Race (or walk) for the Cure

On October 10th, my mother in law and I walked in the Race for the Cure. She is a breast cancer survivor and it meant a lot to both of us to walk in this together. Neither of us had ever been to the event and had no idea what to expect. The first thing we got to do was the survivor walk, and before we took 2 steps, we were both overwhelmed with the magnitude of the situation~and both of us were crying. We just simply did not realize how many women are affected by this, and I think it just made us both so thankful that she was a survivor. When the race began, we were toward the back of the pack and we could not see the end of the sea of people in either direction. It was a great way to spend that morning, with her, celebrating her miracle, and being reminded of how truly blessed we are!

Homecoming

Last weekend, we traveled to Florence to return to the University of North Alabama Homecoming game. UNA is a place that is dear to both of our hearts because it's where we met and our life together began. ...and if we could just live on love, we'd pack our bags and move back there tomorrow! It's just a great little town...lots to do, great schools, cute downtown area, and it just feels like a GREAT place to raise a family. It was WONDERFUL to go back and see friends that I had not seen in a LONG time. Friday night we met my parents in Florence with Cooper. They took him home with them so that Jared and I could visit with friends. We even went to the Pep Rally!! Saturday morning, we all went to the parade together. It was fun~but Cooper really wasn't as into it as we thought he might be. It was still fun for our friends to get to meet him! My dad took Cooper home for a nap while Jared and I went to a cheerleader reunion that had been planned for me to attend. We ate lunch with everyone, visited, and then walked around the BEAUTIFUL campus...so much has changed! Later that afternoon,we went to "Spirit Hill" and tailgated with everyone and saw more old friends. Dad brought Cooper down to tailgate with us since they had music and bouncy things for kiddos. Cooper had a BLAST~but our visiting with friends was DONE! We were now chasing him from one thing to the next and dancing with him! Very fun, but very stressful! After tailgating Dad went to the game with the three of us! Cooper LOVED the football game~it was his first! He cheered for the team saying "Run Boy!" "Throw football!" "Kick football!" "Go Li-Li!" (Lions) He even got to go with the trainer of the lions for a close look at them. He later told us that the "li-li eat bone" and "go night night"! Cooper loved dancing with the band, also. Cooper went home with PawPaw after watching the band perform at halftime. Jared and I left not long after to go back and eat at Ricatoni's~our favorite Italian restaurant in Florence! It was a great weekend! I am so looking forward to going back for years to come!

A Mind of His Own

Since we have been trapped in the house for what seems like FOREVER because of the rain...we have got to hear Cooper talk and play A LOT!!! It has been absolutely precious! He has just really started to pretend and play by himself. He talks to his choo-choos and some of them are sad, some are mad, some get told "no, no", some go to "mimeout"(aka timeout)! He has also developed an opinion about what clothes he is wearing! I was not prepared for that one...totally would expect that from a girl, but whatever! As you can see from the pictures...he chose to wear his "roll tide" shirt and blue shorts!! We played "night-night" and made a pretend bed in the chair for Cooper! He has also been playing with Link-A-Doos that were is a basket of his baby toys that he found. He has been putting them on his wrist as bracelets...about 7 of them!!! We fully thought he was going to wear the bracelets to church on Sunday...but he decided to obey us and leave them in the car without a fuss (Jared was thankful that HIS manhood was not compromised)!

Cooper hit a milestone...for us anyway, this weekend! He can now put together his OWN track!!! He worked SO hard trying to build this big track! He worked on all throughout the day and night on Saturday...and he was so proud! So were we...do you know how many times we have put that track together?? And yes, that track is in addition to the train table! Obsessive...we think so!

So I guess we are thankful for the rain! It gave us an opportunity to see Coop's little mind (and mouth) at work! We made some great memories over the weekend! Bring on the rain!

When the Rain Won't Go Away....

Cooper and Mommy go out to play!! We had the BEST time splashing in puddles yesterday! Cooper wanted these boots Friday night when we were at Target...even had to wear them out of Target! Guess he knew he'd need them!

CELEBRATE!!!

On September 6th, my family had A LOT to celebrate. On August 18th of last year, my poppa was diagnosed with Stage 4 aggressive colon cancer, which had also spread to other parts of his body. We learned that surgery was not an option, and were not given very much hope. My poppa has bravely been taking chemotherapy for over a year now. The tumors have shrunk to about half of their original size, but that shrinking seems to stalled now. September 6th was his birthday, one we were not sure we would celebrate with him.

September 6th is also precious Maddie Kate's birthday. Maddie Kate is my cousin Jessica's little girl, and my poppa's third great grandchild. She was born last year on September 6th...she wasn't supposed to be born until mid November. She had to fight for a LONG time in the NICU, but she is healhty, happy, and beautiful now. That day was very hard for her mommy because Jessica fully remembers what a battle they all have fought over the last year.

So, this year on September 6th my family learned what it truly means to celebrate life and rejoice in every day that God blesses us with. It has been a difficult year, and one that was very sad at times~but today we were able to forget about all of that and just be together as a family and be thankful for THIS day that the Lord has made!

A BIG Choo-Choo

Cooper has become obsessed with trains! I love it because for some strange reason I always pictured myself having a little boy who loved trains. Maybe it's because I have always thought they were so fascinating and have always wanted to take a trip on a train! Anyway, he LOVES trains. He loves watching Thomas the Train movies, even though they are quite boring to me. He sleeps with Thomas every night. And he plays with his train table we got him for his birthday constantly. He also has the book "The Little Red Caboose" memorized and we tell that story on the way to school every morning! It's amazing...without the book, he can tell me that the little red caboose always came last. Then, I say..."First, came the big black engine". Cooper replies "then boxcars, the oil cars, the coal cars, and flat cars"!! That's exactly the order of them in the story! He loves going across railroad tracks, and says everytime "red caboose come?" It's precious! A couple of weeks ago, we took him to ride a real train in Calera. We went on this ride last spring to go on an Easter egg hunt...but Cooper wasn't into trains then. It was an hour long train ride through the woods...and he loved every second of it! We sat out on an open car, and he was absolutely amazed! I'm not so sure that an hour was long enough for him! They also have old trains out that you can climb on and look at! Cooper loved doing that too! His favorite part was seeing where the coal goes. He will tell us that the choo-choo eats coal! Anyway, it was a great little Saturday morning perfectly spent!