Roadtrip across the midwest

Lots of things were happening that led Cooper, Lola and I on our latest roadtrip(s).  First of all, Dad is out of town, (actually the country, Canada and Paris).  Second, we had a couples shower to attend for Aunt Alli and Uncle Rusty and Baby Souders is the due the first week of July.  Third, with a baby due in August, this was the last adventure we will get before being glued to Texas waiting on Baby J's arrival.  Finally, we were anxious to see all our family again!  All good reasons to pack up the car, 2 year old, your dog, and very pregnant belly to drive over a thousand miles, right? 

Last Thursday we left our house at 7:20 and arrived at Mamaw and Papaw's in Wash, MO exactly 12 hours later.  Sounds awful, but really wasn't that bad.  We stopped just 3 times, I was afraid with my pregnant bladder it would be much more frequent than that!

This kid was sooo good, despite only sleeping for 1 of the 12 hours!  He read lots of books, played with his trucks, kept an eye out for construction workers/tractors and watched a couple movies.

We stopped at Jimmy Johns for a quick dinner.  So, Cooper rarely will eat a sandwich, but I couldn't do McDonalds again.  However, there happened to be a college boy next to us eating a sandwich, when Coop spotted him eating, it was on.  As soon as I unwrapped the sandwich, he grabbed half and said, "I do it Mommy."  And so he did.  Of course it made our pit stop a bit longer, but he was very adament about eating like the boy next to us!

We couldn't be more excited to pull in the driveway at Mamaw and Papaws, we had a great long weekend...blog posts to come!

We are at Grandma and Grandpa's now...just hanging out, waiting on the newest grandkid to make his/her appearance!

Just a phase, right??

We are in the middle of a hitting phase and I don't like it one bit.  I realize it's just a phase, but I am ready for it to be over.  Cooper for the most part is such a sweet boy that loves to cuddle and play, but put him around someone his age and watch me hover over him.  There is no rhyme or reason to his hitting, sometimes it seems to be his way of saying 'hi,' a lot of times it's over sharing toys and sometimes I just don't know why.  For the most part he his fine with babies and older kids, just those that are close to him in age/size and usually are his friends.  For now, we are redirecting his behavior, telling him no, talking about hitting a lot, and using timeout.  He knows he's not supposed to...tells me "no hitting mom, nice, high fives."  Who's got the perfect answer for me???

Mini Stay-cation

if that's what you call a less than 24 hour stay away from home.  Dad was at The Four Seasons Resort in Las Colinas (just 30 minutes from us) for work, so we joined him one afternoon/night.  Wow, what a place...wish I could have stayed all week and sent the boys home :).

Coop was so excited when we got to our room, he (and Lola) had to check out every corner.  The best part...he kept repeating, 'nice, nice dad.'  We went swimming, ate good food for dinner, toured the resort, played in the room and stayed up way too late!!!

Adam had ordered bread pudding for dessert, but left the side fruit and chocolates on the tray.  We were sitting out on the balcony and Coop kept sneaking in and stealing pieces off the tray.

He probably spent 20 minutes opening and closing the doors to outside.

Not sure who loved the balcony more, Coop or Lola?

We had to get up early and out the door for a doctor's appt, so I ordered Coop some pancakes from room service.  Man, you should have seen his face when he realized they were in the shape of Mickey Mouse!

Lots of fun, but I hope my next stay at the Four Seasons is minus kids and a dog :).

Big Tent!

While I was busy packing for our trip to STL/KC the other night, the boys built a tent in our bed.  Cooper thought it was sooo cool, kept saying, "big tent," and thought it was hilarious when Lola hopped up there with them.  

They hung out forever in there, just talking.  

Look at those blue eyes!  See the lack of clothing again...another 100 degree plus day here in Texas!

Texas Motor Speedway

Our mom's group took a field trip to the Texas Motor Speedway last week.  Coop has really gotten into Cars and Lightning McQueen, so he was excited to go to the racetrack!  It was a little too much for him to understand, but he loved seeing the race cars, pictures of drivers and the track...kept saying "Queen Car."  I thought the tour was great and kind of made me want to go to a race someday.  Will for sure take Coop back for the tour again in a few years when he might appreciate it more.

Here we are on victory circle.  Where we are standing is right where the winning car pulls up to do press/pictures after the race. 

So, this is an awful picture, but let me explain...  This is a piece of the tissue confetti thrown after each of the races.  Only in Texas would the confetti be the shape of the state, there is a lot of state pride down here!

The view from pit lane

There are no words to describe the wind that day!  It literally blew Cooper over right after this picture.

Now, this is where I want to be to watch a race...in the suites!

Learned lots of fun facts that day...here's just one.  Texas Motor Speedway is the second largest sporting venue in the U.S.  To put it in perspective, 4 Texas Stadiums could fit in the Speedway!!  What's number 1?  The Indianapolis 500.  Did you guess that???

Burger's Lake

Last weekend we didn't have any plans, just knew we wanted to try something new around us.  We read about this spring fed lake in one of my "moms" magazines and decided to make a trip out!  It is a small one acre lake basically in the middle of nowhere.  We got there early, 9:30ish to soak up the morning before the 100 plus temps sat in, so glad we did.  Not only did we beat the crazy heat but the crowds of people too!  For you local Texans, you can read more about it here.

The boys headed out to the water!  Wish I would have gotten a picture when we left to see how many people were there when we left after lunch.

Like most things, Coop wasn't sure what to think at first.

He warmed up pretty quick and was jumping off the mini-diving board right into Adam's arms!

Of course, we had to bring a ball to play with, rarely leave home without one.

Saturday was also our 6th wedding anniversary!  Can't believe it, am I old enough to be married 6 years!?!  Unfortunately we didn't plan ahead (imagine that) for a sitter, so we were accompanied by our toddler at dinner, it was lovely :).  In fact, to get a picture of the 2 of us together, I had to go back to April at the Kenny Chesney concert...we need to get out more apparently!!!  Can't wait to see what year 6 brings!

Nash Farms

I am always looking for new places to take Coop and this place has popped up a few different places lately.  So, off we went to Nash Farms Friday morning!  They have what is called Farm Fridays, there is no admission, just $1 for a tractor ride and you can hang out all day if you wish...or just over an hour like we did :).  There are tractor rides, a cow to peek at, chickens to hold, gardens to water and plow, old tractors to sit on, tractors to play with...sure we will be going back!

The tractor ride, it just took you in circles around the small piece of land, but all the kids were loving it!

'

Of course he won't look at me for a picture on the ride

He wasn't so sure of holding the chickens at first, just liked them from afar

The lady working was so sweet to him, here she is showing him where they sleep and lay eggs...think she might have just kept him for the day. ;)

After about 10 minutes in the coop, he was ready to hold one...I couldn't believe it!  He seems so grown up to me in this picture!!!

Besides the chicken coop, this is where we spent most of our time.  He loved playing with all the tractors, had to drag him out when I couldn't take the sweat running down my face anymore!

Such a fun Friday morning and wore Cooper out, mission accomplished!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Dad!  Coop and I are so thankful to have him in our lives and happy to celebrate him today!  He works so hard to provide for us and plays just as hard to have fun too!

We had a great day celebrating Dad!

Dad picked out part of his Father's Day gifts last night at the bike store.  He is always talking about getting a bike trailer to take Coop with him on bike rides, so we finally got one!  Coop was so excited to pick out his own helmet at the bike store too!  The guy who sold the trailer to us recommended having the kids wear a helmet while in it just to get in the habit.  Cooper digs the helmet, so it really wasn't an issue.  His blanket and Scout joined him for company.

 Off they go!  We went out to breakfast at our favorite place, The Snooty Pig, just a few miles from our house.  The boys traveled by back and I met them in the car for a couple reasons...1. It was already too hot for me to think about walking both ways 2. It was backup in case Cooper didn't want to ride home on the bike.

 Well, he absolutely wanted to ride back home on the bike, kept saying, "bike ride!"  This is how he arrived home...completely out!

After nap, we went to the pool because it is so hot there isn't much else to do!  We came home and had short ribs for dinner and milkshakes for dessert, 2 of Dad's favorites!  Notice the lack of clothes on the boys, this is common these days with the 100 degree plus temperatures!!!

Adam and I are so thankful for our dads too!  They have taught us so much and continue to guide us in our lives.  Coopie loves his grandpa and papaw, who we know will be teaching him lots over the years!

Down on the Farm

Last time we were in Kansas, we took a trip to the farm, see here.  Coop was excited to go back and see the animals again, he has been talking about that donkey since we left.  

Chasing Uncle Greg to go feed the cows, this is about the time he slid across the gravel...

 The church peeking through the trees is where I grew up attending, got married in and where Cooper was baptized.

Checking out the cows with Grandpa

Wasn't quite sure what to think of them eating

Getting braver with the horse, tried to feed it this time.

Hanging with the Boys

Despite the couple of showers where he was surrounded by all girls, Coop did get some quality "guy time" too!  

Watching 'toons with Uncle Brock before bed time.

 Oh man, Cooper loves the Gator or "dater" as he calls it.  Not sure how many times his Grandpa and Uncles rode him around during the week.  Why is he crying in this picture??  Because I made Bryson stop so I could get a pic.  He kept saying, "no mommy."

Cousin Will slept over and was watching 'toons in Alli's bed since she was at work.  Coop woke up, went to look for Alli and climbed right up there with Will, blankets and all!

We got to see the Jones/Vermillion cousins a couple times, but this is the best pic I got.  The rest of the time I was putting Cooper in timeout for hitting/throwing things at his cousin Cash...feel the love! In this picture, Cash was watching a movie and Coop crawled up on the couch and sat right next to him. :)  

Alli's Wedding Shower

Let the wedding celebrations and countdown begin...just 4 months away from my little sis becoming a Mrs!  We had her family shower over last weekend, make that one baby shower, one family reunion and one wedding shower in 48 hours!!!  The only reason you plan like that is when you have an out of town pregnant family member that wants to make everything she can ;), thanks to everyone else for accommodating my crazy schedule!

The shower turned out great!  Tara, my mom and I hosted with help from our aunts.  It was a great kickoff to the wedding festivities.

The beaming bride :)

Coop thought he was a big help!  Alli's main wedding color is purple...how fitting is the Bed, Bath, and Beyond wrapping!  Now, what to do with all that purple ribbon??? 

Forgot to get a pic of the food and cupcakes before they were almost gone.  Aren't they cute?  And so good too!  

The M.O.B., bride and her favorite sister and sister in-law.  She is really counting on one of us to pull through with a flower girl...we'll be finding out sooner or later!

Baby Gibson's Shower

My 2 best friends from high school and I are expecting new babies just weeks of each other, in fact 2 of us are due on the exact same day!!!  While Ali and I are having baby #2, Stace is due with #1, so we had a baby shower to celebrate her bun in the oven!  Ali is having another sweet baby girl in late July to add to Emersyn, we will be waiting until late August to see what the other babies are.  It was so fun to celebrate the new baby to be and catch up with familiar faces!

Coop and Emersyn, so in love...

Kali(Emersyn's cousin) and Coop! Hate the lighting, love this picture and smiles!  

 Lots of fun baby stuff!

Here we are, bumps and all!  And, can you believe it, we will/have been pregnant on our 30th birthdays this year too!