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. :)

Halloween

Matt and I went to a murder mystery Halloween party (the 5th annual) at our friends Jeff and Jessica's. As usual we had a blast. So the theme was murder in MargaritaLand. Matt was the person who got killed so he got to also play the detective since we were short some people. Being the 'life of the party' type that he is, he decided to play the part as one of the Village People (if ya know what I mean). Never a dull moment!

We were at my parents house on actual Halloween day , helping decorate for a baby shower the next day, so we just brought the costumes and changed into them and pretended to trick-or-treat. The idea was to meet Matt at home and take the boys to the neighbor's houses, so they could get a taste of 'real' trick-or-treating. However, Carter fell asleep in-route and didn't want to wake up even with the prospect of candy. So Cooper and I just handed out treats to all the other neighborhood kids. Oh well, there is always next year. :)

BTW- Carter had the option of being something cool like a pirate, but he decided to stick with the Kangaroo. :) Cooper was a bear (a bear that really wanted some skittles!)

4 months

Cooper is now 4 months old and is quite possibly the best baby ever. He is always happy and loves to socialize. He is sleeping through the night (has been since he was 9 weeks old), loves rolling from his tummy onto his back, likes to grab at all the toys on both his play mat and his exersaucer, and LOVES it when his big brother entertains him. I still think he looks a lot like Carter but is really starting to develop a look of his own. He had his 4 month check up yesterday, which included shots. :( His pediatrician said things look great, and that he is staying in his own curve as far as growth and weight gain. He is almost 14 lbs. now and seems so chunky to me (compared to Carter).

Carter is 2 1/2 and is such a sweet-heart. Like most boys his age, he has his moments but for the most part he means well. He is starting to get the hang of potty training, but only if I think of it first. So I am not pushing it. He does really well if I ask him if he has to go, and is not busy doing something else. ;) He is also doing much better with his weight gain (thanks to some great tips from my expert sis-in-law). He had lost 2lbs. in about a 6 month time span, so we went back to whole milk with his Carnation instant breakfast, and also started giving him PediaSure any time he would take it. Since we started doing all that, he gained 4 lbs in a very short 2 months! Yeah! I think it is expanding his tummy more because he does seem to have a better appetite at meal times. Carter is such a big helper most of the time and loves to give Cooper lots of hugs and kisses. He is usually very sweet but there have been a couple of times that I have had to intervene on Cooper's behalf. Carter loves playing with his 'people' and cars, and loves to host his imaginary friends "Kaya" and "Tristian" any time they can come over.

I have been staying busy (duh, you already knew that) keeping up with all my boys and doing hair. I am booked every weekend for a wedding since the middle of September till the middle of November. I am also branching out and starting a wedding company of my own. Well, not only myself. I am partnering up with a makeup artist friend of mine who is basically the brains behind the whole thing. We will be getting a web site up and going hopefully sometime soon, so I will post a link to it once it is functional.

Matt never seems to know how to rest. On top of his regular work, he somehow found time to build an amazing fence in our back yard. It is almost done (he has been doing it in sections, mostly because of his ADHD I think) and I will be so excited to be able to let the boys go into the back yard and let out some energy without having to be out there with them. Wow, to think I could get so much stuff done! Of course it won't be complete with stairs coming off the deck and all until spring, but it will be great!
He has also been playing 'Mr. Dad' on the weekends when I am doing weddings and I think he is really starting to enjoy the little things like feeding Cooper and watching how both boys interact. I just wanted to brag on him a little because I don't feel like I do it as much as he deserves.

So now you are officially 'updated'. (until next week when something else cute happens and I think 'I should really update our blog', then 4 weeks go by just like that) :o)