Tis' the season to be jolly, falalalalalalalalala

Don't you just love your house all decorated for Christmas? It is something I look forward to all year long.

I also adore cold weather WHEN it is supposed to be cold weather. This isn't always the case in Texas. And for some reason, at age 34 (and fabulous) I still get really upset when it isn't cold or at least cooler in October. Much less the end of November. Hello, 74 degrees on November 28!

Lucky for me, the weather turned much colder on Sunday, when it was time to decorate the tree. I made a pot of turkey and dumplings, with left over turkey, and we all went to town on the tree. (I let the kids hang the jingle bells. And then rearranged all their craziness after they were asleep. Bad mommy. Bad, bad mommy.)


My mantle. Lots of different trees line it. Nothing too interesting, pretty simple. But you have to remember there is a GIANT Axis mount above the mantle. Simple is good in this case.

Tess' stocking. Love it.

Bram's stocking. Love it. I bought these last year and totally forgot about them, I shrieked out loud when I opened the bin and saw these lovelies.

Our tree sits between our kitchen and den. The two main rooms in our home. SO, I have been buying lots of fun food ornaments for the past 4 years. Slowly building quite a collection of cute foods and the like.

Cupcakes, glass blown wrapped candy, chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles, nutcrackers holding treys of cookies, Santa holding a bottle of wine. The "Big brothers are like superheroes" ornament that Tessie Mayes "bought" for Bram last Christmas. And of course, homemade ornaments made by the kids, even a few made years and years ago by Hubby and I. Love them all. All hand picked by yours truly and ONLY if they are special and unique. To me.

And that is all that matters.

Lots of hot pink, turquoise, orange, red striped, gingham and chocolate brown ribbon adorn the tree.

Sugar cookies, candy canes, sugared fruit and about a million glass balls on any branch that can hold them.

Vintage framed Christmas cards, pictures of the kids and snowmen holding baguettes and plates of cheese.

A million cupcakes.

Piece of chocolate cake with a cherry on top, my little dude in 2007. And colored lights. LOVE colored lights.

I picked up this little ditty in Snyder at the CUTEST antique store, "The Mason Jar." It is a 1960 Good Housekeeping magazine in pristine condition. It is my new favorite Christmas decoration! I can't believe it is pink!!! PINK!!!

So that is a teeny insight to the Coco home at Christmas.

I am totally missing a box with my antique baby spoons that I hang on the tree AND some ornaments that hang on a small wire tree for my dining table. Can't find them for the life of me.

Ugh.

Hubby doesn't seem to be bothered by this loss, he just keeps telling me, "we have enough stuff out. That is enough, get out of the attic!" Doesn't he understand that these things are just important because they are special to me. I don't tell him, "Why did you buy more camo? One camo outfit or a pair of waders, looks just like the other. You don't need anymore."

Of course I don't. I am WAY to sweet and loving to say anything like that. And pretty.

Oh well, it will be found......next Christmas. OR if we every move.

Changing the subject, my little smarty pants, Tessie Mayes, looked at me today and said, "stupid head." Awesome.

When I asked her, "What did you just say to me?"

She looked right at me and said, with a smile, "I love you."

Wow, hers is learning very, very fast. Isn't two years old a little young to have an attitude AND a little to young to lie? Or bluff? Or whatever you want to call it. I have absolutely no idea where she gets it?

Hmm. Must be from her dad.

Thanksgiving wrap up.

Because I know you care oh so much, here is a recap of our glorious Thanksgiving in beautiful West Texas!

First, I thought I would give a quick peek at Iddy's sewing room. It is were all the magic happens.

All the beautiful quilts in the making. It is very difficult to keep the little ones out of this room. A lot of stuff to look at, touch, and tons of buttons to push.

Moving on,

Nanaw's corn and Granny Puddin's mac and cheese. Holy Moly. You don't know heaven until you have Nanaw's corn.

Sugar, milk, corn and lots of butter. Slow cooked for hours and hours. Perfection.

Coco, Iddy and Abby. Setting the table for the feast.

What is that? Oh Hubby! A deep fried turkey, injected with butter, pureed garlic and onion.

Abby's boyfriend, Matt. He is a culinary school graduate (for realz).

Chase and Tess. Yes, this is Pa's Harley. And yes, Chase and Tess were pretty much sitting on it anytime we were outside.

In this picture, Chase is seriously looking at me saying, "OK, Coco, hand me the keys." Very serious. He asked for the keys all weekend long. The dude could not for the life of him figure out why giving the keys to a precocious three year old was a bad idea.

Chase and Tess eating breakfast. These two are hilarious together. They are either fighting or loving on one another. And they both eat like 16 year old boys.

Friday we walked to the park while Hubby took his 110th nap of the week. Napping made him tired.

Darling picture of Aunt Abby and Tess. Oh, how Tess loves her Aunt Abby!

If I hear, "Where, Abby?" one more time, I am going to put Tess in a box and ship her to Aunt Abby!!!!

Look at my little love bug. He has finally learned to pump his legs.

What a beautiful happy boy!

Hank showed Bram some tricks on the swing.

Thanks Hank! My anxiety level isn't quite high enough!!

And what Thanksgiving holiday is complete without a little Friday Night Bowling!!! In this particular bowling ally in Snyder, Texas....you can STILL smoke inside.

Awesome.

There were a few old ladies that seriously sat and smoked two packs of Virginia Slim Menthol 120's the two hours we were there.

Bowling with a 6, 4, 3 and 2 year old is quite an experience.

Hubs is kind of competitive. Everyone was trying to keep kids from smashing fingers and such but Hubby was keeping an eye on the score. He had a serious competition going on in his head.

But who am I to make fun? I made up my own Christmas card competition. And that isn't even a sport in real life.

Poor me.

Bram thought that the gutter was a SCORE! We let him go with that notion.

He also thinks his soccer team won every game.

Tess did a fabulous job with her pink ball. It is the same ball that I bowled with as well.

I've told y'all how UNathletic I am.

Hubby took this picture of me in action. Gutter ball #20.

I've got mad skillz, yo.

You can always count on Hubs and his creative photography.

"He likes big butts and he cannot lie, you other brother's can't deny, when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face....."

So that is my Thanksgiving Day wrap up. We returned Saturday and went straight to sleep. The whole family was worn out.

Yesterday was spent decorating the tree. Decorating the tree with a two and four year old is super fun!

After my two little jalepenos were tucked in snug as two bugs in a rug, I really started on the tree. It took me three hours!!!! And it is the CUTEST tree in Texas, for this I am certain. Pictures tomorrow.

So, today it is cold and rainy and I am getting laundry done, preparing for my 11 hour drive to Kansas City on Thursday. Yikes!!!! I am really excited to see Casey and family and to see a part of the U.S. that I have never ever seen before.

Yet, after our visit, I am afraid of two things: 1) the demise of Casey's marriage to Blake or 2) the demise of our lovefest.

Should be interesting!!!

Ta-ta for now!!

Freaky Friday on Saturday

We just returned home from Snyder, Texas after celebrating a glorious long holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving was wonderful and we had a ball. My kids are plum worn out. I will post pics when I figure out where my camera case is.

So on with Freaky Friday random thoughts on Saturday (which will be changed to "Random thoughts by Coco, from here on out. Just a heads up):

1) My kids talk a lot in cars, and whoever taught Bram the "animal game?" Consider yourself dead to me.

2) My husband turns into a lazy 16 year old at his mother's. I don't mind at all but it is crazy how much he lays on the couch to watch football and naps 5 times a day. AFTER waking up VERY late. And it sucks because you have to keep your chewing out at a minimum at the in-laws.

3) I realized in the shower this morning it had been awhile since I had cleaned my belly button, like a while a while. I can't touch my belly button because it creeps me out and it is connected to something in my stomach that feels funny when I touch it. Therefore, I prefer to clean out my belly button with a soft bristle toothbrush rather than the standard Q-tip. I didn't have my belly button brush with my in Snyder so I had to use a Q-tip.

I almost fainted in the shower. And I am feeling weird just typing about the experience.

4) I drank wine all weekend and just sent Hubs to the grocery store for a bottle.

What? It's Saturday night and I have a table to refinish.

Annnnnnddddddd I like my wine.

5) There is a certain 2 year old living in our house that is going to have some eye brow issues in about a year. This is NOT from my side of the family, as I have beautiful eyebrows. I am just VERY grateful that Hubby's little sister is an esthetician and she will fo'sho' be taking care of this problemo on the down low.

6) Regarding #5, don't get me wrong, her eyebrows are GORGEOUS but are getting bigger and puffier by the day. I say let's nip it in the bud before the kids at preschool start calling her Grover.

7) I think I am retaining a lot of water right now. Gross. And gross.

8) Martha gets carsick. Every time she is in a car. I almost vomited today when she puked something that I didn't recognize. You know the kind of gag that lingers? Where you stand there with your mouth open and wait for your gag reflex to decide which way it wants to go? That happened to me. In a McDonalds parking lot.

How awful would that be to be sitting there ordering your filet o'fish or McRib and then look over and see some beat down mom in yoga pants, an old long sleeve Willie Nelson t-shirt, no make up and dirty hair puking out the window of a filthy Tahoe?

Pretty awful, if you ask me.

9) People told me that throw up wouldn't bother me at all when it was my own kid's puke.

Am I a bad mom? Because it still grosses me out to no end. I have caught it in my hand, had my hair thrown up in, slipped in it, wiped it off of bodies and mouths, put cold rags on foreheads and such like every good mom, but as soon as they are old enough, they are cleaning that shit up themselves. I gag every single time.

Lucky for me, Tess has puked once and Bram only a handful of times.

Knock on wood.

Son of a bitch! Should I delete #4?

Great.

Now both kids are going to wake up with throw up coming from one end and diarhea coming from the other.

Dag gummit!

10) I love McRibs from McDonalds. Ummmmm-ummmmmm good. And as much as folks make fun of me regarding this delicacy, I am clearly not the only sad soul ordering this tasty delight since it goes on the menu several times a year.

11) The filet o'fish was my meal of choice from McDonald's as a child. What eight year old eats filet o'fish from McDonald's? Did my mom find this strange?

I honestly think I would be embarrassed to order something that jacked up for my kid. Did she stand behind me while I was ordering with her hands and her eyebrows raised like, "Did that little girl just order a filet o' fish with extra tarter sauce? What??? Weird." You know what I mean. Like shaking her head and acting like she totally didn't know me to the lady taking my order?

I bet she did. I wonder if she would fess up about how she handled it.

I'm going to call Tessie now and see how far she stood from me at the counter .

OR maybe she would only go to the drive-thru if I was in the car with her. Then the McDonald's employee, taking our order, would think it was for her or maybe my grandpa or a neighbor. OR would think that maybe she was just being charitable and buying it for a homeless person. It could be for anybody if you go through the drive thru, the possibilities are endless.

I am certain that is what she did. The drive thru.

12) These days I prefer just a cheeseburger and fries. Simple. Classic.

13) My brother and I would beat the crap out of each other over chicken mcnuggets. It is a looonnnngggg story but it happened most Wednesday nights, the only night we got fast food, and that was only if my dad was out of town. Bryan is a tad bit weirder than I am. So the messed up head games we played with one another over nuggets was off the charts kid weird. Cuckoo for Coco puffs. Weird.

14) This sums up all the thoughts I have had in 10 minutes. A lot of McDonald talk. Strange.

OK, going to unpack and continue working on my kitchen table.

Ta-ta for now. I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!!

My word, my word, my word.....what do I have to be thankful for????

Lots! I know I can be long winded so if I had to post about all I am thankful for, y'all would still be reading it when next Thanksgiving rolls around.

SO, I will try to keep it simple.

I am thankful for:

-my husband, as my mom puts it, "he is your perfect foil." First person EVER to tell me "no." I love him and love how much he loves me. Best dad, best provider, best son, best son in law, best friend, best brother and BEST lover.

(hehehehehe. just kidding, i would never really include that in this blog. just trying to scare y'all a little bit.)

-my kids. They are crazy, quirky, smart, funny, sweet, gorgeous and perfect in every weird and wonderful way.

-my parents, they are #1. Gave me the self confidence growing up to make me who I am today.

-my brother. Funniest guy on the planet. Gentlest dude on the planet. Smartest man on the planet. And I am thankful for his lady friend, Sara.

-family. In-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles. I have been blessed with a HUGE happy loving family. Doubly blessed to have a mother and father in law (Iddy and Pa) that love me and my kids unconditionally.

-friends. New and old. Thanks for letting me be me and appreciating it........most of the time.

-my house. Not big and fancy. But cozy and unique to me. I am thankful that we have a roof over our heads when so many don't or are worried about losing theirs.

-our health.

-food on our table. I shouldn't have to explain this.


I think that sums it up. The usual things to be thankful for but all so true. I am a lucky, lucky girl.

Life is good!

I wish everyone a wonderful, happy, safe, family filled, food festival of a Thanksgiving!!!!

And here is something to start your holiday with a BIG Bram smile:

Poor guy. He really needs to come out of his shell.

Ta-ta for now!

I'm giving in.

For those of y'all curious as to what the Hubby was carrying in a back pack up a mountain in Colorado.

Weeeellllllll, it was a big horn sheep. Sorry for those of you who are opposed to hunting but it is what it is.

Hunting a big horn sheep is a once in a lifetime opportunity and his dad was "drawn" to do go on this hunt. Hubs went to take pictures and carry sheep heads up a mountain. Awesome.

This is what one looks like in case you are curious,



The Hubs likes the outdoors, what can I say. I understand this since I grew up with a Daddy who loves to hunt, so it is just part of what guys do in these here parts.

You have to admit, Hubby looks mighty sexy in his element.


I bet he DOES NOT smell as good as he looks.

I went hunting with him a few times, before they sold the ranch. It was really a lot of fun. Well, actually drinking bloody marys and sitting by a campfire was fun.

Sitting in a deer stand at 4:30am freezing to death and being told that I CAN'T talk! That was a jail sentence. But I had to do it.

I had tunnel vision at the time.


And it worked. In fact, the above picture is exactly my ring. Ha! Sucker!

So that explains that.

What I am giving in to is this, decorating for the holidays. And I think I am going to start today. The only reason being, when we get back in town, I want the house to be almost complete and Sunday we can get our tree and decorate. Then that will be that. A house ready for the holidays.

This is not going to be fun since Tess touches every. single. thing. that she can reach. She not only touches it but for some reason thinks everything needs to be shaken as well.

This is no bueno. Yet, I want them to participate. So, I will take an extra Zoloft and a shot of Bailey's this a.m. and start "having some holiday fun!"

Wish me luck.

(and don't try to break into our estate during the holidays. we live in a gated community with guards and stuff. they will shoot you dead. we also have a very high tech security system and three police trained german shepherds on guard at all times. all of my jewels and furs will be at our private bank in a safety deposit box. the garage with the rolls, hummer, range rover, and two mercedes will be watched over by a 24 hour privately hired guard that is getting paid a.lot. of money to make sure our cars are not scratched or harmed during our holiday. and we will also have bob picking up our mail and making sure pedra is fed and watered. bob is a bad ass.)

(don't say i didn't warn you.)

A VERY SERIOUS QUESTION.

I have been wanting to paint my kitchen table for quite awhile. It is just an antique round oak pedestal table that I bought for nothing several years ago. I have always had to keep a table cloth over it b/c someone did a terrible job refinishing the top of it.

My buffet is also a solid oak piece that was beautifully restored. I just think it is a lot of OAK in our small little eating area and have been itching to redo it.

SO, the other day I saw this paint job on My Sweet Savannah's blog post:


And I just KNEW this is what I wanted for my kitchen table. Lucky for me, a friend of ours manages the Sherman Williams in town and was able to get me the products needed to come close to this look.

My question is this?

Can you have too much distressed stuff in a house? I don't want to go overboard but just love the look.

Nothing in our den is distressed except for a set of cabinets. In our kitchen just an antique high chair.

Tess' room has the hutch I redid, an antique toy chest, distressed rocker that has been reupolstered and her night table is lightly distressed.

I think that is really it in the house.


SO is another piece going to be over kill?

Just try and follow along.

First of all........



Oh yes. Yes, I did. But we will get to that later.

Last night, Miss Tess told me she DID NOT want to put a diaper on for bed. She wanted to wear,

Well, OK??!!?? So, she slept in her panties. And woke up DRY!!!!!

Does this mean we are getting very close to no more,

Makes me kind of sad, yet very excited that we will be saving $789,875.00 a year in diapers.

Isn't that exciting? I had to share.

Moving on. Friday night was a BLAST!!! Hubby and I had such a fun time together, and it was great seeing friends we don't see as often as we would like too. I had lots of,

and thought I was SUPER cool when a few young UT girls gushed over how much I looked like,

that is Ashley Greene. She plays Alice Cullen in the Twilight series for those not in the know.

WELL, this made me feel like a total bad ass all night long. I told anyone that would listen that I was told I looked like Alice Cullen.

This made me happy because I get told all the time that I look like,

this does NOT make me happy, I just don't think she is cute. I was even stopped at a bar in Fort Worth by a girl armed with her camera phone to take a picture of me because she thought I actually was her. UGH.

So when I got home on Saturday I googled Alice Cullen and pulled up more pics of Ashley Greene.

Those girls must of been WASTED. I look nothing like her. Oh well, I had an entire night that I thought I looked like a 23 year old Maxim covergirl, movie star.

It's the little things.

But since they also told me my,

were super cool, that made me feel like a bad ass as well so it wasn't such a let down that I don't look like Ashley Greene.

Yesterday, I had a date with Mrs. Mack. It started with lunch and,

We each had three. Oops. Then we headed to the theatre to see,

It was awesome! AWESOME!! Loved every second of it and will be living in a weird fantasy world for a few weeks. This guy,

has been working out. Big time. Jacob is a doll face, yet I am still in love with,

Intense fellow isn't he? I can't wait for more movie dates with Mrs. Mack and I really can't wait for,

To make my Sunday even better. When I got home from the movies, this handsome devil,

had the house picked up, dishwasher running, kids had eaten an early dinner and both were soaking in a bath of bubbles. How awesome is he?! I don't think the menfolk understand that the little things mean more to us mommies than a diamond necklace.

Who am I kidding, I would prefer a diamond necklace, but you know what I am saying. I was a very happy wife and mother when I got home.

Thanksgiving week is upon us and I have TONS AND TONS AND TONS to be thankful for. Right now, I have TONS AND TONS AND TONS of laundry to do.

But that is just fine, this week is the beginning of my favorite time of the year!

Ta-ta for now!