photo booth fun!

I love my crazy and wonderful cousins (minus Laura, who was busy getting married) and our amazing spouses (minus Joe, who was also busy!!)

firsts

First day of first grade went well.

Look at this kid now...Look how little he was last year!

Everyone says time flies...everyone is right.Today, I think I understood why I was feeling anxious

about first grade.

I missed having Jack in Kindergarten with us...

but, I was happy that he could be with his best friends, like Gavin. For me, the day was really good.

I had 21 out of 22 show up. NO criers.

In fact, this class seems ready to go!

Lots of talkers, which is always fun...

One kid said to me after 10 minutes on the playground,

"Mrs. Cooper. I just ran a race and I am really tired.

I think I need to go lay down on your carpet!"

Good times....

On the subject of firsts...

Molly had another day at daycare.

She is still adjusting, and the morning drop off is

not the easiest...as soon as I sign her in, she starts crying.

Molly also does not "do" hair clips...or pigtails.

I am yet to get her to cooperate.

But, look what I was greeted with today:

Obviously, they had been in for awhile, but I was shocked that
she let them do her hair!
Hooray for firsts....

another year...

A year ago, I was doing the same thing.
This year, we are older and wiser....
Jack is SO ready for first grade. He is so excited to be back to school, that it makes this new chapter easier for Mommy.
A few funny things from the week...
* He has been insisting on bringing 2 apples to school, because this year he will have 2 wonderful teachers! (Jennifer and Patty...good luck! I know he will love you guys so much! )
* He already knows he wants to write about Comic Con from his summer...he actually told me it could be his TOPIC SENTENCE.
* He was so happy when I told him that in first grade, he gets his own pencil box with his own supplies..."Mom, if you tell me that again, my eyes might pop out!"
* He is enthusiastic about his new classroom..."YES! I am in Room 7!!!!" (and I am pretty convinced we would've said that no matter what room I mentioned)
* He read the whole class list on his own, and recognized lots of buddies

I am anxious for the morning to go smoothly.
The backpack is ready, the supplies are, too...
Wish us luck! Pictures tomorrow!

all dressed up!

Last night, we went to my cousin Laura's wedding!

I can't decide what picture I like better...

It's hard for a 6 year old to sit through a wedding ceremony.

We tried to stay quiet with a few rounds of Hangman. Molly was happy, once she was able to run around!

Reception

Molly spent lots of time smelling all the flowers...

they were so pretty!

And Jack, he just wanted to dance.

For awhile, he was the only one out there.

"Can I go back out on the stage?",

he kept asking.

Molly just ran around,

but every once in awhile, the lights would

catch her attention.

But, of course, she did love playing

with her cousin!

A picture with the beautiful bride..

(notice his red lips from his ring pop!)

One last dance...

the bride and her youngest guests!

Congrats Laura and Joe!

newsflash

We interrupt this blog to bring you the latest breaking news...

At approximately 9:45 pm on Saturday, August 29, 2009,

it was discovered that there is a LOOSE TOOTH in the Cooper home.

This is a very exciting event, for one member of the family,

who has been checking for wiggling for a very long time.

It is also reported that the home was disturbed around 2:30 by

a screaming toddler. However, at this time, the loose tooth was still

wiggling, and the boy, was still giggling.

We will keep you updated as the situation progresses.

Mommy is hoping for things to fall out before

first grade

Picture Day.

homesick

A week ago, we were in Ohio, and some of us were homesick.

Now, we are home. And we are sick.
These were taken at 10:45 this morning.

If you know my kids, they don't nap at 10:45 in the morning.

Better now than in Ohio.

Better now than the first week of school.

I just hope they are back to "normal" soon!

All Aboard...again...

When she woke up this morning, the first thing Molly said was "Choo-Choo" and ran to the pation door. I had such a flashback...

The kids built this layout with Nana yesterday

while Ken and I were at work. This time around, the trains are easier.

Because we have a master engineer to play with.

Jack is showing off his big brother skills,

teaching Molly all he knows.

Which is a lot!

Last night, they played outside for a good 45 minutes.

Together.

With only a few moments of sibling disagreements.

Hooray, for trains!

home sweet home

Now that we are home, I have to sort through all 1, 000 pictures.

Yes, one thousand.

Here are a few of the everyday things we did in Ohio...

walking to the "blue candy store" from Grandma and Grandpa Cooper's house

surviving a freak accident..

Jack literally ran into the kitchen, and ran right

into Ken, who was holding a plate.

Jack got hit pretty hard, the plate shattered...eating frozen custard with cousinswant some?

spinning with the big kids at the park and spinning a little slower :)wearing a pinata hat

(from a family playdate that was more like a party!)practicing swinging, "big kid" stylemaking more animal friendsplaying in a gigantic ball pit...

filling up this contraption to later dump them all on his headenjoying the view with Daddy at the Great Lakes Science Centerstopping at the "ball"

(she waved to it every time we drove by)playing with this toy.
I bought it at a garage sale for $5...4 years ago.
I've gotten my money's worth!playing with this toy.
a fan + a ball= magicspeaking of garage sales,
we found this Blue's Clues backpack...for $1.00!stopped at a darling cupcake shop...
wearing a Spongebob apron from the farmers market!playing at the Eagles' Nest
(a kids drop off play area at the grocery store...
why don't we have this here??)making musicand a trip to Uncle Joe's fire station Thank you, family and friends in Ohio.

We had LOTS and LOTS of fun...
(and if you REALLY want to see more...
you can click here!)

one, two, three, four, fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive

My computer won't load video directly, so I am taking advantage of the fact I can upload from this one...

It's not the best example...but here is Molly sort of counting...up to 5 is pretty good (for some reason she kept skipping 3 when I was recording this time...but she was distracted by being on the swing. That, and what baby performs when you really want them to?)

blue ribbon day

Jack proclaimed today as

"The Best Ohio Day...EVER!"

So, I had to share the highlights!

Our day started at the Christmas Story House....

(my camera was being weird. But, here we

are in front of "the" lamp!)
They have a museum across the street...

the dreaded pink bunny suit.

Next stop, the Cleveland Zoo.

Molly didn't love the dinosaur exhibit.

(In her defense, they moved AND growled)

Thanks to FaceBook, Ken connected with an old friend

who works at the zoo.

He took us "backstage" to meet this hungry, hungry, hippo!
So, the kids got to feed him!

AWESOME!

As if feeding a hippo wasn't enough...

Of course, Molly loved the petting zoo.

To cool off...

Our last stop was the pool.

Again, Ken has a friend who is the summer

manager, so we got to swim and play while it

was "closed" for the public.

This has always been a favorite place for Jack.

Even though Molly HATED the regular pool,

she was SO happy here!
(she even went face in a dozen times and came up smiling!)

I am pretty sure this really was the "Best Ohio Day Ever"