Morgan

Well our lazy days of summer are over and we are back into the swing of things. Morgan has been at school for a month now and it is amazing to see the progress. She has Aced both of her spelling tests and the girl is reading like crazy... She is reading and spelling everything, which makes it really hard on parents who have always relied on spelling things out that they didn't want kids to know.

Lots of exciting things for Morgan lately: First grade is challenging, but fun and she adores her teacher. She started riding the school bus, and loves it most days. I love the time it gives me that I don't have to wait in line at the school. She has had her first sleepover, and her second also. She is playing soccer again, and getting better every time. My little girl is growing up so fast. In some ways I absolutely love it, and in others I miss my little girl. She just turned 6 (thank you Mama Sug & Papa, Aunt Stacie & Uncle Lee, Papa Ron & MamaSharon, Jake & Aunt Kim, and Emma Jean for such great presents.) and even had a birthday party in our neighborhood with a friend, Ben. Luckily we have a great group of neighbors, even if they aren't as great as all of our family and friends. And yes, I did make the cake. They wanted horses and tractors, that's the best I could do.

Cooper

And Cooper... what do you say about Cooper. Let's start with him learning how to unlock the front door. You add that to the fact that he can stand on toys and push the garage door openers and you have quite a crafty kid... But when you couple that with the fact that he can push the baby gate blocking his doorway at night and get out, and manage to get downstairs at 3am without his parents knowing it, you have got one huge mess. But don't worry, he didn't try to get outside, he just got stuck standing in his high chair screaming for a snack. Did I mention that it was 3 am?

He is one entertaining kid though. Charming as heck and cute as a button. He & I started PIT (Parent, Infant, Toddler) classes and he is really doing good. Well, except for storytime. He thinks that is just a warm up for snack time so he runs back in forth to the tables waiting for everyone else to finish their silly little story so we can eat. He also started Stay and Play at the daycare too. This means he stays & I get to go play! Yea! Other than that, he just follows his Daddy around like a shadow and loves pulling his sister's hair. The usual boy stuff.

1st day of 1st grade.

Boys grow into Daddies

Our last Hooray for the summer was having our friends, the Slaymakers, come for Labor Day. Cooper and Alex are getting as close as Morgan and Emma. Only the boys are taking up their dad's tradition of workaholics and even playing on kid laptops. Like fathers like sons.

Stephen among the jeep rally that terrorizes our neighborhood like it's Bike Week at Sturgis.

Cooper gave out and crashed on Mike's shoulder at Morgan's Party.

Our Lazy Summer

I am a horrible person that must just not love my family. For I have not posted one single picture in quite some time. Please forgive me, I do love all my family, and friends who humor me with looking at our virtual photo albums online. I will catch you up on our summer. We have been lazy... that's about it. With a trip to Texas in between. Other than that, laziness, and the forecast until Aug. 12th (when Morgan starts 1st grade)is calling for laziness. We are relaxing & enjoying our summer. Our neighborhood is finally getting more homes built and we are really enjoying the neighbors. (That will work out nicely when it's 2 degrees outside with 10 inches of snow & we just want to see faces other than our own.) We have been doing nothing of significance to write about, but we have some cute pictures of our laziness if you care to look. Miss you all!

Lil Man

Here's a token picture of Cooper, just because my last 3 posts have been of Morgan.

Last Day of School

Here are the pictures of the first day of Kindergarten & the last day of Kindergarten.

Can't a girl find a quiet place to read around here!

Summer officially starts today! Yeah! I have been looking forward to having my sweet girl around again. But I think she is struggling to find some "alone time." Hence, the fact that she is reading books out on the driveway. (Don't worry Mom, I was outside with her so no one would run over her :)

Happy Memorial Day

Morgan had her very own parade outside.

Purdue Spring Fest

Purdue had their annual Spring Fest, only it wasn't so Springy! It was 40 degrees, sleeting and heavy winds. But like any good midwesterners, we went and braved the weather. It wasn't so bad in the tents, but Cooper had a lot to say when we weren't in tents. I can't understand a word of what he says yet, but I can tell you there was some cussing going on. Morgan & Stephen ate chocolate covered crickets. You might ask how those taste, or at least I did. And the answer is: you don't taste it, but you sure do feel it crunch. Gross! I stopped them before the stir fried worms. Morgan had a wonderful time milking cows, petting bunnies & riding horses, Cooper was still cussing when we left and proceeded to the whole way home. Maybe he will enjoy it next year.

Soccer

Our first Soccer Game! Morgan had a blast and played most of the game. We were so proud of her and it was neat to see her so proud of herself. No granted, we did lose 8-1 and pretty much at any given moment there was at least 1 child just standing there picking grass, but it was exciting. At the end of the game all of the parents make a tunnel for both teams to run through. Here is our little Mia Hamm.

It's Gone

They "yea's" outweighed the "neigh's" and I got the rat tail cut off today. Cooper did good for his first haircut. The girl had to have tremendous patience to just let him twist his head all around trying to see all of the t.v.'s. Morgan always does a great job, but it did make me laugh that she passed up the pink car to go straight to the bulldozer. No matter how girly I try to make her, she just isn't. It's pretty cool though.

Rat's Tail

Let's take a vote, basically because I have lost the house vote 2-1. Stephen and Morgan seem to think that this rat's tail on the back of my sweet baby's head is cute. I however think it needs to go. I would love to hear some support for my side. However this was a really bad hair day for the boy, and he is utterly adorable otherwise. (See other pictures :)

Happy Easter

We hope all of you had a great Easter holiday. Although we weren't able to spend the holiday with family, we were blessed enough to spend it with close friends that are just like family. We made the 7 hr. drive to Des Moines, IA and spend a few days with Mike, Misty, Emma Jean, & Alex. It was so great and entertaining to see the kids all together. Sometimes their conversations just crack me up. Cooper, of course, showed off his climbing skills and went up their stairway several times, and fell down them only a couple. (Might I add only once while I was there and Stephen still hasn't fessed up to how many times while I wasn't there) Luckily there was a landing halfway. The girls did great in church and Morgan took communion for the first time. Emma walked her through it and right after they took it, Emma leaned over at the alter and said, "That's good, huh?" It was hilarious.
Then we made a trip to Lincoln to visit my Grandmother & cousin TJ and his kids. It was one fun filled day of Chilren's museum, lunch and topped off with Grammy's homemade chicken noodle soup and brownies. That is worth the 3 more hours of a drive to get there from Iowa. Then we had a 10 hr. drive home. There Cooper exercised his lungs the entire trip, except when he was sleeping to rest up for another round of screaching. But we made it safe & sound with lots of hugs & memories from the trip.