Fourth of July

We were home from Colorado for about 75 hours before heading to Bandon for the Fourth of July.  And I had my niece, Kristin, for 10 hours on the third.  Whew!  It was a little crazy, but we made it to Bandon at 12:30 am on the Fourth. 

We started the morning out at the parade.  Judson was so excited to get candy, and on the way he announced that there would be monster trucks and Hummers in the parade.  Sure enough, there was one of each.  I couldn't quite believe it.  :)  The kids got plenty of candy, though it's pretty hard for poor shy Judson to get out there.  Nate had to help him out.  Bandon parade candy is pretty great...lots of saltwater taffy!  The best part for me, though, was getting to see so many people we know and love.

Hard to believe how one has to dress for the Fourth in Bandon, huh?  I had to add leggings and a turtleneck to Cooper's sundress.  :)

Judson's monster truck

Afterwards, we spent some time at the elementary school playground.  Lots of history there, of course.  I attended school there,  my mom taught there, and my dad helped build the playground (Castle Crest) many years ago.  The new, colorful stuff has been added, but some of the old wooden parts are still there.

Throwing pea gravel.  That stuff was so dirty.  My kids were instantly filthy.  Ugh.

Pleased with herself.

The kids took massive naps (hallelujah!) in the afternoon, and then we went to a fun BBQ at the Goddards', where we again saw lots of old friends.  Finally, we went to watch the fireworks show.  The whole fireworks experience in Bandon is terrific.  It's super easy to find a parking spot and a spot to sit right by the water.  The fireworks go off over the Coquille River and it's really quite an impressive show.  However, every few years the fog rolls in and you can't see a single firework.  Those years aren't so great.  Thankfully, this wasn't one of those years.  :)  The kids held up so well all day and definitely enjoyed the fireworks (though Judson had his hands over his ears the entire time).

*Side note: The kids went to bed at almost eleven and Cooper was still up at 5:55 am.  What is her problem?!  :)

As soon as Cooper heard the first boom, she wanted me, which thrilled me.  She was like my own personal heater.  :)

Love this one!

Our trip to Colorado

The kids and I flew to Colorado with my mom the last week of June.  As usual, we had a great time visiting with my aunt, Fleeta.  I am so thrilled that my kids are getting to make memories with one of my favorite people in the world!

It was REALLY hot, so the kids and I spent many mornings at the park, trying to beat the heat while my mom got Fleeta ready.  It didn't really work.  One day we headed out at 8:30 and it was already 86*. :)  The next day we went to McDonald's play area.  I almost froze in there and was practically begging Judson to stand outside with me for a few minutes.  :)

One of the highlights of our trip was a little surprise party we threw for Fleeta.  (We headed home a week before her birthday, so it was an early birthday celebration.)  The kids loved it...Judson picked out race car cups and fun napkins and they both picked out a balloon.  Gotta love the Dollar Tree for that sort of thing! :)  Fleeta doesn't eat any sweets of any kind, so we ate mint Klondike bars in her honor.  Cooper still sings "Happy Birthday to Fif ("Feef")" nearly every day.

Here are lots of pictures...

Cooling off with a giant smoothie.

We loved this park...lots of shade and some unique toys.

Judson would throw the ball into that contraption until the sweat was pouring off of him.  Unfortunately, he kept wanting me to play, too.  I'm a wimp in heat these days!

Picnic lunch in Fleeta's yard

Anticipating a jump by her brother...

This is Fleeta's only TV...it's for DVDs.  Some evenings these three would watch something while we got dinner ready. 

This little lady sure is a character!

We had to have candles, of course!

Love, love, LOVE this one!

Fleeta's ramp is VERY fun to play on!

Watching the horn-blowers.

Presents

Over the Arkansas River

Cooper does great in big kid swings!  My only concern was her dozing off and letting go.  :)

Silly kiddos

Just to prove that I really am back, I'm doing two posts in two days.  :)  These are just some random pictures from June.  First of all, there's THE OUTFIT.

 In April Judson became attached to a Cars (the movie) shirt that I'd rarely put on him because I'm not a fan of  "character" shirts.  I thought it was horrendous that he wanted to wear it every day.  Then one day it was dirty and he found (at the bottom of his drawer because it was another one I didn't dress him in) a MONSTER TRUCK shirt.  And the shorts?  Fish swim trunks.  That's his favorite outfit.  He's worn it about 90% of the time since then.  I wish I was exaggerating, but I don't think I am.  I choose his outfits for church and for other special occasions, but mostly that's what you're going to see these days.  It drove me crazy for awhile, but then I stopped caring.  I think it had to do with being too exhausted to care.  The good news is he gets himself dressed as soon as he gets out of bed.  (For awhile, he was sleeping with the outfit on under his jammies.)  The other good news is that he's ditched the boots for blue flip flops this summer.  :)  Silly boy.

Nate had to fix our pool before work one morning, so Cooper went out to help.

Nate, Judson, and Nate's brother Phil went on a very successful fishing trip a few weeks ago.  Judson caught eight fish with very little help.  Nate only caught one, because the other two were catching them so fast that he was busy helping with them.  They all had a terrific time and talked about it for days.  (That's Nate's drift boat in the back.  It's huge and has comfy seats.)

This silly girl frequently disappears in her room and reemerges with all of her jewelry on.  This particular day, she showed up with her sunglasses on and "talking" on her phone, but I wasn't able to get a picture of that.

 And, finally, Judson wanted a mustache and goatee one night, so I drew one on.  :)

**I just showed Judson this post and realized he's wearing the outfit in all three pictures. :)  He frequently wears his soccer medal, as well (bottom picture).  For awhile, people would ask him about it when we were out and about and he'd be shy and not answer.  The new rule is that he can only wear it if he'll answer when people ask him about it.

I'm ba-ack!

Wow.  I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted.  Yikes!  Hopefully that won't happen again.  I have a great excuse, though.  I am pregnant and was so exhausted for so long that I napped almost every single time the kids did.  With Cooper waking up at the CRACK. OF. DAWN (5 am many mornings), that left me very little time to do much of anything.  Thankfully I'm thirteen weeks along and haven't napped this week...and she's sleeping in a bit.  Yay!

Other than severe exhaustion, I've felt great.  Of course I started showing VERY quickly this time around. :)  Judson's hoping for a "bruver" and Cooper says "sisser."  We won't know until mid-January, assuming everything goes as planned...

Here are some pictures I took to help us announce our big news.  No, this wasn't an original idea.  The original idea used cute little chalkboards, but I didn't want to have to search multiple stores for them, and I didn't want to pay much either.  This gets the point across.  :)

Cooper started crying straight away. Hopefully this isn't how she'll really feel about being the middle child.  :)

Some animal cracker bribery helped my cause.

My favorite