Small Town, USA

We enjoyed a weekend visit with my mom a couple of weeks ago. She lives outside of Spartanburg in a teeny tiny town. It's where she grew up & where she calls home. I know she's glad to be back there & I'm happy for her. In my youth I took many a trip down the back roads of SC to the red dirt hills of Pacolet, SC. It's a quaint country town where life slows down, my southern accent returns, & I enjoy the comforting cookin' of the South... 

It was great to get away & spend some time with Mom. Kyle only worked a half day on that Friday so we were able to make to Mom's house by dinnertime. After some fried goodness for dinner, Kyle & I headed to the hottest spot in town. The Skate Palace. It's the place to be on a Friday night if you're a tween. (or a couple that needs a few hours of fun sans the kid) We went back to the 70s as we stepped into that place. It had carpet on the walls & a disco ball in the middle of the rink. We were in heaven! The whole time we skated I couldn't help but think back to my youth. I spent more hours than I can recall at my hometown skating rink. It was the place to be & I loved it!

Kyle gettin it like Dale Jr

:)

Showing the yougins how it's done.

Look at that sweet carpet on the wall behind our heads. :)

I'm happy to report that neither one of us fell! We hadn't ROLLER skated since we were 8 & it'd been over 1.5 decades since we'd roller bladed. We had a BLAST & only walked away with a couple of blisters.

Saturday we relaxed, enjoyed Mom's cable TV, checked out a bookstore with old Library books for sale, & ate at the Beacon. Kyle & I were tempted to go skating again but my blisters won & we decided not to go. We also surprised Mom with a little birthday cake. We sang & celebrated just a couple of days late.

Cooper enjoying his bit of choc cake.
 

All hocked up on sugar. (yes he is 'nekked'
that's how we do in the south. ha! he does
have a diaper on.)

Moose checking out her new friend.

Mom enjoying her FRIED GIZZARDS at
the Beacon. That's right, gizzards.
(involuntary shiver occurred as I type)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Early mornings with Coop.

Sunday we went to church. Mom spoke on Charity & did a great job. After church, Mom made us an amazingly delicious meal: brown rice, carrots, potatoes, beef stew, rolls, & more. It took me back to my childhood! We were sad to leave that afternoon but it was time to head back to the Big City.

Cooper at church trying to figure out how a sucker works.

Walking, Bumps, & Bruises...

Cooper is becoming quite the little boy. In the last 2 weeks his walking has improved dramatically. He is letting go of furniture & walking around like crazy. At times I'm caught off guard by the sound of another set of foot steps in our condo. :) We just can't get him to stop. It's so fun to see him excited & discovering this new found skill. But with walking come accidents... 

Walking around.

Being cute. :)

Coop has recently mastered 'big boy crawling'
Here he is showing off with a silly face.

On the morning of Sat (Aug 4) Coop was walking around like a champ. Kyle & I were getting ready for some errands when we heard Cooper hit something, fall, & let out quite a frightening cry. Poor Coop had slipped on his way to the bench & fell right into the wooden bench mouth first. He bit his bottom lip pretty hard. This was his first accident. The picture doesn't convey the damage done but Cooper being such a good sport enjoyed watching Seasame Street while I iced his lip. He was fine shortly after, back to walking & sucking on his fingers.

Swollen bottom lip.
 

Just a few days later, on Thursday, Coop had another accident. Coop was walking around like normal. He walked up to a metal fold up chair (our 'desk' chair) & put his hands out to grab it. He started to fall before he got to the chair. I saw it in slow motion & thought his forehead hit the chair. Nope. His mouth hit it. Not only did he chip the outer corner of his right top front tooth off but he hit his gum, the next tooth over was pushed through, & he bit his lip. After a few minutes of crying (I was close to tears myself) I got his bleeding under control & called his pediatrician then Kyle. Long story short he's fine. I spoke with a pediatric dentist & I'm keeping an eye on his tooth (have to make sure the root of the tooth is fine) After his nap, Cooper had forgotten all about his accident & was back to walking & eating like normal.

The white scrape is where his tooth hit. His tooth
basically disintegrated. :(

The best picture I could get (a few hours later). If you look
at HIS right top tooth you can barely see the chip. I can
spot it like a hawk but it's not too noticable in person.

This past weekend Kyle was letting Cooper walk on a sidewalk. Cooper was rocking it out but at one point stopped & fell to his knees. Now our little boy has a scraped knee. What happened to my baby?! He's not old enough for all this!

Kyle is 29!

Friday was Kyle's Birthday & celebrations continued throughout the weekend. :) After work, Kyle came home to homemade pizza, dirt cake, presents, & cards. After we enjoyed some family time, Kyle headed off to Book Group. On Saturday we continued celebrating by going to our local Library book sale. We bought some books & some CD's. We picked up Blues Travelers: Four & the Presidents of the United States self titled album. We've been jamming out!

All Kyle REALLY wanted for his special day with some Fox Brother's BBQ & to go to a Braves Game. Well, the night before Kyle's Bday a tree fell on Fox Bros so they were closed on his big day & the weather was pretty iffy so we decided against the game. Kyle was pretty bummed about the BBQ but it being the south, we were able to find another bbq place to go to. It definitely wasn't Fox Bros (or Pappys for that matter) but it hit the spot.

Happy Birthday!

Rocking the Dirt Cake like he has for 90%
of his birthdays. :)

The primary kids sang Happy Bday to Kyle.
Shout out to Sarah for sniping this pic.

Happy Birthay, Kyle. One year older & wiser too! Hope you had a great weekend. We love you!

Funtimes in Photos

Here's a massive photo drop!

I can't get enough of those teeth!

Cooper telling Liv how Costco Pizza is made.
Liv wasn't very interested.

Cooper has a corner for all of his toys &
books. His room is feeling more & more
like a big boy room.

Cooper loves it when Daddy reads to him.

Taking over Moose's bed.

Enjoying his puzzles from Grandma

Cooper knows how to push Moose's buttons.
Moose has been patient for SO very long.
I felt terrible for Coop & Moose. Both seemed
to forget the incident in minutes. (photo doesn't
really show the damage)

Moose hiding from Cooper.

Snuggling up with Daddy after our dinner at Olive Garden.

Being silly.

We've been making an awful lot of homemade
ice cream. Kyle share with Cooper. Me?
Well it depends on the day. :)

Uncle Bryant & Auntie Jilli came to visit!

Moose & Coop dominating Uncle Bryant's air mattress.

Auntie Jilli reading to Coop. :)

Cooper's first time eating a cracker all by
himself. It was so cute to watch. He figured
out how to bite it. He was pretty proud of
himself & so was I! (If you know Coop,
you know that food doesn't stay in his hands
or mouth for very long. It's swallowed immediately)

Cooper busted his lip open on Saturday. It was
our first 'major' injury. It bled like crazy but I
believe Sesame Street heals everything for Coop. 

:)

Cooper playing peek a boo with our curtains.
It's a daily occurrence.

So there's the last month or so in pictures. As if you hadn't gathered previously, Coop is the star of the show around here. :) Moose plays second fiddle.

A few things NOT pictured:

-Weekly Library visits

-sweaty walks with Moose

-Cooper's breakdowns when we don't get pizza at Costco (the kid already knows!)

-Visit to Kyle's work

-Cooper walking (more on that in another post-if I remember)

-All the books I've read

-All the books Cooper has read

-Late nights with Kyle watching the Olympics

-the enormous amounts of food consumed due to the previous listed item.

-visit from Poppa Marc

-& much much more!