Happy Birthday Cooper!

Cooper & Meg: Christmas 2007

Cooper at the Farm

Cooper at the Lake: Age 2

Cooper: Thanksgiving 2009

I'm a few days late, but Cooper had a birthday this week! He turned FIVE on the 19th! Holy Cow...he's getting SO big! He's so excited to be FIVE! We had a small pizza party on the big day to celebrate and he took treats to both preschool and the sitter. This weekend we are celebrating at Great Wolf Lodge and Cabela's. He is such a boy!

Zac Attack

Meet the newest addition to our family.

This is Zac.

He is a yellow lab puppy. As if that wasn't obvious?

He was a suprise gift from my parents...for Cooper...for Christmas.

It's been...interesting.

His birthday is on Halloween.

He eats shoes...the nice ones.

He pees on the floor...but only on the carpet.

He humps.

He doesn't wipe his feet at the door.

He tried to eat my Vera Bradley bag.

But...Cooper LOVES him!

100 Things About Me

This is for Betsy. 100 Things about me...

1. My middle name is Marie. Same as my Mom and Daughter.
2. I have no tattoo's...thank God for good judgement!
3. I was married in December because I think it is a gorgeous time of year!
4. I love the beach. Especially the ocean sound!
5. I have been married to a very patient man for 6 years. We've been together for almost 12.
6. I have a LOVE for baking and cooking.
7. I have a cupcake business that I operate out of my home...for fun.
8. I would LOVE to open a bakery or small eatery some day.
9. I have my real estate license.
10. I have 2 AWESOME kids...a boy and a girl.
11. I love the charm of my old home.
12. I have 2 dogs.
13. I don't really "do" pet hair.
14. I have HORRIBLE seasonal allergies.
15. I love Aveda products...they make my whole house smell good.
16. I love to entertain, but stress about it.
17. I have a passion for cookbooks. I read them like novels.
18. I absolutely love Vera Bradley bags. Any pattern.
19. I'm obsessed with cleaning products...swifter's, Clorox wipes, toilet bowl cleaner, etc.
20. I recently had to break-up with my cleaning lady. It was traumatic.
21. I learned the Heimlich by accident when my daughter chocked on a penny.
22. I'm not afraid of the dark.
23. I mowed grass for the first time this year.
24. I love the pool and the sunshine.
25. I really enjoying reading.
26. Wine is usually my drink of choice.
27. I love to listen to my kids giggle and chat when they think I'm not listening.
28. If I forget to make our bed in the morning...I make it before I get in it at night.
29. I love to get family pictures taken.
30. I really like magazines...the trashy ones.
31. I enjoy sending things in the mail.
32. I LOVED high school.
33. I am Methodist.
34. I love when my house is really quiet, clean and everyone is sleeping.
35. I love hot baths.
36. I really enjoy champagne (not the headache).
37. I could watch Law & Order over and over and over...
38. I live my life vicariously through my sister.
39. My favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip.
40. My favorite salad dressing is balsamic vinaigrette from O'Donaghue's.
41. I love my SUV and all the junk I can hold in it.
42. I love when my son asks questions about when I was little.
43. I love watching my daughter learn how to talk..."Sadie do dat."
44. I could people watch for days and days and days.
45. I love my job and all of the many hats I wear.
46. I would love to study interior design.
47. I wish my blog was pretty.
48. I had scoliosis.
49. I used to have rods and screws in my back.
50. I have great neighbors.
51. I am 30.
52. I wear a size 7 shoe.
53. I am on day 3 of Weight Watcher's. I may get brave and post my weight.
54. I'm in love with my husband more now than ever.
55. I love to shop for anything.
56. I like to rearrange furniture.
57. I hate dirt on my feet.
58. My fridge is usually kind of funky.
59. I'm getting ready to start a foodie blog for my cupcake business.
60. I'm super nosey.
61. I pay my water bill late every month. Not intentionally.
62. I have a great family.
63. I have great friends.
64. I'm so not a morning person. Call me after 9.
65. I'm usually right on time...not early...not late.
66. I quit coloring my hair 2 years ago. I still miss it.
67. I love to plant flowers. I kind of suck at taking care of them.
68. I just recently started drinking coffee.
69. I don't like to wear socks.
70. I like to do laundry.
71. I LOVE the smell of clean laundry and dryer sheets.
72. I wish someone would turn me in on "What Not to Wear."
73. I have a fabulous memory.
74. I really don't like onions.
75. I like the smell of my husband's hair.
76. I love my wedding ring.
77. I like to "spoon."
78. I like the smell of my daughter's breath...weird.
79. I like to talk on the phone.
80. I like to organize things.
81. However, most of my drawers are a mess.
82. I love hearing about my son's day at Pre-K.
83. I love good customer service...and providing it.
84. I'm friendly.
85. I talk to strangers.
86. I send over 100 Christmas cards every year.
87. I make lists daily. I really like to cross things off.
88. I could make a career of running errands.
89. I always forget to take/pick up dry cleaning.
90. I love that my husband forgets most things and I have to remind him over and over.
91. I would like to have just 1 more baby.
92. I love Mexican food.
93. I would like to lose about 25 pounds. That Mexican food might be a problem.
94. I love good hand lotion.
95. I have an iPod, but don't know how to use it.
96. I have been blogging 1 year.
97. I find power washing therapeutic.
98. I wear contacts.
99. I like fruit in my salad.
100. I love to do nice, unexpected things for people.

Silly Talk

The things kids say crack me up. I need to start writing more down. Here are two funnies from the last couple of days.

- I hear giggling in the bathroom...LOTS of giggling! I open the door to find BOTH kids. Cooper on the big toilet and Sadie on the potty...both pooping. Lovely. Sadie says, "Bo Bo's help Sadie poop!" How embarrassed will she be in the future??

- I made a beer bread to go with dinner the other night. Cooper says, "I can't eat that! That has alkehaul!"

2010 Goals

So...I'm TERRIBLE at New Year's resolutions.

How about you?

I think I've actually resolved in the past to NOT have a resolution.

After some thought, conversation and a yummy lunch with the girls...The Rowden Bunch has set "goals" for 2010. Thanks Ashley for sparking these thoughts. We came up with the first list with each one of us shouting out things for the goal list. Cooper chimes in with, "Let's go to the Farm more." Me..."that's not really a goal Cooper." Him..."Yes, it IS." End of that discussion.

After the long list was formed

we cut it down to 7.

This because someone else at lunch was talking about the rule of 7 and productivity and such.

7 seems lucky.

7 seems attainable.

7 it is.

Our list of goals is focused on savings, debt, taking a family vacation, simplifying, etc.

The next thing is to memorialize the list, which was on the Today Show...frame it, put it out, make it real.

Welcome, 2010!

2009 Reflections

What a busy year we have had and how fast it has gone by! Cooper turned 4 in January and has had a big year! He has started preschool at our church in preparation for Kindergarten. He has made lots of new friends and is really enjoying it. He has learned to ride a bike and recognize TONS of words by sight...which I guess means he can spell! He also learned to swim after some private lessons in NaNa and GaGa's pool. Cooper and Ryan also did lots of hunting...with Cooper's first dove hunting excursion. *Please note...they made me add that. Cooper also went on his first fishing trip with my parents this summer to Rock Bridge...I think this will be an annual trip! Sadie girl...where to start? In the last year she has learned to walk, talk, potty like a big girl and sleep in a big-girl bed. She now has a mouth full of teeth and a head full of hair. Her vocabulary is HUGE and she's starting to string words together. She is definitely a girly girl! She has an opinion about her wardrobe and shoes. She love babies and her new kitchen! Ryan started a new job with API in February and has really enjoyed the change of pace! He is gearing up for session to start here in a couple of weeks...boo. We have also been lucky enough to travel quite a bit this year...Canada, Mexico, Chicago, Texas...just to name a few places! I have just wrapped up my first year in the cupcake business and am thinking I may be ready to move to the next step...which would be marketing my business. We will see where that goes...I'm thinking of starting with a food blog and some freebies on Facebook! Will you be a fan?? I also turned 30 in November...enough said on that one. We have also had a residence change this year...selling our "first" home and moving into a GREAT new house! We were even lucky enough to be welcomed into my parents home for a little over a month during the interim...FUN! Our new home has plenty of room for everyone to have their own space and is the perfect place for entertaining! There is a big yard for the kids and...dogs. We have a new addition to our family in the last couple of weeks. I will save this for a post all by itself...but we have a new lab puppy named Zac. We were very blessed in 2009 and can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for our family! Happy New Year!

Breakfast with Santa!

NaNa and I in our holiday wear...

so not planned, but happens ALL the time!

She has great taste!

Sadie patiently waiting for Santa to call her name.

When the time came, she had nothing to do with him

and wouldn't even take her gift!

Cooper giving his best, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Bo Jangles the Reindeer...this was too cool!

Have you even seen a reindeer?

This weekend we headed with my parents to have breakfast with Santa. This has become a yearly event and we all enjoy it! It starts with a great spread and then moves into a visit from Santa. Santa has a gift for each child and calls them out by name. It's so great to watch them in anticipation! This year Cooper and Sadie were some of the last to be called and you could see the fear in his eyes. Was I good? Am I on the Naughty List? Oh no! After the chaos of the gift opening we were able to meet a real reindeer...complete with a sleigh! Sadie was too into her new baby, so she missed the outdoor fun!

HO! HO! HO!