Happy Birthday Doodles

Monday I spent my day cleaning house and prepping for Daphne's party. We really didn't decide to have a party until last week so I didn't have a lot of time to plan stuff. We decided on easy. I made a simple lunch and to just let the kids play in the pool and sprinkler and have some water balloons for them to pop. 

The big day arrived and I'm grateful to say everything went very smoothly that morning while I made all the food and got everything ready. I was a little nervous because when I woke up it was overcast, but the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. Daphne woke up asking when her party was and when her friends would be here. She was so excited. The kids had a great time and I'm so glad. 

Daphne requested a chocolate cake with berries and I was happy to oblige. I trained her well! I was happy with how it turned out and everyone loved it.

Wednesday we took advantage of having the car and went to a playgroup the stake has. It was at an awesome park in West Des Moines. It is on a lake with a beach. It has a great playground and a little splash pad. The kids had a great time and I got to meet some new girls. We are actually going to go to another play group with a couple of them tomorrow. We also went to the mall and Costco since we were on that side of town.

Playgroup on Thursday was very nice. It was at a great play ground. It was so nice to get to know some more ladies a little better. Daphne had a great time with the kids and I think my have found a best friend. Eliza is 3 as  well and they just loved each other. 

Friday we went out again cause I had some things I needed to get for the house. It was a horrible outing. Daphne pooped in her underwear THREE times. The last time I just bawled while I cleaned her up AGAIN. I am getting so frustrated with this potty training thing. She knows how to do it, but she chooses not to use the potty and it is wearing on me. We have been working on this for almost a year off and on and she does really well for a month and then decides not to go anymore. Its just so frustrating. 

Saturday was fun filled. We headed out as Johnny came in from his last night shift. It was sad to go have fun while he was home sleeping, but he needed it. We went to our ward's Pioneer Day Party. We had stick pulls and games and a cute little covered wagon for the kids to ride as well as a potluck lunch. Daphne had a blast playing with friends and getting to run around.

That night we went to the Indianola hot Air Balloon Launch! Johnny volunteered to be the doctor on hand at the first aid trailer so we got free tickets. Let me say it was so cool. Daphne couldn't believe how big the balloons were and Quen got pretty into it to. I would say there were at least 50 balloons! It was a perfect night to be out to. They had a live band playing, so Daphne and I had to have a dance party. We especially liked the parrot, monkey and puppy balloons. We had a great time! 

I'm happy to say that after a hard week in potty training Daphne has had no accidents the past two days. I think our decision to withhold movies has helped a lot. Hopefully it lasts. that would top off this awesome week! 

Lunch and Dinner and Zombies, OH MY!!!

This week was a fun one. Th

e first of the week was pretty routine, but we had a fun weekend. 

Thursday I spent the afternoon talking to my high school friend, Lisa. We had a good time catching up and we decided to be weight loss buddies. I really need this cause I'm way out of shape and can't fit in any of my clothes. 

 Friday morning I took the kids on our weekly walk to McDonald's. We always have a lot of fun going and playing at the play place. I was so proud of Daphne because she walked the mile there and the mile back. She was a "little" cranky on the way home, but it was understandable. When Johnny got home he took us on one of our family dates. We tried out a local favorite called Zombie Burger. It was a long wait cause it was BUSY, but the food was good and the atmosphere was great. We may have to go back! We had a great time walking the shops around as it was a beautiful night.

Saturday we headed down to the Farmers Market. We need to make sure to go as early as possible cause if you show up at 10 it is packed. We headed straight over to the Hart's house for Kyle's birthday party. They had some fun games and good food. My kids were pooped by the time we got home so Johnny and I played games until dinner. 

Johnny has a week of night shifts and I'm not looking forward to it. Last time he did it it was miserable, but we will have the car so we will have to take advantage.

Brother and Sister

Monday started out with a walk to McDonald's for a lunch date with my two awesome babies. When we got there I put Quen in the stroller with Daphne. She started being so cute with him and telling him how he was the best brother and how much she loved him and they were just giggling. It made my mommy heart melt. had to ake a picture and of course the camera came out and I got these serious faces. We had a great time playing in the play place and walking and talking. Quen fell asleep in the Moby wrap and it was so sweet to have my baby fall asleep on me again, its been awhile and I loved it.

We also started doing homework sheets with Daphne. Its just hand writing, but she is doing so well. I am a very proud mama. The rest of the week was pretty normal: doing chores, playing games, reading books. Johnny worked every day this week so we were stuck at home. We went out Friday on a walk to go to yard sales, but it didn't last long because it started to rain pretty badly.

Johnny did get to come to Church with us and it made it a vast improvement from last week even if she had accidents in both dresses she wore. We had a great day taking naps and watching a movie together. 

Doctor Daddy

 We had another great day with Uncle Joey on Monday. We went out shopping and it took all day. I did a little shopping for myself, which doesn't happen often so, exciting! We covered a lot of ground, two malls and several stores. When we got home we were all pretty pooped. 

Tuesday was Johnny's first day of residency, like actually being a Doctor! We went to visit him and give him a little card.  We didn't get to stay very long cause he was really busy, but he did buy us a little lunch. We cannot even say how proud we are of him. I know he is going to do awesome. This year is going to be hard on us I know with his long hours, but we can do it.

Joey stayed longer than we were expecting, but we loved it. One day he even watched the kids for me so I could take a nap and its always so fun to have some one to Thursday really early. The kids were really sad. They love Uncle Joey.

We didn't do much to Celebrate the 4th. in Iowa you are not allowed to have fireworks without a permit, but it seems everyone, but us knows that you just go down to Missouri and buy a whole bunch to set off. I have NEVER heard so many fireworks. They literally were going off from about 8pm until midnight. It was crazy. We went and watched some big ones at around ten. We got some ice cream as well. 

Johnny had a day off yesterday so we went out and did some errands. We were planning on going to a local football game, but when we got to the stadium no one was there. We had a dinner packed so we just went to a park and had a picnic dinner and played. it was such a nice night. 

Johnny had to work today so I was all by myself at church and it was not a fun experience. Daphne ended up peeing on Quentin and me (don't know how she managed that) so we went home early. The rest of the day was a little better. I got to take a nap since both the kids slept for a long time which was really nice. 

Unexpected Guest

We had such a nice week this week. Johnny continued doing orientation and got to come home early a couple of days which was so nice. On Wednesday Mindy brought her girls over fo a little play date and the girls had a great time and continue to play well with each other. it was also really great to get to know Mindy a little better. I have never been good at getting to know someone one on one. I prefer to be in a big group and listen to everyone talk and just observe, but I guess its always good to learn new skills.

On Thursday we got ready for Joey to come visit. He called us on Tuesday with a little plan to come visit and we are so glad to have him whenever he comes. It was great too because Johnny got to come home early that day. 

Friday was Joeys birthday! After I got some chores done around the house the kids and I took him out for a great birthday lunch. We love the salad bar at the local grocery store chain so that what we did. I think he liked it to. We may have depleted the store of all it's raspberries. 

Quentin also turned 10 months this week and every month I'm so amazed at how fast the previous month went. I can't think of anything out of the ordinary this month. He has two bottom teeth now and he is starting to crawl. He really is just the best little boy and we love him to pieces!

Friday night Joey so graciously babysat for us so we could go to the Family Medicine Recognition Dinner. It was so nice to get all dressed up and go out without the kids. I think we have left the kid(s) with a babysitter so we could go out 3 times since Daphne was born so its just a little bit rare. There was dinner and then a presentation of the graduating residents. We had a great time. The dinner was delish and the company was great. We sat with Johnny's year of residents and had a lot of laughs.   

Johnnys fellow residents minus one.

Saturday we were up bright and early to go to the Farmers Market. The people around here rave about the market and let me tell you it didn't disappoint. There was live music and tons of free samples. All the food was delicious and we left with all the produce for the week and some extra treats. After lunch and a little shopping it was back home to relax and play games.   

Daphne came home with this little princess bike from our neighbor. Bob is the neighbor that gave us the lawn mower and he is just so sweet. We are definitely going to be taking him some cookies this week.

Starting Again

This week was another good one. Johnny started orientation on Tuesday. He has had some busy days and not as busy days. We spent the week getting back into our routine. I have been trying to get deep cleaning and organizing so we can get this place set up the way we want. 

Friday I had the car so I took the kids out to wander around and play around. I got some much needed clothing for the kids as well. We did the same on Saturday, but Johnny got to come along this time. We are trying to get our fill of him before the real work begins. We know we won't be seeing him as much once his job starts. We are so proud of him. He is now a licensed M.D!!!

Sunday We were invited to a friends house for dessert! They are a couple in our ward. There are not many young families in our ward and I think they are happy to have someone to get to know. Daphne loves their little girls. Mindy is a little quiet and I'm not very good at getting to know people, but I think we will become fast friends. We have a few hobbies in common and with how much fun the kids have I'm sure we will see more of them.

We are here!

Wow, how did this happen again? Its been another month since I posted. Life has been crazy busy getting ready for the move, actually moving and then setting up house. 

Three generations of Cochran men have slept in this crib!

Quentin turned nine months during all our crazy. He is growing up too fast. He is so smart and I can't believe how well he eats. He got one bottom tooth this week and has the second on the way. He has learned to wave goodbye and to high five. He loves that he can follow us around now and loves to play with his sister. He is still a crazy mamas boy and that makes it hard to get anything done.

We are liking in here in Des Moines. Our house is nice and in a great location. It is quick to get anywhere. It was so helpful to have John come help us on our move. We used the horse trailer to move our stuff from Colorado. Driving up was a long day, but I'm glad it only took a day to get here. So much better than driving across the country. We got here on Thursday last week and we unloaded and then stayed in our relater's condo for a couple of days before we got to move into the house. We weren't supposed to move in until Monday, but the previous owners moved out early so we got to move in on Saturday. We spent the weekend working in the yard and cleaning and moving what we could with the car. On Monday we had movers come and help us(we have the best relater, he paid for the movers and let us use his moving truck). Then is was unpacking and more unpacking. 

I am starting to feel like we are settled now. It has been slow going with the kids being so cranky, but the main floor is basically done now. We need to buy a couple more pieces of furniture, but we will get them over time. 

We have got to relax a little since being here. On Thursday night we went to a fellow residents house to have dinner and get acquainted to a few of the people Johnny will be working with. Yesterday we went to Adventureland (the local amusement park). The kids loved it. We had a blast ridding the rides and swimming in the water park. We had gone as a group with Johnny's co-workers, but got separated pretty early on. 

So life at the Cochran home is going well. I will try to get back on track with keeping up with the blog.