Happy Birthday Cooper!

Happy 4th Birthday Cooper!

We celebrated Cooper's birthday on June 20th.  He has been saying he is 4 years old for several months now, but it is finally official.  Our crazy, adorable, fun-loving, silly, smart and healthy little guy is 4!  His 4 year old check-up went well.  Cooper is in the 75% for his height and weight and since he eats vegetables, I guess we will keep him :)  My stats (since we just had our appointments yesterday)... I am in the 50% for height and weight and my vision was 25/20... my parents have reminded me that it is just a matter of time that I wear glasses.  They have also tricked me into eating carrots (I do not like veggies) because they say this helps people see better, sure.

Cooper is full of personality.  Our parents are working with him on self-control and understanding limits.  He LOVES to play, and most of the time, he plays hard.  People comment that he is "all boy" which is very true, but.... he needs to learn the rules.... I like to remind him often of what he should/shouldn't be doing!  Of course, at preschool and daycare he is a "perfect angel" so I think he stores his energy and craziness for us.

We often say, "It is a good thing you are so cute Cooper!"

Our neighbors brought Cooper some fun chalk holders, so we got to work on the driveway, still in our PJ's.  Cooper wanted the big number 4 and I wanted to draw our dog Liberty (like the spelling?!?)

Cooper's birthday was a fun and busy day.  Since it was during the work day, Daddy went to work and we went to McDonald's with our friends (sorry, no pic).  Jenny came over afterwards (after dropping off her kids) to give Cooper his presents (no, it wasn't a bat, he just wanted to show off our gift to him).  We just love seeing Jenny and family!  Cooper's favorite present from us was a real tee, helmet, baseballs and a metal bat.  We are unsure if this was the "best" gift but he also cherishes these "big" boy toys and will hopefully use them wisely :)

Our elf, David, came to celebrate too.  He gave Cooper a balloon, birthday Oreo's and a little note.  We just stared at him, talked to him, and reminded him of what we would like for Christmas.  We won't see him until the holiday season now.  We love our elf.

Another useful gift for our busy guy was a slip and slide.  We have owned 2 of these, not sure what has happened to them, but this was a big hit. Soon, the neighborhood was together to run, slip and slide!

Most 4 year olds pick "kid friendly" restaurants, but Cooper requested Red Lobster for his b-day dinner.  We like to pet the lobsters in the tank mostly, but also like to eat shrimp.  Grammy joined us for seafood and lobster petting too. The staff sang to Cooper; he mostly just stared stone-faced.

It is a tradition to have ice cream cake for all birthdays in the family.  Our parents prefer Cold Stone and the boys prefer DQ (which is totally FINE with them!)  Cooper's cake was a fishing one with a "walleye" displayed on it, according to Coop.

Since I had a friend's party, we decided to combine our birthday party for family.  Thanks to PBS kids (TV) and the ridiculous amount of advertising, Chuck E Cheese was our special request.  They opened a newer one in Woodbury, so we traveled to the cities, where most of our family lives anyhow.  All of our cousins were able to come and we really had a great time (adults too who were loving Ski Ball.... nostalgia).  We have talked for months about meeting the mouse.  They do a great job of making birthday kids feel special!

Bennett and I loved the rollercoaster simulator 

Cooper came up with his own solution on how to get more tickets from Ski Ball (and no, our parents didn't let him stay on the ramp thing.  They just caught him right as he went up there).

We opened presents... new kid waterskiis from Papa and Grandma Sharon plus a lot of other super fun toys, games, and b-day money!

Lexi and Sam even had fun as the "BIG" cousins in the group!

Chuck E Cheese had b-day kids go in a ticket blaster where you feel like you are in a tornado and try to pick up as many tickets as possible in 60 seconds.  It was crazy in there!  Good thing for goggles.

We also received medals, crowns, air balloon guitars and were able to jam with the mouse.  We loved our party and now have asked to go there every year (my parents just cringed).

Someone partied too hard....

The next day, we couldn't wait to try our new skis, so we went to the lake for a day of boating and waterskiing.  We both skied on the boom (bar that extends from the ski boat).  With Daddy's help and "security" we both were up and skiing that day!  I told my parents that next time I was going without an adult with me.... they will believe that when they see it :)

Our parents went for barefooting runs after us (no pics of Mommy, thanks to Daddy!)

I had a first experience this past week... I went to camp!  It was for all the "littles" at our church.  We went to a daycamp in Chetek, which was perfect since I know everything there is about that town and lake.  I had SO much fun with the kids and our youth minister.  We made crafts, sang songs, played games, went on canoes and paddleboats, swam, had lunch and snacks, and were home that evening.  I cannot wait to be in the 3rd grade when I can actually sleep over.  Camp was right up my alley.

It is one of our favorite times of year... strawberry picking time!  We went to a local strawberry patch where we picked 3 ice cream buckets of berries and also some pea pods.  Yum!  It was a tiny bit rainy that morning (no surprise there since rain seems to be a daily trend).

Here is my favorite strawberry... a heart shaped one.  

Cooper picked ALL red ones this year, yay!  That is great progress from the white or mushy ones we found in our buckets last summer.  He also had a grass free bucket and we were very efficient with our picking.

Our neighbors came with along with Mommy's friend Kerri.  We were all excited to go home once we were done picking and start making our jams, breads, treats, fruit roll-ups, dipped strawberries and just plain old eat them from the buckets.

We had the pleasure of watching our cousin, Emmett, one afternoon last week.  He is now 19 months old and is hilarious (we love to teach him words and tricks). Mommy forgot how demanding toddlers were and also realized how crazy it must be to have 3 kids at all times.

This weekend, we went to Mommy's cousin's wedding reception in the cities.  It was a casual, outdoor event.  They are getting married in North Carolina in October, so this was a chance for the families to get together and celebrate.  It was fun to be with cousins and to see our extended family who we don't get to see enough.

Lexi and I were deep in conversation

Mama's favorite boys

We have 2 sets of friends home from FL to visit.  On Sunday, we met up with our Tampa friends for a playdate and lunch at a park.  Yes, they are twins (5 years old) and they are super sweet and fun to be with. We haven't been to the park yet this spring/summer, so it was a perfect place to visit and burn off some energy.

Look who photo-bombed our picture!!

We made a summer bucket list and have been tallying and checking off as we do various activities.  We are looking forward to a fun 4th of July weekend with family and friends.  We hope you have a safe and fun holiday weekend too!