Vacation

Jonathan's parents now permanently reside in the sunny state. The perks to that is we can go when we want and return when we want. So, this year, we stayed for a full 14 days. And it was wonderful! They live in a golf-cart community, so once we arrived, we only had to get in our car about 4 times the entire trip. That was awesome! Kids had a blast doing 'grandparent camps' - they did Tae Kwon Do (sp?), magic camp, made their own pizzas at the pizza shop, and a golf cart scavenger hunt. Overall, it was an incredible time of relaxing and spending time with family. We came back feeling very rested!

*I took 5 bathing suits for Tessa.. all given to me. She loved them*

*Just a small sampling of all our rides on the golf carts* 

*Everyday is pool day when you're with our kids! Even Myles and Tessa LOVED the water!*

*We took a day trip to Tarpon Springs. The pictures tell the story...*

*Every morning... these two monkeys were up and at it bright and early!*

*Rainbow Loom... ever heard of it? The boys spent HOURS working making bracelets.*

*Happy 4th of July!*

*The boys slept in a screened-in porch... kind of like glorified camping. Grandma put the boys to bed almost every night. She read books and kept the boys very calm... :)* 

*These 4 spent a lot of time together*

*Grandpa took the boys golfing most evenings and even got them clubs cut to their size. *

*The three amigos. After 7pm, you can golf on any course for free. So they'd head out right about when the babies went to bed. Worked out great... the house always felt very quiet and calm.* 

*A lot of pre-dinner hours looked like this... tired kids!*

*Love these kiddos!!!* 

*Buds* 

*Anybody want a pretzel stick?*

*The very last day we were there, Wyatt and Myles woke up with 102 fevers and ear infections. Glad it was the last day. But of course, Grandma never disappoints when it comes to entertaining :)* 

Father's Day (a little late)

*You know what's really cool about blogger that I just discovered... you can backdate (that's probably been possible forever and I just discovered it). So now I can trick myself into posting past pictures presently but date them in the past... which means I'll never remember 3 years from now that I posted them 3 months later than they actually happened. (Does any of that make sense??)* 

We are the happiest family on the block having Jonathan as the head of our home! He is a Father who loves his Heavenly Father, adores his wife, and cherishes his children. He works hard, plays hard, is faithful, content, and wise beyond his years. He rarely complains, is always looking for a challenge or a change or a race or a new pair of barefoot shoes, and has a difficult time ever settling for 2nd best. Better said, he actually finds it fun to go against the flow... (which is contrary to me who finds comfort and security in staying with the pack). It spices up the marriage! :) The kids have his freckles, his blue eyes, and lots of Cooper spunk! We could not be more blessed! 

(And, I'm laughing at this picture... I had to choose this one out of the rest b/c it just characterizes the season Henry has entered... seems like the silliness will never end! I will admit that I was annoyed b/c this could have been a very nice family photo. However, I'm choosing to find the humor instead and the  fact that it makes a nice bookmark in his 7.5 yrs! Now I won't forget what it is like to have a 7.5 yr old BOY in our house!)

Happy Birthday Myles!

We celebrated Myles' 3rd birthday in Florida with family. It's hard to believe he is three! 

Myles - you are full of spunk! That red hair will probably serve you well but give us headaches :) You are walking, and you can almost run! You love to kick a ball outside with your brothers. You'll do anything to keep up with them... even if it's stand at the backdoor with your hand glued to the knob yelling and yelling and yelling for someone to notice that you want out!

You don't have any verbal words yet, but you have many signs and can almost tell us anything you need. You are just now trying to mimic some sounds. Some of your favorite signs are ice cream, ice cream, drink, and ice cream :) I'm fairly sure (and I'm not joking) that you'd eat an entire container of Breyers if we'd let you.

You finally have figured out how to crawl out of a pack-n-play. You have a love/hate relationship with Tessa... one minute you are hugging her and stroking her hair, then the next you'll pull her hair and shove her over. She's putting up a good fight when you take her toys so you better watch out!

 Many days, you have us baffled as to what you are doing or saying or wanting... you like to play tricks like pull your high chair over signing 'eat', but then the minute we reach for you to put you in it, you run as fast as you can and lay face down on the floor with your hands tucked under your tummy. This will happen several times until we chase you down. Sometimes it's cute, other times it's not :)

Your love for others and sweetness is a blessing to us always. Everywhere we go you smile and wave with your hand up by your chin. You get LOTS of compliments on your red hair and the freckles that are growing!

 We're not sure how much you understand about God yet, but you love going to church and singing and praising God with others. We sit in front of the sign language interpreter and you do signs and wave your hands around and sing without refrain. At bedtime, you always sign 'Jesus' and want to sing Jesus Loves Me.

 You are an incredibly special little man!! You are loved much!!! We look forward to the next year!

Larry and Karen...

 …. are kind of like another set of parents to us who are local. We moved to Ohio about 10 years ago, and we met them at our church. One Sunday, probably about a year after we lived in OH, they approached us at church and said they wanted to pursue a friendship with us. They had us to dinner and the rest is history. For the past 10 years, we have gotten together with them for dinner every 3 months, and Karen and I get together once a month to pray and talk about current things on my heart. They are dear to our hearts and we have a very deep friendship with them… we always laugh about how 70-yr olds can be friends with 30-yr olds. It's a beautiful thing :) They have shepherded us through financial hardships, new jobs, new babies, and simply life. They have been an encouragement to us and always remind us to remember God's faithfulness and provision. They love our kids and always engage them when they are in our home. Such blessings to us!!!





 Earlier this week, we read a book about safaris. Larry and Karen have been on several safaris in Africa, so I asked her to bring over one of their photo albums. The boys were so intrigued by the pictures of the animals and the tribes. Thank God for older people who come alongside younger people!






























































Myles on his way to somewhere with Karen's purse... Jonathan and Larry talking stock market :) 

Remembering summer... and it just started

My days go by so fast. We are in a stage of parenting that is more intense than anything else we've experienced in the past 7 years. And that combined with just plain ordinary life makes time fly. I forget I even have a blog. Then one day, I'm like, shoot... I have a blog. And I don't post entries. Which might be a little sad for the few souls who look at it, but much more sad for me since this is my only documentation of this Cooper family. So anyways, a few pics to jog my memory a few years from now. Our kids are at beautiful ages. I can't even describe it, but woven into all of the difficult moments (or hours... or days) of parenting are these glimpses of wonder that I find in each of them. I. LOVE. THEM. And they're not even mine to keep! Summer has been full already of late nights, play dates, visits with cousins, visits with grandparents, dominoes, too much sugar, and lots of time at home.

Happy babies...

.... who are growing SO fast! 

Mom and Dad's

My parents live on 13 acres -- typically when we go visit, it's over a holiday or we are always trying to connect with other siblings.

This time, we set aside the 4 days to just stay at their place and visit solely with them. It was a really great time... kids loved it and so did we. It's fun to see what types of games they come up with when left with a lot of property but not many toys. They had no trouble filling up their time!

We ate popcorn, watched movies, rearranged furniture, went to the candy shop, and loved on Buck (their yellow lab). Very thankful for time with my family ...