Long time no see!

Well it's been 4 months since I blogged, so here we go...

School is about to begin in less than a month.  Let's just say that I'm a bit excited!  For one, my baby is going to kindergarten!  I though this day would never come.  Second, I'm going to be able to work again full time.  These two things make me very happy!

Kupper's 1st Day of 1st Grade!  2010

My baby boy, Houston (AKA Hootie) is a very active child that NEEDS to be with other kiddos.  School is going to be a great thing for him.  I just hope he's not too helpful in class with the other children.  It will be fun to watch how this all plays out...

Me going back to full-ish time work is going to be good for me and my nerves!  I was not born with the "I have to be with my off-spring every waking moment."  So the last 3 years have been somewhat of a challenge for me.  I love my kids from the depths of my soul, but 1 million question a day, my name called 2 million times, wiping butts, picking up 3 wardrobe changes daily,  closing cabinets constantly, etc... is not my exact idea of a good time!  But I did it to the best of MY ability, not anyone Else's. 

This is the strange stuff you let your kids do when your a SAHM!  Play with tiny chicken eggs!  Shhh! They are sleepin'.

Another great thing about school and work is the schedule.  We don't really do "ball" or anything, so we don't have too much on our plate.  We have Church on Sundays and Wednesdays.  And that's about it.  Things just work a lot better around the Cox House when we all get up at a set time and we know what is expected out of us:)  Summer time is too much like party time!  The kids sucker me into staying up late and eating weird stuff, which is good to have some down time!  But 3 months is enough :)

A little summer fun at the beach!  2011

So on August 4th, the Cox's are going to be ready!  School supplies bought, new shoes, clothes, hair cuts, lunches packed and out the door we go.  I pray that we have no calls from schools on the first day!  "Mrs. Cox, your son, Houston, is trying to teach the class!" 

Good luck Hootie and Kup!  Hope it's a great year!

You are here --->

     Well, It's been 2 months since we moved from "down in the bottoms" to the hill in Poole Town!  And as everything goes, it went.  We are settled and ready to re-do everything that the previous owners probably worked really hard on for years:) 
     We are doers.  And I guess we like projects.  Not that we have the time and the money to do all of them, but we have a vision.  I like that!  My honey is the dreamer, and I the realistic yin to the yang.  It works and has worked for almost 10 years.  Yes that's right almost 10 years!  No one would have dreamed that up, way back when!

     Since we are back everything has been as if we never moved, almost like this past summer was a dream.  I very nice dream for me!  God only knows the reasons, but I know that the out come will be good.  I went back to Thelma's, for a once over, last Saturday, just to see what was left behind and I found that there was some emotion still there.  I don't think it had to do with me at all, but the fact that there was no trace of my Mammaw there.  Everything was gone.  Nothing left in that old house just like her.  There's the shells but all the "stuff" that made them special is gone.

     New chapter...Kuppster went right back to school without skipping a beat, Jason went to work like he did before.  I started working like I did before and whatever Hootie did or does, He kept it up too.  Life is good and God is great.  I have been blessed beyond what I deserve. With God's grace, Jason and I won't kill each other while we make our visions reality! 

Don't mind Jason's crack! 

The brother-in-law helping with the electric!

almost done here!

Are we there yet?

Ok...It seems like a million years ago since we (or Jason) started looking for a house back in Hendo.  Now we are getting down to the knitty gritty.  The looking is over.  The papers are signed and we are down to the wire on moving in!  Bitter sweet though.  I'm going to miss the comfort of my hometown, but in the last 10 years Hendo has become my hometown too.  It's the hometown of my husband and of my kiddos.

In a few days we will be into our new home and getting adjusted to life there.  It's been a slow process which in a way has gave me plenty of time to adjust.

A normal person would probably go crazy with the moving and a shaking that we do.  I do think that the stars aligned when Jason and I met and shortly got married.  He is a BIG dreamer and I don't get shook up:)

We are back and things have fell in place perfectly with very few snags and I would like to thank God for blessing this process and transition.

For 2 weeks we have been staying with my In-laws.  OK, before you start to feel sorry for me, it has been pretty painless.  I pray every morning that we not get offended or wear our feelings on our sleeves.  It has to be what has kept us from killing one another:)  It's totally hard to combine 2 families together, who are in different stages in life and co-habitat harmoniously.  I am very proud of us.  I owe my Mother-in-law, big time, for doing our laundry more than once. (She probably didn't like seeing it in the baskets:)

Now we are so close to moving in. We are so anxious to get back to a normal life and start this next page in the Cox saga.

Are we there yet? Close and it wouldn't be long now!

Hello 2011!

Well, of course I decided that I should shed some pounds this year, like millions of other people in the world.  I also decided to take in something more than bread.  This was an easy choice for a 2011 resolution.  I am going to read the Bible in 1 year. 

I'm really excited because some of the best and wonderful Christian women, I know, read or have read It in 365 days.

I want to crave the word of God instead of craving the "bread alone."  Wanting to be a better witness I realized...how in the world can I do that if I don't know what to say?

"Hey, you sinner over there!"

"You wanna get some Jesus?"

That maybe a perfect way to catch the "fish," but what am I going to say after I reel them in?  God has gave me the boldness to approach people and it's an awesome gift, but now I have get a game plan after the thrill of the catch.

That is where filling up with the Word will definitely come in handy.  I mean what's the point of "fishing"  if we just release them back into the world without cleaning them first.

Even after all the reading and praying, I might not have the most sophisticated words roll off my tongue, but I'm sure the perfect words that He needs me to say, to the right person, will be there.

I try to keep in mind that young children have to learn basic mathematics before they can start understanding calculus.  So I might just have to teach pre-school:)

If you haven't made a resolution for 2011, I have a simple one for you.  Please say a prayer for me everyday for one year. 

Moving...Again...ugg.

Mom & Dad's

College Street

Pebble Creek

Stapp Drive

Mattingly Drive

Wood Drive

Wood Drive Cul-de-sac

B.F. Overfield Road

Thelma's

     This is a list of the places that I have lived since 1979.  The first I lived for 20 years and the eighth, I lived for 5 years!  I am 31 years old.  Let's say that I am very good at packing and unpacking, but I feel my enthusiasm is dying.  My home on B.F. Overfield Road was going to be my home FOREVER, but that's not what was in the stars or in my husbands dreams either.  He had a grand dream.  A dream of moving me back to my hometown.  Well, not just my hometown, but 300 yards from where I was raised my whole childhood.  Before I moved out of my Mom and Dad's, I thought that people grew up and lived in a house until their death.  I had never been around crazy people that moved when the carpet got dirty.  That's what my Mom says we do:)  I was sheltered and naive.

     I'm not saying that any of this was bad, just not what I had pictured.  Moving helps you in a way.  You hold on to the important things and purge all the crap-o that you held on to for too long.  You quickly find out who your true friends are and the extra ones you need to purge too:)  Note to friends that stuck around:  You get a lot of good "crap"  when the Cox's move, don't you?  Yes, Mame!

     I am very glad that my hubby (in his BIG dream kind of way) finally got me to move back to good ole' Tolu.  It gave me a moment to reconnect with people I hadn't seen in a long time, come back to the great feeling that this old house gives me,  my boys got to spend the summer with Mammaw and Pappaw and I recharged on where I came from.

     Moving back to Tolu was not my idea!  I repeat, this was not my idea.  I fought Jason, tooth and nail, over moving back here.  I told him there was "nothing there, that's why I moved."  Those were my exact words.  Now...I realize that everything is here. 

     Being the most wonderful wife in the world, I totally understand why he doesn't think it's as grand as he first thought it would be.  Being the amazing wife, I am, I know why we gotta to pack up those GAMCO boxes one more time.  It's called love.

     I really can't complain too much about moving back to Hendo.  I did get a bigger house.  It has a basement that I dearly missed!  This one has a bathroom downstairs so there is no reason the kids have to come up at all now.  I'll just throw a couple of bologna sandwiches down and a jug of Kool-aid twice a day!  I have plenty of acres for a chicken coop and a room for the tanning bed....you know the important things!



Here is a picture of the new hacienda!

Nice, huh?  In that Brady Bunch kinda way!

See those big bushes?  Imagine my four-wheeler yanking them out of the ground!

       

    



"You're the meanest Mom EVER!"

     "You're the meanest Mom EVER!"  This is a quote that rolled out of Houston's, my 4 year old's, mouth yesterday while in the GAP.  A normal mom would have had embarrassment take her over, but not me!  No, it was pure anger and the overwhelming desire to pinch his little head off.  Don't worry Child Activist, I did a proper "time out" that would have made the Super Nanny proud! 
     My voice got real low and manly.  Intense eye contact was made, then I turned his little tail around in the corner and resumed shopping.  Score one for MOM! 

     Not only was I irritated for the loud scene that he just made, but I was more peeved that I had just taken them to the movies and to Chuck E. Cheese.  I don't know about other places in the world, but here in the good U.S of A. that should throw any mom into the GREATEST MOM category.  Nope, not with my kiddos.  I blame this on my mother.  I like to blame everything on my mom and I guess that is what I get for doing so...2 spoiled rotten kids.  How do you give your kids everything and still teach them to be grateful?  Well if you know please let me know!

     On a lighter note, after the time out and a "sorry Mom", we walked straight out of that store and directly into the candy store.  Even though they think I'm horrible, one day they will forget about the attitudes they had and just remember that their Mom was, in fact, an "Awesome Mom".  I guess it's kind of like a savings bond, the full benefits will not be seen for many years but totally worth the investment!

This was another day that I wasn't quite The Meanest Mom Ever!

    

    

Hit me with your best shot!

WANTED-  Good, clean jokes!  I have a page for jokes but...I don't know any!  I'm not really a good joke teller!  I am a great laugh-er though!  So if you see any or know any great jokes send them my way at brookedcox@aol.com.  Thanks guys and have a great Monday!

Just a little example of a good laugh!