Poor Cardinals..

It's Super Bowl Sunday and it's a bitter sweet day knowing that there will be no more football for another 6 more months. I have to admit that I was pulling for the Cardinals since they were the underdog and what a great story they have been. The game was a great one to watch even though I felt like I didn't see much of the first half juggling two kiddos. We attended a small party and enjoyed ourselves.

I realized the other day that I had some pictures on my camera that I have yet to download and I wanted to share them. Several are from a rainy day that we had a couple of months ago and Landon had a ball splashing around in the puddles.

It was cold so I had to bundle Kennedy up pretty good. This outfit is a little too big and I thought it was hilarious!

This is Landon's biggest playmate, our neighbor's cat

Busy, yet boring..

Has anyone ever asked you how your day/week is going and you say, "So busy!" And then they follow up with the question, "What did you do?" - "Ummmm, let's see. I really don't know. I really can't remember!" Yep, that's my week!! Both the kiddos are feeling good and we've been trying to get outside as much as we can with this cold weather. Fortunately, today was really nice and we got out after Landon came home from Mother's Day out.

I am looking forward to my parents coming over tomorrow to hang out with the kids. I just love their company and Landon goes crazy when they are near.

I thought i would post some cute pictures that I got of Kennedy this week (finally). She has been my early bird this past week and it's been wearing me out. I am ready for a full night's sleep!!

4 Months Old

Kennedy is just over 4 months old (16th) and haven't taken any pictures of her lately! I can see why the 2nd child doesn't get the same treatment as the 1st. With Landon, I would take special pictures of him on his 'month' day with a little bear and made a picture collage when he was a year old with a picture from every month. Well, poor Kennedy hasn't gotten the same treatment! Although, I still might do it since I have only missed this past month. No one will ever know, right?!?

I took her to the doctor this past Thursday for her well baby check up. Her ears were cleared up after double ear infection a couple of weeks ago. Yay!! No more giving her nasty meds that she hates. She is healthy and thriving so we are so blessed! She did, however, get her shots and poor thing has been running some fever the past couple of days. Here are her stats:

Weight: 14 lbs 6 oz
Height: 24 3/4 inches
Head Circumference: 41 1/2 cm
These are all in the 75% tile so we are pleased!

Happy (late) four months old to my little angel!

Weekend road trip

Now that I have the time and an awesome, adventurous mom, I can go on road trips to do things that I really enjoy. I have always wanted to visit other universities and see their basketball teams play on their home court and in their environment (as a spectator). Even though I no longer coach college basketball, it doesn't mean I don't still enjoy it. I definitely miss certain aspects of it, but not enough to get back in it.

Coach Barmore is now coaching with Kim Mulkey at Baylor (both are former coaches of mine) and I have been wanting to watch their team play and see their new facilities. So, we left Lance behind, loaded up the kids and took off to Waco. It was great to be in such an exciting environment and watching some brilliant coaches at work. It just so happened that they played Oklahoma State who is also coached by one of my former bosses, Kurt Budke. He has done a great job turning that program around. He has a great team, but Baylor handled them pretty well on their home court.

I was really impressed with:

1. the tailgaters before the game
2. Nice crowd (i would guess around 7,000)
3. Excellent facilities, including two practice facilities attached to the main gym. Players can get in there 24 hours a day using the 'hand scanner' security door entry.
4. Kim's balcony overlooking the practice gym
5. Two jumbo screens that show replays and even 1st half highlights during half time
6. Barmore and Kim's relationship during the game. I have always wondered how they would work together after the roles were reversed from the coaching days at Tech
7. How well behaved Kennedy was during the game (except for crying during the National Athem!! And we were sitting right behind the players bench!!). I can't say the same for Landon who had NO nap that day and had to sit still for a 7 pm, 2 hour basketball game! Yikes! Let's just say he had tons of candy and popcorn!

After the Baylor win, we stayed in Waco for the night and then headed to Fort Worth the next morning to attend a baby shower for my cousin. Then we were able to stay in Dallas with my brother before we headed back to Ruston. It was a fun filled weekend, but traveling with a two year old and a four month old can get tiresome!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Oklahoma State Head Coach, Kurt Budke

Coach Barmore and his wife, Rachel

Landon and his cousin, MacKenzie

Landon loved jumping in the leaves!!

Opps! Please don't call childcare services!

At Landon's two year doctor's appointment, our doctor suggested that we see a pediatric cardiologist to look at a murmur that she kept hearing. She really thought it was nothing, but just to be on the safe side, we scheduled one. Fast forward four months and we finally get in to see the doctor today! He said his heart looks and sounds great, but that he has pneumonia! Not a bad case, but needs to be addressed today before it really gets worse. He asked me if he had been sick or coughing a lot and I said, "Yes!" All through the holidays he had a cold and now it has turned into this.

So, I drove back to Ruston (about an hour away) to see if we could get into our pediatrician. Mom was watching Kennedy so we went by to pick them up and headed to the doctor's office. She looked him over and said that his tubes (that we put in back in August) are coming out and that he has an ear infection. Grrrr! Those are supposed to last at least a year. I guess this explains some super crankiness we have been experiencing with him!

Since we had Kennedy there, I asked our doc to look at her. She had caught Landon's cold over a week ago and her sleeping patterns were off. Soooo, it turns out that she has not only one but two ear infections. Yikes! Poor thing!

And just think, these were all discoveries that were made during a routine check-up! ;) Yep, that's me, Mom of the year! At least Landon was WONDERFUL with everyone poking around on him all day. He was a little ham and the doctors loved him!

Lance's surprise trip

sorry that the text is underlined...not sure why it is linked...ugh!

I always have a hard time trying to figure out what to give Lance for Christmas and birthdays. He is so hard to shop for and I decided to quit wasting money on clothes that he will never wear. He has been a long time Cowboys fan, but has never been to their games or any other professional football games (and me neither!). So, I have a really good friend of mine who has season tickets and I worked out a deal to surprise Lance for an early Christmas present by kidnapping him and taking him on a weekend trip to Dallas that included going to the final football game at Texas Stadium.

I told Lance that on Friday night, we will attend my cousins birthday party, spend the night with my parents and take family portraits the next morning. And let me tell you, he was super excited about doing this!! (insert sarcastic face here!) After packing all day for four people (Kennedy went with us, while my parents will keep Landon), I finally got everything ready so when Lance got off of work, we could head out. We drove to Shreveport and it was a long drive because I was so excited, but couldn't let on to anything. Halfway through the party, I slipped him a note that said open immediately. He looked at me like I was half nuts because his first thought was that I was pregnant!! After a sigh of relief, he began to read the 'Jingle Bell-themed' poem that I wrote to him basically said to hand me his keys and that we were leaving immediately for a road trip.

We get into the car and I told him we are taking a 'shopping' trip to Dallas to pick out whatever he wants for Christmas and that we were staying at the galleria. He was really excited because he had just been to Dallas for a day earlier that week and said he wanted to go back to go shopping. When he told me this, I just laughed on the inside..."If he only knew..."

We checked into our hotel around midnight, and as we were getting ready for bed, sportscenter was on (shocker!). And it mentioned that it was the last game for the Cowboys the next night and he wished we could go to it. He looked at me and said, "You didn't get tickets, did you?" And I said, "Baby, I'm good, but I am not that good!!"

The next morning, I got up to go get coffee in the galleria and see a Cowboys store. I purchase the program for the final game and stuck the tickets inside to hand to Lance. I got back to the hotel and gave it to him and his face was priceless. At first he thought the tickets weren't real, but when he saw that what they were, he went nuts! Just imagine Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch, but with three times as much excitement!! Not only did we have tickets, but they were in a luxury suite with a VIP parking pass!!

I have to admit, I could have purchased anything I wanted at the Galleria that day because he was on cloud nine the entire day!! We had a blast shopping and it was great to get away and enjoy each other's company. Kennedy was a perfect angel and an excellent traveler!

The game was an amazing experience, even though they played so poorly. Now, all we want to do is go to a game at the new stadium! Here are some pics from our little adventure!

We walked down close to the field as the players were warming up

Getting ready to go inside game. It was cold and windy!!

My friend, Michelle, who had the box suite

Christmas Whirlwind

Like everyone else, I am sure your Christmas came and went just as fast as ours did. It was a lot of hustling and bustling, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I think everyone on my mom's side of the family was holding their breath to see how difficult and different it was going to be with the first Christmas without Nonnie, my mom's mother, who passed away this past August. She was the rock of our family and had Christmas traditions that go back 50 years ago. It is sad to say, but for the first time in those 50 years, we let go of some of those traditions, but realize that change can be good. We all survived, but she was greatly remembered and honored.

We were all looking forward to watching Landon open up gifts this year. He recently got into watching Polar Express (and still asks for it) and has loved it! It is cute to see him jingle a bell and say, "I believe". Landon 'sort of' understood that Santa came to visit him and brought him presents (he still says that Santa is coming tonight). He really got into his Elf on the Shelf and enjoyed looking for him every morning. I think we are all sad to see "Stowie" go back to the north pole.

Landon wanted drums for Christmas and it was one of the first presents he opened. Therefore, he had no interest in any other presents after that!! In fact, 4 days later, he still had gifts under the tree to open. Which was kinda fun because it gave us something for him to open when it got cold and rainy outside!

Every other year, we celebrate the Cochran Fear Factor Challenge on my dad's side of the family. My cousins and their spouses compete as couples to see who will take home the 'plaque' each year. I am embarrassed to admit that Lance and I have yet to take it home!!! Ugh! But I will argue some ruling on some of those events (of course!! I can't help it, I am too competitive!). Well, this year, it involved riding a zip line over a swampy canal, shooting a bb gun, and eating whipped cream pies. I am also embarrassed to say that Lance Hall rocked in every event and if I had been a better shooter, we would have done better. I guess I will have to wait two more years to redeem myself. blah!

Here are some pictures from this years Christmas! Enjoy!