A little Easter Fun

I grew up with quite a few cousins.  7 of them, to be exact.  Add in my sister & I and you've got 9 kids.  Holidays were just a little bit crazy.  I very vividly recall getting together the day before Easter several years to dye eggs.  I remember it being a day to play, run around, soak in the sun and see some cousins who lived out of town.  I specifically remember one year when my sister mistakenly thought the little dye tablets were candy.  Purple candy.  If you don't know, eating those will promptly cause purple foam to come out of the mouth.  Overall, it was always fun for me.  I realize now, to our parents, it was probably just a bit like herding cats.

My memory, though, caused me to think it would be fun to have some of Cooper's friends over Saturday afternoon to color eggs.  I mean, how hard could it be?  There are just 6 kids and we have 8 adults - surely we would be ok, right?  Right?  I really did have fun.  I very much enjoyed seeing the kids play together, color the eggs, and hunt for eggs.  But every once in a while I'd turn around and instead of seeing a table full of children...I saw cats. 

We set up the egg coloring extravaganza on the picnic table and let the kids go at it.  Well, as much as they could!  The older ones did really well, but Cooper just wanted to dump the water over.

Obviously Cooper was thrilled when I told him that he couldn't touch the eggs...

We took a quick break to sing a round of Itsy Bitsy Spider

Once the eggs were adequately colored, we talked the dads into "hiding" eggs for an egg hunt.  And we made a feeble attempt at getting a photo of all of them together.  There were in one place, but they were more worried about looking for eggs!

Abby, Eileen, Cooper, Jacob, Sarah & Reagan

Cooper tried to make an early run for it.  Although, to be honest, he had no idea what he was going to do.

After the egg hunting was complete, the kids sat down to survey the loot.  We tried not to sugar them up too much, but they were allowed a few treats.

When it was all over and everyone left, Cooper cried.  I guess he loves a party just as much as his daddy!

I may have learned my lesson this time.

Warning - this post might be a little gross.  If you don't like gross things, just stop right now.

I got pretty lucky when Cooper was a baby.  He didn't spit up much and most of the time, whatever was going on stayed in his diaper.  So a few weeks ago, when he threw up on my bed and pooped out of his diaper for two days, I said it was "the grossest thing ever."

Then, a week later he ate dinner.  Got down to play with Eileen.  Gave me a look that said oh, crap.  And threw up his dinner.  I jumped down, tried to calm him down and clean it up, saw the look again and caught the next round of vomit with my hand.  It was warm and I declared that was "the grossest thing ever."  Jason agreed.

Until Saturday.  Saturday we got home from the grocery store and I changed his diaper and put him down for a nap without shorts on.  I do that all the time.  Two hours later, we hear talking from his room and Jason goes to get him up.  Then I hear yelling.  This wasn't the usual Jason yelling - the kind he does when he needs an extra hand changing a diaper, but I'm pretty sure he could do it himself since I managed alone the day before with an equally nasty diaper.  This was bad.  In my head, I figured Cooper was sick and had pooped out of his diaper. 

I was wrong.  He took his diaper off.  And then decided to poop in the crib.  Washing him and everything in his crib wasn't really on the agenda for the afternoon, but we went with it.  And I laughed.  Hard.  Jason didn't quite get why I laughed, but some situations only call for two things - laugh or cry.  He should be glad I didn't cry.

I won't say it was "the grossest thing ever" because I'm afraid if I do Cooper will find some way to prove me wrong.

In another life...

I could be a clown.  Last weekend Jason and Scott did the MS 150.  So we (all of us) loaded up and dropped them off before heading to my mom's house to spend the night and break up the drive.  Rachel even was crazy kind enough to come along.  And because we decided gas prices are super high, we took one car.  (This is where the clown part comes in.)
5 adults
3 carseats
bags
bikes
bike equipment

It was a little cramped, but all of the kids did great.  So did Cooper, Reagan & Abby.  Seriously though, for everyone to be piled into one car for 6ish hours of driving in 24 hours, we had no major breakdowns or fits...aside from Reagan wanting to go back to Cooper's grandma's house.

We took the kids to see the horses and Reagan fed Big Cat (a horse)...but got a little too close and Big Cat may have "kissed" her.  I know it probably hurt just a bit, but she was a trooper and took the "kiss" in stride.  They played outside for a while and we went to visit some family at a birthday dinner.  The kids played hard, and the only photos I took all weekend were when we tossed them into the tub together.

Sunday we drove into Austin to catch the boys crossing the finish line.  We made it to the finish line about 15 minutes before the boys did...with just 2 minutes to spare before the kids got fiesty. 

The guys cleaned up and we grabbed a late lunch before heading back to Houston.  It was a quick trip, but I loved hanging out and I think I owe Rachel a few bottles of wine for making the trip in one piece.

16 Months Old

Saturday evening we hosted a couple's shower for my sister and her fiance.  Someone asked how old Cooper was and it dawned on me that he turned 16 months old that day!  Time flies, huh.

This past month has been pretty much a lot of the same.  It shocks me every day how quickly Cooper learns things.  And aggrivates me at how quickly he decides to ignore what he's learned and do his own thing anyway.  Last week I pulled some crackers out of a box, gave him one and set a second one on the end table after I told him where I put it.  He followed me to the bathroom and a few minutes later I told him to go get his cracker.  He thought for a second, then took off running to the living room for his cracker.

Sunday I was changing clothes in our bedroom and he came running over, putting his head against my leg.  I know that's something he does when he's done something he knows is wrong.  Sure enough, I turn around to see that he's turned on the television.  We've discussed not touching the TV about one million times (in the last week) but he just can't resist.  I think its the boy in him.  That he just has to reach out and press those buttons.  It is a constant reminder that I'm so not ready for a second set of little hands touching and grabbing everything under the sun.

Cooper has also started testing every single limit we set.  Some days are better than others...but some days I wonder if he hears anything we say at all.  Terrible twos, my ass.  Check the header...he's 16 months.

He's eating more foods these days.  This weekend he had pizza (twice) and cupcakes (twice).  Obviously we're very strict with his diet.  He still loves being outside and is very fond of playing in the water.  Most evenings he "helps" me water the plants and this weekend we let him play in the sprinkler.  I've put in a good word with the Easter Bunny asking for a water table.

On another note, while we had Lin & Adam's shower Cooper went over to his girlfriends Eileen's house for the afternoon. 

They played for a while around the house and then went to celebrate Sarah's birthday.  According to Kelly, Cooper wasn't big on playing at the party and stuck pretty close to her.  Until it came time for the food!  Apparently he was all about eating at the party and had popcorn (for the first time!), pizza and a cupcake. 

I'm so glad Kelly & Kyle live close and that these two can get together as often as they do.  Even if they don't end up married one day, I'm certain they'll be great friends...kind of like the adults are!

Being Boys

A few weeks ago I invited Maegan & Jett over to visit, have dinner and spend the night.  The weather was perfect outside so I picked up some swim diapers for Cooper and set up the sprinkler so the boys could run around in their undies for a while.  Unfortunately, I waited around in the kitchen a little too long and Jett thought it was a little too chilly.  I figure in another month we won't be able to pull them out of the water.

I think the most fun was jumping around in the water and making it splash.

Cooper tried to jump, but it seems like he's got a little more meat to get off of the ground than Jett does.

Cooper has figured out what the sprinkler is all about.  This weekend he saw it around the corner of the house and grinned before making a beeline for it.  I have a feeling it will provide cheap fun all summer long.

April Flowers

In Central Texas, one thing is certain when flowers start blooming in the spring.  People from all over will line the highways hauling their kids/dogs/husbands out to take photos in the bluebonnets.  I've seen a few random patches of them in Houston and I knew this weekend we'd see the flowers and the picture-takers out in full force.

Not wanting to be "those-people" we took Cooper to a small field about 10 minutes from my mom's house.  Since his attention span is short, I only planned on getting one good photo.  Zeth wanted to come along and take some pictures with Cooper.  We tried to time it between naps so that Cooper would be in a good mood.  He had fun getting to run and play, but was also a little hesitant about the grass being so tall and dry.