Fall Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Reagan's birthday party

Cooper had a BLAST at Reagan's birthday party at Dynamics Gym in Branson! In fact, I'm not sure who had more fun--him or me! We both had lots of fun jumping off the trampoline floor and into the foam pit! Cooper also loved swinging on the rope swing!

Weekend trip to Elk Falls

At the end of August, the boys and I took a little trip to KS for a family reunion with my mom's side of the family. We stopped in Independence on the way and met up with mom, dad, Zach & Laura and played at the park, had a picnic, and went to the zoo. The boys had SOO much fun! Ok, I did too!

Cooper's Preschool

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted on here since July! I knew I'd been busy, but I didn't realize it had been that long! Anyway, the beginning of the school year is always a busy time for any teacher--and this year has been no exception! I'm just glad that I was able to start the school year WITHOUT a wheelchair this year! :) Cooper started preschool at Forsyth Preschool at the end of Aug., and he absolutely loves it! One of his best friends, Reagan, is in his class, so he was thrilled about that! He loves recess, the class guniea pigs, his teacher, snack time, and well, everything actually! He tells me about "center time" and how he gets to play with stamps, play-doh, or beads, and he tells me about the "funny" jokes that he tells his classmates (trust me, they're really not funny at all!) The only reason I laugh is because they're SO far from being funny that it cracks me up to think that HE actually thinks they're funny! :) It's cute how excited he is every week to do his "homework" (which usually consists of things like drawing a picture of a certain thing, having someone read to him, telling 5 people his full name or his teacher's name, etc. He received his first progress report last week. The marks were M (for mastered), P (for progressing), or N (for needs more time and practice). I'm proud to say that he received ALL Ms except for 2 Ps. The Ps for for "helping during clean-up time" (not surprising there--he hates to clean up--but seriously, who does?) and "showing respect to others." We had a talk about that one! :) I'm glad he loves preschool, but a part of me is sad that my "baby" is growing up!

Florida vacation with the Julians

Jim and I had the rare opportunity to go on a vacation with our good friends Jim and Melissa Julian--without any kids! Although I missed the boys and kept thinking about how much they would enjoy this or that, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself and didn't want the vacation to end! We went to Orlando and Daytona Beach. Melissa and I had a lot of fun swimming, laying out, and shopping while the guys went golfing 2 different times, and we all had a blast at the beach (the boogie boards were SO much fun), and spending a whole day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We got express passes, so we didn't have to wait in any lines--or if we did, it was like a 5 or 10 minute wait! There were signs at the entrance of each ride telling you how long the wait would be--most of them said 45 min. to 1 hour. Our max wait was about 15 min. with our express pass! It was DEFINTIELY worth the extra money to get! Because time is money, you know! And as a result, we got to go on practically EVERY single ride there!! The ones we didn't go on were ones that we either didn't want to go on or just missed the time for (if it was a show). It was a GREAT day! We also at LOTS of good food while on our vacation! (I gained 5 lbs. from the 4 days we were there!!) Some of my favorites were the Hard Rock Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, Bahama Breeze, and Inlet Harbor. The Rainforest Cafe was the coolest place I have EVER been to! About every 20 min. or so, the lights would flash, thunder would roll, rain would fall (but not on us), and all the animatronic animals would "come to life" and start moving around a litle bit and making noises! It was VERY cool! We had to wait 1 hr. and 45 min. to get a table, so it was 10pm by the time we got to eat, but it was definitely worth the wait! The whole vacation was amazing, but I was still very glad to be back with my sweet boys--who got spoiled rotten by Granny and Papa the whole time we were gone! :)

Summer T-Ball games

I know I had a previous post about t-ball, but those were just pictures from Cooper's t-ball PRACTICE--not the actual games! (not that there's much difference!) So, here are a few pictures from Cooper's t-ball games. Just like last summer, he LOVED it and is already practicing and looking forward to next year.

4th of July in KS

We had a fun time celebrating the 4th of July in Kansas with my parents, Grandma Fry, Zach & Laura, Molly, Brain & Cindy, and my cousin Jer from California. We started the trip by meeting my parents and Zach & Laura in Independence for a fun evening of mini golf, the park, the carousel, and Braums ice cream! The Independence park has the most amazing prices I've ever seen! It was $1 per person for mini golf, $0.25 per person for the train ride, and (are you ready for this?) $0.05 per person for the carousel!! With prices like that, we could have spent the whole day there without spending over $5! :) The next day, we hung out at Grandma Fry's house, played some Dutch Blitz, set off some firecrackers, ate lots of good food, and finished up the day with a trip to the Elk County Rodeo! It was Cooper's first rodeo (he kept calling it a radio!) and he really enjoyed it! His favorite parts were when the clown rode a dirt bike and jumped over several men lying side by side on the ground and the bull riding! He also really enjoyed the fireworks after the rodeo. I had a good time visiting with my best friend Tabby Hogan and watching her kids and my kids (and lots of other kids) play together. It was a great evening! The next day after church, we had lunch at Grandma Fry's house and made homemade ice cream (with strawberries from my mom's garden)! What a great end to a perfect 4th of July weekend!

Honor America 2009

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Grandpa Fry

For some reason, I just started thinking about my Grandpa Fry this evening. He passed away in Sept. 2006. He was one of the kindest, sweetest, and most fun-loving people I know! I still miss him very much, and I'm sad that he never got to meet Colton and that he only knew Cooper for about a year and a half. It's sad too that Cooper doesn't even remember his great grandpa Fry. I try to keep him "alive" through words and pictures though! I remember how he LOVED to play the card game "golf," how he put salt on his watermelon, how he would make the most hilarious "pucker" face when he ate something sour, how he made the most delicious BBQ, how he loved to joke and play around, and how his hearty hugs nearly took my breath away! I never saw him in a bad mood, and I loved to hear him laugh! I miss you, Grandpa!

T-ball 2009

Cooper had his 2nd t-ball practice of the summer last night at Wade Field in Hollister. Our practice was at 7:30, but it was still HOT and HUMID! Fortuntately, there was a little shade as the sun sank lower in the sky. Cooper had a BLAST, as always! He loves hanging out with his buddies Reagan, Kloe, Jayce, and Kaleb! He has improved a little since last year. He pays attention to the game a little more, hits a little harder, and catches the ball better. Jim said that he still needs to work on throwing harder though. But, he's a coach, so he expects a lot more out of Cooper athletically than I do! :) The kids were SO wound up after their practice! They played hide and seek (not that there's many places to hide on a baseball field--Kaleb hid behind the tee!), chased each other, and wrestled and dog piled each other! Colton had fun watching the kids, eating grass, and pestering people he didn't even know! :)

Another trip to Elk Falls!

Since we missed Zach's birthday, and wouldn't be able to see my dad on Father's Day, we decided to got to Elk Falls in between those 2 events. As usual, Cooper had a BLAST! He LOVES going to Elk Falls--probably because my parents drop everything to play with him! He loves to play baseball and croquet with my dad, go on rides on his Kawasaki Mule, play with clay in their pottery shop, go to the Rock Garden, play with Daisy (the dog), and spend time with Zach and Laura. This time, Cooper got to go on a special trip to Independence with JUST Zach and Laura! They played at the park, played mini golf, rode the train and carousel, and ate ice cream at Braums. Cooper had SO much fun! We also spent time with the great-grandparents, had a weiner roast, made homemade ice cream, and just had an all around great time! Cooper did NOT want to leave either! He cried for a little while on the way home because he said he wanted to go back to Grandma Jane & Grandpa Steve's house! About half way home, we stopped at the Baxter Spring's park. It's a good half way point, and the boys were ready for a break from the car! They had a lot of fun there as well!

Summer Fun

We've been having a GREAT summer so far! I LOVE getting to spend so much time with my boys and getting to do WHATEVER we want to! So far, we've made a couple trips to White Water (Cooper LOVES the water slides now; Colton is deathly afraid of the water even touching his toes!!), we've been to Silver Dollar City a couple times (Cooper's favorite ride is Thunderation), we've been to the Dickerson Park Zoo, had a visit from Grandma Jane & Grandpa Steve, and have visited several parks. Cooper's favorite park outing was when we went to Stockstill Park in Branson with his preschool class. He played in the creek with his buddies, played on the playground, and then we had a picnic lunch. It was a REALLY fun day, and he talks about it all the time! Tonight is Cooper's first t-ball practice of the summer, so there will probably be another post coming soon about that! ;)

Weekend in Elk Falls

Last weekend, the boys and I took a trip to Elk Falls to visit my parents while Jim was at a coaching clinic in Tunica, MS. As always, we had a great time! Elk Falls is one of the most relaxing place I know, and I enjoyed getting caught up on some sleep, eating great home cooked meals, visiting my parents' Rock Garden to see their latest improvements, visiting with friends and family, and enjoying the slow pace of a beautiful town with only 100 people (give or take a few). Cooper had a blast as always! Two of the trip highlights for him were going camping with Uncle Zach and Aunt Laura in their living room, and riding on the "Mule" with my dad. He went REALLY fast on it with Cooper, and Cooper LOVED it! He said it was like riding a roller coaster! I was WITH Cooper during that ride, and I wouldn't go THAT far, but it WAS quite exciting with all the bumps my dad hit! :)