12th Birthday, Covered and Topped!

Oh my.  The boy is 12.  Exactly one year away from being a full blown teenager.  I guess we can call him a "tween".  Oh my.

We started his birthday in true Tommy style.  Waffle House.  Covered and topped.  YUCK!  He LOVES it.  Any celebration and that is where he wants to go.  

His choice for dinner was Olive Garden.  Pretty surprising actually.  He usually never likes it but he wanted the toasted ravioli.  My Mom was so proud.  That's her favorite.  My boy stuffed himself.  Toasted ravioli, mozzarella sticks, chocolate cake and sweet tea.  I thought he was going to POP.

Not sure why these pictures look so fuzzy.  He had a great time though.  I think that day at school was his best day ever.  BIG things happened.  I will tell everyone about it soon enough.  BIG things though.  

I keep trying to get these boys to stop growing but it doesn't seem to be working.  Tommy is 12 years old and 5'2 121 pounds and wears a size 10 1/2 or 11 shoe.  WHAT happened to my sweet little baby boy?  I could not be prouder of him though.  He is navigating some rough waters but doing it with the best attitude.  He is just an awesome kid! I think 12 is going to be a great year for him.

Had to come back for some cake with Grandma and Grandpa.  All he wanted was a German Chocolate cake.  Again, WEIRD.  He loved his day and we love him!!!  

Happy New Years 2014

New Years 2014!  Celebrated Cochran style this year.  At home, CHILLING.   We made dinner and had a nice toast to what was and what will be.  

I decided to try to give Jimmy a little countdown of his own.  Don't be fooled though, Tommy was more excited about popping those balloons than Jimmy I think.  LOL  We started our countdown at 8:00.  Just fun little surprise each hour to play with.  I must say how proud of myself I was that I fit certain items into those balloons!  Marc said I couldn't...so I did.  HA HA 

The first one was "Balloonies".  Do you remember these?  I use to do them when I was little.  Basically  blowing plastic balloons.  Weird but oddly fun.  Guess who got the biggest one.  He is no fun to play with sometimes.  lol

The 9:00 balloon was just some fun Big League Chew suckers.  

This kid will stop and read ANYWHERE ANYTIME.  I love it.

 At 10:00 we got an Iron man puzzle.  

Poor little man missed the 11:00 silly putty balloon.  He was too busy "trying" to stay up.  He actually fell asleep around 11:45.  He told us to wake him up at 12 but we tried and he about chewed our heads off.  

So Tommy and I got to have all the silly string fun at 12:00.  Let's just say he Jimmy was NOT happy. I owe  that kid a can of silly spray!  

Just a fun, chill evening at home with the kiddos.  The best kind. :)

It's that time again...the most wonderful time of the year.

We are enjoying being back in the full swing of Christmas.  Such a fun time of year.  So much to see and do. Our community center had the annual tree lighting and then Polar Express movie on the lawn.  We had a blast.  There were carolers, smores and hot cocoa.  Jimmy even got to see Santa.  Great night.

We went and got our tree this weekend too.  Fake trees are for fake Christmas's.  LOL  If you are going to do it do it right! 

This little man likes to wake up early with his Mommy and watch Looney Tunes and have hot cocoa.  I can handle that.  :)

Now we are just getting back to party planning and celebrations.  Busy but fun!

Time to make the meatballs.

"Juicy Joes" meatballs have NOTHING on these babies.  My Mom has been making these meatballs for as long as I can remember.  Very simple but delicious recipe. A true basic staple around here.  SO SO yummy.   One of Tommy's favorites.

Sweet girls

We ran up to Nashville this weekend to give the girls their 1st Birthday presents.  Oh my goodness they were so sweet with their Fur Real Doggy and Kitty.  Just adorable!  Tommy, Dylan and Jimmy are always so funny together.  Quick but great weekend with family.

Boo!

Halloween 2013 was chill this year.  Tommy and I were NOT feeling well at all.  It was all we could do to walk around the hood for a little bit.  The boys were a ninja, and a crazy clown.  I don't ask questions.  They have reached that age of dressing themselves.  Gone are the days of cute Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh.  Sad Momma.  LOL  Marc was the salt to my pepper.  Can you imagine how happy he was about that?  HA HA HA I love that man!!!

Camp Rainey

Our little boy scout was so excited to go on the annual family camping trip to Camp Rainey this year.  Mommy, Daddy and Tommy on the other hand took one for the team.  GOOD LORD it was cold.  So cold in fact, he actually earned the Polar Bear badge for cold weather camping.  I have never in my life been so cold for so long.  IT WAS 25 DEGREES at night.  We woke up and the tent was completely frozen.  That being said, we had a blast.  It was a beautiful place and we had so much fun together completing all the activities for "our" badges.  We did archery, shooting, obstacle course, disc golf, hiking, crafts, games and a ton more.  Great memories for the kiddos.  For my part I will never forget looking over Jimmy at Marc in the tent at 2 in the morning while laughing and crying at the same time.  Nor will I forget packing up the car in 10 minutes flat to get off that mountain and to a Waffle House.  Hilarious!