The Cox Family

Such a strange day. I took Maddie and Kenzie to Candy's house so that Nick could play with Kenzie when he got off of work. It was a long day and that is about that. Not much else other than watching kids. When I went from 2 girls to 2 girls and 1 boy was bad enough. Adding one more boy to the mix makes a world of difference. I love my nephews to death, but sometimes they can stress me out to the max. I am now catching up on a few things and then off to bed for work tomorrow. Dawn

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversationsoon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general.Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quiteexquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address thesmall gathering. ''You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems."He continued. "Be assured that the cup i...

OH MAN I'M TIRED! A man was sick and tired of going to work every daywhile his wife stayed home. He wanted her to see what he went throughso he prayed: 'Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hourswhile my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I gothrough , so please allow her body to switch with mine for a day.Amen.' God , in his infinite wisdom , granted the man's wish. Thenext morning , sure enough , the man awoke as a woman. - He arose ,cooked breakfast for his mate , awakened the kids , set out theirschool clothes , fed them breakfast , packed their lunches , drovethem to school , came home and picked up the dry cleaning , took itto the cleaners and stopped at the bank to make a deposit , went grocery shopping , then drove home to put away the groceries , paid the bills andbalanced the check book. He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathedthe dog. Then it was already 1P.M. and he hurried to make the beds ,do the laundry , vacuum , dust , an...

Last night I wanted to post because I had a couple of pics for the blog, but it was so late, I decided to wait until today to do this. Kenzie and I put up the tree. Well I put it up and Kenzie decorated it. I had bought one that is a prelit one so I don't have to fight with lights anymore. They didn't have the green one so I settled for the white one. All in all, I like it. Kenzie told me where to put the bulbs on the top of the tree, but you can really tell that a child decorated it because most of the ornaments are at the bottom of the tree. Kenzie and I decided that next year we will get all new ornaments since ours are getting a little old and broken... That kind of thing. In addition to decorating the tree, we went shopping last night. We got Kenzie's winter coat for this year and hopefully next year too. I bought a size big. She wanted a High School Musical one, but they were out, so she settled for a Bratz coat. It is real cute. Then she found Bratz shoes that really...

What a week this is starting out to be.... BLUE Pancakes were the request for lunch and MORE Brussels sprouts for dinner! Interesting. I couldn't believe that they loved them that much! Kenzie came home from school and told me to look at "w". She was talking about the page she had brought home from school. She has been pretty good today. Maddie has been quite the whiney thing! I think she missed me as I was being a trouble maker at work LOL. Ryan just keeps telling me that he wants a WII for Christmas, do you think it is a hint? Pappy has to go in and get a pace maker tomorrow. I guess that sums it up in a nutshell.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We were totally busy! Will tell you more later! Off to bed now! Love, Dawn

Santa lives at the North Pole... Jesus is everywhere. Santa rides in a sleigh... Jesus rides on the wind and walks on the water. Santa comes but once a year... Jesus is an ever present help. Santa fills your stocking with goodies... Jesus supplies all your needs. Santa comes down your chimney uninvited... Jesus stands at your door and knocks, and then enters your heart when invited. You have to wait to see Santa... Jesus is as close as the mention of his name. Santa lets you sit on his lap... Jesus lets you rest in his arms. Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?"... Jesus knew your name before we did. Not only does he know our name, He knows our addresses too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads. Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly... Jesus has a heart full of love. All Santa can offer is Ho Ho Ho... Jesus offers health, help and hope. Santa says, "You better...

Baby steps is what life is full of. When we are born, we take babysteps as we grow reaching each of the milestones that we are so farmiliar with. Then as we go through school, we take babysteps even though we don't realize it and when we get out of high school or college depending on our situation, we take babysteps to get our apartments, then on to that first house. That is just how life is. God created us to take these baby steps as to not overwhelm us I guess. And what am I getting at? KENZIE TOOK SOME BABY STEPS TODAY! She is in speech therapy as you all know, but we haven't had much luck with getting her cooperation because mainly she has to hear that she isn't speaking correctly before she can correct it, so Heather(the speech therapist) and I came up with this idea to purposly ask her if tookie is correct or if cookie is correct. Once she said her answer to me she said, "No" and I watched to see what she was doing, she put her hand on her throat an...

Today has been a busy day from the start. We put Kenzie on the bus and I took Ryan to work. Then swung by and picked up Anthony, and took Maddie to the doctor. Good news is she is 22.5 pounds finally. She is doing great in her height and head measurement too. They did a platelet count and found that she has a tiny virus, but they said they are totally not worried about it and to come back next week to have another one drawn as well as her next shot. Not to mention Kenzie's flu shot. Then we came home, got Kenzie off of the bus, everyone took naps, and then we picked Ryan up from work, dropped Anthony off at Kevin's house and went to Floyd Memorial to see Pappy since he had pulled his iv line out at some point today. After a while, we came home only for me to have to load Maddie back in the van since I forgot to send Anthony's blankie home with him. So finally I am home and worn out. Talk to you all later! Love, Dawn

I just have to give Amanda props for this.... Now for the explaination, I work at a rehab center, so I work with bedpans all the time.... And I have to admit I was jealous when I heard about the idea. I wished that I was getting the cake! Great job Amanda! Now for the rest of the day... I got Anthony today. The first day having three kids. Wow what a difference one child makes. He was great, it was Kenzie who wanted to act up. Candy dropped him off right before Kenzie got on the bus. And he played with the girls like he has never been away from them. Then Ryan got home from work, and Candy came to get him. He was such a doll today. I have him again tomorrow, so I have to take Ryan to work, and on the way pick him up, take all the kids back to the house, then it is play central until about 230, then I go to pick Nick up from school, off to Louisville, pick Ryan up from work, then drop the boys off at their house to Kevin who should be home by then, and off to the house. It wi...

Just a quick note... Papaw Sonny went to see Jesus just before Midnight. Mom called me this morning. She didn't want to wake the kids by calling in the middle of the night. Thank you Jesus for taking him and making sure that he wasn't in pain for the last hours of his life. Papaw will be missed dearly, but we know he is in a better place now. Papaw Sonny we love you and will see you when the time is right for us to be reunited! Love, The Cox Family

My Mom's foster dad, whom Kenzie calls Papaw Sonny, is in the hospital. Floyd Memorial. He was given 6 months to live a few months back, well they did a CT scan and the cancer has spread throughout his body. Please keep him in prayer that the nurses and doctors can keep him comfortable. He is a very special person to all of us. I know that Papaw Sonny will be in Heaven rejoycing with Jesus soon. The Doctor has said that he will not be leaving the hospital alive this time. I just pray that he will be comfy the last days of his life. Kenzie loved her Papaw Sonny! And He loved her! Keep our family in prayer through this ordeal please. Dawn

Wow what a trip! Here is a review for you! Weds-- We took Ryan to work and then came home, packed up the van, and then picked up the v smile from Candy. Then it was back to pick Ryan up from work and off to OHIO! So we made it to Kent in 5.5 hours. It was a good ride. The girls were great travelers. They watched the vcr tapes that I had packed and listened to their children's music. Then got a little restless and so I got out the v smile controllers and they pretended they were playing a game. When we got to Grandma Tigger's house, we visited and went to bed early that night. We were all tired from the trip. Thursday-- Pappy, Yaya, Uncle Derrick, Aunt Amanda, Riley, and Shelby came in from Florida. We hung out most of the day and then went to Hartville Country Kitchen for dinner. It was great. Maddie didn't want to let me go. When we got there I snuck her to Uncle Derrick and then hid behind Grandma so that He could hold her and then when she noticed I was gone, I took her ...

Yay! It's finally here. I leave in about one hour to go get Ryan from work so we can drive to Grandma Tigger's house. We can't wait to get there. It is about 6 hours from here, so it is a long drive, but nothing is too long to be with family. I will get as many pics as I can, but no guarantees since I have troubles with my camera since July. Riley, Shelby, and Kenzie are going to have a "slumber party" in the middle of Grandma's living room. I will be stopping by Candy's house soon to pick up the v smile that she is loaning me for the trip so the girls have something to keep them busy. Maddie smashed her fingers in the cabinet last night. Poor baby! She cried and cried! I practically hung up on Mom when it happened. Kenzie went to bed with not a problem last night because we told her that we were going to Grandma Tigger's house. Ryan is so excited! He can't wait to get there. I think I have everything that we need, but I know that w...

HMS HOME WARRANTY-- is not a warranty I will recommend to anyone! I know I have said this before, but now, I am positive that I was taken to the cleaners! They denied my claim on the heater stating that "the cracks were caused by everyday wear and tear but the claim is denied because the tech said that the furnace hadn't been properly maintained over the years." It really upset me because I know he got mad at me for calling to verify that I didn't need to pay a second deductable to him and then he chewed me out for it. I have since filed a complaint with the BBB only to find out that there have been HUNDREDS of complaints in the last 36 months. FAVORITE LUNCH-- The girls have found their favorite lunch is ramen noodles with egg and cheese. It sounds grose, but you fix the noodles, then just before bringing off of the heat drop an egg in and scramble it. Put in bowls and then top with cheese! They love it. Kenzie is doing well. She is excited about comming t...

Where to begin??? Still no furnace. Car still messed up. Mom didn't get the kids this weekend because she was buying a new car. I worked my tooshy off on Saturday. First shift I put up with two people who think they can run the world. Then second shift we decided to have a shower aide and then the shower person would do other things to help out when one of our aides walked in the shower room as I finished the 7th shower, and said, "WHAT ASSIGNMENT ARE YOU TAKING WHEN YOU GET DONE!" I went awol! I was not going to do all of those showers 6 of which were his showers and then have to do an assignment. He had made sure that NONE of the people on the assignment he was trying to pass off on me were put to bed and it was almost 8 pm by the time that I got finished with the showers, so one of the nurses took charge and told him not only was it not appropriate for him to do that but that he was not to take his break while someone is showing a person leaving one aide on th...

A SHOUT OUT TO BETH SPENCER! Thank you Beth! You don't know what you have done for me just by sending me the link for Dave Ramsey! I have fallen in love with the program and I have only read some about it. As soon as I can afford it I am going to take his 13 week program and put everything into play! We are going to start the process of the saving/giving asap! (Meaning at our next pay check) and we will go from there. I learned today that the budget I am currently trying to make work isn't working because I am doing it wrong. I am trying to save and give to God last, when those should be the first things I think of on pay day. What I didn't learn was the percentages I should be putting into those categories because I haven't bought the program yet, so I am kind of in the dark about that. I guess I will learn those things when I start the program. I will just have to see! Thanks again Beth! You got the ball rolling! Kenzie-- didn't even ask me about going...

Well, we have decided we need to be strict on ourselves for the budget. I am sure that we can save money if we are just strict on ourselves and Ryan actually had the idea the other day which surprises me. He figured out that when we weren't sure if we could go to his grandpa's birthday that we needed to really stick to a budget. I know that Beth and Maria stick to theirs, so I am hoping that we can follow suit. If you girls have any ideas to help us stick to it, please let me know!

I have decided to share the recipes that came in the two books I bought from Kenzie's fundraiser. I think that a lot of you will enjoy doing these with the children in your lives! Cookie Fun Suckers 3/4 cup butter, softened 3 ounces cream cheese 1 cup white sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/4 tsp. salt Assorted colors of paste food coloring (I use wilton gel colors) 12 lollipop sticks In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg adn vanilla; beat until smooth In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350. Working with each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls. For each cookie place 1 pink, 1 green, 1 blue, and 1 orange ball together to make one large rainbow colored ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (lik...

Today has been an interesting day... It started with me waking Ryan for work at 5 am. He requests that I get him up that early on Thursdays because today is the day that the doctor comes in and does rounds on all of the therapy patients. So he has to be there early to pull all of the charts that doc needs. Then I got Kenzie off to schol. While Kenzie was at school, I did a load of dishes (oops I forgot to start the dishwasher last night) and a few loads of laundry. Maddie and I played in the Playroom. We had another heater guy to come out for the warranty company's second opinion and before he left he tried collecting another deductable then when I called the warranty people, he got mad and started being a jerk! He just wanted to pocket more money! I showed him my duplicate check showing that I had paid the whole deductable. Then by the time Kenzie got home, I did a little more laundry and put Maddie down for her nap! It was a well needed one. Kenzie and I hung out for a...