Cowboy Mia & Jersey Cooper

Some new funny pics of my kiddos.
Cowboy Mia is a regular visitor here. She wears this hot-pink hat all over the place and she calls it her "cowboy hat"...she also swings it around her head and yells "lasso!"
Of course I have no idea where she has seen this...but she loves it.
In fact we just had a mini-meltdown at WalMart b/c I forgot to bring her cowboy hat with us (oops!)



And our Super Coop...he is getting so big and just loves his school and friends so much. This is a shot of him with 2 of his little friends that he loves and we carpool with sometimes. Haley is on the left and Walker Kate (or Walker "Cake" as Mia Morgan calls her) is on the right.
The wear their jerseys & uniforms on Game Days at MRA. This was the first Friday they wore them, and they were excited!!!!

BaBEE Buzz!

We had David & Rachel's baby shower a couple weekends ago...it was alot of fun, and I did really good taking pictures the first 10 minutes of the shower.

Then of course, I put the camera down and good old Libba grabbed it so we'd have some of them opening gifts. I have really got to get better at taking pictures...or rather remembering to take them.

It seems like D & R just got pregnant...at least to us. Definitely not Rachel...bless her heart!

She is carrying this baby girl in the heat of the summer and she still has 3 weeks to go. I fully understand her pain since both my kids were summer babies.

It's flipping miserable! Although, they are SO WORTH IT :)

To make a long story longer....the shower was a bumble bee theme in honor of PawPaw Bumblebee who is in heaven. We had bee things everywhere and it was very sweet

(I'll tell the bumblebee story later--it's a tearjerker!)

Shower pics below-

San Francisco On Shelter!

I want to thank my sweet husband who "won" us a trip to San Francisco last month...
Shelter picked up the tab, and we got to spend a week without kids, emails, alarm clocks, buying our own gas, etc.

We had a blast, and it was even more fun because of the company we had...Mike & Sarah Messer, our close friends from Missouri---plus Greg & Robin Atwood our good friends here in town---plus some other fun people from around the country.
We all enjoy the same things....eating, drinking (except for 7months pregnant Sarah), shopping, and laughing...so we had way too much of all of it.

It was so much fun and it took me a few days to recover and get back to normal around here.

Check out a few of our pictures....

Birthdays!

We had Cooper & Mia Morgan's birthdays the last couple weeks.
Below are some shots from Coop's big day.
We had a little party at the Jump Zone where the kids can jump in those big blow-up things until they are sick to their stomachs.
It was fun (for them).

Of course, my sweet girl didn't get that big of a celebration. We had some family parties on the Coast and in Greenville.
The Coast party MiMi has pictures of...hopefully I can get those.
The Greenville party was on her actual birthday.
(Great)Grandma & Grandpa came over to Gee & Poppy's house where we cooked out, played outside, and ate cake. I took some great pictures that night.

But no one will ever see them. Because I DELETED them!!!!
I have never in my life done that...but somehow I managed to delete all the pictures from her entire 2 year old birthday.
The WHOLE DAY is gone.

I have beat myself up about it, and now I have let it go and moved on...there is always next year.

So, here are the Cooper pictures. I at least have one in there of her.
We'll just tell her that was her birthday party...she'll never know right?

Ok...Ok...Ok...

I know I am officially the worlds WORST BLOGGER...But I am going to be better now since school has started and we are back on a routine.

May, June, & July were a blur and now we're back in the swing of things with school and activities and birthdays and such.

This post is strictly a SUMMER SLIDESHOW. You'd think I have something interesting to write since it been 3months since my last post...well, I don't.

Plus, the pictures will give you an update to our lives these last few months.

Sorry for the technical difficulties...

M is for Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you MOMS out there :)

We had a great weekend at our house!

Of course, we had the games, but we also had MiMi come to spend
the holiday with us.


Everyone enjoyed her visit, especially me. She and I got to go off Sat. afternoon by ourselves-without kids- for pedicures and trip to Fresh Market. Then we came home and Jimbo cooked dinner for us, and Cooper waited on us.

Literally.

We played "Cooper's Restaurant" and he was the head waiter. He served us food, drink, toys, even colors and paper while we waited--so we wouldn't get bored.

Mom & I agreed it was MUCH better than any restaurant.



Sunday, we had mass and a brunch at Church that the KC men cooked. We even got to sit out at mass, and Jimbo stayed with MM in the cry-room, so we got to hear Father the whole time.

I got Mia Morgan from Jimbo right after communion so he could go cook in the hall, she was up front with us for maybe 3 seconds when she "lost it" because I wouldn't let her go up with the altar servers on the "stage". She saw the bells and really felt she needed to ring them.

Thank GOD - Father was just asking the mothers to stand so he could give us a special blessing. So, it was only fitting that MM was crying & yelling at that time...
he definitely sent some extra blessings my way I'm sure.

On the Ball...

I guess you could say that I haven't been "on the ball" with the Blog lately.
OR
Maybe I was just a little ambitous in promising myself I would give 15 min. a day to it.

Realistically...let's just say when I get to it I get to it :)

Speaking of being on the ball...TBALL officially started, and we have
had 2 games.
In fact, it was a double-header Saturday due to a makeup game.
The 8am game was awesome, and Cooper was all into it...as you can see in
the pictures.

The 1pm game was a different story...those boys did everything they could
to "NOT" play: playing chase, throwing their gloves in the air and catching, building dirt-mounds, some even just walked out to sit in the stands with
their Moms.
Jimbo and two of his friends are the coaches for Coop's team. They were promising those kids, Chik-Fil-A, Chuck E Cheese, anything they wanted...if they would just TRY to play the rest of that game.

It was funny. I mean it's TBall-not The World Series.

MiMi came and that made Coop's day. He even made us little numbers to wear so he would be able to "spot us in the stands". They were on little blue post-it notes, and you can see them in some of the pictures. I wore mine for the first game, but Mom wore hers proudly ALL DAY!

Mia Morgan did her thing...all over the ball-park. She's not much into watching sports, obviously. Every few minutes she'd go to the fence and yell out the obligatory, "GO DooDah" (remember DooDah is Cooper according to MM) and then turn around to play with the other kids.
She's obviously there for the snacks.

Libba Came to Play!

April has started off a little nuts here in Jackson...


The week began really pretty, and the kids spent most of their afternoons outside. Mia Morgan learned to swing, so Cooper & her stay outside and play forever. It's really cute...

But eventually, they get bored and find other things to do.

For instance, shooting things. Cooper has a bajillion guns, but always seems to shoot with sticks he finds in the yard.

That's cool. Sticks are free and you can leave them outside and the tornadoes won't blow them away...

Bringing me to my next point...we had a few tornadoes blow through here Friday.
Jimbo was at lunch right where the first one hit, had to climb under tables at the restaurant-without power-and just pray! He called to tell me what was going on, and we spent about 30 minutes in the tub with pillows and blankets.
It really would have been fine, except Mia Morgan decides to fill up her diaper and Cooper's nose starts to bleed. So between the smell and the blood, I was really hoping that whatever was going to happen would just happen so I could get them out of there.

But, we were fine, THANK YOU GOD! Jimbo got a free lunch out of the deal. We got out of the bathtub-I cleaned everyone up, and waited for Libba to get here.

As usual...she brought joy & happiness to our home (along with gifts of course!)

She had Cooper in stitches and Mia Morgan in giggles the whole weekend. They LOVE her and so do we :)

Click on this video of the two girls...in their matching pink hoodies!

Sometimes they surprise you...

Just a quick story and funny photo here.
Moma told me I needed to record this one because it's one many of us may identify with...

A couple days ago we were at McDonalds. Big treat, because we were INSIDE McD's. Cooper & Jack got to play for an hour before we went to pick up Mia Morgan.

There was a young mother there with her baby girl, and she was watching the play area and calling out to her other child to "be careful"-"be nice" -- you know the regular stuff you yell at them. Her other child happened to be a little boy.
And he had Down Syndrome. He was in there playing and laughing, but more by himself than with the few other kids that were there.

I asked her how old he was, she said 4. I told here so were Cooper & Jack. She told me his name was Tyler, then I told her that my Uncle had Downs and that he was 50 years old. She seemed a little surprised at that. I guess because that is unusual...

Ok, so Cooper & Jack come and eat, and I tell Cooper to look over at Tyler...I tell him Tyler is 4 years old like him, and that he's special like Corky, and that Corky looked just like him when he was 4.

That was all he needed to hear...He went over to him and kept saying "Hey Taylor--Hey Taylor--Hey Taylor" of course TYLER wasn't paying attention to him b/c his name wasn't TAYLOR. Anyway, I remind Cooper of his name, and he then continues to stalk him a little bit until he says Hey back. Next Jack came up and they all three start to chase each other all around the play thing.

A few minutes later, I hear Cooper yelling "Jackie...Jackie...up here"
I said "Cooper - call him Jack - not Jackie that's not his name"
He looks at me through the plastic netting and says, "Moma, I'm TALKING to Tyler--I named him JACKIE instead. That way it's Jack and Jackie that I'm playing with..."

Oh. Excuse Me.

Point is: Corky is so loved by my boy-that ANYONE who resembles Corky in anyway--is going to be an instant friend...no matter what they look like.

And it just made me a little proud that he was able to look past someone's difference and invite him to play.
I know kids are cruel, but every once in awhile they can surprise you.

And continuing with the theme of kindness...check out this picture in action.
Mia Morgan leans over to hug her brother, and he gently rubs her back thinkng she wants to just love on him. But check out her hands...she had another thing on her mind...FROOT LOOPS. And she knew she couldn't just walk up and get them...so she figured out a way to sneak some.
I'm telling you this girl is one step ahead of all of us...

Playtime (for Kids & GrownUps)

Last week was eventful.
Jimbo & I went on our "grown-up" trip to San Antonio, and the kids had PawPaw and Miss Linda come to stay with them.


As you can see from the pictures, they had a blast...They went all over town-visiting the Museum, the park, Pizza Inn, TJ Maxx...that would be where the Extra-Large duck came from.
Supposedly, she HAD to have it. And so PaPa HAD to buy it...of course :)

And while they were doing their thing, me & Jimbo were doing ours. We picked San Antonio because it's somewhere we have never been. But we will DEFINITELY be going back. I've been all over, and this was probably one of my top three favorite vacations.

And trust me...after the sick babies, black-eyes, school stuff, etc., it COULD NOT have come at a better time.

If you want to see I'm attaching just a few pics here...

Happy Easter to all of you!

The Bunny came and so did "The Easters" ( Moma & Frankie)

It was a BLAST, even though Mia Morgan was sick...we enjoyed every minute of our weekend!

See for yourself --

What's NOT going on...

Well, I am really starting to slack a bit with this blogging thing. I know I promised myself I would spend 15 minutes a day posting things...but let's get real.

If I get 15 minutes, I'm probably going to eat, take a shower, fold clothes...you know something necessary.

No worries...I've just got lots to report. Here's the first of 2 big posts today...


First things first, for those that don't know already.
My brother and my cute sister-in-law are expecting the first Baby Branch.

We are so thrilled and proud to have another one added to this family.
Here was Cooper's reaction:


Unusual huh?
Notice the shirts Dave had made up for his nieces and nephews. The sisters & husbands all had shirts that said "Coming in September"on the front, and our Aunt/Uncle names on the back.
Such a sweet treat coming from them :) Can't wait until SEPTEMBER!



Now onto the kids-

Cooper's first real best friend is Jack. From the beginning of K4, Cooper & Jack really hit it off. They like alot of the same things, and they also have that crazy big vocabulary. In short, Jack is a little "old man" like Cooper.

Since Mia Morgan's had some "mishaps" lately (I'll get to that in a minute)-Jack's Mom has really stepped into to help me with Coop...keeping him for me in the afternoon, picking him up, etc. It's been SO nice to not have to worry about my boy being bored. As you can see, she keeps them VERY BUSY!

On this particular day, Jack's Mom, Lauren, delivered Cooper back to me without any clothes.
Just underwear and the green boots. Seems the boys "accidentally" slipped into all that mud.

And in typical four year old fashion--they had to get naked. Any excuse to not wear clothes...

And now for Mia Morgan.

There really are no words for this...

Let's just say she will never EVER ride in a shopping buggy again.

Especially at the god-forsaken, germ-ridden, Wal Mart. Actually - she looks TONS better now, and THANK GOD this was the only damage done after her tumble on Aisle 3.

I'm sure this will be the first of many bruises for our girl!

It's not much...

but it's the first time my kids have ever seen snow!

For about 3 hours Friday night, it "snowed" here in Madison.

Cooper rode his bike around in it before he went to sleep...and I thought that would be the last of it. Well, jokes on me because it actually stuck.

And by stuck I mean - gathered in piles on our deck, slide, picnic tables, etc.


We tried to make a snowman, but it wouldn't stand up long enough.


Didn't matter because Cooper really wasn't into that. He just liked picking the stuff up, chasing Mia Morgan and me, and then throwing it on us.



Good times.

By 10am it was all gone.

I couldn't get many pictures of MM because she was running away from me, and of course, Cooper the whole time. That's all right...she had pink-eye, so it wouldn't make for very "memorable" pictures anyway...

This is the only one where you can see her face.

I did manage to get a little video of Cooper...don't you love how he manages to work his "signature" into videos as well.

In Like a Lion...

Isn't that the old March poem...in like a lion, out like a lamb.
In any case, March has started and it's already been crazy busy.

We're only a week in, and we've had so many things happen.

Quick highlights:

1) Mia Morgan loves her little school.
And I love them for giving me that break...

However, we did have our first biting incident.
Mia Morgan bit a little boy. A big boy, in fact-one of the 2 year olds.


Needless to say, I sent a bunch of teething medicine the next day she went.

Taking no chances.

2) Cooper has been learning the story of Easter at school.
He's really good at retelling it, of course.

Especially the part where the "Woe-man soldiers put "odor" all over Jesus's lips".
I asked him (as usual) what was "odor"?
He said, "Moma- you know it's that stuff--the stuff that burns--like a bad drink".
Still having no idea what he's talking about, I say, "Do you mean wine?" and he says with a puzzled look, "Huh? Wine's not BAD Moma, you LOVE it!"

Yes, I do little man.

Then I had to do the obligatory explanation of how wine is bad if you drink too much.


Whatever. He just looked at me as if to say, "Okaaaayyyyy woman, stop talking."

3) Last but not least, I thought this was a neat "first":

Mia Morgan helped me make an Angel Food Cake earlier in the week...

Seriously. She helped. And she also ate (just like her Mom)

Have a good weekend!

Play Ball!

Coop is about to start Tee-Ball, and Jimbo is his Coach.

They have been outside practicing the past week, and the boy is
really getting it.





His form is improving, but even with that needing work he HITS the fire out of these balls.

We are pretty proud...





After the umpteenth ball he hit across the yard, he got this little cocky smirk on his face.


He knew we were both impressed.


He stood there, put his hand on his hip, and then says to us,


"How you like them apples better?"


As usual, we both just looked at each other to try and figure out what this kid was talking about.
Then we got it.

He meant to say on of his Daddy's favorite lines:

How you like them apples?




Eh, close enough.

It's a Cruel, Cruel, World

Poor Mia Morgan...


Cooper's friend came to play with him Saturday afternoon.

The friend was not one of his regular "boys"...

This friend was none other than Walker Kate, a girl, and one of his favorite friends at school. She's a bit of a Princess Tomboy herself, and we all know that there is only ONE Princess around this house (and it's not me)




Walker Kate and Cooper spent hours eating, laughing, and playing together.

They were in their own little world...and Mia Morgan was not invited to join.



She would stand at the end of the deck, fists clenched, yelling "DOO-DAH!" at the top of her lungs. (Doo-Dah is what she calls Cooper)


Cooper and Walker Kate weren't even phased, so Mia Morgan decided to pout in full view of them while they played.




They didn't notice this either.


SO my poor girl realized that there are other Princesses in this world...and that she's not always going to be Cooper's favorite girl.

Bless her heart...just the first of many tough lessons to learn. Bummer.

You know you're from Mississippi...

You let your kids play on a trailer (that your husband keeps in the backyard!)

Your little boy likes to wear his shirts as pants, and pants as hats...and your fine with it.




Your little girl stays in her pajamas until you have to actually leave the house...

Actually, I think the last one could be for any of us -- no matter where we live .

Thanks for keeping up with us :)

Our 16th President...

I mean isn't it obvious...

It looks EXACTLY like Abraham Lincoln.

My boy was very proud of this, and so am I.

A mom-fight, tickets, & po-boys...

What do all three have in common?


They all happened yesterday....


1) In Mia Morgan's music class, I was in the middle of 2 mothers who fought...yes-fought. No punches were thrown or we would have had to quit-but there were words, and ALOT of them.

To sum it up: One Mom's little kid was grabbing the other kids, and another Mom was having none of it and yelled at her kid. Then that Mom yelled about not yelling at her kid and then the other Mom yelled back...and you get the picture.
It was one of the strangest thing I've ever seen. Very Jerry Springer...

2) On my way home from this music class, we went to get MM's flu booster shot...by then it was late and I wanted to get her home for her nap...so I was doing 80 on I55 and apparently it goes to 60 mph speed limit when you're in town. Whatever.

I mean who gives people tickets on their birthday?

3) Jimbo took me to eat my favorite thing in this world, a SHRIMP PO-BOY. I haven't had real fried food in awhile so that was a HUGE treat.


Plus, that sweet husband of mine bought me lots & lots of gifts that he hid all over the house. Cooper was in charge of finding them for me...which was very funny at 6:45 in the morning. He'd walk up to each present and say, "Hmmm-and what do we have here?"
He is such an old soul.



To finish off the b-day, me & the kids got to eat cake for our dessert today.

As you can see...MM couldn't stop herself from eating to smile for the camera, and Cooper still won't smile.

Oh well, I guess if that's his biggest problem we're ok then.


'till later...

Happy V.D.

We celebrated V-D last week.

Both the kids loved all the goodies they received in their "I love you" bags.

Cooper thought the harmonica was the best, "I always wanted one of these Moma-THANK YOU!" So dramatic-have no idea who he got that from...

Mia Morgan loved her Dora purse, and funny monkey that her Daddy bought her. She keeps kissing it ...

Cooper's into something new...as you can see. He wants to do just "funny" pictures.

So anytime the camera comes out, he sticks out his tongue and pulls his mouth apart. Hilarious.

At least he's not running away like before...

MM is finally getting some hair (look close in the photos above)

Bless her heart...she's a beauty without it!

I'm just really getting tired of the sweet MawMaw's & PawPaw's at Kroger telling me,

"Mam, you sure have you a pretty little boy there."

I just say thank you.

And no new funny stories today...just a picture post.

Although Coop did tell me that I needed to get a "spendable organizer" for my purse.

I asked him why, as I was digging through the bag looking for the keys.

He tells me, "because Moma, you can find anything you need, even with your eyes closed."

You think he watches too much TV? Click on the spendable organizer link above for confirmation.

My 15 minutes are up...and I'm out.