KC Cousins

We were able to meet up with the Vermillion/Jones clan a couple times on our KC visit.  Coop and Cash were definitely struggling between a love/hate relationship.  One minute they were fine and playing and the next, somebody was crying.  Sure to be just the beginning!  

 Playing trains together, of course actually looking at the camera and smiling would have been too much :)

What's wrong with this picture?  See Braeden at the bottom of the driveway...he was their personal ball boy, since one of them was rolling a ball down every 3 minutes.

We were so happy to be able to have birthday dinner with 9 year old Ava-Grace!  I just love this picture, even though Cooper was not cooperating one bit!

Life on the Farm

Coop is such a boy when it comes to his fascination with any type of truck, construction vehicle, tractor, lawnmower, etc.  We read all about them in books and are always on the lookout in the car.  Given this I thought he would love nothing more than to ride on a real tractor, right?  Yeah, not so much.  On our way home from the airport Bryson happened to be working on a tractor, so we stopped by.  Coop was so excited until he got up close and personal with the live and loud machine...see below.

Tried to lock him in with Bryson, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

Maybe next visit...

Keeping up with the farm theme, we went down to my Grandmas to see the farm life and lots of tractors up close (not running, thankfully:)).

Can't remember why, but my Grandma is housing a donkey on the farm these days.  He was quite friendly and wanting some attention, but the horse was often running him off.  We even got to listen to him "eee-haw."  Now, Cooper will say, "donkey eee-haw."  

 He was lovin' the huge dirt pile!  My grandma is building a house so this was all the dirt from digging the basement.

 With Aunt Alli...the newly poured basement in the background

Definitely liked the non-running tractor better!

Random Thoughts at 21 Months

Yes, we are still here...long time, no post, huh?  We had a busy and fun week back in Kansas and I just put blogging on hold.  Well, here's what happens when I do that...I have so many photos to go thru that I just keep putting it off!  I will fill you in on our fabulous week later, for now, here are some notes on our 21 month old!

* talking non-stop, will repeat just about anything you ask him to or not ask him to!  We really have to watch our choice of words these days...enough said!  starting to talk in phrases.

* first sign of Texas accent??  When asking where someone/thing is, Coop answers, "right theeerrree."  Don't know how to type out a Texas twang, but it is so there and hilarious...will try to get it on video soon!

*napping 2-3 hours in afternoon, going to bed 8:30-9 at night and getting up 7:30-9 in the morning.

*still loving Toy Story and is often randomly naming all the characters

*the love of sports continues as well, we spend countless hours a day with balls- kicking, shooting, passing, and even dribbling now.

*enjoys watching Dancing with the Stars :)

*definitely knows about the baby and often kisses my belly, if you ask him what we are naming it, he says, "Chuckieeeeee."  (We can thank Aunt Alli for that one:))

*When waking up in the morning and from naps, usually refuses to get out of bed, wants books in bed with him, as evidenced in the picture below

I feel like I say this every month, but this is such a fun age!  He is learning so much everyday and if we all could view the world from his angle, pretty sure it would be a much happier place :).

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all you moms had a fabulous Mother's Day, I did!  Yesterday, I got the gift of freedom...all morning long alone to do whatever!  I went shopping and then realized it's not all that fun when pregnant :).  The styles were definitely more pregnancy friendly when I was pregnant with Coop, everything seems so short...dresses, shirts, shorts, is it just me?  Anyway, not attractive!!!

Last night Adam and I went out with the Dieckhaus' to celebrate Amanda's birthday, the Fimmens were sweet enough to watch and keep Coop overnight!!!  So, I woke up childless on Mother's Day, but picked him up bright and early so poor Carolyn wasn't spending all Mother's Day morning with an extra kid!  Dad made pancakes for us, we went to church and Fuzzy's for lunch...so good!!!!!  We spent the afternoon around the house and playing outside, which was so nice.  I am in the in middle of Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series and had a hard time putting it down today!

Happy Mother's Day to our Moms!  Adam and I think we are the luckiest people to have grown up with our moms, they taught us so much and are the best Grandmas to Cooper!  Same goes for our Grandmas who we are fortunate enough to still have in our lives! 

I feel so lucky to be a Mom to this sweet boy...can't wait to see if next Mother's Day I am a mom to 2 boys or one of each!!!

Finger Painting and Cinco de Mayo

The only thing these two things have in common is that we happened to finger paint on Cinco de Mayo...

I realized today that we hadn't sent cards to Coop's Great Grandmas for Mother's Day.  So, after nap out came the finger paints.  We haven't tried them since here and then he really had no interest, kind of had to force him to do it.  Fast forward 5 months later and he has accepted the messiness of finger painting a little more.

 Obviously stripped down to diaper for this!

 In the end he wasn't too messy besides his hands.  We used the Crayola Washable Finger Paints and they work great!  So easy to clean up afterwards!!!

The finished product!  He even let me do his handprint!  These cards are in the mail to Great Grandmas...as neither of our Grandmas are surfing the web in their free time, I am pretty sure I'm safe to post this before they receive their cards ;).

So, for some crazy reason this photo won't rotate???  Never had this problem before!  Anyway, Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I made homemade guacamole and nachos for dinner...delicious!  Just doesn't seem right to have a water next to my plate, man, a margarita was sounding sooo good today!!!  

Stella and Dot Sale

I think this is a perfect Mother's Day gift!

What a unique necklace and only $22!  

This is like 3 necklaces in 1 because the 3 charms are removeable!  You can wear one, two or all three!

To order, visit my website at www.stelladot.com/ashleyjones.  Contact me at ash4545@hotmail.com if you have any questions!!!

Weekend Fun

Dad was out of town for work over the weekend, and while he was definitely missed, Coop and I still had lots of fun!  The best part was that he surprised us by showing up Sunday morning, we didn't expect him home until Monday!

Friday night we watched a few of the sweet girls I used to teach play volleyball.  Coop was still in the womb when I taught them.  Cooper loved watching them, very intrigued by the games.  He sat on my lap the whole time watching and eating his Happy Meal.  Afterwards, we stayed to chat and sweet McKendry played ball (more like chased the ball he kept throwing) with him.  He was all smiles and gave her lots of kisses before we left.

Saturday morning we headed to Keller Fest, just minutes from our house.  It is a big, outdoor event with lots of booths, live entertainment, and carnival rides.  The morning was beautiful and we soaked it all in!

 Hard to believe that is my sensitive child in a bounce house and he climbed in all by himself!  However, he didn't move from this position the whole time :).  There were big kids jumping and he wasn't quite sure what to think!

 Lovin' the bubble machine!

 Of course, had to stop to play some soccer.  Still need to work on that idea that you don't use your hands in this sport :).

 This petting zoo experience was night and day from here a couple months ago.  He was super excited to get him and pet the animals all by himself.   He was even trying to feed the llama!

 He kept saying, "pat, pat, pat, goat."

After a long nap, we headed over to the Fimmens for dinner and to play.  Tom, Meghan, and Cooper all eating dinner outside...they spent a lot of time 'shooing the flies' away. :)   After dinner we went on a walk to the Sno-Cone stand, it was Cooper's first and he loved it!  He was completely silent, refused to share and wanted no help eating it.

After sno-cones the kids were a sticky mess, so Carolyn was gracious enough to let me stick Coop in the tub with her kids and loan us jammies for the night!  After bath, the kids were busy playing Elefun.  Here they are with their nets, trying to catch the butterflies flying out of the Elephant's nose!  A perfect game for this age!!!

A busy couple of days before the downfall of rain the last 24 hours!