4!

Happy 4th Birthday to our little/big boy that brings us so much love and joy!!!!  April 18, 2008 will forever mark the day that our lives were changed forever.

Birthday Fun

Mark and I kept going back and forth on whether or not we should have an official birthday party and invite all of Cooper's new friends to celebrate with him.  We decided to skip the Birthday Hoopla one more year.  We figured we'd avoid a party while we still could. Not that we didn't think it would be a blast or that Coop wouldn't enjoy it because there is no doubt he would. We figured Coop doesn't quite know what he's missing out on and we didn't want all of his friends to think they had to get him a gift. There will be plenty of time once school starts for the birthday madness to begin.  Until then, we opted for one more year of keeping the celebration somewhat low key.

 

I'm not going to lie, Cooper did ask if his friends were coming over to have cake on Sunday as we were celebrating.  I guess we underestimated Coop's knowledge of what Birthday's are all about.  Not to mention, he now has friends that he wants to celebrate with which is wonderful.

 

We did end up getting to celebrate with friends on his birthday after all.  Wednesdays are usually a play date day for us.  Normally we go to the park but it was a bit (read: waaaaaaay) too windy so we went to the indoor gym instead.  We brought cookies to share and all the kiddos played with the parachute.  Of course, everyone wished Cooper a Happy Birthday and made him feel special so it all worked out in the end.  And one of his little buddies even made him an awesome birthday baton!!!!  It was the perfect gift!  Hand made and from the heart.

Birthday Baton!

Batman Birthday

Although today is Coop's actual birthday, we had the birthday partay on Sunday.  Unfortunately, Mark had a work commitment in Boise that he couldn't get out of on Coop's birthday, so we decided to celebrate a little early.  Coop was on board with that and quite frankly, I think he's enjoyed milking it for all it's worth as we have been celebrating ever since.

Coop has recently discovered Batman.  Or as he likes to call it, "Baaaahtmaaaahn".  Coincidentally, he has also developed what sounds like a Boston (Baaahstaaahn) accent along with this new obsession.  We're not sure what to think about this new "accent" or how it even evolved.  For now, we're just laughing it off and going with it.  I have to admit, I keep waiting for him to tell  me that he 'pahked his cah at Hahvad Yahd' every time his accent thickens.

Coop requested a chocolate Baaahtmaaahn cake.  Luckily, I had some help with the decorating.  I also searched high and low for a batman figure to put on top of the cake that didn't have guns, daggers or other dismembering devices.  That was a very hard feat.  Yes, Cooper is unfortunately discovering "shooters" but we're trying to avoid the topic of weapons as long as we can.  This is going to get increasingly harder to do as we enter into the Super Hero Chapter of our lives.  But I digress......not only do I have to come to terms with the fact that our BABY BOY IS FOUR, but that our BABY BOY likes BIG BOY THINGS!!!!

Here are some pics from our Baaaahtmaaaahn Birthday Celebration........

Special Skype session on the TV with Grandpa Pat and Grandma Linda while we opened their gifts.

The Bat Cave....
basically a plastic Batman Doll House but he LOVES it!

Batman Cake.
Nice Skillz Mark!!!

Batman under wear, of course!

Thinking about his wish.........

Making the wish.....

Tidying up........

Token messy brother pic.........

Sharing his cake with Baaaaahtmaaaaahn.

So long 3!

Bubbye 3.........

Hello 4.......

Easter 2012

We had a fantastic Easter this year! The weather was gorgeous, we celebrated with friends and most of all, the four of us were together! It's been a couple years since we've been able to celebrate Easter together as a family. Mark and I decided it would be fun to invite some friends over for an egg/beer hunt. The kids hunted eggs (obviously) and the adults hunted beer (also obvious). It's a tradition we hope to continue. Mark and I started this tradition at our first house together in SLC. We had an awesome neighborhood and every Easter we would have a beer hunt. Not many of us had kids at that point, so we had a progressive like party where we moved from yard to yard visiting and hunting for beers strategically hidden along the way. Things are a little different when there is only one yard involved so the "beer" hunt portion ended up taking place in the cooler of ice and our kegerator. It's just crazy to leave yummy beer out in the sunshine instead of on ice. Plus, we only had our yard so the hunt kind of lost it's fizzle.

Of course, it is more about the kids now at this point. They had a blast hunting for eggs and the adults had fun visiting, eating and beer sampling. Best of all, we were able to celebrate outside in the sunshine! The boys were so excited to have their friends over and I think all of the kids consumed more sugar in a few hours than they've had in a lifetime.

I'm always hesitant to post pics online of other people's kids so you'll just have to imagine all the cuteness that was scattered throughout our yard. A very successful partaaay if I do say so myself. I look forward to many more!



Easter loot.

Easter duck.

The hunt.



Tricky terrain.

Cheese

Grandma Linda has managed to turn both of our boys into cheese snobs. Grandma doesn't eat string cheese. She's more of a brie or camembert kind of gal. The boys and Grandma enjoy their cheese time together.



Cheese and Tractors

Buddies

Reading to Doggie

Red Park

The "red" park as Coop calls it, is a hot spot any time we visit St. George.