In Remembrance...

COURTLAND W. COX
October 7, 1916 - August 20, 2008

Our Pawpaw died peacefully in his sleep last week in his own bed on the farm. We are all very saddened by his death and will all feel a great void in our lives without him around. He had such an impact on so many lives and was a good and honest person. Pawpaw will be missed greatly!!!


Pawpaw and Christian.. Pawpaw came up the first of August for Christian's birthday party. We are SO very glad that he came and we got to spend that afternoon with him.

While I was at the farm, I took some pictures around the farm. Here they are:


The house, "little" house, gas shed and fields.



The barn and field in the background.


One of the sheds he kept his "John Deere" tractors in.


Another field...


Some of Pawpaw's great- grand kids... Madeleine, Claire, Jason, Reagan, Christian, Abby, Jared and Nathan. There is a total of 8 grand kids and 19 great-grand kids.


The highchair Christian is sitting in was Pawpaw's when he was a child. Every grandchild and great-grand child has sat in this chair to eat and have their picture taken.


I wanted to get some pictures of my kids in Pawpaw's "newest" John Deere tractor.
I think this is the most perfect picture... Doesn't he look like he was born to be a "little farm boy"?
I am sure Pawpaw was smiling down on us because he loved his tractors and his family.


Reagan "driving" on of the older tractors.




We love you Pawpaw and you will be missed by your family and friends. May you rest in peace with Mimi.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun......

Reagan went over to Madelyn's house last week before they both start back to school. Madelyn will not be going to Holy Spirit this year along with Reagan. She is going to St. Joan of Arc. We are going to miss seeing Madelyn and Julie every week:( They had a BLAST on their last "summer" day together....


Madelyn and Reagan hanging out at the pool...


I just love this picture of them being "goofballs", as Reagan says.


Reagan swimming on her own. Look at the concentration on her face... She was so proud that she swam on her own with out her lifejacket.


The girls put on a "rock concert" for Julie. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.....


I love the way they are looking at each other!!! I am so glad Reagan found a "true" friend in Madelyn.


Julie, Madelyn and Reagan met up with us and Me and Papa for an awesome dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise to end their summer vacation together.

Mama's Boy

I told you Christian was a mama's boy... Christian's cousin, Megan, who lives in Texas, bought him this shirt for his birthday. I told Christian that since I got a tattoo in honor of him that when he turns 18 he has to get this tattooed on his arm. Won't the girls love that????


Thanks Megan, we LOVE the shirt and will save it in his box of mementos when he out grows it!!!

Helping Out and First Steps

Christian LOVES the vaccum!!! His new favorite thing is to be held while we vaccum the house and laughs while we hold him and vaccum. He gets mad when we don't pick him up. Here he is helping dad out.....




Christian took his first steps on his own this weekend, YEAH!!! He keeps trying over and over again when he falls. Then tonight he really kept at it and started trying to kick the ball when he was walking. Here he is in action....

Don't you just love that look?!?!

Indiana State Fair

Todd, Papa & Me, the kids and I went to the Indiana State Fair on Friday. We took the train from Fishers to the fairgrounds and then back. The girls LOVED riding the train!! We made a day of it and got home about 8:00pm. The food was AWESOME and the weather was perfect. We got to see all kinds of animals and do some hands on activities with the kids.


Todd and Claire on the train to the fairgrounds.


Courtney, Reagan, and Christian on the train to the fairgrounds.


Claire and Reagan looking out the window on the train.


Christian, Claire and Reagan


The first picture is of twin calves that were only a couple days old. And then little piglets that were a week old. Reagan kept wanting to go back to see the piglets every time we went to the restroom (they were in the same building).


The girls feeding the goats carrots.


Christian trying to pet the goats and then watching them jump around on the rocks.

Me, Reagan and Papa taking a break and drinking ice cold lemon shake ups, Yummy!!!

Christian's favorite part of the day was when we gave him the elephant ear. He LOVED it and kept wanting more! I said, "Who wouldn't?, it is covered in sugar!"

Claire also enjoyed her part of the elephant ear.

The next few pictures are when we took the girls to the "Little Hands on the Farm". It was all about" farm life". At the very end, you sold your items, got money, then went to the "grocery store" and got to get a drink or snack.

Picking the eggs the hens laid....

Planting seeds to harvest...

Harvesting the seeds they "planted". As you can see, Claire got a tomato (all the food was pretend).

Picking the apples....

Driving their tractors around the farm....

Milking the (pretend) cow...

And the trip home on the train....

A glimpse into our house.....

This is a small glimpse of what has been happening in our house this week:

CLAIRE

Claire decided to "help" feed Libby. As you can see, the food is NOT in her bowl....


We also got Libby a new kennel because she was quickly out growing the other carrier. We have it in our family room, for now! Claire loves to let Libby out and then get in the kennel. I know she does this to get me riled up!! That would be Claire for you... These are only two of the things she has been into this week. Claire has been up to no good this week, Is there going to be a full moon??

CHRISTIAN

Todd has been riding his motorcycle as often as he can with gas prices so high. So, one day when he got home, we thought we'd have fun with Christian. He looks like a little alien!!

REAGAN

Reagan shares the same obsession of "Batman" as Todd does. When I was out shopping for Christian's b'day, I saw this mask and I knew she would love it! The first couple of days we could hardly get her to take it off. She even ate lunch in it one day....


LIBBY

Libby has been getting into everything!! I have decided two things: 1) NO more puppies for me and 2) Libby is almost as much work as my three little ones put together! She defiantly has an "out going" personality and a mind of her own. So far, we have only had one beheaded baby doll (thank goodness it was not an American Girl doll) and one chewed up shoe. Of course, the shoe was my AK high heeled sling back that I FINALLY broke down and bought. I keep telling myself, "This too shall pass", let's just hope so!!

Christian's First Birthday

Christian Lewis turned one year old on August 2nd!!! I can hardly believe that my baby boy is a year old.... Where has the past year gone??? It was a bittersweet day for us because Christian is our last baby, so this was our "Last First Birthday". Christian has been growing by leaps and bounds the past couple of weeks. He is cruising along the furniture, walls etc and can stand by himself. He cut his twelve tooth this weekend, Yeah!! His little personality is starting to pop out and it is gonna be a cute one!!! Christian can say "Mama", "Dada", "go", and "no". He gets mad when the girls take his toys and screams loud! But he loves his sisters, too! They can make him laugh so hard! And I am still the love of his life.... Christian is a Mama's boy :)

We had a John Deere party for Christian. My grandfather ALWAYS had John Deere tractors on his farm and ONLY John Deere tractors. So, John Deere has a special place in our hearts and memories.


When I saw this shirt for Christian, I knew he had to wear it at his party. It is his first John Deere....


We had a surprise visitor to the party, my Pawpaw. My Aunt and Uncle brought him up from Kentucky for the big John Deere party. We were so glad that he could make it up and see the new generation of John Deere lovers.


I had cupcakes made that were yellow and green icing to follow the theme. I put a tractor on Christian's cupcake.


At first, Christian did not know what to do. It is the first time I have seen him look at food and not touch it. So, he decided to try and eat the candle! Once we took that away, he dug right in...

As you can see, HE LOVED IT (and ate the whole cupcake)!!!!

We got Christian a John Deere Buck ATV that he can ride. He wanted it and only it... Me and Papa got him his hat and he was so funny in it. He knew it was his "special" day and he was cracking us up!!!

He loves to wear it backwards!

I ended up opening most of the gifts because he was riding his ATV but he did help on a few.

Here are some pictures of family and friends that helped celebrate Christian's 1st Birthday. What a great day it was.....

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Christian,

Happy Birthday to you! And many many more....