6.13.2011

Time to Celebrate

This past week we had 2 reasons in our house to celebrate.
First of all Gary and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Time has absolutely flown by these past 8 years. I guess the saying "time flies when you're having fun" is so true when you feel you've barely blinked and we've been married for 8 years. Just seems so crazy to me.
To celebrate we went to the lake with 3 other couples for the weekend. 2 out of the 3 were also celebrating anniversaries. We had an amazing time at the lake house where we took out the boat and seadoo. We boated, skied and soaked up some major sun. We prepared a delicious dinner and wonderful breakfast while there and enjoyed another trip around the lake before heading home Sunday. It was a great time to celebrate with such great friends.
When we got home we found our refrigerator had kicked the bucket so instead of treating each other to a gift we bought a new fridge. We got a great deal on a fancy french door model in hopes that it will live long enough to go in our house whenever we build. Not exactly how we planned to spend our savings but not a lot you can do about that. We still enjoyed a great dinner on our actual anniversary as a family. I made homemade shrimp alfredo, that even Cooper enjoyed.
God has definitely blessed us with a wonderful marriage and life together.

Here are a few shots from the lake.


CELEBRATION # 2
Cooper turned 2! Again time has certainly flown by. It seems like yesterday I was sitting on my toosh at the Ronald McDonald House trying to keep him in a little longer the next thing we know he's 2. He's talking up a storm, pretty much potty trained, counting to 10 and just being a BOY.

Here are several pictures of the birthday boy...


We had special pancakes that morning. Complete with strawberry eyes, chocolate chip eyebrows and nose and blueberry smile.  



He got to play and eat at chic-fil-a for lunch with Mac after we took Molly to the doctor.
We had an ice-cream cone after dinner and he thoroughly enjoyed it! As you can see it's ALL over his face. 


Here's a picture of pure trouble! These boys are going to give us a run for our money that's for sure. It was absolutely impossible to get them to all look up at the same time.


Here's all the kiddos.
Cooper, Coby, Mac
Atley, Risdon and Molly


All smiles.
He had a pretty good time at the party. During presents he was looking pretty tired but got a second wind and stayed up until 9:45 but slept until 8:30 and took an almost 4 hour nap. I was wondering who replaced my child with a sleeper!
He's decided that since he's 2 now he likes to sleep I suppose. NO COMPLAINTS HERE!!



We had a farm theme party. He had a barnyard (cupcakes), berry patch, veggie garden, pigs in a blanket, pig sty (smokies in bbq sauce), haystacks, chicken coop (bbq chicken legs), chicken feed, puppy chow and a corn field, and limeade.


Gram and Gi-Gi came to the party via skype. 


He of course loved his cake. He picked the chicken for his cupcake when I was decorating. I was glad because it was the easiest.
He clapped for us after we sang to him. I was very surprised he didn't sing because "Happy Day" is one of his favorite songs to shout.


Bapa and Granny got him a stick horse.  Here he is singing "BONANZA!!!!!!" with as much excitement as you can get out while singing. 



He gave rides on his horse to Uncle Brandon and Bapa. He will sing Bonanza for you while you're riding so you can get the full effect. He's been riding the stick horses with Bapa and Granny for months at Orschlens and just now discovered that the horse makes noise when you pinch it's ear. 

Thank you everyone for making his birthday such a special one!

(sorry for the long post with tons of pictures but I wanted to share our day with you)

6.03.2011

Happy Memorial Day

So I know I'm late with the wishing of Happy Memorial Day but thought I'd still send out our wishes. We love and appreciate all our military friends and family active and retired.

We went to the lake over the weekend when Gary got home from turkey hunting in Kansas. We decided spur of the moment to go Sunday and spend the night so we'd have more time on the boat.  
Cooper had his very first boat ride and did great! As you can see he enjoyed himself. I believe we'll be getting a smaller life jacket before our next trip. It looked like it was going to pop off his head when he was sitting (although that didn't happen much).


Cooper and Parker had a good time together. Parker is so helpful with him and patient. 



This is your Captan Cooper speaking


Look at those beautiful locks! He got a hair cut this week so it's not as long but still has those sweet curls. This mama isn't ready to get rid of them yet!


Uncle Brandon hooked him up with a sweet pole equipped with a worm and everything (just not a hook). He throughly enjoyed having a fishing pole. I think he liked have something to splash in the water. We ate peanuts in the shell and he had to splash the shells over the side of the boat. It kept him occupied for quite some time actually. 
Yes that is a potty chair on the boat. That's how we roll! He's doing great with his potty training, I just didn't want him to not have an option if he needed to go. He loved going on the side of the boat, yet again getting to splash but it was the other we were worried about. He does a potty dance for about 30min before he goes in the potty but I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of the lake with no where to go. Enough about that I'm sure you don't care to read about our potty routine. But to brag a little he's done awesome! We've been to the zoo, and shopping and stayed dry in our real undies! He does great in the nursery at church as well. It was a tiring battle but one that I'm glad we did already since he's done so well. We still have our days and he still wears me out with his potty false alarms needing to go in stores on the side of the road but for the most part he's done well. I've tried not to post and bragging about it because I felt it may jinx us!



Serious fisherman


Uncle Brandon helping Coop catch a fish with the dip net.


Brandon and Aislynn soaking up some rays. 
We had beautiful weather. We have jumped into summer full swing even though it's not officially summer yet our temperatures have been. Hot and humid from the beginning. We will be utilizing friends pools, the sprinkler and the fountain water park near by.


Parker was brining in a good catch! 


Family Photo from our first lake trip. 


Always fun to have a self portrait!

Hope you are enjoying your summer days!

If you haven't read my CRAFTING FOR A CAUSE
PLEASE DO! And pass it along. I've gotten a few orders and would like to have more. What a wonderful way to help others.