"SCHEWS!!"

So Teddy was working the SMOTA Shoe Show down at the Miami Beach Convention Center this afternoon. We thought this would be a fun one to come visit him at! Thanks to cousin Whitney, Reese was an official 'buyer!' She got a bag and her very own pass that said: Reese Cook, Family Member. Too cute!

Posing with Daddy before we went into the show...

While we were walking around, we were stopped by two women working the booth: squeakers, a really cute brand of children's shoes. They asked us if Reese would like to try on a pair of squeakers. Are you kidding me? Of course, this is a kid that loves shoes...and ones that squeak?! Life doesn't get any better! So they put on an adorable pair of purple squeaker sandals, and needless to say, she put on a show! It took her about 2 seconds to warm up to them, then as soon as she realized she was drawing a crowd...it was on. She loved them, and they loved her so much they asked if they could film her running around in the squeakers for their website. Sure, why not? After a short filming they told Reese the best news ever, she could keep the shoes! Woohoo! I was obviously pretty excited too! This is a short clip of her upstairs in the SMOTA offices during lunch, showin' off her 'schews'! Enjoy!

*and for those of you that are thinking, 'well that's gonna get annoying' (yes, I know you're out there), the good news is, the squeakers come out! Then they're just regular sandals.

Summer, Shiners and Sailing...Sort-of :/

I told myself after uploading all of these pictures: 'If I just committed to blogging once a month even, it wouldn't take me 2 hours to post a blog trying to catch you up on the last 3 months!' Oh well. Here we go...

Our summer started by saying 'bon voyage!' to "Hap" Ami & the boat in early May! It was so sad to see them go, okay okay, mainly because I was losing my babysitters, little selfish. I know.

Not long after, we dove into our list of summer projects. Teddy's (one of many) was to touch up the front yard. Not necessarily relandscape, but it definitely needed some lovin'! We laid some pavers (aka, stay the heck off our grass bricks) along the street and then laid sod right up to them, where formerly resided...mud. It looks so good! Such a small change made a huge difference! This is Reese helping Dadi lay the sod!

Of course, where the grass meets the driveway is kind of uneven. While handing Teddy another piece of sod (okay, not really) while stepping off she took a nice spill, face first, into the dirt. Licked the sand off her lips and kept on going...not sure it really phased her.

If anything it made her a little hungry as she came in for a snack not long after the spill.
Food = the cure all.

And here they are putting the final touches on some dry areas of grass throughout the front yard. We also transplanted a few liriope from the yard to line the driveway with. We need to transplant a few more to make it fit all the way to the front door. (mom and dad, we have no idea what happened to your liriope while you were sailing, must be a coincidence...)

Now...on to MY summer project. Yep, just one. A good friend of ours suggested before we even moved into this house that I turn the under the stairs closet into a play room. Its definitely big enough. So over Memorial Day Weekend, while Teddy was in Boston on one last guys trip I decided to tackle the playroom! SO glad I did...


We started with a 6x9ishx5ish (its very oddly shaped since its under the stairs) room that needed a piece of drywall patched. I totally can't take the credit for this part. Teddy did patch the drywall before the guys trip...

This is the odd corner that runs under the stairs, perfect for little kiddos. Step one (for me) was finding a new home for this extremely unorganized pile of randomness. Christmas decorations, weights, etc.

Then the fun began! This is after 2 coats of chalkboard paint on the bottom 5 1/2 feet of the south wall, 6 (yes, 6) coats of magnetic primer on the west wall, and then just regular primer on the top part of the south wall. I'm also mapping out where I want the vinyl wall art to go...

After 3 days of painting and drying this is our final product!
A great corner for her toys! Yay for them not being scattered all over the house anymore!

A very fun chalkboard wall! The top is actually a light gray with violet vinyl words, a lime green grass border and some small white vinyl flowers growing out of the grass. Hard to see here...
This might be her favorite part. She has stood here for hours before just 'writing' on the wall... took some training to keep it on this wall only, but she gets it!

The magnetic primer is just that, its a primer. You paint over it any color you'd like. I chose a light purple/violet to tie in with the bright violet wall art. The violet/gray/black theme came out really good! With a few touches of lime green.

Writing on her chalkboard wall...looking forward to having a little sister to play with in here!

The summer is really upon us now!
And just like Momi, its time to start ordering those latte's iced!
Decaf, of course...

And since its June, that means little Myla Rae will be here next month!! This is me @ 34 weeks! Now currently almost 37...wow!

Another exciting moment (of course, while Dadi was away...) was that Reese got her first shiner! She took a great spill in an Old Navy shopping cart, smacking her face on the metal pole on the way down. She freaked out a good bit... This is the best picture I could get... Oh! and this is also during her 'I refuse to wear a bib' phase that lasted about 3 days...still working on those stains! Errr!

Finally, we just got back from our one last trip as a family of three! We decided, very last minute, to pay a visit to Hap and Ami in Charleston last weekend! When we got word of the motor replacement project, and found out that they would actually be in the South Carolina area a lot longer than expected, we decided to take advantage of this last available weekend and go on a little road trip! So fun!

We got there just in time for the US/England soccer game on Saturday. So we ducked into a little sports bar to watch the fun. Sunday we went to a great church right in downtown Charleston and had lunch at Pagoons! We walked the city, Market Place and just before passing out from the 102 temperature, we found ourselves at another brewery watching more soccer! Monday we went back into the city for a little driving tour. I'm serious, it was HOT. We had lunch at a great little deli and then decided to head home :( The plan was to stay one more night and head home Tuesday, but the other plan was to not go into preterm labor from dehydration! :)
Again I repeat, it was HOT.

Reese's love/hate relationship with the dingy ride. No tears. But no smiling either...

She loved exploring every inch of Morning Glory...

Even the ones she couldn't reach on her own...

In front of Cook's in Charleston. A really great cookware store!

Crossing the street with Hap and Ami.

We've gotten right back into the swing of things with Reese's swimming lessons since coming home from S.C.. She really has come a long way since her first lesson, take a look...

And so I leave you with this....
Oh, and I'm pretty sure I mention it in the video itself, but just moments before this she 'swam' to the edge, shimmied her hands over to the steps to climb out by herself and then slipped off the second step right under the water, looked like a toddler water birth, eyes wide open looking up at us from under water! She took in some water, but surprisingly, stayed pretty calm. Anyways, that will explain the slight fussiness the second go-round! Enjoy!

Soap and such...

Okay, so a lot has gone on since the last time we talked. We found out we were having #2...


We celebrated Christmas, Reese's first...
Speaking of firsts...she also turned ONE on January 6th...
And now, its finally the new year! We're making new habits...like saving money! Should've been an old habit :/ I was actually given this recipe years ago by a family with 8 kiddos...I thought it sounded interesting, but also thought it sounded like quite a bit of work, man was I wrong. Recently, my friend Kathy sent me this recipe again saying: "you've got to do this!" So yesterday, Reese and I made our very own laundry detergent... SO easy!

You'll need: a 5 gallon bucket, with a lid!
A bar of soap grated into 7 cups of warm water. Your choice, but know that this is where the scent will come from in the detergent, so go with something yummy. And something that you want to walk around all day smelling like!
Borax and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Publix had the borax, Target had the Washing Soda...
Finally, a scented oil, which is optional. This will over power the soap and add the scent, if you choose. I decided not to use the tea tree oil since I put it in everything else...like the floor cleaner and the countertop cleaner...my house constantly smells like this stuff, thought I could live without the clothes smelling like it too!
The recipe:
Grate a bar of soap into 7 cups warm water. Stir over medium heat until soap is dissolved. About 10-12 minutes.
Fill the 5 gallon bucket with 4 gallons of warm/hot water.
Add the soapy water.
1/2 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
Stir until all the grains are dissolved.
Finally, cover and let sit overnight!

This is the finished product: a thick, clumpy gel like mixture. Use 3/4 cup in a full load.

Now, the ingredients are super cheap! I haven't done the actual break down, but Kathy has! It comes out to about $2.00 a bucket! Crazy! The larger gallon sized laundry detergents are usually anywhere from $8-$12 each...and thats just one gallon! Amazing... and Ive never been so excited about doing laundry!

Ill leave you with these! Two recent videos of the soon-to-be big sister! First one is a mix of her playing peek-a-boo and showing the world her surprise face :) Always knows she can get a laugh with that one, therefore, we see it often! Shes a total ham!

Second one is a little friendly game of pillow fighting, she loves to pillow fight, or better said get smacked in the face with a pillow...theres not fighting on her end!

Try the soap! Let me know how it goes!

::Organic Produce Share::

So, I recently joined this organic produce share: Annies Buying Club! So much fun! Im a coordinator, which basically means the truck drops all the goods off at my house and I sort the produce for each member. They can pick it up later that day in a two-hour window, and the rad part is I get a full order of organic produce FREE each week. We love Free.
If youre local, and youre interested, let me know.

Mom sorting green beans...

Reese and Mommy with the Pumpkin Pies

Produce for days...

Reese trying her very first Kiwi Berry!

The goods :)

"Home Sweet Hollywood"

Well, we are finally settled in our new home! Life has never been better! Im loving the day-to-day routine of taking care of a home and raising Reese! Im so blessed to be able to stay home with her! Yesterday kicked off a new semester of home fellowships at our church and we are the official host home in the south! I absolutely loved it! Love having a house full of people, love the worship in our house, love our church, love the Lord, love breaking bread together afterwards...life is good! Thanks to all the people in and out Reese has totally become a little social butterfly. She is doing this thing where whoever walks up to her (no matter who is holding her) she reaches out for the other person...and so on. Its become a game really, but its too cute! People seem to just love when a baby reaches out for them. A new neighbor stopped by yesterday to introduce herself and I opened the door holding Reese and sure enough, Reese reached out for the neighbor! Complete stranger! I graciously handed her over...only because I kind-of knew the neighbor, I went to High School with her son...love being back in the hood! :)

Today is day one, of week six, of phase 2 of P90X. Confused? Put it this way...Im half way there! It has pretty much become an obsession at this point. Im losing more weight then gaining muscle, which was not the goal, but I guess just natural? Its still amazing...

My sister-in-law sent me this baking website that I have quickly fallen deeply in love with. The day she sent it I baked these immediately. holy goodness. When she says 'theyre perfect', she aint kidding. Make them NOW, while blueberries are still in season and 2/$5 @ Publix! They will change your life. Below is a picture of Reese (recently turning 7 months old...) baking muffins with her mama, I hope I never forget these moments....

Also, note the thing in her mouth!? Thanks Kailee! If it was up to Reese she would sleep with this thing. Its a mesh baggie type thing that you can put different food items in whole and she basically just sucks the juice and flavor out. Loves her some cantelope! Just like her dad! :)

And I leave you with a movie review (this post just keeps getting more random) 'August Rush'...watch it! Best movie Ive seen since Slumdog Millionaire, also, the only movie Ive seen since Slumdog Millionaire. I dont watch movies to often, if you know me, you know why... :) Anyway, its really really good. Its also on demand under HBO movies (if you have comcast cable) free movies are always the coolest.

Happy Monday! Time to 'bring it'!

Do's and Don'ts Part II...sort of

So a great friend of mine posted a Do's and Don'ts blog not long ago, it was fantastic, as are many of her posts... So I thought I would piggy-back, if you will, on to her do's and don'ts with a few "nuggets" Ive picked up along the way, here you go:

DO floss your teeth every night, DONT spend more then you make (hello, welcome to our economy folks), DO nurse your babies, DONT invite someone to your bridal shower that you are not inviting to your wedding (can you say, tacky!?); DO renovate a house at least once in your life, DONT sell-out, DO rsvp when requested, DONT gossip, DO get together with old friends whenever you get the chance, it will ALWAYS be worth it, DONT sleep in, DO exercise, DONT talk on your cell phone when youre checking out @ publix, DO actually pray for someone when you tell them you will, DONT wear overalls, i dont care what people tell you, theyre not flattering, DO send thank you cards, DONT eat too much pineapple in one sitting, it does weird things to your tounge, DO always have a quick dessert ready to throw together for last minute guests!, DONT bite your nails, DO watch a sunrise every once in a while (same goes for sunset!); DONT leave dirty dishes in the sink (besides, you never know when those last minute guests will pop in!), DO wear your seatbelt!

anyone want to add to this...?

Third times a charm...

Guess its true. I thought I'd try one more time to load the video on youtube and it worked! You can view it in its entirety here!

Soooo...

I obviously had an issue uploading the video tour of our house...it wouldnt work on blogger OR youtube... I finally got it to work on flickr, however, they have a 90 second cap. uhh. so, needless to say, here is the first minute and a half of our 5 min. tour...

Ive also uploaded a few pictures, this was day one of renovations, tearing off wall paper and having the knock down done. Since then, we have painted pretty much the entire house! I will take some pics next time we're over there!

Can't wait for the house warming party... :)

Re-cap

Im trying to squeeze in a blog this month...I just noticed I haven't blogged since April 17th!! You can blame facebook for that one... This is just a little re-cap of what we've been up to!


Earlier this month we traveled over to Ft. Myers for the Fire Fighter Olympics. Teddy played flag football and 3 on 3 basketball. They took the bronze in football, however, had to forfeit in basketball when half the team decided to head home (to Miami Beach) after an early day and couldn't make it back across the alley the next day for the finals because of all the fires! Stinks! It was still a great weekend get away for us. We stayed in a beach house owned by some friends, it was wonderful! Here's a look at the team...

A better look at the team... (kidding!)

The following weekend was Mothers Day! Very exciting because it was my first... :) The cook girls (minus one) attended the Mothers Day Brunch @ St. Andrews! It was great to just be together!

For Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Pt. St. Lucie to hang with some family. (Wait for this one...) Teddy's sister, Kailee is married to David, David's little brother Taylor was in the State Championships for High School Baseball. (We'll go anywhere for anybody apparently...) Since the Tallahassee family was going to be a short hour and a half away we thought we'd go pay a visit! (and poor Taylor thought we were there for him...joke). Its always good to see them, and let the cousins be together! And in 16 more days we'll all be back together for Jamies wedding!! Here is the only picture I took all weekend...Teddy with his girls, Reese and Kinley! Can you believe the girl @ Panera asked if they were twins? wow...

And finally, I leave you with this: a 5 minute walking tour of our NEW HOME! We closed on May 20th, our 4 year wedding anniversary. It was the best gift ever! That day we started some minor renovations! We are hoping to be moved in in about 3 more weeks! We've done the whole 'live there while youre tearing out a kitchen and laying new floors' thing, totally not suggested! This video was taken literally 30 minutes after the closing. I am doing my best to take pictures of the renovation process, I will post 'um as them happen!

Easter in Park City!

Reese went on her first plane ride to Park City, Utah... (she did great!)

To have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny @ the Ski Slopes! (Her first Easter!)
We did a lot of cooking...
A lot of snow watching...

Even more just hanging out....

And now that we're home...shes helping mommy catch up on all the laundry! :)

Keepin' it in the Family...

We're buyin' another house! :) This one, however, is a little different and extremely special. Its not just another house... I have memories in this house from 20 years ago. Ive probably 'slept over' in every room in this house, and I slept in the guest room the night before my wedding...I used to be able to walk here from my house for years, until they built the wall... some of you may recognize it...

...yep, we're buyin Laura's house! We signed the contract last Friday, and we're set to close on May 20th, our 4 year wedding anniversary!

Still can't believe it...