Cooper as a Shepherd in the Nativity

Cooper and Caden Christmas 2009

Cooper's 6th Birthday

Time for the gifts!

Pure happiness

Indiana's sidekick

Indiana's cake

the birthday crew

spider web ladder

the hiding place

the treasure box

the hats...

"Indiana Jones"

My oldest turned 6 this month! Cooper wanted an "Indiana Jones" themed birthday party which by the way, is not sold in stores, so I had to find everything online. He invited a few friends from his primary class and a friend from school and family friends and a couple of his cousins came. First they had to each make their own "Indiana Jones" hat. Then they had a backyard treasure hunt, which consisted of climbing a spider - web rope ladder and then sliding into the snake pit in order to find the treasure box filled with jewels, necklaces, coins, etc. They seemed to have a blast, since Cooper kept reenacting the treasure hunt with his brother after everyone left. They all went home with a bunch of goodies and I was exhausted!

And...we always have to "relight" the candles for Caden...

Halloween 2009

A very handsome Obi-Wan Kenobi

Cooper was Obi-Wan Kenobi and Caden was a little green dragon. In spite of not being able to get a decent picture of him smiling, Caden did like his costume. He just wouldn't wear the hood for more than 5 seconds. Cooper's kindergarten teacher wanted him to come and "trick or treat" at her house, so we made a special trip over there and she loved it.

Rub a Dub Dub, 3 boys in a tub!

The boys thought it was the greatest thing to have another friend at bathtime last night... They were perfectly happy with their buddy, Soren, joining them.

Future engineer

I was in the other room when Cooper called me out to come see what he had built all by himself. It seems pretty good for a 5 year old! He even had the door and window built into it. He's been really into building things lately, and of course, sounding out every word that he hears...

Playtime

Brothers

This picture was taken by Daddy in my mom's backyard on a Sunday afternoon. I love how happy the boys look together. Wish it was always like this!

Caden's 3rd Birthday

Caden turned 3 years old today! He loved his "Madagascar" birthday party and was thrilled that it was his very own "boothday" party and cake. This is his first birthday that he kind of understood what was going on and that everything was about him. He loved all the attention. He's actually wearing the same outfit Cooper wore at 18 months. It's nice to have a "little" one who actually wears the same size for more than one season. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!

Cooper lost his top front tooth 2 days ago and was so excited for the tooth fairy to come again. This is already his 3rd tooth. The other 2 have already grown back in on the bottom. The tooth fairy left $2!

Cooper was so anxious to start Kindergarten with his new Star Wars backpack. His Teacher, Mrs. Henness, was my 6th grade teacher.

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July in Pinetop again this year. The boys loved being able to play in the woods by our cabin. Cooper caught a fish and was very proud of it. We visited the temple in Snowflake and took lots of pictures. Cooper rode the bumper cars with Daddy one day and Caden spent one day sight-seeing with Daddy. That was a great day for me! The rest of the time was spent hitting all the old lunch and shopping places with Nana, and trying to keep Caden in sight, which wasn't easy. It was a fun week.

Rocky Point

We recently got back from another trip to Rocky Point to visit "Grandma & Grandpa Great." The kids can't seem to ever get enough of the sand and the ocean. We collected sea shells, of course, and saw lots of crabs this time. Mommy ate way too much shrimp but it was delicious. We had a great time and Daddy loved using his new camera...

A blog?

Cooper

Caden

A blog? Really? I've been wanting to start a blog for some time now, but with very little free time and a super-hyper 2 year old, I didn't have much time to figure out how. Since my oldest niece is going away to college next year, I figured it would be a good time to start. So, when I have a few precious minutes to myself, I've been working on it. Hopefully I will be able to improve it as time goes on. But for now, it's finally posted!