Bee on the Loose

Dear Cooper,
Tonight you made my heart laugh when you insisted on wearing your bumble bee costume instead of your jammies. You were so excited to sneak around the corner and "prize Dada!" The way you scurried around the house in that costume--down the hall, on Mommy and Daddy's bed, in to the den, flopping on the floor--made Daddy and I roll with laughter. Your smile was one of pure joy and giddiness. I'm not sure if my favorite part was cuddling with the little bee on the bed or when the bee started boogeying while playing the kitty piano. Tonight was one of those nights that I could just bottle up and keep forever. I love you, little bumble bee!

10.27.10

Talking in His Sleep

I was getting ready for bed the other night when I heard the following through the monitor:

"Big yellow truck! Mail man!"

And then silence. That's all he said! It was clear as day, like he was awake. We talk about the mail man every single day, so it's cute to see that Coop dreams about him, too!

I took this picture during nap time last week to show how many stuffed animals Cooper pulled into his bed before falling asleep. He normally has his three favorites--Gus the Giraffe, Ooh Ooh, and Mr. Elephant. But on this day, he clearly needed an entire zoo in his bed! Poor little guy barely had enough space to sleep.

Party Party Party!!

The absolute most important thing to me for Coop’s 2^nd Birthday Party was that Cooper had fun and really felt special. It was important to me that he knew everyone coming, too. I talked up his party all week. We talked about who was coming and what we were going to do. We even practiced singing "Happy Birthday" and really talked up blowing out the candle. Coop would sing his version of Happy Birthday and then stick his pointer finger up to his lips, pretending it was a candle, and then blow out the imaginary flame. We practiced this over and over! So much so that when it came to "show time" at the party, he blew out that candle like a pro! Coop walked around the house pointing to different things I had laid out for the party and say, "touch this? No. For party. Eat cake? No. For party." I also heard A LOT throughout the week, "Jack go party? Poppi go party?" It was starting to sound like he was excited!

My good friend, Sarah (Jackson's mom), is a super talented graphic designer, and she designed the invitations for me. I just love, love how they turned out!! Check out Sarah's site to see all of her great work!

We had balloons, cupcakes, some of Coop's favorite foods, a backyard full of toys, beautiful weather, and a party full of Cooper's favorite people!

Checking out the life-size pinata..."do I sit on this thing?"

Happy Birthday Party day!!

I always love personalized gifts, so for party favors, I did little personalized buckets for each kiddo. Inside there was chalk, a little Annie's treat, and a corresponding initial. Ann and I painted all the initials and then attached a ribbon "hook" at the top.

With a house full of adults and kids, I tried to make sure I had food that would appeal to both...chocolate cupcakes; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut in the shape of Longhorns, lambs, and dogs; lemon blueberry muffins; and pigs-in-a -blanket...yum! (I made close to 100 pigs-in-a-blanket and not a single crumb was left after the party.)

Time to play, play, play! Luckily the weather was great. A little hot, but bearable outside. I don't know what we would have done had it rained.

For a couple of weeks, I went back and forth on letting the kids break open the pinata. In the end, I decided we'd go for it. Sure, we had a few close calls, but luckily all the kids had a blast and went home in one piece...WITH a bag full of goodies!

Jackson and Cooper got to start things off.

Notice in the picture on the left that Jackson is ready to attack the pinata with a blue plastic shovel.

How boys hit a pinata vs. how girls hit a pinata.

Since the party took place on Philip's actual birthday, we decided to let him do the final swing.

Pin the birthday hat on Cooper!

My sweet SWA friends. Caden is one day older than Cooper, and Hunter is exactly one year younger than Cooper.

Cupcake and candle time. (I updated the pictures on my kitchen table. These are all pictures of Cooper and our family from the last year.)

First blow and that candle went out!

Mommy wanted a picture; Cooper wanted to eat the cupcake.

I decided not to open presents during the party, which ended up being a GREAT decision because it took us three days to open all the gifts. Seriously. Three days. Cooper would open a present, get so excited about the new toy and instantly ask, "Open? Mama open? Dada open? Please?? OPEN?!". I love this picture of him dancing with his new piano!

Day two, with lots of presents still to open!

We had such a fun, fun party. But most importantly, Cooper had fun at his party!!