Rockin" Out the Holidays!

Us Coots have been SO busy this past week! Friday, the 16th, (Robbie's 36th birthday!) was mom and dad's church Christmas party in Nashville so we went. Papa Ostermiller, also known as Santa, made the party a success!

Until this year, Molly has not had any clue who the man in red really is. She sat on his lap, still no clue. But as she stood close and watched and listened as all of the other children had their turns she got more and more suspicious. She turned to me and said "mom, that sounds kinda like....". I said "Molly, who does that sound like?" She said "Nevermind." It was almost like she knew, but was fighting it with everything she had. She finally said "mom, Santa kinda sounds like Nana Ostermiller's husband." She couldn't even say the word "papa". It was so cute.
So, I simply just told her that something special happened. I told her that the real Santa had somewhere else he had to go that night to see some other kids and so he asked papa Ostermiller if he would dress up like Santa so that the kids at this party would have a great and happy time. She thought that was the neatest thing. She even whispered to me "oh mamma, I won't tell the little kids!"

Me and the birthday boy. :)

Molly only goes to school on monday and wednesday but this week she got to go on thursday for her program and friday for her Christmas party. She has a little friend in her class named Mia that she just loves! Mia is SOOOO sweet and is just the best little friend to Molly! It makes me so happy when my kids pick sweet friends! At Mollys Christmas party they sang some songs and decorated gingerbread houses. They also wore some adorable aprons that they decorated earlier in the week. They were each given santa hats, along with "Green Frog" Christmas ornaments with their picture on them to bring home and put on their tree.

On Thursday of this week was Molly's Christmas program at school. Nana Ostermiller came from Nashville and Grandma Judy also came with us! Our little friend Zane came with us, too! We were all so excited to see our girl sing in her program!

Baby Zane just couldn't handle the excitement, so he took a little snooze on Nana Ostermiller! ;)

This little girl is my angel.

This little guy and I had a photo session when were making a little present for his mommy! Little Pierce Thompson!
































Molly is VERY particular about when she lets me curl her hair, so when she lets me I have to take a picture! ha! She sure is pretty!

And OH SO SILLY!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE CRAZY COOTS-ES!!!! :)

Tis The Season

These kids. They are my whole world. Man, I love them.

Dear Santa, I have been really, really good!



See, I have proof. A card signed by Santa that says I am on the good list.

And he even sat next to me while he made the big decision.

Cupcakes with sprinkles. I think there were more sprinkles than there was cupcake.

I am pretty sure that Molly had Santa in the palm of her hand. She kept smiling at him and hugging him and coloring pictures for him.

I think she even offered him some pancakes.

Posing for mommy before the party. She let mommy curl her hair for the party and she looked so, so, so pretty!

On friday, Molly talked all say about making cookies. So, after we got the boys from school we went to Kroger and she picked out the stuff and we came home and made cookies! They had lots and lots of icing and sprinkles. Her sweet daddy was so patient and ate lots of cookies when she would decorate one and hand it to him!

One day this week I was desperate to find something to entertain Molly while I did laundry. I cut open a bag of wheat that was in food storage and poured it in some containers and gave her some toys and measuring cups and she thought it was the greatest thing ever!

I know that even though some days seem to last forever, and sometimes I feel like I could do so much better at being a mom, and some days I am just so so so worn out and tired.....I AM going to miss this! I am going to try my best, do better when I am not my best, and I am going to enjoy the blessings that are in my every day life. Even if it is just a bag of wheat. ha!

Fun with my girl

Molly is so fun. She goes to pre-school 2 days a week and loves to be busy and do fun things and be crafty. On the days when she doesn't have school she gets a little bored so we try to think of things that are fun to do at home. This morning she asked if she could wrap a present, so I got one out of the closet that I had for Brayden and let her wrap it. I helped her write "to brayden from Molly" on it and she put it under the tree. She has looked at and rearranged that present 47 times in the last hour. She is so proud and keeps said "oh mamma, he is gonna love it!". After wrapping the present she wanted to play with the wrapping paper. My first response in my mind was "no Molly that is my Hobby Lobby thick wrapping paper and it was a little expensive so we can't play with that". But then I thought "what the heck...let's play!" I am so glad I had a quick change of mind because we had so much fun. I told her to lay down on it but she was a little nervous so I laid down on it and she traced me. We then gave me clothes and eyes and glasses and some interesting fingers and colored me! I am currently hanging on the back of the front door with about 136 pieces of tape. :)

Molly Mae....you are going to be FIVE in less than a month. Sigh...... I am sporting a pretty rad belt buckle. I think maybe she was thinking about Santa. Hey, at least my waist looks really small!

So, the blue hand represents my right hand. I appear to be a little swollen.

At least I have a pretty necklace. Kinda distracts from my one eye ball that is about 15 times bigger than the other.

The yellow represents my left hand. Oh, I see, the right hand ATE the left hand! At least I have 9 fingers on that little shrunken hand...:)

She said several times "oh mamma, it looks just like you!". :)

Our Thanksgiving was wondeful! My mom and dad went to Florida this year to be with my brother's family so it was just us and Robbie's mom and dad. I cooked my very first turkey and I will have to say it turned out really yummy! I even made homemade gravy! Our feast consisted of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, rolls, broccoli, veggie tray, and dip. For dessert we had brownies, apple pie, and pumpkin roll. The pumpkin roll was made by my friend Sara and it was SO yummy and full of cream cheese goodness!!!Carter and Grandma Judy have some really serious conversations sometimes. It is so fun to see Carter being so grown up. He is such a sweet little guy and he really loves and cares about his family.
Molly's Thanksgiving meal pretty much consisted of...butter. Home girl loves her some butter. She never let the tub of butter get too far from her sight. She was GIDDY with excitement when it was time to sit down and eat. She is really used to being around Judy and Papa, but I think that she knew it was a special holiday and she was so excited to have everyone together. The highlight of my day was watching her be so happy! She really has changed so much in even the last month. She is becoming so much more content and so much less, well, um, whiney! :) I am LOVING the stage she is in right now and am trying to enjoy every bit of it. She will be in Kindergarten way too soon...like, in August, and I am going to miss her SO much!

Robbie was such a great help with Thanksgiving! He knew that there was a store that I really wanted to go to that morning, but that I wouldn't have enough time to do everything. He totally stepped up and helped me and insisted that I go and do what I wanted to do. Everything was ready on time, thanks to him, and I was able to run and get some awesome Christmas shopping done! I know that I sound like a broken record, but this guy is seriously amazing. I love him and I know that he loves me!

Carter is such a picky eater. Thank goodness for Sister Schubert's rolls and turkey and brownies!

Brayden was cracking us up! He was LOVING the turkey! He ate a little too much and about the time I got my camera out he was miserable! At least he liked the meal! :)





Molly sure loves her grandma Judy. She pretty much spends at least a little bit of time with her every day. I am so happy that they have such a special relationship! This is so funny...Molly was eating her meal, mostly butter, and pretty quickly told us she was SO full. I told her she could be done and as soon as I said that she said "so, can I have the brownie now?" I had told her earlier that the brownies were for after the good food so I think that she really thought she was tricking me. Of course, I handed over the brownies!

We have been decking us some halls here at the Coots! The kids had fun decorating the tree and this year Molly has a pink tree in her room and the boys have a little green one in their room. I let them do what they wanted, and most of it I left just the same, I just added some more the next few days.







I love having the Christmas decorations up. I really do wish I could leave them up all year. I am almost done with all Christmas shopping and am so excited to enjoy the season and am ready for the kids class parties and Christmas programs. Molly has been practicing at home the songs she is learning at pre-school and they are SO totally adorable! Poor girl got her coordination from her mamma and the actions she does with her songs are SO funny!

Each year we give the kids an ornament that represents their year. It is so fun each year when we get the decorations out and the kids gather up all their ornaments and remember when they got them.

I believe that my exact words to Robbie were "hey, I spent like $27 at Hobby Lobby, but, really, every little girl needs a pink Christmas tree in her room!"




I LOVE the princess ornaments. I was so happy to find the cinderalla carriage and the princess tiara! I am loving having a little girl and all of the pink that goes with her!