Memorial Day weekend

Matt has had a crazy last few weeks at work (he has worked 105 hours this week if you can believe it!), so we weren't able to make it down to the cabin as is our usual memorial day tradition. We went to a pool close by to expel some energy and keep cool in the beautiful, almost 90 degree weather. The boys loved playing in the water and us girls just kept mostly to the shade. ;)

Cooper's birthday

I can't believe Cooper is 2 already! It was really nice of him to be born so close to summer, I am looking forward to many outdoor parties. :)
We had some friends meet us at an outdoor sprinkler park to help us celebrate his big day. He chose to get a happy meal for lunch and sesame street cupcakes to share with friends. (I think that was the most low-key party I have ever planed!) It turned out to be such a nice day too!

Happy Birthday Cooper! You have been such a joy to us for the last two years. We love you very much!

Swim lessons

Carter has been taking swim lessons the last two weeks and is doing well. Cooper is enjoying the one on one daddy time during Carter's lessons. Charlie has just slept through most of it. :)
So about 10years from now look for Carter in the olympics. ;)

So... a lot has happened since my last blog.

So here is a short summation of what has happened since my last blog.

We found out I was pregnant sometime in late August.
Carter turned 4 in early March.
Had our first girl March 27th. Named her Charlie Jane.
Cooper had his first concussion early April (courtesy of his big brother.), but is totally fine now. Actually he was jumping off the couch by that evening, but was pretty scary when it happened.
And now Charlie is already 1 month old.

Sorry that it took so long to update.
It was a nice sabbatical. :)


Here is one of Charlie's 1 month pictures.



P.S. Matthew hates that the flower is bigger than her head, but I love it. :)

go-carts

Carter got his first experience with go-carts this month. We took my best friend and her husband down to the cabin for labor day. Usually we get to celebrate Aunt Sherri's birthday with her there since it always falls that weekend, but she got to take a road trip this year with her family, and she got to do some really fun stuff (and see some really cool people) ;). So anyway, since the 'fun' people weren't going to be there this year, we invited some other fun people. (we are just kinda boring by ourselves if you didn't know)

The weather was a little too cool to go out on the lake, so we went with 'plan b' and drove into 'town' for some outlet mall shopping, wine tasting, and go-cart riding. Matt and Carter (obviously) got to ride together, and Jamie got to race them. I use the term "race" loosely because Jamie ended up getting a bunk car and came in last place. Not so good for such a competitive guy! We couldn't let him end his weekend on a loss, so we went back the next day....for Carter to get to ride them again of course!

Carter talks about riding the race cars all the time now, and thinks that every time we go to the cabin we should ride them. Maybe he will forget by Thanksgiving?

P.S. That last picture is Cooper watching the big race.

Carter's visit to the dentist

Carter had his first ever dentist appointment on friday. He did so much better than I thought he would! He just sat there quietly the whole time and let the girl clean his teeth. It did help (wink wink) that he got to watch kung fu panda while he was in the chair. Yes our dentist's office is awesome! They just built a new office less than a year ago and have tv's in front of every chair and they can all play different movies. How cool is that? (if only I had something like that in my car....) So the dentist said he didn't have any cavities and she didn't mention anything about him sucking his fingers. Good day! She also gave him an orange tooth brush to take home. He has asked to brush his teeth a zillion times already, and I 'caught' him brushing them himself a couple of times. I have to remind him that the tooth brush needs to stay in the bathroom and not his pants pocket. (?) I hope the novelty of the brush doesn't wear off too soon....

fireplace at the cabin

Here are the before and after pictures of the fireplace. Matt said that if his dad hadn't put the window in on the wall above the fireplace (not visible in the pictures), he would have been temped to put stone all the way to the ceiling. So THANK YOU Grandpa G. for putting the window in, you saved us lots of money! :)

long overdue update

Sorry it has taken so long to update. I was having some technical difficulties with uploading pictures from my camera to the computer, and I wasn't finding the time to figure out what the problem was. So I wasn't doing anything today and decided to tackle the problem. (yay for you!)

The summer doesn't seem like it should be almost over already, but I guess we have to go by what the calendar says. If any of you figure out how to freeze time, let me know.

I just got done writing 4 paragraphs on here and Cooper thought it looked like fun to type on the keyboard so he erased all of what I had written and I have no idea how to get it back!!!!! I don't feel like typing it all again, so I will give you the summation.

Matt- is doing tile on the fireplace at the cabin and made a door for the bathroom. Pics to come later

Me- doing the bike leg of a triathlon tomorrow with sis M. and mom. Haven't trained. Goal: not to pass out. Sis M's wedding next weekend. Doing makeup (probably end up doing hair too) then done with family weddings. :(

Carter- Got his first tape-measure last weekend and is measuring everything. Also helping him count. Can count to 10 fairly consistently. loves to wrestle with Dad and Cooper. Still drinking whole milk with CIB. Still not a good eater (we have to almost force feed him at times). Loves to pretend, and tells lots of interesting stories. Took his very first picture with Daddy's camera (the pic of Matt sitting on a picnic table) Not bad huh?

Cooper- is walking (and running). He likes to climb the stairs and also likes to practice walking down the stairs from about 3 steps up. Still always happy and a big flirt. Likes to wave hi and bye to everyone. Pretty much only says 'dada' and 'ball'. Follows Carter around everywhere. Getting his first molar. Out eats Carter almost always.

Birthday boy

Last weekend we celebrated Cooper's 1st birthday. His actual birthday was right after memorial day, but schedules did not permit for a party that weekend. He doesn't really know the difference any way. ;)

Our friend Stacey made the super-cute monkey cake and yummy chocolate cupcakes. The monkey cake was a banana cake of course. Thanks Stace!



Two of his cousins and almost all of Cooper's Aunts and Uncles were there and all of his grandparent's were able to come. (we missed you, NC bunch!) He even got a call from some of his great-grandparents.

Andi, Cooper's only girlfriend that he has made out with, also came, although neither of them were in a kissing mood apparently (so no photo ops).

I think he really enjoyed eating the cake after we gave him a taste of it. We had to give him an impromptu bath afterwards.



Opening presents seemed to be a foreign concept, so good thing big brother was there to help!

1st hair cut

Yay! Matt finally let me cut Cooper's hair! He was wanting me to wait until Coop turned 1, but I guess he couldn't wait any longer either. With yesterday being Mother's day, I seem to have gotten a lot of 'presents'. Matt mopped all the floors for me, then we got to spend the rest of the day together as a family just hanging out. We went to Bass Pro to walk around, then went to another shopping area where the boys picked out a sun dress to buy for me. (matt says it's a hippie sun dress) Then we went out for a late dinner at one of my favorite restaurants that we never go to because it's mexican, but Matthew was fine with 'enjoying' his dinner twice just because it was Mother's day. So after all that we came home and I finally got to cut Cooper's hair. All in all, it was a great day! Thanks boys! I hope all you moms out there were made to feel appreciated as much as I was!

Papa Don

Several weekends ago we went to the cabin to celebrate Grandma Kathy's birthday along with Papa Don and Grandma Ruth who came up from Georgia. We always have a great time visiting with them and wished they lived closer. (but they have other grand kids and great grand kids too, so I won't be selfish.)

Papa Don is a wonderful artist, and is great with lots of mediums, but one of his best is wood carving. (although I really enjoy his chalk drawings a lot too) So he made both of the boys birds.

I should give you some background first: One of the things Carter looks forward to when we go to the cabin with G.ma Kathy is looking through the 'bird book' and then sitting by the creek and bird watching. Not only does the 'bird book' have every bird imaginable in it, but also the corresponding sounds. He always goes to one bird in particular and says it's his favorite (usually he has lots of 'favorites' with things, but this one always stays the same). I can't remember the name of it for the life of me as I am sitting down to post this, but I'm sure you ornithologists out there could tell by looking at the carving.

So Papa Don decided to make a carving of it for him. As soon as he saw it, he said that it was his favorite and proceeded to find the matching one in the bird book. Since Cooper does not yet have 'favorites', Papa Don made a beautiful mallard duck to give to him. They are both so life like, it's amazing!

Thank you Papa Don for such a wonderful keepsake!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Carter!

New floors!!!!!

It all started with repainting the living room.....from there it became, "we need (using the term 'need' loosely) new couches". Then since the couches won't be delivered for a week or so, we might as well move all the other furniture out and re-do the floors (which still had the original finish on them). So began our DIY project.
Just sanding them made them look 10times better! Sanding was a pain in the rear, then we had to go through the whole house and fill all the cracks, and then sand again, and again, and I think again. Then we had to stain, then 3 coats of polyurethane and sanding between all coats. You get the idea.
So we have been living in the basement for about 2 1/2 weeks now and using pretty much only clothes that we had in the laundry room, or that we can reach (since our dressers are crammed into carter's room). Fun.
And now that we're done, we get to dust every single thing (even all the walls and doors) and move it all back. Anyone want to come over and help with any 'spring cleaning' ? ;)

so this is Carter trying out the sander with his favorite boots, way cool ear muffs, and Alex the lion.

we are totally about child-proofing for our kids. NOT! Extension cords aren't that bad, right?

more child labor. (after posing for this picture, he dropped the nail gun on the floor and took out a nice chunk. Matt handled it really well though.)

the newest picture of our "new living room". (the couches aren't very photogenic) Doesn't it look a million times better and more cozy?!?!? Great job Matt!

the boys

Ok. Is it just me, or does Cooper look like Kevin from The Office here? ;)

Cooper is 8 months old now, and already has a tooth (not shown in picture). He is still the easiest going kid I have ever met. He loves yogurt, carrots, paper (whoops), and watching his big brother run in circles around him.

Carter has been taking swim lessons from a very hunky swim instructor (matt). At first he still didn't like being in the water unless you were holding on to him, but now can swim from one end to the other with a floatie on! He even puts his head under the water and doesn't cry!

Kudos swim instructor Dad!!!

my awesome husband

Matt has been wanting to build a play set for the boys for a long time, so one day he decided he was going to get at it. Good thing I am not in charge of planning, because I would have waited for nicer weather (like spring time?!?) and we wouldn't have had this really cool play house yet! He did a really good job of building it. I think it is the sturdiest play house you will find. He designed it all in his head, well, he did show me a sketch prior to all the construction. Ladies (and men for that matter) try not to be too jealous of how awesome my husband is at everything! ;)

We did have one nice day last week and decided to have Carter's friends over to play on it. They all seemed to enjoy playing on it, and the baby siblings seemed to enjoy just being outside. It was nice to get out of the house.

He also had some 'spare time' to finish the mantle for the fireplace that he had tiled last year. How does he come up with such cool stuff?!?

Cooper's 1st Christmas

two handsome brothers

Cooper trying to take down the Christmas tree.Carter and Bubba riding in Carter and Cooper's new wagon from Grandma and Grandpa

We had a mostly relaxing Christmas. We spent Christmas eve over at my parent's house to eat our traditional pizza and watch a movie (this year was Wall-e) after our church service. When we got home the boys got to open 1 present under the tree (which was their Christmas pj's) then it was time for bed. After sleeping in, we all got up and ate some yummy breakfast casserole that I made and opened presents and stockings. We don't really do a lot of presents, just a few stocking stuffers (candy of course) and 1 or 2 things to unwrap. We want the boys to think of Christmas as giving and not getting. We just want to follow the example that was given to us, by God giving us the most important thing of all, His only baby boy. Not that we have a problem with how any body else 'does' Christmas. And on top of all that, the kids don't really 'need' anything so the movies and little cars got the reaction we were looking for anyway.

So after all that, we decided to start a new Christmas tradition this year of sitting in the ER and watching 'the Christmas movie'. This is why I said at the beginning that is was a 'mostly relaxing Christmas. Matthew hadn't been feeling well and had been waking up the past 2 nights looking for some pain killers. On Christmas Eve I told him that I thought it was either strep or an ear infection, either way he needed some antibiotics and that he needed to find a walk in clinic somewhere to get it checked out. Well I guess it was more important to him for us to make it to our church for the service than to mess with all that. So...Christmas day I finally drug him to the ER where they confirmed that it was indeed an ear infection and prescribed an antibiotic and some pain meds. :)

We did make it back to my parents house for most of the festivities that evening. Now that all my sisters have significant others (married or engaged) we played kind of a newlywed game that was really fun. Some of the couples enrolled in some counseling after we were done though. ;)

Hope you had a peaceful Christmas and are ready for the new year!

Colorado 2008

Our trip was great (as usual). Well, it's kinda hard not to be great because, let's face it, everything in Colorado is awesome! The drive there was not as great. We drove through white-out conditions, but Matt did a great job of getting us through it alive. :) It was very cold the entire trip and inspite of all my 'extra padding' I couldn't go outside the hotel without every inch of myself covered. This was Cooper's 1st time to see Colorado.(unless you want to count being in my belly as the 1st time) My mom got to be the desiginated babysitter this trip, but other than that nothing really out of the ordinary happened. We skiied the same runs, ate at the same places, sat in the same hot springs, stopped at the same gas stations..... so I won't go on and on. ;)

so enjoy the few pics we took.

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a good Thanksgiving with Matt's side of the family. We got to spend two days at the cabin with his mom and sister (and her family) then went to Silver Dollar City for one day and then got to celebrate the holiday with his dad.

I couldn't decide which pictures to post so hope you don't mind the slide show. :)