Cooper's Birthday

Well, we FINALLY celebrated Cooper's Birthday. It got a bit sidetracked with our trip to Texas, but hey, the kid is 2, he will never know we waited 2 weeks to celebrate. He is absolutely the funniest, caring, energetic, life of the party kind of kid I have ever met. (I'm not just saying that as is mom, it's true, but I could be a little swayed to vote for him.)
* Favorites:
- If the boy had the $ and a car, I swear he would head straight to the tattoo shop to get Diego on his arm. The kid LOVES Diego, only his pet name isn't so nice. He's known as DoDo in our house.
- And the only competition for Diego is "Traurs" as in Truck + Cars = Traurs
He could watch one or both of these programs at any given time (and has simultaneously watched both. Don't ask, I never said we were the best of parents, you do what you got to do sometimes.
- C-A-N-D-Y! Need I say more? He literally scales the pantry shelves like Spider man trying to get his yummy treats.
- Anything stereotypical of a Manly Boy! Trucks ramming into things, throwing things to see if they break, flipping over couches, chairs, jumping the stairs 2 at a time.... Basically anything that gives his mother a heart attack. He's so boy it's not even funny, but we wouldn't have him any other way.

Now for the things we don't like so much:
- Anyone to say NO to him. That's pretty much it.
Oh, and anything that confines him such as strollers, grocery carts or high chairs. Other than that, he's a happy boy!

Pics with Santa

And of course the famous picture with Santa. Morgan did it like a champ. Asking Santa for a "trip to Texas, a hula hoop and a horse stable." Cooper, obviously, didn't ask for anything but to get away from the crazy guy in the red suit.

Plays & Pageants

Morgan had two programs last week. She was a kitty in the Nativity story at church. (Don't ask, I have no idea why they have kitties at the manger, but whatever, who am I to question.) She's in the front on the floor to the left in a black kitty outfit.







But Cooper thought that if she was going to have her face painted, so was he....

Christmas

That catches up to the Christmas season. Since none of you will actually be here to see our crap decorations and tree, here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Snow Days

And then the snow came. Now we are pretty happy to see the snow the first time, even the second time, but man, you hit late Dec. or Jan and you are cussing the stuff. I have nearly taken some nose dives on the slippery ice this week, all while holding Cooper. He's use to lots of falls, but I think I am too old for it.

Morgan always does her traditional "snow angel" with the first snow. This is Cooper's first year to be able to run around in it and he can't get enough!

Go Raiders

And a HUGE thank you to Aunt Kim for the awesome Texas Tech shirts! The kids love them and you know how Stephen feels about it! They are so cute in them. Thanks Aunt Kim & Uncle Mike! Hopefully they will bring luck when we got to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2nd.

The Gym

And with all that Feasting... we needed some excercise. That's where the saving grace of the gymnastics center comes in. A HUGE padded place for Cooper to run around safely. It's like heaven on earth. It is literally the ONLY place that he asks to go home and actually WALKS afterwards. Have you ever seen Cooper walk? No? That's because he doesn't UNLESS he has been doing flips and jumping in the foam pit for an hour. Morgan loved watching the real gymnists do their thing and has now been bitten by the gymnastics bug. Not to mention the soccer bug, the horse riding bug, the piano lessons bug, the art classes bug. Thank goodness she is only getting the "Spelling tests and reading homework bug" right now.

Morgan's class had the cutest feast party. Stephen and I both got to attend. You should have seen the teacher so impressed that a Dad came to spend an hour & a half with 19 screaming first graders. Morgan was so proud. Her Indian name was Horseland. Who would have thought she would pick a horse name?

Thanksgiving

Wow, why do I even call it a blog if I never blog on it? Sorry about that guys. So let's back up a bit to Thanksgiving. Hope you all had a good one & have worked off the Turkey in time for the Christmas baking to begin.

We had a great Thanksgiving with some dear friends we found here in Indiana. (Angela literally finds my sanity for me at least twice a month. It's usually lost at the coffee shop, or that's where we end up picking it up)

And we get the pleasure of having Christmas with these people. (Not sure why they are asking for the punishment of having to spend holidays with us Osburns, but they are and we are thankful.)

Cooper is as crazy as ever, but I think we have tapped into a talent. It does run in the family... Bull Riding!

He has been watching rodeos on TV and then acting them out on his Zebra. So funny.

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.