HAMily Matters

Feed the Birds

2012-01-30T13:49:00.000-06:00

Last week Coop and I needed an activity so I gathered supplies on our trip to the store and later got it all ready to make. He really likes to feed the birds so I thought a good project for us to make would be bird feeders. I got the idea from pinterest. You can find directions HERE.

Coop liked helping. He's always excited to work in the kitchen. K was also our letter for the past 2 weeks. We were busy when I started it so it carried over. He got to help in the kitchen a few times for K week. He's always happy to stir and dump things in. When it came to getting messy our feeders had to quickly finish because he was ready to wash his hands. The gelatin was sticky therefore the birdseed was also sticking. Here are a few picks of our project. We hung them up after drying out back on a tomato stake so we could see the birds but so far we haven't caught any guests enjoying the snacks. I think we need to sprinkle some seed just out in the yard so they know they are welcome.

I also tried to make homemade berry neutons. They were ok. Fresh out of the oven they were like warm pie with a crust, then they moistened up and kind of got funky. I made them for Coop to have a "healthier" snack so if he likes them then that's all that matters.

We've had some nicer springlike days lately and got out to take a few pictures while the light was good. Here is a huge hallow stump we found while out on a walk through the woods.

We were really happy with how the field pics turned out. The light and colors were perfect. Again it was just fun to get out and play with the camera.

This is my new favorite picture!

Hope you're enjoying whatever little projects you're working on!

Snow Days are Fun Days

2012-01-14T15:53:00.000-06:00

We got some snow along with some REALLY cold temps this week so for a few short minutes Coop and I headed out to see it.

When he got up and I told him to look outside he looked and paused and said "we put on our snow hats? Sounds fun!"

So I knew we'd have to venture out for a few minutes at least.

Catching snowflakes

Running off to enjoy it even though it was frigid!

When we came in I introduced Cooper to hot chocolate (warm chocolate milk) and he was an instant fan.

Of course saying cheese for the camera.

Enjoying his new drink complete with mini marshmallows.

Cheers!

Since I was taking his picture drinking it he wanted to take mine. I didn't get to pose with my cup of coffee I had to use his. Silly boy!

Yet again CHEEEEEESE!

Good to the last drop.

Coop decided he wanted to color in the tub minus the water. Have at it kid!

He later had water added but it was a nice activity and not as cold as a bath in my opinion.

For lunch to go along with the snow themed day he had a snowman pb&j. His favorite part? The olives. He could eat an entire can if we'd let him.

He had fun disassembling the snowman piece by piece.

Hope you are enjoying your "winter" whatever your temps may be. It warmed up enough today so no more snow. Hopefully we'll get a good enough one to go sledding soon then we'll be ready for Spring.

Have a Happy Snow Day!

Merry Christmas

2012-01-04T23:00:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was so fun with Cooper this year. He was enthusiastic about everything and was a pure joy to watch. We didn't go big with Santa. We really didn't even talk about it. We took him with the cousins to Bass Pro to get a picture with and other people talking was his main exposure to Santa. We still go back and forth about whether we want to do it or not. We did decide that Santa won't be the one that brings the big stuff. We can't give him all the credit. Cooper did ask that Santa bring him a blue present so he did but he was the one that said it was from him when he opened not us so it was pretty funny.

Our bedtime ritual is reading and singing and this includes reading the Bible. So we read the Christmas story or related ones often but he always wanted us to sing about it rather than read. This makes for humorous bedtimes because when we don't want to sing 'Away in a Manger' we would just sing the story to him. He was often not too impressed with our jokes. He also loved singing Happy Birthday Jesus. Happy Birthday is a favorite song of his so we taught him the other version and we all enjoyed it. If asked he would tell you Christmas was Jesus' birthday and then might throw in someone else's birthday as well. Always funny around our house!

Gary made a little video of our Christmas at home. We enjoyed many with family and friends but didn't video them.

Thank you everyone for such a delightful Christmas. It went by so fast and we were sad to see it go, especially Cooper who was sad to see the tree go.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas; Jesus' birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

I'm HOW OLD?!?!

2012-01-04T22:41:00.000-06:00

Well what I thought would be a dreaded birthday came this year and let me tell you it was far from dreaded. I had such a great birthday I can't complain. 25 was way harder than the

BIG 3-0!

For my actual birthday it was on a Monday so Gary had to work so it was Cooper and I for the day but when he came home we went to dinner with Dad and Erin in town at the Mexican Restaurant then my guys took me for ice cream at the other Donalds as Cooper calls it -Dairy Queen, not to be confused with McDonalds.

This year I asked to go to a fun salon to get my hair cut and colored. While talking to my friend Katie about it she suggested the salon that she goes to while in town and that her sister Ashley goes to on a regular basis. Both having cute hair I didn't hesitate in the suggestion especially after hearing about the pampering they give while there. So after getting the recommendation I told Bre about it who also celebrates her birthday in December only a week and a few days later on the 14th and we decided to make it a girls day out. Let me tell you it was EXACTLY what I had hoped for!

This day wouldn't have been what it was without the planning of my wonderful hooband(husband) Gary and my 2 wonderful-couldn't live without them-friends for life-friends Narissa and Martha. We met after a scavenger hunt for a babysitter morning and headed to town to run "errands". Martha actually had a baby dr appointment but it not being public knowledge we couldn't spill the beans to the rest of the gals until later so we had to run errands like, get coffee, go to the credit union and pick up pictures while Martha got to hear that sweet baby's heart beat. YAY for another baby in the "family"!!! My cup runneth over.

Anyway after our errands we met the rest of the girls being Bre and Misty for lunch at my traditional birthday spot Maria's downtown. I haven't missed having a fried seafood taco for my birthday since this tradition started several years ago. I jump on the chance to scarf one down!

Then we headed to the salon only a few blocks away. A Valerie Boss Salon is what it's called for those who are looking for a fabulous experience.

The birthday girls before. (Sorry your pic is blurry Bre. I may have taken that one…ooops)

Doing the "lip pucker" pose. Not sure why people do this but it's always hilarious to try and not look like a fool.

Getting ready to go have the best hair experience known to man…

First you sit down and talk with your stylist. Mine happened to be Blair-LOVE HER, will be going back to see her, and discuss what to do with the mop on my head. I was hoping to be able to donate a few locks but having layers and crunchy ends we decided I'd have SUPER short hair and not enough worth donating and ended up keeping the locks for myself. We discussed style from there since it wouldn't be getting chopped off what could I do that was fun and drastic enough for my 30th. After all I wanted some change. I told her as long as she didn't shave my head I trusted her.

Then we talked color and what I was wanting. Then we headed back to the color bar for the fun stuff.

Looking mighty glamorous with our foil antenna!

These are after pics of Narissa, Martha and Misty. They also got their hair done. Narissa only got hers styled but Martha and Misty got theirs cut as well.

Looking good ladies!!

So let me tell you more about this place and then I'll move on to more fun details. They had a list of good beverages to sip while processing. Ashley recommended the pink drink- raspberry lemonade. It was delightful.

After the dye was done processing we moved to THE BEST part of the place. The Lather Lounge. It was divine. It was 20+ minutes of getting hair washed and head massage. It's a good thing I don't live closer because I'd probably never wash my hair myself again after that experience. That alone is worth checking this place out! In fact you can go just for that and a style, it's what Narissa did. Those girls also had paraffin hand wax while waiting on us because we took forever.

Bre with her freshly golden locks getting it curled. She thought she looked like she was going to prom but it was a nice look for a fun day and soon to be evening out.

Well here I am with my new do! It's poofier than I wear it. I felt like I had really big hair on the sides but the drastic part is BANGS!!! I. GOT.BANGS!! I also had so really fun and funky colors put in. You can see some red peaking out on the side but what you can't see is a purplish red streak on the other side. She did a little extra something for fun birthday hair. Those colors faded and I still have red streaks not so vibrant and dark hair but yep I still have bangs! They've been a challenge but all in all I still really like them. I never thought I'd ever get bangs but I'm glad I did something so adventurous in my book. Really when you don't want to chop it off there isn't much you can do with it unless I bleached it-not going to happen. Been there. Done that!

After hair was done we grabbed a quick Starbucks for the road and we all headed to Branson where our husbands were meeting us for dinner. The girls were all supposed to get to shop after hair but we took WAY too long and barely beat them down there. Gary and Narissa did some major planning to make the rest happen along with Martha, Kelby and Drew to get all of our plans and schedules to work out. They booked us rooms at the Hilton on the Landing! What a special treat! The rooms were great. What happens next is worth reading all the rambling about my hair. We had reservations for all of us at a place called Shogun. You see this took some discussion because we have such a wide array of opinions for what a good meal for all of us would be. I don't eat beef or pork therefore picking the steakhouse on the Landing was an automatic no go. I have refused to eat there because it is called Land and Cattle. It just makes me cringe thinking of the name. I'm sure it's great don't get me wrong it's just not a place I would ever pick. All steak houses have great chicken and even seafood but the name alone makes me steer clear! So we headed to what we thought was going to be a wonderful Japanese steakhouse meal… I guess you could say that's a big fat WRONG. How we didn't all get food poisoning is a true miracle. When we pulled up and the place didn't look open we should have pulled off but we were brave and in great moods and headed in the not so fancy doors where we weren't even greeted by a hostess and still hesitated but waited for service. We were seated shortly after but to our surprise the place was dead. There was one couple at a hibachi table alone and then later another group at a near by table other than that we were ALONE. I'm pretty sure they had to call in workers because they weren't the quickest. So I'll spare you all the boring details the meal was… well the meal was expensive and not exactly satisfying. We each went away with funny details from that meal that will never be forgotten the one that we will always tell is "DON'T EAT AT SHOGUN!" Like I said it's a miracle we didn't get sick. When your instinct says turn around don't go in there, listen to it! Sure we all left with full bellies but not exactly the way we wanted them to feel. But let me tell you we had some of the best laughs while there. And until they all brought it up I would have never said a bad thing about it because they picked it for me and worked so hard to make it a meal that I would like so I ate it and smiled and thank the Lord that I wasn't stuck in the bathroom afterwards. After dinner we said good-bye to Bre, Sam and Misty and we headed back to our hotel. We had plans to go to a few places for live music on the Landing but I guess it being Christmas shopping time it was packed so we couldn't find a seat and quickly left and ended up listening to a hippy band for a few minutes that soon made us want to again head back to the hotel. Even after these few minor hiccups I can say I had the best birthday! I had such a great weekend and can't thank Gary, Narissa and Martha for all the planning and everyone for all the fun enough. It was exactly what I wanted and more! Not to mention the money that G gave me to spend while shopping that I'm still spending since we didn't get to go while down there. I have some of THE BEST friends on this earth! Thanks everyone for every thing! You made my 30th birthday one to remember!!

Hola from Mexico!

2011-12-01T20:31:00.000-06:00

So I know went to Mexico a month ago but like I said earlier it's hard having 2 computers with different pictures on them. SIGH!

We had a wonderful time in Mexico. It was so great to have that time with Courtney. Cooper and Callie had fun with each other. Their little personalities were so fun to watch. Coop wanted to lead her around and Callie wanted to call the shots on the games they played. It was quite humerus to watch. By the end of our trip you could see the exhaustion in both kiddos having gotten to play so hard all week.
We went to the beach one day, however my child gets fixated on something and it can make him/us/me miserable. We had an umbrella up and the umbrella bag was wrapped around it, there was no way for it to blow away unless the umbrella it's self blew away yet Coop felt the need to have a complete and udder melt down because of it. I had to remove him from our spot on the beach for what felt like forever so he would calm down. He still had moments when he would see it in the wind and would freak out again but we tried to distract him as much as possible. We were both crying at one point because I had no idea what to do with him. That was a very interesting day. Thankfully Preston let Courtney and I go out for lunch and do a little shopping while the kiddos napped and that was a much needed escape for both of us. THANK YOU PRESTON!
Preston and I ran in a 5K Sunday morning before church. We originally were supposed to run a 10K thankfully it was cancelled because I had what felt like the flu in the middle of the night before the run so it was hard enough to run the 5 let alone a 10. I'm pretty sure someone would have been picking me up off the cobblestone. It was a really nice morning to run, it was a great change of scenery for me to run in as well since I run between cow fields and hay fields when I'm at home with the few 5K's in Springfield.
It was a great time to spend with great friends.
Thank you Preston, Courtney, Callie and Addison for having us we can't wait to see you in just a few short weeks!!! We love you!

(PS. I know I have misspelled words in my slide show. Like I said this has been kicking my tail the last couple days.)

Happy Fall Ya'll

2011-12-01T07:54:00.000-06:00

What can I say. I'm no longer up to date on my blog. I'd like to use the expression "Excuses are like…" but I won't. I will say that since G travels so often during the week he takes the laptop with him and most of these photos are on it. We haven't managed to drop our pics into the "icloud" sphere yet. So hang in there with me.

HEEEEELLLLOOOOO?????

2011-10-20T22:19:00.000-05:00

Our days have been kind of chilly this week but we walked up to Bapa's today anyway to get out of the house and burn some energy. I pointed out the hole in the tree on our way up there and on our way back Coop decided to stop and see if anyone was home.

We're not sure if anyone lives in there but it looks like a great place for a critter of some sort to cozy up in.

Tonight for dinner we had homemade spinach alfredo pizza and Coop wasn't the biggest fan but he was required to eat some before he could move on to something else. Mainly tonight I made him eat it because I knew he liked it or at least had eaten it several times before so I wasn't going to just give in this time. So after his piece he asked for some bread. I asked if he wanted anything on it and gladly he agreed to some peanut butter. "And jelly too!?"

My question is how do kids just learn to not eat the crust? I didn't teach him this. I don't cut off the crust. I don't even typically cut off the peeling on an apple but he even leaves that if he's eating sliced apples. How does this happen? Do kids teach each other these tricks?

Crust anyone?

Hope you're having beautiful Fall weather. We are enjoying seeing the leaves change but I'm already ready for warm weather... Oh wait I get a little breath of warm air in a week because Coop and I will head down to see my best friend Courtney and her beautiful family. Courtney and Preston just welcomed their sweet baby girl Addison to the family in September so we are excited to meet her and get some fun play time with Callie. Don't worry I'll keep you posted on our trip and the fun times we have! Cooper is especially excited to swing with Callie. He talks about it everyday so he's ready too. Pray for good flights and for Cooper as this is his first flight in his own seat. dundunduuun!!!

Fun Times

2011-10-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

We stay busy around here trying to do fun things and go do fun activities. Here's several pictures of what's been going on around here.

Coop and I joined several Marshfield people at a football game to cheer on a friend that is head coaching at a near by town. We enjoyed fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that they had at the game.

While skyping with Gram last week Coop had a good time showing off his milk mustache. He really likes mustaches these days. He wants to draw them so when he knows he has one he runs to the bathroom too look in the mirror.

A few weeks ago we went to town shopping at the mall, while there Gary let Cooper ride the little .50 rides at the food court where of course he wanted to ride again but we had other things to do so he later got to ride the escalator as his second ride. He was all smiles!

Parents as Teachers had a field trip to a local pumpkin patch and a friend and I took the kiddos. Coop had fun playing in the pool filled with corn and also got to pet a calf they had there.

He got to pick out a pumpkin.

Posing with his pick.

Cooper and Hollis with their pumpkins.

Both years that we've taken him he's felt the need to sit on a pumpkin.

Hollis and Coop practicing being old men playing tic-tac-toe.

After we left the pumpkin patch we headed back to Joni's where he got to sit on their horse. He liked it until it shifted it's weight and he was "all done!"

The horse followed us out of the pasture. It was funny it wanted to be in the action.

He also got to collect eggs out of the chicken coop.

I think he's making sure they weren't coming in to get him.

He only wanted to collect one but she sent the 4 home with us that they had.

We've been enjoying our fall days hope you have been as well!

More Letters

2011-10-12T16:38:00.000-05:00

Apparently I'm slacking in the blogging department! I let the week pass and also pass on a post so I'm going to play catch up. I'll let you know what we've done in the letter world and just some fun things happening around here.

To finish up C-O-O-P-E-R we did E elephant sandwiches. We had a couple of these. The other one had a jelly covered ear and banana legs. He liked it.

R we painted a rainbow in tub using colored shaving cream. This was a HUGE hit. Just put a few drops of food coloring in shaving cream, mix it up and you're ready to have a good time painting in the tub. It didn't stain the wall either in case you were wondering!

After we finish up his name letters we moved on to F. We had a lot of fun with F week. We had football sandwiches,

We went on a ride on the mule to look for Farm Animals. We stopped to see these cute babies because he wanted to kiss them everyday we drove by them. He didn't kiss them but he enjoyed watching them.

A few houses down were these horses that we stopped and watched.

We had a good time looking for farm animals around the countryside!

Funny faces were fun to do! He had a good time making them. I knew he'd like them since he's been interested in mustaches and eyebrows. The other day I let him open the mail, he tore a little piece and thought it looked like an eyebrow. He put it on a picture that was on the mail. It was funny!

We also had a few apple frogs. Of course they were fun since they had marshmallow and chocolate chip eyes.

Then we moved onto B.

Here he's covering a B with beans. He did well doing this. He sprinkled them on and liked seeing which ones stuck and which ones bounced off.

Pancakes serve as a great tool for the letter weeks. So we had Bear pancakes with Blueberry eyes.

I got him this blowfish bubble blower when Gary and I went to Iowa for a sponsor event for Hallowed Ground. Anytime we have bubbles out turns into a good time.

I'll do another post of just fun stuff that we've been doing around here to make this post not 10 years long.

Hope you're enjoying the beautiful fall days!

P Week

2011-09-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

P week was crazy busy!! We had a house full of people. Gram, PawPaw and GiGi were here from Florida. We tried to keep up with activities as much as we could.

He painted a P. It didn't stay this neat though. He began painting with his hands and them somehow ended up getting it in his hair. He had blue bangs until his bath.

P for Pancake was fun. He ate several pancakes that morning.

He had a picnic with PawPaw and Gram. Complete with P food. Peanut butter and Jelly, Pizza and Pickles. Yes it's quite the variety of food but that's what it took to get him to eat was to keep offering him things off our plates (the pizza and pickles).

The hide and seek was fun this week. I put it in a plastic pumpkin and found all the P objects I could, pony, pasta, pig, pink, P's. Gram and Gigi helped with this.

One fun thing that we got to do was open a package from Uncle Kirk, Aunt Aimee and Trip. It had so many fun things in it! It was a package what will continue to be fun. He also got a few post cards in the mail.

Over the weekend after the fam left Gary and I went to Iowa for a sponsor event for Hallowed Ground Outdoors so Coop got to stay with Papaw and Mamaw. He had a great time as usual. They said he ate them out of house and home. I don't have any pictures from this past weekend of him with them but they shared some from their last trip to the zoo. It was fun that he stayed with them during P week since it was Papaw and Parker was there too.

Hope you're having a great week. Go paint something and get messy!

Bonus pictures I had to share:

Look closely… he was playing with my eyeshadow! At least he didn't put it on his eyes. He was playing with the little brush so it was soft on his face. I'll keep telling myself that at least.

O Week

2011-09-13T21:48:00.001-05:00

It's been busy in the Hamilton house so I'll split the last two weeks into 2 different posts so I don't overwhelm you.

For O week we did some fun things.

We went to the library for Cooper's first story hour. He did very well. He didn't want to sit on his carpet square for long, he sat on my lap. But we had fun regardless. We checked out his first books, that happened to have an O theme. They were both really cute books about Oceans and a fun squid.

The story hour books were about sheep so we made sheep ears during craft time.

After doing our shopping for some O food we decorated an O. I did splurge more for O food than I normally would but it was fun. We decorated the O with fruity Cheerios. As you can see he enjoyed eating them. He kept saying "I eat it? Tastes like candy!"

Working hard on decorating the O.

O food was fun! I made this owl out of bread and peanut butter, bananas, raisins, pineapple, the treats were the chocolate chip centers in the eyes and it's nose was half of an oreo.

He had a good time dissecting the owl as he ate it.

He got to paint with Oranges. Orange prints were fun and a little messy but he had a good time. Anytime the paint comes out he enjoys it!

I didn't do the hide and seek bag this week because I didn't have a lot of O objects to hide but honestly he picked up O quicker than any letter that we've done thus far so the lack of time and lack of O objects didn't effect him too much. We also fit in a trip to Orschlen with Bapa. AKA the chicken store, so it could have fit in last week as well but the wrong C sound for this activity so far. I didn't take pictures of everything that we did but you get the idea and can see that he's having a great time with the letters!

Hope you're having a great week!

C for Cooper

2011-08-31T00:29:00.000-05:00

I recently started working with Cooper to help him learn the alphabet. A few months ago I emailed my friend Kendra who is a reading recovery teacher for some ideas and advice on where to start and things to do. She gave me some great information and where to begin. She told me it's best to teach the letters of their name first. So I would try to make sure to point out letters where we saw them and we worked on spelling his name out loud (which was hilarious to listen to by the way).

While skyping with my sister-in-law and nephew she shared with us that they had just started doing letter of the week. I thought it sounded like a great idea! She shared with me what they were doing and basically a lesson plan for us to go by for our first week. For those of you who don't know Aimee my sister-in-law, first of all you're missing out because she is wonderful (I could go on and on about her) but secondly she is a teacher by trade. From her emails of ideas of things to do, eat, places to go, and people to see or call I can tell she is some kind of a teacher and I know her students were blessed to have her. She's been such a help and inspiration for this project! Check out her new blog where she is giving detailed steps and info on how to do what she's doing @ TeachLoveGrow .

So to start off our week of C's I drew a big C on the dry erase board, then hid post it notes around the house so Coop could find them and drew a big C on paper and let him color, glue cotton balls on, and stick car stickers on. These were fun and easy to do. Then came the hide and seek bag. It had cows, caterpillar, car, C's, and a cotton ball hidden in veggie curly noodles for color. He enjoyed this activity but also enjoyed the noodles or doodles as he calls them. We also kept our things on the blanket like Aimee did the towel for Trip. This made for easier clean up. However Coop got lucky and got to dump the bag too. I had to change the gift bag to a short brown bag because his arms were too short to dig in.

We also made cloud dough. Such and easy thing to do but what a fun substance to play with. All it takes is flour and baby oil and you have a silky dough to mush, ball up, crumble and simply make a mess with!

Coop got to "cook" with mommy. Yes I know baking muffins isn't cooking but it was something easy for him to help with and he enjoyed it.

We went shopping for Cfood, not to be confused with seafood! We found fun things like crackers, cookies and carrots. He had cucumbers from the garden also. We tried to have a Cfood at lunch everyday.

We talked about and prayed for people who's names start with C. Such as Aunt Courtney and Callie and Coby.

He also enjoyed playing follow the leader and doing C motions and movements : crawl, clap, crouch, crash, act crazy. Speaking of crazy you may notice Coop's crazy hair in his coloring photos so we also counted that as a C word for the day!

We had cashew chicken to end our C week. All in all it was a good week and gave us something to do and we are already having fun with O and he's caught on to what the letter is already.

I hope I didn't bore you with all the details. I won't tell you as much for O week but I wanted to give you an idea of what we had going on.
Next week P week maybe a little busy because Gram, PawPaw and GiGi will be here from Florida. Hope they are ready for some P fun!

Hope you're having a great week. Go do something fun and messy and tell us all about it!

Bonus picture:
Coop sat down to play in the sun the was shining on the kitchen floor. I thought it was cute so wanted to share.

Gone Fishing

2011-08-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

A few weekends ago Dad, Erin and I took Coop to Fellows Lake to do a little fishing. We headed to Walmart for a spiderman pole and fishing license then off to the lake we went.

Coop got to feed the fish. They were HUGE by the marina.

They were very ready for a treat. I'm sure they were starving judging from their tiny frames. HA!

Coop trying his hand at holding the pole alone. (prior to getting kicked out of the area we were in. We didn't read the sign NO FISHING within 200 feet of the dock.)

Yep fishing ON the dock. NOT ALLOWED!! Oopsie!

He enjoyed throwing the rocks in as well. The water looked so inviting but that wasn't allowed either. Fellows Lake is Springfield's drinking water therefore no swimming.

So he may have sat on the edge. We are rule breakers.

Got a BIG one! He caught this fish a few times in a row. As well as the other fish that he caught, they went back in the water before we took the hook out. He was quite the fisherman.

We tried to get him to touch it. We only got one touch in.

Kiss the fish.

Reeling in a big one.

Serious concentration on bringing this one in.

We had a good day at the lake. Thanks Bapa and Granny for a fun time!

Yet Another Trip To The Zoo!

2011-08-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

We finally got a few days of relief from the dog days of summer so Cooper and I took the opportunity to head to the zoo for the morning. He's getting a little more brave and actually fed the goats. He usually wants to see them but hides his face in the stroller when they look at him. This time we got to feed 3 pieces before he was done. That's progress in my book!

Bite?

The Bear was even out because of the cooler temperatures and came to say hello.

The last time I tried to get him to sit on this tiger for a picture he was terrified of it! This time he was so excited. He's growing up too fast!

I took the animal pictures so Coop would have pictures on my phone that he wanted to see and so I decided to post them for my wee readers.

Hope you've had a good summer! We are back to warmer temperatures but hoping for a cooler day tomorrow.

Our God is Greater

2011-08-12T14:51:00.000-05:00

Typically while riding in the car we have our radio on christian music. Cooper is learning some of the songs and sings along with the radio. He sometimes sings these songs without the radio as well. I was able to get him singing with it a little bit last night on our way to dinner.

I pray even small seeds are being planted in Cooper's life and that he's learning that our God is truly greater!

Evil Canival

2011-08-12T14:42:00.000-05:00

Cooper has been riding his little 4wheeler inside a lot lately and has been better about actually steering it around. He can ride it around the table and not get too stuck. Yesterday he started doing tricks. He's our little Evil Canival.

Hope you're having a silly day too!

Block Party

2011-08-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend Gary and I headed to St. Louis with a group from church to help with a block party for one of Second's sister churches. We had a great turn out. After a morning of handing out flyers and word of mouth to invite the neighborhood and nearby apartment complex we were ready to get the party started! With steamy temperatures and several bottles of water later we set up a great block party complete with bounce house, several games such as bean bag toss, football toss, ring toss, crafts, popcorn, hotdogs, snow cones (Gary's station) and face painting (where Megan and I worked). I'm pretty sure we painted every single child that came and several of them a few times. We had high humidity and oily paints so it smeared easily. Gary and Nathan were so busy with the snow cones as could be expected, they had to go to the store for more supplies several times!
We stayed to join them for church Sunday morning. We filled half of their sanctuary with our group! We enjoyed the service but were so glad we were there for their children's dance ministry. I took a short video clip of their dance. Take a look. I especially enjoyed seeing the little guy dancing with the girls. He was really good and made me miss being with Cooper that much more.

Please add New Beginning Fellowship to your prayer list that they can continue to reach out to their community and continue to grow their family.

Cashew Chicken

2011-08-03T06:04:00.002-05:00

Cooper has a book that Uncle Kirk and Aunt Aimee gave him that he has been particularly interested in recently. It is a simple book that I think is supposed to go out to eat with him. It has pictures of animals faces and says, "Cow is hungry, can you feed the cow?" I usually ask him what he's feeding them and his typical response is turkey or chicken. However this time was a little different….
See for your self! (sorry the video is so dark)

He's infatuated with eating cashew chicken lately. Last week Dad and I were in town with him and asked him what he wanted to eat for lunch and he answered cashew chicken. So that's what we had!
Have you had your cashew chicken lately? Have a great day and stay out of the heat!

Ice Ice Baby

2011-07-19T11:14:00.004-05:00

Cooper has an obsession with chomping on ice. We were trying to distract him from wanting ice one day by singing "Ice Ice Baby". He thought it was funny and repeated us. So now he sings it at random. Here we are outside playing and he wanted my iced coffee ice cubes so he sang it. He found the alligator on my shorts at the end.

Here's a throw back for the 90's kids out there. And a refresher to the ones that don't know the song i.e. my dad!

Hope you're having a funky fresh Tuesday! Peace out!

Camera Fun

2011-07-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

I'm sure I've mentioned that we got a new camera for Christmas and we are still learning how to use it but lately we've been trying to get out and really try to get some good shots. We also got a new lens recently to add some creativity to our photos. Gary has been doing a great job with the camera and editing the pictures. I've taken a few that turned out well but G is the one that does so well. We had a nice slide show made but I can't get it to post. I wanted to go ahead and post some of the pictures that some of you have already seen on facebook for those of you who aren't on there. So skip through or enjoy :)

Hope you're enjoying your summer and are able to get out of the heat and have some fun!

Time to Celebrate

2011-06-13T08:51:00.002-05:00

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)

Happy Memorial Day

2011-06-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

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.

CRAFTING FOR A CAUSE

2011-05-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

My current mission is "CRAFTING FOR A CAUSE".
What is my cause you may ask? We have some dear friends Nathan and Megan who have recently began their adoption process after a long awaited answer on which direction to go for starting their family.

Silver Dollar City

2011-05-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Cooper and I got to go to Silver Dollar City with our good friends Barron and Betsy. We were excited this trip actually happened because we had been getting SO much rain and the forecast was calling for rain that day too. With a check of the radar and jacket in hand we headed out only to find it was sunny and 80 degrees for us when we got there!

We had a nice time walking around, sampling the saltwater taffy and eating kettle corn.

Barron and Betsy wanted to see the Russian Circus while we were there but we weren't sure if Coop would sit through it or not. The sitting through it wasn't the issue it was the giant spot light cutting through the darkness near us that was the problem. He absolutely freaked out! He loves flash lights and any other kind of lights so it was much to our surprise when he began to freak out. I'm not sure if it was the dust particles in the air that he could see in the light or that the beginning of the show was really loud so it just started us off on the wrong foot or what but he was not a fan! So Coop and I endured the show standing up at the back behind the spot light. He would have been happy if I would have let him play on the stairs but little did he know those stairs lead to the sound booth AND spotlight! I didn't think they'd appreciate him playing around the equipment.

We snapped a few shots of him in the jail. Betsy and Barron we so good to wait and let him do things or be slow at walking up hills. Barron even sat with him while Betsy and I rode a crazy disk ride. They sat and enjoyed a frozen lemonade while we spun around way up in the air!

Here are some shots of us on the buggies. He didn't quite know what to think I don't think. He surprisingly didn't want to push the button that made us go up so I took the controls and made sure he got the most of the ride.

Asking if he wanted to go UP

Trying to get him to put his arms up like we were on a roller coaster.

All in all we had a good day and Coop did great even though he didn't have a nap. On our way home we stopped for pizza at a place called Pizza Chef. If I'm ever in Branson West again I'll be sure to stop here. We all really enjoyed it!

Thanks B&B for such a fun day at that City!!

Daddy's Little Helper

2011-04-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

Gary and Cooper got outside to do some work today. I tried to sneak out and get some shots but I had to work to get them a little more than I thought because once Coop saw me he was a little distracted.

They were out picking up sticks in the yard enjoying some fresh air while I mopped and cleaned the bathroom.

Little Helper

He was really working hard!

Those are some heavy chains.

Checking the tires I suppose.

CHEESE!!!!

They made some great progress in the yard and I got a lot of cleaning done.

Hope you can get outside and get some fresh air and enjoy some yard work too!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T23:31:00.002-05:00

HE is risen! HE is risen indeed!!
We celebrated Easter by attending a wonderful Easter service at church, opening Cooper's baskets, taking a nap and having dinner with Bapa and Granny. We also got a skype in with Uncle Kirk, Aunt Aimee and Trip. Cooper and Trip compared Easter basket goodies.

We had fun dying eggs last night as well. Cooper had fun hunting them in the house. We had to hunt inside because we've been experiencing a monsoon ALL weekend. It's about time to get out the canoes to get to town.

We were able to take a few shots between raindrops of us in our Easter outfits. Coop didn't smile for the timer on the camera but we still thought his expressions were funny. Aren't the dogwoods lovely in the back? I adore how they feather the woods against the green leaves.

Hope you had a WONDERFUL Easter weekend rejoicing that we serve a risen Savior and enjoying time with family and friends.

Spring Has Sprung

2011-04-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

Spring has sprung in our neck of the woods. We are complete with potted plants, blooming flower beds, dogwoods and redbuds in full bloom and a yard full of dandelions. We are experiencing a lot of rain right now and are wishing it would go away for a trip to Silver Dollar City and for Gary's turkey hunting.

Cooper spotted a BEE! It was funny how still he was when he saw it… below is the scary creature.

We have a cat now thanks to our friends Kelby and Martha. Her name is Rikki. This was the first day that she warmed up to Cooper. He was a big fan of it, enough to try to climb under the fence to follow her to the pasture next to us. I caught him before he made it any farther. I couldn't believe he tried to go under the fence! As you can tell he wasn't happy that I stopped him and that Rikki was getting away.

Next are some shots from the yard, trees, pots and yard guests.

I've always loved petunias. They have such vibrant colors and are so easy to take care of.

As you can see our yard has a TON of these "fun" wonders…

This picture I took with my phone. Gary took the good ones.

Grandpa- aka: Bapa taught him how to blow them. I don't think we figured out the "make a wish" part yet. He had a good time blowing them and getting seeds stuck to his face. Not sure how many he ate.

We hope your spring days are blooming with fun. Get outside and enjoy some fresh air and exercise your lungs by spreading more dandelion seeds.

Enjoy the View

2011-04-18T11:55:00.001-05:00

Last week I went to work with Dad to help out since Erin got a new job. I had to take some pictures to show how high up he was working. I stayed down on the ground to send up hoses and such and turn the water off and on. I was hoping for a suntan but it was so windy that my jacket didn't come off. Dad had to wash out the two silos from the top.

If you enlarge the picture you can see Dad at the top lowering down a rope so I could tie it to the hose. The silos were 60 ft tall. Being so windy on the ground you can only imagine how windy it was on top. Climbing up the ladder Dad turned around and said it's like a hurricane!!!

I did end up climbing to the top just to say I did at the end of the day. So I had to take some pictures of the view. You can kind of see my shadow in this one. It's at the right side of the right silo where you see a white sign. I'm standing there.

These are shots of Erin's new workplace Polar. We took them so she could see it from afar :)

It was so windy that I think we could have held onto the railing and let our feet blow in the breeze. Well maybe not that windy but it certainly was gusty.

Planting Flowers

2011-04-09T18:58:00.001-05:00

After Cooper's very long nap today (he had been to the zoo with his papaw and mamaw so he was tired) we went outside to plant some flowers in a few planters and pots that I have.

Cooper enjoyed watering the yard, rocks and dirt with the water hose while I planted. He wanted to water my planters before I had the flowers in them so I put some dirt in the pot saucer so he could play with that. He enjoyed slashing in the puddles that he soon created. Notice the rubber boots, I figured we might as well be in flip flops or rubber boots if we had the hose out and he of course picked the boots. No surprise here. He LOVES his boots!

It was a gorgeous day today so I was glad we were able to get outside and enjoy the weather.

Hope you were able to enjoy some beautiful and play outside wherever you are as well!

Goofing Around

2011-03-29T17:16:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple videos of Coop being silly.

First one is him talking to Gram on the phone. He's asking to talk to PawPaw. He's really been into talking on the phone lately. Whether it be actually talking to just playing with his toy phones he talks all the time.

This on is him playing with the noy noy (punching balloon) that Bapa and Granny brought him. Last week they came by on their way to town but it was too close to Coop's nap for him to go with them. Since he was sad Bapa told him he'd bring him back a BIG balloon. He went to sleep talking about the noy noy and Bapa and woke up doing the same. He even cried for it so I was really hoping they didn't forget. A little later they came back with this! He loved it! He's still playing with it and gets it going pretty good every once in a while.

Have a great day! It's gloomy here so we are hoping for sunny spring days SOON!!!

Sunny Days…In Florida

2011-03-29T09:32:00.000-05:00

Cooper and I got to go to Florida for 9 days. We had a really good time. We spent several afternoons at the parks, we went shopping a few times and enjoyed several delicious meals with the family.

I was even able to enjoy several runs to take in the beautiful scenery. I got a few runs in with my cousin Natasha who isn't a runner but she did great and we had a great time together.

Coop fell asleep on Gram's lap at lunch. This NEVER happens. He must have been really tired and cozy. When he woke up he ate 3 chicken strips in his stroller as we continued to walk around shops on St. George Street.

We got a chance to do a 5 generation photo.

Grandaddy always has to have the babies sit on his lap. Coop did really well with him. I'm so glad we got the chance to go spend a little time with him.

Coop liked the "horse" at the parks.

He didn't last long on the carousel but he always wanted to ride it.

We got to pick some delicious grapefruits at Grandaddy's.

I had never gotten under a fruit tree too see all the fruit. From the outside it didn't look like it has a many. It was a beautiful sight.

PawPaw got up in the tree to get some good ones. We enjoyed a glass of fresh squeezed juice. It was delicious! I forgot to bring some fruit home with me and was slightly sad about that.

Cooper and Hunter had a good time playing together. Well at least Coop had fun with Hunter. Hunter was a good source of entertainment for him that's for sure and vis versa.

Hunter got to sit on his Dad's bike before we left dinner. Cooper didn't want anything to do with it.

Here's a little video of the clips I took at the parks and of him being silly.

Thank you Gram and PawPaw for such a wonderful time! We had a blast and can't wait to see you again.

Brandon Hamilton

2011-03-19T20:20:00.000-05:00

First of all I think that my dad Brandon Hamilton is a monkey. Second of all this is not Tammi it is her nephew Parker a little outcast second grade maniac. My dad is a maniac too but a real one not like me. He stays up late but not all the time. He plays call of duty black ops for a long time. And I play my nintendo DS and I pad (that is not mine it is Aislynn ) . But back to my dad he does not feel good he had his tooth pulled out on 03/14/11. I hope he gets feeling better.

like I said,he is a monkey.

Banana Muffin Maker

2011-02-11T16:44:00.000-06:00

We recently found a recipe in my Ebenezer Church Cookbook for Banana Muffins. They are quick and easy and "oh so good for you!" Ok so they aren't good for you with a 1/2 cup of butter and a cup of sugar but they are really good and let me tell you Cooper and Gary put the hurting on them when I bake them.

Coop likes to sit on the counter when I'm in the kitchen cooking and that Saturday morning was no exception. He got a little brave and reached out to touch the beater on the mixer to taste the batter. Typically I'm not a fan of eating batter because a raw eggs but he was in love the second that he tasted it so there was pretty much no stopping once he started.

It started out with just a finger licking and became...

A measuring spoon full then...

A measuring cup!

He had a good time taste testing and we got a good laugh!

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Banana Muffins

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1tsp baking soda (in 1/3 cup hot water)

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup mashed bananas

Mix well; pour in muffin tins (greased bottom) 1/2 full.

Bake in 350* oven for 20 minutes.

I think I might put chocolate chips in some next time! Sounds awfully tasty to me!

Enjoy!

Risdon John

2011-01-26T08:21:00.000-06:00

Our DEAR friends welcomed their sweet baby boy last week.

Beautiful Mama Martha and their sweet TINY little guy.

Coop getting to "gently" touch his hand. Not sure how gentle it was but we gave it a shot.

Aunt T with the happy Mommy and Risdon.

I had the privilege of making Risdon's bedding. Martha and I had fun shopping for all these classic colors complete with textures. The navy is searsucker and the red is thick with an nice texture as well. The white square isn't really white, it has khaki plaid on it. We were both exhausted after a day of shopping just about every fabric shop in Springfield but I think we came up with a nice combination and perfect fit in Risdon's woodland creature room.

Welcome to the world baby Risdon. We've been anxiously waiting on you!!

Cooper has ALL sorts of things to teach you!

Snow Days

2011-01-18T21:21:00.000-06:00

Like the famous words from Rescuers Down Under,

"Bernard, this is NO time to play in the snow!"

It really wasn't any time to play in the snow due to FRIGID FRIGID temperatures but Cooper had cabin fever. So Grandpa a.k.a. Bapa came with sled in hand to take Coop down the hill a few times.

They went down the big hill a few times.

Then we just played on a small slope because Grandpa was tired of walking the hill. Rightfully so!

Coop insisted on swinging… so they did.

The next day we went to play in the FRIGID temperatures too, to once again get out of the house.

Once again we have a Ralphie this year. He can't walk in his get up very well but he gives it a shot.

My handsome men

I kind of think he's saying, "REALLY?"

He was a trooper all bundled up not being able to walk or talk. Hopefully we'll get some more snow that has warmer temperatures where he can play and not freeze.

Happy Snow Days!

"YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR MAMA!!"

2011-01-03T15:51:00.000-06:00

Sunday while getting ready for church Gary and Cooper were sharing a cinnamon roll, I hear "You're just like your Mama! Like mother like son!"

Cooper had eaten the center of the roll. My favorite part of the cinnamon roll is the center.

Hope you've had a Happy New Year and enjoy the center of every cinnamon roll!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T17:14:00.000-06:00

We had a very eventful Christmas. From hopping around from place to place to enjoying our time with our little fam at home it was peaceful and full of fun. We took time to read the Christmas story out of Cooper's story Bible.

I had my friend Ginger make this card for Gary to put on his desk at work.

Coop was looking up at Grandpa after the dog-dog licked him. We thought the facial expression once again was priceless.

I made some new stalkings out of burlap and satan. I saw them on a blog that my sister-in-law introduced me to. HERE it is. They are far from perfect but I was pleased with them. Next year I might try making some from old sweaters, but we'll see. I have dream stalkings in my head but I can't quite describe them but I know they'll have our names on them.

We enjoyed and mexican dinner and exchanged gifts with the Hamilton family on Christmas Eve.

Parker was the gift passer outer. He had a good time handing them out all the while being very enthusiastic.

Coop got his hand caught in the candy jar...

See the treat in his cheek? It was funny. He saw us see him so he grabbed it and stuck it in his mouth quickly and said "MMMMM!"

Brandon and Aislynn got a new shutterS for their house since they lost a set in a storm we had along with more fun gifts.

Bubby got A LOT of toys and has enjoyed playing with them. We got a lot of wonderful gifts from Gary's parents. I got several kitchen gadgets that I asked for which excite me because those are things I don't want to buy myself. Gary got all set up with more hunting gear, you can never go wrong with gifts like that for G.

Christmas morning Coop let us sleep until 7:30 then we got up and opened presents and later had cinnamon rolls with Granny and Grandpa when they brought up Cooper's presents.

Coop found some animal crackers in his stalking so we had to immediately open them.

We got Coop a lot of clothes. We figured he needed clothes and would be getting toys from everyone else. (don't worry we got him a few toys too)

Looks like he approves of this sweater!

Gary was opening his stalking. We got each other a nice camera so we just did stalking stuffers on Christmas. We got a camera a few days earlier so we could semi learn to use it.

The big present we got Coop was this 4-wheeler. His face lit up when we brought it out of the room. He's a little scared of the electric noise it makes when you push the button but I'm sure he'll get used to it soon. He's already enjoyed pushing and pulling it around as well as some accompanied rides around the living room.

We skyped with PawPaw and Gram so they could watch him open his gifts from them. They sent lots of fun things. He was an instant fan of the see-n-say that they gave him!

We all had matching PJ's or jams as we call them. However Coop's were a little too long for him. At one point he was walking away from me and I began to laugh because it looked like he was walking on his knees he had so much extra trailing behind him.

We had to get a shot of our jams. We all had camo pants and comfy soft t-shirts.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

We hope you were all able to enjoy family and friends as we celebrated the true reason for the season.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Silly Boys

2010-12-20T11:53:00.000-06:00

While the Fam was here for Thanksgiving we were able to get some pretty funny pictures with the boys.

ENJOY!

They had fun taking out the Christmas tree decorations out of the tub while we were trying to put the tree up.

They got several rides from Grandpa.

They like to play in the bouncy seat that I have out for the little ones that I keep.

Don't they look like they are having a real conversation?!

Have a great day!

OOPS

2010-12-20T09:13:00.001-06:00

I fixed the second video on the First Hair Cut post.

Sorry about that!

First Hair Cut

2010-12-16T13:00:00.002-06:00

Over Thanksgiving my Brother Kirk, his wife Aimee and their son Trip came to visit from Oregon. While they were here I decided to take Cooper to get his first hair cut. He had REALLY long hair on top and it didn't go well with the curls in the back so it needed some work.

Here are some pictures of his cut...

We got to pick out a movie for him to watch. He is very into the Baby Einstein movies right now and luckily they had one.

He enjoyed driving even when someone was cutting his hair!

In the back of the car you can see a space behind him, that is where they collected the hair to give me. When he was finished they took a picture and attached the hair in a baggie to it. We were very pleased with the place and VERY pleased with how Cooper did. We didn't have any problems with him He sat there very content.

Trip even got to fly a plane while he waited!

Here are a few videos of our experience. I wish you could hear my heart beating because I was about to have a melt down. Thank goodness we got to keep the curls!

Fall FUN

2010-11-22T21:31:00.000-06:00

Saturday was chilly but nice enough to get out for a little fun in the leaves.

Cooper laughed a lot while his daddy was trying to get all the leaves out of the carport. I'm pretty sure he thought that pile was being made for him. He had a great time!

I found this backpack in the shed with some Disney books. He liked walking around with it but it made me sad to see how big he's getting.

While we play outside we always have to go to the fence to see if the "dows" - cows are out and we have to go pet the "dees" -deer. So here he's sitting on it like he likes to do. What a silly monkey!

Narissa, Rebekah her sister and I took the boys to a Drury University basketball game to watch Sara Jane their other sister play. The boys stayed busy with the trucks and tractors.

Not the best shot but had to show that we were actually at a game. Cooper liked with the crowd clapped he clapped too. They both liked when the flew the Drury blimp overhead. One big giant balloon can entertain even the old but young at heart.

Hope you are enjoying your Fall.

The weather is starting to look and feel more like fall. Of course when it's time to do the annual tradition of running the 5k Turkey Trot it's supposed to be frigid! Oh well it wouldn't feel right if it weren't so cold your hands and ears hate you before you're done running.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Bottoms Up

2010-11-04T08:26:00.000-05:00

Cooper has started doing this all the time. He's done it for a long time but now he'll just be walking or playing and stop and do it. I think in a way it's him playing peek a boo which he LOVES!

(Actually as I'm typing this he did it next to the couch where I'm sitting)

Don't you just love those rolls?!

Another Trip To The Zoo With Friends

2010-11-04T08:20:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago my friend Katie and her daughter Kharis were home from Tennessee and invited us to go the the zoo with them. It's always great to see them and we take anytime we can get with them.

I had to take a picture of these frog because they didn't look real. The colors are so vibrant. We watched them for a long time to see if they moved. They did but they still didn't look real.

It seemed like Kharis liked Cooper's hair. It was funny.

We of course played at the playground there.

Always great to see you girls!! Love you!

It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

2010-11-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

For as long as I can remember watching Charlie Brown around Halloween has been a tradition. So I decided to continue doing it with Cooper. So we got our snack of banana muffins and milk and snuggled up on the couch.

I think he liked it. We'll watch it again I'm sure. I actually dvr'd it so we could watch it later too.

On Friday the merchants on the square had trick-or-treating so Narissa and I decided to take the kiddos. Bre and Sam were there too but I didn't get any pictures of them. Let me tell you it was exhausting, thank goodness Aunt Mar, Garnny and Grandpa went with us, the extra hands were much needed.

Cooper was a Koala Bear and Mac was and Elephant

Ever since Cooper was born we've called him our koala baby bear. When he was in the NICU we did what was called kangaroo care but I for some reason called it koala care.

When he was just an itty bitty koala baby bear.

Here's a few of Coop in his Charlie Brown shirt.

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween!

A Season Of Blessings

2010-10-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

October 17th was Mac's birthday so we decided to join them at the pumpkin patch. The boys had a good time in the pool of corn, hay maze and corn maze. They had a really good time playing with little pumpkins.

Enjoy the pictures!

Where's Waldo?

Guess Who??

Narissa and Molly!!

Not a great shot but Coop was officially done with the pumpkin patch and ready for a big fat nap!

Now for the real season of blessing news...

Gary got offered a position within his company that he applied for and he accepted. This means great things for our little family. It means that I will be able to stay home with Cooper until we are ready to build our next house! At that time I will hopefully be able to find a part time job to help with the building fund.

The Lord graciously answered our prayers and provided a way to make it possible for this to happen. My prayer is that I am a good stay at home mom. That this will not only be a blessing to Cooper but also to Gary.

We also pray that Gary likes his new position.

Thank you all for the prayers that you lifted up so that I could stay home with Cooper. You're all part of our season of blessings!

God Bless you ALL!

Big Buck Down

2010-10-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

Gary's love for deer hunting continues for another season. He not only goes out for the hunt but also videos his hunts and his fellow "Hallowed Ground" members' hunts.

Check them out HERE

They will have a time slot on the Sportsman Channel in July 2011. This is a dream come true for Gary.

Here's a few shots of his buck.

Here are a few pictures of Cooper and his Daddy with the deer.

I about died when he tried to touch it's eye!!! YUCK!

Just sitting on a stump. Do du doo

Just a few things that make fall so wonderful for Gary.

We usually say "Big Bucks, No Whammies" but now he can get the whammies because he got the Big Buck! Good job honey!

Got You Where I Want You

2010-09-24T22:28:00.001-05:00

Got you where I want you means:

While at Nana's we discovered a wagon in her garage.

Cooper enjoyed riding in it for a short while and then...

He wanted to drive...

He wanted to push...

(He stopped and picked up some rocks to haul.)
That's a look of determination and hard work.

Grandpa to ride too...

(It got hard on the ol' back trying to walk and let him push too and make sure he didn't fall on his face so this was a nice change actually.)

Grandpa to ride while Mama pulls...

(This was quite the workout)

Just wanted to walk ALL by himself!! FINALLY!!!!

(He just started doing that last week right before we left for Florida)

He's SO big!

Look at that smile! He was a happy boy playing with the wagon and just playing outside in general. He wasn't a happy camper when we made him come inside ever. Only for meals was he ok with it.

He called the playing outside shots.

Hanging out with Great Nana while I got ready to go. We headed to The Shrimp Basket for lunch and he ate several shrimp! He's had quite the variety of foods this week. He even likes seaweed salad. Who knew!?

If you know Cooper you know that if you're eating and he's not he will be soon enough. He sat in everyone's lap for breakfast that morning. I believe he ate more of Nana's bagel than she did. She had to get up and make more to share with him. What a mooch!

He's a cute mooch though don't you think?

The funny thing about him right now is if he wants something he says Hmmm with a ? at the end. SO funny! Hmm? with a finger point to the door means, I want to go outside. He does it for a drink, points at the door knob, food and so on. Still working on our English words, but he's got his own sign language down that's for sure.

Just Another Day At The Beach.

2010-09-23T22:01:00.000-05:00

We are in Gulf Breeze Fl. visiting my Nana.

We took Cooper to the beach.

Enjoy the pictures...

Stomping to make him happy. He loved it.

Dad dug a shallow hole and he stayed busy digging in it. It was so funny. Dad says he can remember his dad doing the same thing to keep him busy.

He stuck his face in the sand.

Caught a crab.

Maxed and relaxed.

Smile for Granny.

Our little walker. He wants to walk EVERYWHERE!

We went to the pier and watched the fishermen. We saw schools of fish and several jelly fish.

Futbal!!

2010-09-21T20:34:00.002-05:00

We took Cooper to his first Football game. Our friend Garrett,(it's so sad to call him our friend, he used to be one of my little people. He and his sister Tori are part of our family. We've been baby sitting them since they were 6 weeks old and now they are a Freshman and a 7th grader. They made me feel old!!)

Garrett is on the freshman football team.

Smile for the camera! Tori sat behind us and entertained Cooper. He played with silly bands and ate the soft part of her popcorn.

Garrett is number 81.

GO GARRETT!!!!!!!

We saved the box from Coop's new car seat and his likes to play in it. Daddy got in with him. I was funny to see him get out of it.

I just thought this one was silly. He was getting silly in there.

Up To NO Good!

2010-09-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

Narissa and I were making dinner to take to Kelby and Martha's for our finding out what their tadpole was going to be. We turned around and this is what we found...

We have a book shelf right now that has baking goods and odds and ends on it. Well, the time has come to remove all items from the lower shelves that the kiddos can open. Boy oh Boy did we get a good laugh!!

Mac has oatmeal in his spoon. He did this on his own! I about died of laughter! We let them play in it for a little bit until it covered the entire kitchen floor.

Here's a little video of them playing in it.

Have a great day!

And remember oatmeal messes are easy to clean up, have you made a mess today?

It's About Time!

2010-09-14T22:46:00.055-05:00

Cooper and I took a little trip to see my Brother Kirk, his wife Aimee and their son Trip in Lakeview Oregon. After a VERY long journey we made it there. It wasn't the best traveling day ever but we survived.

On our 3.5 hour drive from Reno to Lakeview we passed a sign that I thought said welcome to California. I was confused but it was late and I didn't say anything. Then I saw something else that said California. I then asked because even though I typically loose all sense of direction or where I am geographically once I've gotten somewhere I really did wonder why we were in California. They said we'll be in CA more on this drive than any other state. Ok so I sat back and went along for the ride and sipped my slurpie from 7 eleven. We finally made it to their cute house in Lakeview.

We had to take this picture on the way back to Reno.

We went to the fair a few times while we were there because I was about a block away from their house. There were a lot of animals to show the boys. We liked the chickens because they were easy for the boys to see.

Click HERE For pictures of the Roundup.

It's so fun to hear Cooper try to say the animals names. He does pretty well with chicken. You at least know that is what he's saying. He still thinks that all animals say ho ho hooo. It started being what a pig said but rarely do we get other sounds from him.

This is the water table that we sent Trip for his birthday. We had a warm day to play in it. They had a good time.

Here's a little clip of them playing in the water table.

They got the boys cowboy hats for the Roundup/Fair. Trip did way better at the photo shoots we tried. We always seemed to catch Cooper at a really sleepy time. You'll see how tired he was in a little bit. But here are a few shots...

Click HERE

We went to Lakeview's Labor Day Parade.

Trip got to hang out during the parade and one of his trips to the fair. Isn't he cute?!

Coop got to suck on a blue sucker for a few seconds to distract him being so tired and that he was sick of being in the stroller just sitting. He didn't get to eat much of it. Only enough to make a blue slobbering mess and get a blue mouth.

Click HERE for more parade pictures.

HERE Are some more pictures of the boys getting into trouble.

This is Cooper extremely tired at dinner and Uncle Kirk rubbing his head. It was hard to get a great shot because we laughed every time his eyes closed and head drooped.

Thank you Uncle Kirk, Aunt Aimee and Trip for having us! We had a WONDERFUL time!!!

Sorry for having to click on all the links. I'm having technical difficulties. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks Aunt Aimee for your blog posts to link to!!

Just A Walk In The Park

2010-08-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I kept Mac and Avery so we decided to go to the water park in Strafford. So I called Grandpa and Granny for some assistance and boy am I glad they went! We had a great time!

It took Coop a while to like the water but he finally did.

Mac was a big fan from the get go! He ran all over!

I don't have any pics of Avery because she didn't like it much. Poor thing didn't know what to think about the wild boys splashing and squealing.

I took Cooper and Avery to the zoo. It was a beautiful day. The first cool day we had in some time. The animals were out and about and everyone was happy.

I think they are pointing at the monkeys. They pretty much pointed at all the animals. It was fun to work on our animal sounds. We all know I need help with them!

We even got a pinic at the park before nap time. It was a great day!!

Just a walk in the park as they say.

First Friends

2010-08-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

Ever since I found out I was having a boy and started looking through scrapbooking books I've wanted to make a scrapbook page called first friends. The original page had 3 little friends sitting on the couch together. We all got together to celebrate the pregnancy of our dear friends Kelby and Martha Marlin and we were able to capture out little guys playing together. I can't wait to make the page, FIRST FRIENDS out of this picture. I'm sure we'll have many more great photo ops with these boys but I truly love this one!

While we're introducing "friends" I'd like to introduce the newest addition to the family,

Molly Mohnen was born August 18th at 7:55 am.

Congratulations Drew, Narissa and Mac!

I'll post more pictures soon!

For Sale By Owner

2010-08-10T11:09:00.002-05:00

We have some dear friends that are trying to sell one of the houses that they own. They both owned homes when they got married and they are still trying to sell one. Would you please join us in prayer to find the right buyer for this perfect starter house in Springfield Mo? If you know someone in the market please pass this info on. Or if you know somebody that knows somebody looking for house, well pass it on to them as too!!
Check out their blog for more details http://barronshouse.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your prayers and help. I know they will appreciate it more than you know!

Trying new things

2010-08-10T10:31:00.000-05:00

Cooper has been exploring new things lately. Such as...

Feeding himself yogurt. I got Cooper and Trip these stick like learning utensils.

As you can see he's not the neatest eater. But hey it was his first try and boy oh boy did he like it!

We weren't the most responsible parents but we let Cooper explore the steps up to the back yard. He thought he was something big.

See, I can do it!

He seems to think he's too big for Mama to break up his banana. He wanted the whole thing. So every morning we have to have a CHUNK not pieces.

What's next that my baby boy will do on his own?

Our "pantry" is a book shelf for now and he was able to reach the corn meal. He thought it was just as fun as sand. He's not the first to dump the corn meal. Coby did it first a while back only on the couch. You think I'd learn. It's an easy clean up with a little patience and a vacuum.

Sneaky little thing!

It's so fun to see what new things he tries to do from day to day. Yesterday we were working on animal sounds. "Cooper, what does a PIG say? Oink Oink." (insert Mama oinking like a pig.) And he replies with something that sounds like Ho Ho Hooo! But hey at least he tried!

SOOO BIG!

2010-08-10T10:09:00.001-05:00

Little Cooper Dillion was just sittin and chillin eating his Grandpa's pie. He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, "Oh what a good boy am I!"

If you look back to Trip and Cooper's Trees you'll remember that Grandpa, Granny and Great Grandpa planted trees for Cooper and Trip so we could watch them grow with the boys. Well it was time to pick some plums.

Mmmm! The plum was really good actually.

He shared a bite with everyone. The plum was just as sweet and ripe as a plum you would get at the market. I was pleasantly surprised.

Rosie was so excited for harvest time and wanted to pose for a picture too. Coop likes to pull her ears. What a good doggie.

Look how tall our trees are Trip! In November we'll get our pictures taken with the trees!

Granny likes to teach what things are. LEAVES.

SO BIG!

Well, Trip we're taking good care of our trees! Can't wait to see how BIG you are!

PS. Plum seeds come out the next day. HEHE that's for you Grandpa!

1st Trip To The Zoo

2010-07-17T16:54:00.000-05:00

Narissa and I took the boys for their first trip to the zoo.

We started with a picnic at the park. We had a guest that the boys weren't fans of. It wasn't shy either and apparently it wanted to share our lunch.

First stop- the Monkeys

Flamingos (for Gram)

Elephants

Tigers

We tried to get them to get their picture taken by the tiger statue but as you can see Coop was afraid of it.

The giraffes got a little up close and personal.

As you can see Coop didn't like them either.

Hippo

We had a great day!!

Let's see what the next adventure will be.

Sweet Summer

2010-07-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

We spent out 4th of July in St. Augustine FL.

Cooper and I went down a few days earlier then Gary met us there. Aunt Margie was able to get us a Condo at BlueGreen Resort in the World Golf Village. We had a WONDERFUL time! Thank you Aunt Margie!

Here are a "few" (I use that term loosely) pictures to highlight our trip.

The condo had a fantastic pool. Cooper liked it as well. It was warm and welcoming.

Cooper wasn't a fan of the fireworks. But they put on a good show.

We had some really HOT days so we had to be careful when we went to the beach and then we had cloudy days but we were able to make it a few times. As you can see Coop liked the beach part not so much the ocean part. (Could be because he Daddy let a wave hit him right off the bat...I'm just sayin)

The pool sloped down so he was able to crawl around and stand at the edge.

FINALLY got to have Uncle Randy's shrimp!!! YUM-O!!!

Cooper has decided he really likes to open and close doors. Whether playing alone or with someone holding him he loves it. Gram and Cooper were having a wonderful time playing with the closet door so I decided to hide inside and take a picture. Boy oh Boy did he SQUEAL!!

Here's another shot of him being able to play as he pleased. His little knees got sore by the end of the week with all the concrete crawling.

A few more pics...
First jigglers, playing with Uncle Art, discovering the puppies with Great Gram, pretty smiles with Aunt Janie and Natasha.

Like I said we had a WONDERFUL time! Thank you Gram and PawPaw for letting us stay with you! We love you very much!

Having Fun

2010-06-19T09:51:00.000-05:00

Cooper absolutely LOVES it when the refrigerator door is open! He puts it in high gear and squeals all the way there and acts so silly when standing there. So I had to get a shot for you to see.

We went to Coby's birthday party last weekend. They had a slip and slide, sprinkler, water guns, and water balloons. So needless to say your chances of staying dry were slim.

Cooper enjoyed the slip and slide because it had a strip down the middle that shot little streams of water up so he sat and played there after the big kids got done. He always loves to kick and splash with his feet.

Coby brought over a truck and played with Coop for a while.

Josie also played with him. She showed him how to splash! He was slipping and sliding all over the place on it!

Happy Birthday Coby!!

Cooper's 1st Birthday!

2010-06-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper!

We had a sand box theme party because we got Coop a turtle sandbox. We haven't added sand to it yet but he likes to crawl in and out of it and play with the little beach balls we had at the party.

Here he is opening some of his gifts and cards. Mac and Coby wanted to help him and play with his toys. Luckily he doesn't mind to share yet. He happily let them play with his toys.

He dug into his cake. He quietly ate it until we had to cut him off.

His hat was a gift as well from my friend Emily. Isn't it cute??

Some of his little friends were able to make the party since we rescheduled it due to a bug he had the Saturday before.

Pucker up Atley! Bre was trying to get him to kiss her.

Coby came and was very entertained by Gram and Great Gram that we skyped in to the party so they could join the festivities.

Mac wasn't ready to hand over the present. He played with it as soon as we took it out of the bag. He needs to come show Coop what to do with it. Coop likes to slam the lids down but isn't into making them pop up yet. Mac will be a good teacher of the new tricks!

Parker was able to make it as well! He was also amazed by the "talking computer".

He's always entertaining to have at gatherings with his silly personality. Cooper and Parker are big fans of each other. They will have so much fun being cousins. I think Parker is ready for Coop to play with him more. I'm sure they have plenty of fun days ahead!

(Click on the collages to make bigger)

Catching Up

2010-06-18T10:24:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Memorial Day.

We went fishing with Brandon, Aislynn and Parker.

Cooper has started scrunching his nose. We sat on the blanket the whole time.

This is Parker with a fish. It's not the one that he FINALLY caught but he was always excited to add one to the cooler.

We went to a bbq that evening. Cooper is playing with Coby's truck. He's wearing his camo overalls that he got for his birthday from my dear friend Betsy. My blue eyed baby boy looks so sweet doesn't he??

So that was just a few to catch up. Up next BIRTHDAY!

2010-05-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

I got to take a Monday off and stay home with Cooper and get some work done around the house and have a "Mommy" day. We had a good day together.

While I was finishing a batch of baby food Cooper played with his toys. I looked over to see that he was sitting in his wheel barrel.

I don't think that he meant to sit in it he gets stuck in some pretty funny places and positions because he hasn't exactly figured out how to maneuver his little body yet.

We went to dinner at Aunt Mar and Uncle Kelbs house. I think he ate longer off Kelby's plate than Kelby did. He tried a plate full of new things, potato casserole, fried okra, fresh green beans AND pot roast.

Watch out Uncle Kelbs you might pull back a nub!

We had a really warm weekend so Cooper's afternoon nap was in his diaper. I went in to see if he was good and asleep so I could go lay in the sun outside his bedroom window and he was

"Comfy Cozy". He slept with his leg propped up for a long time.

We had a great weekend!

Washed Up

2010-05-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

We had some major rains in May. We came home to the creek rushing over the driveway. So on one side we had an 8 ft deep pond and on the other a rushing river. It washed out the edge of the driveway.

We had a few critters washed up in the water that got left behind when the water went down.

Grandpa tried to give it to Cooper. He didn't want anything to do with it.

His Daddy tried to let him take a bite of it. Luckily he didn't want to do that either.

11 Months

2010-05-10T21:25:00.000-05:00

Cooper turned 11 months on Mother's Day so we had a double celebration.

He gets funnier and funnier daily.

He makes this face ALL the time. It's SO funny!

Pardon the diaper bear shots this was post our snuggle nap after church/lunch/grocery shopping.

As you can tell he doesn't really sit still for his bear shots anymore. But it's fun to see what he'll do while we're trying to take them. We had to take these in the floor because he looked like he was going to dive off the couch even with Gary sitting by him. He'd make his OH face like he saw something he had to have and try to crawl off.

We went to see Atley who was born Thursday afternoon.

She's hanging out with Aleeya (Squeaky) and her proud big brother Coby.

Cooper was checking out what Aleeya was doing.

They are buddies. Coby shares his tractors with Cooper- this is a rare occasion depending on who you are. He a good older friend. Cooper has fun watching Coby run and play and push tractors. They have lots of fun ahead.

I have a feeling Cooper, Coby and Mac have some good times coming and their Mama's have some worrying to do. We've got our hands full I'm afraid.

I had a very nice Mother's Day.

To start our celebrations Saturday after the March for Babies that we did with a group of friends I headed to my second Mother's Day lunch with my friend Narissa's family. Last year I was the only daughter that went with her mom. This year we had a full group. It consisted of Narissa, her two sisters, Rebekah and Sara Jane, her mom Lori, her two aunts, Tina and her daughter Chelsey and Marta and her son Kyle and her Grandma Karen, oh and the boys Cooper and Mac. We had lunch at Nearly Famous then headed for pedicures. I had fun with the girls. I've been blessed to have been adopted by their family since mine is so spread out. You can't have enough Mamas I say!! Thank you girls for having me! I had a wonderful time and I love you dearly!

Yesterday we had time to get our weekend snuggle time with Cooper before time to get up for church. We headed to panera for a quick bagel and coffee then off to church. After church we took Gary's Mom to lunch then headed to the store for a few things. We were lucky enough as you already read to get a nap in and then continued getting our weekend plans done.

Thank you Cooper making my first Mother's Day so special!

I got my first handprint flower picture today that he made at the babysitters. I was so excited to receive it!

I love and miss you Mama! I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day with you Mama!

10 Months

2010-04-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

Someone recently told me, "you never realize how quickly life goes by until you start measuring it by months." That is SO true.

Cooper is 10 months already!

He still likes the bears nose.

He likes strawberries. Can you tell?

Strawberries have been our after work snack. He's a pretty big fan.

We are so glad the weather has warmed up. We've gotten some good times in the hammock.

Easter

2010-04-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Cooper's first Easter...

We decorated eggs...

His favorite things about his Easter basket were the fuzzy chick and the wheel on the wheel barrel and maybe the wrapper on the chocolate peep that was in there for his daddy.

All dressed up for Easter.

We had a great day. The weather was beautiful!

He is risen, He is risen indeed.

Back To The Basics

2010-04-01T22:29:00.002-05:00

For some time now I've been asking Gary for a clothes line. He always had some response that was not fitting and never got one during the season I asked. However, on our recent trip to MX we got the chance to use the roof top clothes line and to Gary's surprise he was a fan. It brought back good memories for him and he was convinced that maybe this small request I've been asking for wasn't so ludicrous. I've always loved the smell of fresh sheets and clothes from the line. This brings back memories for me as well. Growing up we rarely had clothes dried in the dryer. At the time it seemed like a punishment. You have to admit that jeans dried on the line aren't exactly the most inviting item to wear. I remember my mom taking my dad's jeans off the line and they had frozen and were able to stand on their own. I want to say that that was how they felt on a regular basis but not so extreme. Towels aren't my favorite either but regardless it was a simple "go green" want.

We finally tracked down the materials we needed. They included: Clothes line (not as easy as one might think to find), clothes pins, clothes pin hanging bag, AND steps up to the backyard so we can use the new energy saving dryer. Gary set out with some railroad ties and a shovel, a little gravel and I'm sure a few other tools and started making the steps. A few hours later his proud smile came back through the door requesting my approval. He had done a nice job making the steps, now we only needed to hang the line and have a few more days of sunshine. We got the line hung and then here comes our lovely Ozark unpredictable weather patterns and we got more cold, windy, dreary days so no hanging clothes up yet...

I FINALLY got to use it and hang a load of Cooper's clothes.

I'm not sure if you can tell how low to the ground that the clothes are hanging but they were centimeters from the ground. So my DIY self thinks, how can I keep the clothes off the ground, along with being thankful that I hadn't washed heavy towels to hang because they would have certainly been dragging/resting on the ground.

I had remembered that Mom had a stick that she would prop the line up with to bare some of the weight so again the wheels began to turn and I headed to the shed where I found a paint roller pole. PERFECT! Now what? How will I keep the line on the pole?

A clothes pin and duct tape!!

So my invention made perfect sense however it only lasted until the wind blew and moved the line and it would slide out. So I decided to add another pole and make it a triangle so it would stand better. Wrong again! It still didn't work. So the logical thing would have been to take out some of the slack right? Well in my head I didn't think I could do that without messing with the bolts that were screwed into the tree. Wrong again!! I wrapped and I wrapped and I wrapped the slack up around that bolt and vua-la! I tightened the line! I had to do it again after they dried because it stretched more but still I kept the clothes off the ground and with the nice breeze they dried quickly!

Cooper joined me outside for our first clothes line adventure. He played on the blanket that soon became balled up and then he played in the dirt. (Funny thing is his Granny apologized for his feet being a little dirty from playing outside just a little while before, little did she know that he'd soon have dirt caked on his pigs!)

He wasn't mad at all but I got a shot that is a look of a serious matter. He knows when I'm trying to take his picture and is able to play opossum in a sense and make the most serious face and ignore me. I finally tickled it out of him. He was a good helper! You can't go wrong with a stick or crinkly leaf to occupy this kiddo!

So the next time you long for that wind fresh childhood memory, remember it's only a roof top or backyard clothes line away and it's a fairly inexpensive memory to create!!

ENJOY!!!!

9 Months

2010-03-15T21:34:00.001-05:00

Weighing in at 19.5 lbs Cooper is growing leaps and bounds. No shots were needed at the 9 month check up thank goodness!

HONK! Even the polar bear gets his nose pinched by Cooper. He has quite the grip too!

We didn't get the "ham" pictures that we usually get. He was tired, just had a bath and was ready for his bottle so no smiles for these pictures, he starred at us no matter what we did to make him laugh. He knows what we're doing and likes to play the stare down game.

After taking his bath he wore his blue robe that his Great Aunt Janie sent him. His Uncle Kirk had one just like it when he was a baby so Cooper and Trip both got one when she found out they were both boys.

Having an organic wheat teething cookie. He had it ALL over his face, shirt, tray and probably some in his hair but he enjoyed it!

He's changing daily and we're enjoying every second.

Adventures in Puerto Vallarta

2010-03-03T21:22:00.000-06:00

We were able to make it down to PV to meet our newest addition to the family- Callie. She is such a sweet baby! We had a wonderful time with them.
We were able to get to the beach a few times for a few photo shoots.
(click on the collages to see the pictures larger)

Cooper wasn't a fan of the cold water but he was content with playing in the sand.

Limes= funny faces

Cooper and Callie headed to church

We were witnesses for Callie to get her birth certificate. It was quite the process for the Goings, but we got it done and our names are on her birth certificate. She's SO official!

Our last day at the beach Cooper loved the sand. He could have grabbed a handful of sand and watched it pour out of his hand all day.

Enjoying the sunset and a walk with Daddy.

"Just hangin with Callie"

The girls with the babies.

We had a wonderful time with the Goings. Thank you for your hospitality. We are so proud of you!

On the way home Cooper got to entertain the people behind him. He played with people all over the plane. If they walked by he waited for them to look at him. He did so well traveling, we were so proud of him!

We are ready for our next trip to PV!

Callie we are so glad we got to meet you and get all the wonderful snuggles in!