A different kind of 4th

This might be the first 4th that we have actually been at our own home and just together as a family.  Although I feel like we should be doing more today since it is a holiday, with it being the middle of the week and our last couple months being so hectic, we decided to just lay low. We started the morning watching our neighborhood parade, which just consists of everyone who wants to walking, pushing strollers, wagons, or riding bikes through the neighborhod and ending up at a park for donuts and fruit.  They had a clown for the kids and an old man singing.  Fun to get out and chat with the neighbors.  The rest of the day was supposed to be either spent at the pool or doing something fun as a family, but looked a  little more like this......

Ugh, yep the drain in the storage room clogged.  Therefore the next couple hours were spent declogging.  Happ 4th Right?    Now we are sitting here with our air off  (b/c the air conditioner was draining water into the clogged drain) in this 100 degree day staring at the drain praying it starts working!  

LUCKILY the last few weeks have been full of festive events to celebrate at!!

Andy participated in the Warrior Dash which was a 3 mile run/obstacle course

Off to the East Coast for Michael Connell's wedding, which was in Old Saybrook, CT

The reception was in a beautiful white tent right on the water

Beach Walk with Grandpa

Painting with mom and the Sapp girls

Aunt Heather came to visit for a week - here she is with Andy doing a little rabbit hunting in our backyard!

Coop with his two favorite boy cousins, Grif and Sawyer.  We love when these 3 are matching!

Our Little Firecracker

Just in time for the 4th, Cooper has turned into a little firecracker these days!  Let's just say that sweet little face you saw on last post has learned how to make an angry look and shake his head NO.  Although it's probably the cutest thing I have ever seen when he does it, it is showing a new stubborn side of him that I am not used to!  Oh Coopy.....

Will share some pictures of our latest adventures soon.  We have bee to the East Coast, spent a week with Aunt Heather here in Omaha, and had daily laughs at new things Coop does every day!

Our little Family

Forgot to share Coop's one year pictures that our wondeful nanny took!  Our soon to be 14 month old is as busy as ever these days......crawling, climbing stairs, dancing (he looooves to dance), attending weddings, and flirting with those baby blue eyes of his.  Somehow we did manage to get him to sit still for a few moments to capture these shots.....

Stages

So I am truly starting to see and understand there are stages to this crazy thing called life.  I guess I have always heard people say the cliche "this is the stage of life you are in", but this weekend it finally hit me.   I guess when you host a baby shower at your house and four of the girls there are pregnant, two have newborns in their arms, and you look around and realize you are basically the only one able to have an adult beverage, it's pretty obvious.  You are in the wild stage of parenthood!

But as Andy, Coop, and I were taking a little family walk tonight, we were talking about how much we love where we are at right now.  We couldn't imagine a place we would rather be.  Sure there may be sleepless nights, poop blowouts, weekend nights spent at Costco or on the couch instead of out on the town, bumped heads and lots of tears, and I could go on..... but these little moments get easily forgotten when you wake up to this sweet little face every morning......

And we are so lucky and blessed by God to have such amazing friends to go through this stage with.  Some near (Omaha), some far (Thailand), and others somewhere in between (Cali, Indiana, Chicago, for example) Although I have to say I almost feel a little bit left out right now because everywhere I turn I have pregnant friends!  There are so many little miracles from God in those bellies we just can't wait to meet.

So to all our friends~we cannot thank God enough that you are in our life and we can watch our little kiddos grow up together.  Here's a pic from last night of two of those amazing friends...

                                               The happy Parents-to-Be Ryan and Andrea

Wedding Wonderfullness

"Don't blink, cause just like that, your're 6 years old and you take a nap, and when you wake up you're 25 and your highschool sweetheart becomes your bride....." 

A little Kenny Chesney for you to sum up my feelings in the moment.  I can't believe Kristel is married and the wedding is over.  The weekend went so fast and was so jam packed but was it oh so wonderful.  It's hard to not have a good weekend when you all your family is sleeping under one roof together again in the home you grew up in (plus one extra boyfriend, a girlfriend, a fiance, and of course Coop man)!  Not only that, but the rest of the weekend we were surrounded by extended family from near and far, old friends and new, and our NECC church family!  If you haven't caught my drift yet, the wedding was WONDERFUL!  A few pictures to share with you from the blessed event.  Congratulations John and Kristel, we are so happy for you!!!!!

While the girls were getting their hair done upstairs, the boys found other activities to keep themselves busy.......

A bridesmaid and a ring bearer

 

These two were adorable together, they made the perfect ring bearer and flower girl
(right before our cousin Lazor walked down the aisle, her turned to me and said "Wait, no one ever gave me the rings!", Poor guy was not impressed when I explained the rings tied to his pillow were not real)

The Stunning Bride

The Honorary Ring Bearer (looking a bit disheveled here!) 
Although his walking skills were not quite up to par for the big day, Dad carried him in and he was perfect the whole time he was up front - could be because dad forgot and let him keep his pacifier in, but oh well!

Heather serving up some McDonald hamburgers that were passed around at the end of the reception!

Swinging with Grandma at the lake the next day (isn't my Grandma/Mother of the Bride so pretty?)

Wedding Week!!

It's wedding week and I wish I could be back in Chicago helping with all the last minute preparations, but we will be there soon enough.  My mom has done an AMAZING job getting this all together, and although we all try to help and offer opinions (some wanted, some not), she is the ultimate wedding planner!  It is going to be a beautiful day of love, family, dancing, and more.  We couldnt' be happier for John and Kristel and are excited for them to begin their new life together (and jealous they get to go to Hawaii next week!)

Here are a few shots from the last two weeks:

Celebrating my 2nd Mother's Day with my amazing family

A perfect end to a perfect Mother's Day, with little man down for the night Mom and Dad got to enjoy some time together on the patio

 I had just called a few minutes earlier to let her know I was on my way home, and her response was "Hurry, Coop has spaghetti sauce all over him and I am wearing a white blouse, so I can't really get him out of his highchair."  Guess she figured it out, just take the shirt off!  Haha, love ya Krist!

He's been loving standing up these days, and is starting to take some steps when we are holding his hands.  Pretty shaky, but pretty cute.  Every time he takes a step, he says "da" "da" "da".

Shopping with Mommy
I turned around to see him holding on to this shirt........think he's trying to tell me something?

First Driving lesson with Daddy

Escaping the dreaded diaper change.  Little stinker. 


And guess what else the little man did last night.......he ate a terd!  Ok say no more, let me explain.  Coop was just having his nightly bath: relaxing in the warm water, dancing a little to his singing Octopus, taking a sip or two to sample the water, when all of a sudden, his face got red, gave a little push, and he was suddenly surrounded by floating poop.  Eww gross (although poop doesn't really bother me.)  And since he had been having some pooping "issues" the last few days, I was actually excited he went!  Ahh the little things in life. Anyway, while I was at one end scooping, out of the corner of my eye I saw him go for it.............yep that's right, grabbed a little floater and before I could snatch it out of his hands, it went right where everything else goes, in his mouth!!!!!!   Let's just say when I told Andy about it a few minutes later, he was not praising me for being Mom of the Year.  Shoot Coop, should of kept that our little secret ;)




That's all the moments we have for you right now.  If you want to check out some of Coop's one year pictures, go to
http://jennifer-bishop.com/archives/1889
(this is our nanny and she also is an amazing photographer I highly recommend!)

Another Party?!

Who says you can't have two parties for your first birthday? Thanks to all our great friends who came over to help us celebrate. 

Waiting for the guests to arrive........Coop is wondering hmmm where is everyone?

Getting everything all set up.  (Coop looks like a hefty in this pic and like he doesn't have a neck, but he's just trying to show you how big he is!)

Coop had a total of 7 kids come to the party!

And Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, THE CAKE!  However to my shock and utter horror, when I got home with Coop's $4 cake, I took the lid off and saw what they had written.......

Not only did a letter get smudged off, but it's completely a different name!  Does anyone really name their kid Copper?  Come on now Hyvee......seriously.  You can tell Coop is checking it out and is kind of confused.  Does this make me a bad mommy for getting my child a cheap mispelled cake for one of the biggest moments of his 1 year old life??

Don't worry, he enjoyed it all the same though ;)

He even let his friend Anna have a taste (I think she was actually licking it off his highchair)

Well Coop my love, you are officially one.  Although there may be no more celebrations left, we continue to celebrate and thank God for your little life everyday.  It is surreal to Andy and I that we have a one year old.  On April 30th, 8:19pm you entered our lives weighing 6#11oz and I remember thinking you looked like a little bird.  Now you are weighing in at 19# and you look like a little man!

You've come a long way baby!