4th of July- 2012

We had a low key 4th of July this year. Jeff and I are both working this week, so while we had the day off, we wanted to relax knowing we would be right back at work Thursday.

Instead of driving to Dyer for the 4th of July festivities, we opted for a long walk downtown. I was being lazy, so we got started a lot later than expected and I didn't hydrate like I should have, so we were going at a much slower pace than normal. We made a stop by Nana and Bob-O's, then headed home to relax.

My grandmother has had some health issues, which also contributed to the low-key day because my parents are helping her quite a bit. Once everyone had dinner, we met up Pops, YaYa, Tada, Uncle Mark, Aunt Leigh, Regina, and some of their friends for the fireworks.

Here are Regina and Cooper waiting for the fireworks to start. She's our super star swimmer and just broke her record in the 800 meters by 23 minutes, which also set a new team record. She'll be a freshman at the same high school Jeff, Tada, and I graduated from this year and has already made their swim team because her times are better than any records already set for the school. Yeah, she's freakishly good. We probably should start saving up for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Cooper was a little freaked at the beginning of the fireworks and wanted to go back to Jeff's car. Pops swooped in and saved the day and he and Cooper provided some "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" sounds for us as the fireworks exploded. Once Cooper got comfortable, he enjoyed watching the show.

YaYa loves giving glow sticks and brought along one for Cooper. He used it as everything from a toy gun (definitely discouraged by me) to a sword to a camera.

We're all dragging a little this morning because several people in our neighborhood were setting off fireworks of their own when we got home. That continued until close to midnight when everyone apparently banded together for a grand finale that woke us all up. I think we're all hoping that will be the end of the fireworks so we can get a better night's sleep.

Hope your 4th was fun-filled and exciting!

Bashing Cotton Balls

I found an idea on Pinterest that I thought Cooper would love called Bashing Cotton Balls. After last week's painting with colored shaving cream did not work out, I thought we'd give this a try.

 Mix equal parts water and flour together, then add food coloring. I used basic colors, but also found neon food coloring on clearance at Target. Leave it to me to be the overachiever on how many colors to use:

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, put the cotton balls on the baking sheet, and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

I did not use non-stick spray and if we do this again, I probably will. Most of them came off with a little work, but a few stuck and the cotton ball stretched apart. I would also bake them a little longer. They were supposed to be "crispier" so they really cracked when you hit them, but I did not cook them long enough. 

We headed outside and showed Cooper how to bash the cotton balls with his baseball bat. Then he took over:

 

As long as it took you to look at that picture was as long as the fun with bashing cotton balls lasted. Cooper was right back to playing golf, baseball, and begging to turn the water hose on. Seems like I'm enjoying the Pinterest kids' ideas much more than he is!

Summer Fun

After working the first few weeks of summer break, I finally was able to get some time off to spend with Cooper. I have had more fun listening and having conversations with him, even if I am worn out from how energetic he is. I scoured Pinterest for some kid-friendly fun ideas that we could do together. One of the first things I found was painting with shaving cream.

 Basically, you mix shaving cream and food coloring together:

Then paint. Except if you're Cooper...Cooper wanted nothing to do with it and preferred to make a huge mess with the water hose:
 

We were able to swim at Aunt Leigh, Uncle Mark, and Regina's pool. We definitely have a water baby on our hands and Jeff hated having to work instead of spend the day at the pool with us.  

Unfortunately when we got home, I discovered our air conditioner was leaking. After an early evening visit from a HVAC repairman, it was discovered our condensation pump was broken. Even more unfortunately, we could not get it repaired until today (Monday). Coopie tried to cool off with a popsicle and I was even told by Jeff that he'd make sure none got on the furniture after I asked that it not be eaten anywhere but the kitchen:

  

We celebrated Father's Day with breakfast at Stone Soup, a long walk downtown and tried to stick it out at home, but just could not take it anymore. We spent the night at Nana and Bobo's house since they are out of town and as of late this afternoon, we are back in our house! 

I have a "to-do" list I am hoping to complete this summer. I am still working on painting our new doors, but making progress. I've cleaned out some of Cooper's toys and he now has a new toy box in his room. The pack and play that has been in our den since we brought Cooper home from the hospital- first as a a place to nap, then as another toy box- is in storage and it makes me kinda sad that it is gone. 

I have a few more weeks off, then return to work for two weeks before we go on vacation. I am really excited to see how Cooper does at the beach this year. We're having so much fun and I can't wait for it to continue!

Spring Pictures

Recently we took our spring pictures, which went amazingly better than our fall pictures. Our talented photographer, Erin Reagan, was game for anything, so we met downtown and galavanted around finding unique pictures spots.

We've discovered that getting a good picture of the 3 of us is next to impossible with an active 2 year old. The current blog cover picture was about as good as it got, but this was a close second. Just ignore the visible fat rolls on my neck:

Luckily, we got some really cute pictures of Cooper:

And one last one of the 3 of us:

If anyone has any good picture locations for next time, let me know. We've now done a cute town square, an outdoor shopping area, a downtown neighborhood, and cemetery. Yeah, a cemetery. Erin loved that idea and thought I was crazy. Then she saw how the grotto area with a pond and stone bridge looked and didn't think it was such a bad idea. And then Cooper took a header, busted his lip, and I don't think she's been back. Never a dull moment!

Perlman and Holly's Wedding

Last night, we celebrated Jeff Perlman and Holly Spraker's wedding. Jeff, Jeff, and I went to high school together and have been friends for years. Jeff was a groomsman in our wedding and Jeff was a groomsman in his last night. We have been looking forward to the wedding since they got engaged and had a great time. The night started with a cocktail hour at the Ornamental Metal Museum. It had rained on and off all day, but cleared enough that it didn't rain once the festivities got started.

The Lesters and the Radfords

The Jeffs- Jeff Lester, Jeff Perlman, and Jeff Radford

Me and Tori with our friend, Kevin

Team Perlman cake and cupcake tower. Towards sundown, it was time for the ceremony, which was gorgeous, heartfelt, and sweet:

The beautiful Chuppah before the ceremony.

Enjoying their first dance.

One of the many running jokes is the "Jeffwich"- with 3 Jeffs in the group, it was hard not to take a picture and not be near a Jeff. We did our best to recreate it.

Me and Tori with the beautiful bride, Holly.

Our table at the reception. Funny thing is- more than half of us went to high school together. From left to right: Tori and Jeff, Karen, Kevin, Kirk, Jeff and me. 

 We are so happy for Holly and Perlman. We hate they don't live in town anymore, but know they are where they need to be- close to mountains for hiking, open roads for biking and running, and their jobs. They are the perfect couple and we loved sharing in their special day.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Jeff and I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers last night. We really enjoyed it and the people watching was amazingly hilarious.

I will say that I wasn't as impressed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers show, as say, the Foo Fighters (I know, I know). I like bands to introduce all the musicians, do their little solos, and really interact with the crowd. I felt like they were just trying to get through the show, meet their 2 hour requirement, and leave. Apparently they thought the crowd was good, though, because one of the radio stations here was talking about how Flea tweeted out about how great the show was.

Our seats were good:



And the people watching was phenomenal. We walked around the Forum while the "unusual" opening act was playing, then settled into our seats after they finished. From the time we arrived until the time we left, here's some of who we encountered:
*A multitude of women wearing clothing they shouldn't have for various reasons including, but not limited to: overweight, inappropriate for wearing anywhere but in your own home (and maybe not even there), and age.
*Men thinking they are much younger, better looking, or stylish than they really are by wearing too tight tshirts (and Red Hot Chili Peppers tshirts at that- never, NEVER wear the tshirt of the band you are seeing at the concert!) and fedoras, which prompted Jeff's comment of "I'm 40 pounds away from being able to wear a fedora."
*Lots of dads and teenaged sons enjoying the concert together. Reminded me so much of my dad and brother going to Music Fest when Kyle was in middle school. We were sitting a few seats down from one family and at one point, the dad reached his hand out in a "low five" gesture and the kid slapped hands with him. One of those moments where the kid knew his dad was cool for bringing him to the concert, took a break from texting and recording the show on his phone long enough to let him know.
*We had the pleasure of being a few rows up from a girl who obviously loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers. LOVED THEM. She couldn't have been more excited to be there. So excited, in fact, that she must have lost her mind long enough to forget a bra. And forget that she forgot a bra because she had no qualms about letting the off-the-shoulder, loose fitting retro Pink Floyd tshirt fly all over the place as she's dancing. Her poor boyfriend was just trying to keep up with her dance moves because he sure didn't know any Red Hot Chili Peppers songs. Did I mention she had an old school disposable camera when the pictures she was taking on her phone weren't acceptable?
*And in the row in front of her was a gentleman wearing a blue seersucker blazer who must have been under the impression that a hidden camera crew from So You Think You Can Dance was there because he was poppin' and lockin' like his life depended on it.
*The stereotypical drunk guy was in front of us, swaying to the music until he fell on just about everyone around him, sloshing beer, fist-pumping, pointing enough to take someone's eye out, and trying to sing along, but failing miserably.
*Perhaps the winner of the night was the woman leaving the Forum the same time we were. I don't know how else to describe her attire other than small. Shirt was too small and too short. Shorts were too short and too small. And the whole outfit was too exercise-y. I mean, the whole get-up deserved its own word like "exercisey" except I don't know that she's ever exercised, but maybe she does because of the black basketball shoes she was wearing. A new, possibly infected, tramp stamp was proudly displayed, as were some questionable bruises all over her legs. I'm not sure what was going on with her, but she seemed to really have enjoyed the concert, still hollering all the way outside.
*I completely forgot when I first published this to mention the pot smell. I've been to enough Music Fests to pinpoint what pot smells like and it wasn't long into the concert that you could smell it...close to us. We could never pinpoint who it was, but honestly, how bold are you that you'll not only chance smoking inside the Forum, but smoking weed at that? It didn't take long for the cops to descend on the area, walk around a little, then leave, so whoever it was apparently got the message.

Jeff and I both took the day off today, so we took Cooper downtown for a walk after getting a lazy start to the day. And who do we see downtown? Pink Floyd tshirt girl! I'm not lying. Jeff and I got the biggest laugh and her attire hadn't changed much since last night. Oddly enough, there were quite a few people lurking downtown wearing Red Hot Chili Peppers tshirts like they'd slept at the Forum and just ventured out around noon.

There have been lots of concert announcements for the summer, but we don't have anything planned. To really show my age and how crazy my music tastes are, I want to see Chicago and Bonnie Raitt Live at the Garden. We'll see if that actually happens!

Easter Celebrations

We had a very low-key Easter this year. Not too long ago, we bounced from house to house on holidays and now, we don't do as much of it. I kinda miss it, but it was nice to have a fairly lazy day.

We started the morning waking up to see what the Easter Bunny brought to our house:



Loved the Thomas the Tank Engine Easter Egg


Toy Story 3 was a big hit.

We got ready for church, but honestly didn't know what to expect. I normally go to church by myself and Cooper isn't known for his ability to sit still. My parents get to church early on holidays, but they weren't able to find seats, so we all ended up in the Narthex. It worked out well because Cooper last about 30 minutes before Jeff and I alternated keeping him busy outside so others in church weren't disturbed. I thought that was pretty good!

Jeff and Cooper outside church


I LOVE this picture!

After church, we headed to my parents' house for a late breakfast and to see what the Easter Bunny brought.

He has worn his galoshes around the house all week!


If you look close enough, you can see chocolate dripping down his chin. Mommy and Daddy agreed to one piece of chocolate; YaYa gave him another. That's also a glow stick he's holding. Nothing like a sugar high and rave party to get your Easter going!


Us on Easter Sunday.

We had lunch at Mamaw's and visited with my mom's side of the family before making it back home in time to see the adorable Bubba Watson win the Masters. How can you not just love him?

Monday, Jeff and I had our 7 year wedding anniversary and tonight, we're celebrating by going to see these guys:

I'm excited and it will take me days to recover from being out so late. I'm an old lady. And I may need to borrow my child's glow stick to fit in with tonight's crowd.