THREE

So far with this boy... every age is my favorite.  He is so happy, polite, nice, friendly... just plain old good natured.  His only "hard" moments are sometimes fighting with Sydney (they are siblings, that just is bound to happen) or if he is tired/hungry... then he gets really whiny.  Such a great little guy though.  I love him to pieces!

My Birthday

As an adult, your birthday becomes a little less exciting.  I've gotten used to my birthday not being a very big deal, and then when I had Cooper 4 days before my birthday, I got used to it being almost non existent.  It was recognized, of course, but just not in the same way, mostly because we just got done with a more extravagant birthday.  I learned to keep the decorations up from Cooper's party, through my birthday... but that always feels a little funny, that I decorated for my own birthday... haha.  Anyway, I'm totally at peace with my birthday not being a big deal, because really, it's not a big deal, and it doesn't need to be.  So, Matt asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday this year, and I told him I really wanted to go out to dinner.  We made plans to go out to eat on my birthday, and then to go to my sister's powderpuff football game after.  It was so fun!  We went to Asian Star, which is a big splurge for us, so it made me feel so special.  And we went early enough that we pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves, so it wasn't as stressful having our kids with us there.  Plus the food was so yummy!

We decided to sit by each other!  So fun!

The kids were so cute.  Sydney swaddled her baby in the napkin, so Cooper followed suite and swaddled his motorcycle.

 After dinner, we stopped by the cemetery to visit Papa's grave, since we share a birthday, he was definitely in our thoughts that day.  When we got home we walked in and I noticed a little hand written "Happy Birthday" sign on our back door, and I said, "aw!" ... thinking my mom came over and decorated for my birthday.  Then I turned to tell Matt, and noticed our kitchen full of people.  When I saw Alex and Jeff, I realized that Matt had planned this... not my mom.  I was completely surprised!  He got me an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins, something I've always wanted, and got the cutest balloons to decorate with.  It was so fun to have a little party together, and to eat the yummy ice cream cake!  I really felt so special, and am so grateful to everyone for being there, and especially to Matt for planning it!

Cutest flower balloons!

More cute balloons

The cake!  As yummy as I've always imagined!

After we ate our ice cream cake, we headed over to Allie's powderpuff game.  The weather was so perfect, and we had a blast.  It was funny to listen to the commentator... at one point the girls lined up 5 feet in front of the ball, and he had to tease a little about that.  And the "cheerleaders" were the football players, and were hilarious to watch.  Brett was hanging out with his friends near the field, and the kids wanted to go sit by him.  I couldn't resist snapping this picture!  They sure love him!

After we went home, got the kids to bed, and Matt and I watched a movie.  The perfect end to a great day!

Cooper's Birthday Party

We had Cooper's birthday party on the Sunday after his birthday, and had a bunch of family come over.  Cooper requested (many months ago) a monster birthday cake.  Birthday cakes are a big deal at our house, which I'm afraid is my own fault... but I really do love making my kids a cute cake for their birthday.  I just feel like it is something that shows them how much I love them.  And I always love seeing their reaction to the finished product!  Cooper's reaction did not disappoint ... he was so excited about it, loved counting the THREE eyes and the teeth, and he couldn't wait to eat it!  I'm glad he loved it so much after months of anticipation!  Cooper had many guests this year, and many presents.  It was a little more like Christmas... but he loved every minute!  It was fun to watch him feel so special!

The Cake!

Love that smile... he wanted to wear his birthday crown from school for the party...

So excited about getting a new Yankees hat... and he wanted to pose with Tim for a picture, since they were matching...

So many people love Cooper

Blowing out the candles!  It took one blow for each candle...

Finally gets to eat one of the eyes!

A picture with Sydney...

Happy Birthday Cooper!  We hope you enjoyed your party!  We love you so much!

Cooper's Birthday

WOW!  My baby is three!  Cooper's birthday was on a Friday, so he got to celebrate in school on his actual birthday.  He is so cute and tiny in my class of 4-5 year olds!  He was so excited to pick his "candles" to blow out, and still when I ask what he liked best about his birthday he says, "when I blew Sydney out first, then Daxton, then Tate!"  That was a big hit with him!

We usually do our birthday parties on Sunday, with family, but we still wanted to do something special for Cooper on his birthday.  So Matt and I decided that we would start taking each of our kids out on a special date with Dad and Mom on their birthday.  We ended up taking Cooper to the BYU game for his date, and to the Creamery after for ice cream.  It was perfect!  He LOVED it.  The Cougars played Hawaii, and killed them.  So we got to sing the fight song a lot, which was great because that was Cooper's favorite part!  It was so fun to go out with him and make him feel so special!  

So handsome in his new BYU jacket!

Pamps gave him a bag of three oreos that he could eat after lunch... he ate one, and carried the other two around all day, just waiting for the right time to eat them.

Oreo time, with Daddy!

The three of us!

My little boy!

Mid cheer... "Go Cougars!"

The cheer on video... I wish it had started recording earlier in his cheer.

While we were on our date, Sydney hung out with my mom and Allie at Grandma Great's new house.  She also had a blast, and they snapped some pictures of her with Aunt Laraine's chickens.  I'm told she was apprehensive to get too close, but she did end up petting them, and loved it. 

September, According to my iPhone

back to school haircuts... i told the stylist to cut sydney's hair barely above her shoulders, and even warned her that it was curly and would curl up shorter #shelovesit #ialmostcried #mourning

hiking #wheremattproposedabout7yearsago!

all dressed up! #favoritepic

cooper REALLY needed new church pants... his old ones were 12-18 months #longoverdue

they set up a "movie theater" to watch the thunderstorm while they eat their fruit snacks

put their swimsuits on, by themselves, and are playing in the bathtub without water... #wemisssummer

we found 3 caterpillars in our tomatoes- named them: firetruck, cinderella, and prince charming.  i took firetruck to school today.  we are all so excited to see the caterpillar/butterfly cycle happen right before our eyes #educationatitsfinest

we've been watching these caterpillars eat their leaves all day!  firetruck has eaten his all gone! #heisabeast! #fascinating

found out the caterpillars don't make cocoons, but bury themselves in the ground to become moths... #letthemgo #disappointed

sydney planted a seed for me for mother's day.  it grew in a cup on our window sill for a few months.  then we planted it outside... it grew to be about 3 feet tall... and FINALLY blossomed!  she picked out a cute flower! #gladweresistedthetemptationtothrowitaway

today's harvest! #theywillbegonetomorrow #mykidslovetomatoes

our tomatoes have taken over our "back yard" #tallerthanthefence #humongous

cooper and grandpa holmes

love my boy #makingsmores

our favorite thing this summer #makingsmores

love it when he falls asleep in funny places... preschool really wears him out! #weareallexhaustedafterpreschool

making cupcakes for his birthday treat at school tomorrow.  he picked everything out himslef and is so excited! #cantbelievemybabyisthree

birthday boy! #cantbelievemybabyisthree

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend is officially the end of summer.  We packed it full of fun, summer activities and had a blast!

Tim proposed to Breanna... so fun!  I was there to take pictures, conspicuously, in the pitch black, and rain... haha, not ideal for photography... he just couldn't wait any longer.  I'm so excited to have a new sister in our family!

We went swimming for the last time... 

And Mini-Golfing...

Cooper is so fun to mini-golf with.  He absolutely loves it!

The girls!

The Guys!

And we went on a hike, with a picnic dinner, with some friends at Snowbird.  This is actually the spot that Matt proposed to me... funny enough!