Introducing Colton James Voliva!

Colton was born Wed., Apr. 23rd at 9:55 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz. and was 22 in. long. He is SUCH a good baby and hardly cries at all--except for when he's hungry or in pain! Cooper is doing amazingly well with him! It absolutely amazes me! He calls him "his baby" or "Baby Colton" and loves to hold him, pat his back to burp him, throw away his dirty diapers, and get his pacifier for him! Whenever Colton cries, Cooper gets a worried look on his face and asks, "What's wrong with him?" He then offers possible suggestions like, "Maybe he's thirsty" or "Maybe he's tired!" When Colton cries while I'm changing his diaper, Cooper says, "Stop hurting him, Mama!" It has been the sweetest thing to watch! :)

Flooding at our park

We've been having an INSANE amount of rain around here lately, and today I took some pics of all the flooding. In the Branson area, lots of homes have been evacuated due to flooding. Fortunately, we're quite safe from that here at the top of our huge cliff! As you can see from these pictures, our entire park, campground, and fairgrounds are COMPLETELY under water--and probably will be all summer.

Cooper at the Table Rock Dam

Flooding at Table Rock Dam

These pics show the flooding at Branson's Table Rock Dam.It is up almost to the highway (as you can see in one of the pictures). Jim said that it's currently releasing almost 400,000 gallons a second! That's INSANE! Oh--and if it looks cold in these pics, that's because IT WAS! It was FREEZING and WINDY--especially by the dam! It was about 40 degrees, but it felt SO much colder than that with the wind! Oh yeah--and it snowed a little here this morning! Missouri weather is CRAZY!

Cooper's birthday party

We celebrated Cooper's 3rd birthday on Sunday at our house with about 22 other people (the Julians, the Pruietts, the Thornhills, Zach & Laura, Rick & Janell, and Chris & Frank). The theme was Toy Story/Buzz Lightyear. Cooper had a BLAST with his buddies Kaleb & Bryce! They especially loved trying out (aka MAKING AS MUCH NOISE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE) Cooper's new drum set (as you'll see from one of the pictures). Yeah, that was Jim's "bright idea!" He was convinced that Cooper NEEDED a drum set since he loves drums so much! GREAT IDEA!! (note the heavy sarcasm!):) Some other gifts Cooper received were lots of race tracks, a Thomas the Tank train set, a goldfish from Stacy, clothes, cars, a "Buzz Lightyear guy," and lots more! It was a fun but exhausting day!