Back In The Saddle

The weather this Spring has proved to be interesting, but none the less, it's getting warmer and the sun is coming up earlier each day. With Carey's exercise routine and the boys schedule, it's been best for me to workout in the early morning on the trainer. However, 1.5 hours plus in the garage gets old fast.

This morning, however, I reunited with some old riding buddies and went out for a 30-miler before work. In the days before Cooper and Miles, Dale Sargent, John Jones and I logged hours together every week. Of course, that all changed with kids and a more active job. But this morning was great. While a bit short, it was good for hte soul. Great weather, great stories, city limit signs: what could be better? I'm looking forward to the Tuesday Night World Championships next week.

The past few months

As you've all heard, most people who've been around say life happens fast. As I write, it feels like it should be March, but it's nearing June. So much has happened in the last few months. We've captured some things in prior entries, but here are some recent highlights and short stories in no particular order.

Miles can stand up by himself, not holding on to anything. He doesn’t last long, but his balance is coming.

When Cooper goes to the bathroom, he asks us for privacy. Sometimes, when we tell him we need to go to the restroom, he says "Okay dad, I'll take you. But dad, be careful: make sure all your potty goes in the toilet. Call out for me if you need me. I'll give you some privacy." He must have heard that somewhere. Keeping with the bathroom-like topic, Cooper tooted the other day and when Carey said, "Cooper, was that you?" He responded by saying, no, it was dad.

Given the extended weekend and nice weather on Friday night, Cooper and I went camping - in the back yard. However, we only made it until around 10pm.

Lately, Cooper has been running around the house saying 'Shoot the enemies! Shoot the enemies!' The first time we heard this Carey and I were quite surprised. So, I asked where he learned about shooting. He gave me a look like I was asking the dumbest question ever and said - 'Shooting School'. For the record, our two-year-old son has never been to Shooting School.

Cooper has been helping me in the garden this spring. We've spent much time planting and weeding. Our radishes and strawberries (June-bearing) will be the first fruits. As we were finishing up one night, Cooper was looking at some of the smaller, green strawberries. He said "Hi sweet little baby strawberries." I think he would have just snuggled them right up if I would have let him.

About a month or so ago, I assembled a new swing set for the boys. I say assembled, but I think it took me about 24 hours of actual work effort. I’m not sure I fully understood the full impact of ‘some assembly required’. Regardless, it’s done. However, we had a land-based hurricane come through and had winds over 100 miles per hour. We didn’t have much damage, but our swing set was torn apart in the backyard. Carey tried to talk me into ordering replacement parts, but I’d pretend I’m handy and replace the broken pieces on my own. About two weeks, the boys have their swing set back.

Miles sees Carey and says ‘Mama’. Very cute…unless he’s yelling it.

Carey and I need a long weekend away, so we are planning a trip, sans kids, in Banff, Canada. Good friends of ours in Bolivar have been there and many people I work with in Canada love to visit Banff, so it’s great to learn about a new mountain destination (thanks Dinwiddees!).

In addition to the meds / injections Carey is taking for the MS diagnosis, we started a new diet to aide in treatment. The diet is incredibly restrictive – no milk, wheat, yeast, sugar, caffeine, very limited fruits/nuts, no red meat, etc. We’ve been at it for a few months and hate it. =)

Miles turns one year old Thursday. Son, I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!

With the Spring weather (or something…), Cooper has decided to go to bed late and get up around 6AM. He quietly walks, three babies, a blanket, and a few cars / trains in hand and says ‘Dad, I’m a awake!’ One morning, we woke up and thought we heard him, but couldn’t see him. It turns out he was in on the floor, laying on the pillow shams. Such a cute kid.

Travel – the second quarter has turned out to be a busy one. I’ve been in LA, Chicago, Toronto, Portland, Dallas, and several other cities (and many of them more than once) in the past few weeks. While I don’t mind the travel, it’s being away from Carey and the boys that make it hard.

While there are moments when Cooper gets frustrated with Miles (especially since Miles is nearly stronger and can take things away…), he is so tender towards his little brother. He is constantly looking out for him, sharing his snacks, cars, tells us when miles is getting in to trouble, etc. If Miles is crying, it’s not uncommon to hear Cooper say ‘It’s okay baby Miles, don’t cry’.

Miles' Mess

Miles loves to eat. Here he is enjoying his food:

Our "Hurricane"

We had a big storm roll through on Friday morning. I have heard talk around town that it was an "inland hurricane." Here are a few photos from around town:


(The girl was in this car when the tree fell on it!)






Our only casualty was our swing-set. We are thankful for God's protective hand on us and our home!

The Boys

Cooper has said a couple of cute things this past week that I want to pass along:

On Tuesday, I told him our friend, Robin, was coming over. He said, "She's so sweet. I could eat her up - like an M&M."

Then, on Wednesday morning, we were making breakfast and Cooper said, "Mom, you're my best friend."

Wednesday night, Cooper had a really hard time going to sleep. He snuck in my room about 5 times before I was asleep and two more times throughout the night before he finally was awake around 6:00. His answer was the same every time he came in... Me: "Cooper - what do you need?" Cooper: "I came in to snuggle with you." It's pretty hard to be frustrated with that.

Tonight in the bathtub, Cooper was pouring a cup of water of Miles to help wash the soap off. He said, "This is just like how Jesus washed our sins away!" That's some cool stuff right there...

Miles continues to communicate with short, high-pitched yells. Wow - does it hurt my hears. He has expanded his vocabulary some, though. And the first word is (drum-roll please) "Uh Oh!" Does that count as a first word when it is really just a combination of grunts? I'm not sure if it counts, but it certainly is cute.

Cowboys and Indians

We gave the boys one more day of recovery time before they go back to Lisa's, so we took shifts watching the boys while the other worked. I took part of the afternoon and was home when they woke up. Miles and I went in to get Cooper and it was clear he is feeling much better. Cooper started sharing his babies and they were giggling up on Cooper's bed. Then he said 'I wish Miles could talk. Then we could play Cowboys and Indians!' I have no idea how he knows about playing Cowboys and Indians, but we had a good laugh.

Here are a few new pics of the boys this afternoon.

To the Robins on our deck - Watch out for that snake!

We have two Robins trying to build a nest on our back porch light. They've been at it for several days and have made no progress (half becuase it's a bad spot and the other half because every chance we get we go tear down whatever progress they have made...). We've had this problem before and the back porch ends up covered in bird poop, grass, straw, sticks and whatever else they drop on the porch. It's not going to happen this year...at least we thought.

A friend recommended we buy a black snake, rubber of course, and lay it on top of the light. Great idea - snakes eat birds / eggs, they will be afraid, move on to another spot (like trees!). So, Carey picks up a snake at Wal-Mart and I put it on top of the light with hopes of great success. Within the first minute, this is what we found.






If you can't tell, that's a Robin, approaching, putting in some nest, then biting the snake. She must be very scared. I think we are going to need more 'tactical' measures...

The Plague

We returned from our extended Easter weekend on Monday - we had a big week. Despite taking a few days off, I had quarterly sales meetings for several days (and nights) which had me away from the family. It would have been okay had Cooper not come down with a wicked flu bug on Tuesday. Carey and I have cleaned up more puke (on the floor, bed, stuffed animals, us...) than ever before. Cooper has literally laid on the couch for days. It's all we can do to keep him hydrated. We are starting to see some smiles with Cooper, but now Miles has it! Lisa (our babysitter) also thinks one of her kids is coming down with it so it may be another long, long week.

Easter Weekend

We went to the big city of Enid, OK for Easter weekend with the Bethell family. Hanna and Jeremiah hosted our family as well as Mom, Dad, Wade and Lauren. Mom and Dad pulled the 5th-wheel down so it was very nice to each have some space at Hanna's. We had great weather and spent a lot of time outside on the 4Wheelers, fishing, feeding calves, etc. Cooper had so much fun, especially on the ATVs. The constant phrase was 'Dad, let's go faster'! Here are some pics of the weekend.

Weekend Project

It's been a few days, okay weeks, since our last post. However, much has been going on! I've traveled to the west coast and Canada several times, Miles is crawling like a crazy man, we're putting up a new fence and built a swingset over the weekend!! I'm not sure we knew what we were in for when we started the swingset - there were only two small boxes...

Before and After: