Life in Illinois

Cohen and I moved back to Illinois and have absolutely loved getting to spend so much time with family but we miss our friends and family in New York very much!

Yay! An UPdAtE!!

So much has been happening lately that I have not made the time to sit down and blog so I figured that tonight would be the night! Josh is officially done with his second year of dental school now and is getting ready for the DREADED BOARD EXAMS that he is scheduled to take in about a month. Time is flying by out here in Buffalo and we cannot believe that our time is more than half way done! This is what we have been up to lately:

Josh:
School and studying...Hanging out with friends, a little bit of golfing, a lot of parenting (and doing a wonderful job I might add), and supporting Alanna in her craziness :) This summer he is hoping to find some new hobbies to learn, and just enjoy relaxing and spending time doing whatever he feels like!

Cohen:

Says "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone he comes in contact with, spinning in circles and falling down
and saying "OH" (instead of uh-oh), Josh taught him how to jump while they had a boys
weekend alone! His molars are finally coming in so he can chew exciting new foods.
He also enjoys long walks in his stroller and bubble baths, and is currently looking for his play-mate that shares his love of mini corn dogs, yogurt, and lasagna!

Alanna
School, working and being a Mommy!! I recently had the opportunity to compete in 2 figure competitions and had an absolute blast! The first was in Olean, NY which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I was lucky enough to place 1st in the novice round and second in the open. I received encouraging feedback from the judges and decided to compete again 2 weeks later. The second competition was up in Plattsburgh, NY; 7 hours northeast of Buffalo. I felt truly blessed to have 5 of my very best girlfriends come with me. We made a weekend out of it while our husbands were good enough to be single parents for 3 days. On Friday we headed out to Plattsburgh and stopped in the BEAUTIFUL town of Saratoga Springs and ate some AMAZING Mexican food! We arrived in Plattsburgh around 9 pm and flirted with the check-in guy to get a bigger room (that to our dismay is what we had reserved anyway). The six of us shared a room and brought along 2 air mattresses so no one had to sleep on the floor. We stayed up talking WAY too late and got up early the next morning to head to the high school where the competition would be held. Besides it being 90+ degrees inside, it was a beautiful venue. The girls I competed against were so nice! It was awesome to feel like we were just up there as friends showing off our accomplishments instead of being unfriendly because we were competing against each other. I won both of the divisions that I competed in and earned my procard so I can compete in the big leagues now :) On Sunday we slept in (it was refreshing!) and packed up for our ride to Montreal. We spent the day walking around a beautiful city that made us feel like we were in Europe. Old Montreal was surreal, there were outside Cafes everywhere and artists selling their paintings on the cobblestone streets. We definitely want to go back someday with our hubbies! It was really great to spend the weekend bonding with girls and staying up late talking about everything we could think of! I feel like I gained life-long friendships, and I can't wait to add more memories to the ones we have! It was SO NICE to be home after three days, I really really missed my boys! I think that they were pretty glad to have me home too :) Now, I am enjoying eating regular food and not having to stress about much of anything.

The only real obligation I have in the next bit is a camping trip for my outdoor education class final, we are spending 3 days in Allegheny State Park pretty cool huh?!

We miss all of our friends and family and hope that you are all doing great! CONGRATS to Nate and Brad on their recent graduations! We wish we could have been there!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So its official, I hate everything about online classes!!! I was in the middle of taking my midterm for my business class and hit the wrong button and it kicked me right off!! I am TOTALLY freaking out!! So I decided to stop thinking about it and blog since there isn't anything I can do about it.... but SERIOUSLY don't you think that an intelligent website would ask if you were sure you wanted to close your page?!! UGH, I am so disappointed, I was really ready to take it and had just reviewed for HOURS! I just have to pray that my teacher believes me that I did NOT copy the questions so I could look them all up. Well, that explains why I haven't been blogging; guys I am TIRED. Tired of RESPONSIBILITY, lack of SLEEP, Josh being SICK, Cohen's new ATTITUDE he pulls if he doesn't get what he wants, WINTER, HOMEWORK, Being a Dental School Family; it is WaY too much at once for one person.

Now I know why Britney Spears shaved her hair off, so she didn't have to PULL IT OUT!
SO, Cohen is cute as ever (when he wants to be) and will be 13 MONTHS old in a couple of days! I cannot believe it! Josh loves Cohen so much that he wants another one ASAP; SORRY CHARLIE! One child is so easy, and portable I don't know that I could handle another kid. Someday, but at least not until Josh lets me off the hook for school.
Cohen has been making the funniest noises lately, he makes that funny hacking sound in the back of his throat when he talks and it sounds like he is speaking GERMAN. And he has recently started dancing with his shoulders when he eats its pretty dang cute. I had also appointed him to the TWISS Family head Chef since he has taken over ALL of my drawers in the kitchen. Josh has what everyone else at the school got and has been SICK for like a MONTH! I need him to get over it, he is miserable and is making me miserable too. I am just grateful that I haven't caught it yet. Well, I am so SORRY for writing a novel of my pathetic life, SPRING BREAK will be good for me, I just have to make it through ONE MORE WEEK!!
Anyway, CONGRATS KASHANN, she had her baby yesterday at 4:3o pm!! Also I have finally posted pictures from Cohen's BIRTHDAY

Oregon Coast!!

Cohen loved the feeling of sand between his chubby toes!!


It was pretty cold though


Am I slow? Cuz I CANNOT figure out how to rotate these pictures and I am totally annoyed!!!









Our mini trip out through the redwoods to the coast was amazing! We spent our New Years Eve in a small town called Brookings. We went out to a really yummy italian restaurant, stayed in a beachfront hotel and built a bonfire, it was a great relaxing and beautiful night! This morning we got up and walked the beach picking up cool rocks, anyway we had a good time!

Christmas Break

So we have been in oregon for about 2 weeks and have 5 days still before we have to get back to real life! We have had so much fun so far hanging ouy with all of Josh's friends and family! And we are very excited to announce that Cohen is officially walking now, he is all over the place!! Although we thought that we had escaped the cold, it seemed to have followed us here, it has done nothing but snow and sleet since we got here. Tomorrow we are heading out through the redwoods to the oregon coast to spend New Years Eve at a beachfront hotel that has fireworks and the whole shabang, it should be so much fun! We miss all of our family and friends and hope that you are having an awesome holiday season too!

Pics Pics and more Pics

Crew and Cohen playing great as usual

Cohen and his cousin Aiden

We got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa last week

Great-Grandpa Aug just loves Cohen!

It was so cute we sat outside and watched Daddy play catch and everytime he threw the ball Cohen just laughed he thought it was so funny!

Josh and the boys at the Monday night Bills game!

We went with the Kings to the Haunted Hayride in Ellicottville and had a blast!

Dang, that is one Stinky Horse!

While Cohen and I were home we went to an awesome orchard where Cohen got to pose as a turkey and ride his first pony

Happy Halloween! This awesome vintage costume was Josh's too.


Score! So much good stuff!


Cohen was all tuckered out from a hard days' work. Its not easy being a devil you know..

I am backk!!

(The end of our trip to IL)
So its been way too long since I have done any blogging.

Life has been totally crazy lately, second year of dental school is intense; not only for Josh but for Cohen and me as well. I am glad for last year breaking us in for Josh being gone, because this year is way worse!


(Crystal Beach)
Bj, Josh's mom moved out a few months ago and its been great to have her around. Cohen loves spending time with Grandma and I am enjoying getting to have a bit of freedom! He is getting so grown up, he is all over the place and such a joy to be around.


(Prunes...need I say more?)
I could go on forever but instead I will just get to the good stuff and post pictures of our life lately


(Daddy's baby boy)

(Crew and Cohen are the best of friends :)


(Why are their favorite toys the ones they aren't allowed to play with?)

(Clarence Pumpkin Patch)


(Our special boy hahahaha...)
Alanna