Trip to the Beach (lots of pictures!)

It has taken me forever to find the time to make a post about our trip to the beach this year. It was our first time to take Emily with us, and it may be the last. She did not like anything about the beach. She did not like the water (there was some sea weed), she did not like the sand, she did not like that it was really hot, and she did not like the smell of the ocean--talk about a Debbie Downer! We had to bribe her to go to the beach with promises of putt-putt, movies, and the swimming pool. Even though she was a "miss priss" while we were there, we did still mange to have a good time. I took over 300 pictures, but here are a few of my favorites.

These first 2 were taken right before we went to dinner on our first night there (I know that I am huge!!). I am so glad to not ever have to take another vacation while being pregnant!






Richard's cousin Michelle meet us in Destin with her little boy Eli. Eli and Cooper are only 6 months apart in age, so they had a great time playing together all week! Eli is such a cute kid (and VERY well behaved)! These pictures are from the playground at Destin Commons. We made several visits to this playground while we were there.





Our next adventure was at Baytown Wharf. It is the neat little area that is really geared towards kids. I think we ended-up going there a few times too! These pictures are of the kids jumping on a trampoline while hooked-up to bungee cords. They had SO much fun! Cooper did a couple of flips and Emily went higher than anyone else there. She had the best time!







Our next stop was The Back Porch for some yummy food. The kids like it there because it is right on the beach and they have a playground too!!





One of the many pictures of Emily holding her nose....


One that would have been cute had she not been chewing gum...


I'm not sure what Cooper is doing here, but every time I try to take a picture of him he likes to act goofy.



After Back Porch we headed back to Baytown Wharf for dancing, more playgrounds, and fireworks! Eli is a really good dancer and he taught Cooper and Emily a few good moves!



Our next adventure was on a Pirate Cruise. It was not quite as exciting as I thought it was going to be, but the kids enjoyed it.


Each kid was "sworn" in to officially becoming a pirate.




What outing with Emily would be complete without holding her nose...


Both kids love to get a balloon animal too!



When we got off the boat there was a man with real birds to put on your shoulder. Cooper was really brave and let the birds sit on him.


Now some pictures from the beach. Cooper had a great time playing in the waves with his daddy and we even managed to get Emily out there for a little while.


Cooper also loved to ride the waves in his new boat.






We were at the beach for Emily's 3rd birthday. Here is a cute picture of her holding up 3 fingers!


Our last night at the beach we went out looking for crabs with our flashlights. The kids had fun even though they never found a crab! Here is a rare moment of my 2 crazy kids actually being nice to each other.

4th of July

Since it was kind of cloudy and overcast here we did not make it to the pool yesterday. First we went to Jump Zone so the kids could burn off some energy (I forgot to take my camera). We ended up staying for over 2 hours so Emily was very ready for nap when we got home.

Our big fun of the day was getting to drive around in our friends Jeep with the top off!! The kids thought it was so cool! It really was a lot of fun--thanks Amie and Alan for letting us borrow your Jeep! We drove around a couple of neighborhoods then we headed downtown for pizza and fireworks! The fireworks did not start until 9:30, so by the time we sat through traffic and got the kids cleaned-up I don't think they went to bed until 11:30. It was a late night but we had a great time!

I am still working on all of the pictures from the beach but I will be posting those pictures soon! We went and had some family pictures made the other day. Our old photographer has gotten WAY too expensive so we tried someone new. She did a pretty good job. I haven't seen all the proofs yet but she does have a few to look at posted on her blog. You can check them out by going to www.gretchendavisphotography.com and clicking on her blog--just scroll down till you see Cooper! I look terrible in the pictures but I thought the ones of the kids were cute.

Happy Birthday (late) My Sweet Girl!!

Since we were out of town the week of Emily's birthday, I did not have a chance to make a Happy Birthday post. It is so hard for me to believe that our sweet little girl is already 3 years old. She makes us laugh everyday with her cute personality and her wild imagination. She may be sweet but she is also a VERY hard-headed and independent. We know that one day we will be thankful for these qualities too! Emily is very excited about being a big sister and has been playing with "her baby" ever since finding out about Lucy. I can't wait to see her in action with her sister.



Emily had a great birthday with lots of fun gifts. She got a pink Leapster.....


The big gift of the day was a new pink bicycle. I did not take a picture of the bike once it was out of the box so I will have to take some and post later.


We have been at the beach for the last week and we had a great time....well, all of us except Emily. She did not like the beach AT ALL. I will be making a post later this week all about our trip. I did manage to get a few pictures where Emily was actually smiling instead of crying!!

Birthday Party

Since Cooper and Emily's birthdays are only 12 days apart, we decided to have just one party for both kids this year. We had it at our church playground and it worked-out perfect! Almost 20 kids came to the party so it was lots of fun. Cooper had a Spider Man cake and Emily picked a Winnie the Pooh cake. It was a very hot day so most of the kids spent their time playing on the indoor playground instead of outside. Of course with me being big and pregnant, I was happy to stay indoors!

This is a picture of Cooper and his best friend from school...



This is Emily and her boyfriend. They go to school together and they kiss at least 10 times a day! SO CUTE!! (she was so happy that he was able to come her party!)


Cooper blowing out his candles


Emily getting ready to blow out her candles (she was very serious during her song)


This is a group shot--a few friends had already left before I remembered to take a picture of the whole group. I'm going to try and remember to do this every year. It will be fun to look back at these when they are in high school!


The kids got SO many fun gifts, but the favorite of the day was the puppy dog that Emily received. The puppy has gone everywhere with us since the party.


Thanks to all our friends and my mom for helping to make Cooper's 5th and Emily's 3rd birthdays one to remember!!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy!!

Today is Cooper's 5th Birthday!!! I can not believe that it has been five years ago that we had our first child. It feels like it has flown by! Cooper has been such a blessing in our life and it is exciting to think about what the next 5 years will be like. Happy Birthday Cooper, we love you more than you could ever know!!


We had a party for Cooper and Emily on Friday (I will post those pictures tomorrow). Since my mom was in town we went ahead and opened all of Cooper's presents yesterday.







He got WAY too much stuff, but the big gift of the day was a Wii. He was so excited about it (I think daddy was even more excited) but he is still trying to figure out how to play the games. I going to go look for some games that are kid friendly and easy to play. I think he had a great birthday!!

Big Cedar

We took our annual trip (this was our third year) to Big Cedar Lodge up in Branson, MO this past weekend. We always have the best time while we are there. The kids did not want to come home. The whole trip really centered around them so we have been having to work on our "spoiled" attitude since we have been back home. We played putt-putt, rode go-carts, ate really good food, went swimming everyday, and I even got to do a little shopping!! We are already looking forward to next year!!





Emily was tall enough this year to ride go-carts!! She was so excited for her first ride and she had the best time with her daddy!


Cooper on the other hand, was not excited that he had to share "his" go-cart time with his sister (remember the spoiled attitude I talked about earlier).....


But of course, in the end he still got to do something fun "just for him"....



Back at Big Cedar, Cooper had the best time going down the water slide...




For some reason, Emily has not been as daring this summer as she was last summer. She has not wanted to jump off the diving board very much and the water slide did not interest her either. She stayed by the kiddie pool and made friends with all the kids that were there (especially the ones that had brought lots of toys with them!)



What trip to Branson is complete without balloon animals....



After going through all of the pictures from our trip, I am so sad that I did not take more pictures while at Big Cedar. One of the funniest things this year was that Emily was TERRIFIED of all the dead animals (if you have never been to Big Cedar, they have animals everywhere!! It just adds to the rustic feel of the resort). There were a few animals in our room, so to make Emily less afraid of them she and Richard gave each animal a name--we had Freckle the Fox and several other new friends in our room. Down the hall from our room there was a huge bear, some raccoons, and several large deer. The only way Emily would walk past the animals was with a blanket over her head while holding mommy or daddy's hand--I SO WISH I HAD A PICTURE OF THIS!! It was so funny. After we were safely in our room she would take the blanket off and say "I'm not afraid anymore!!". Hopefully by next year she will be over her fear of dead animals!