A day of firsts

I left Monday mid-morning for San Francisco, CA for a lunch meeting on Tuesday (flying home Tuesday afternoon). Everything went pretty normal, a few delays out of Springfield due to a late plane from Chicago and bad weather in San Francisco. In fact, San Fran was listed as the worst city to travel to on Monday because of the rain they have received in the past few days.

When we arrived in Chicago, while boarding the jet to San Fran, I noticed that the plane was incredibly clean. Even the outside (what you can see of it while boarding from the jet bridge) was very shiny. It looked like it had a fresh paint job. As it turns out, I was on the maiden flight! I think it had that new plane smell...

Speaking of flights to San Francisco, if you've never been, you should go. You don’t have to wait to arrive for entertainment – it starts on the plane ride out. Let’s just say it seems there are an unusual number of strange people on the flight. As an example, one of the guys next to me was in a full sweat-suit, bright turquoise, with matching turquoise hair to go with it. That doesn’t do him justice. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
For a number of reasons, we stayed in China town Monday night. My boss is Australian and in Australia, they eat a lot of Malaysian food. So, of course, he wants to eat Malaysian. It’s not so bad, but lots of curry and strange flavors, meats, soups, etc. And if you’ve read my earlier blog post, you know how I feel about curry. To top off the food experience, the client I met with today is Indian and he took us to lunch. Guess where? An Indian bistro. Again, what’s with all the curry? I’m always up for new experiences, but if I have my choice, I like the curry experiences spread out a bit!
Finally, after a long day of traveling back (fortunately no issues getting through security in San Francisco), I’m now sitting in Dallas for the last flight home. I should pull into the house around midnight. I can’t wait to see the family!

The top 5 signs that Cooper is growing up:

1. His vocabulary continues to develop. Cooper was helping me make breakfast the other morning, and he said, "Mom, can I put the cimanon, I mean cinnamon in?"

2. He is willing to try new things! We went to the playground today, and he crossed the scary bridge and went down the tornado slide ALL BY HIMSELF. No promting from Mom.

3. He is so brave. Cooper fell off the ladder of the big slide and cut his leg a little bit. He was upset, but when I tried to comfort him, he wasn't interested. He started back up the ladder again - ready for more.

4. He is asking hard questions! He is very concerned about the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus' head when he was crucified. We are memorizing Psalm 1, and verse 1 mentions that wise men do not join a group of mockers. Cooper asked me, "Are the men who put the crown of thorns on Jesus' head a group of mockers?" Wow - great connection!

5. He is a great big brother to Miles! I often hear him saying, "See, Miles! This is how you..."

Back at it!

Well, it's Monday morning and we've had a beautiful weekend in Bolivar. Temps were in the 70s and low 80s and it was great. We enjoyed a lot of time outside and all got a little sun. Cooper more most. We gave the boys some gardening tools for Easter and it turns out that the hoe is Cooper's favorite. All day we heard him saying 'well mom/dad, I've got to hurry because I've got to go back to the garden and do some hard work!'. He would promptly march out to the garden and begin hoeing the dirt and would stay at for a long, long time! He was so busy and it was so cute. I think the summer is going to provide lots of time for the boys to be outside and busy! I can't wait to plant the garden with them this weekend. Should be so much fun to play in the dirt with them!

Well, my plane to Southern California is about to land so I've only got time for one more story. Last night we were laying on the floor building with Lego blocks and Carey accidentally steps on my foot as she's passing by. She apologies and before I can say anything, Cooper says 'Mom, just don't worry about it. Daddy is really strong. So just don't you worry about it. My daddy is really tough.' I'm glad I've got someone fooled...

Ooooooh!

The last few days have been a whirlwind around the house. Fortunately, the kids have been feeling much. However, I think they've been making up for the down-time they had while they were sick! They have been a real handful! Even as they cause trouble, it still seems we have a blast with them.

I know I will miss several stories that have made me laugh, but here are a few. Tonight, we were wrestling around on the floor. Cooper pulled his shoes and socks off, Carey smelled them and says 'Oooooh!' I wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing as Miles and I were playing. But the next thing I know, Miles comes over and raises his foot up to me and says 'Oh'. I thought for a moment he may have been saying shoe or something like it. He said 'Ooh ooh' a few more times and finally Carey explains he wants to do what Cooper did! So, I took his shoes off, smelled his feet and said 'Ooooooooh!!!' and he loved it. Whatever he can do to be like his brother.

Earlier today, the boys went with Carey and our neighbors to go Easter egg hunting. From the pictures, and loot they returned home with, I believe it was a hunt like no other! There were four kids on the hunt, and Carey said she was giving as many as she could away to the other kids and the kids still had so many eggs! Amazing.













I also gave Cooper his annual summer trim. This one turned into more than a trim. He looks so different with shorter hair. The spike in the back is not from me, I promise! I'm blaming it on his nap...














Finally, a few videos. Cooper and Miles (Miles especially) love to dance. Sometimes they dance to anything, but Miles really likes music with a good beat! So, a few examples of Miles shaking it! (You'll notice he's easily sidetracked...).

Weekend in KC

Our family spent the weekend in Kansas City after my Dr.'s appt. at KU med on Thursday. One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing Cooper and Miles meet their cousin Blake for the first time. I wasn't sure how the meeting would go - Cooper has said since Blake was born that he does not like Baby Blake. I think it is because he LOVES Aunt Jenn, and Blake gets in the way of that. The meeting went VERY well. Cooper wanted to hold him and Miles could not stop kissing him. At one point, Miles was sucking on Blake's forehead - kisses just weren't expressing his love.

Here are a few pictures:





We also celebrated the March birthdays with our extended family. March is a big month for us! Amanda, Dad, Beth, Eli, and Nate all have birthdays in March!





After we sang Happy Birthday, Nate said, "Who wants cake?" and Miles was the only one who answered. He shouted, "I do!!"

What a fun weekend!!

A Case of the Mondays...

Just kidding! It was a great day! I wouldn't say there wasn't any drama, but I'm not sure it was any different than any other day with a three- and one-year-old!

Carey and I started off the day fairly early like most, both working out. Carey continues to run nearly every morning and I try to get in time on the trainer (while not nearly as disciplined as Carey though...). I don't know if I've ever written about Cooper's germ-a-phobe tendencies in the past, but let me tell you, he has them! This morning was a classic example. I came in from the garage, pretty sweaty, and Cooper runs over. I get down on the floor and say something like "Hey Buddy! Good morning! I need some big Cooper snuggles!!". And he promptly says "Dad, you need to take a shower first. You are really sweaty. Then I'll give you snuggles!"

Carey had book club this evening so it was a guys night out. We usually head out to El Rodeo or some other place for dinner, but tonight we stayed in for 'manly stuff' - grilling burgers and playing in the back yard. And after, we walked up to DQ for mini-sized ice cream cones. It was lots of fun. All in all, a good night but very busy. Here are a few pics of the boys.

Catching Up

It's been several days since our last entry so I will try to attempt a quick catch up.

• The boys have been sick, sick, sick. I sure hope all the extra pooping and puking at our house has us caught up for a while...like for the rest of our lives.
• With my Grandmother's (in Laguna Beach) failing health, I flew out for a short visit on Tuesday/Wednesday. It was great to see them, but sad to see them away from their home, less mobile and in poor health. She has a tremendous attitude about what's to come and I'm sure is a huge encouragement to those around her.
• Carey had a neurology appointment in KC with a doc from KU med. It was a good meeting and was encouraging to Carey. We plan to go back in about six months (and will do so for the foreseeable future).
  
• We stayed in KC through Saturday afternoon with Carey's dad and also were able to enjoy the company of Carey's sister and family, as well as some additional extended family on her dad's side. Among those at the house, there were five birthdays, that's right - five, in March so we took the opportunity to celebrate.
• With tired kids, we came back on Saturday and did some catch up at home. It's always nice to come home.
  
• Today (Sunday), Sunday school as usual but then we had 'extended care' - basically nursery. We had lots of lively kiddos today for about 1.5 hours... a few notable quotes from the bunch of three year olds: 1) while lifting up his shirt, one young man said 'I've got a big belly.' Then he looked at me and said 'Wow, you have a really big belly.' Sheesh...thanks kid. 2) To protect the innocent (okay, not innocent, I'm just being nice), we'll leave this child nameless. Said child was not so friendly, screamed a lot, and in general, was causing lots of trouble. Just before duck-taping him to the chair, he came up to me and 'Mr. Nate - I love you.' It's not fair! How did he know that would work on me?!
  

So here's to another week - may the next be free of puking, screaming, and crying.

Time with Miles

After a very long day, Cooper retired early to bed. He has been sick and requested an early bed time to get some rest. We are hoping he recovers quickly - we miss his happy little self running around. It was interesting though. After Cooper went to bed, it was just Miles. We haven't had much time with just Miles. I enjoyed it so much. He was making up for a morning of screaming and was as sweet as can be. Some pictures of our evening.

Winter...Summer! No, wait, Winter again...

I've always been one for a change in seasons. I love them all! It seems that just about the time I'm ready for a change, the change comes! And this time of year, I'm just itching to experience the warming weather of Spring. It's wonderful to bring the bike off the trainer and out onto the road, play outside with the family, etc. And this week has not been a disappointment! We've had very nice weather, with most days into the 60s. Yesterday I was able to get in a few hours on the bike with John, Dale and Michael (recent college grad working with the SBU cross country team) - we were all in short sleeves and shorts - it was great. And it turns out, those wonderful temperatures were all just a big tease!! As I type, I'm watching snow fall. We're supposed to receive six inches!!! I don't know how it can be 70 degrees one day and snowing the next - I'm convinced God is a funny guy.

Speaking of Springfield, we went to Springfield this morning to run a few errands and were able to have lunch with Jeff Case (great friend and college roommate). While both kids turned out to not be feeling well and Miles crying, kicking, punching, screaming, yelling (and whatever other words you can think of that mean loud noises coming from a one-year-old), we had a good time. Sort of. Okay, not really. =) Both are sleeping now and what a sweet sound, or lack of sound, that is.

Carey did have a funny conversation with Miles. It went like this:
(Big yellow truck driving by...)
Miles - 'Bus!'
Carey - 'That does look like a bus, but it's actually a big yellow truck!'
Miles - 'No guck (truck)! Bus!'

I love his determined little spirit.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

On Monday, we celebrated Nate's 29th birthday! Here is the card the boys picked out for Nate:

Cooper wrote "Happy" and "Cooper" inside the card - can you see it?

Here is the envelope. I helped Cooper write "d-a-d", but he wanted to add an extra "a" to write "dada."