Really Cookin': April 2011

Let the Games Begin

Caroline has started her first season of t-ball, and it is shaping up to be a memorable one! Here she is before the first game. She sure is a cutey!

Coach Chris and his two All Stars!

Caroline and one of her favorite guy pals, Kie. They are two peas in a pod for sure.

Coop had, shall we say, a small breakdown when Caroline's team took the field. He spent several minutes screaming "Daddy" and "Bball." He refused to take the glove off of his face or get up off of the ground. It was one of the many red headed moments that we experience every day.

Caroline spent the last few innings of the game as the catcher. What fun to wear all of the garb!

Caroline's sweet teacher, Miss Laughlin, came out for her first game. What a treat!

NM 2011

New Mexico is such a special place to our family. I have made more precious memories there than I can count over my lifetime. This trip was extra special because we were joined by the Kirchners! They have lived in Virginia for these past few years, so they haven't been able to make it. This trip was very relaxed and calm. The weather was cool, but not cold. We were able to keep the windows open at night and really take advantage of the porches during the day.

I spent most of the week with George W. Bush. I'd been wanting to read his recent memoir, and this was the perfect time to do it! We also, as usual, did a ton of eating. That's one of my very favorite things about our NM trips. Being that I kick...rarely, these trips give us the chance to try new recipes or to make the ones that just take too much time or effort to do very often.

Of course, Nana and Papa spoiled the babies. This train was a cheap buy, but gave Coop endless hours of enjoyment!

The boys got up one morning and went fishing. It wasn't as successful as they'd hoped, but we were able to have trout one night for dinner!

This is pretty much how Cooper spent the entire week- eating at the table.

Papa and the kiddos took walks just about every day. On the last one of the trip, Caroline discovered a large elk horn. She came back to the house hollering for us all to see what she'd found. She was so proud- so were the men in the family. They were all a little jealous I think!

We were excited to have an ENTIRE family picture this year! The first one is the normal us...

We are so thankful for the chance to get away to the mountains every year. I think you're a little bit closer to God there.

Coop is 2!

My baby boy is 2. He is very 2. He is RED HEADED and 2. I refuse to use any words like terrible to describe him, but let's just say- he's 2... He is very active and strong willed. He is such a ham and loves to be the center of attention. He is refuses to eat any meat except bacon. He hits his sister and she gives him the reaction of his dream every time. He loves cars and trains. He lives to play ball and can throw better than his sister (don't tell her I said that). He's been fighting a lot of illness lately, including a bout with pneumonia. He is constantly snotty, but it the best little nose blower you've ever seen! We love him so much and he adds so much life and energy to our family.

We decided that we were going to take it easy for his birthday this year. I was so glad! Somewhere I heard about a family that did friend birthday parties every other year and filled in the off years with family birthdays. Birthdays can turn into such productions that we have decided we want to take it down a notch and make it really just about that person.

We started the day with Cooper's favorite- "sugar donuts."

Cars cake- Coop is obsessed with them!

As soon as Cooper saw it, he was ready to dive in! He was not happy when I moved it to the kitchen counter. This was his reaction. Notice his pajamas and boots...

We went to try out the local Peter Piper Pizza for dinner.

When we got home, he was ready for cake! This was his face when we started singing happy birthday.

Then all of a sudden it was not so funny anymore!

I tried out the check board pan I got when we got married and was still in the wrapper... success!

His tent was a hit!

We had such a great time celebrating our Little Man. He is a constant joy!

It's that Time Again

During our crazy week off of school because of the snow and ice, we made our annual trip to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. It was freezing and low key. Perfect! Coop could finally fill out his cowboy hat that Dad bought him last year.

We bought him his first pair of boots and they have left his feet only for bath time since then!

NFL in DFW

The very first morning of our crazy snow break, we were brave (stupid) and headed to Downtown Fort Worth. Super Bowl week was just kicking off and being the ESPN fans that we are, we obviously wanted to get a look at their headquarters and the Omni Hotel (where the Steelers were staying). The Kirchners and Deanes were brave (stupid) enough to join us!

On Sunday morning, we were so excited to get to meet and hear from Mr. Cowboy- Bob Lilly. He was so gracious and humble! What an honor it was to get to know him a little bit!

Two Horned Frogs

Ice Storm '11

To say these posts are overdue would be an understatement, so I am not going to dwell on it! Let's just hit the road!

The first week in February will be one of the sweetest memories in my mind forever. We'd moved into the Crowley house (post on that coming later) two days before the big ice storm hit. We knew we'd get a day, maybe two off, but we never expected to get 5 days in 2 weeks out of school! Because it was so unexpected and the roads were so bad, you really had no choice but to huddle up at home and relax. I think I ate 3 packages of Double Stuff Oreos and about 2 pounds of popcorn, but why not?

This was my view for most of the week...