Steve, Jami, Cooper and Cameron

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

2012-01-28T21:12:00.003-05:00

Tonight I made a fun treat for us that I found on Grass Stains blog. If you haven't read her blog, you need to do so. She puts the Hi in Hi-larious!

You take a cupcake pan and turn in over. Put thick slices of cookie dough on top. Bake as package says. Mine was 12 minutes on 350. Let them cool and carefully remove from pan.

Viola... you have a chocolate chip cookie cup.

Add some ice cream, and Mickey Mouse sprinkles if you wish, and serve! Wish we would have had some chocolate syrup to go with, I'm sure it would have made them even yummier.

Cooper was all business about his. Could have also had to do with the fact he couldn't take his eyes off of Peter Pan which was playing on the television.

Cameron didn't really care for the ice cream much, he just wanted the cookie. Can't say I blame him, that was my favorite part too.

Typical Cameron smile.

These are a must try for anyone wanting to do something different with their ice cream.

Better Batter Baseball

2012-01-28T20:55:00.003-05:00

One of Cooper's Christmas gifts was a Better Batter Baseball set. I had originally planned to keep up until Spring but we got bored today. When you push the red button on home plate it sends a lever up and gives you another ball. It's pretty fun! Sometimes I would have to remove the ball, it's works like velcro, and attach it again because it was stuck too hard and hard to hit off. Of course you also have to watch out for little brothers.

Cameron was serving as a little ball boy.

I love Steve in this one. Cooper whacked a few good ones across the room.

I think if we keep playing with this he will be ready for t-ball season.

Big Splash Adventure

2012-01-27T16:14:00.012-05:00

Steve has been off all week and up until Thursday we haven't done much. Cooper still had school, speech, and peeps so Steve hasn't gotten a look at what we do during our week. However we knew we needed to throw one family fun adventure in there so off to French Lick we went. Cooper has been excited all week about going to the water park. He came home from school on Thursday and after lunch we put his shoes back on and was ready to go. We held him off as close to 2 as we could and we finally packed up and headed out. I had to laugh at our car. I mean really, we were only going to be gone one night. Between snacks, pack n play,pillow pets, and blankets we barely had enough room for our suitcase.

The water park didn't open until 4 on Thursday, we got there just before 3 and luckily our room was ready so we were able to get settled in. The kids were all over the place. They loved it! The plan was to swim and play for as long as we could before everyone was starving for dinner. I thought I would load the kids up on snacks.

Like his big shiner on his forehead? I have no idea what happened, I wasn't in the room. All I know is that it involved running into Cameron. Cooper by far got the worst of it.

Just because!

and just because he is cute.

We got to the park about 3:55 only to hear an employee yell at someone for opening the doors too early. I was almost too scared to go in. Once inside we went straight to the toddler pool. I didn't get any pictures this day, but there was a slide that Cameron loved! We went down it over and over and over. I made Steve take him once just so I could see his expression, awesome!

Cooper was all dressed and ready; life vest and goggles. This was about the extent of what Cooper did. He was not into it at all. He's always been afraid of getting water in his eyes but he did so well last year in our pool and he really was super excited about it. He wouldn't do a thing, not even the toddler slide. He wasn't being bad or upset about, he just wouldn't do anything. After about an hour we gave in and got some dinner.

We added a package to our stay that included pizza and game tokens for the arcade. With our pizza we also got some chocolate chip cookies. Man alive they were good! Cameron liked them too.

We thought about going back to the water park but really wanted Cooper to enjoy himself so we went to the arcade. I don't think I ever heard him laugh so hard during his game of air hockey. He was cracking up! Also during the race car game. It totally made up for him not enjoying himself earlier.

I took Cameron back to the room while Steve and Cooper played some more. His nap was short and he was tired so I took him back to get his pj's on and relax some. You know how excited I was to turn in the tv and see they had the 7:00 wave 3 news on? I love our local channels! So due to one short nap and another with no nap both boys were ready for bed by their normal time. I got Cameron down and in the pack n play by 8:30. He was so exhausted! Cooper was down just before 9 and we didn't hear a peep from either one until 7:30. Awesome!!

With every stay they have a free breakfast buffet, well I'm sure it's built into your price somehow. Cooper wanted his picture by the pirates that was outide the restaurant. I don't think we got a single one with both of them looking.

I even tried but it still didn't work.

We decided to give the water park one more try. Before doing so we needed to pack up our room cause check out was at 11. I think Cameron could find just about anything to climb on.

Once again it just a no-go for Cooper. He was seriously happy and content just walking in the water.

Cameron however was having a blast!

Steve even took him on a bigger slide. He is going to be our adventurous one.

Cooper was having fun making footprints with the water. I honestly felt bad for him. He reminds me s0 much of myself when I was younger. He was trying to do anything to have fun. I told Steve the big different between me and him is that when I was younger no one would have stayed behind with me to make sure I had fun too. I could tell he was curious about the slides but I wasn't going to push anything on him either.

Steve and Cameron took one more trip down the slide and we called it a day.

Our plans were to swim and play until lunch, eat and come home. We made it back home in time for lunch. We did make the best of it despite not really using the water park. Cooper had a blast and said his favorite thing was sleeping in the same room as us. Man, I love that kid! We go to a hotel exclusivley for a water park, he doesn't like the water, and he still manages to have fun. I will make for a great memory one day!

When Mom's Away

2012-01-27T15:52:00.004-05:00

My peeps group had plans to go to Chuck E Cheese this past Wednesday. Do you know how excited I was to find out this was scheduled for the day that Steve was off? Anyway, as I went to take a shower that morning I told Steve to get out some stickers and fill in a reward chart so we could get some free tokens. It wasn't totally a lie, Cooper filled out a "great teeth" reward chart and he had just went to the dentist. I find these later on my phone. Poor Cameron's facial expressions always looks so pitiful.

Weekend Recap #908230483

2012-01-22T20:54:00.002-05:00

I don't really have a catchy title for this weekend, come to think of it I never really have a catchy title. Once again not a lot going on this weekend. The kids woke up earlier than usual so Steve suggested we head out for breakfast to help pass the morning. We chose Steak N Shake which is odd because we rarely go there, however it wasn't disappointing. I one point I looked up and Cooper was sitting up next to Steve and it was so cute. I got out the camera and then he got cheesy. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and napping. Cooper slept for almost 2 hours, that never happens! May have to do with not getting a nap all week and waking up early that day. Steve had plans to take Cooper to his parents for dinner and then to the Clarksville basketball game while Cameron and I stayed at home. That is when I watch mindless television. It didn't last long before Steve called and said the game was cancelled. I guess they were playing a team from Seymour and the roads were bad up there. They ended up at the Pie Kitchen instead. I would say they got the better end of the deal. After we put the kids to bed I headed to Tracey's because guess who was in town?

It was awesome to sit around and just chat. Loved it! We are working on our big spring shopping trip plans.

Steve had plans today after church so we brought McDonald's home for a quick lunch. We all sat down and he was about to pray for us when Cooper said he wanted to do it. It was A-dorable! He thanked God for a wonderful day at church. How awesome is that?

Tonight we did a first in the new house, we made a tent.

We realized we hadn't made a tent here before when we got out the kitchen chairs. Our old ones weren't as heavy and the blankets would sometimes pull them backwards. Our new ones are heavier and we don't have to worry about it. Cameron tried crawling in the tent between two chairs. Is it wrong we grab a camera to take a picture of him getting stuck before we actually help him?

Look at this... Cooper took this picture. Super cute!

Steve is on vacation this coming week so it may be a great one or I may be pulling my hair out by week's end, it could go either way.

And another first in our house, tonight will mark the first time we have had to worry about bad storms in the middle of the night. We have our disaster plan in place. I have a closet set up with blankets downstairs. We are good to go, I just pray we don't have to use it.

My little stinker

2012-01-22T20:43:00.002-05:00

Cameron is becoming quite the character. He can make he laugh and want to pull out my hair all in the minute. Yet I can't help but just want to pick him up and squeeze him cause he is so darn cute. He has started this thing of going into our pantry, getting out food and bringing it to someone on the off chance they may actually give it to him. Steve's parents were here one night and I happened to be cooking dinner at the time. I guess he found it to be the perfect opportunity to bring Steve's dad fruit snacks. This was his loot by the time they left. He kept bringing more and more to him. That same night we got out the play doh. I thought Cameron was crying because he wanted to get into our tub and pull out things and make a big mess. Nope, he just wanted to sit inside.

By the way, this was my 1,000th post!

Bounce Time, headaches, snacks, and science

2012-01-18T21:07:00.002-05:00

Looking back in past years it seems I get into a blog funk come January. I don't know what it is. We aren't doing much but when we are home I feel so busy that I never get out the camera. I need to get better at this. We did get out and have a little fun today, we had bounce time with my peeps group from church. Of course I didn't get out the camera. Chasing a 16 month old around and having a 4 year old who wants me to watch everything he does doesn't leave much time for a camera. Although we had a blast and Cooper loved it, it may be our last time for a while. They start charging at 16 months and it really isn't worth it to pay for Cameron when he spends half the time in my arms and the other half just running around not playing on anything in particular.

After playing for about 2 hours we had lunch and headed home. By this time I had a horrible headache. It had been hurting all morning but I thought with food or a caffeine it would go away but it never did. Cameron was napping but Cooper wouldn't. He did have some quite time which allowed me to lay down for a while, mix that with an Excedrin and all was better. Gretchen had pinned a fun snack on pinterest that I thought would be perfect to make. Who doesn't love apples, peanut butter, and marshmallows. I'm not the best at slicing an apple, you are supposed to make them look like lips and smiling faces.

They were yummy!

After our delicious snack we started our next science experiment; rock candy. Sorry but you don't get to see the results for about a week, that is how long it takes. I had to mix 2 cups of hot water, 4 cups of sugar, and a teaspoon of flavoring. That makes for one sugary mix, it was super thick. So I dipped the string in and then we have to let it dry for a couple of days, put it back in the mixture and let it sit for about a week. Hopefully it works, we shall see.

Maybe I will try and come up with some exciting and creative to do this week so I can have a fun blog post.

He can scuba dive!

2012-01-13T21:15:00.002-05:00

We had Cameron's cardiologist follow up this morning, you can read about our initial visit here.The news is good, the hole has closed on it's own and he can now scuba dive! That would have been the only restriction had it not closed and we would have had it surgically closed when we turned 17. Luckily we do not have to worry about that.

Mamaw's House

2012-01-13T21:12:00.001-05:00

Thursday night Steve's dad and brother went to the IU game so his mom invited us over for dinner. Cameron has a favorite place to sit and it makes me a nervous wreck! In fact, he runs over to this place before trying to dive down. We cannot let him out of our sight when we are here.

Praying

2012-01-13T21:02:00.003-05:00

I have been meaning to post this for a while but keep forgetting. When Cooper prays he does so by thanking God for things. What I mean by that, even when we are praying for something or a particular someone he still thanks God for them. Around Christmas time he was thanking God for the little kids who didn't have Christmas presents. I don't really have the heart to correct him in anyway, it's too sweet.

Just Because

2012-01-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

Just because he is so stinkin' cute! I could eat him up!!!!

6pm Outlet

2012-01-11T20:45:00.003-05:00

Last week I got a call from my friend Angie asking if I wanted to go to the 6pm outlet with her today. It's the outlet that is in front of the Zappo's distribution center in Shepardsville. I knew she has gotten some good deals in the past so I was pumped and ready to go. Steve's parents came over to watch the kids and I had my game face on. First order of business was to get our crack. They open at 10:00 so we thought leaving around 9 would be no problem, right? That is until we hit the interstate.

See the time? This was around the Veteran's Parkway exit, we had already been on the road for about 10 minutes at this point.

And this is the time we made it across the bridge. I think I would shoot someone if I had to drive this everyday.

The thing about the outlet store is that it is hit and miss. It's mainly stocked with the returns that come from Zappo's. Angie said she has come back with a trunk full of shoes and other times just a few at a time. Everything is already 50%, some were 60%, and some were 70%. The big sale today was every brand starting with N was a flat $29. I didn't have much luck. I found one pair of Nine West but that's it. They also have clothes, I found a North Face pullover for a good price so it wasn't a total dud. Plus....look I got my picture taken with.

I think we look pretty good together.

So although I didn't find any amazing deals and come home with loads of shoes, I did have some girl time out and was able to eat lunch without having to worry about anyone else. And I got my picture taken with Edward Cullen, did I mention that?

Almost Forgot

2012-01-09T20:55:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot a conversation between Cooper and the dentist this morning. It went a little something like this;

Dentist- So how old are you now buddy?
Cooper- I'm 4. Next year I will be 5, then 6, then 7, then 8, then 9, then 10
Dentist- Wow, next thing you know you will be 100

At this point I knew exactly what was coming next

Cooper- When I'm 100 I'll be heaven.

Price Hill

2012-01-09T15:45:00.002-05:00

The band that played at our church this weekend is called Price Hill. We had the drummer Chris, his wife Mandy, and their two kids, Ramona and Max, stay with us. Our youth minister was right when he said we probably wouldn't see them much, because we didn't. I joked that I cancelled my trip to basically clean house. That's what we did all day Saturday was clean and do laundry. It is freezing in our basement and they would be sleeping down there on air mattresses so I washed every available sheet and blanket we had in the house. They were late getting in so after set up, practice, and dinner, they didn't get here until almost 10. They went downstairs, got their kids settled and went to bed. The band had to leave by 8:30 so we got up early and make pancakes and eggs for everyone. The rest of the bad really did get oatmeal creme pies for breakfast. Mandy texted the other wives so we fixed a to-go bag for them. Cooper had spent the night with Steve's parents. Somehow being down one child made our morning so easy! That was even cooking for 7 people and being out the door by 9. I guess that shows us who the one that slows us down is. Since the band had to leave earlier, I offered to give Mandy and the kids a ride. We got to church, showed them the youth area and that was the last time we saw them. They didn't get back to our house until 10:30 last night and was up and gone by 6:45 this morning. I feel bad that Cooper never did get to meet a real drummer. This also means no pictures either, but you can google them if you like and hear samples of their music. Their cd has 8 original songs and 5 covers, two of which happen to be favorites around here. We may have to buy it.

Although it appears I missed a wonderful weekend, I know we did a good thing. They have decided to let God take the lead in their life and it can't happen without people willing to open their homes for them. Have no fear, a Spring shopping trip is in the works.

Dentist Time

2012-01-09T15:04:00.002-05:00

It was that time again for a trip to the dentist. We walked in and the place was packed, at least by their standards. Then our regular hygienist calls someone else back. Our hygienist is a talker. He will easily keep you back there for 45 minutes. Luckily, someone else called us back about 10 minutes later. I'm thankful Cooper didn't seem to care it wasn't Mr. Brian. Everything checked out great and he did super. He mentioned the light was bright so the hygienist gave him some sunglasses, I thought they were too cool. Our dentist came in and checked him out. He asked me if Cooper grinds his teeth at night. I'm unsure if he does or not, but he noticed a small chip in a back tooth. Now I know when I grind my teeth I wake up with a horrible headache. This may explain his moodiness. Of course I know most of it is age and such but man the kid has me walking on egg shells some days, this morning included. I like to have a reason for behavior and not just I am a terrible parent.

I made his next appointment in 6 months and Cameron's as well. I can't believe he is almost ready for the dentist.

I guess I should blog

2012-01-06T20:57:00.002-05:00

I guess it's time to do some blogging. Not much is going on, really. Cooper went back to school this week, I think we were both ready. He loves going and it gives me time to get some things done. Cameron and I didn't even come home on Tuesday and the only reason we came home on Thursday was the massive fit he was having in the car after a few errands. He never cries in the car so it was odd. He crashed on me when I got him out so he took a short nap.

I did have some big plans this weekend, but they changed. Tracey had asked if I wanted to come to Bowling Green with her this weekend. I knew I couldn't do it for the whole weekend so I decided to go down for just Saturday. I had it all figured out and was super pumped about a day with nothing but girlie time and shopping. Then Steve gets a phone call from our Jr/Sr high youth minister on Wednesday night. A new Christian band is coming in town to play at our church on Sunday and he was looking for families to host a band member or two. We live in the same neighborhood as Matt, our youth minister, so he asked us. I really hated to cancel, I mean hated to cancel. But, I knew it was the right thing to do. They aren't supposed to be here until Saturday evening but with the time change from BG I would have needed to leave by 4:00. Plus I didn't want to leave Steve home all day with the kids and trying to keep the house clean and ready for guests. As of Wednesday we were going to host a band member and his wife, but Thursday that turned into their two kids as well. They are staying Saturday and Sunday night, although they will most likely only be here the evenings.

Besides getting back to routine and running errands we have also had some playtime. This is me going downstairs this morning, it is freezing down there. Cooper counted to 100 today. His 30 sounds like 40 so it sounds like he is going through the 40's twice. He needed a little help on a few of the 10's, it think 60 and 70, once he got to 80 he was all over it.

Matt told us he was responsible for feeding the band members all weekend but the only meal he couldn't do was breakfast on Sunday. He told us not to worry about it, he would drop some stuff off to us to feed them. This is what he brought
He's 24, what can you say? Steve plans on making pancakes.

That's about it for us. I took the boys out for a wagon ride today and got spring fever. It was nice! Hope everyone else got some time outdoors as well.

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T20:48:00.003-05:00

I have been looking forward to this day all week long. This was our first Saturday without any plans since the first week of November. I had to go back to look at the blog to confirm this. We spent the entire day relaxing, one reason I took all our decorations down earlier this week. I got Cameron a booster seat this week for the kitchen table, he likes to me up in the mix while we are playing games. We got the Angry Birds board game for Christmas. I think you should get extra bonus points for just being able to build what the card tells you to do. Oh, and to get it all back in the box correctly.

I love their facial expressions.

I have to admit I never got into the game on my phone. Steve has been playing it since we got our phones last year. I finally downloaded it this week and I'm addicted. I don't know what took me so long. Funny story, yesterday we had on the news and they were talking about the UK/UL game. Cooper points to the tv and says, "look mommy, Angry Birds". Ha ha!! He knows the one and only IU! Speaking of.... how about them Hoosiers? I think we are back!

Tonight we decided to break out another Christmas present and have a movie night with Cars 2. Once the popcorn and chocolate covered pretzels ran out the boys had about enough. I didn't really blame them, it did seem a little over a 4 yr olds head. I liked what I had seen so far.

About 45 minutes into the movie the boys were jumping and falling off the bean bags so the movie went off. It was time to play more games, another Christmas present, Don't Break the Ice

I'm not so sure I will actually make it till midnight tonight. I know I say it every year but I can't believe another year has gone by. It wasn't the worst of years, I mean we did buy a new home, but it wasn't the greatest either. I don't know if it was extended period of the "baby blues" but I just wasn't myself for about 9 months. It just wasn't the best of times and I can't really say when I snapped out of it but it feels good to be done with that. I do always look forward to the new year. It's like a new beginning, a time to make resolutions, although I never really do and if I do I never keep them. Like my "I'm gonna run a 5k this year".

I hope everyone has a blessed, and safe, New Year!

Randomness

2011-12-29T20:54:00.003-05:00

Cooper got a box of science experiments from Steve's parents. Him and Steve wasted no time getting started. Cooper needed his goggles as well, it also appears he is taking a picture of either himself or the box. His new camera is fun, we played with it today for a while. All the experiments you can make are edible. They worked on fizzy drinks.

I was able to catch the fizz in action.

Cooper chose a grape drink. Oh my it was horrible! He kept drinking it like it was good, after a few drinks he said his belly hurt. Yeah, it was that bad. All week we kept saying we were going to do more but never got around to it. One thing we can do is make rock candy, I think that one sounds fun.

We went to Target yesterday for a few things. Cooper is always noticing things and asking me questions, he thinks I know everyone for for some reason. When we got home he asked me who that man was. The one sitting on the bench with a sucker that had smoke coming out of it. Yup, my kids are sheltered.

Steve's parents got me a super cool new IU pullover. I have been wanting to get some type of new IU cold weather apparel for a while. It's nice and comfy.

We are planning on going to French Lick next month to the water park and staying the night. This will be the first time we have any type of overnight stay since having kids. I know it sounds crazy but with one income vacations and trips were a priority. I know Cooper will have no trouble sleeping but I think Cameron has only slept in his pack and play one time and that was a short nap the day we moved, so we are a little worried how he will do. I'm pretty sure we will be okay. He fell asleep on the way home from the grocery today, we haven't had lunch yet so I wanted him to wake up. I laid him down on the floor and he stayed fast asleep even while Cooper was taking off his shoes, socks, and jacket. I guess if all else fails just take a drive before bed.

I usually never take down Christmas decorations before New Years but it is now all down and put away. I was quite proud of myself, I did all on my own, including the heavy boxes that needed to be carried back to the basement. I love not having to rely on Steve to get up in the attic anymore.

Cameron is about a week shy of having all 4 molars in. Yesterday he seemed to be in a great mood, but Wednesday I felt like I was reliving the first few months of his life. He cried and whined for about an hour straight before dinner. He woke up last night around 4:30, didn't cry at all, just said da-da a couple times and went back to sleep.

Now this is extremely random but I find it neat. The island of Samoa is moving from the east to the west side of the time zone line. The bulk of their trade is from Australia is which I guess is 23 hours ahead of them. They will go to bed on Thursday and wake up it will be Saturday. I guess if you are going to lose a day it's best to lose a work day.

Just Playing

2011-12-27T15:17:00.004-05:00

Each year after Christmas I feel like I need a day to detox, Monday was not that day. After a crazy trip to Target and loads of laundry it was a crazy day. Today was not going to be a repeat. I declared it pajama day. Cooper loves pajama day, I love it when they can wear super cute matching ones. Scott got them Darth Vadar pj's for Christmas.

If you have never seen the Jake and the Neverland Pirates video, Roll up the Map, you need to youtube it. Cooper loves this song and it has a catchy little tune. We got him the CD as a stocking stuffer, he danced around the living room to the entire cd this morning. Cameron just did is own thing, until Roll up the Map came on then he was all over it too.

What did I do during all this? I relaxed on the bean bag.

Seriously, check out this awesome music room. We had a rock concert as well today.

I even rocked it a few times.

This little guy is adorable at pretty much whatever he does. We are officially down to one nap a day. Unless we happen to be out and he falls asleep in the car. He's a trooper and makes it till 2 at times, but that's only because I want them both to sleep at the same time.

Cooper has never been a big car fan, but he does love ramps. Mamaw and Papaw got them this one, it's huge!

Steve calls this basketball goal his buyer's remorse. It's not as big as we had thought. I told him we should just take it back, it's not like Cameron will know the difference. Of course he had already put it together and demolished the packaging. Oh well, I'm sure he will still play withIt's been nice to just sit back and play all day long. Cooper was exhausted when it was time to try and nap. He fell asleep pretty much as soon as he laid down. I know the days are coming to an end when he naps so I'm trying to milk it for all it's worth. I got all our Christmas boxes out and plan to have it all down and put away by Friday. I never do this before New Years but I don't want another jam packed weekend, I want a fun one!

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T15:27:00.009-05:00

What.a.day! We had church on Christmas morning at 10:00 am so I was expecting us to be rushed around but we weren't at all. It was a fabulous morning. With a little planning ahead it was perfect. Cameron woke up first and we brought him in our room to wait for Cooper. We still set his alarm and most days he wakes up before it goes off so right at 7:20 he comes bounding in our room talking a mile a minute. We have a split floor plan so he had to walk through the living room, he comes in talking about how Santa ate his cookies but left him one and there is on present already opened, it was a big kitchen. He was on cloud nine. We all walked into the living room to check it out. Santa had left the kitchen out along with some presents wrapped in blue. The boys had their stockings and new bean bags, Cooper had green Mickey Mouse wrapping paper and Cameron had blue and red Winnie the Pooh.

Steve and I had some things in the back.

Cameron wasted no time heading for the kitchen. Santa said it was for the both of them but I think he knew Cameron would love it.

Before we opened any gifts we had to open the small birthday bag. We started a new tradition by not putting Baby Jesus in the nativity's that are in Cooper and Cameron's room. We set out a birthday bag with Baby Jesus in it and Cooper got to place them in the nativity.

Once Baby Jesus was in place it was time to dig into our stockings. We had to slow Cooper down a bit, he was into every one's. Cameron could care less, I think he was still at the kitchen. I think I had to open his. He got a car and 2 lift a flap board books.

Cooper got a new Berenstain Bears book, a new Bible devotional, and sight word flash cards.

Steve got a Chicago Bears ornament and a cup that he was super excited about. I got some lottery tickets that I won $3, 3 diet cokes for me, and a Kohl's gift card.

Next up were gifts from Santa. Cameron got a plush rocking horse, well it's actually a bull. Nice view of Steve, huh? Funny story about the rocking horse. The one I had picked out was on sale Thanksgiving night at Toys R Us. Scott got confused and thought I wanted the riding spring rocking horse. That one was a door buster so when they were handing out tickets Scott got all excited that he had made it in time. Turns out it wasn't even the right one so that ticket was a waste, then he picked up the wrong plush one. After all that work I didn't even bother to take it back even thought it was more than I would have like to pay for it. Cameron loves it so that's all that matters.

My pictures are a little out of order. I got Steve a new watch so he was excited to show Cooper.

This should have come first, it's a little blurry but it's what Cooper has been asking Santa for, walkie talkies. He also got a remote control car and Berenstain Bears DVD's. Santa thought when he ordered the videos from Amazon that they were the same ones from Sprout, they are much older. Old school Berenstain Bears.

About a year ago I found this cute Kate Spade iPhone case, it cost about $45 so there was no way I would buy it. Steve found a knock off, at least I think it is because it cost a lot less, but I don't care... it's super cute.

Cooper was excited about his new microphone stand. We got lots of new stuff to add to our music room. That is what we call our office now.

I have no idea what he is doing here, I think looking at his lift the flap book.

It took no time at all to go through all the presents. Two more big highlights were the Vtech digital camera we got Cooper and the trolley set of pretend cleaning supplies we got Cameron. Hopefully we will leave the real kitchen broom alone and stop banging people in the head with it.

Breakfast needed to be quick and easy so we had some Christmas Tree shaped donuts from Jay C.

I didn't think we would have enough time to open the gifts and play with them but we ended up with plenty of time. The microphone stand was a huge hit with both boys.

Once it was time to start getting ready we settled them down by watching old school Berenstain Bears videos. Cooper loves his new bean bag, Cameron could really care less.

After an awesome church service we headed to my in-laws for lunch and gifts. Believe it or not there were less gifts this year than years past. All this includes his parents gifts to us, Scott, and the boys. Our gifts to his parents and Scott. And Scott's gifts to us, the boys, and his parents.

We brought clothes to change into after church, I don't want you to think we went to church in our pj's.

Steve's parents were cleaning up so I got a little camera happy while waiting to start the gifts.

Cooper was doing this best to be patient so I said we would play a game. Whoever could sit on the couch and be the quietest would get the "first gift of Christmas". You know like the first gift of Christmas on the Polar Express. He laid down on Scott's legs and was so good and calm so he got the first gift.

I didn't get one single picture of us opening gifts. Between keeping up with both kids and trying to keep all the gifts organized I just couldn't do it. The boys got tons of clothes, a pillow pet each, fun new toys. Cameron got a xylophone table and Cooper got a miniature piano for the music room.

Steve and I racked up too. We got new camping chair for the fire pit, we got red and the boys got IU ones. Scott got us new dishes. We got 4 place settings, I picked out Fiesta Ware in chocolate so I can easily add or replace dishes. Now I just need to get more plates and bowls. Steve got a gift card to Lowe's and I got one to Hobby Lobby. My next project is getting a table for our foyer. Steve's parents always give in abundance to us each year and we are so very thankful. We have learned our lesson in past years and took two cars this year. We needed it.

Cameron didn't get a morning nap, this was a sure fire sign he had a good time.Steve got home shortly after I did and we all took a nap. I was napping when my phone rang, it was my mom telling me my dad was in my driveway. I don't hear from him for 6 months and he shows on Christmas Day without calling. It's not that I don't appreciate it, cause I do and he did get some nice gifts for the boys, it would have just been nice to get a phone call first. He wanted me to wake up the kids when he got there. Sorry, no can do, they had been going non-stop for 24 hours and they needed their rest. He stuck around until they woke up. It's a bit of a personal conflict for me. Cameron has no clue who he is. He wasn't around the first year of Cooper's life until him and my mom tried to get back together when Cooper was 1. Then a year and a half later my mom came home from work and he was gone without an explanation. Cooper knows who he is and seemed excited to see him but at the same time I don't really want him to have a relationship with him when I know he is going to disappear again for months at a time. I'm used to it, I just don't want my kids to have to go through it. But, it is Christmas and he is family.

We spent the remainder of the evening opening boxes and organizing. We are going to have one massive yard sale in the Spring. We had no choice but to go through and eliminate stuff. A few gifts we put back cause they are more outdoor items. It will seem like toys all over again. We are still only about 90% back to normal. Steve went back to work today and I met my mom at Target this morning. I got some good deals on stuff to decorate the outside of our house next year. I am excited! It will the be first time we have ever really done anything. I can't wait!

I try not to rank how good a Christmas is, but I do believe this has been one of the best so far. Maybe it's the age of our kids and how Cooper is really getting into it. I can't imagine next year. I can remember Cooper having fun with it when he was two but at the same time not really understanding. Next year Cameron will learn from Cooper. I'm giddy just thinking about it. It's way better being a parent on Christmas. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselore,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T21:17:00.005-05:00

After breakfast this morning we had a relaxing day at home before it was time to go to Uncle Scott's. We go each year for dinner and presents with his aunt and cousins. Cooper and Cameron waited patiently to eat by watching Polar Express.

My mom also stopped by before heading to work. She works the night shift on weekends, Christmas is no exception. We also all wore our matching pajamas. We normally wear them Christmas morning to Steve's parents but we are going to church in the morning.

Scott keeps a Bible in his coffee table, his house is small so we always move it in the hallway and we always forget to get it out. It's a good thing we keep up with technology because cousin Randy was able to read the Christmas story from my iPhone. Each night before bed Cooper and I tell each other our favorite things. He said tonight his favorite thing was Randy reading the real story of Christmas.

It doesn't quite look like he is listening all that much.

When it came time to open some gifts Cameron was into my phone. I have an app that is called Paint Sparkles, Cameron likes to play with it.

Cooper tore into everything in about 5 minutes. There was so much wrapping paper flying around. I still don't even know what all they got.

Once he gets a hold of this phone he doesn't put it down.

Steve's cousin Ricky got Steve a Bears jacket and I got a Colts one!

Since we are going to church tomorrow morning instead of going tonight we were able to call it an early tonight and get the kids to bead pretty much on time. Of course not before we put out a little reindeer food. I'm not for sure why my flash wasn't working.

Last but not least we set out cookies for Santa.

We have had such a blessed day and there is still more to come. I can't wait to see my children's faces tomorrow morning.

The Tradition Continues

2011-12-24T21:01:00.002-05:00

Our tradition at meeting for McDonald's for breakfast Christmas Eve morning continued this year. Sadly, we were missing a family. The Reid's were celebrating Christmas at her parents. Can you believe she passed up McDonald's for her dad's homemade breakfast? The last two years we went to the McDonald's in Jeff, this year we went to Sellersburg. It was just closer to both us and the Bushes. Steve and Paul both complained because it wasn't the same one.

Once they were done eating, Cooper and Hope played hide and seek.

If you haven't figured it out by reading Gretchen's blog, Hope is exactly like Gretchen and Pierce is exactly like Paul. While Hope had a pretty little sparkly Christmas shirt on, Pierce had a camo hat on and was reading this magazine. I asked him if he asked for a shank for Christmas.

Before leaving we had Steve and Paul take turns taking a group picture.

I miss these guys like crazy and was very happy they were able to make it.

Christmas at Mom's

2011-12-23T20:55:00.006-05:00

We went up to my mom's house tonight to celebrate Christmas. It is very rare that we are all together, I'll try to explain. Some of you know the dynamics of my family, for those that don't, here goes.

I am the youngest of three girls, my two older sisters, Carmen and Candiace, are twins. They came from my dad's first marriage. He also had a son from that same marriage. His son, my half brother, always lived with his mom in Florida, so I never really knew him. He passed away at 15 from cancer, I was in the 4th grade. Him and my sisters have the same mom, but she never had nor really wanted a relationship with my sisters, only him. Non of us have a true relationship with my dad, I haven't spoken to him in over 6 months, it's not for lack of trying, I have. The last time I spoke to him he was supposed to come see our new house and never called again. The silver lining in all this, is that my sisters and their kids have good relationships with my mom. She treats them all like their own children and grandchildren.

My sister Candiace is married to Jeff and they have an 11 year old boy, Courtland. My sister Carmen has a 12 yr old girl, Hailey, from her first marriage to Travis. Travis is now re-married to Stacey and she has a daughter, Lexi, who is Hailey's age. Travis and Stacey actually met through Hailey and Lexi. Carmen's second husband is Jason. They had two kids, Emma who is 8 and Layne who is 3. They divorced about a year and a half ago. Carmen is my sister who passed away last January. e
Like I said, it's not often we are all together, but we made it tonight. All but Travis, who was working. Stacy, Lexi, and Jason too. We try to keep it as good for the kids as possible and everyone really does still have a good relationship.

After a some yummy ham it was time to dig into presents. We got Hailey (in the back) and Lexi (long blond hair), also Emma but I didn't get a picture of her, personalized thermal totes from 31. I got Stacey's input on color so I hope they liked them.

I didn't get any of Courtland, we got him a gift card to Best Buy and my mom some Jennifer Anniston perfume.

Cooper was excited and ready to dig into some presents.Candiace and Jeff got him a Leapfrog text messenger. It's supposed to help learn letters and the sounds and it has a couple built in games. They also got Cameron a Leapfrog game.

This was Cameron's gift from Hailey and Lexi, it's wrapped in Justin Bieber wrapping paper, awesome! He got a pull toy with farm animals.

They got Cooper a nerf gun.

Cameron kept whining at the tree and was distraught over something. By the way, check out that cool faux wood paneling in the back. Yup, this is where I grew up.

All the whining was over some Elvis ornament that played music. He was all smiles once we figured it out. We had went up there earlier in the day to drop off Emma and I had showed it to him them, kids don't forget anything.

My mom got Cooper a Cars Geo Tracks race track and a Toy Story Mr Potato Head.

She got Cameron a play camera and radio. That is Layne in the back, he got the same things Cooper did from my mom. Layne is 3, he's 10 months younger than Cooper. Janelle- I don't know if you will read this, Layne and Emma go to the same sitter as your kids.

This is our loot to take home. Steve got some clothes and I got some clothes, a new jacket, house shoes that are actually super cute and I would totally wear out, and make up.

I had to get one of Steve being Steve. I just love this man!

We got home and I was trying to get a head start on cleaning out the bedrooms and bagging up future yard sale items when I hear uncontrollable laughter. They broke out the nerf gun. I'm sure it's going to be a major hit for a few days. So is something we bought Cooper, I'll blog about it after Christmas. What fun is the surprise if I ruin it for you guys too.

I Baked!

2011-12-23T20:42:00.002-05:00

One time a year, and one time a year only, I try to put what culinary skills I have to use and make some homemade cookies. I try to do it for Christmas since Santa deserves only the best. I was able to whip some up this morning, all before 9:00 am.

5 dozen cookies later, yummy goodness!

It's almost time!

2011-12-22T08:37:00.002-05:00

It's almost Christmas and Cooper has been reminding me every day. He changes out Santa's sleigh every morning. We also add to Santa's beard every morning. Just two more spots.

On an unrelated note, did you know there was a snowman at the stable?

He's only 4

2011-12-21T15:30:00.002-05:00

Since Steve had the day off yesterday we decided to take Cooper to the mall to see Santa. I had a few reservations since Santa already came to school, but thought he's only 4. We drove separate since Steve was getting his tires rotated. He just told me today that on the way home Cooper said, "Is that the real Santa, his voice sounded different than the one at my school".
He's only 4, he can't be saying this already.

Scary Situation

2011-12-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

Steve took the past two days off work so we have been enjoying ourselves and having extra family and play time. Today, Steve and Cameron were in his room playing while Cooper and I were having an intense game of hide and seek. I heard Steve close the door, I guess we were being too loud. A few minutes later Cooper and I went downstairs to play and color his playhouse. We hadn't been down there long when I walked into the bathroom to throw something away. The bathroom is right at the bottom of the stairs. I heard a loud thump, turn around, and see Cameron rolling and tumbling all the way down. My stomach dropped. I never shut the gate when I go downstairs with the boys. Usually because I walk behind them when coming back up and I don't want them pulling on it and pulling too hard and falling backwards. I guess it was out of habit but I never shut it when I took Cooper down. Steve and Cameron had come out of his room, Steve didn't realize I never shut it and Cameron must have walked right over to it and tried to walk down. I didn't see the first half of the fall so I don't know exactly what he did. I felt so terrible. Surprisingly it didn't take him long to calm down. I don't know if he was more scared than hurt. I other on the hand couldn't stop shaking. I stripped his clothes off to check out his arms and legs to make sure nothing was broken. I called my mom, she is a nurse, and she said just keep an eye on him and as long as he is walking and playing and acting normal then he should be okay. He seemed okay, a little wobbly, but then again he is most of the time anyway. We kept him up for about another hour and a half before nap. He slept fine, woke up on his own, and was okay the rest of the night. Thank you God! I know kids are much more reliant than adults, but man alive it was scary. Even now I just picture my sweet little 15 month old tumbling down those stairs. I will never, ever again keep that gate open. He had someone looking over him today for sure.

New Playhouse

2011-12-20T21:27:00.004-05:00

Scott called on Sunday to ask if Steve was taking anytime off for Christmas. I told him as a matter of fact he was off Monday and Tuesday. He said he has something for all us to work on. He dropped it off.. a new playhouse. I have seen these online, a playhouse that you once you put together you can color it. We wasted no time getting started.

Steve was getting a little annoyed that I was taking pictures. It's not the most sturdy thing, he ended up using duct tape on the inside.

Cameron didn't help much, he just played with blocks. He was stacking and knocking over.

Like my butterfly?

Cooper has been all business with the roof.

He was still working on it today.

Thank you Uncle Scott. I am sure we will get lots of playtime with our new gift.

Only Cooper

2011-12-17T23:04:00.002-05:00

Yesterday the boys and I were watching a show in our bedroom. It is rare for Cameron to sit still to watch anything so I had made the comment I loved watching tv with them in our bed. Cooper told me we needed to get a tv for his room and for Cameron's room and then we needed to get one for the bathroom so he could watch tv when pooping.

Only Cameron

2011-12-17T22:59:00.002-05:00

Steve was doing something in our laundry room one day and somehow Cameron ended up here. Now every time Steve goes in there he wants to go inside. He thinks it is hilarious! He threw a fit when I got him out today. It is unbelievably cute though!

Annual Murphy Christmas Party

2011-12-17T22:43:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the annual Murphy Christmas party. It was much more low key than years past. One reason being it was held much later in month and the reason for that was this precious addition to the Murphy family, Aiden Murphy. Despite having a two week old the party and the decorations were beautiful as usual.

Melanie did take a break this year, instead of cooking for everyone we had a pitch in. Everything was delicious!

This was the first time since Cameron was born, 15 months ago, that Steve and I have been together with friends past their bedtimes. It was so odd. I would be off chatting with someone and I kept thinking I needed to go check on Steve to see if the kids were bothering him. I wasn't use to all this freedom.

Tracey and Eric passed us on the way there and we started up a texting conversation. Eric was listening to a lecture and Steve was driving slow so he could listen to the IU game, we each needed something to do.

I tried to get a good serious one of us but it didn't work.

There was an ugly Christmas sweater contest, only three people participated and one of those took a sweater and pinned Christmas cards on them. I guess he had kept some old ones cause he had this one on there. A few years ago Paul and Tracey were having a Patriots vs Colts battle. All of our friends got this card in the mail...notice the Patriots hat on the snowman.

This was on the inside. That is NOT Tracey's handwriting. Yup, Paul and Gretchen sent those out.

We had a great night, Steve's parents came over to watch the boys so we got home and they were both in bed asleep.

Thanks for the invite Matt and Melanie, it's always something I look forward to every year.

Wee Ones Christmas Party

2011-12-16T10:41:00.004-05:00

Cooper had his Christmas party at Wee One's on Thursday. I was so excited that I got to stay for the whole party and help. We had a talk before hand that even though I would be there it would still be school and he was so follow the teacher's directions and they were still the boss. He did great, plus the two moms that coordinated the party led the whole thing, the teachers took a backseat. Amy and Stephanie, the coordinators, did a terrific job of keeping the kids occupied and had plenty of activities and games planned. My cousin and I signed up to coordinate the Valentine's party. Little did we know that is the hard one. Christmas has Santa and a gift exchange and Easter has the Easter bunny and an egg hunt. We need to start planning now!

Once the teachers brought the kids downstairs they went started right in on some crafts. They made reindeer food and an ornament.

Next up were the games. The first was a relay. They took turns "racing" with a marshmallow or Hershey kiss on a spoon to dump in a stocking.

Cooper was in a group with his friend Josiah. He also goes to speech with Josiah. I was able to meet and talk to his mom for a while, super sweet lady. She home schools his older siblings and his dad is a pastor in town so his schedule is flexible enough to bring Josiah to speech, it really the first time I met her all school year. I was a little sad to hear she home schools, Josiah is a kid I would like Cooper to continue being friends with as they continue in school. His mom said it has really helped Josiah having someone in speech with him that he knows from school as well.

The next game was a marshmallow toss into a snowman. It took a lot of self control for Cooper not to eat the marshmallows. We have nicknamed him marshmallow boy.

Next up was freeze dance. This was hilarious! At first he wasn't dancing, he was really just feeling the music. Once we got into it he was all business.

He was all business about freezing as well.

Their final game was Santa Says. We play Simon Says, and at time Mickey says, a lot so he did great at this.

After all the games Ms Amy, the director, calmed the kids down with story time. They had a special visitor that was about to arrive.

I tried my best to get Cooper's reaction as the special visitor came down the stairs.

They all then got a turn to sit on his lap. I wasn't close enough to hear what he told Santa he wanted. His teacher looked over at me and told me Walkie Talkie's and Bernstein Bears movies. I know about both of those but didn't realize Santa was bringing both. Santa uses different wrapping paper so it's good I know about this.

After Santa it was snack time, I went a little overboard and gave him too much icing. I think it was even too much for him, he took two bites and didn't want the rest.

The last thing they did was have their gift exchange. I had already put my camera up for that. Cooper got transformer cars. They aren't the Transformer brand, but that's basically what they are.

It was such a fun morning. I am so very thankful I can be there and do this with him. I can't wait for all the other parties and picnic's to attend. It was also great to meet some of other moms, the ones I don't already know. I know at least two other moms who have other children that will be in the same class as Cameron.

Listen up Amy- I may beat you to the Christmas and Easter parties in the future and leave you with Valentine's :)

Charlestown Christmas Lights

2011-12-15T21:14:00.004-05:00

Ever since we went to Light up Charlestown Cooper has been wanting to go back and ride the train. The train is really just a trolley that takes you from the square to the park that is lit up like a train. The carriage rides were also going tonight, they only have them on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Steve promised him they would go so they had a date tonight. I love it when they go somewhere and take the camera and I get to see all the pictures and imagine my own story to them. Steve said they had a great time and he was in awe of everything. His face explains it all.

Christmas Party at Adrienne's

2011-12-14T21:11:00.004-05:00

Our peeps group met this morning at Adrienne's Bakery for cookie and cupcake decorating. This was the third time we have done this and this was by far the best time we have had. We usually meet in the back room but today we actually had the party in the cake decorating room. It made it so much more organized, as you can tell they had a table set up with all our "supplies". For $5 the kids got to decorate and take home a cookie, 2 cupcakes, and have pizza and a drink for lunch. I went ahead and paid for both Cooper and Cameron so I could help out and take extra teats home. Plus they had enough pizza for the adults too. Cooper wasted no time digging into all the treats.

Cameron as into the treats as well. He saw the M&M's and it was over!

Our first creation was an iced reindeer sugar cookie.

This was Cameron and mines.

This is what they should have looked like.

Next were the cupcakes, we each got a white and chocolate. One was supposed to have icing, sprinkles and Santa. The other had icing, marshmallows, and Smarties. Yes, you read that right, Smarties on a cupcake. Cooper wanted to drink the sprinkles.

I thought marshmallows and Smarties sounded weird but it turned out cute. Reminds me of the game Candyland.

As we were leaving Cooper wanted his picture taken with the pig. Check out his face. I was in amazement today, he isn't the greatest or biggest eater there is. He had tons of treats while decorating then he ate his cupcake, then he still ate his pizza! I'm sure he wont eat for two days now.

I just love my church so much and love how our early childhood director puts so much effort into having weekly activities for the preschoolers. We may not be able to come next year and that makes me sad. She has mentioned changing the day because so many of us will have kids in a Mon/Wed/Fri preschool. Right now I just love the time I get to spend with my kids and the other moms and kids.

Bunco Christmas Dinner

2011-12-14T20:49:00.002-05:00

We had our Bunco Christmas dinner last night. Only five of us showed up, that was a bummer but we made the the best of it. We met at El Nopal so how could we not make the best of it?After dinner we had an ornament exchange, notice my rockin box up there? I got Tracey's gift, it was this adorable candy ornament. I love getting to add fun ornaments to my tree.

My favorite part of the night had to be when I got home and walked in the door. It was about 10 minutes before the boys bedtimes. Cooper ran up to me like he was going to give me a hug then stopped short. I knelt down and noticed Cameron as running toward me as well, I told Cooper he better finish it cause Cameron was going to beat him. They both crashed into me at the same time. Made.my.night! I love those guys so much.

Thanks for a fun night out Bunco gals!

Gingerbread Fun

2011-12-12T20:52:00.004-05:00

While I was out this weekend I decided to pick up a gingerbread house. I had never done one before and I knew Cooper would LOVE it! He was ready as soon as I put Cameron down for a nap. He waited patiently while I put the house together.

Then he got to work. I even let my OCD go a bit. He didn't though, he needed to finish each candy type before starting a new one.

This is as far as we got until I had to get Cameron up. He still isn't quite ready to give up a morning nap so I try to give him one but don't let him sleep too long.

I also knew Steve would want to help him out as well so they were back at it after dinner.

Here is the marvelous masterpiece

views from all angles.

I couldn't leave this one out. He was right up in the mess.

Steve suggested we give the boys a bath in the big bathtub tonight. He has to put his trunks on and get in since Cameron is still so small. Steve and Cooper were relaxing.

You can see Cameron's head in the bottom corner. I had already gotten him out and put his diaper on, I walked away for 10 seconds and he found his way back to the bathroom and was trying to climb back in.We had such a fun relaxing night at home. It's good to have these, especially in the midst of a very busy month.

IU Game

2011-12-12T20:45:00.001-05:00

In response to Jaime's comment about pictures, Steve did take a few but they were all with his phone. This is one after the game was over. Craziness!!!

Weekend Recap

2011-12-12T15:13:00.002-05:00

I really need a better title than weekend recap. There just wasn't much to choose from.

Steve's parents called on Thursday to ask if we wanted to go out shopping Friday night and they would watch the boys. Heck yea! These Christmas gifts aren't going to buy themselves. The boys are done but there are plenty more to buy. We also stopped by Panera for a quick dinner. I can't begin to tell you how nice that was. Steve got my drink for me and picked up our food when it was ready. It felt good to be waited on. We didn't have a lot of time yet we still managed to grab quite a few gifts. We got Cooper a devotional as a stocking stuffer. He loves to check things off each day, I'm looking forward to starting it with him.

We hung out at home most of the day Saturday. Steve went to the IU game but he didn't leave until 2. You had to be living under a rock this weekend, or perhaps in Mexico, to not know how it turned out. He almost didn't go because we had been so busy lately, I'm glad he went. He said it was the best atmosphere he has even been to for any sporting event. I met up with Tracey and the kids for dinner at McDonald's and they came back here to play for a bit.

Sunday we had church then I went out shopping. I am now 100% finished with shopping. In three hours I hit up Walmart, Best Buy, Old Navy, the mall, and Kohls. It feels good. Now on to wrapping. I am hoping to get finished in the next day or two so I can spend my nights blogging about all the fun stuff we have going on this week.

After dinner on Sunday we went to Bass Pro to check out all their fun activities. Turned out to be a total bust. We didn't realize it doesn't even begin until 7 and we got there way too early to stick it out. We didn't tell Cooper what we where we there for, he just enjoyed walking around. We didn't even get some roasted peanuts because they were closed. Bummer!!!
Did you know they have a live turtle? Because I didn't. We tried to get a picture of Cooper and Cameron in front of the Christmas tree,

then some random boy jumped in. We have no idea who this is. He just jumped in for his picture then walked away.

Since we didn't get our snack we went to Krispy Kreme for some donuts, check out this cuteness! It was yummy too!

Another great weekend! Lots more fun stuff planned for this week and Steve has a 4 day weekend coming up.

We're Ready for Snow

2011-12-10T21:04:00.002-05:00

I was on my way to Kroger this week when Steve texted me to pick up a sled. Guess he wanted us to be ready. The boys had fun with it, even inside the house.

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-09T10:35:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my tour of Christmas ornaments. I wanted to document some of my favorite and most special ornaments that we have. Steve moved out of his parents home in the summer of 2003 and we were engaged that October. That year we went out and picked out a tree and some ornaments to get us started. Although we weren't married yet, this one serves as our first official ornament together. Someone, either my mom or Steve's parents, bought us this one the year we got married.

We went to Disney World on our honeymoon and got lots of ornaments. I love this one! We went back tw0 other times before kids so we have lots of Disney ornaments.

This are two of my favorite; the Mickey ears and star. They have bells inside so they jingle.

On one of our trips to Disney I bought us and my mom the castle ornament. She gave it back to me last year. Then this year she came over to look at our tree and asked me if that was the Disney castle. She forgets easily.

We got the next three in Disney as well, the three years we went; 2004, 2005, and 2007. I am hoping the next says 2014. What a good 10 year anniversary family trip together.

My mom bought both of these the years Cooper and Cameron were born.

No tree is complete without the homemade ornaments. Cooper brought this one home from school this week.

Steve's parents got us these a couple years ago as stocking stuffers. They also play a song and light up. The Bears ornament is running out of batteries and doesn't work well now. Kind of sounds like the Colts season.

This lovely gem came from my mom. We don't watch Spongebob so I have no idea why we kept it but Cooper likes it. He moves this ornament about every other day and puts in a new space. I think all kids should have one ornament they can play with. Christmas trees are fun and shiny, we can't expect them to keep their hands off all the time, can we?

This one is one of my favorite ornaments as well. I got it at the Murphy's Christmas party a couple years ago. It was part of the gift exchange. Gretchen, do you recognize it? Gretchen brought it, I thought it was cute. So it now proudly hangs on our tree.

Being Resourceful

2011-12-09T10:18:00.002-05:00

As I had mentioned in my post about the Christmas Brunch at church, we had a a gift exchange. The way it worked was we were to bring in 4 identical gifts. All the gifts were laid out on tables in the commons area. We each had a turn picking a gift 4 times. The first time we had a minute, then 55 seconds, 50 seconds, and 45 seconds. We went in small groups of about 10 so it wasn't full blown chaos. I decided I was going to be resourceful in mu gifts. I was running low on Bath & Body hand soap so I was able to get one of those for my kitchen and I also picked up a coffee mug for a friend from church who wasn't able to attend. I was quite fond of my other two gifts.

Someone had brought in four of these cute notebooks. I'm pretty sure they were handmade. It looked like an ordinary notebook that someone had taken scrapbook materials to design in. I would have loved to get all 4 but one was already taken when I had my turn. I plan on giving this to the director of Cooper's preschool for Christmas.

Someone had brought in these super cute boxes with an ornament and candle inside. I got the box to hold the ornament I bought for my Bunco Christmas exchange. I figured who ever gets it can use the ornament and the box as decoration.

Inside the box was this ornament, nothing special, just a plain silver ornament. I decided to get a little creative with it.

I put the boy's hand prints on each side.

Cameron's didn't turn out so well, but he is only 1 and I'm sure I will smile and laugh at this for years to come.

Raising Boys

2011-12-06T21:28:00.003-05:00

Steve and I always get asked if we plan on having any more kids and if we would like to try for a girl. What fun would a girl be when things like this happen at home;

I was getting dinner ready tonight and with the Christmas program we were a little rushed. Of course I had to tell Cooper he needed to go potty and wash his hands about 4 times. He finally goes to the restroom, comes out and proudly tells us that he just peed in the trashcan. At first I thought he was joking, I went to check it out and sure enough he had peed in the trashcan. I can't for the life of me figure out what he was thinking other than that he is a boy.

Wee Ones Christmas Program

2011-12-06T21:00:00.003-05:00

Cooper had his Wee One's Christmas program this evening. There are no words to describe how incredibly adorable it was. It was only about a 15 minutes program but it was the cutest 15 minutes ever! A friend from church came over to watch Cameron so Steve and I could enjoy the program, he also did great. It was the first time we have ever left either of our kids with someone outside of family.
We got to the church early to get a seat so Cooper had some time to play with his friends and run around. He wanted a picture with two of his favorite girls; Kimberlyn and Lilly. I have no idea what he is doing here. I told him to smile and I got this.

My mom told me I needed to tell him to ease up on the smile. I think it's cute. This is Kolton, his twin sister Kylie didn't want in the picture.

They had about 12-15 songs or poems. It was simply sweet. He would occasionally look over at us and smile then get right back into the groove of things. The teacher started to lose the students about 3/4th of the way through, I guess you can't expect much out of 3 and 4 year olds.

He was getting down with some hand motions.

This was probably one of my most proud moments since becoming a mom. Cooper loves singing and I love watching him. I love being able to take him to a Christan based pre-school where they can pray before the programs and sing about Jesus. I am going to miss that in a couple of years.

Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-05T21:00:00.003-05:00

We finally bought into the Elf on the Shelf craze this year. I had mentioned it last year but Steve acted as if I was crazy, yet he was the one who came home from work Friday all excited about going out and buying one. It took us a couple of stores to find one, in the end Books a Million was the winner. Cooper was pumped! He couldn't wait to hear all about it.

He named our Elf Paolo. Paolo is a guy that Steve used to work with who now lives in New Mexico. He has been gone a while but Cooper still brings him up all the time.

Paolo started out on top of the tv. Since then he has made his way to the top of the door frame, kitchen light fixtures, and window sill. I sure hope he has enough places to rest during the day. Cooper loves it. He is so excited in the morning to look for him. He tells him he loves him. It's the sweetest thing. Hopefully he can keep up the good behavior for Paolo, it sure does make my job easier.

I'm still here!

2011-12-04T21:13:00.003-05:00

I got on a blogging roll then I went MIA for a few days. There just wasn't too much going on last week. I've also had a cough all week so the evening comes around I take some cough medicine, watch Friday Night Lights on Netflix, and go to sleep.

I did do a couple fun things this weekend but sadly no pictures. Saturday morning our church had their first annual women's brunch. We had a wonderfully delicious meal, a gift exchange, and lots of gabbing. My in-laws watched the kids because Steve had a team building exercise with work. They played laser tag all morning. Saturday evening we had a small gathering at our neighborhood clubhouse. Not too many people showed up but it was still nice to get out and meet a few people. I found out a girl I went to high school with lives in our neighborhood. We also had a cookie exchange so we brought home some yummy treats.

Friday night we searched all over Clarksville, really just two stores, for The Elf on the Shelf. I've got some pics, it's cute. I'll post those tomorrow. The Robitussin is kicking in. Have a good night!

He's a mess

2011-11-30T20:57:00.003-05:00

This kid is a total mess! He has never really been into "hoarding" anything, unless you count the stuffed Mickey and Curious George at the foot of the bed and the stuffed animal he got in the hospital last year along with stuffed puppet at head of the bed, but that's a whole other story. If you look at the picture below you will notice the purple bracelet/key chain on his wrist. He calls it is his purple thing. He got it at my mom's house a while bank and hasn't taken it off since. Wears it all.the.time. I do make him take it off for school since he plays with it so much, which is why I also took off the key ring part. One day we actually lost if for good, or so we thought. I searched high and low, it was no where to be found. He took in stride because if you will also notice he happens to have a plastic bird in his hand. The same day we lost the purple thing he was celebrating his birthday at school and he got to pick out a toy, he chose this bird from Rio. I believe it came in a McDonald's happy meal. Now this thing goes everywhere, he even sleeps with it. Carries all around the house. A few days after he lost the purple thing I got a call from his speech therapist. Turns out he was playing with it a little too much and she had to take it from him. She even offered to bring to our house. I told her no we would just pick it up at our next session. She said it was never a problem until that day. Needless to say the purple thing now comes off for school and speech.

If all this isn't enough, he was going through a drawer of his and found the medal he received at the end of tee ball season. It's in the picture too. He wants to wear this all time time too now. We did draw the line at sleeping with it. It gets worse, Cameron likes to sleep with a pacifier and holding another one while cuddling with a receiving blanket. If you are keeping count, every night before bed I have to keep track of; 2 pacifiers, a blanket, a bird, and a purple thing. I am about to lose my mind!!!

Sneak Peek

2011-11-29T21:29:00.003-05:00

A lady from church who lives down the road came over today to take our annual Christmas card photo in our pajamas. These are just a few she got.

Finishing up the weekend

2011-11-26T21:49:00.002-05:00

Today I had last minute lunch plans with Tracey and Gretchen. I so happy to be able to go. I asked my in laws last minute and they didn't have plans. It was a double bonus because the boys had a great time playing with their grandparents.

I had mentioned taking the boys to look at Christmas lights so Tracey texted me later and asked if I was up some company. She brought Levi and Maggie over, we had some pizza and headed out. The bigger kids were lessed than thrilled, they would rather have played. I don't think Cameron was too thrilled to be in a pink car seat. Maggie was cute as always.

Since the boys weren't into it we quited them down by McDonald's milk shakes. We didn't see many lights but we got out of the house. Later in the evening I was giving Cameron a bath, I walked back into the living room to fin that Cooper had taken the cushions off the couch and was jumping from cushion to cushion. Yup, that's what happens when daddy's gone.

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

2011-11-26T21:18:00.002-05:00

I guess I can't really call it Black Friday when all the shopping was done on Thursday, but we'll still go with it. Steve and Scott decided to brave out Toys R Us Thursday night. They got in line around 7:15, the doors opened at 9:00 and they were in an out in under an hour. Steve was home by 10:30 and that was after doing a drive by past all the other craziness. At 10:15 the exit off 65 was backed up trying to get into Walmart. They were able to get everything off our list and saved about $140. How's that for Christmas shopping? The boys are almost done. We can't support Black Friday without supporting Small Business Saturday. Steve went with his brother to the IU game today but had time this morning to stop by Schimpf's for some candy. I love that place, we don't go there of often enough.

Cooper loves the Bearenstain Bears books and you can find videos on Amazon. Which means I will most likely be supporting Cyber Monday as well. I love Christmas shopping!

Light up Charlestown

2011-11-26T20:57:00.003-05:00

We started a new tradition by going to Light up Charlestown this year. We have went to see the lights several times the past couple of years but this was the first time we went to see them light up the night after Thanksgiving. The cutest thing happened when we drove past Cooper's school. He said "Look daddy, there's my school. One day I want you to go to school with me and I can introduce you to all my friends".

We had about 40 minutes to spare once we got to the park, luckily we were able to find some swings. Both boys were swinging and giggling and there was some Christmas music in the background. I think I had a moment. I felt so blessed. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yes, we are the parents who don't take time to wipe off our children's mouth after dinner.

About five minutes before the lights came on we made our way back up the hill towards the highway so we could look down into the park. It was a great spot, we got a good view of the whole park and we were close to highway to make a quick exit across the street to see the square all lit up. This isn't the best picture and I didn't get any on the square but I am sure we will be back many times before Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T21:40:00.005-05:00

We didn't have any plans today until dinner time so we were able to spend a much needed relaxing day at home. I am so incredibly thankful for my family. I take what I have for granted a lot, especially being a stay at home mom and spending so much time with my children. I just want to take a moment to be thankful for this opportunity. So many moms would give anything to be in my situation. I pray that if this is a desire of yours that God will make that happen.

We started off our morning with chocolate chip pancakes. What's a few extra calories going to hurt on a day like this?Don't let his enthusiasm fool ya, he ate almost 4 pancakes.

This little turkey gobbled some up too.

We were bad and made a trip out this morning to Big Lots. I really did feel terrible because I can remember working retail and dreading working around the holidays, everyone in there was super nice and friendly. At least they were making the most of it.

When Cameron was taking a morning nap, Cooper and I played with Play-Doh. I got a little creative.

The whole purpose for Big Lots was to get things to do this to our front door. Our door sits back and is enclosed in stone so we wanted to something to stick out. It looked good in the daylight. I was going to take a picture this evening when we got home but it had fallen down.

I have no idea what got into me today, maybe it was the day of nothingness going on, but we got to my in-law's for dinner and I realized I had totally forgotten to make the corn casserole. We didn't really need it so it wasn't that big of a deal. I just can't believe it slipped my mind.

Cameron was all over their brick fireplace, he wore me out tonight.

We rarely get any pictures together so I got ourselves a self-portrait.

These two are too much. This is what Cameron does anytime you point the camera at him and Cooper is of course doing what Cameron is doing.

Our yummy spread, along with some grabby hands. We did have some green beans in there, gotta have a little green, but there was no room at the table. I wish I had a picture of Cameron after mashed potatoes, a face only a mother could love.

Cooper was playing with Steve's phone and Mr. Curious wanted to know what was going on.

That quickly turned into a game of I'm gonna pester the snot fire out of my big brother.

I love, love, love watching my boys together. They are at times just too cute for words.

I brought the boys home this evening and put them to bed while Steve headed to Toys R Us to brave some Black Friday shopping. It is 10:11 pm and he is out of the store and on his way home with everything on our list. Way to go Steve!!!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Breaking Dawn!!!

2011-11-24T21:06:00.003-05:00

Last night was 16 months in the making but it finally happened, we got to see Breaking Dawn part 1. I know some of you aren't crazy Twihards like myself and the rest of the girls so you might think we are bit crazy, just let me indulge you for a while. As you may remember it was just Jaime and I last summer when Eclipse came out. I was 7 months pregnant and remember thinking my unborn child would be 14 months old before the next one came out. That is a long time folks! Since then our group has grown. Tracey and Gretchen joined in on the fun shortly after Eclipse came out and Karen and her friend Jen joined us as last minute guests. They had planned on going opening night but that fell through, we were delighted to have extra company.

I was so stinking excited Wednesday morning. Justin Beiber was on The Today Show and I almost became a fan, just to have something to be giddy over.
We started our night off with dinner at Puerta Vallarata. I made that executive decision a while back, I usually let others make that call but if I was having a night out on the town than by golly Mexican food was going to be included.

We all had our cameras out and flashing away, Karen and Jen didn't, they probably thought we were nuts. Tracey had her fancy camera, I'm almost positive she had on of those long paparazzi lenses in her purse. She had a server take a group shot for us.Once we got in the theatre there were more flashes. Told you I was giddy! I don't get to see Karen often but we had lunch two weeks ago, dinner and movie this week, and she is coming with me to a women's brunch at my church next week. I love it!!! I miss my neighbor!

Once again Tracey bribed a worked to take our picture. I'm sure they are used to it by now. Sadly, Jen was missing.

I also miss this girl sitting next to me. We planned this night around Gretchen's visit back to the promised land.

We had about 20 minutes to kill before the movie so of course we were all on our phones. I thought this one was neat how it lit up Tracey's face.

I asked these girls what would they do if Edward walked in right now, this was the reaction I got.

Once the movie began I put up the camera. I know, big shocker! These movies just keep getting better and better. About a year ago I had read somewhere how they would most likely end this movie, since the last book is broken into two movies. It was spot on. I hated it because you knew it was coming but you didn't want the movie to end. I hope they begin the next movie by replaying the last 5 minutes of this one. So so good!!!

Here's to November 2012!

4 Year Well Visit and Toys R Us

2011-11-23T14:27:00.004-05:00

We had Cooper's four year well visit this morning. Cameron has taken into sleeping in till 8:00 here lately, which is awesome! However, it makes it hard to get out there for 9:00 o'clock appointments when I still have to change and feed him. Especially on morning where Cooper was WIRED!!! More on that later. He was being super silly in the waiting room. We didn't spend much time in there because we were in and out in under an hour. I have spent less time in there the past two visits than I did my one previous before that.

He also wanted one of Cameron. The above picture of Cooper is his Cameron expression.

So we were in and out quick, hopefully it's a trend if we continue with this new doctor. Beth, if you are reading I have been requesting Dr. Morgan. He was a ham for her today. They had be undress him to his underwear and he had on boxers this morning, oh my... super cute! His stats were 38.5 inches for his height which puts him at 25% and 31.25 lbs which is 10%. He has grown 3 and 3/4 inches but has only gained 2.5 lbs. His BMI is good for his height/weight combo so she isn't concerned. He is on target to be about 5'9, last year he was on target for 5'5! It's getting harder to dress him since 4t clothes are so big, especially pants, but 3t are too short. Our only concern was he appears to at times have a lazy eye. Her tests didn't show anything out of the ordinary but she suggested if we were concerned than they could set us up an appointment with a pediatric opthamologist. I'll probably call and see if I can set that up during his Christmas break or after the holidays.

He also had to get his finger prick for a CBC. I had warned him about this so he was asking while we were there. He was so brave and tried his hardest not to cry. He didn't shed a tear until I tried to put his jacket on him and he thought it would make his band aid fall off.

After the appointment we got to make a trip to Toys R Us. He sold donut certificates for school a few weeks ago. The top three sellers got a gift card to Toys R Us. I had turned in orders 2 weeks ago and then got the certificates last week but nothing was ever mentioned on who sold the most. I just assumed he didn't win. Yesterday I was going through his folder after school and he had a gift card. He had Uncle Scott all to thank for this. He busted into our room this morning saying, "hey I got a good idea, why don't we skip the doctor's appointment and just go to Toys R Us". We walked all through the store and he finally chose a Cars fishing game.

You fish for tires. He got a little frustrated in the beginning but I think he is starting to get the hang of it.

I also picked up a reusable bag to store toys in. He played with that thing all afternoon. It kept him busy while I made lunch.

This is half the mess he made with it. We had to make a game out of it in order for him to put the books away. First he had to put away all the Curious George books, then all the hard books, then all the books with blue in it. Kids... you buy them a game and they play with a bag worth a $1.

Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-11-22T21:24:00.003-05:00

It took two night but our tree is up and shining! I like to do it the weekend before Thanksgiving and with Cooper's party and then Steve had to work on Sunday I didn't think it would happen, but it did! Good thing too, Steve may be doing black Friday then he is going to the IU game Saturday so may have had to wait till December! Let me hear the collective gasps now!

Do you know much Steve loved not having to get up in the attic for our Christmas decorations? Makes it soooo much easier. First up was clearing spot, these window are what originally drew me to this house. Cooper got to the do the honors of putting on the first ornament. I wish I would have had more pictures of us stringing the lights. We have two strands of 200/each. Do you know how long a strand of 200 lights is? Steve was stringing, I was holding and making sure it didn't get tangled, and Cooper was doing a fine job making my job harder.

It was getting late by this time so we had to stop for the night, but Cooper and I were back at it the next morning. He tried is darnedest to tie the string around some new bulbs we bought.

Then he wanted to take my picture for whatever reason.

Finally, we were all done! You can blame Steve for cutting off the star.

I think once December comes I'm going to do a post on some of our special ornaments. I might do that for a week and pick a couple each day. That sounds fun, just thought of it.

Sweet!

2011-11-22T11:10:00.001-05:00

After reading Jaime's blog I decided to download a new app to my phone. It allows me to blog. Now I can't do long posts but I can do short and sweet ones.

Like how much I love when Cameron gets tired and walks into his room to get his blanket and pacifier. Such a sweet baby boy!

Birthday Celebration Part 3- The Party!!!

2011-11-19T21:43:00.005-05:00

Finally... the party! I decided to go low key and just have family over. It was the usual; us, Steve's parents, Uncle Scott, Aunt Marilyn, and cousins Tina, Ricky, and even Randy made it in from Texas. He is home for Thanksgiving next week and made it in today. Keeping with the theme of the drums we had a rock star party.We got the decorations from my cousin who had some leftovers and was giving them away. I love free stuff.

We had three types of chili going. My mom's, Steve's mom, and mine. My mom usually makes hers spicy but she cut back today. Steve's mom made some without beans for Steve and Scott. I made your more traditional chili. Although, some one said mine was the spiciest. I didn't think it was and I don't think my kids thought so either...

They ate it up!

Cooper was ready for cake after we had dinner but my mom had to work third shift and wanted to see him open his gifts, once I said open gifts he forgot all about cake.

I wasn't prepared for this but he was able to open up all his gits on his own. He didn't need me. Insert a little tear here. Marilyn and Tina bought got him some Play-Doh sets. He was ready to rip into things as soon as he say them.

This big giant present was from Ricky. It's some type of police chase race track that Steve is still trying to figure out how to put together. Thanks Ricky!

Someone got in a little cuddle time during presents.

Scott got him a Leapster Explorer.

My mom got him some games for the Leapster... funny how those things work out :)

Steve's parents got him some seek and find books, a watch, and something I like to call college tuition fund.

He was all business about this watch. He said he was going to wear it to bed so when he woke up he would know what time it was.

We had cake next and I didn't get any pictures! Boo, bad mommy! I'll tell you what, Jay C makes some yummy white cake.

Scott took Cooper downstairs to bang on the drums some more so we could clean up. Once he got tired of that he came upstairs to play with his new Play Doh sets.

At one point I look up and Cooper is back in the living room and Steve's mom and Aunt Marilyn are both still at the table playing. I don't blame them, sometimes I wish I could play by myself too.

We had such a great night! Thanks to everyone for coming and celebrating with us. Our children couldn't be more blessed.

Birthday Celebration Part 2- Outside In Family Fun Place

2011-11-19T21:22:00.002-05:00

No birthday celebration is complete with a trip to Outside In Family Fun Place. With Cameron's cough and runny nose we decided it was best for him to stay at home so Steve took Cooper. It worked out well because Cameron was able to get in a morning and afternoon nap, which he needed today. I told Steve he had to send me pictures, because I couldn't not blog about it.

They always have so much fun with they go somewhere, just the two of them. Steve said he had so much fun and even met a friend there and he was the one initiated the conversation. I thought maybe he would be okay to go down the big slide they have but Steve said he couldn't climb up it. He think if he would have been able to get up he would have slid down. The small slide is only for kids 4 and under so this is his last year for it.

He came home and was still roaring with excitement. I would say this place beats Chucky E Cheese in his books. After some lunch and more drum banging we were able to settle him down for a good nap... he was going to need it.

Birthday Celebration Part 1- Donuts and Drums

2011-11-19T21:07:00.002-05:00

Cooper is four! Four seems so big, like he is 100% out of anything baby. It blows my mind. Although I still remember vividly the weekend before he was born I don't know what I really did with myself before then. He is such a fun loving, ball of energy little boy.
We started the celebration off by letting him choose his breakfast; donuts or chocolate chip pancakes. He chose donuts. He just gone done selling certificates for Krispy Kreme donuts, we got our certificates on Thursday so Krispy Kreme it was. We got our dozen and Steve let him pick out his own special donut. He was so excited to come home and tell me about his donut with sprinkles.
After breakfast was cleaned up it was time for his gift from us. I took both of the kids into the bedroom while Steve brought it out into the living room. He also set up the video camera so we could have his reaction. All he kept saying was, "I got my Christmas present, I got my Christmas present". It didn't take long for both of them to start banging away.

Luckily we have two sets of drums sticks, the one it came with and another set from his band in a bucket drum.

We didn't buy the stool to go with it but his rocking chair works perfect.

It didn't take long for these thing to make their way to the basement.

Last day as a three year old

2011-11-18T20:56:00.003-05:00

Our Friday started off pretty low key. We stayed in our pajamas all.morning.long. I love that. We got in some Mickey Mouse Yahtzee Jr action. Cameron has to be in the mix. He likes to get the dice out of the cup and put them back in. He's right in that nesting age.

The Swiffer Sweeper also happens to be one of his favorite toys.

I honestly do not remember what we did to fill our day. Before I knew it we were eating lunch and getting ready for naps.

Cameron hasn't been feeling well lately with a runny nose and cough. We have been giving him Benadryl at the advice of our doctor and that has helped with his cough while sleeping but his nose has been terrible. He woke up around 3:20 from his nap and I decided to call and see if we could get in. They had a 4:00 appointment available. That meant I had to get all three of us dressed, we were still in pj's, diaper bag packed with snacks and out the door in about 15 minutes. Cooper still happend to be asleep. I went into quick mommy mode. I did get a quick laugh in. I handed Cooper his clothes and asked him to get dressed and put on his shoes. I walked back in the room and he had changed his shirt, took off his pj bottoms but did not put his regualar pants on but did put on his shoes. We made it to the doctor at 4:03. I was in and out in under an hour! I have been requesting a different doctor and the wait times are much shorter. Steve met me there to get Cooper and go home to start on dinner. She gave us an antibiotic for a sinus infection so after I run to Meijer to get it filled, Cameron and I get home around 6. Tonight was my night to bring dinner to a couple who just adopted a baby girl and brought her home this week. Steve took care of dinner tonight so once I got home him and Cooper ran it over to them. By the time they got home it was almost 7. So much for our relaxing night! We got baths and Cooper got his last movie night as a three year old.

That's right my baby is turning 4 tomorrow! We have some fun and exciting plans... I can't wait!

Remember When?

2011-11-17T15:50:00.002-05:00

Remember when we first moved in and our backyard looked like this? Then a few months later they got to work and it started to look like this?

Here we are today. They are finally done drilling and laying underground pipes and have all the stakes set up. I'm sure they will start digging soon. Notice you can see all the houses in the back that our neighborhood backs up to? They weren't visible before.

I also have this to look at out by living room. This in equal in size and beauty to the one next to my driveway. It has at least doubled in size since I took the picture earlier today.

On a positive note we got our check from the electrical company due to the damage they caused. That was super quick! Steve is planning on going to Best Buy at midnight on Black Friday to get a good deal on a tv and maybe computer. As fun as it sounds, we don't have a babysitter that night. I am sure I will appreciate my sleep that night when the kids wake up the next day.

Heaven

2011-11-17T15:40:00.002-05:00

The pretend play was getting a little deep last night, Steve and Cooper were pretending to be in Heaven. Steve was Peter and showing Cooper around. It was pretty adorable, I wish I would have had it on video. All this came about because Cooper was asking me questions about Heaven earlier in the day. He was asking if when he goes to see God in his house if he can back home. I was trying to explain that once he goes to Heaven he gets to stay there forever. He almost started crying because he wanted to come back home. I tried to explain that he was going to much older and that mommy and daddy would be in Heaven too waiting for him. He started crying again because he wasn't going to have anywhere to live. Then I had to explain that mommy and daddy weren't going to Heaven until he was much older and daddy himself. Boy... he is only 4 I am not ready for these questions yet.

He's my son!!!!

2011-11-17T15:35:00.002-05:00

Not that there was any doubt before but it's now official.... Cooper is my son! He likes to dip his french fries into honey mustard. He also like to have have it drip out of his mouth. Can I say how much I love my new camera and how it shows off some amazing blue eyes.Since I took a picture of him dipping he also wanted a picture eating as well.

School Pictures

2011-11-17T15:31:00.002-05:00

Cooper got his school pictures back today. They are super cute! He has an individual picture and a class picture. Each one reflects a distinct personality trait of his. His individual picture shows his sweet, shy side. Poor thing ran into someone at church that week had a scratch in the middle of his head. They were school pictures so I wasn't going to pay for re-touching.

The class pictures shows him cheesing it up big for the camera. He is in the front row, right in the middle.

Sleeping

2011-11-16T20:55:00.003-05:00

I have no idea how he does it or how he breathes but this is how Cooper sleeps. He likes to bury is head under the blanket. The days that he takes a nap he wakes up and his head is drenched with sweat. Silly, silly boy!

What I have to put up with

2011-11-15T15:30:00.002-05:00

Some will tell you, Gretchen, that Steve is the funniest person they have ever met. Click here to see an example of what happens when grabs takes some one's camera.

Anyway, Cooper goes to school and has speech with a boy names Josiah. Here is a texting conversation I had with Steve today:

Me-Cooper got invited to Josiah's birthday party
Steve- The Duggar child?
Me-Yes, he was invited to the Duggar's house. That would be totally awesome though. No silly, Josiah from preschool and speech.
Steve-Ahh, so cute. They can hang out and try to talk to each other, neither will understand one another.

I'm on a roll!

2011-11-15T15:21:00.002-05:00

I think I mentioned in my previous post that I made Tollhouse Cake for my Bible Study. I took in yesterday and laid it down by the rest of the snacks and dropped the boys off in their room. I came back and it was half gone. People were raving about it! I've blogged the recipe once, here it is again for your pleasure. Some of the older women, the ones who can whip up anything homemade on the drop of a hat, were even asking for the recipe. I was feeling good.

Today, Cooper go to celebrate his birthday at school. They pick the closest date they can to their actual birthday. I made cake cookies to take in. Anyone who was at the blogger playdate knows what I am talking about. I picked him up and one of the teachers told me they were the best cookies ever! I am feeling pretty darn good about my culinary skills. These are super easy to make as well... so here goes.

1 box of cake mix (I've only ever used chocolate)
2 eggs
1/3 cups oil (I don't think this is enough, but it's what was given to me. I usually start with 1/3 and once I start mixing, add a bit here and there until the mixture is smooth)
Optional: nuts, choc chips, etc. (I've used peanut butter chips and white chocolate chips)

Mix first three ingredients together until smooth, add the chips of your choosing, roll into balls and bake on 350 for 7-9 minutes. I have gotten anywhere from 27-30 cookies in one batch.
Enjoy!

Another weekend in the books

2011-11-13T20:57:00.003-05:00

I really have nothing to blog about so this may be total randomness. I may also be blogging a bit more these next few weeks, at least until we get our new tv. We turned our claim into REMC on Friday. Turns out it's their fault, they buried the wires in the wrong lot. The builders next door said they would pay to have our yard re-sodded after they come and bury everything again but all electronic loses are to be paid by the eclectic company. REMC seems apologetic about everything so I'm hoping there isn't a hassle. We were conservative on the prices, it could have been a lot worse. So just a warning, you may get posts all about nothing.

Saturday morning the idea of kids finally paid off. Cooper wanted to wash his own dishes. That is oatmeal on his nose by the way.

I got to have lunch with Karen on Saturday. It was so nice to sit and chat. We haven't done that in ages. We sat and chatted for about an hour and a half.

Sunday morning Cameron looked simply adorable, I couldn't resist a picture.

Then Cooper wanted one. He already had his jacket on so I wasn't able to get him in full "church attire".

I was trying to get a self portrait of all three of us when Steve hollers in to me to not break the camera. He walks in and offers to take the picture and guess what.... he almost drops it!

The rest of our day was pretty lazy. I spent some time looking up Black Friday ads. We are trying to figure out a way to go out and get some good deals. I found a few things for the boys I'd like to get.

Tomorrow is my last Bible Study session. We have been studying the book of Jonah. It has been so good. It's been all about listening to God and obeying Him the first time and he He will never set us up to fail. It may seem like a big challenge... but He has our back. Cameron had a slight fever tonight, I think it's teeth related, at least I hope. I gave him some Advil and I hope it's gone tomorrow. I would hate to miss our last session, especially since I made yummy Tollhouse cake.

IU and the Bears both won, by large margins, today so Steve is happy! I won't even mention the Colts. It's pretty sad when local channels stop broadcasting the games. Any other season today's game could have clinched or come close to clinching the division for us. There is always next year.

School Friends

2011-11-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

I know most of you know how much I worry about Cooper and making friends, especially as he grows older. I think he wants to be a part of the group when he sees other children playing, it's just he doesn't really know how to join. I was the same exact way so I know how that feels. I probably spent a good 3 years at IUS before I felt like I had friends there that didn't happen to be people I went to high school with. It can be painful.

I have been talking to him about his school friends recently and he always seems to mention the same kids. One girl is named Megan. Thursday while I was dropping him off another mom mentioned to me that all her little girls talks about is Cooper. "Cooper this and Cooper that", she said it was good to finally get a face with the name. I asked her what her girl's name was and it was Megan! You have no idea how happy this makes me. Most days when I drop him off he goes straight to his square and waits for class to begin while other kids are playing. It made my day!

I'm so Excited!!!

2011-11-11T15:34:00.002-05:00

I had a meeting this morning with Cooper's speech therapist for his annual review. Steve's mom and brother came over to watch the boys so I could actually carry on an adult conversation. I am happy to report that everything is coming along great! She can already see an improvement in certain sounds. She said he was very shy in the beginning but has warmed up to her and the other students and feels comfortable now. He even asks her for snacks. I think one day he mentioned he was hungry, which he does about 100 times a day, so he knows how to get snacks now. Steve and I have been talking about the possibility of reducing his speech from one day to two days a week. She didn't bring it up so I was hesitant to ask but went for it anyway.... she was on board! I am so thankful! He was going to school twice a week and speech twice a week and it was beginning to be too much. I don't want him to fall behind but at the same time I want him to enjoy his time while he can before he does start kindergarten. I was okay with waiting until the next school year to drop it but she agreed we could do it now. She felt we should drop our Wednesday session, which is what I wanted to do anyway. I am already in Charlestown for preschool on Tuesdays so now saves me a trip driving into town and we go to Peeps every week and not be late. I have been in a Bible Study on Monday mornings so for the past 7 weeks our only real free day was Fridays, now we will have all but Tues and Thurs.

Cameron was taking a nap when I got back home, he still takes a short morning nap, once he woke up Cooper wanted in the crib too. Notice Cameron's face in this one... he got upset because I walked back out to the camera.

Have a great weekend!

Papaw's Birthday

2011-11-11T15:17:00.003-05:00

Last night was Papaw's big birthday celebration. I know the suspense is killing you trying to figure out where we went. Are you ready???

(Ignore Cooper's hand)

I haven't the slightest clue how we ended up at Chuck E Cheese. I think, one day Cooper was talking to Steve's parents about their upcoming birthdays, it's always a big thing that Cooper and his Papaw have close birthdays, and they must have asked what he wanted to do for Papaw and Cooper said go to Chuck E Cheese. That is unconditional love! I, like most parents, have a love/hate relationship with this place. My son loves it so by default I have to as well. All 7 of us could have went out to eat and spent $50 and the kids would have been stuck at table all night, or we could go have fun.

Cameron was all over the place. Once he got the lay of the land he was running! He loves to climb up the skee ball ramp and throw the balls. Kids got a good little arm on him.

Someone else enjoyed a little skee ball action themselves.

After some playtime we went back to Mamaw and Papaw's for cake and ice cream. Cooper rode back with Scott and as soon as we got out of the car he asked when I was leaving. Since when did I become chopped liver? He got to spend the night with them so he was ready for the real fun to begin, you know the one where mom and dad leave.

They called us later in the evening to say goodnight, we had it on speaker and Cameron started looking all around for Cooper. It was so sweet! Scott and his mom brought Cooper back around 9:30 this morning... WOW my morning was easy breezy! I didn't know what to do with myself only getting one person fed.

School Days

2011-11-10T10:43:00.001-05:00

Why I love school days..."because mommy will bring me home and give me fun treats".

New Camera

2011-11-09T15:11:00.003-05:00

I bought a new camera yesterday! Yippee!!!! I wanted a Canon and Target was having a sale. I read some reviews and got one that sounded pretty good to me. I don't need anything fancy, just your basic point and shoot. I am still trying to figure it out and get used to it. So far so good and a MUCH better shutter speed than our old one.
Color looks decent too, Cooper even has almost a little too much color in this one.

This has no meaning to most of my readers but I walked in his room this morning and he told me was playing the game him and Mamaw used to play at our old house. They would line up all his Little People animals on his headboard. He knocked them all down before I could get a shot. Duck was the only one left. This would have been VERY blurry on my old camera.

After speech today we went to church for Peeps play group, we had a play dough extravaganza.

I'm ready to play with this some more and figure it out.

A Test

2011-11-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure God is sitting back getting a good laugh teaching me all about patience and thankfulness today.

It was a little after 4 today and things were going good. Cameron was still napping, Cooper and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing, I was looking forward to an appreciation dinner at church catered by the Come Back Inn, all was good. Then I hear a loud pop, a siren, and all the power goes out. They just started building a house in the lot next to us and were digging for the basement today. I had to grab the kids, the loud pop and siren woke up Cameron, and see what happened. Our main electrical wire had been cut. Straight up cut in half, the guy digging was even concerned it may even be a live wire. Are you kidding me? It's a different builder than ours and of course they are blaming it on the fact it was built too far in the other property but aren't you supposed to check these things out? They were polite, I do have to give them credit. His supervisor even came over to talk to me, they called it in to REMC and they were on their way to fix it.

In the meantime Steve gets home and we get ready to leave for church. At this point it's after 5:30, it's getting dark in the house, and Cameron is going buck wild if he isn't near me. To the point of a one year old anxiety attack. We decide to go ahead and pack up the kids stuff just in case they can't get it back on. I didn't want to come home late, not have power, and pack in the dark. We figured we would just stay at my in-laws if it didn't come back on. We go ahead to church and have dinner, which was amazing!!! I get up to go the restroom, Steve stays with the kids, and Cameron once again flips out. No idea what is going on. They were supposed to have a program after dinner and the kids go back to childcare which was being provided by another church. We decide it isn't worth it, there is no way Cameron will stay, plus we want to see if our lights our back on, so we leave. We pull up to our house and they are still out working so we think it's not on. Steve goes to talk to them and it is in fact fixed, they were just waiting on us because we had turned off the breaker, at the advice of the builder. Then Cooper flips out because he thought he was going to get to spend the night with Mamaw and Papaw and now he can't. Did I mention he didn't get a nap?

Steve turns the breaker back on and lights come back on. Someone from REMC stays there to make sure everything is working and tells us to start checking electronics. At first nothing is working in the living room... not the tv, DVD player, xbox, directv box... nothing!!! Turns out it was only the power surge. Not a huge deal, it was about $100... but something we can live with. After checking everything else it now seems our bedroom tv is broke as is our computer downstairs. This is all happening around 8:00 when we should be getting the kids ready for bed. Cooper has calmed down because I promised him he could stay with his grandparents on Thursday but Cameron throws another anxiety attack when I walk to the bathroom to brush Cooper's teeth. I am telling you my patience is being put to the limit tonight.

Part of me just wants to laugh at it all, I mean really.... so what if I lost power and a few electronics. I have a place to live, clean water, electricity on a regular basis. There are so many things to be thankful for in my life. Especially my lovely readers who sat through this crazy post! Please laugh...it will make me smile.

Little Reminders

2011-11-07T15:09:00.002-05:00

Cooper didn't do this as much as Cameron does, but he loves to carry random objects around the house. I found a ball from one of his toys in my bathroom and a hair brush in our bathtub last week.

He got into a storage container that is in our closet today and was carrying around floss. Last week I looked high and low for his cup of water all day until I finally found it in our storage ottoman that we keep movies in. I also looked everywhere for a sock of Cooper's, not a pair just one sock. I finally found it stuck in between the blinds. Last night, Steve and I went to watch something we had ordered on Netflix. We couldn't find the remote for the DVD player. I guess Cameron thought it belonged in a drawer because that is where I found it. Such a silly boy!

Weekend

2011-11-07T14:49:00.002-05:00

I feel like I should do a post on our weekend even though we didn't do much, because that's what we do, we blog about our weekends. Friday the boys and I had a play date with Sharon, Allie, and Wyatt. Sharon and her husband, Jesse, spent the last few months building their new house and finally moved in a couple weeks ago. It's about a 45/50 minute drive so we spent most of the day. I wish I would have gotten some pics because the house is beautiful. They designed the floor plan and everything inside; flooring, cabinets, fixtures, windows, etc. All this with an infant. The kids all played awesome. Cooper and Cameron both slept on the way home so it was a nice quite and relaxing drive. That evening Steve took Cooper to church for a worship event we had, I knew it would be a late night so Cameron and I stayed home and had dinner with my mom.

Saturday morning Scott us and their parents over for breakfast. I had to take a picture of this, he isn't asleep, his hat it just pulled down. He kept it like that for a while. After breakfast Cooper wanted to watch Polar Express. I don't know if I will ever get tired of it, it gives me chills every time I watch it. He had the best seat in the house.

We spent the rest of day running errands and doing things around the house. We turned in some canned goods to REMC to get free CFL lightbulbs, got the oil changed in my car, ordered Cooper's birthday cake, ordered our pajamas for our Christmas card, I got our Christmas budget and lists worked out, ordered a gift for the boys, cleaned out the garage, and took two walks.

We tried to have a movie night Saturday, it last for about 20 minutes. But it did provide for the cutest picture ever!!!!
And a silly picture of Cameron, if you ask him to smile he gives you this.

We went to church Sunday morning and came home and relaxed the rest of the day. We kept the boys up late on Saturday and it worked!!! Cooper is waking up a little early, he is by 7:00, which I can totally handle now that it is light and Cameron is sleeping in. He didn't get up until almost 8 today. I feel refreshed this time of year. I enjoy this time change in the beginning because it gets light out so early in the morning. I drag when it's dark till almost 8.

Now I am gearing up for a busy week of grocery shopping, appreciate dinner at church, celebrating my father-in-laws birthday. You will have to stay tuned, you will not believe where we are going.

Differences

2011-11-02T15:07:00.003-04:00

So I just did a post on how Cameron seems to be interested in things earlier than Cooper. Well today we went to the mall playground with our Peeps group. Cooper just started being interested in going down the slide about a year ago. It took him till he was 3 to do it. Cameron went down head first today... and wanted to do it again. I have my hands full!!!

Funny Boy

2011-11-01T10:29:00.003-04:00

Cameron is starting to show an interest in using utensils. This is way early compared to Cooper. Just the other day I had to remind to use his fork but he claimed he could only taste the cheese on this mac n'cheese if he used is fingers. Last night while we were having dinner Cameron had a spoon in his hand. He kept trying to stab his pancake with that spoon. He would try one or two times, give up and pick it up with his fingers and do it all over again. It was too cute!
I am so amazed at what a second child picks up before the first child does. He mimics Cooper all the time. I love watching them and their interaction, well when they aren't fighting, ha!! Cameron can sure hold his own.

It's November!

2011-11-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

It's November and that can only mean one thing....

Gobble Till You Wobble!!!

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T21:18:00.002-04:00

Another Halloween night has come and gone. This will be something I am going to miss the most when my boys grow older. Just typing it makes me sad. We got a flier last week saying that our neighborhood was going to do it on Sunday. Someone on our home owner's board thought Charlestown was doing it on Sunday and by the time they found it was tonight it was too late to change. We thought about going out but really wanted to do it on Halloween night. We ended up staying home, roasting marshmallows, and handing out candy. We did walk over to our neighbors house, Marsha and Randy, to get candy. That is why you see Cooper eating an air head. Tonight we went to Steve's parents for dinner and trick or treat. These boys ate us all under the table, it was pancakes and sausage after all.

How cute!!!!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture, they were swinging.

We got lots of good candy, I'll have to try and keep myself away.

A Really Good Day

2011-10-29T21:58:00.004-04:00

I'd like to start out this post by saying Steve headed out bright and early, there was no bright about it. He was up and at em before the boys woke up and they wake up early. He headed up to Bloomington for the IU game with his brother. I usually dread these Saturdays, weekends are family time. This time I was looking forward to it. Our weeks are so busy during the day that I was looking forward to a day with my boys. After he left he texted me to say Scott had left us some donuts on our garage step. Once the boys woke up we wasted no time digging on. Yummy yummy, Jeff's Bakery.

Cooper and Cameron can fight like no one's business, yet Cooper loves to share his food. Nothing like being double fisted with some donuts.

I put Cameron down for a nap after lunch so Cooper and I settled in for some Candyland. I had it handed to me the first game but came back with a vengeance on the second game. Find it funny Cooper seems more excited about me winning. You will also notice how both my boys have either Christmas pj's or t-shirts on. That's how we roll!

I was getting ready so Cooper decided to try on some shoes. First up boots, second heels.

Now you can't expect me to go the whole day without some sort of plans, right? Tracey's sister is the PTO president at New Washington Elementary and today was their fall festival. I picked up my mom and we headed up. It was a ton of fun. Cooper wanted to shoot basketball so bad. There were long times at the beginning but after we ate we were able to try it out. They let the little kids climb inside to shoot. The only problem with that is Cooper treated it like a bouncy house.

This is the best I could get of his pumpkin.

I had left my phone in the car and missed getting a picture the first time he rode the pony. There were more clouds the second time and I couldn't get a good picture. It's dark but you can see how happy he looks. I love it!

Most days Cooper still takes a nap, he clearly need them. He didn't take one today because it didn't fit into the schedule of going to the fall festival. I'd like to also note he never and I mean NEVER falls asleep in the car anymore. Not in like 2 years. Imagine my surprise when about 5 minutes after leaving my mom's house I see this. Craziness! The funny part is he had a cup of water with him and he kept drinking it while half asleep.

Steve got home just before 7:00 and the boys were wound up. I guess so, they took naps in the car at 6:00! Our night ended fun by playing and watching a good night show. A really good day!

School Work

2011-10-29T20:57:00.002-04:00

Cooper doesn't bring home a lot of school work home, I think they keep it for the memory box. He did bring this sheet home this week, I was amazed. He hasn't always been the best at coloring. I thought his tracing was pretty good too. Of course what do I know, I'm going to be proud no matter what.
Speaking of school, he got to wear his costume on Thursday and take in treat bags. Of course I took pictures of us making the treat bags, and carving a pumpkin that night.....but I broke our camera! Yup, that is the second camera I broke this year. This picture and other pictures from here on out will be coming from my phone.

Peeps Halloween Party

2011-10-26T15:07:00.004-04:00

This morning was our annual Peeps Halloween party at church. Each year it keeps getting better and better. Our early childhood director, Jennifer, does a great job! I had to run to Target before the party so I was the mom pushing around two pirates at 10:30 am on a Wednesday morning.
First up was a photo opportunity with the scarecrow. These are from my camera, Angie, one of Jennifer's helpers took better ones. They were for an activity later.

While we waited for everyone to arrive the kids got to do some pumpkin painting. Give my kid an hour and he would have had every single pumpkin painted from top to bottom.

She also had some face painting. Cooper got a pirate mustache and beard.

Once all the kids arrived we did trick or treating around the staff offices. I made sure to get a picture of the big man, our senior minister Dave Hasting. He rocks!

It didn't take long to break into the candy. I don't think I would ever given Cooper a chocolate bar at 13 months, obviously things have changed in the past 4 years.

We had a fun lunch of lightening bolt chicken nuggets and pumpkin shaped Jello jigglers before moving on to more fun int the gym. Isn't he the most adorable pirate ever?

Next up was the pumpkin shaped pinata. I was so proud of Cooper today. He was sitting behind most of the other kids so I knew he would be last to go. Jennifer let everyone take two swings. It came down to the the little girl before him, she takes a swing and bam.... candy and prizes go everywhere! He looks at me with the saddest face and says, "I wanna do it". I was prepared for a meltdown! Jennifer looked at me and mouthed I'm sorry. I felt so terrible for him. He handled it well which is why I was so proud. I know how it feels to be the shy kid who sits back and sometimes misses out on things. I'll have to man up and by a pinata for some random reason.

He wanted me to take our pictures with these glasses on, he remembered doing 2 years ago. Crazy memory this kid.

Jennifer hung the top half of the pinata back up for him and let him take a few swings.

Finally they all got a card with their picture from earlier inside and they got to decorate a ghost on the outside. Our best Halloween party yet. I am already sad that next year Cooper will be in the preschool on Wednesday's and we will most likely miss out. There are quite a few kids that are the same age/grade level as Cooper so she already said if too many have to drop out due to preschool she will change the day of the week. I sure hope so!

Breakfast of Champions

2011-10-26T14:59:00.001-04:00

Trick or Treat at Kindred

2011-10-26T14:51:00.002-04:00

You are going to have to bear with me this year, we have lots of Halloween activitys planned. I was going to try and condense my posts, but what fun is that?

First up was the annual trick or treat at Kindred Sellersburg Health & Rehab. It's always fun to go and see the residents handing out candy, especially the ones that Steve works with. I can't believe this is our 4th year going.

I introduce you to the two cutest pirates ever! I even joined in on the fun this year and doesn't Cameron looked thrilled to be wearing an eye patch?

I love this picture! Looks like he could be say Argggg, Matey!

Cooper insisted on finding somewhere to sit and eat a piece of candy. We had to do this last year to feed Cameron, I guess it's part of our tradition now.

Grammie's Fall Festival

2011-10-22T21:41:00.002-04:00

Tracey's parents host a fall festival for their church every year around Halloween. Tracey has mentioned it to me several times but we always have a family party the same evening. This year I broke tradition and went to the fall festival instead. It sounded much more family friendly. Tracey's mom is known as Grammie and when I told Cooper that is where we were going he immediately asks if we are going swimming. I guess that is what we did last time we were there.
Wanna know something awesome? They have a chili and dessert judging contest. Guess who won the 2nd place dessert contest? ME!!!! Tracey beat me out for first. We are probably the two most non-cooking girls you will ever meet. She used her grandmother's recipe and I used none other than Betty Crocker.
When I say this was much more kid friendly I mean they had one of these and that is my kid up there. I thought for sure he would be scared since it's so big. I lost count how many times he went up and down.

They also had hayrides and another ride similar to the cow train from Montgomery Farms. Another picture from Instagram, isn't he the sweetest thing ever?

Thanks for having us Tracey! Cooper loved it!

Montgomery Farms

2011-10-22T21:13:00.005-04:00

We headed out this morning to our 2nd annual trip to Montgomery Farms. We had a busy day so we arrived right at opening. Our first stop were the animals. Some workers were out doing the morning feed, Cooper got to throw an apple to the pigs. They had a super cute baby pig! Steve couldn't remember if they had the animals out last year. How could he forget the goat attacking the empty Big Red can? I remember having a 3 week old wishing I had that can of Big Red for my caffeine fix. You are going to have to bear with me. I had to throw some pictures in of last year for comparison. October 2010- 2 years and 11 months.

October 2011- 3 years and 11 months I wish I could have gotten them in the same spot. I know he has grown more than it looks.

This is funny, the first is from last year and the second from this year. I have almost the same exact expression.

This is how Cameron spent our entire trip last year.

Oh my sweet baby boy! Where has time gone? This year he was all about the corn bin.

I had no idea that Steve was taking this picture. It looks like I am doing some crazy Olen Mills pose.

Cooper was talking about this corn bin all week but wasn't as interested today. He was more excited about the mini corn maze. But guess what- they didn't have it. It looked like they maybe tried to make one but the weather didn't cooperate and the corn wasn't right. I don't know. They didn't have the adult one either, which we wouldn't have done anyway. I just felt they didn't have as much in the playground this year.

After some play time and snacks enough people have arrived that we could take the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Cameron was so not into the hayride. At one point he just laid down in the hay. They have the cutest dog that followed the tractor all the way to the pumpkin patch and back. That's a true farm dog, never leaving the owner.

Before heading home we got to do the one thing Cooper was asking about all day; the cow train.

See this picture? Somehow he went from this..... to this. I have no idea how he slid down. We could hardley see him.

If you look close all you can see is this little toboggan in the distance.

We made a quick stop back past the animals before heading out. Cameron was fast asleep before we made it out of the parking lot. If was a fun start to a busy day! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE fall?

Thoughts from Cooper

2011-10-21T20:46:00.003-04:00

Me- Come on buddy we are going to do something fun.
Cooper- Are we going to eat my boogers?
(keep in mind he is still only 3)

Cooper- Mommy can I have a Rice Krispie treat? Remember when I came to hospital to see you when Cameron was here and I ate a Rice Krispie treat?
(I mean really, that was 13 months ago)

Cooper- Daddy, why can't I hear God?
(Wow!)

Dress up, brownies, diet cokes, and child labor

2011-10-21T15:34:00.004-04:00

Today has been one of those unusually fun days. I say unusual because we have done NOTHING! The boys are all feeling better so I debated going on a play date today but decided to go ahead and stay home. I'm not going to lie, some days are hard to keep everyone entertained all day, somehow today was easy. Before I knew it, it was 3:00. The only low part of the day is a minor headache. You know the smell when you turn your heat for the first time all season? Our kicked on last night and imagine the smell if hasn't been ran, ever! We started off today with a little experiment. Someone told me if you put gummy bears in water they will grow. Didn't know that, so we of course had to try it out.

I was expecting giant gummy bears, like when you stick a peep in the microwave. Still neat though. I was on the phone with Steve's mom when I took them out of the water and I accidentally threw them away. I had to re-start the experiment without telling Cooper so he hasn't seen them yet.Cooper was getting dressed for the day and wanted to put on his Special Agent vest again.

I decided to go through all of Cooper's summer clothes and box up the ones he has grown out of. I was putting them away when I found his old Halloween costumes. This is the best picture I got of Cameron, he is going to make one super cute Nemo next year. I had to send this to my friend Angie from church. I know I've mentioned she lives down the street. Well, i used to live across the street from her ex-husband. I used to always see her in passing when she would be over to pick up their daughter. It was two years ago when Cooper wore this costume and she was over there trick or treating with her daughter. She thought it was the cutest thing, I don't even think we knew each other then but came over to take his picture. I had to ask her if she remembered it.

Cooper had to have a banana with his monkey costumer. Wonder if I can get him to eat a carrot if he dresses like a bunny.

My mom was on her way home so she brought us McDonald's for lunch. Score for a free lunch! I had just made some brownies for tomorrow, I am making this recipe to take to a party. You have to let the top layer set for a while and I knew we would be busy with other things so I started today. My mom walks in and smells brownies and wants to start digging in. I did have another box so I let her. I mean she did bring me a diet coke,

and the boys got Halloween buckets to decorate,

and I got to lick the brownie batter bowl twice. What's a few extra minutes mixing brownies for all that?

I also put the boys to work today. I start em early.

Steve gathered some branches and wood from our now bare field behind our house. I had Cooper dig them out of the fire pit to dry out, we are hoping for some marshmallows this weekend. I guess he thought he needed some eye protective wear.

I seriously cannot believe it's almost 4:00. I don't remember the last time our day has ever went by this fast. We have a fun weekend planned so hopefully more posts to come.

Don't want to forget

2011-10-19T15:51:00.002-04:00

This morning the kids were playing out in the living room and Cooper says something about playing in Cameron's room. I hear him start grunting and asking for help to move something into the living room. I walk in there and he is trying to move the rocking chair, which is actually a lazy boy recliner/rocking chair. He was so serious, I couldn't help but laugh.

Fall Break Extended

2011-10-19T15:30:00.002-04:00

Looks like fall break is going to be extended. Cooper was having some stomach issues on Monday evening so I kept him home from school on Tuesday. He seemed okay so we went ahead and went to speech in the afternoon. By the evening he was hurting and going to bathroom a lot again. This morning he walked into our room with the chills and when we sat down for breakfast he let out this giant burp and had the most scared look on his face. I thought for sure he was going to vomit. Luckily, for the both of us, that did not happen. After another round in the bathroom I decided to call the doctor. Cameron has also been coughing a lot so better safe than sorry. We usually see Dr Howell but she is out on Wednesdays so we got in with Dr Morgan. As I was in the waiting room I began talking to two others that were there, one had an appointment at 10:00 and it was almost 11:00 and hadn't been called back. Another gentleman was there with his kids and he had the same appointment time as me but was seeing the same doctor as the other lady. I was for sure I was in for a long day. I ended up being in there for a total of one hour and 15 minutes. Not too bad for two sicks visits plus Cameron needed his flu shot booster and as soon as she came in to give it to him Cooper had to go poop. I could have made it in an hour. Anyway... both kids are good. Cameron just has a chest cold and Cooper has a stomach bug. I am so thankful that it appears Cooper's stomach bug dosen't involve vomitting. I can handle the other much better, especially considering he can make it to the bathroom in time. I haven't decicded on school for tomorrow or not. He hasn't had an incident since before lunch so if he can keep dinner in then I may go ahead and send him. If we do stay home it just means more pictures of us being silly. He's totally not sick here, just being silly.

As I was leaving I needed to make Cooper's 4 year (gasp) check up. The earliest we could get in, looking back at last year's appointment, is the day before Thanksgiving. Like I said our doctor doesn't work on Wednesdays. I knew that the next Monday would be jam packed after being closed all weekend for the holiday. I also knew we we would be free on that Wednesday so I went ahead and scheduled it the doctor we seen today. I am not ready to give up all together on our practice, just may switch doctors a few times to see if anyone does a better job of getting us in and out. I like Dr Morgan a lot and today was the quickest we have been in and out since I can remember. We shall see.

Two more things to remember, Cooper's right ear tube has fallen out and is laying in his ear canal ready to fall out of his ear. He has never had trouble with his right ear, they only put one in as a precation and he didn't get a new one last summer when they replaced his left one and took out his tonsils. It's been in there for almost three years! And he weighs in at a whopping 31 3/4 lbs fully dressed with shoes and jacket on!

Things that make me smile

2011-10-19T15:15:00.003-04:00

Cooper playing his favorite game back when he was about two years old; lining little people animals on the window sill, and teaching Cameron how to play the game too.

Cameron "reading" all his books.

Cooper dancing and singing while I am making lunch.

And finally, finding underwear mixed up with the dishtowel