5 Months Old

I can hardly believe that our little Sam is 5 months old. He is still just the sweetest, happiest little lovebug!

Here is Sam Cooper at 5 months old...

And I tried to get a good picture of him with a sign that said 5 Months Old. You can see he wasn't at all interested in having his picture made with it. He was more interested in playing with it and trying to get it into his mouth...

Here are 5 things about Sam:

1. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Logan and Addie. If they are near, he will stop what he is doing (even nursing) and do whatever it takes (even bending around backwards) to watch them. He will giggle at them if they so much as blink at him! Logan and Addie LOVE him even more. They laugh hysterically when he giggles at them! It absolutely melts my heart!
2. We have 2 nicknames for Sam: The first one is Sam Man - I started singing Mr. Sandman to him when he was a newborn and sang Mr. Sam Man instead. Addie calls him this more than anybody. The second one is Sam I Am (who does not like green eggs and ham) from Dr. Seuss' book Green Eggs and Ham. This was Logan's first full book he read to me last year so Logan has always called him Sam I Am, even before he was born.

3. He takes his bottle for his Daddy like a champ. When I am home, he will nurse (as long as Logan and Addie aren't around) for me like a champ. He is a very flexible, go with the flow kind of baby...thank goodness!!

4. He tries to grab anything and everything that is within his reach. He loves Addie's hair...ouch!!

5. He loves his bath! I don't think I have heard him ever cry during bathtime! I think of our 3 babies, he is the one who loves his bath the most!

There is so much to love about this sweet little baby! We feel so blessed and look forward to every moment we get to spend with our little Sam!

Ballerina Addie

Addie had her first ballet class today. She was so excited! She showed us all of her moves when she got home and she is just the cutest! Here she is in her little dance uniform. I was worried about getting her hair up in a bun. I should not have been because I have a very sweet neighbor and friend who always seems to help out when needed. She had her all dressed and ready to go for me when I got home from school. The bun was perfect and it didn't even fall down...now that is impressive considering how much hair Addie has!! Here is my sweet ballerina...
How cute are they?!

And since I am on the subject of Addie, I want to share a conversation we had the other day while we were getting ready. It's just one of those I don't want to forget.

Addie: I love you Mommy.

Me: Aww...I love you too sweet girl!

Addie: I'm going to miss you when I get bigger.

Me: Where will you be?

Addie: In my castle.

Me: Oh yeah, in your castle. Well, who will be there with you?

Addie: My prince.

Me: Oh yeah! Well, can I come visit you and your prince?

Addie: Yes. You will wear a pretty dress and sparkle like me.

I just love, love, love this little girl. She is a big bundle of sweetness!!!!

The Fair Is Back In Town

Once again, we all had a great time at the fair! The kids rode rides, played games, fed animals, and ate some good stuff. What more could we ask for??

We were very impressed with the BMX Stunt Guys, especially Logan!

David and Logan getting warmed up to go on the super fast, spinning rides...

Sam had a great time because there was so much to watch and see. Here is a picture of us! I'm working on having more pictures taken of me and the kids. That is a hard thing to do!!

Just thought this was a sweet picture! David is such a great Daddy!

Yummy...Yummy...Yummy!!

They just had to pick the motorcycles!!

The games are SO expensive so we had to limit them but they both managed to get a prize. Logan won his and Addie won the heart of a boy in front of her. He threw baseballs and broke lots of bottles. He picked this blue puppy as his prize and turned around and gave it to her...AWW...she was grinning from ear to ear!!!

Here they are riding the same roller coaster that Addie wasn't so crazy about last year. You can click here to see the pictures from last year. Addie was holding on for dear life then and this year she was riding with her hands in the air, screaming and laughing all at the same time!

And this year Logan was up for the super fast, spinning rides. David and I were so excited to ride some with him too. We took turns and rode with him. This was the first one. David and I were both unsure if he would really like it. HE LOVED IT!! We giggled and screamed and had the best time! It moved so quick that David couldn't really get a good picture of both of us in action but he did get this one...

After riding a few of the super fast, spinning rides, Logan convinced us he was ready for this Spider ride...

It turned out that this one was a little too much for him. You can see his head down at the end of this one. David said he was screaming my name the entire time saying he just couldn't hold on anymore. Oh well...maybe he'll move up to this ride next year...

And we ended the night with the petting zoo. We fed all the animals carrots and loved seeing the porcupines, hogs (or something like that), a kangaroo, and the camels.

We even got to the feed the camel. Isn't he funny looking??

So, another great time was had at the Williamson County Fair. We missed out on the Ferris Wheel and the Barn experience this year. We were having way too much fun in other places and by the time we made it to the Ferris Wheel, the line was way too long and our feet were in some major pain (at least mine were). We settled for the petting zoo instead of the barn because once again, our (my) feet hurt and we were all just too tired. Oh well, there is always next year to look forward to...

Back To School

Logan's first day of FIRST GRADE was Thursday! He seemed to have a great day and was happy to see all of his friends. He really likes his teacher, Ms. Knapple (YAY...we love Ms. Knapple!!). She is a big UT fan and has already convinced Logan that the Big Orange is way better than the Crimson Tide. For some reason, Logan has been a big Bama fan for the past couple of years. So, I think this year will work out great for all of us! We are so proud of our little FIRST GRADER! He is just growing up way too fast!!! Please pray for our sweet little Logan. He has a lot going on right now.

It's a wrap...

Well...it's almost time for us to wrap up our summer days because I officially start back to school on Thursday. I have been "unofficially" going up to school to get my classroom ready and for some professional development days this past week but I don't really want to dwell on that. There are LOTS of pictures that we have taken over the summer. I had great intentions of getting them on the blog but you know how that goes. I have posted here and there but not quite as much as I should have so I am going to make up for that in this post. We really have had a great time this summer. I'm a little sleepy these days but I know this is just a phase. We haven't been able to do as much as we did last summer (no beach...boo hoo!) but we have made the best. It's been great having David home so much. By the way, he has done an AWESOME job keeping the kids for me while I have been working at school. Really, I have come home and the house has been in order and he has had dinner cooking the past 2 days. For those reading this who don't know our plan, I'll fill you in. We have decided for David to stay home and keep Sam and Addie on his days off from the fire station (3-4 days). When he is on shift, our sweet neighbor who also has 2 little ones about the same age as Sam and Addie is going to keep them. We debated about this for a long time and I truly feel that we have made the right decision. I'm happy for Sam and Addie as they are going to have a great time with their Daddy! I'll miss them but it's not so bad having to leave them at home or at our neighbor's house. Plus, I will still be at school with Logan. Really, I feel very blessed! Enough said...let's move on to what you really want to see...SUMMER FUN!!!

We started the summer out with baseball. Here is Addie at the ball field with her baseball treat...

And here is Logan getting his baseball trophy...

We really enjoyed visiting our local library this summer, especially when we learned the "Cha Cha Cha"...

Logan and Addie love hanging out with their cousins, Jackson and Ashton, and this summer they got to see a lot of them...

Ok...I cannot even tell you how thankful we are for Nana and Pop. They have come to the rescue for us way more than I care to admit. Hmm...I won't be too specific but it's a good thing Pop is so good at getting keys out of locked cars in the middle of a scary storm. It's also a good thing that he is so good at fixing trucks. He's also really good at just being Pop and playing with his grandbabies when needed. And the list goes on and on...

And it is a really good thing that Nana is great at driving in storms to pick up her stranded grandson whose mommy is stranded in a parking lot with a baby and the keys locked in her car. It's important to mention that the Daddy is stranded at home with a broken down truck. Really, thank goodness for Nana and Pop!!!!!!!!! They are the sweetest, selfless, most loving in-laws!! We celebrated Nana's birthday at our house and we got this great picture of her with ALL of her seven grandbabies!

We had a lot of fun going to a Sounds game with our church. It was Faith Night and we tried to watch Jars of Clay but it was too loud. Logan said he could feel his heart beating.

Can you find Addie in the picture?

Yummy Ice Cream...

David and I had a night away to go to a friend's wedding. It was nice to be free for a few hours! We enjoyed it and are hoping to have more date nights to come.

And here is our little cowboy who went to a fun birthday party at Cowboy Town. He was just too cute and he completely dressed himself.

This summer we spent a lot of time at parks and having picnics. The kids especially loved sharing their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with this squirrel.

I never shared pictures from Logan's birthday party at the pool so here are a few...

I have really enjoyed spending these past 4 months at home with Sam. He is growing and changing so fast! He's a great little guy! I know that next summer will be different as he won't be a little baby anymore and we will be able to get out and do a little more. However, I do realize that next summer we will be on our feet chasing him around so I have tried to cherish the time I have been able to sit and enjoy him while watching the big kids play. Here is a cute picture I just had to post. We started him on some cereal and he is loving it!

And I think I had posted in an earlier post that we don't usually sit on top of the kitchen table but look what I found just a few days ago...I guess I lied!!!!

So there you have it...our summer days have come to an end. IT'S A WRAP!!!

A Visit With Daddy

We went to the fire station to visit David. The kids had a great time! Here are some pictures to show the fun...

They played on the fire trucks...

They played with the big water hose. Logan had fun pretending he was putting out a fire!

And the most fun of all was GETTING WET...