The one with Sunday Funday....

Happy Sunday everyone.... and Happy Birthday to my Grandma Herrmann who turned 89 yesterday!!! Dad has been over in Alabama all week, spending some quality time with her. At the rate she is going there is no doubt she will live another 20 plus years! She is doing amazing! Next year, we are going to have to plan a big bash for her.

Today Josh, Cooper and I (we had to leave Hank at home for this outing) went to a Spring Festival down in the city. There were a lot of art vendors, a lot of food vendors and our fav, a lot of beer vendors! We walked around the streets of Inman park, had a couple beers, soaked up the sun rays and enjoyed local artists work. We gawked at the gorgeous houses that lined the streets, many we may never be able to afford but it sure was nice to look. After a few hours, Cooper started to get antsy. Luckily there was a kid zone and when we got there Cooper took off running. There was toddler area the he just ate up! Although he did get upset when the other kids tried to steal his toys. Cooper held his own against what looked liked a 3-4 year old and yanked his toy back. He wasn't giving up the lawn mower, after all Cooper had it first! His favorite part, of course, was the slide.

Yet again, we are arriving at another Monday.... Have a great week!

LOVE

The one with Hank...

We had a great weekend and I am already ready for another one. Don’t you think that we should work Saturday and Sunday and have off Monday thru Friday??? I hate spending so much time away from my family, but such as life. Anyway, the weekend was filled with lots of love and family. My grandparents came to visit late last week for the weekend. They really got to spend some quality time with Cooper which I think they had been lacking (and spending time with me and Josh). They got to “experience” the green egg and loved every bit of it. Sunday, my dad came in town for the night. He too, got some of the EGG. Josh smoked some of the best ribs I have ever had, literally. My mouth is watering thinking of them. AMAZING. I am thinking we need to open up a BBQ restaurant. With our families good home southern style cookin recipes and Josh’s grill skills, it would be a hit. Now I just need to learn how to cook those recipes!

Mamaw and Papa <3



Thank you Mamaw and Papa!!

delishousness

The main event of the weekend took place at the Animal Shelter, where we found and adopted a cat, Hank (formally known as Yogi). He is the newest addition to the family. Hank is about 6 months old. Cooper just loves him. Since we got him at a shelter he is a little skittish especially when a toddler is running towards him. LOL. Cooper runs around with the feathered bell toy looking for “ki-ki”, which in Coopers language is Kitty Cat. He was so excited when we got home yesterday from school to find the ki-ki. Hank is doing great thus far. He already knows where is litter box is, where his food is and loves being around all of us. I hear him purr all the time. He is a feisty little one at night too. I know they say cats are nocturnal, but we are going to need to get this one trained to sleep when we sleep!!

Hanky Pants

We had Kelly and Jason’s wedding, Easter weekend. It was a total success: gorgeous bride, amazing weather, beautiful ceremony and rocking reception! We had a blast. The whole day was so emotional, when it’s one of your best friends you can’t help but feel this over whelming happiness. We’ve known each other since we were kids. So seeing her marry the man of her dreams and the man she always hoped she would find brought tears to my eyes all day. I was even crying when I was walking down the aisle as a bridesmaid. Crazy, I know, but the waterworks were flowing!! I think we (all the bridesmaids) felt the same. She was such a stunning bride! I took a picture off Facebook the her photographer posted: West House Photography, Krystal really did a fanatic job!!!

West House Photography

PhotoBooth Bridesmaids

I have a few photos from the weekend….

Cool Cat

LOVE

The one with the independent baby....

Check this cute lil video out... I have been working with Cooper everyday using a spoon or a fork. It looks like he is FINALLY starting to get it. It may not be pretty but its so darn cute! Soon he won't need his momma to help he eat.

He is doing good in school. I picked him up yesterday and he was wearing a cute girly back pack, running around the class room. It was soo funny. Then a cried when I took it off!! He isn't a big lunch eater at school. He really loves the snacks.... as for the chicken casserole with the "hidden" peas and carrots- not so much. When I was growing up, I loved Kid Kuisines, cheese quesadillas and ravioli. My mom just made sure I popped in a Flintstones vitamin daily, so I think I am going to take up the same motto. Look at me now, I eat everything!! Last night I sat there and tried to feed him green beans. He totally wasn't having it. Screaming and crying until he couldn't breathe. I sat there the whole time, calm. Each time he took a small breather I would try to feed him again. He would tell me NO. He didn't even like the green beans sitting on his plate. So I gave in after 15 minutes of screaming and gave him chicken nuggets!! I thought if I waited long enough he might actually eat the green beans, but not so much. It isn't really a battle I want to fight. He obviously isn't malnourished, so for the time being if my kid only wants chicken nuggets and fruit, so be it :)  OH YEA, we got his school pictures this week!!! So cute! I can't wait for you all to see. I will post them soon.

So it is 8:30 Saturday morning, Josh is playing golf with Allan and Cooper is still in bed. We are so blessed to have a child who actually enjoys sleeping or at least lays in his crib until he hears someone up. It is nice to enjoy a cup of coffee in peace and quiet! All you mommas out there KNOW what I am talking about!!! After his bath last night, I could totally tell he was tired. I asked him if he wanted to go "Night Night" and he grabbed his bear off the floor and headed straight for his crib and put his hands up. I pinched my self to make sure I wasn't dreaming!!! I put him in bed and not a peep. I usually NEVER hear anything from him once he goes to sleep. We are truly blessed with an angel :)

The one with the natsy gram....

We got another nasty gram from the HOA last week telling us our pinestraw is grey....ummmm hello who does yard work in the WINTER!!! The jerks went around the first day of spring sending out nasty grams to pratically everyone in the neighborhood. Its not that we weren't going to add pretty flowers and updated the pinestraw, its just the prinicpal that these people have nothing better to do!! Anyway, this past weekend we did nothing but yard work. Satruday we prepped the yard, pulled the weeds and removed all the dead plants and "grey" pinestraw. We took a trip to homedepot, bought tons of spring flowers and new red mulch. Grandma Karen came intown that evening so we didn't get into much after homedepot, except watch the damn Gators lose to Louisville. Such a disappointing game. Anyway, Sunday, we all woke up and were out in the yard by 9:00. I knew you wouldn't believe me so I have pictures to prove it! Josh and Chris were outside busting their butts, digging the holes planting the flowers, spreading the mulch, weeding eating and mowing. I was more of the supervisor than anything. I planted a few flowers, but I gotta give props to the men. It looks GREAT out there!!!

Thanks Aunt Kelly for the chairs!!!

I love playing in the water

Final Product!

Happy Hump Day!

LOVE

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