Foot Sniffin' and Stompin'

Coop’s a foot sniffer. Plain and simple. What started off as a fun little game has developed into a full time obsession. He reminds me a little bit of Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher on Saturday Night Live. Minus the school girl get up and with feet instead of armpits. Whenever the subject of feet come up you can be rest assured that Coop will start a sniffin’. He also thinks that everyone else needs to smell his feet. What’s even creepier is that he feels it necessary to smell Mom, Dad, Targhee and Kokanee’s feet. Someday he will be soooooooo sceeved (not sure this is a word but thought it was fitting) at the thought of even touching his mother’s feet. Here’s a video from over a month ago when we were still living at the cabin. This was back when his little fetish was still sweet and innocent and proof that I might have had something to do with it :). Warning: you may need to turn your volume down as I tend to be a little loud. Shocker, my loud mouth is overpowering my son's cuteness.

Coop also loves to dance. Here’s a video clip of him slow groovin’ to Bob. One of Coop's slower numbers. It's as though he's really trying to soak in Bob's Irie Vibe. Notice the sopping wet shirt. No he hasn’t been sweatin’ to the oldies. This is what his shirts end up looking like towards the end of the day thanks to his CONSTANT drooling. Please don’t hold anything against Cooper for the state of his hair. He’s kind of going through a transition stage while his parents figure out what can be done about his little mop. He’s still recovering from his HORRIBLE 1st hair cut thanks to his Mother (5 months after the fact). Luckily his Dad has trimmed his “bangs” since this was filmed. I have been banned from ever cutting his hair again. He’s well on his way to rockin’ a fine mullet. Judging the state of his hair, one might think he should be groovin’ to Foreigner instead.

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County Fair and Dollywood

Hee Haw! We had a very busy weekend. To cap off a fabulous visit with Grandma Mickey we decided to throw in some fun excursions. We hit the aquarium (forgot the camera), The County Fair, and DOLLYWOOD. Cooper enjoyed them all and so did Mom, Dad and Grandma. We visited the aquarium once before when Coop was about 7months old but this time he was able to walk around on his own and play in the Kid Zone. After the aquarium we went home for a power nap before we hit The Fair. The Fair was perfect. It was only 15minutes away from home, small and full of everything a fair has to offer. We watched a Dance Show which consisted of little pageant looking girls wearing much too revealing outfits and waaaay too much makeup as they shook their little bon-bons. Cooper enjoyed dancing along with them and I was happy when he got excited when the much more conservative ballerina hit the stage. Although he did enjoy dancing along with the hoochie mama toddlers, he just stared at the pretty ballerina. I think it was her shiny tu tu, but I'll humor myself and think it was because of her classiness and grace. Note to self~cut back on listening and dancing to Beyonce with Cooper.

Next up, the petting zoo and Sheep Show. The Sheep Show was new to all of us. It consisted of different age groups demonstrating their ability to "show" their sheep. Translation: wrestle and force the sheep to stand pretty while the judge soaks in all their sheepness. The little kids were sooooo cute and VERY serious about their skills. I was drawn to this little boy that was really prepping on the side lines as his father coached him (rather sternly) before his big reveal. Sadly, he took last place.

Of course the fair was filled with Carnies and GREAT people watching. It reminded Mark and I of living in Carlsbad when the Carnies came to town. We never could figure out why the Carnies came to town so often. It will always be a mystery I guess.

Here's a pic of Cooper at the Fair SEP '08 (what a difference a year makes) Checking out the Sheep Show ("what are you going to do with that sheep?")
More Sheep Show how now brown cow

The next day, we hit Dollywood. One might think that with all this fair talk, that the Fair trumped Dollywood. But that is not the case. Quite frankly, Cooper no longer feels it necessary for me to be typing on the computer this morning. Can't he see I'm trying to document his childhood? Children can be so selfish. The pictures say it all. We had a fabulous day filled with Dollywood and all of it's glory. So much so that we decided to buy a season's pass. So don't you fret, there will be more Dollywood visits to blog about in the near future :).

obligatory pic in front of Dollywood props
Tea cups

Awesome Jungle Gym

Sliding is fun (I promise)

Coop at the Wheel

Driving off into the sunset (The perfect end to a perfect day.)

Catching up and some ketchup

Just wanted to check in since it has been awhile since my last post. Not much to report other than we're finally back HOME!!!!!! We moved back in last Friday. All is well (and dry) and pretty much back to new so I won't bore you with house drama. All we have to do is final nitpicking with the contractors and then we're moving on without another thought of the Flood of 2009. Cooper's Grandma Mickey arrived the day we moved in so we've been busy filling Grandma's day with Coop's cuteness.

Greeting committee.

This is what greets Mark when he comes home from work.

Hillbilly Guitar Hero

Enjoying some of our new garage sale finds: Guitar and Rocking Chair

(entertainment at the cabin)

Coop discovers ketchup

Uh oh....

Bad idea?

Does this mean I'll have to carry ketchup in the diaper bag?

I sure hope not.......

Oh No You Didn't

Cooper and I each celebrated a milestone yesterday. Cooper said his first word (besides Momma and Dadda) that clearly sounds like the actual word and not just gibberish. He now says "car". It actually sounds like "gar" but close enough. He saw how excited I was when he said it, so now he's saying it non stop.

And yes, it finally happened. Much sooner than I would have thought. I'm not posting this for a pity party because I already received plenty of pity thanks to Facebook and the friends and family that I talked to. But yes, it had to be documented. August 12, 2009 was the first day that someone asked if Cooper was my Grandson!!!. Ouch.

The short and sweet version...Coop and I were shopping at a thrift store we frequent every once and awhile and the owner was trying to chit chat with us as he was ringing us up. He said, 'is that your grandson or you son?'. He must have seen the sheer terror on my face because the next thing he said was, 'Uh, I mean, Err..I didn't think he could possibly be your grandson.' Duh, nice try. If you didn't think so, then why did you ask?

Moving on......Coop and I have a busy day planned. I better start stretching my hips and take my Metamucil before the day gets away from me. Jeepers, where does the time go? :) Before you know it, I'll be doing the old lady fist pump in the air and telling people to "get off my lawn".

My self portrait

Tennessee moonshine!

The Last Frontier State

Here are some fun facts about Alaska:

• State Flower: Forget-me-not


• State Fish: King Salmon


• State Bird: Ptarmigan


• State Tree: Sitka Spruce


• State Mineral: Gold


• State Gem: Jade


• State Sport: Dog Mushing


• State Insect: Dragonfly


• State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth


• State Mammal: Moose

Here are some not so fun facts about Alaska:

• Over 4,000 miles from Tennessee


• Mark's current location

Mark left for a fire assignment in Alaska on Friday. It's definitely not the most convenient time for him to be gone (again), but the show must go on. After I put Coop to bed Friday night, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed since the last time Mark went to Alaska...........

It was over 7yrs ago and Mark was assigned to a 3 month detail in Fort Greely (about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks). He and I were shacking up, living in sin had just moved in together, Targhee was just a pup and we weren't even engaged yet. I bawled like a baby when I dropped him off at the airport and it was the first time we had ever been apart for a long period of time. I caved and let Targhee sleep on the bed with me the first night Mark was gone and the rest is history. We now have 2 labs on the bed with us and occasionally, a snugly 15month old.

We weren't technically supposed to have dogs at our condo so we had to be sneaky about Targhee's existence. I enrolled Targhee in obedient school and he went to doggy daycare a couple of days a week while I was at work. The other days I dropped him off at Grandma Linda's on my way to work. I joked that I was a single parent and Mark left me to raise our puppy all by my lonesome. During the 3 month period, I visited Mark for about a week and we were able to explore a little bit of Alaska together. Little did I know that Mark was pondering the idea of proposing to me during that visit. He ended up deciding that he'd wait until he returned home.

This time around is a little different. Targhee now has a sister (both dogs could use a little refresher course in obedience training) and I didn't cry as hard when Mark left. In my defense, I'm kind of used to him leaving on fire assignments and it was 4:30am. Okay, I'll admit it, I didn't cry at all because we said our good byes the night before and I was sound asleep when he left (sleep is a little more precious now). This time around, we're kind of homeless and the dogs are starting to run off on me at the cabin. We have since lived in 3 other states together, have moved 4 times, we're married and have a SON. Other than that, not much has changed.

Keep Mark in your thoughts for a safe and speedy return. As far as the rest of the family goes, let's just hope we survive this house fiasco, the dogs don't run away and that we'll be settled in our home before Mark returns.

Hello Dolly

Coop loves books. This love has evolved from stacking, organizing, turning pages (and some tearing of pages) to a full on love of story time. Over the past several weeks, Cooper has definitely discovered what story time is all about. All we have to say is "Coop go grab a book and we'll read a story". He'll run over and pick a book of his choice and bring it to one of us to read. This one book turns into 2, then 3 and it goes on and on. Right now, Coop is the one guilty of skipping pages. Soon the roles will be reversed and we might be guilty of skipping a page or two from time to time.

We can thank Dolly (Parton to those of you not on a first name basis with her) for Coop's early love of books. We signed him up for her amazing Imagination Library program when he was just a couple of weeks old. If we didn't have reason enough before to think Dolly was Da Bomb, we do now. She sends Coop a book once a month in the mail until he turns 5 years old! And these aren't your average humdrum books. They're carefully selected by Dolly herself and a special committee.

It's a big deal when a new book arrives in the mail. Coop knows when one arrives. I'll say "hey Coop, Dolly sent you some mail. A NEW BOOK! ~~insert an excited Cooper smile here~~

Thanks Dolly! We'll make sure Cooper always knows just how special you are and we'll do our best to pass it on.

Everything's going to be all right

Bob Marley said it best..Everything IS going to be all right. I can't get over how calm and relaxed I felt all weekend long. After a couple of weeks of stress and worry, I feel completely at ease. Our house is coming along, Cooper and the doggies are adapting to all the change amazingly (why was I soooo worried about this???), Mark is home and we are all happy and healthy.

We moved into Cabin #2 (Afternoon Delight) this weekend. It's a little bit older than Cabin #1 (Brother Bear) but it was very easy to baby proof and the dogs have more room to frolic (translation: run off without bugging poor innocent vacationers). We're scheduled to stay here for another 3 weeks. Hopefully our house will be completed by then. Only time will tell....

A "before" pic of the front room Front Room sans hardwood

(one of the nice guys working on the place) Nice curb appeal (dumpster and storage pod)

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Cabin #1 (Brother Bear)

Apparently, rental cabins need a catchy name

Cooper checking out the new digs

BBQ'ing at Cabin #2 (Afternoon Delight)

We've come a long way in the last 2 weeks. So long are the days of staying in pee-stained, kennel smelling hotel rooms. My standards have definitely changed. I've looked beyond finding an occasional mouse turd and scorpion in the new pad. As long as the little critters keep their distance, I'm okay with co-habitating.