Whew, its been a while

So I haven't been very good about updating the last few weeks. We've been keeping pretty busy with things like. . .




Cooper learning to eat anything he can put in his mouth. This blurry picture was pancakes. He's a good meat and potato eater. He had his first trip to Eats-n-treats last Saturday before branding and really likes french fries. He really liked my ice cream but only got a few bites for fear of a tummy ache. He's given up on baby food quite a while ago; so we try to get what we can in him. He refuses to eat off of a spoon for me; so it has to be stuff he can pick up himself. That sort of limits us for a while as it can't be too slippery or he gets mad that he can't hold it. He's doing pretty well and his little fingers are getting much better at picking up those little pieces and actually getting some of it in his mouth.

Paige started her first season of tee ball on Monday. We got a glove and tee and practiced a bit. I attended a practice this week and am excited to see how they progress . Coordination is not at its peak at age 5; but I see potential :)

Monster man--we need to drop the crib mattress down. Mr. Cooper is into everything. He has discovered the wonder of toilet paper rolling off the roll; the toilet; cupboard doors that open and shut; climbing over anything that is in his way on the living room floor-whether its a person or a pile of pillows. He is starting to push his walking toy around really well and has good balance with it; if it gets a bit ahead of him, he doesn't fall flat on his face as he's not putting all of his weight on it--he tends to just fall straight down on his bum. He also is not a tiptoe walker so I expect some steps pretty soon. I think it will make him a bit happier and help with some of the clingy, sad times he's been having. He wants to be held ALOT, and will just follow a person. Hoever, he has learned to say Mom-Mom-Mom over and over; too bad its when he's mad. I have come to the conclusion he knows its me as he will look at me and then start saying it and crawling towards me. He's babbling some da-da-da-da as well--but that' s a happy noise!

Branding

Hard working cowboy!

Nervous moms watching

Daddy & Paige--she needed a little encouragement that her big idea of riding would be run. Matt's pretty big once you get up there!

Watching all the cows and cowboys.

Our favorite cowboy--could he look more like a commercial?!

So we spent last Saturday at Ryan's work watching the branding & working of the calves. Its a pretty standard thing where we live to have the neighbors come over and help; I believe Ryan spent close to 7 days at various other brandings before his workplace had theirs. He did his fair share of wrestling & roping calves. However, we lucked out and had the first nice day of summer to be with Ryan. Paige loves branding and was excited to ride her Daddy's horses. Cooper was happy to just watch all that was going on. He spent some time napping, some time crawling around the back of the Expedition; and some time crusing the pastures in his stroller. He was a good baby and not too fussy with all the comotion to watch. It was a long day; but a fun one and a good time to catch up with a lot of people we don't see too regularly.

Preschool Program video

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to me! (And all the other great moms I know!)

What have we been up to . .

"I can carry him!"

Dirty face

Bath time--he heard water funning and crawled as fast as he could to the bathroom and pulled himself up on the tub.

Assembing the dog house

Loves to swing

Its been pretty busy at our household this last few weeks. We have been trying to gear up for summer but it just doesn't want to show up. We have managed to play on the swingset and burn up some sidewalk chalk though. The new bike has gotten a few laps on it and we've attempted to teach Piper how to walk nice on her leash beside the stroller--but we need to keep working on that! She did learn to not walk in front of it or she'd be taken out. We have some new grass seed sown, the garage sale done, and spring clean up is this week; so there is a huge pile of junk waiting for the garbage guys to come. I have the itch to finish getting organized; but the time and energy sometimes come at the wrong times! We are making plans for summer; and hope to go buy some flowers today and get a pot or two ready for the steps. Summer vacation is planned at the O'Brien resort; as well as a friends big wedding this fall. Hopefully our summer will be filled with more fun that work and some great family times. We are excited to be spending this summer having fun and not working so hard on the house. There is still work to be done; but we'll juse deal with the outside 'fun' parts for now!

Graduation & teeth

Its been a busy chaotic week for us at our house; and I will try to post pictures and videos at some point soon.

• Saturday, Cooper's first tooth finally broke through! We had a crabby boy; and we have learned that Motrin is a good thing and makes him smile :) Also a snow day for us as we didn't have power for much of the day and the winds blew almost 70mph.


• Thursday, Paige's preschool graduation and first school program. Mom & Dad, as well as Rick & Jane attended. They sang some songs, did a skit, and were just very cute. I have the whole thing recorded! She is officially a kindergartener--as we got the results from screening back that same day. We'll get more info in August.


• Sunday (today) ran to Dickinson this afternoon to get some necessities and the Piper Palace. We purchased a kennel and doghouse--kennel is assembed and looks good. Doghouse is not assembled. Its a large kennel--a 10' x 10' so she will have ample room.




• Next Saturday the 7th--the garage sale. Our house is a mixture of neatly organized piles that are labelled; and messy boxes that need to be gone through! Its my goal this week to find as much as I can to purge!

Quick crawling video