Cohen Turned 2!

Yep. I'm the mother of a 2 year old. It's kind of hard to believe sometimes. Cohen makes a pretty darn cute 2 year old. He's already started the "terrible twos" and the temper tantrums, but we're trying to work through that.

So, I made a cake for his birthday. I figured I'd better do it if I'm going to attempt to be a good mom. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite.... and somehow it's Cohen's favorite too. As a side note... one of Cohen's little pretend games he does almost daily is to make chocolate cake, and share it with me. I love it.


He was so happy to have a pizza party with us and two families.

Here are my two good friends Sabrina, Brandy, and Landon (who Cohen wants to emulate to the t) and my cute little bug.

That's a pure happiness smile from Cohen. By this birthday celebration (the 3rd one, after FL and UT) he knew this was something to be excited about.

It was his birthday. I just let him go, with no bib. Good thing for washing machines! He was a MESS when he was done.

A baseball glove as a present. He loved it.

The new guitar was the hit of the night. Every child in the room, and daddy too, wanted a turn.

A short stop in Utah

I decided to spend a few extra bucks, and extend our layover back from Florida. Visiting Utah again was fun. It really is home to me. Cohen's birthday was fast approaching, so the lucky boy got multiple little birthday parties this year... Florida, Utah, and then back home in Oregon.


Josh's family gave Cohen several presents that he loves. One of which is banjo, more on this to come. He LOVES his banjo. I guess it's really no surprise since he's also such a guitar fanatic!

I got together with Susan, Jen, and Nicole and kids. It had been too long since I had seen them. It was fun to reacquaint ourselves, but I wish we could have done better. We were all focused on a kids a bit more than I would have liked (out of necessity!) to get a good visit in. Oh well, we all have to grow up!

My cute mom.

Cohen got to play with Mike's kids, his cousins Tanner and Tage (and Grace too) for a couple of hours. It was fun to see them together.

This was our attempt to get all three boys holding still for a picture.... cute.

At least they're all there!

Cohen actually cut and then nicely took bites of his cake at first. Wow. That was random. No one told him to do that! Maybe he just wanted to impress the camera!

Fantastic Florida

Cohen and I went to Florida in early September, thanks to my dad. It was a great trip. We made it happen just before Cohen's 2nd birthday so the only cost was sending me, and Josh got to stay at home to study for finals. Yay for him. We sure missed him a lot.




I was SO NERVOUS about the airplane ride out to Florida. We left at 7 or so in the morning, and didn't arrive in Florida until 5 or 6 pm Florida time (3 hours time difference.) All in all, Cohen did great! I brought a lot of stuff on the plane to keep him entertained, and we lucked out with each leg of our trip for Cohen to have his own seat, even though we didn't pay for it. My active little Cohen on my pregnant belly lap for an entire day of travel just didn't sound like it would work for some reason. I'm glad I didn't have to cross that bridge. He took a 2 hour nap on the way there across 2 seats. Hooray! I even got to sit with my dad on the last leg because he was returning from a business trip. After all the stress and anxiety the airplane ride caused me before-hand, I just need to remember it's all in the Lord's hands, and He takes care of me and my family.

In Tittusville

This is at Grandpa Gary and Grandma Janet's house. Cohen really likes to play musical instruments. He got a chance to play this strange sort of violin, and LOVED IT!


We went to check out a space shuttle on display. Cohen learned that Grandpa Gary works on rocket ships. I wish he could realize just how cool that is.

Rocket ships.

Down to Naples

My brother John and family live a few hours away in Naples, FL where John is attending law school. I just couldn't make a trip all the way out to Florida and not visit them too. Thanks to all my family for toting Cohen and I around for multiple hours to make this happen.



This is one of the first times Cohen has ever had to explore sand. The more he was around it the more he liked it, but at first the texture just didn't sit well with him.

Here we have Uncle John (my brother) Eli, Miles, and Cohen playing on the beach. It was SO RELAXING to sit there talking to Wendy (John's wife) listening to the ocean waves, and watching Cohen have fun with our family on the beach.

John burying Cohen's feet in the sand. Miles was helping too.

Ok, this is a terrible picture of me, but ignore how I look, and just know Cohen and I had a blast bouncing around in the water. It was fun to have him sit on my big pregnant belly in the ocean. We both liked it a lot.

I took this picture because I'm a little envious of what my brother's family has. I know, I shouldn't be. I live in a beautiful place too. I just have a view of the train tracks and a convenience store from my back porch, and they have a lovely lake.

Well, 3 adults, and 3 car seats don't all fit into a Honda Accord unless you're breaking some kind of law. One of John's friends let him borrow his moped so we could all go places at the same time. The 3 boys loved it. This is Cohen with John.

Here's John with Miles.

This is Cohen's younger cousin Eli, by one month and 2 days. They tried to share well....

Cohen thinking he's just as big as a man.

We had a great time in Naples!



Back to Tittusville.

Oh, Gatorland, how wonderful you are.

You allowed so many "wow's"

And you weren't too far.

If only it had been a cooler day

If only there was less humid air

I think we might have enjoyed you more

Alas, our time was fair.

I'm nerdy. It's ok.

Cohen's pretty cute with this tiny baby alligator.

Grandpa Gary and Cohen watching an alligator show. The staff made Cohen get down. I guess it's a safety issue. I suppose I don't want him to be eaten by the hungry alligators on the other side of the fence.

There were REALLY BIG turtles there. I think this is just a cool shot.

Grandpa and Cohen waiting for our train ride through the park. It was one of Cohen's favorite parts.

All below and around the board walk is alligator filled swamp. Cohen loved running on it. I'm not sure if it was the noise his feet made as they hit the wood or if it's just my adorable Cohen who loves to run regardless.

Perhaps hard to see, but there is an alligator approaching us in the water here.

Beautiful birds!

Please don't eat me.

I guess the alligator doesn't care that the bird is taking a ride. I thought this was interesting.

White alligators. This somehow looks less harmful than the others. I know it's not. I kind of think he looks like he's made out of plastic or wax.

It took a lot of convincing on our part to get Cohen to believe that this one is not real, and that we could go take pictures with it.

Cohen found a lizard on a window back at the house. He liked looking for them outside with Grandma Janet in the mornings. She was so nice to let me sleep in all the time!

I think Cohen looks like a little angel in this picture.

In the back yard.

Photo shoot by mom. Front yard cuteness.

We had a little birthday celebration for Cohen the last night we were there since Cohen's birthday was only a week or 2 away. He was so excited to get a shirt with balls on it, among other things.