Centennial Park

We went to church with Mimi and Papaw and then to get some Mexican food. Cooper even got to try a bite of beans from his Papaw. He's like his Mommy. No beans for Cooper (yet). He spit them back out!

We met up with Aunt Jessica and Sean at Centennial Park in Nashville on our way back home. It was a gorgeous day! At first Cooper was very asleep. His eyes were open, but he had this blank stare on his face. He warmed up after a while and enjoyed all the cool stuff they had at the park.

Swings.


Going down the slide for the first time.



The tunnel.




And of course, Aunt Jessica.

Behind the Scenes

It was a beautiful weekend! We had a very busy day out and about with Mimi and Aunt Jessica. Cooper got some new clothes for the summer and especially for the upcoming wedding. We also did a little shopping for some supplies for his birthday party. I can't believe it's already time!!

Mimi's favorite flowers are buttercups and when we got home we decided to take Cooper up to some of the flowers and try and get some pictures. We knew that a tired baby, who's been out shopping all day would not be the best subject. But we decided to give it a try anyway.

That boy did not crack a smile one. single. time. Not one. single. time.



We tried distractions...


Showing him he could touch the flowers...


and Games...


We got a little of this...


And some pouting...


But never a smile.


It's ok, though. Just look at those tiny toes and try not to smile.

Warning: Lots of Pictures

The month of February was a very busy month for us. I worked the first weekend and then every weekend after that we went out of town.

The second weekend we went to Mom and Dad's. Zach and one of his friend had tickets to the hockey game on Saturday night, so they spent the afternoon/evening in Nashville. Mom and I went shopping in Nashville for some fancy dresses for her. We were very successful and found a dress for a ball she has to go to and we found he dress for the wedding. We also did a little shopping at one of our favorite stores, the New York Store, and used coupons and got lots of goodies! So fun! While we were out shopping, Dad kept Cooper all day. They had a good day and met us at the APSU game. I was so proud of Dad getting him there all by himself! It was Cooper's first basketball game. We didn't make it through the whole game, but he got the idea.







The next weekend Cooper and I went back to Mom and Dad's for Ben's shower. The MS clan was also in town for the weekend, and we loved getting to hang out with them! Saturday I got my hair done and then we hung out with Lynz and the girls for a little while. Aleasha was kind enough to play photographer and try to catch a pic of us and our kiddos. The series of photos is to funny not to share.





A few pics from at home...





And a couple of pics from the shower...
"aaahhh my baby's getting married"





The last weekend in February Cooper and I hit the road for the 'Boro for another shower. We met up with some friends from college for lunch and then I took him on a little tour of my college town and little bit of campus.




Next we headed over to Ben and Laura's and we hung out for a while, went shopping, and then headed to Jessica's new place. Sean volunteered to stay with Cooper while we all went to the shower. (I don't have those pics yet!)




We had a very very busy month. Lots of traveling and visiting and being out of our normal. Cooper did so well with all the extra attention and did great with the traveling. But, we are looking forward to a weekend at home!

The Weekend...

We had some special visitors last weekend. Grandmommy and Papa Chas came to visit for Drew's birthday and to see the Cooper. They got to hang out with Cooper on Friday and then Friday night we went to Drew's birthday party. It was Cooper's first party and he was a little intimidated by all the people there. He didn't quite know what to think! He did enjoy getting some yummy peaches from Aunt Jess and trying out a little water from Grandmommy!


The birthday boy got a little curious and was looking at his presents before it was actually time to open them. It totally cracked me up that he pulled this out of the bag and then started playing with it while everyone was still eating dinner!


Saturday morning we hung out at home and then met up with Buff and the kids and Pam for lunch at Dead End BBQ. It was so good! And we had fun hanging out. For some reason it just hit me that Cooper and Drew really are not that far apart... only about a year and half. Now that seems like such a huge difference, but in a year or so I bet they will have lots of fun playing together!






After lunch we headed home to watch the end of the football game. I was pretty torn on who to cheer for. Ole Miss or TN. It was pretty much a win-win or lose-lose. I would be happy/sad either way. So I opted to be neutral and wear my MTSU sweatshirt. I really did try to make Cooper be neutral too, so I put him in a little outfit that has a football on it and says MVP. Zach then pointed out to me that it was a red and blue outfit and it had a bear on it. It was in no way neutral. Oh well. He still looked cute!



We are so blessed by our families and love when we all get to hang out!

Relaxing Weekend

This week my parents were out of town, my brother was out of town, and my sister-in-law were out of town. Though I don't see any of them on a daily basis, it still was really weird just knowing they weren't in their normal routine. And I was just a little jealous. :)

It also was a really slow but crazy week at work. I was reminded that I made the right decision in switching about a year ago. I am still loving what I do, I just could do without the politics of it all.

I thought I would have Saturday to myself, but Zach ended up canceling his plans because he wasn't feeling that great and we got to spend the day together. We went out and did some shopping a while... we even went to Bed, Bath and Beyond by his suggestion. We were looking for an alarm clock for him, but still we got to look around. We always find stuff in there that we just really, really need that somehow we got along with just fine before we went in. Surprisingly we showed great restraint and walked out with nothing! We came home and watched a little tv before heading over to his dad's house for dinner.

Today was a great day at church. I had so much fun with the girls this morning. I love hearing their little conversations before we get started. This morning one of the girls was talking about her getting braces on this week and how she has to brush her teeth and this brought on a full out discussion of brushing teeth and flossing and I just had to hold back from laughing. It was too cute! The service was wonderful. I just love that our pastor preaches the Word. I have learned so much from him and am always convicted of how little I know and how much I have to learn and grow.

Everyone is either home or on their way home from their respective trips and I am looking forward to a new week.

I Will Never Forget My Ipod Again

As soon as I got off work on Friday, I hit the road to Clarksville. I hadn't even made it to my car yet when I randomly remembered that I had left my ipod at home. I briefly thought about going home to get it, but it would have been an extra hour of driving and I decided it wasn't worth it. I couldn't find a radio station that made me happy and so I just called my mom and made her talk to me for a while. I then called my brother and made him talk to me a while. By this time I was close enough to home to be familiar with radio stations that would get me through.

Aunt Lisa and Aleasha had come in for the weekend as well. Aunt Lisa has started selling Premier Jewelry and was going to host a party for mom on Saturday morning. Friday night we enjoyed some homemade chicken and rice soup by my dad and set up everything for the party. This, of course, meant looking at the jewelry and picking out what to wear on Saturday.



I was so looking forward to the party, but mostly because we had invited Lynz and Emily and I couldn't wait to see my friends!! Kyleigh ended up being a sick little girl on Saturday morning. She had gotten sick several times in a short period of time and Lynz was trying to get in touch with the doctor. I was so sad they didn't get to come. But... Emily and her mom did get to come!!! I really do not remember the last time that I saw Emily. That is such a sad thing to admit. It was so good to catch up a little and just get to be with my friend. I miss that girl so much!!



Of course Aunt Lisa did a great job and we had more fun looking at and picking out which jewelry we wanted. She even got me to agree to host a party sometime this summer. I mostly agreed because I've been wanting to get them to come see me and this is a perfect excuse!!


The afternoon just slipped by and it was time for the two of them to head back to MS which meant it was then time for me to take a much needed nap! The evening was spent watching basketball and making sure that my picks kept doing well.



Sunday morning I got to drive GK (who was also visiting for the weekend) to church with me. She did not stop talking the whole way! And I loved it!! We even had a deer run out in front of us and she barely skipped a beat. We got to church and I had called mom to come out and meet us but when she didn't answer I just parked at the curb. GK kept saying she didn't need any help and she'd be fine but I still got out to help her. Since my car is a little lower than what she's used to, she did need me to help pull her a little bit to get out of the car. We were walking inside and she was going on about how good her kids were and she was blessed and she looked up at me and said "Where would I be without you?". I told her "still out in the car". HaHa!

After church we had Mexican, per my request. Apparently GK was really wanting a steak because she was seriously excited when she saw it was on the menu. We all talked her out of getting the tbone steak from the Mexican resteraunt. I just don't think it was what she was thinking it would be.

The other excitement from the Mexican resteraunt was when Mom and Dad's order of fajita nanchos came out with chicken, steak, vegies, and shrimp. It was NOT what they thought they were getting. Mom does NOT eat shrimp and when she saw it on the plate she freaked out. I mean freaked. It was actually quite funny. She calmed down enough to order something else and Dad thoroughly enjoyed the "mistake" nachos.

Sunday afternoon was my lllllloooooonnnnngggg drive home with no ipod. Le me just say that I will never forget my ipod again.

Highlights from the Weekend

1. White chocolate rasberry blonies. I'm trying to start cooking things. I'm not really sure what I'm doing but I'm going to make an effort. Friday night I made these from scratch. I had to use flour, different bowls to mix things in, and a whisk. I learned that there is a difference between baking powder and baking soda but not until after I'd already used the baking soda since I didn't have baking powder. Despite this... they turned out pretty good. Even if they looked a little moldy because of the green sugar crystals I used.

2. Zach needed a new wallet. He looked a different ones on the internet, and we went to the mall after I got home from work. Went to one store, found the wallet, and used a gift card left over from some wedding returns (2 years ago!). We left and when we got the car he immediately changed his stuff from the old wallet to the new one. So not how I would have done things!

3. Dinner with my love at Wasabi followed by movie ("The Dark Night") at home. Too bad the movie gave me bad dreams! I woke up this morning and was scared. I almost had to wake Zach up I was so scared. Stupid joker.

4. Sunday School with my 3rd grade girls and beginning of new sermon series on the fear of God.

5. Crockpot Lasagna made by me!