May 25, 2013

Scheduled Play


We're planning to do a sort of baby-sitting co-op this summer with a few other families. We got together last week for a little planning meeting.  Four of us Mom's will take turns keeping the all the kids once a week to give the other Mom's some time to do whatever they please - without kids. After we planned, the kids got to play in Hayden's backyard for a while too - bonus.

Miles climbed the climbing wall...

And was humbly proud of himself.

He also liked to hang from this swing.

They both did their share of sliding.

And then Hayden got out his John Deere and the kids took turns driving...
or dragging.
(That's siblings, Lily & Evan and Hayden is the one hitching a ride)

Cooper got a turn to drive too.  So did Miles but my phone ran out of storage...
and he got off before I deleted some pictures to make more room.

It was a fun morning, the kids will enjoy playing together once a week!

May 24, 2013

We Walk

We've had some really nice weather.  We're finally wearing summer clothes!
The boys and I decided to get out and enjoy a morning of walking around our complex.
We started by throwing rocks in the pond.

Then decided to walk some of the trails.
Kind of walk.  With Miles, 'walking' means to take a few steps, then see a bug...

Smash the bug, along with fourteen of his ant friends...

And repeat every three feet.

Even Cooper was encouraging him to make a little fast time.

Mostly because he wanted to drag us out to 'the big tree' that's off the trail.

Because they wanted to check out (i.e. throw rocks in) the creek.

Which ended up being interesting because we could see the dead grass
from how high the water had been during the recent flooding.

From down here you can see just how much water came through.
It was up over that road above the bridge!

And then we slooooowly headed back down the trail.

Eventually we made it back... and still smiling!

May 23, 2013

Conner?

Cooper has been enjoying soccer a lot.  He's learning a lot about the game,
which Derek and I know little about, and has improved quite a bit since starting.

There are quite a few blonde haired boys about his size on his team. Even I get confused if I don't pay enough attention.  I'll look up and think, "Oh, wow, Cooper has the ball and he's headed up the field!".  And then I turn to Derek and say, "Oh, I thought that was Cooper for a second, but that child is much faster and more agile.".    :)

And if I get confused, it's no wonder the coaches do too!  In the mass of children running around on the field, they sometimes call the kids the wrong name.  One game, his coaches kept calling Cooper "Conner" and he wasn't responding to their coaching at all.  When he was on the sideline, I went and told him to tell them his name was Cooper.  He ended up correcting them about six times before the game was over.  Instructions were sent home from the  next practice to please write each child's name on the back of their shirt with a marker.  Ha.

I wanted it to be bold enough to read it, since the note sent home said
it would help parents cheer for all the kids from the sidelines too.  It ended up quite large.

Here's how I did it. (Feel free to just skip the rest of this post if you really don't care! ha)
I went to my handy-dandy-helper: Photoshop.
And just picked a bold font and printed off Cooper's name.
 

Then I cut out the letters to make a stencil that I then taped to his shirt.

 I used a pen and traced the outline of all the letters.

And held the inside pieces of the letters on the shirt to trace around them.

So then I had an outline that looked like this.

Which I just filled in with a permanent marker.

And there it is! I actually think I made it too large, since his shirt is a little big for him,
the "C" and "r" kind of disappear when he puts his arms down.  Oops.

At his next game he had his shirt on and was ready to go!

And his fans had no trouble seeing him.

In he went, ready to play!

And he hasn't been called "Connor" since!

May 22, 2013

In Training


Cooper has been begging, begging, begging, so one evening...
Derek took the training wheels off of Cooper's bike!

Cooper picked up his bike and went to give it a try.

He took off with Daddy holding him up.

But didn't quite get the hang of balancing.

It was a start.  We'll try again soon!

May 21, 2013

Mother's Day

When we picked Cooper up from Sunday School on Mother's Day,
he had made me a sweet little card with his handprint on the front.

And this written inside:

I think he was confused when it made me cry a little.
He also gave me this rose that made me smile.


And then my boys took me to Wild Berries for lunch.

My soup was really yummy... just ask these guys.

And their own orders consisted of things I could have made at home
for a fraction of the cost.  Cooper chose dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.

And Miles decided on the Mac & Cheese.

My California Panini was delicious!

Cooper liked his food too and even cleaned up the lettuce garnish on his plate.

 I was also surprised with this wonderful little treasure!

It was a wonderful day...
I'm thankful for the men (big and small) in my life that made it so special.

May 19, 2013

One Year

One year ago today, after selling a good part of our belongings...

House included...

We packed a U-Haul trailer...


And left Olathe, Kansas to begin a new phase of life in Peoria, Illinois.

It's been a good year!  God has been good to us.
Derek loves his new job and we enjoy our new church, new friends and new city.