MOPS convention

Last Thursday Jack and I made the trek to Nashville without Daddy. I was getting to attend the yearly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) convention at Opryland and we were staying at Granny Ruthie and Mzees house (didnt really feel like shelling out almost $200 to stay at the actual hotel was a great idea for us....but it sure would have been fun!)Granny Ruthie and Mzee watched Jack while I was at the convention....I just basically got up with him in the morning and got him situated and then headed off for fun! They fed him and put him down for naps and bedtime and entertained him the rest of the time! whew! When they were enjoying Grand Camp a few weeks ago, I wonder if they knew it would be coming around again so soon! Jack got to go to the Loveless Cafe to meet some friends of Mommie and Granny Ruthie, and he got to go to Gallatin to meet Uncle Jeff's parents Linda and Harroll. Uncle Daniel even got to take care of Jack by himself for a little while!

Here is a picture I took of Jack and Mzee one morning doing their daily newspaper ritual:

Jack wanted to climb up on the sofa and read too, just like Mzee!

Tractor Trouble

On Sunday Jack and I went to spend some time with Pops and Bertie. They were kind enough to watch him while I made a short trip to Target (didnt realize how much I took Target for granted until I moved to a small town with NO target!!!!!!) They decided to go on a walk around their neighborhood with Jack sitting in Pops lap and Bertie pushing. When I got back from Target I fully expected that they would be back from their walk....but they weren't. I tried calling, but no answer. So I walked around their neighborhood and even asked one of their friends if he had seen them...he had....and he directed me to where they should be....but they werent.....so I called again and they had walked down the road to WALGREENS! WOW!!! I was shocked that they had gone that far (and that Jack had sat still for that long!) I walked to join them, and we also enjoyed lunch at a local coffee shop. While we were eating they told me about a "tractor" Jack had climbed into. I asked him what color the tractor was (figuring green, like John Deere) but he said his favorite answer to a color question "Yeh-yow" (Yellow)....he answers that EVERYTIME, I think he just likes how the word sounds....so of course I didnt believe him....but on the way back we got to see the tractor again, and guess what color it was....

"YEH-YOW TACTOR!!!

Thanks for watching him Pops and Bertie and for a fun outing!

Nature Walk

The other morning the weather was SO gorgeous that I decided Jack and I should go on a walk. Usually our walks are for the purpose of exercise for Mommie, but I decided today that Jack could walk as well, so we would enjoy a nature walk together as far as he would go, and my exercise would come from carrying him when he was too tired to walk. We enjoyed chasing birds, stomping in the leaves, seeing butterflies, throwing leaves, sniffing flowers, looking at crazy halloween decorations, watching flags wave in the breeze, listening to the creek trickle by, and being greeted by the neighborhood welcome dogs, Stella and "Brown Dog" (we don't know brown dogs real name)-who incidentally are on mommie's "grrr list" since they stood outside Jacks window yesterday morning barking so loud it woke me AND him up! They wouldnt stop until I squirted them with the hose. I was almost sure that when they ran up to greet us on our walk that they were out for revenge, but no, they just wanted attention. phew!

Jack decided he wanted to get right in the middle of our flower patch....so here are some pix I took with my phone.

We also sat on the front porch and rocked in our freshly painted rocking chairs. I painted them GREEN! He felt like a big boy making it rock by himself. It was nice to spend a little time enjoying God's creation and Thanking HIM for a beautiful day!

Fast Food

our family has become quite dissatisfied with fast food lately...I'll occasionally suggest a fast food burger for a quick dinner which Josh will almost always decline....we do enjoy Chick Fila and Arbys still....but fast food as a whole just doesnt satisfy anymore. Whether it is poor taste, bad service or whatever....Taco Bell has all but been written off (just ask Josh about the infamous bean burrito on the way home incident!) ....Mcnuggets just dont taste like the used to....and Sonic burgers and tots are just way too salty! But there is one person in our family who doesnt mind the occasional stop at Sonic: The other day (for some unknown reason) Sonic sounded good to me, so I stopped for lunch to get a burger and tots combo and we were pressed for time, so I ordered something I hoped Jack could manage by himself....looks like he managed pretty good, right? He actually only ate about half of it, and I guess it was so greasy it slipped out of his hand and out of his reach, so we made the meal more healthy with some apple slices. It was so funny to see him in the rearview mirror nibbling on his corndog.

They grow up so fast

One minute they are sweet helpless little babies and the next this you know.....

they are driving!

or at least that is what I've heard!

St. Jude Night @ Chilis

Tonight was St. Jude's night at Chilis. They are giving 100% of their proceeds today to St. Jude's Hospital. This was particularly important to us this year since we know a family who is going through treatment at St. Jude's. It was also very fun to eat out (appetizer, dessert AND a Dr. Pepper for me instead of water!!) without (much) guilt.....no financial guilt but maybe a little bit of caloric guilt :) One of their fundraisers this year was for customers to decorate a Pepper for a donation....here is the one we made in honor of little Ian. Feel better Ian, We are still praying for you!

The Nose......KNOWS!

Warning....the content of this entry MIGHT gross you out.....

Last week I made a very yummy taco salad with chicken, corn, black beans, cilantro and rotel. Very yummy. I gave Jack a taste of it while we were waiting for Daddy to come home. I turned around to finish dinner and when I turned back, Jack had his finger WAY WAAAAY up his nose. I scolded him for such behavior and encouraged him not to do it again, and then continued on with dinner. Later during his bath he starts pointing to his nose so I wiped it for him. A second or two later he sneezed.....and out came a BLACK BEAN! I was totally grossed out at first thinking it was a gross booger, and then just dissolved into laughter, informing Daddy about what HIS son just did! EEEEW!

Tonight while at Lowes Jack was being so helpful and sweet. He "helped" us push the buggy and unload at check out. During check out he sneezed....and then proceeded to hand me the booger he just sneezed out. It took me a while to track down a paper towel, grossing out the lady at the self-checkout in the process.

Thus is the life of a mom....just wondering....are GIRLS this gross too? :)

cool baby

he likes his new consignment sale $1 Star Wars sunglassess....

some of the time....

when it is HIS idea to put them on....

and say CHEEEESE for the camera!

The Wheels on the Bus

I KNOW this video is long...and I won't blame you for not watching it, but we think it is pretty cool. We figure the grandparents will watch it at least once. This is turning into a favorite song, so much so, that he will randomly during the day start saying "Mommy, shhh,shhh,shhh... Daddy....ya you....ya you.....honn, beee,beeee,beee" He will start it up in the car....during meal time, even when I am going into get him up from his crib. It's really really cute!

It IS like magic!!

At the advice of many of my fellow Mommy-friends, I purchased this DVD for Jack. They all claimed that their children learned their ABCs and letter sounds with the help of this DVD...and although I never believed that he would ever learn them at such a young age...I figured it surely couldn't hurt to expose him to it. Well, the video is the Cooper family version of the Letter Factory Theme Song...what do you think...does he know (most of )his letters? It's a little long, but I spared you the whole song....so you're welcome! :)

Still not convinced...watch this....

what didnt make it onto the beginning of the video was him identifying the C on our new little plaque for the dining room. When I picked it out at Kirklands the other day he grabbed it from me and started saying "Cee, Cee....Cuh, Cuh, Cuh"

Now I would like to believe that the DVD doesnt get all the credit for his letter knowledge. We have also enjoyed playing with the Magnet School toy and reading lots of ABC books etc. I really have no idea if it is normal for kids to learn their ABCs before they turn 2, it probably is.... but I do know that several kindergarten teachers would complain about some of their students didn't know their letters or sounds....so at least that wont be said of him when he starts school! :)

The end of our extra-extra long weekend...

Sorry, no pictures here...
Throughout the whole weekend Jack was apparently afraid of missing out on some fun, so he only took 30 minute-1 hour naps the entire time and stayed up extra late each night having fun! His normal naptime often lasts 2-4 hours... (So basically the whole extra long 4 day weekend he had less naptime than he sometimes has in just ONE DAY!) Thankfully he also slept VERY late several days, which helped delay the inevitable....)I tell you all this to say This helped me see even more that I dont have to stress out about keeping him on a strict nap/sleep schedule ALL THE TIME...In spite of less sleep, he did GREAT! Maybe it is just the former teacher in me...i feel comfortable with a predictable routine...
anyway, Tuesday we headed out to have lunch with Bertie (having to schedule and re-schedule due to wierd (almsot non-existent) naptimes....we were waiting for her in the car and as soon as he saw her walking towards us, I thought he was going to jump out of his seat...he was SO excited to see his BERTIE "Tee-Tee-Tee" as he now calls her (hopefully that won't stick...he is really latching on to ending sounds right now :) He had fun eating at a restaurant and FLIRTING with the little girls sitting next to us....Then we went over to visit with Pops for a little while, where unfortunately a nasty headache (probably from Mommie's lack of sleep) cut our visit short. I have found that I don't sleep GREAT if I'm not in my own bed....and I REALLY dont sleep well if Jack is in the same room as me....every little sound of his wakes me up, thinking that he is waking up too!
Jack fell asleep with the sippy cup still in his mouth AS SOON AS we got into the car to head back to granny ruthie's house, I WISH we could have gotten a picture of it! Sadly the drive back to her house to pack up was short and he was not happy about waking up....and basically MELTED DOWN the first chance he got...but hey, 4 days of wild-craziness and less sleep...I was basically melting down myself....it was time to go home! :) We found it is easier to be patient with a grouchy little boy when we KNOW what the problem is (and that it was partially our fault).

Jack and Julia visit Papa John and MiMi

Julia also got to visit with Papa John and Mimi later on in the day. We went to a favorite Korean Restaurant near their house, and then went back to their apartment to spend more time together.

Julia is apparently coming out of a phase where she really doesnt like any many except her daddy....she did pretty well this weekend, but she wasn't sure of Uncle Derrick...we just blamed it on the ball cap!

Papa John and his Grand-Kids!

There will also be a picture hopefully coming sometime soon of Julia wearing an extra special outfit.....stay tuned!

Jack and Julia visit the Gallatin Great Grandmas

Sorry, these are in no particular order, I'm having trouble moving pictures around here...just enjoy!

On Monday we drove into Gallatin with all the babies in tow to hang out with the Gallatin Great Grandmas. Jack loves Granny Franny and Ma Fisher, but his was Julia's first time to meet them!

It was quite interesting trying to work out the carseat situation....it ended up Granny Ruthie (or Roo-Ree as Jack calls her...) had to sit in the middle of the back seat between 2 baby car seats....quite a bit of acrobatics to get herself in and out! Later Abby had to do the same thing!

Jack and Jeff are showing off their similar hairstyles, thanks to Jeff's help and some leftover yogurt in Jack's hair from this morning! Sheesh! You boys are STYLIN'!

Jack and Auntie Raychie and Julia. Just after the paparazzi (all the aunts and uncles and gradparents) finished taking tons of this pose, Jack let out a loud, long "SIGHHHHHHH", ......enough already, people!

Jack discovered Granny Franny's toys in her sunroom!

Julia and Ma Fisher

Sleepy Baby with Granny Franny

I thought it was precious that Jack was FINE with sharing Mommie, Daddy, and the Grandparents with Julia, no jealousy at all as far as I could tell..... but when Auntie Raychie walked in and started oogling and googling over Julia, Jack HAD to step in and assert his cuteness too...he wasn't going to let Julia have his Raychie all to herself!

(I know this isnt a great picture, my camera was taking really blurry pictures here for a while....and it wasn't just me!! )

Jack discovered that he could climb in and out of the window into Granny Franny's sun room, even if the door was closed!!

In this picture I think Jack is pretending to sleep...he has started just saying "night night" and flopping himself down on the bed or floor...and then making some cute snoring noises that Josh taught him.

I thought Jack did EXTREMELY well having to share the cuteness spotlight with one of the cutest little baby girls EVER! He's usually pretty much the center of attention at most family gatherings, but he did SUCH a good job being sweet to the "Baby" as he called her. We tried to get him to say "Joo-Ya" but he would just say, Yeah, and agree with us that that was her name...he wasnt brave enough to try it.

Jack meets Cousin Julia

WARNING! You might go into cuteness overload from all of these pictures!! And these are just the ones from our camera and the ones I snatched from Rachel's face book page! Please forgive all the photos, but ever since I have discovered that I can turn the blog into a BOOK (more on that later) it is just easier to upload as many as I can when I make the actual entry! There will likely be more to come as others hopefully send me their pics....hint hint granny ruthie and Aunt Abby This was taken just as Jack and Julia were meeting for the first time. It was taken with a camera phone, and not in great light, but Julia is looking all girlie in her little tutu and crown....and we asked Jack if he could give the baby a hug...which he did....and topped it off with a kiss too! SO SWEET!

This picture was Monday morning....Jack and Julia are sizing each other up over breakfast.I know this isnt a great picture of Julia, but it makes me laugh because you can see one of her favorite toys....the rubber giraffe flying through the air from her swinging it around so much. She just didnt want to be still while playing with her giraffe!

That's a bit better...of her and the giraffe!

She is getting to know a few of her uncles! They were so sweet with her too!

The cousins had a lot of fun with Uncle Jeff this weekend!

Sleepy Baby with her Momma.

And one more bit of cuteness....for now!

Uncle John, YOU HAVE TO COME TOO next time! Jack says so!

Man, seeing 21 month old Jack next to sweet little 6 month old Julia REALLY REALLY brought home the fact that he is NOT a BABY anymore! WOW! I still refer to him as my baby all the time...and he just seems so big and grown up next to her! I guess I need to change my terminology to little boy...or at least toddler when I refer to him. sniff, sniff!

Jack goes to Grand-Camp

Jack and his parents had another weekend of firsts...Jack went to "GRAND-CAMP!" That is what Granny Ruthie and Mzee are calling an overnight stay at their house. We left home as early as we could on Saturday morning, and got into Nashville around lunch time. Jack ate lunch at their house while we got all his stuff moved in and settled (along with the Grand-Dog too). Then we laid him down for a nap and SPLIT! Josh and I got to eat lunch at Red Robin (first time) and then head to our hotel...we thought about staying at Opryland hotel...but seeing as how it is SOOOOO cool we would want to spend at least 2 nights there to make it worth it....but it is also SOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive and I just didn't think I was ready to spend more than 1 night away at a time.....we stayed ACROSS THE STREET at a Holiday Inn Express for much much less.
One of our favorite things to do on a Saturday, pre-baby, was to have and "all-day date" at Opry Mills....food....shopping.....movies.....Dave and Buster's.....more shopping....more food.... so that is what we did! Thanks to Josh's overabundance of overtime pay lately.....we were able to have several nice dinners out and pretty much revamp his wardrobe, see a movie we have been patiently waiting for months to watch, and have some very nice time together as a couple. It was also nice to feel comfortable knowing Jack was in such good hands....that didn't spoil him TOO much!!
Here is a recap of his weekend at grand-camp....through Granny Ruthie's camera phone....

He went to Taco Bell and ate almost an entire Personal Pan Cheese Pizza! YUM!

They went to Toys R Us and he got to pick out a toy! The bowling set wasn't the final choice...they got him a TOOL BENCH (and I'm very excited because I hadn't been able to find one for him up here....every boy needs a hammer!)

They also went to Red Caboose Park and played on the playground with Daniel

At some point they went to Basin Robbins and he got to enjoy some ice cream! Look at how cute he is sitting in that booth like a big boy!!

He also went to visit with Mzee's mother, Grandma Mary. Jack was very concerned that her feet might be getting cold, so he is helping her with her shoes!

Apparently he also likes her watch.

At some point they also took Jack to see Uncle Daniel working at McDonalds...and as soon as Jack saw Daniel working at the Drive-Thru, he just about JUMPED out of Granny Ruthie's arms. shouting "Nyan-yul, Nyan-yul" (Daniel)

According to the counselors at Grand-Camp (Granny Ruthie and Mzee) Jack was "As good as gold" and didn't give them much of a hard time at all! YAY! I think he really enjoyed getting them all to himself...because just as Mommie and Daddy pulled up Sunday evening to join in the fun....someone new was arriving.....

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

for giving us some much needed time to ourselves and

for taking such good care of Jack (and Maggie)

a funny blog entry

I enjoy reading MckMama's blog....and today's entry just made me laugh out loud...I had to share it! Keep in mind this SAHM has 4 young children, ages 4 and under. Obviously she believes in giving young children quite a bit of details when they ask about certain subjects...probably more info than I would feel comfortable giving at such a young age...but the results are pretty priceless! Enjoy!