Good Times with The Gray's

By far my favorite thing about Christmas this year was seeing Cooper's face when he woke up! He woke up to a room-full of family and presents and was stunned! It only took a few minutes for him to 'wake-up' and begin to play with his toys from Santa.













I think he is having fun! What a sweeeet smile!





We watched Cooper open his gifts, then we had monkey bread for breakfast...YUM



And mamosa's...



After all that we packed up and headed to my in laws house aka Papaw and Gigi's to have Christmas morning with them. Check this out!

My mother and sister in law like, I mean LOVE to shop!


Cooper doesn't look like he's ready to tackle his second Christmas, but my oh my did he!



Cooper got a TON of new clothes and toys, including these new boots!





After #2 we headed to #3 at my mom and dad's house aka Nena and Grinka's house. Guess who was there? Cooper's best bud and cousin, Hadley! Aunt Ammy got them matching snowmen shirts and they had a fun time together!









Once again there were TOOOO many presents!! My mom went WAY overboard!









Cooper made out with a haul! He got a workbench, kitchen, guitar, some super cute clothes and much more!

We had a non traditional Christmas dinner, complete with steak and baked potatoes. We ate dinner, cherished family time together and watched Josh and my brother (uncle B) play Golden Tee for hours.

What a VERY blessed Christmas we had and even with all that going on we never forgot the REAL reason for the season.

Fun pic in the car.

We dropped Cooper off with my mom at Blackeyed Pea, while she picked up dinner. She took these pictures of us before we left for Dallas!



Yesterday, December 30, 2011 Josh and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. We spent the day with Cooper then dropped him off with Nena (my mom) and headed for a dinner date in Dallas! We decided to get out of our bubble and try something different. The hubs made reservations for Al Biernat's steak house and it did not disappoint, It was fantastic! We started out with drinks and an appetizer at the bar, then moved to a cozy little table in the back of the restaurant. Josh ordered red snapper with some kind of seafood mashed potatoes (yuck, no seafood for me) and I had an 8oz filet with creamed spinach that was to die for!



Over dinner we reminisced about the past 5 years and discussed where we think we will be in the next 5. We had such a great time talking and laughing together, we rarely get time to ourselves with lil bit around.

After dinner we were STUFFED, but we had to squeeze in a bite of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee in celebration, of course!



After dinner what did we do you ask? What any 'old' couple would do, we went home and went straight to bed. We were asleep before 10:30 pm...lame! Ha!

It was a very relaxing night and we both really enjoyed our time out!

A few months ago I came across a blog ala Pinterest (Impartinggrace.com) and I found the perfect way to spice up my four, very large living room windows. I just knew that I could handle the task because it was a 'no sew' project!! So I went on the hunt for a stand out fabric that would rock my windows! I found it at Hobby Lobby and I was pumped, but I was boggled on how much fabric to buy! I obviously measured the windows, but I was still unsure, because I would be draping the fabric over tension rods. I took some advice from my mom and I purchased the fabric.

When I got home I divided all the fabric into the same measurements and had 4 huge pieces of fabric. I measured my windows across and found out that the width was 34 1/2 inches. I pinned my fabric so that it was even all the way down. After pinning I used the no sew iron on adhesive and simply started ironing.





I cut strips of adhesive from pin to pin, put it up where the fold was and then placed my hot iron on top of it for a minute then kept going all the way around my fabric.


After the sides were 'hemmed' I did the same with the bottom. For the top I went ahead and put my expansion rod at the top, folded the fabric over the rod and then used the no sew adhesive tape again. I did this so that I did not have trouble slipping the rod into the curtain later.



Once the piece was 'hemmed' all the way around, I hung up the rod/curtain combo in my window.


Then I took two more expansion rods and placed them on top of the fabric, one at a time, looping the fabric.







After the rods were in place I evened up the fabric to make all 4 windows look the same.



This was an overall easy process and I would say successful too!

Check out our fabulous Christmas pictures...





(He looks so serious! Don't mess with me OR my sleigh!)

My last post was way back in September! WOW, I love my social online life but I have taken a step back and been nothing but a busy teacher, mommy and wife for the last few months. I check Facebook, but other than that I have had no time for Twitter updates or blogging.

As I sit on my cozy couch this cold, dreary December morning all by MYSELF, I am sneaking a few moments to catch up on what I have missed.

What's up with the Gray family??!!...

School is going very well! I LOVE my 2nd grade team of teachers, we are all rock stars! My class is adorable and I love, love my job!

Cooper just turned 17 months and he is full speed ahead 100% of the time! He is very tall and I would be rich if I collected a dollar every time someone tells me "He is big"...I know! He has not an ounce of fat on him, he is just off the charts for his height, and that is that. I LOVE him MORE each and every day! He understands so much and can pretty much follow any direction (if he feels like it of course). He says a lot of words and a lot of not words ;) He can say mama, dada, ball, bath, kitty cat, gigi, nena, hi, bye, thank you,car and few more that I am unable to recall right now. He is SO SWEET, he wraps his arms around my neck and gives the best love! I am in shock that he will be 18 months at the end of this month. I am sad it has gone by so fast, but I love the independent little boy stage that is he in right now.

Josh is busy in the world of title company marketing (as always) but he never fails to spend family time with C and I! We are so proud of him! He is dedicated to making sure our lil family is taken care of.

On December 30th, Josh and I will celebrate 5 years of marriage!!! We are still so in love, just as we were when we started dating in 2000. The love continues to grow as we grow as people and parents!

Hopefully I can find time to keep this blog aka my diary updated. I have really missed it!

Much Love,

Bronwyn

When Cooper was born 14 months ago he had quite a bit of hair, then it slowly faded away and he became a baldy! It has been growing back steadily and had begun to look like a mullet mess. So I decided today was the day he got his very first haircut! I called my sis in law, Cooper's aunt Ammy and made an appointment at The Bungalow! My mother in law Lynda came with me to help keep him still! Ha! As if that was possible! We tried everything! A friend of ours, Molly was feeding him, and showing him Mickey on her iphone, Lynda was squirting water into his mouth using Amorey's skirt bottle. We tried it all! Amorey trimmed the back and made C look much more like a little boy and less like a baby. When Am finished cutting his hair she styled it and put some gel in it too! Woooo wooo what a cute lil man!

A few Sundays ago before church Cooper showed off his new talents! He is a multi tasker who can brush his teeth and his hair at the same time. Every time he is allowed in our bathroom he whines to get his toothbrush off the counter. He already has good dental hygiene! The hair brushing is a fairly new talent! I can tell him "brush your hair" and he knows exactly what to do!

Of course summer has flown by and now it is time to get back to work! I have REALLY enjoyed the time off with my lil guy but I do know that I am not cut out to be a SAHM! It is the hardest job in the world! My days were spent waking up early, cleaning C's highchair after breakfast, chasing him around, picking up after him, comforting him when he gets hurt, cleaning off his highchair after lunch, resting for an hour, if I'm lucky, while he naps and then it all starts over again! I did not have time to eat bon bon's and nap all day!

Cooper will be staying with Annette, and I am so so happy that he is with her! He stayed with Natalie and Annette last year when I went back to work and he loves the Ledyard family! I am blessed that I do not have to worry about him at all while I am away at work!

The last week has been difficult! I started back at work on August 12 (for inservice) and have been juggling working in my classroom as well as being a wife and mommy! I have definitely forgotten how busy I was!

I LOVE working in my classroom and I wanted to share my room for the 2011-2012 school year, for now! I am a tad bit OCD and it could change (will change) before the end of the year! Ha!











One day last week after inservice I decided to go and get Cooper instead of spending more time working in my room! Of course I decided to go to school and give another 2 and 1/2 hours of my valuable time once Coop headed to bed. My wonderful mom met up with my to put the finishing touches on my classroom and I am so thankful for her! Once we got up to my room I had a surprise waiting for me on my desk! It was an adorable goody basket from my sis in law Amy! She is so thoughtful and is always VERY creative! Check out my brand new cuter than ever crayon wreath!



She also left 2 cupcakes from J. rae's...YUM! I LOVE surprises and goody baskets so I was pumped! She made my day and I can't wait to display my cute wreath for the new school year!


I hope all teachers and kiddos have a fantastic school year! No looking back now! I must go to bed!

Night y'all!