Cooper

My little Cooper. As I was looking through some pictures ( I need to bring one to Coopers Nursery) I came across this one and just love it! It's always so hard to get him to look at the camera and I actually caught him this time.
I have been meaning to write some of the things about Cooper for so long now, I figure I better get to it before I forget!
Cooper is such a little character. He loves to play hard to get. It's like pulling teeth to get a kiss out of this kid. When ever Geoff or I ask him for a kiss he shakes his head and says NO in the cutest little devilish voice, and really holds out!
He is 20 months now and is talking a bit. Kaiya was our early talker but Jager and Cooper seemed to take a bit longer.
Right now he is saying: mama, dadda, kaiya, Jiji (Jager), Fun, Ball, swing (fing), on, cheese, baby, shoe, phone, NO, night night, Grandma, Papa, weee, uh oh..., baba (bottle) etc. He seems to try and say anything we ask him to. He can point to most of he body parts, wave, clap and on occasion blow a kiss or two.
Cooper seems to come alive at night. He is his happiest right before it's time to go to bed. Its so hard to want put him to bed when he is so happy and silly. He loves to dance and when I say dance I mean run around in circles in the living room. Right now his 2 favorite songs are Just the way you are - Bruno Mars, and Dynamite - Taio Cruz, thanks to his dad.
Lately Cooper is wanting to do everything Kaiya and Jager does. He follows them around like a shadow. If Geoff is going somewhere with the other kids and he has to stay home, he gets so sad, he stands at the door saying shoe, shoe...

Cooper has always been a little peewee. I'm not even sure if he has reached the 20 lb mark yet. He sure is easy to pack around but, we wish he would start eating better so he could put on some weight. The doctors thought he might have failure to thrive at first, but now we think it might be a control thing for him. We try to get him to eat everything but he is so picky. Although he will never turn down a treat when offered. I am really hoping this wont last forever.
Cooper does a thing we like to call the "flop and drop" whenever he doesn't get his way or gets mad over something. This entails him dropping to ground all limp and then rolling back and forth. I usually let him do his thing as long as he doesn't hurt himself. I try not to draw to much attention to it as not to encourage it but it's pretty funny at times.
He loves to wrestle with the boys, but he has taken a special liking to beating up on Jager. He will sometime just go up to Jager and give him punch or scratch. This usually results in Jager getting very mad and saying that he doesn't like his brother and that he doesn't want him to live with us anymore. I try and show Jager some sympathy and of course get after Cooper for hitting, but it's kind of funny.
He really is becoming his own little person as of late and I am really enjoying the alone time I get to spend with him while the other 2 are at school. I think that's why I'm not in a huge rush for #4 yet, I just want to savor these moments a little while longer.

Ladies Fest 2010

My second race ever. Ada, Jessie and I ran the Ladies fest race in May. It was an 8km race and I finished in about 52min. It was a great motivator for me to get running and am now really enjoying it!

Random

The kids love pulling out the hideabed to have a movie night. I can't remember what movie they were watching that night, but I love how Cooper got in on the action. Usually he's in bed before movie night begins

Loving the popcorn with dill pickle seasoning

Our first Camping trip of the summer

Anyone want a drink?? Uhh yeah thats a mouse in there! Just one of the joys of our first weekend out camping! We had kept our trailer out in my Grandpa's feild through the fall and winter last year and the inevitable happened, we picked up a stow away! Our first night sleeping in the trailer after we picked it up, we could hear muffled scratching/rumaging noise, we knew right away it was a mouse and got up and tried to figure out how we could get rid of it, we opened the drawer we heard the sounds coming from, but couldn't see it or catch it! So somehow we managed to go to sleep that night and figured we would get a trap the next morning. After setting the traps the next day we went out for a bit and came back. Geoff eagerly checked the traps fully expecting a catch,  but nothing! So that night we went to bed and nothing moved that we could tell. We got up in the morning and checked the traps again, nothing! we figured the mouse found its way outside and was long gone! WRONG! I was cleaning up in the trailer and looked over to Coopers diaperbag, I noticed his bottle looked kind of weird. When I looked closer I saw that the nipple was chewed half off, so I picked up the bottle and let out a bit of a scream (says Geoff), and there was the mouse. It had chewed off the top of the nipple and climbed in, and could not get back out! So gross! It was still alive and trying to get out. Geoff got a bag and put the mouse and bottle into it and drove it far away! How is that for a camping story!

House of Mystery (AKA Mystery of House (kids)

Echo lake dock

Echo lake

 

The kids were so tired!

Kaiya was so excited to see her friend Hailey From school at the Parade.

Jager, being Jager!
It was a great weekend! We were able to enjoy the July 4th weekend in Kalispell and had alot of fun! It was the first year that Geoff was unable to stay down at Echo lake since he was a baby, as his grandparents sold the property, but we were still able to hang out at the lake and catch some awesome fireworks there! We took in the parade, the House of Mystery (our kids always call it the Mystery of House), The Bumper boats and Maze, and had an overall great camping experiance!

Playing catch up "last day of school" 2010

Kaiya and Mrs. Taylor
Kaiya was so sad that grade one had come to an end but was sure ready to start
sleeping in. She's really not a morning person. Hmmm... I wonder who she gets that from.

Kaiya and Mrs. Baker

Taking a rest on some random lawn while walking home from the school. It was a really hot day.

Jager and Spencer entertaining themselves during the end of school assembly.
Gotta love iphones!

Wise beyond her years

Sometimes Kaiya I feel like you are wise beyond your years. There are so many times that you have helped me become a better mother by your example. Like today Jager was having a fit about the shirt I gave him to wear and I was getting very inpatient with him and we both ended up angry. You came into the room in a very calm manner and said "mom maybe if you would have brought Jager to his closet and said, Jager lets find a shirt together that you would like to wear today, maybe you guys wouldn't be in this fight." I told you, you were 100% right and that is exactly what I should have done and thank you! You also told me today that you were sent to us so that you could make things better when someone is fighting.You are such a peace maker in our home. I love you so much and am so grateful for the example you are to us!

Kiddie pool fun!

Oh how I wish this weather would have lasted! The kids had so much fun last week hanging our in the pool We had 2 great days of hot weather. Cooper was lovin it the most. He got in and out about 20 times that day.

Mother's Day

For Mothers day in Kaiya's class they had a spa day for the mothers. They had 5 stations, nail painting, head and neck massage's, reading with your mom, foot massage's and refreshments. Kaiya loved bringing me around to each station and pampering me. She was actually really great at giving the massage's . I think I will have to hit her up for those more often. As a gift, all of the kids worked on a digital scrapbook card with pictures of them and their mothers. I loved it!!

In Jagers class they had each mom come in separately and each child presented their mom with a handmade paper flower. All of the mom's then sat at the tables and were severed cake and punch. The kids then sang 2 songs to us and then presented us with a really cute poem with their hand print on it. I loved seeing Jager at school, he is growing up so fast! Being a mother is the best job in the world and I wouldn't change a thing!

Rub a dub dub 2 boys and a baby in a tub

I took these pictures a few weeks ago on one of the very few warm days. We were smart and installed a hot water hook up on the outside of our house. It comes in real handy when the kids are playing in the water. Anyways Jager got in first and wanted Cooper to come in too, so I thought what the heck why not. I grab the baby wash and a wash cloth and the boys had their bath outside. They loved it! Kaiya had to put her water baby in too get clean. I can't wait to enjoy more warm days with my kids. They just love being outside and now that Cooper is FINALLY walking it's even more fun.