Morning Walk Distractions, Part 2

Yesterday's walk was cool with the digger, but today's walk was a little slice of heaven for a certain little boy--a bulldozer, mowers, dump truck, AND trash truck. All in front of ONE house.
The bulldozer went back and forth between a big pile of cement and the dump truck, each time dumping a huge pile of rock into the truck. As the bulldozer backed up, Cooper would say, "beep beep beep...I backing up. Watch out!" Then as the bulldozer dumped the cement into the dump truck, I heard, "Go go go!! Good job! Yea!! Good job!!"
We sat and watched the trucks working for a l-o-n-g time. But, the beauty of being at home means that we didn't have anywhere better to be at that moment. Cooper was having a blast watching these trucks, so I wasn't about to try to scoot him out of there.Just before we were about to leave, a trash truck pulled up. More cheering and a lot more smiles came from the stroller, so we decided to stay and watch for awhile...again.

Tornado? Cloud Circulation? What?!

May 24, about 8 p.m. This is what the radar looked like. I had just gotten home from coaching a running class, the tornado sirens were going off, hail was booming down, and it was storming pretty hard outside.

See the deepest purple color inside the purple...that's our area. As we heard "heavy cloud circulation...if you are in this area, take cover." I rounded up Cooper and Drake while Philip got the cedar closet ready. My mom happened to read a news story earlier this same day about how kids should wear a bike helmet if you have to take cover from a tornado. It can help protect their little noggins if things come crashing down...literally. So, I also grabbed Coop's bike helmet and got him settled in the closet.

Cooper wasn't phased at all by all the noise and chaos. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was having fun. He had Toy Story playing on the iPod and was cozy in the closet with his puppy and blankie. He was fine! I sat in the hallway eating my dinner and watching the radar while Philip was checking outside and listening to the radio.

After maybe 20 minutes or so, the purple section on the radar had passed us by and we knew we were officially in the clear. Glad we didn't get any closer to an actual tornado, but it sure made for an exciting and adventurous night!

Morning Walk Distractions

With baby weight attaching itself to my body these days, Cooper and I have been going on a good, long walk almost every morning. We see lots and lots of mowers and leaf blowers and construction crews working on houses, but today, we saw this.

We sat on the curb for at least 10 or 15 minutes watching this digger. It would pound the sidewalk, break it into big pieces, then move the cement chucks to a pile. My little man was mesmerized! He kept saying, "Whoa!! See that, Mama?! It's so loud! Whoa!!" And when I told him it was time to keep walking, he would put up his finger and say, "Just one more minute. Just one more. Please? PLEASE?!"

He is all boy! (PS: I love that he was only wearing his Spiderman jammie shirt and a diaper. It's his typical walk attire and perfect for a hot summer morning!)

Our Backyard Just Got a Lot Cooler

Because of this...
Four levels, picnic table, two swings, two-person swing, rock climbing wall, slide, lookout scope, steering wheels, pulley with bucket (added by Philip)...pretty much awesome.

Philip and I had been casually looking and talking about buying a used playscape for a couple of months now, but we just hadn't found the right one for the right price...until a couple of weeks ago when one kind of fell into our lap. Basically a family in our neighborhood was selling their three-month-old playscape because their new house didn't have room in the backyard for it, and they were asking 1/3 of the price they paid. The second I saw the email come through, I showed Philip the pictures and within 20 minutes, he was on his way to their house with a check in hand!

That weekend it only took Philip and six of his strongest friends, a trailer, leveling part of our backyard, tightening a few bolts, detaching and reattaching parts, and pretty much one full day to get the playscape moved and ready for Cooperman. Phew!

Cooper spent the day with Gammi and Poppi and when he got back home Philip met him at the front door to tell him there was a surprise in the back yard. The look on Cooper's face when he saw his new "playground!!" was priceless--part shock, part confusion, part overwhelmed by the tools, big ladder, and oh yea, the fort (as we are now calling it)!
He was quickly off to climb, slide, jump, swing, and play, play, play!!

At one point, he turned to Philip and yelled, "Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank YOU!!" I think that meant he was happy.

Just before the below picture was taken, Cooper was "coaching" me down the slide, "You can do it, Mama! Come on! I'll catch you!!" He gave me a big congratulatory hug when I finally went down.

We've already had several picnics in the fort, but Cooper's favorite are with his Daddy.

Oh the fun that is to come!

Silly NIghts

Last night was one of those nights that we were having so much fun...laying on the floor in Cooper's room before we put him to bed. Reading books, being silly, and just enjoying our family. I was having so much fun and wanted to grab a camera to capture it, but was afraid if I moved the "moment" would be over. But...I took my chance! While Philip was reading, I sneaked out, grabbed the camera and raced back into Cooper's room to see this...
It all started with Philip. While I was getting Coop in his jammies, Philip decided to use Bevo as a pillow and lay on Coop's floor. Cooper thought that looked like a lot of fun, so he grabbed Big Elephant for his pillow and his bed pillow for me and insisted that we all lay on the floor and "read books to me?". Ok...twist my arm!

We laid there for about an hour. Reading books and laughing and just enjoying our sweet boy. He kept saying, "I cozy." Or as he cuddled up to Philip, "Oh, this nice."

At one point, Cooper decided that dino needed to lay down and read books with us, too.Then, he got up and got blankets for all of us. And as he covered each of us up, he asked, "you cozy, Mommy? You cozy, Daddy?" So sweet!!

We'll still have nights like this when Baby Munchkin is here, right? I'm sure we will. It will only add to the fun and silliness and sweetness...and chaos! And, I can't think of anything better.

I Sure Love This Boy

I love having a boy.

Cowboy boots--check! SWA safety vest (from when Mommy got to work on the ramp)--check! Wrench, pencil, and pliers in his vest pocket--check! Oh, and he found a rolly polly to add to the pocket, too.

"Come on, Mama! I'll show you around!"

Don't forget the big stick!

Now, he's ready to help Daddy in the front yard.

Love. Having. A boy. (And, I get to have TWO of them!!)