The one with the Bachlorette Party....

Kelly is getting married in less than 3 weeks!!! AHHH so exciting. For those who don't know, Kelly is one of my childhood cheer buddies. We have been besties for many many years.... Like the years when Backstreet boys were cool, Ford Mustangs were cool, when ribbons tied in your pony tail was cool and when $.29 cheeseburgers where a must on Wednesdays!! We go way back, so it brings me great joy that she is settling down and marrying the man of her dreams. Boy did we both have to go through some LOSERS to get to the point where we are now.... anyway, we had her bachlorette party this weekend down in the Keys and it was SOOOOOO much fun. It was nice to have a weekend where I could sleep until 9:30, not change any diapers and only worry about feeding my self. Not that I didn't miss Cooper but it is nice to have a break every now and then. We stayed at a beautiful resort Friday thru Monday. It is someplace I would definitely take Josh too, he would have loved it. The skies were clear, the water was blue and the beer was ice cold. We all enjoyed our fair shares of cocktails, gossip and seafood. But as anything good, it came to an end and I am back to reality.... Cooper is doing well in school, although we kinda were scolded for not having practiced enough with him using a spoon and a plate. Since he eats at a high chair at home we don't typically give him a plate. At school they use one and you know what he does, flips it right up side down and all the food on it goes straight to the floor. So these past few days I have been feeding him on a plate and giving him a spoon. The spoon gets thrown across the room, but at least the food is eaten off the plate. You know, we talked about it and I really don't want to put so much pressure on Cooper to hold a spoon. I mean obviously he will get it and obviously he is smart, but when I teach him to use a spoon and feed himself, I will no longer have a little baby. I feel like that is asking him to grow up too quickly.... so we are just going with it. If he wants to throw his spoon, WHO CARES THROW IT BABY!!!!

Anyway, pictures from my weekend. I don't have any of Cooper to share, just of me and my girls....

The resort

Bridesmaids

Show me your green!!

LOVE

The one with the fair....

Well, this weekend was beautiful outside and there was a fair, just not in Cumming, like I thought. We drove up to the fair grounds and there was go cart racing. Much to my dismay, I double checked the website and I was totally off. The fair was in the City of Forsyth, not the County of Forsyth. Just a small oversight, so we took off to Dahlonga for lunch and to walk around. So it turned out to be an awesome day despite my error.... Ooppssss!

Updates on Cooper, he is doing great in daycare. He is coming home worn out, so it makes for a heavy sound sleeper at nights. No complaints here on that. He has about 12 teeth now, starting to get the back ones, so eating is getting easier. He is starting to become a little more picky on what he eats. Like any other child, chicken nuggets, fish sticks and pizza is a fav. He knows what "no" means. When we tell him no, his bottom lip starts to curl and he cries for like 2 seconds. He understands most of what we say and do. Josh and I think he is borderline genius. We were vacuuming yesterday and as we were putting it up, Cooper brought us some of the tools and actually put them on the vacuum where they belong. He is smart and it's so cool watching him learn and explore. He is becoming very very onary, pulling things out of the pantry and dumping them out, pulling wood chips from the grilling drawer and dumping them out.... Good thing we have hard wood floors, it makes for an easy clean up. I hate sweeping and I have did it twice the other morning. I feel like this is just the beginning of knowing what "no" means, he looks at me when I say it, and does it anyway. You know that I was skeptical last month about brushing his teeth, I was worried for no reason. Cooper loves it. Mainly because it tastes fruity and he can swallow the toothpaste, but he totally cheeses so I can brush his teeth. He is such a cutie!!

Josh and I had our weekly date night on Saturday (the day changes weekly, depending on Kroger sales!!). When I say date night, I mean when Cooper goes to bed, we drink a bottle of wine and eat something AWESOME at the house, so check out what this weekend was....

Is your mouth watering, because mine is!!!!

LOVE

The one with the Jury Duty....

I got summoned to appear a few months or so ago, was called a few days later to say I didn't need to report. I was kinda bummed. I thought it would be interesting to serve and be apart of the court system. Anyway, the courts called me back and told me to report. The excitement was rekindled. Monday morning I reported at The Forysth County Court House, I was called to questioning in panel 1 out of 9. We quickly made our way to the court room. The questioning began. While the judge read the indictment, I cringed. I was secretly praying, please don't pick me for this case. Don't get me wrong, I was so intrigued by the process. I would not have studied criminal profiling if I didn't. Which is probably why I wasn't chosen as a juror. Because of the nature of the case, the state and defense dug deep into our personal lives. Probably things I wouldn't even share with most of you... anyway, luckily they asked if any of us were psychology/sociology majors and criminal justice or related field majors ( I minored in it) but thank goodness I spoke up. It seems the defense was someone so ignorant they can't even spell defense. So at 6:30 pm Monday night I was finally released to go home. Josh is out of town this week, so I was late to pick Cooper up. I felt like the WORST mother in the whole world. The little guy probably thought I forgot about him :( But atleast I was not picked as a juror. My name goes back into the pool and I will probably have to do it all over again one day.

On a lighter note, Cooper has moved up to the "toddler"class at school. The day they started to transition him over there, they opened the door, he ran in and never looked back. He isn't in the toddler room full time. He is with his previous class for breakfast. Mainly because I drop him off there. I don't want him to experience TOO much change at once. Anyway, Cooper does fantastic, despite being the youngest/smallest in there. A Spanish teacher comes a few times throughout the week to speak to the children and sing to them. I wish I could have seen his face when the lady was talking, because his teacher told me he cocked his head side ways and looked at the lady like WTF are you saying!?!? Needless to say, I should probably speak to him in more than one or two words in Spanish. He got Student of the Week this week. He is trying to hard to keep up with the other kids, running, playing and actually sitting and listening. He sleeps on a mat, not in a crib and eats at a kids table not a high chair. They say he does absolutely wonderful and is sweet as can be. A funny story, they go outside and play twice a day (Cooper LOVES it). So most kids lose their shoes and keep on running like it never happened. Cooper stops what he is doing, picks up the shoe and brings it to the teacher to put back on. He is a riot. I think a lot like me, he really doesn't like things out of place. Even though he is looking more like Josh everyday, he is acting more like me everyday. Gotta love that little boy!!! Well I think I rambled enough tonight. Catch up with you this weekend, we plan on going to the Kids Fair in downtown Cumming on Saturday.... ( I didn't have any new pictures, so this one will do... it is cute enough, right???)

My new favorite picture, BEAUTIFUL

xoxo

The one with the horses....

We traveled to Ohio las weekend to visit Josh's dad. Had it not been FREEZING we may have had Cooper riding a horse by the end of the weekend. Well maybe not riding but at least a little more comfortable around them. It was so cold the entire time we were there we hardly went outside. It was a very nice, relaxing and cozy trip. We stayed in the living room by the furncace a lot. I would eat, take a nap, eat again and take a nap. Josh and I learned that one of our favorite things to do on vacay is sleep. So when Cooper sleeps we sleep. Not a bad plan, uh? Anyway, Jeff and Deanna are doing good. I think they really loved spending time with coop. Since we've had Coopper I think the fam enjoys him more than us!!! I mean why wouldn't you??? He's so stinkin cute..... We got his school pictures back and OMG we totally have the cutest kid in the whole world. I mean I really hate bragging but I can't help it. And what really helps is he is not camera shy. Just like me, you put a camera in my face and I instantly smile! So we are ordering some prints and should get them soon. Gaaaahhh school pictures are expensive, I will be going broke purchasing these each year, but it's totally worth it.

Papa Jeff

Nana introducing Cooper to Pepper

 

I think Rosie is hungry, look out Jeff!

Meeting Red

someone got into the Cheeto bag on the way home....

LOVE

The one with picture day....

Cooper had his first school pictures on Thursday. As usual he was a stud. I don't have his pics yet, but I hope I can buy enough to share!!! He was so handsome. The teachers said he did good and smiled for the camera! Yay!!! I got a few snap shots of him before we left. See the preview.....

chheeeeeeeeeeeeseeee

Where did my baby go????

Cooper is learning more and more words every day! It is so exciting!! Today his teacher told me he could count to FIVE!!! Of course when I got there he wasn't having anything to do with speaking English. So I worked with him a little... and I will say one and he actually says TWO! It is too stinkin cute I tell ya!


Not much else is going on. Trying to get back on track from being in Jax last weekend. It was a quick trip for Kelly's bridal shower. Down on Friday night and back on Sunday. The trips are quick, but it's good to go home every now and then, we just wish it was longer. We we are making progress on the basement. I drew out the dimensions of the kitchen and the cabinets and fridge (he gives me all the hard tasks) LOL anyway, he ordered a ton of wire from amazon and we should be getting that soon, you know he needs like special 100 cords for the massive TV (we don't have) and the surround sound ( we don't have yet) but whatev, this year is his year for spending the McCarty mula. I did a good job of that last year, so this year it's his turn!!! We did get the plumber out here. For those who have every showered here or ram water know that it practically drips out of the faucets so FINALLY we got someone out her to fix it. I was sooooo excited, I had to test it out and shower when I got home from work. There is a huuuuuuge difference. OMG I am thinking how the heck did I got this long with such awful water pressure. Anyway, the plumber is coming back to give us a quote on the things we need to, well, have plumbed.... I guess what's what you say, plumbed???? So hopefully we can get water to our "kitchen" soon. The important things first, bar and tv wires!

The Bride to be and her Maids

LOVE

The one with the 15 month old....

Cooper is 15 months today! He had his check up too. He is 23 lbs and 31 inches long. Doc says we are doing everything right, he is healthy and active. We knew that! Did I mention stubborn??? He is screaming right now because he cant pull the Wii controllers out of the drwaer. He needs to figure it out on his own, hopefully he does soon.... He is LOUD! I do need to start brushing his teeth, how do I do that? He only let's food in that mouth of his....???? I could use some tips :)

So we made a lot of progress on the basement this weekend. We got the extra room (playroom), office, hallway and closet all wired with working power!!! Josh did one room Saturday and was so stoked I had to see what all the fuss was about. So Sunday, I got on my working clothes and me and Coop headed down to do some work!! You know Cooper had his hammer in hand ready to help. We were down there til about 3:30 on Sunday and cooper was such a good little boy. He stayed out of trouble just watching us and playing with his toys. I have a block set that my Papa made when I was a kid that is down there that kept his entertained! Good thing my parents saved those blocks all these years, I remember being obsessed with them. Anyway, I am really taking a liking to this DIY project. HGTV should totally follow us! This will be a success not a disaster though. First I started off with shop vacuuming the whole place. A clean workspace is a happy one! Then it was down to business. I was in there connecting the wires to the outlets. I don't know how to explain it technically but when we hooked it up to the transformer, the lights turned on and the outlets worked!!! We were so excited!! We added a light to the closet that is underneath stairs and installed outlets and overhead lights in each room. Now if we can get Josh home early this week, maybe we can get the bathroom done. Once we do that, we need to get a plumber out to get us water to the bar ( very important!) and then we can start Sheetrock. With all that, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we just really needed to focus! Hopefully thing continue to go smoothly, keep your fingers crossed. I am super excited to see the final product!

yea, thats me!!!

Have a great week!!!
LOVE

The one where we dedicate our lives to the basement....

We are starting to get serious on the basement. Josh has been gunghoe this week ordering more supplies on line and working down there. We are making some headway. This weekend we working on getting actual power to all the outlets and wiring he has done. Our neighbor Mike is really getting us inspired, he is hammering up some dry wall his self!!! So once we get this electrical junk down we can make it look like an actual room, rather than seeing insulation and bare wood. That's where I come in, for the painting. I don't mind painting, infancy I have down many rooms upstairs as you know, all I need is wine!!!! So in wishful thinking, we hope to have the basement complete this year!!! Yay man cave! Donations are accepted. Haha TOTALLY KIDDING but if you do come stay, bring your tools :)

So we have a wild, hyper non-stop running, screaming laughing toddler on our hands! Did I mention he is getting his back teeth?? He will be eating steak in no time. Wait maybe I shouldn't introduce him to steak at such an early age, or it will be an expensive road ahead. Anyway, I saw the 3 ( I think) new teeth. I can't get my fingers in there cause he has a hard bite, so when he laughs I try to take a sneak peek. He has his 15 month check up Monday, that's right 15 months. He is starting to say a few words, other than his favorite word "mommy" he says daddy, ball, thank you, juice and NO. He also has his own language we haven't quite figured out. The pointing and grunting is be becoming a popular method of communication. It is super fun and exciting watching him grow. He is such a little sponge. I am anxious to see how much he weighs. Josh and I weigh our selves most mornings, Cooper started to pick up on it and while we were getting ready he went and stood on the dang scale. I think it read 23 lbs! So he still dislikes the swings, but love love loves playing on the slides.

playing on the slides, NOT the swings

23.3lbs

Get in my belly

Off to supervise the baesment construction!!! I will keep you posted on our progress! Happy Saturday.

LOVE