Fourth of July Eve

After Coop's interest in fireworks at Alli and Rusty's shower, the boys were off to the fireworks tent the next night.  They came home with lots of loud stuff.  I have never been a fireworks fan, just don't "get it" I guess...not my thing.  But, the boys sure had fun!

patrolling the neighborhood

soaking up Grandma and Grandpa before his thunder is stolen by 2 new grandbabies ;)

Check out this fancy motorized Gator that our cousins, the Visceks, handed down to Coop!  This is one of many, many toys they have passed down to keep at Grandma and Grandpas...we could never thank them enough!  Back to the Gator...Cooper loves the "big" Gator and we have to pry him off, however, he is not a fan of this one.  Who knows?  He likes to sit on it, but won't drive, only ride as a passenger.  I am sure that will change in the next few months.

In awe, watching the fireworks in the sky

Dad made us Oreo milkshakes for dessert

Look at that Oreo covered face

blurry pic...we drove around the neighborhood watching fireworks, our neighbors put on quite the show!

We were so happy to have Dad back as he spent the last week in Paris!

Alli and Rusty's Wedding Shower

We celebrated Alli and Rusty's upcoming wedding with a couples' shower over the weekend.  They were gracious enough to have it early so that Adam, Coop and I could be here for it!  It was a success, so much fun and they got lots of fun, new house stuff!  Thanks to the Freeman family for hosting such a fun night!  Only 3 more months until the Big Day!

the proud parents!

opening gifts...they had lots of little hands helping them

the happy couple with the bow bouquet

Coop with his new friend, Jackson.  They were the only 2 boys surrounded by about 5 little girls.  Not sure about Jackson, but before this 9pm PBandJ sandwich, his dinner had consisted of a sugar cookie.  

So, if you know our son very well, you might think that he would be scared of fireworks...that is what I thought anyway.  Well, I was wrong!  The boys let off fireworks at the shower and he was loving them!  He even lit and played with his own sparklers!  Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!  Needless to say, the next night Dad, Uncle Rusty and Cooper headed to the firework tent and let off fireworks in our driveway for a couple hours.  He was completely unfazed!

Camera Trial

I love taking pictures and have realized through other friends pictures, that mine doesn't take the best quality pics and the shutter speed is soo slow that I miss so many faces/moments.  We (ok, maybe just me, but Adam has seemed to agree so far) have decided to invest in what I call a 'fancy camera' before baby #2 arrives...just 8 weeks away.  I emailed all my family/friends that I could think of for their opinions/suggestions on their own 'fancy cameras'...thanks ladies!  My aunt Trish graciously lent me her camera for a couple days to play around with.  We had a mini photo session with Coop in Grandma's gardens.  Here are a few of my favs.  The smiles are thanks to Grandma, Uncle Bryson and Aunt Alli making fools of themselves behind me...thanks guys!

If anyone else has suggestions/opinions on cameras before I make the big plunge, please comment or email me!  

The cheesy, cheeeese!

something about this look I love, maybe it's the blue eyes

think he looks so old here!

this was is my favorite, maybe partly because of the Jayhawk?! already ordered it in an 8x10 to update Dad's office and our house.

Deanna Rose with the Stilley Gals and a Trip to Fritz's

Last Monday, we drove the second and shortest leg of our trip from STL to KC.  This was uneventful and easy, pretty sure I could do this drive in my sleep!

The next morning we met the Stilley girls at Deanna Rose for a morning of animals, fun as always!!!

Fun on the tractors!  They also watched a cow being milked, fed goats, and saw lots of other animals.

Snack Time!  They totally switched snacks and even shared!

After Deanna Rose we met Grandma and Aunt Alli for lunch at Fritz's Railroad.  We first visited here back at Christmas time, see that visit here.  Again he was in awe of the trains bringing food to all the tables...

Cheeeese!

Magic House

We were so excited that the McCormacks invited us to go to the Magic House with them on our visit!  We hadn't been since last Winter and I knew Coop would love it more now that he was older.  The kids were busy and had lots of fun!!  So busy that I got just a few pictures and they really aren't that great.  

They currently have a fun Alice in Wonderland themed section.  Of course, Coop found a ball game!

How fun!  They have an outdoor construction-like setup, complete with hard hats!  Here the kids are working on plumbing, Coop working on those pipes just like Grandpa :).

Walk in the Park

The weather was beautiful most of the weekend that we were in STL, so we took advantage of most of it.  One morning we headed to the park across the street from Mamaw and Papaws to walk around and play.  

Oh man, Coop was pretty stoked when we spotted a digger at the park!  This kid loves a good piece of construction equipment...such a boy!

My personal dog walker!  Emmy was lovin' on Lola all weekend.  Something about Lola that makes her a kid magnet!

They were having fun on the swings even though this pic doesn't exactly show it.  We definitely wore the kids out, as they barely made the short walk back home, I basically had to drag mine ;).

Cousin Fun

After Purina Farms and naps, we grilled and played outside all afternoon/evening at Aunt Tanya and Uncle Johns-or Aunt John as Cooper was calling him :).  The kids were busy, busy and had so much fun together...with just minor arguments :).

 I think this pic and the next one are courtesy of Emily-she was the photog for a bit.  Aunt Maggie went and got all the kids cookies while they were napping, Coop loved his tractor cookie!  See Woody in Kellen's arms- I loved that he rarely went anywhere without Woody and Buzz, so cute!

Coop was rockin' Emmy's shades and Kellen in Mamaws-these boys were cracking us up!  They totally spoke their own language together.

Sprinkler Time!  Can you tell which kids were loving it and which kid was totally unsure in the background gripping onto Mamaw's leg?

Aunt Maggie took one for the team by running thru the sprinklers trying to get Coop to have fun, but as the picture shows, he just wasn't having it.

Time for bed...Aunt Maggie pulled up a Toy Story clip on her phone and had both boys in her lap within seconds.  What would we do without our constant technology???