Siblings

These two definitely have their moments (good and bad), but wow, is it sweet when they're playing together and enjoying each other!  They had some toys out last night right before bed that they hadn't played with in awhile.  When I went to get Cooper out of her crib this morning, the first thing she said was, "I wanna play Judson."  Love it!  (For the record, she usually says, "I wanna get dressed," and then proceeds to choose something purple, preferably with a kitty on it. :)

I took these pictures two Sundays ago because I got to pick out their outfits and it was so refreshing to see them in something they don't usually wear.  I didn't get a really great picture, but these are fun.

Our Birthday Girl

I am always sad to see summer go, and this year is no exception.  However, this year I will relive summer with all of the posts I have yet to write. ;) We had so much fun!  For now, that will wait while I mention our most recent happenings. 

A certain little character turned two on the ninth and I can hardly believe how grown up she's seeming!  We had a fun day planned with Anna, Macy, and Rowland, but unfortunately Cooper woke up with a fever.  She was chipper all morning, but was completely lethargic by naptime.

Since Anna and her kids were halfway down here by the time Cooper woke up, we still met up at Gilbert House Children's Museum.  It was closed for the week (presumably to get ready for their preschool to start).  So much for all of my planning! ;)  We played at the playground and rode the carousel instead.  Cooper was perky during that time.  It was during our picnic lunch in the shade (it was a GORGEOUS day) that she started shivering and looking slightly blue.  Poor baby. 

We realized the fountains were still on, and I just happened to have the kids' swimsuits and towels in the car.  Since Macy and Cooper are the same size, it worked perfectly.  Cooper slept in my arms while Macy and Judson played in the water.

Birthday breakfast

You can't really get the full picture of Judson's outfit here, but it was a John Deere shirt with a tractor on it and the ever-popular fish swim trunks.  When he came out wearing this particular outfit that morning, I told him he needed to change either the top or bottoms.  He instantly said, "But sometimes guys on the farm cook fish for dinner!"  How could I argue with that?!  I let him wear it.  :)

Judson always rides in one of the wagons on the carousel.  Somehow he convinced Macy that she should too.  :)

These two love each other so much and have such a great time together!  It never ceases to make me smile.

And somehow I convinced Anna to ride with Cooper so I didn't have to. ;)  That thing makes me so dizzy!  Plus then I could take pictures.

Once we got home, Cooper slept for four more hours, until I finally woke her up at 7.  She seemed to be feeling better, but I was glad I'd decided to postpone our dinner with the Renningers, Comptons, and Paul Moody.  Judson was SO SAD that we didn't get to have our little party. :(  

The good news was our guests could all come the next night and everyone at our house was feeling good.  (We opted to do things differently party-wise this year.  We're having a combined birthday with cousins and a few friends at the Mollala Train Park next weekend.  Our house is just too small to pack a bunch of people in comfortably.  For the kids' actual birthdays, it's a much smaller group, which is nice for many reasons.  :)

Dinner

I shouldn't even show these.  I've never had to make a cake for my kids before (thanks to Bridgett).  I ended up having very little time and not finding the supplies I was hoping to find on my one errand night without kids.  Oh, well.  Cooper loved them, and I'm hoping to do better for our train park party.  :)

She blew both candles out the second we set the plate in front of her, but then couldn't get them out for the life of her once we sang to her and it was actually time to blow them out.

All in all, we had a great couple of days celebrating our sweet, SPECIAL girl.  What a blessing she is to our family!

Funny quotes from both kids

We went to Lincoln City this past weekend (Labor Day).  Real post to follow, probably months from now.  :)  Anyway, Cooper threw up a number of times on Monday (and once on Tuesday).  After she barfed in the car twice, Judson cheerfully announced, "I like it when it comes out like a waterfall."

Last night, I asked him to give her a hug before bed.  He said, "I like watching the waterfall, but I don't want to get it on me."

Also related to the fateful vomiting incidents, Cooper rallied on Monday, so I fed her lunch.  After every couple of bites, she would happily exclaim, "Yay!  No barf!"

On an unrelated note, earlier today Judson was down the hall for a number of minutes.  When he came back, he said, "I'm not going to tell you what I did while I was gone because you might be angry."   (He'd found a dollar bill in my room and put it in his piggy bank, and then helped to stuff in it with change from our change holder.)

And, finally, one of my current favorites:  whenever Cooper's happy about anything, she says, "Thank you, Jesus!"  Some examples include, "Thank you, Jesus, sun!" and "Thank you, Jesus, Mommy shorts!" when I pulled my shorts out of the closet.  It's so sweet! 

Family Camp

We spent the last weekend in July at our church's "Family Camp."  Basically, we reserve a bunch of spots at a campground and have a fun weekend of camping and fellowship.  We've only gone one other time - two years ago and it POURED most of the weekend.  This year we had perfect weather and SO. MUCH. FUN.  Judson had said he didn't want to go with church friends because he was shy.  Well, that didn't last long.  He had an absolute blast riding bikes up and down the straight part of the road in front of our campsite.  (All the families with young children are wisely grouped together...lots of fun!)

Judson made sure to pack sprinkles for our hot cocoa.

The kids' little fishing poles with rubber fish on the end are easy to cast and drew lots of little friends to our campsite for "fishing."

This girl is suddenly obsessed with purple and says things like, "Helmet match jacket, shoes."

River Bend Campground outside of Sweet Home is so much fun!  It's such a clean campground (not nearly as much dirt as we're used to!), there are free showers (which we didn't use.  Who showers when they're camping?! :), and there is a very fun, safe spot to play in the river.

Cooper and Ellie.  Ellie is going to have a sibling born right around the time we do.

Cooper had been waking up around six up until this camping trip.  She slept in past seven both days.  The second day she woke up at 8:15.  It was amazing...and awesome!

Breakfast is always better out of Daddy's bowl.

Nate, Judson, and two other dads and their boys took our boat out on Foster Lake.  Judson caught the only two fish.  One of them was huge, though it's a little hard to tell.

Sammy loved to come sit in our chair, and Cooper loved to sit right by him.  They moved their chairs to the road to watch the big kids.  :)

While we were packing up our camp, this group of boys sat at an empty site across the road and told stories.  It was awfully cute.

 

And now I'm going to publish this without proofreading it because I started it days ago and just never seem to get back to it...