Addison's Poop/Sucker Party!

Addison POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!! Last night about 730pm she went to the potty and said she had to poop- within 30 seconds poop was in the potty. SO EASY! We've been working, begging, bribing and everything else for months. She potty's nearly perfect but has been very scared to poop. A few weeks ago I started talking about her getting a sucker party and she LOVED that idea and has been talking about it daily. So, within 10 minutes of her going poop lastnight we were in the car heading to the candy store to get a sucker. I bought her (and jackson who's been coaching, encouraging- and begging- for months also!) the biggest lollipop we could find.

Today, I put on an inpromtu Sucker Party. It was so fun. We were SO very sad that Ashton, Parker, Auntie and Uncle were on vacation in Mass. and couldn't come to the party. We had fun anyway. There was pizza (addison's favorite), cookies w/ suckers on them (we went to order them last night after the candy store), and pink juice. And of course, SUCKERS - balloons, and blowers.

Michigan trip

This past weekend we packed up the Sequoia and headed up to Berrien Springs Michigan to visit my great friend Tonya and her beautiful family (husband Chris, Max- 3- and Monty- 1). We had a fantastic time, a perfect roadtrip and so many fun things to do. We hit the beach the first day, hit a pancake breakfast at the firestation where we toured every fire truck imaginable (Jackson's all time favorite part of our vacation), went to the park, had a birthday party for Monty and hit the lake right before heading home! It was a fun-filled trip with great hosts.

Thank you Snyders!!! We had a great weekend!

Tonya & her sweet Monty boy!

Chris brought us lunch. Pizza & sand... yummy :)

Beach bums. Jackson, Addison & Max

Me & Ton

Tonya made cupcakes and let the kids decorate. Great idea! The kids had a great time doing it!

Sparklers!! They were both nervous about the fireworks but did really great!

Addison wanted to "pretend" she needed a breathing treatment. The kids got sick (addison on the way up to Michigan) right before we left. About a minute into our trip Jackson said "Auntie told me it would be good to take my breathing machine on our trip". Nathan & I looked at each other and turned the truck around. Thank goodness. By St. Louis he was really needing a treatment.

Sweet pic of Addison

Jackson made an attempt at skiing! I was so proud of him. He drank a lot of water getting up the first time and didn't want to try again. My aunt Barb has a ski like that so I think we'll try again this next weekend!

Jackson & Daddy on the tube.

Swim lessons!

We are having such a fun time w/ swimming lessons this year. I cannot believe how good Jackson & Addison are! The pictures below say it all. Jackson is leaping (with poses) off the diving board and going down the water slide and swimming to the edge (without a lifeguard catching him), Addison is jumping off the diving board and is now going down the HUGE waterslide by herself. Not to mention they are both swimming so great in their classes. They both enjoy Friday Fun Day the best! And about 1/2 the time we stay after lessons, have a picnic, Gram joins us all and we continue to play at the pool.

Addison just moved from level 1 to level 2- the big kids (Parker's class). The big boys are in level 3 and doing awesome swimming all by themselves a long ways! I'm just amazed at their progress.

It has been such a fun summer!

Our Garden is Growing!

We finally have vegetables in our garden! The tomatoes have been around for awhile (still not ready yet- but VERY big!) and this week we noticed adorable green peppers, green beans and jalopeno. We love seeing everything grow!

yes, this is addison in ashton's cowboy boots and panties!

Family Reunion in Wichita

We spent the weekend with Nathan's side of the family (Joan's brother & sister and families) in Wichita. It was a fun weekend filled with a lot of relaxing (for adults) and a lot of playing (for kids). Cora (9) and Kayden (2) came from Tuscan and the kids played and played. Cora & Jackson were inseparable and adorable together.

We stayed at the Country Club that we stayed at last year. We got it amazingly cheap this year and the kids loved it. All the way home Addison kept asking to go back to the "castle". The kids are missing Wichita & Cora SO much since we got home. Next year we're going to bring Kayden & Cora home with us!!

What a great weekend! Thank you so much to Jay & Suzanne for being such great hosts!

Jay (Joan's brother) & Suzanne's home- their backyard is a shady haven! We spent a lot of time out there.

the four cousins (missing Dominic who is at his mom & grandma's this month).

playing at a great park

jackson & kayden on the "bullet" slide

While the little people (and mommies & grandma's) slept- Jackson, Cora, Nate, Robb & Bob checked out the aviation museum. I think the kids had the most fun.

Cora & Jackson flying

Jay & Suzanne have a neighborhood pool two houses down from them. They rented the party room out for a little reunion on Sat. night. Grandpa & Addison had fun in the pool.

Cooper clan

bestest buds.

Rhett's Run

Nathan has always loved to mountain bike.  We used to do it quite a lot when we lived in Chattanooga and he got into it again about a year ago.  Today was his first race!  It was so different from what we've been doing- triathlon.  The race started at 11am!  Usually we're at our races at 545am and race always begins before 8am.  Today, Nate had to complete an hour of racing.  If he completed a lap in 59 minutes he had to do another lap (about 40 minutes)!!  It was a fun, laid-back event.  He enjoyed it- for the most part.  It was raining this morning so it was very sloppy and frustrating at first.  However, he's already talking about the next race.

Enjoying the snacks - waiting to see Daddy.

Go Daddy Go!

VERY dirty Daddy.

Gone Fishin'

Yesterday Ashton was begging to go fishing.  So, today we packed up the fishin' poles, dusted them off and headed for a lake.  We had a great time.... however.... we didn't catch ANY fish!!! The kids were a little disappointed but had a fun time- and were actually VERY patient with no action!  Lots of nibbles and they ate all of our worms.  Before we went Nathan took the kids out to catch the worms.

Addison was totally flirting w/ the camera.  SO cute.  She was enjoying the snacks.