September 11th

A day that will forever be known as the worst day in American history.

I'm not one to talk about September 11th. The fact that it's been 10 years is hard to believe. For good or bad, I wasn't the person who jumped in to help the cause. I didn't join the military because I felt it was my duty to serve my country. I don't even think I ran out to buy something red, white, and blue- a flag, a shirt, a pin- to show my support of the country.

I just remember being scared.

I know what our parents and grandparents talk about when they say they know exactly where they were when they heard news about those events. I remember each minute of that day like it was yesterday.

I had an 8am class, so I didn't know anything had happened until I headed to my 2nd class of the day. Looking back on it now, the energy on campus going to that class was much different than any other day. It was almost as if people couldn't speak in complete sentences; there was so much confusion. I made it to my second class before the story really started coming together. Before I knew it, my professor stood in the doorway of the classroom and said, "Leave this room, find a TV, and plant yourself in front of it. You're going to watch history being made." and he left. I went back to my dorm room and watched The Today Show. By that time, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were sitting on The Today Show couch, speechless for the most part. They were showing replays of the first plane hitting the tower, so you fully understood that originally, this was thought to be some terrible accident that changed in an instant. The planes had also already hit the Pentagon and been taken down in Shanksville. I called Daddy who told me that whatever it was, whoever had done it, it was bad. I watched the coverage in stunned silence, just not knowing what to think. Everything was raw footage, so all the horror, all the scenes that aren't shown anymore because of their graphic nature, weren't edited out.

Not knowing what to do, I went to work at the architecture firm that I worked at all through college. Everyone was watching the news coverage, but it wasn't long before our boss sent us home for the day. The phones weren't ringing, no one was working, and I honestly don't even know if the mail was delivered that day. I went to my parents' house. I just keep thinking that any minute, the death and destruction was going to start up again. I eventually went back out to school, met up with some friends and went to church to pray, then stayed with Jeff that night because again, everything was unknown and if the attacks started again, I certainly didn't want to be by myself.

I couldn't tear myself away from the coverage, which as most will remember, would have been hard to do anyway because all stations- even MTV, ESPN, and the Food Network- were covering. I had early classes everyday and I watched The Today Show as I was getting ready, but for weeks, there was not any sort of structure to the show. They would automatically go into the updates about finding survivors, then remains, then cleaning up the site.

Eventually, despite thinking it never would, life went on and got back to the "new normal." Watching the coverage this morning makes me hold onto Cooper much tighter and maybe having him in my life is what makes this much harder to comprehend. I certainly have cried more about the day now than I ever did when it actually happened. How the families who were directly affected by this tragedy have survived- I will never know.

MTV VMAs

I realized how old I was last night when I watched the MTV VMAs. Believing I should fully immerse myself in pop culture, I am guilty of watching Jersey Shore (it's still on DVR rotation) and when nothing else is on, Teen Mom and True Life have been known to be on our TV.

And truthfully, there's always some crazy something that happens during the MTV awards shows that people are talking about later. Who wants to miss trainwrecks?

Let's start with Lady Gaga, who I normally love, but who showed up as Jo Calderone, some alter-ego, greaser-looking version of herself.

Her performance of You and I was great, but the character was just weird. And it got worse as the night went on and she presented Britney Spears with the Lifetime Achievement Award (or whatever MTV calls it), then tried to kiss her. And since Britney is on the straight and narrow (when she wants to be) now, she was like, "I've already done that." and turned away. Awkward.

Regardless of the fact Britney read the teleprompter like Hooked on Phonics really didn't work for her, she actually looked decent, like she's finally getting her act together. And who woulda thunk she'd end up with someone like Jason Traywick:


Did you hear? Beyonce is pregnant! If you haven't heard that, you must be living under a rock. Not only was it rumored, but that's all anyone has talked about since Sunday. Truly though, she really does have that "glow" and at the end of her performance when she turned to show off her belly, you could tell she was thrilled. Really cute to see:


Love Adele. Love, love, love her.


You knew I'd include a Foo Fighters picture. They won for Walk and all I could think of is how it wasn't that long ago that MTV was about music and now the Foo Fighters are almost an enigma in the music world.


And then I felt even worse for Dave Grohl when Chris Brown, who didn't so much sing as "beat that beat" and dance angrily, used a portion of Smells Like Teen Spirit in his acrobatic act:


Russell Brand did a really nice tribute to Amy Winehouse, even if he's normally so funny that it was hard to take him seriously. Bruno Mars did a great version of Valerie as a tribute. I could listen to the Back to Black CD over and over again and never get tired of it.


What the what? Is that Rainbow Brite on stage?


Oh, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj...your attempts at being the poor man's Lady Gaga are failing. Miserably.



So, the night turned out to be rather calm by MTV standards. No overly elaborate costumes, no one running on stage to ruin poor Taylor Swift's speech, and Lil Wayne's performance was almost impossible to understand because of the bleeping and screaming. Par for the course!

Precious

Jeff's grandmother was making his grandfather a robe a few weeks ago and realized she was going to have enough fabric left over to make a smaller version.

This just warms my heart:


Cooper and Paw Paw modeling their robes.

Taco Cornbread Bake

I got this recipe from a blog called Plain Chicken that I follow. Although I was pretty certain I had messed it up, it didn't turn out that bad. For those of you who are just as shocked as I am that our oven was turned on 2 days in a row for cooking purposes, just slow your roll. This will be tomorrow night's dinner and Jeff will probably grill out for us the rest of the week. I can't have people thinking I might actually have some clue as to what I'm doing in a kitchen.

Taco Cornbread Bake
*1 lb ground beef
*1 packet taco seasoning
*1/3 cup water
*1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
*1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
*1 box Jiffy cornbread mix, plus ingredients to make cornbread
*1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
*Sour cream
*Salsa

In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in water and taco seasoning, simmering for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese, Rotel tomatoes, and black beans. Spoon into 8x8 baking dish. Prepare cornbread according to package directions. Spread over beef mixture and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

I will definitely make this again, but might add corn to it on the next try. It tasted fine, but I figure adding another vegetable, even if it isn't the healthiest one, can't be bad!

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I had some over-ripe bananas and decided that I'd give chocolate chip banana muffins a try. I have to admit- they weren't bad! Cooper ate about half of his, but then again, he'd already had a bowl full of Honey Smacks. I think the recipe came from epicurious.com

Here it is:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2-3 large, over-ripe bananas, mashed
1 large egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix bananas, egg, melted butter, and milk in a medium bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients, then add chocolate chips to the mix. Pour into a lined or greased muffin pan and bake until tops are golden brown- about 32 minutes. Enjoy!

22 Months

Time is flying by and yesterday, Cooper Boy turned 22 months old. We're hard at work planning the big 2 year old birthday party while trying to keep up with an active toddler.

So what's new these days?

*My personal favorite: Coop saying, "Bless you!" when someone sneezes. "Bless you, Mommy!", "Bless you, Daddy!" When I'm at work and sneeze, I really miss his little voice.
*Not as endearing is "Let go!" It's our fault. When we're changing his diaper, we let him hold the clean one until it's time to put it on. Jeff and I both will say "Let go!" to get it back from him. He's figured out that "Let go!" can be used in any situation. Want Daddy or Mama's cell phone? "Let go!" Wants a toy from his friend, Brody? "Let go!" It's something we're going to have to work on.
*Will repeat anything we ask him to say. We're really working on making Cooper point out what he wants, telling him what the word is for what he wants, and making him repeat it. He also has a very Southern accent and draws out his syllables. Golf comes out "Goooooolf" and mail comes out "maaaaaaiiiillll."
*Loves to point out school buses; cars that look like Mama's, Daddy's, Bob-O's, Nana's, Pops's, and YaYa's; people running and will say "Ha, ha, running!"; babies, puppy dogs, and boats.
*Notices detail..."Glasses off?" when I don't have my glasses on; "Shoes off?" when Jeff and I are barefoot around the house.
*Cooper is still a very picky eater. He will eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at LaLa's, but not anywhere else. He will eat yogurt at Nana and Bob-O's house, but nowhere else. He will eat grilled chicken at Pops and YaYa's house, but it ends there. I'm glad he still eats apples, bananas, grapes, and oranges, but we work hard to make sure he gets balanced meals and it doesn't always work out.

We're getting ready to attempt potty training. I'm not sure of the route we're taking, but I'm getting ready to order a step stool, potty seat for our's and LaLa's houses, and some books. We've tried putting Cooper on the potty a few times and you can tell he thinks he's such a big boy, but no success yet.

We're also getting ready to take down a lot of Cooper's baby things. It's overdue, really, but we're lazy, busy, and quite frankly, I can't get over the fact that Cooper has outgrown his baby stuff. We'll keep the pack-n-play up because it's where we keep Cooper's toys in the living room and he can reach them easily. The swing and jump-a-roo need to be put in storage.

Everything is changing so much and so fast. It's hard to believe our little boy is almost 2!

Fun Weekend

It's the last weekend before school starts back and I can't believe summer is over. I had a haircut appointment Friday afternoon, but ending up having to cancel it and working late. YaYa picked Cooper up, so once I got him, we met Jeff at home and settled in for the night. Saturday morning, Jeff ran out and got us breakfast and we hung out at home- it was way too hot to be outside for long!

Because we had been on vacation the past 2 weekends, Nana and Bob-O (yes, there has been a name change!) were anxious to have Cooper spend the night. Jeff dropped him off at their house, then picked me up for Mass. Afterwards, we ran a few errands, had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, then saw Friends with Benefits. It was cute and funny. If you're thinking it sounds a lot like last summer's No Strings Attached, you'd be correct, but I have to say I enjoyed Friends with Benefits much more (Justin Timberlake, maybe?).

I picked Cooper up this morning, then headed to my parents' house while Jeff worked. Unfortunately, we've taken another step towards Cooper being less baby and more kid with his first haircut this morning. No pictures, as it took 3 of us to keep Cooper somewhat still for YaYa to cut his hair, but rest assured, I did tear up and locks of hair were saved. Yes, I am THAT mother.

And if Pops ends up having to have a hip replacement in the near future, you'll know why:

He and Cooper were going down each step on their backsides. Over and over and over again. I prayed the entire time that nothing would pop out of socket.

One of the things Cooper loves to do is play in the sink at my parents' house. YaYa was helping him and all over a sudden, I heard her laughing. I ran in to find this:

Cooper thought it was hilarious!

We spent the afternoon at home, then went to Nana and Bob-O's for dinner. Cooper loves these chocolate covered ice cream bars and Bob-O was nice enough to be the one who helped Cooper...it gets messy!



Bob-O helping Cooper feed the fish.

And anytime we go to Nana and Bob-O's, we have to feed the fish and ducks in their neighborhood's pond:

Three generations of Radford boys.

Hope you and yours had a great weekend!

Vacation 2011

We made it! We survived our annual vacation with a 21 month old! It wasn't the easiest trip, but we had a ton of fun.

We made the trip down in 1 day. 16 hours, in a car, with a 21 month old is a lot different than 16 hours, in a car, with a 9 month old. Sleep is one difference. Screaming is another. Yikes...the last 5 hours of the trip, Cooper screamed the whole time. It was rough, but thankfully, Pops, YaYa, Tada, and all of our friends were ready to greet us when we arrived.

Doesn't this face look thrilled to be at the beach?


Actually, Cooper wasn't a huge fan of the beach. He couldn't stand to have sand of his feet and did okay in the gulf:

This was about as far as Pops got in the water with Cooper and they were right back on the shore in a few minutes.

What Cooper did love was wearing his swimmies and being thrown around in the pool. While he sometimes didn't want to stay in the pool for long (he would rather be running around or looking for lizards), he loved being underwater and would willingly put his own face in the water:


Pops and YaYa gave us passes to the Florida Aquarium for Christmas, so on Sunday, we made the trip over. It was very interesting, but I will say that taking a 21 month old whose attention span is short makes you speed through the tour as fast as you can! Cooper loved the otter playing with a fish and the '70s area that included jellyfish and boxfish, but HATED the alligator and eels. The aquarium had a touch tank and I actually touched a sea urchin and starfish (can you believe it?!?!). Because I was the photographer on the trip, we don't have any pictures of such a momentous occasion, but did get a good one of Pops petting a sting ray:


They would come right up to the tank, flip part of their fin up on the side of the tank- they were so close!


Pops, Cooper, and YaYa checking out the marine life.


Shark tank!


Cooper loved seeing his skin turn green from the lights.

Back at the hotel, all of our friends helped us keep Cooper entertained. Here, you'll see Cooper's "Mamy" (our friends' daughter, Amy), Pops, and Mr. Kent about to help Cooper check out the beach. From afar, you will notice:


Cooper loved looking for the lizards all over the hotel grounds:


And you know what's fun after a heavy rain? Playing in the gutters!


Me with my little sweetheart:


Gorgeous sunset on the last night:


Even Cooper looks sad about vacation ending:


Last year, we stayed with my godfather Mike and his wife Dixie in Atlanta on our way home, but were able to visit with Dixie's daughter Jenni and her son Tilden, who is a few months older than Cooper. It was so cute to see Tilden and Cooper interact with each other. Since then, Mike and Dixie have officially retired to Fairhope, Alabama, so Jenni graciously offered to let us stay with her and Tilden this year. Lucky us, Dixie's other daughter Katie and her son Colin were in town from Denver visiting Katie's husband Mike who is in Atlanta for training. It was just like all the summers we stayed with Mike, Dixie, Jenni, and Katie on our way to and from vacation, but add in a 2.5 year old (Tilden), 21 month old (Cooper), and 6 month old (Colin)!


Cooper and Tilden enjoying a yummy breakfast!


Jenni and Jeff doing a great job of wrangling 3 kiddos under 3!


Jenni, Katie, and me with sweet Baby Colin!

After a quick stop at Einstein Bros. Bagels (my favorite!), we were on the road and made it home around 6pm. I had enough time to get a few loads of laundry done before getting an okay night's sleep and being ready for in-service to start the next day. It's hard to believe the summer is already over and another school year is starting!

So, I leave you with the annual family picture in front of my parents' room:
Our annual family picture in front of my parents' room: