Phone Friday 4/27

We spent last Saturday at my mom's house with some of Cooper's friends.  As soon as Lin showed up, they were begging for her to saddle the horses.  My mom had cleaned up my old saddle and it fits Cooper perfectly!

We've been invited to a superhero party in a few weeks.  Jason borrowed a Batman costume and we tried it on last night.  I knew it was risky - either Cooper would freak out and not want to wear it, or he would refuse to take it off.  He refused to take it off and begged for his shoes.  I about died laughing.

I had to make a quick trip Monday & Tuesday to Dallas.  Add that to a crazy few weeks of teacher changes at school and Cooper was a little... whiny earlier this week.  Thursday was much better, so I decided to treat him to donuts Friday morning.  This morning he came to our room grinning & asking for milk & toast.  I reminded him that we were going to get donuts and he yelled "Oh yeah!!!!"  I let him pick out whatever he wanted...he went with a chocolate frosted donut with blue sprinkles

I was very surprised that he almost ate the whole thing!

The Great Duck Debacle...or Happy Easter (part 2)

I have some really funny people in my family.  Well, actually, I have some people who think they are really funny.  Case in point, my cousin Chris.  While dying eggs Saturday my aunt mentioned that Chris & Haley's parents were out getting baby ducks.  I'm pretty sure my response was something about "why the heck do they need ducks?"  But since it was supposed to be a surprise for Haley, I was shushed.

So Sunday when Chris showed up with a swimming pool and a bunch of ducks telling me that some were for Cooper, I know my response was No.Freaking.Way.  Turns out the whole thing was cooked up just to see my reaction when they tried to give Cooper a duck.  I said it was against my HOA, but he could gladly keep them for us.

Turns out, Cooper thought the ducks were ok but wanted no part of holding them.

I think eventually half are going to Haley's house & half to my mom's house.  After things settled down, we moved to the backyard to hunt eggs.

We gathered the kids up for one last photo & headed back to Houston.

Happy Easter! (part 1)

By far, my most favorite thing about Easter this year was hearing Cooper say "He is risen indeed!"  We worked on it that week & I was thrilled that he was paying attention!

But the rest of the day wasn't half bad either.  We woke up bright & early...well, not quite bright since the sun wasn't even up.  Cooper took a quick look at what the Easter Bunny left before we headed to church.

After church, we all had breakfast & the kids went outside for an Easter Egg hunt.

We headed back home for a nap & let Cooper head out to find the eggs hidden by the Easter bunny.  He was the only one looking...yet he still felt the need to run from one egg to another!

Easter Prep

We spent Easter with my mom & family this year.  My cousin & his wife had their cute-as-a-button baby girl the week before, so we dropped by to visit them on the way.  Cooper was more interested in Bear's iPad.

After soaking in as much of the new baby smell as possible (mine now just smells like little boy), we headed to Nana's house.  Haley came over so that the two of them could color eggs & decorate cookies.  Within five minutes, egg dye was all over the patio & their hands and they'd cracked half of the eggs.  Gentle isn't really a word they understand.

While the eggs were drying, they decorated some Easter cookies.  A few of the cookies were generously frosted & sprinkled.  And I'm pretty sure I saw both kids lick frosting off of the knives & go right back to spreading it on the cookies.  I guess it is all in the family, right?

We finished by letting them sticker the eggs...until Cooper decided to just rip one in two.  After that, they were more interested in watching Zeth play in the pool.

Phone Friday 4/20

We've had a slow, but really nice week.  Cooper came home Monday from his trip to visit Jason's parents and had a cupcake with dinner.  I've mentioned that he loves cupcakes...only he really just likes the frosting.  He'll eat all of the frosting & give the rest back to us.  I seem to remember my sister doing the same thing...

We spent more time outside playing bubbles.  One of my aunts gave Cooper this bubble blowing machine (see below) and that thing rocks.

We played a little carrot-ball in the bedroom.  I think those days may be coming to an end because he actually can connect with the ball & hit it pretty hard.  The balls are soft, but I've been nailed a few times in the head and it isn't the best feeling!

Wednesday Cooper & I were outside playing after school.  I was on the phone with Lin & suddenly Cooper ran to the door & told me that he needed to fix dinner.  We'd gone out so that I could turn on the grill, so this wasn't totally random.  He can get back into the house by himself, so I walked in a few seconds later to find this on the counter.

I had asked him to cook a fake hot dog for me on his grill, but I guess he was serious.  Further proof that we do have a cheese problem - I see two varieties of sliced cheese, block cheese & shredded cheese.

Phone Friday 4/13

I'd really like to post more often, but life gets in the way.  I don't carry the camera around all of the time.  I sit down to post and can't find the cord to dump pics onto the computer.  You name it, I could come up with a million things.  So I decided to start a Phone Friday - pics from the phone with a few updates & stories from the week.

Last Friday, Eileen came over late in the afternoon.  We made a quick trip to the mall where we treated them with cookies & they serenaded the men's Macy's with a duet of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  And if you haven't been around 2 year olds, they have two volumes - loud & louder.

We left Macy's thinking we could head home for a quick dinner...however we went home for a quick pick up the house and rush out the door for a showing.  No complaints, but it was a crazy afternoon.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny dropped this by the house...

and Cooper sang a few songs for us on the way home.

We have really been enjoying the cooler evening temps & spent some time outside playing with bubbles this week.

Last night Cooper & met Jason's parents for a quick dinner.  Cooper went with them & will be staying the weekend.  He looks really sad to see me go, right?

I found this in the bathtub earlier today.  Looks like the turtle tried to make a run for it.  Thankfully, it fell while I was out because holy cow if that thing would have fallen while I was sitting at my desk in the room next door...I would have probably gone running into the living room with a baseball bat.

We had a few small setbacks this week with the sleeping.  Cooper keeps telling us the TV is too loud.  When did he become 5?  Twice he came into our room & tried to climb in bed.  Well, really five times - four in one night.  We gave him the option of either sleeping on the floor or going to his room...he went back to his room. Guess floor sleeping is just as uncomfortable for a 2 year old as it is for an adult!

He's a big fan of Toy Story - I bought a tiny Buzz Lightyear at Target one day as a thanks for being really good.  I find it very cute to hear him say "Buzz Lightyear...'Pace Ranger!"  He also likes Batman...only it comes out as a mix between Fatman & Vatman.  & really, I know he does that to annoy me because I correct him every time.

Saturday we went to see the new baby Adalynn.  All week Cooper has talked about baby Adalynn & how he touched her.  Funny, because the whole way up there I told him NOT to touch her.  

Cooling off

We had a very mild winter this year.  I'm not complaining, but it makes me a little sad when I don't get to crank up the fireplace.  Jason doesn't really agree to it unless we're looking at a day with temps that won't reach 50.  If we had one of those days, it must have been one when we were out of town.  That said, summer is pretty well here.  The past few weeks have been pretty consistent with afternoon temps in the mid-80's and lows in the upper 60's.  Oh, and the humidity is here to stay - running in the morning is like running wearing a wet blanket.  And even though the mosquitoes have moved in, I'll take this weather for a while.

The mornings are still cool and the afternoons warm up to bathing suit weather.  By 6pm the temps have started to fall and I've found it perfect for sitting on the deck with a cold drink while Cooper plays with bubbles.  A few weeks ago I promised Cooper that we could fill up his swimming pool.  Only we realized after I made the promise that we couldn't find the pool.  Jason checked the attic, Cooper begged to go swimming, and finally we made a trip to the storage unit.  The water was a little chilly, but the warm sun helped.  Cooper jumped in and out of the pool for almost an hour before we decided it was time to wind down & head inside.

One crazy Sunday

A few weeks ago the two Jasons decided to go to The Island.  The Island is owned by the other Jason - a place for fishing and doing guy stuff.  Since they'd be gone most of the day Jess & I decided to take our kids to the zoo.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Two moms + 3 kids = chaos.

I really thought Cooper and I could go to the early church, run home & change, pick up Jess & the kids and head out quickly being at the zoo around 11:30 or 12.  We finally loaded the kids up & left around 11:30 with a slight detour on the way in.  Then we realized that everyone in Houston was at the Zoo.  It was a beautiful day - I can't blame them - but good grief!  We drove...and drove...and drove around looking for a parking spot.  With three hungry kids and one who had to potty really bad.  Finally we wised up and parked in one of the Med Center paid garages.  Best $10 spent all day.

After unloading the car and loading the kids into wagons & strollers, we headed out.  By then it was almost 1pm, so our first stop was to grab a table for lunch.  Since we both had memberships, we walked across the zoo and exited for a ride on the train.  I'm pretty sure the two boys could have done this all day.

Baby J just wanted to look out of the side & not at the camera...

We peeled the boys off of the train and went back through the zoo, stopping to see some of our favorite animals - elephants (it seems we have 2 baby elephants now!) & monkeys.  We'd caught the giraffes & lions on the way in.  By that time the kids were almost as tired as we were, so we made our way back to the car & home.

Lesson learned - I'll stick to my rule of only going to the zoo when it opens.  Despite the crowds, we still had a good time.  The boys do really well together & have common interests - trains & animals that roar.  Cooper & I ended the day sitting outside eating popsicles & drinking margaritas.  I'll let you figure out which one he had.