More Cousin Time

Laura and I are trading off watching the kids one day a week so the other person can get some projects done around the house. So far we've each done it once and it's amazing how much I can get done without watching a toddler around the house! These pictures are from the day I watched Elizabeth and Ben for Laura. We had a fun time. I tried to plan at least one or two fun things because I knew I'd be watching them for the whole day.





Here's a pic of them playing with color ice blocks. Just frozen water with food coloring! They thought it was so fun. However, I did not think about the fact that the coloring could dye their clothes or skin, so I quick had to strip them down when I noticed my hands turning colors. Luckily after playing in the water all morning they did have any stains on their skin.







Here they are at lunchtime. I had the boys sitting on one side and Elizabeth sitting on the other. I went in to get some food and came back out and Elizabeth had convinced both boys to come over and sit on her side. They sat that way side by side, squished together, for the entire lunch! Isn't that cute?





Playing with the favorite sprinkler.



Ben,

Cooper,



and serious Elizabeth

This is from a different day I think but I just thought it was cute of him in his pool.

First Summer Project

My first "project" of the summer was to finally clean off and fix up our back porch. Pictures are below. I have a bunch of things I want to get done before our baby comes in August. But I couldn't post without putting a few pics of my Cooper! :) Here he is sorting by colors, exciting huh?


Here he is again. I read somewhere to have kids use tongs to help with fine motor skills but I didn't have any kid ones, so he's using my kitchen ones that are hard to use! Oh well, he still had fun with it.



Ok, here are the porch pictures. This is our porch, mid-way through power washing. I had powerwashed the closest one in the picture, the rest are still disgusting. It was amazing how gross the patio was, I had never noticed it before! Kind of embarrassing.

all finished cleaning

The patio all finished. For an early b-day present my parents got me the new cushions for the chairs and lounge chairs, and the rug. Since we'll be outside a lot this summer, it's nice finally having some cute stuff outside!

Can you see Coop in the background in his pool?

A shot of the "play" side of our yard.

Outside fun

Here is the finished swing set. We love it! Cooper's favorite part is going up the ladder and down the slide. He can pretty much do it by himself but I make sure I'm standing there just in case.





He's about to try out the swing. He's not great at this type of swing yet so he's still getting used to it. He likes the glider right next to it alot.

Ok, so again I'm having problems switching the pictures for some reason so this is kind of random. I don't know if you can tell but he has a headband in his hair. He saw me putting one in my hair and insisted he wear one too! So funny. Ryan's going to love this picture :)

More outdoor pictures. Gma and Gpa S brought this to Cooper when they came down over Memorial day. He thinks it is so fun! At first he's chicken and won't get close to it, but he eventually gets brave enough to go over and grab it. He then tries to squirt people with it. So much fun! Ha ha

Here he is again ( you can see the wood from the swingset in the background, I guess we weren't finished with it yet by this picture)

End of school party at Laura's

Laura invited Cooper and I to an end of school party at her house last week. (I'm behind on posting!) We had lots of fun. Laura had some fun activities set up in the backyard.



Here the kids could go down the slide into the pool, Cooper LOVED that. He's the one going down the slide. Ben is at the top.



Ok, I'm having problems switching the order of any of the pictures so they're going to be kind of random, oh well.



Here are some of the moms and kids at the party. Laura set up a big tent in the middle of the yard which helped a TON with the heat.







I got a few action shots that I loved and had to put on the post! This is Elliott





I got a BUNCH of Josh. He was great at running full speed and then sliding. A stark contrast to Cooper!

Another of Josh, don't you love this?

Here's Elizabeth

Here are a few of the kids: Allison (the mom), Emily, and Annabelle

More of the kids: Ben, Drew, Elliott, Cooper, Bailey, Josh, Elizabeth. Cooper looks like he's wearing a mask because I have sunscreen that makes his face white. He'll love it when he's older!:)

This is Cooper's "action" shot. He basically walked down the slip n slide and that was it. He might have trotted once or twice. He's definitely my kid, very cautious. I love it! I hope baby number 2 is the same way!

Cooper and Ben enjoying their popsicles.

I don't think I got all of the kids and moms on here, I'm sorry! I'm having trouble downloading pics so I decided I'd better just post and be done with it! We had a great time Laura!

Good-bye Paci!

Cooper is officially done with his paci (or "pa pa" as he likes to call it), yea!!! I am so relieved that it's over and went well. I have been worrying about it for awhile because he LOVES his paci and always has it for nap and bed. We kind of "talked it up" about being a big boy and no longer needing a paci for a few days, and so by Sat, the day he stopped using it, he pretty much knew it was going to happen. Actually, Sat morning I said "yea, today you're a big boy!" and he said "and no more paci!" So he was prepared. But he still cried for it that night, but only for about 45 minutes. I was prepared for hours of crying. The worst part was in the middle of him crying for the paci and saying "pleeeease" in a very pleading voice, he sat up and put his hands up like he was asking a question and asked "where'd paci go?" Over and over in a sad voice. It was SO sad. At least for me it was! But thank goodness, by Tues night he didn't even really ask for it anymore. A miracle!



Here's Cooper on the last night with his beloved paci.







The first morning after paci we woke up and the paci fairy had left him a new thomas train. Then he got to have waffles and syrup which he loves. NO MORE PACI, yea!!!!

My baby bump

I have gotten some comments about posting a tummy picture of me. I promise it hasn't been on purpose, I've been really bad about taking pregnancy pictures this time around. Really bad, I know. So here I am at 7 months. Both pics are at 7 months, they're pretty much the same picture actually! :)

Ready for Summer!

Cooper's ready for summer!





So am I! :) This past Saturday was my last day of work, for a LONG time hopefully!! Yea! Ryan and Cooper were so sweet, while I was at work they went and bought me tulips and made me a sign. Cooper was so excited about the flowers, right when I came home he ran over to me and I can't remember exactly what he said, but basically "look at the flowers!!!" and ran over to them pointing.





We went to lunch at Cheesecake factory to celebrate (yummy!). Cooper said something there that we thought was so funny. (it's probably not funny to people who aren't his parents). I brought him a yogurt and he had finished it and we had it on a plate as trash. The waiter came over and took it away, and Cooper said "Hey, man took a my yogurt!" Very indignantly. He kept saying it until I finally shooshed him. We thought it was hilarious.







Here's Ryan. He looks thrilled to have his picture taken doesn't he?

I just thought this was funny. This is his paint shirt. Think I need to get him one of his own??

I hope you all are ready for summer too!