Ready for School

I guess this is Cooper-themed Wednesday because I have another Cooper story to share!
I was in the bathroom cleaning when I hear,
"Mom, I'm ready for school."
I was so busy cleaning that I didn't even look at Cooper.
I just replied,
"Cooper, you don't have school today. School's tomorrow babe."
Cooper, not satisfied with my reply, says,
"But mom, look at me! I'm ready for school!"
I look at Cooper only to see this sight:

He thought it was so funny, he proceeded to laugh and laugh.
Not a small laugh, but a hearty, kneeling over holding your belly kind of laugh.

So, thinking I could have a little fun with this, I said,
"Ok, let's go Coop!"
I grab my car keys and purse and proceed to walk up the stairs.
Cooper, laughing, says,
"But mom, I'm in my underwear."
I said,
"Well, you always wear underwear to school."
Cooper says,
"But mom, I don't have any clothes on!"
"Oh silly me!" I said, and head back down the stairs.
Cooper replied,
"You forgot, didn't you mom!"

Wonder what Mrs. Ferguson would say if I did forget and brought Cooper to school looking like this? I know I'm forgetful, but hopefully it would never come to that!

Cooper: A Good Friend

Ever since Cooper started preschool, he's become quite the ladies man. For a while, this title was reserved for Gabe, as he's always been our little ladies man. But now that Cooper's getting older, I'm afraid we have two on our hands!
Cooper has friends that are boys, but he is often talking about girls...Jaden...Maddie...Destiny...Ariana...the list goes on. I can't even keep track of who all these girls are that Cooper speaks so fondly of.
Grandma Bonnie has even been approached by some of Coop's little friends that are girls at the pumpkin farm, and while she was out to eat. Both of these little girls said, smiling, "Cooper's my friend." Ahhhh.
I'm sure Cooper will always be a friend to everyone. He is very sweet, always trying to take care of others and make sure others are happy.
Believe me, he has his moments, like when he's just done doing the 'sharing thing' with his little sister. But overall, Cooper is just a good friend.
The other night, I was talking to Cooper about Jesus and how Jesus was a friend to everyone and always thought of others before himself. I said something to the effect of, "Jesus was a good friend." And Cooper said, "Me too mom! I'm like Jesus!" It was so sweet.
Then he said, "Mom, did Jesus have an Ariana like me?" He was talking about his little friend from church who he calls 'my Ariana' and she calls him 'my Cooper.'
Well, obviously, Cooper can only comprehend so much at age 3, so I just moved on.

Winnie the Pooch & Chloe

At Gabe's field trip to the Pumpkin Farm yesterday, we mostly just let Chloe walk around the farm. She stayed close by and didn't stray too far. But wherever Chloe went, there was Winnie also.

Now for Chloe, her tag-a-long friend was great at first. Whenever we go to Grandma and Grandpa's farm, Chloe starts yelling for Winnie as soon as she gets out of the car. It's almost like a chant: "Winnie...Winnie...Winnie" over and over again. Intermixed in the 'winnie' chant is also the word "Doggie" which she says as if it's two words..."Daw Gee" and then she also does her dog sound "woof, woof." So my point is, Chloe LOVES Winnie.

Jason and I thought that Winnie was just wanting to play with Chloe, and Chloe was having so much fun. But after a little while, Chloe started running from Winnie, yelling "no, no!" She wanted me to hold her to keep her away from Winnie the Pooch.

When I picked Chloe up, I soon discovered why Winnie had been following Chloe so intensely. She still had a small piece of one of Grandma's cookies in her hand, and Winnie was intent on stealing it. Jason's captured Winnie's resolve in the photo below...

I was holding Chloe and Winnie was jumping up after her over and over again, trying to get that last little bite of cookie in her little hand. And Chloe was yelling, "No! No!"

Those two were entertainment in themselves.

Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

Today Gabe's Kindergarten class took a field trip to the pumpkin farm. This would be fun anyway, but even more fun when it's your grandparent's farm. Gabe was so proud to be showing his friends around the farm he knows and loves. Jason, Cooper, Chloe and I met the class there and were able to take the tour of the farm just like the students, led by Grandma Bonnie. It was so fun! And each child got to take home a pumpkin and Indian corn they picked themselves from the field. Can it get any better than that?!?

Field trips to the Pumpkin Farm mean
Bus Rides...

Tours with Megaphones...
{Grandma Bonnie teaching the kids about life on the farm}

Making new friends...
{Cooper went right along with all those big kindergartners}

Hanging out with old friends...
{Gabe and his buddy Brayden}

Class photos...

Acting Silly...
{pretending to be dogs like Winnie the Pooch}

Sitting with friends...
{Cooper with his new buddies}

And saying Goodbye when it's time to go...
{the class loaded up on the bus to go back to school}

What a fun day!
Tomorrow I will post photos of Chloe and how she spent her time on the farm. Thanks to a cookie in her hand, she was stalked by Winnie the Pooch most of the afternoon.

While Mom is Away...

I met my friend Suz {love you Suz!} for lunch today and when I came home I see that my husband has captured a couple of CUTE photos of Chloe. Had to post them!

And a quick side note: Jason is not one to just randomly pick up the camera and start taking photos. In fact, he often makes fun of me for taking so many photos of the kids. So, maybe my photo obsession is wearing off on Jason a bit.

The first one of Chloe with the hat was what prompted Jason to pick up the camera in the first place. He said he had been upstairs for a minute and when he came downstairs, Chloe came walking out of Gabe and Cooper's room with their hat on her head backwards. She had put it on all by herself, and was just walking around so nonchalantly. Too Cute!

I didn't crop this next photo at all. When I asked Jason how he got Chloe in focus clear off to the side of the shot without changing the manual focal location on the camera, his response was, 'I just got lucky I guess.' Glad he was so lucky today...what a cute photo!

Favorite Scents

I LOVE Perfume!
I don't think I go one day without wearing perfume. It's such a habit, I wear it no matter what I will be doing that day: church, taking the kids to school, painting the house, exercising. It just doesn't matter what the activity is, I'm going to smell good doing it.
Anyway, I often get asked, 'What's that scent you're wearing?' So why not devote a post to my perfume preferences. After all, it's my blog and I will write what I want to, right?!?
And maybe my wonderful, thoughtful husband will happen upon this and have a guide for future reference. Although I'm not sure he needs any help...he recently bought me #5 on my list 'just because.' Ahhhh...isn't he great!
So here's a few of my all time favorite scents, in no particular order:
{Keep in mind, I tend to like floral, light scents. No musky man-like fragrance for me! And...I always recommend buying lotion if they make one in the same scent. Layering lotion and perfume always makes the perfume scent last so much longer!}
1. Amazing Grace by Philosophy

2. Burberry London
{Not to be confused by any other Burberry scent, because this one is the only one I like. The Burberry perfume names are so similar, it's easy to buy the wrong one!}

3. Ralph Lauren Romance
{One time in college, I had a guy stop me and ask me what perfume I was wearing because he wanted to buy some for his sister. Maybe it was a line, but regardless, I was wearing this.}

4. Clinique Happy

5. Hollister Malaia

Boys will be Boys...with leaves

The same day I took the fall leaves photos, Gabe had the idea that we should rake the leaves into a pile and not jump into them, but instead, ride bikes through them.
Sounds like a typical boy idea to me.
I couldn't find the rake, so I had to use a broom {quite a funny sight...should have gotten some photos of that. Cooper kept asking why I was cleaning the grass!}
Anyway, the boys would start at the top of a little hill and wait at the 'starting line' while I would 'sweep' the leaves into a pile between rounds. They were sitting at the starting line 'revving' their engines, and were fully into this activity. Then when I'd say go, they race down the hill to the bottom where the pile was. Gabe won the 'race' every time, but Cooper was oblivious and didn't care. It wasn't really about the racing, as much as it was just about riding through those leaves.
They thought this was a blast, watching the leaves blow through the air as they plowed through the pile on their bikes.
We did it over and over and over again.
Who knew leaves could be so fun?!?

{Love Gabe's intense face in the photo below. Click on the photo to see it enlarged.}



After riding the bikes through the leaves, we did the typical leaf play activities...throwing them in the air and burying ourselves in them.
{Got a few actions shots of Gabe throwing leaves.}

{Gabe thought it was hilarious to throw leaves at mom.}

{Love the two closeups below of the boys buried in leaves.}

The Leaves of Fall

Yesterday afternoon when Gabe arrived home from school, the boys and I decided to go outside and look at the beautiful fall leaves. Cooper was feeling better at that point, which didn't last long...{he was up sick overnight last night AGAIN!}

Anyway, since {Beautiful fall leaves + 2 cute boys = Great photo opp.} I of course brought the camera along on our outing in the yard. We don't have many trees, but we do have some small trees and bushes lining our property.

Here's some highlights:

Still Sick

Cooper is still sick! It's been about 2 weeks now that Cooper has been sick on and off, and off and on again. He'll be sick for a few hours, then be fine for a whole day. Then, sick again for a half a day, then fine. It's back and forth between well and sick.
It reminds me of when Gabe was sick with rotavirus several years back. He had the same unpredictable symptoms and the same doctor's diagnosis...it's a virus, so it has to run its course.
Well, I hope we're almost to the finish line.
This sickness is certainly getting old.
Poor Cooper!
Last night he was up sick five or six times through the night between about 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. That makes for a long night to say the least! And that makes for a tired boy today. Look at Cooper, laying on the chair and watching Bob the Builder.

There was no singing along with the Bob the Builder theme song today...just laying there, in a trance halfway between awake and asleep. I don't know how much more of this his little body can take, so I'm praying it's almost over!

Classroom Helper

This afternoon I had the privilege of helping in Gabe's Kindergarten class. I was really wondering what Gabe would do. His behavior has been rather unpredictable lately. He's shown signs that he's already 'too cool' for mom, not wanting me to wait outside for him to get off the bus because he's 'too big.' Yet, he's also cried when I stopped by the classroom because he didn't want me to leave. Two very opposite reactions, which is why I didn't know what to expect today. Much to my delight, Gabe was very excited to see me. He wanted to hold my hand as we walked to the library and to music class. He had told all of his friends his mom was coming today and had anticipated my arrival all morning. And he was truly overjoyed to have me in class with him.
It was heartwarming to me, really.
And I finally got to see for myself all the things
Gabe has been telling me about his classroom routine
and meet all of his new friends.
Perhaps the best part was when Gabe got home from school
and said,
"Mom! Can you come again tomorrow?
My friends thought you were so cool!"
So, my school visit was a success and Gabe's not too cool for me yet. And maybe, just maybe, my little boy will be my little boy for just a bit longer.