Cooper's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday on March 20th with our families. We had a wonderful visit at home, and Coop enjoyed the extra love and attention with everyone. He's into all things boy, so he had a great time 4-wheeling, throwing rocks in the pond, and exploring the creek.

Blogger doesn't want me to upload tons of pictures, so here are two from his party. Marlee was so excited for Cooper and spent most of the time opening his presents for him. He didn't care at all.

Happy, Happy 2nd Brirthday, Cooper!!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful, brown-eyed boy! We love you so very much!! I hope you have a wonderful 2nd birthday!

My Buddy and Me

I wish I could freeze Marlee and Cooper when they are in sync. Because when they are in sync, I fall more in love with them. They can be such buddies. Playful and funny. Sometimes they start laughing for no reason and keep each other giggling at the sheer fact that the other one is laughing, too. I hope they remain buddies forever.

Wordless Wednesday

Tired Momma after a morning of wheelin' dealin' at my yard sale.

Rainbow Brite or Punky Brewster

Marlee is definitely an individual spirit. She's been that way since she was in my belly. You might even call her strong-willed. When it comes to clothes, she knows what she wants before she ever opens a drawer. The school years will be very interesting. I finally gave up the fight of picking out her clothes. As long as she's wearing something, all is well. Sometimes we have to compromise on the outfit when we get out of the house. This is a typical outfit for any given day. I have a lot of laundry seeing that she changes clothes multiple times a day.

Don't Forget the Hat and Other Cooper News

Cooper is definitely ALL BOY! He climbs on everything, jumps off anything, races cars or trucks over any surface, loves loud tractors and fire trucks. His new favorite thing or accessory is his hat. He had a little Tennessee hat but quickly outgrew it. Chad didn't find anything that he liked, so he stopped by GAP and found this cute orange hat.

He wears it all the time, inside the house, outside playing, whenever we go somewhere in the car. If he doesn't already have it on, he'll stop and say,"Gotta get my hat" and run and find it.

He's tried sleeping with it on or will try and keep it in bed with him. Chad was outside with the kids one day while they were riding their bikes. He told them to get their helmets before going to the cul-de-sac. Cooper stopped and looked at Chad and said, "No, I got my hat on" or something along those lines and went on his way!

He's finally learned to slide down on his bottom. For the longest time he would turn around and slide on his stomach. He still has trouble with the landing, but he's working on it.

This big boy with celebrate his 2nd birthday on Sunday. Although I've already experienced this milestone with Marlee, it still amazes me how much they grow and change in the first two years. I love how totally different he and Marlee are. I truly enjoy all things boy, especially this boy! He sure does love his Momma!

Funny story. Cooper is pretty much a flirt with pretty ladies any time we go somewhere. They always comment on how happy he is and his cute smile. Well last night he was really hamming it up for Matilda at the Mexican restaurant. When she dropped off the check, she said something to him and out of nowhere, his smile was gone. He kind of lunged forward and ROARED like a dinosaur with his wrinkled eyebrows. It was so funny! Chad, myself and the waitress were a little taken back. I explained he was roaring like a dinosaur and she laughed it off. All I could sing in my head was, "Boys will be boys...Bad Boys, Bad Boys"

How do they do that?

Cooper has a new thing of rolling his eyes up when he's thinking. You can tell he's putting a lot of thought into what he wants to say before he says it. It is the cutest thing and makes him seem so much more like a little boy than my baby boy. Marlee's new thing is asking about your dreams and telling you about hers. For now, she's dreaming about spring and butterflies and Tennessee. I'm a dreamer and usually have the wildest ones too. So, I'll be interested to see if she gets my dream habits. It amazes me to watch my children grow into little people.

Life Doesn't Always Go as Planned

By nature, I'm a planner and organizer. I like things a certain way. It may not always be as neat and tidy as you might like, but it works for me. As as kid, I idolized my cousin and aspired to be just like her when I grew up. When she became a lawyer when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, I made up my mind that I would do the same thing. I kept that dream until my freshman year of college. She was a political science major, so of course, I planned to major in that, too. I took a political science class and didn't fair too well. So I mulled around for a semester or two and decided to major in sociology. I stayed with sociology and added an elementary education minor. Although I didn't enter college with the mindset that I would graduate a teacher, I'm happy things didn't work out the way I had planned.



When I dreamed of being pregnant, I envisioned having that "glow" and eating pickles and ice cream while watching my belly bounce all around. Well 3 months of 24/7 morning sickness didn't allow for the pickles and ice cream. The "glow" was a wicked rash all over my body, and the bounce was my sciatic nerve bouncing from leg to leg, crippling me as I walked. My pregnancies didn't turn out the way I had planned either, but regardless of the craziness I was experiencing, two beautiful and healthy babies grew inside my belly for those 10 months. As the saying goes, the pain was worth the gain.



I love being a parent, but it is the hardest thing I have ever done. I had grand plans for the way things would happen and how I would raise my kids, i.e., no tv, processed foods, strict bedtimes well behaved ALL the time. The list could go on. My children have their moments of love. Like today, Marlee was sitting in my lap and out of the blue told me she was in my heart. I had her repeat what she said and asked what that meant. She told me she was in my heart because she loved me. It totally melted me. Cooper always thanks me when I fix his moo juice and excuses himself when he burps. On the flip side today, Marlee had a timeout with lots of screaming and crying, and Cooper deliberately poured sand out onto the patio. My plans for parenting may not be working out the way I hoped, but I love my children just the way they are and love them for the persons they will become.

So what I've realized in my 29 years is that I may have plans for the way life should unfold, but life doesn't always go as planned. I just need to breathe, count to 10, and be grateful for the wonderfulness that surrounds me.

Stopping By

To say hello. Things have been super busy and show no signs of stopping for a few weeks. We have traveling and birthdays like crazy this month. I hope you and your loved ones are well.

Please stop by Hayden's blog and say a prayer for him and his recovery. He's the nephew of one of my best friends from high school.