1st day of school shoot

how much camo does it take to get a tot ready for mother's day out?

way toooo much! but, isn't cute? i wanted a bigger kid backpack so i could stuff in his giant nap-mat, extra change of clothes, 2 diapers, elmo, artwork, etc. i LoVe that his lunch box clips on the front, making it easy for me to keep him all together. thanks, noni, patriot hearts his new backpack set!

i promise i don't make him carry it himself... yet.

next, you are going to see a few 'last year vs. this year shots. i'm amazed at the difference a year makes!

1st day 2008:
1st day 2009:

last year, you were not even walking on your own yet (yep, you made me wait 'til you were almost 16 1/2 months!) and this year you run, jump, hop everywhere we go!

patriot & mama--i just wanted ONE quick shot of the two of us!

here's the list of patriot's class mates for the school year:

patriot and his new teacher, ms. deanna--i love her already!!

i love this '1st day of school shoot' and hope we will continue this for many years:)

sweet boy--i pray you will enjoy your 2-year-old school year by making new friends, enjoying creative play, learning how to listen and follow directions given by others, and making fun art. i think we both enjoy the break from each other once a week, but i'm always thrilled to squeeze my baby boy again at 2:30 on tuesdays:)

happy birthday, henry patrick!

okay friends, this has been an emotional and thrilling day that i have been blessed to watch unfold via facebook:) pictured below is my super-woman of a friend Rose (many of you read her blog or might recognize her as my co-host on momeez:) who lives in Florida, thus the reason i had to follow the many twists and turns of the day on my computer!

so, sweet rose checked into the hospital today (09-09-09) at 41 weeks pregnant for her scheduled c-section, but below you see her pictured right after her epidural which came shortly following her water breaking---what, you say? that's right--after showing NO signs of labor AT ALL yesterday at her doctor's appointment, her sweet baby decided to get a move on today and took us all on an emotional rollercoaster that ended in a VBAC!

that's right---rose, who has been preparing for a VBAC all along had finally conceded to the idea of a second c-section and then her water breaks while she's waiting for the doc to arrive to do her 1:00pm surgery---crazy right? well, i am aMaZeD at her strength, grace, and determination. she labored through-out the day, and 10:16pm she was able to hold her little miracle in her arms.

so here he is, the 'little' 9lb 8.4 oz, 21 inch miracle--henry patrick cochran!

this first family photo makes me tear up each time i look at it!
SO much love and relief on her face.

matt, rose, & baby henry!

i thought this one was precious--matt has an incredible love for colin
and you can see the same joy and love for henry in this shot.

proud papa--matt daddy:)

okay--this kid is gonna be a heart-breaker like his older bro, colin. speaking of, i can't WAIT to see what he thinks of his new little brother when they meet tomorrow!

i cannot WAIT to cuddle and kiss this adorable little baby!

congrats, again, rose & matt--this birth story will definitely go down in momeez history:)

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9/10/09 update--big bro colin meets little bro henry

as you can see, colin is enamored with his new little playmate:)

sweet summer babies: mason, griffin & claire!

okay---i realize it's a bit of a stretch to put 3 birthday's together, but we will just call it the summer baby post! Please welcome some of my newest little loves:)














the first will be the birth of my dear friend Lauren's baby boy on July 17th --Mason Garrett:

lauren and i have been friends since high school, we were roomies in college and in each other's weddings. we go WAAAAAY back, so to hold her sweet baby in my arms was a very emotional experience. i was thrilled that erin and i happened to be in the dallas area the day he was born (a tad early) so we could cuddle this precious little guy.

me and baby mason--don't you love his red hair?

eee w/ sweet sleepy baby mason

a cute close up:)

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now scene change to august 3rd in waco, tx and the birth of the newest playgroup baby!

kimberly is one of my 'mom friends' from playgroup and is the amazing photographer who took our christmas pix and my fave shots of patriot's birthday! she was very sleepy after her c-section, so had a mini photo-shoot with the baby in the doorway:)

patriot loved meeting the baby and was in a silly mood:0)

i was so excited to have one of his eyes open!

nic nic had these adorable crumpler's cookies ready to go
when you stopped in to visit griffin:

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now skip ahead a couple of weeks and meet our newest neighbor, baby claire:
my neighbor, sara, is baby claire's mom and she is one of my FAVORITE reasons we live on our street! their sweet family has been building memories with our family for the last year, and we SO excited to welcome the first baby GIRL on the block to our crew of 4 boys!
claire was the first baby we have gotten to visit at the new hillcrest hospital and it was NiCe!
she had to hang out in the warmer while stopped by for a
visit and patriot wasn't too sure about it!
he really wanted to hold her or play football with her...something fun!

so, the next day we had the privilege of watching claire's big bother, jack, for a couple of hours. the boys had SO much fun and even found a new game to play at the top of our couch:0)

i'm thankful that so many of my friends are having babies and letting me cuddle & hold their precious little bundles. they stand in such stark contrast to my baby--who is now an amazing 27 months old. my how the time flies!

the next picture has nothing to do with babies, but might give you a glimpse into our drama of a 2-year old. this was taken moments after jack left, in an attempt for a new facebook profile pic:
and some of you wonder why he is still an 'only' for now... hmmmm.

Join Team Patriot!

the invites were sent...

the team jersey's were hung...

the cake & cookies arrived...

and so many tots came to make our party complete!

now, why has it taken me 2 months to blog about it? in the event that i get my blog downloaded and bound like the nickster...this is the summer that will throw everyone off! i tried to use our broken camera (he took a kamikaze leap towards the pavement at pst's party) as my excuse, but really i made the collage, see below, using some of kimberly's amazing talent and have the rest of the party pix saved to my laptop.
so was i recovering from cleaning/organizing our house (a continuous process for me!), writing thank-yous for all of the great gifts (settle down everyone who is thinking 'where's MY thank-you note?'. check your mail tomorrow, i'm trying to squeak in under the 2 month ettiquite guideline), or just overwhelmed at the sheer number of fabulous pix to post? hmmm...we may never know.

however, now that my laptop is back in tip-top shape (thanks jolly jon!), i pledge to post some pix this weekend. to satisfy all you bloggers who have threatened to CUT me. i mean, for all of my amazing blogger friends who have showed their encouragement and support during this bUsY season of our lives:0)

Farewell, Autumn...

my sweet friend autumn, the firey red-head pictured above, will be leaving us waco gals soon for greener pastures....literally. at least i'm pretty sure they farm in ohio...maybe not, but what else would they do? okay the word friend doesn't do our relationship justice: autumn has been a more than a causal friend, she has been my small group leader, prayer warrior, and encourager.

while we never 'need' an excuse to party, i always enjoy an excuse to eat a good crumpler cake! this was a cecile original (aren't they all?) made w/ mini cupcakes and LOADS of her famous icing...yummy. she wows me everytime!

i realize that some of y'all didn't like the 'curvy pic' but let's be honest here,
i look cute, so it made it to my blog:)
let's list ya in order:
angela, laura, me, autumn, claire, kylie, adrielle, marsha, and heather (dona, not pictured) was off galavanting around in miami, but we will give her cred anyway:)

autumn, you and your precious family will be missed around here, so don't stay away tooooo long. mondays won't be the same without you!
love you, friend!

p.s. props to kylie for getting us these pix on the SAME night as the event, the DAY before she left for AFRICA for 2 weeks!

thirty, flirty & thriving...

birthday triplets: when two other people in your world share your same day of birth.

triple threat birthday triplets: when two other people in your world share the same day of birth, live in the same city, are all friends, AND are all turning 30!!!

mollie, kylie & i decided to ring the start to our 30th year with somethings we all hold dear: cake, cookies, wine, chocolate, fondue, and FRIENDS! sweet kylie offered her house and we all had SO much fun posing for shots and catching up with friends.

it was a girls only event---so our mamas and sisters joined us for the party on sunday the 24th.






okay--the save feature is giving me issues, so i'm gonna post then return later for more pix. you've gotta see the one where carrie lets me try on her gold sparkly tori burch shoes!

okay, pix loaded, but running out of battery--so will edit again later... what is going on w auto save today!!!!!!!!!???????????

destination mothers' day 2009

Second Annual Roadtrip to Hillsboro:

(pt, sic'em, & eee pose for a shot in the back seat enroute to hillsboro, tx)

it began as a compromise last year. it was my first 'offical' mothers' day and i wanted to celebrate at my church w/ my friends and little family here in waco. but, we also wanted to see our mothers---so destination mothers day was born! we consider hillsboro to be the 'half-way' spot for meeting when we are coming from 4different directions (waco, plano, arlington and fort worth). we ate at the lone star cafe again, but this might be the last year for THAT part of the tradition---we will see. i heart cheddar broccoli bites--which has turned out to be the only yummy reason left to eat there.

here's the crew-- start w/ patriot and go around the table: kelly, josh, larka lita, great pop, uncle cam, big pop, uncle clay, aunt eee, grandpa greg, and noni joni--whew!

noni & grandpa greg just returned from a dreamy cruise
and were apparently still in vacay mode:)
patriot shane was wowing the table by showing how quick he could devour a piece of cake and demonstrate 'how old' he would be at the end of the month (two)! stay tuned for more posts on pst and his love of cake on the face:)

i was SOOO excited about receiving my pandora bracelet and 1st charm, the emerald dangle for pst and i's birthday:) thanks mom & dad!

our little fam--josh, patriot & i. have i explained about the "ta-daa" yet? okay, it's a tradition in the wheeler fam to get mom an orchid corsage for mothers' day. so patriot and josh sweetly followed this tradition and presented me with the yellow one you see pictured above to wear before church that morning. well, when i opened the box patriot handed me, josh said "ta-daa!" and patriot repeated "ta-daa!" anyhoo, i saved it in the fridge, to make me smile, and when ever he sees it, he points and says 'ta-daaaaa!". so stinkin' cute.

the wheeler clan. pst is drama like his uncle cay (clay:)

the tetens clan...check out that pst smile!

in order to have a little time for patriot to run & play while the adults fellowshipped, we decided to go to a little park in hillsboro. but on the way we ran into this elementary school playground, so this is were the magic happened!
the men (and pt) on the swings---isn't my dad cutie?

this is probably my favorite pic of the day---josh's 90 year old pop swinging like a kid! erin thought this would be a hilarious invite to his next birthday party---something like "91 and still swingin'" what do you think larkin?

and below is another fave: the youngest and oldest of our clan:)


the tetens' enjoying the swings

and we will end on a fun note with a play pic of the 6 wheelers. i think clay is still in graduation mode--10 months later! isn't his bu ring pretty?

oh my how the time flies when you are having fun:)
what a wonderful mothers' day!

what a wonderful may...

from mothers' day to rose & colin's visit to my 30th birthday---may has been fabulous! patriot's 2nd birthday is right around the corner, so may is still in full swing and i have a little back tracking to do to commemorate my favorite month of the year!

these pix are from mothers' day where pt and i posed for our out door (and red door) photo shoot:) check out last year vs. this year---my tiny tot is now a little man!

lots more to come, but i'd better get to bed---we have a BIG weekend coming up!

wordless (diaper-less?) wednesday

easter eggstravaganza 09

on easter eve
all through the house,
the wheelers were stirring,
while the tetens slept like a mouse!

(okay, you know how us wheelers, are---saving all the fun for the NIGHT BEFORE a big event!!!)

creating crumpler's cookies placecards,

hand-rolled pasta by eee

even, cam got into the easter spirit, dying eggs at 1am:)

the following day was full of smiles as we had our 2nd annual easter lunch at our house in waco! my fam came down from plano, joan, greg, & cam, and josh's fam came in from arlington, larka, garland, shannon & pop. eee lives down the street so she didn't have to go far! we wanted to throw in some additional fun by inviting over mike & kristin evans and their 2 year (almost!) old twins sam & georgia:)
we got done what we could the night before, then rushed home after a fabulous easter service at highland to put the finishing touches (and last dishes together!) for lunch. our sweet neighbors let us borrow their oven, so we were running around like little ants. in the end, we were able to enjoy friends and family while dining on delicious food and starting traditions for our kiddos. the Lord has blessed us with SO much that my heart overflows with thanks on the weekend that he gave US his son!

josh and patriot, so sweet in their easter blue!

1st easter day egg hunt: patriot had some practice at egg hunting over the past week, at school, at the park, so he was totally psyched to be hunting eggies in his own back yard (only rivaled by uncle cam, whose eggs were up high:)i should have taken a video so you could see how excited pst was about the little elmo in the eggs--so funny! he can sing the theme song, but i promise he doesn't watch it THAT often!!

kissing elmo--patrtiot's new love

well, j and i look cute, but pt was feeling the slide photo shoot! (what are the little red things in his hand, you may ask? little elmo(s)--who has been at his side or sidelined to watch (while things like brushing teeth takes place) ever since!

erin, me, josh, pst, mom, dad & cam

patriot, larka, me, pop, josh & shan
patriot (still kissing elmo!) with big pop and shi-shi on the back porch.
kristin, georgia, samuel, & michael evans--our sweet friends!

the three littles on my NEW birthday swing (thank-you, honey) that i got early so we could all enjoy it for easter weekend!

you can imagine trying to get the 7 of us to LOOK and SMILE at the camera---aaaah...2 year olds!
before he crashed for nap-time, he opened his easter basket (well, of course the only grandchild got his own basket from both sets of g-parents! so josh and i gave him a big dump truck to push around the house filled with a couple more elmo goodies:) i chose this pic, because mom selected the disney movie BOLT for him since it was the 1st full length movie that he watched in the theatre---i'm sure i forgot to blog about that months ago when it happend, so here is my note to self!

i actually picked out 25 pix to put in a slideshow, but after an hour and a half having no success uploading and fooling with picasa's help center, i gave up and started uploading them in small batches to the blog! if you lasted 'til the end, thanks for enjoying our holiday photos!