Cooper's Spring Performance

This is about a couple weeks late and here's why...being the awesome parents we are, we didn't bring our camera or video camera!!!!  What?!  I know!  I just about died when we pulled into the parking lot and realized it...of course I remembered the chocolate chip cookies I needed to bring ;).  We figured, oh well, we'll just video on one phone and take pictures on the other.  Well, that was a nice thought until we started and our phones came up with this message..."exceeded maximum storage."  In other words, they wouldn't take more video or pictures, UGH!!!!!

Thank God for good friends who look out for your kids.  My dear friend Carolyn got some good pics and a guy Adam works with sent us the video.  

 Their class song was Run for Jesus...does that help explain the costumes? :)

 Oh my gosh, they were the cutest!

 He was in his own little world, as you will see in the video.

His class had a little cookie/drink reception in their classroom afterwards.  Clearly our kids were loving the cookies.  I asked Cooper's teachers, "what was he doing up there?!?"  They assured me that he knew the whole routine at rehearsal and it was clearly nerves...well, it was funny that was for sure.

See the video here!

Weekend in Review

Since our kids aren't really 'involved' in anything yet, our weekends are usually open for anything.  We have occasional plans but usually sleep in, eat pancakes, watch cartoons.  Not this weekend, up and out the door before 9am both days!  Here's what we were up to...

Cooper is officially signed up for tee ball this summer!  Dad took him shopping for all his gear.  When they came home I said, "We already have a tee in the backyard."  Adam's answer to Cooper, "That's why your mom didn't take you shopping for your baseball stuff."  So true. 

 Friday night they went up to a local elementary school and tested it all out.  He is so excited and loves to play baseball...we will see what happens when the season actually starts.

Saturday morning we had Coop's TOT Shine Time performance.  I decided that deserves its own post...coming soon.  

Saturday afternoon we had 2 birthday parties!  Yep, I think we have entered the friend birthday party world.  His first was at Pump It Up where he only knew the birthday boy.  In true Cooper style, he had no interest in the bounce houses until about the last 5 minutes.  Our 2nd party was for Coop's (and Laney too) friend Meghan.  

 Coop and I arrived a few minutes late from our other party.  Laney was cracking us up in the water, she was loving it!  Don't the Fimmen's have a beautiful backyard!?

She looks scared but she was loving the slide!

This morning we headed out to Arlington for the Great Strides walk in honor of Cystic Fibrosis.  I originally posted about it last month here.  At that time our Stella & Dot fundraiser show had raised $500, by the time the show closed I was able to donate $700 to Emily's Hope!  How incredible is that?!  It was a beautiful morning to walk a 5k!

 Afterwards they had a DJ, Kid's Korner with lots of games and hotdogs/chips/drinks.  It was 10:30 so Laney was the only one in the mood for a hot dog ;).  This was her dancing to The Ceiling Can't Hold Us and devouring that dog!

Coop was pretty excited to see the Texas Ranger mascot.

After naps (yep, we all took one) Dad took the kids to the swimming pool for the first time this year!  Unfortunately I went to the grocery store, boo.  I did make a quick stop by the pool to peek in on my way home.  

Such a fun weekend!

The Stauffers do Texas

Well, for 48 hours anyway.  The Stauffers are good friends of ours that live in KC.   Adam and David were roommates throughout college so when they get together, it's like they are right back in college again...but with wives and multiple kids ;).  They have 2 cute boys, Henry-2 and Charlie-6 months.

 You are looking at Friday night's dinner.  The boys went to the store and cooked up some incredible stuffed pork, original recipe inspiration from John McCormack :).  We had some friends over for dinner/drinks and to let the kids play like crazy.  Cooper and Henry went to bed at 11pm!

The next morning we headed down to The Stockyards, it's our obligatory "Texas must see" for new visitors.  Where else can you see a longhorn cattle drive down Main Street?

We usually stop by the old school candy store and

 ride a couple rides.

A natural ;)

 Boys and their boys.

 Crazy Laney and Sweet Charlie.  This boy was just along for the ride with the 3 wild and older ones.

 One of the main reasons the Stauffers visited this weekend....Kenny Chesney concert!  My incredible baby-sitter brought a friend and they kept the 4 kids from 4 in the afternoon until after midnight, great baby-sitters are priceless!!!

 The concert was at Cowboys Stadium and we had awesome seats.  This was the view straight above us...yikes!  The biggest screen in the world was hovering above us.  Yes, it's a stadium...they opened the roof up for the night, so fun!

We had a blast!  Eric Church was a great opening act, always liked him, but he just might be my new fave.  And who doesn't love Kenny Chesney?  He played for over 2 hours, high energy, full of entertainment.  The crowd also provided quite the entertainment...we saw multiple people arrested, the lady in front of us puked and peed herself, and people passed out in random places!!!  No joke people, it was crazy!

 The next morning was Mother's Day and unfortunately the Stauffers had to catch an early flight (11am is early when the night before is Kenny Chesney ;)).  Cooper and Charlie were ready for pics...we had to chase down and tackle the other two.

 Another awesome weekend of visitors!  Thanks Stauffers for coming down to see us, we loved having you here!  Next visit, Final Four 2014...rock chalk jayhawk!

Eve of the last day of preschool (year 2) and writing

Can you tell I struggled for a title?

Cooper's last day of preschool is tomorrow.  Well, not last day of preschool forever, just until September.  I am sad because it means he's one step closer to Kindergarten and the handcuffs of school schedules/homework, sad because he adores his teachers, classmates, school routine, sad because September will be here all too soon and both my babies will be in preschool.  But...I am oh so happy because he has learned and grown so incredibly much, happy that we officially have no schedule for the next 3 1/2 months!, happy to not be packing lunch 2 days a week and dragging him out of bed to rush out the door.

About that learning so incredibly much...last night we were playing outside after dinner and he found a lone piece of chalk.  He proudly says, I wrote a "D."  So, I told him if he added an A and another D, he would spell Dad.  So he did.  Then he spelled Mom on his own...what?!  Then he decided to write everyone's name in our family and he did!  Adam and I just looked at each other smiling, both of us thinking, 'when did this happen?'

 I love his current E's, they have lots of extra lines ;).

I can only imagine what this time next year will bring?!

Days with Doodles

It's Cooper's last week of preschool which also means it's my last 2 days alone with my Laney Faith.  I have loved my one-on-one time with her on Tuesdays/Thursdays.  We usually got together with friends on Tuesday mornings, didn't run too many errands because she is just not a good shopper ;), played outside whenever we could and always ate lunch just the 2 of us.  

She loves animals, (specifically puppy dogs) so the 2 of us went to the zoo this morning.  After her screaming most of the 30 minute drive...girl does NOT like being in her car seat, we had fun there!  

 It was a beautiful, sunny day!  The zoo was c-r-a-z-y with millions of field trips.  I was quickly reminded of the daily challenges teachers face.  It is such a tough job and I hope you all show your teachers extra love at the end of the school year...it is so deserved, I promise!  

 This elephant put on quite the show for her audience.  She played and played in that water making lots of noises and bringing smiles to so many faces.

 I couldn't walk away!

 The girl loved the black bear!

 I brought the stroller, it did a good job holding my bag ;).  Laney was on a mission.  She would check out each animal for about 7.5 seconds and then she was off.

Oh Laney Faith, I so loved my one-on-one time with you sweet girl!  

Stella & Dot sale and April winner!!!

Get what you really wanted for Mother's Day ;)...good thru tonight at midnight.  No code needed, discount automatically applies.

What would I get?  In bags...this and this.  Bracelets...these in ivory, green, and blue paired with this and love this stacked or alone, here.  These earrings are perfect for summer, my favorite are the aqua.

At the beginning of April, I blogged this post about Autism Awareness month with Stella & Dot.  Many of you purchased the super cute Spirit bracelet to support our cause.  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!  I wrote that everyone who purchased would be put in a raffle to win the hostess rewards (aka free product credit!).  Well, halfway into May I finally did it! 

Watch the video here on YouTube!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was my 4th Mother's Day as a Mom...shouldn't I have more answers by now to things like....cures for a runny nose, how to get a child to use manners 100% of the time, deciding if/when to take child to doctor, how to gracefully maneuver kicking/screaming 20 month old into carseat and ignore her screaming in the car???  Someone please tell me all of these answers and more kick in on my 5 year anniversary of being a Mom!

Adam and I appreciate our parents (especially our patient mothers :)) like crazy, but with each year of parenting, I think our appreciation shoots up another level.  Especially since they both had 4 and all close in age!

Mother's Day this year was perfect.  It was pretty low key, we were busy all weekend with friends in town (more on that later).  We just played and watched cartoons all morning.  Kids took long naps, I caught up on my DVR'ed shows and Us Weekly outside in the beautiful sunshiny weather.

Adam asked if I wanted dinner cooked or to go out. I didn't want to do dishes again today, so we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Of course Cooper and Laney were perfect angels....HA! Let's pretend that happened.  Instead, Cooper was playing the drums with knives and Laney was screaming to open every butter packet that came with the bread and then put stickers all over the table.  True story, luckily Cheesecake Factory is a loud place.  

 Here's what Cooper came home from school with.  The one about cutting paper...we did lots of cutting letters and paper the day before...other than that we haven't had scissors out in over a month!

There was a wait for dinner so we gave Cooper 2 choices...go run around/play by the water fountains or go to the bookstore...choice is clear.  Adam said, "he is obviously your child."  I am telling you, me and this boy are a lot alike and Laney and her Daddy are a lot alike.  I read book after book to Cooper and Adam chased Doodles around.

Blueberries and cheese sticks while we waited.  Ugh, they are both getting so big!

This is my, Oh crap I haven't got a picture today with the kids, picture.  Can you tell?  All I can see is how pasty my legs are!  Yikes!

I hope you all had the most terrific Mother's Day yet!