Cooper 18 months

Cooper turned 18 months at the end of Jan, which sadly was a month later than I thought. 4th child and I can't keep track of his age already. Haven't had a chance for formal pictures but he's so stinking cute and home alone with me for half the day so I've been able to capture lots of moments that pretty much sum up his life. He's pretty much on the go constantly. He LOVES LOVES LOVES being outside whether that be jumping puddles, following his dad, wandering the yard...he just loves the adventure. He also loves following his siblings around, playing with cars and trains, reading books, his bottle of milk (still) and watching Thomas the Train... and only Thomas the train.

 

Love this happy lil guy!

One of my favs-because he's still and we're both happy.

Key notes-bottle and jammies. Decided he wanted to wake up at 5:30 am so he got to come hang out with mom while I finished cleaning up. As you can see He wasn't too upset about it.

 The Barn is one of Coopers favorite places to be. He's a great little helper- he helps John with the hay wagon, helps carry buckets that need to be cleaned.

 

 Not so much as helping but feeling big on his lil truck.

Helping Sandy "find" some tools

Help move the wood chips.

 Loves helping with the Chickens

Cute lil naked man. Loves bathtime, thinks he can swim.

 Greats" helper" in the house too.

 

  Lil helper in the kitchen

a lil too much help/curiousity in the pantry

Still happy to pose for a picture

 This is his wrestling partner, he's convinced its a scary bear and runs around growling and chasing people laughing as they scream and run away.

A rare moment of rest for both boys.

 

Love Sunday afternoon Naps! 

Braces

 

 

 Ever since her consultation 6 months earlier McKenna has been dreaming of the day she would get her braces on. The day has finally come, braces on her bottom teeth and a space on top... what more could she ask for.

 

Here are the smiles to show her approval:

 

 Good job McKenna, may the next year go quickly and happily

Tate wanted in on the action.

park play and new skills

We're so thankful for nice neighbors, and particularly the Whitemarsh's who have given us an open invitation to come play on their playground anytime.

 McKenna & Cooper sharing a ride

 Tate wants to be like his sisters on the monkey bars

 

 

 Cooper climbing to new heights

 

 Tylers gotten quite good at the monkey bars

 Our friend Mia came out to play with us

 Tate too "tired" to walk home wanted to ride in his brothers place....right

Always love a lil sunshine in Jan

when the sun is out...

 

When the sun is out the owners are out and that means the horses are out and if the kids are lucky they get to have a ride.  

 Today they got lucky and couldn't have been more thrilled. As were the horses to have some fresh grass.

 Tyler on Dallas, McKenna on Hawk

 Sarah on Maggie

 Sarah let Tate have a turn on Maggie

 Eventually the horses had to head back out to the field

Good Day on the farm!

Party Time

Cooper got a cute lil stuffed penguin for Christmas who's tag declared his birthday to be Jan 4th. The kids decided we needed to have a birthday party for him. Why not?

 

 

We're always up for a party and the kids had a good time.

Happy Birthday lil Chilly.

 

 

Knights Training Camp-Tate's 5th Birthday Party

Preparations for this party Started a week earlier and a miracle happened with the creation of Tates Dragon. It was definitely a team effort

Big Boys Birthday Cake

 

Welcome to Sir Tate's Knights Training Camp. We began the party by coloring a cardboard castle aka Sir Tate's Castle. Once all the boys arrived we began our Knights training Camp by giving them all a knights tunic and a wooden sword (John had whipped up the night before) and let them practice their sword fighting skills on some punching balls that we'd strung across the room.

it got a lil dangerous and at the end Tanner got a blow to the head... from Sir Tate himself... oops.

Before moving onto our next lessons we made shields which they pry should've had before the sword fighting.

Then we had a marshmallow fight which was supposed to be with some catapults we made, but they quickly broke and we found the arm was mightier than the stick.

Next we moved out to the barn for our final challenge, the Joust. The boys found it difficult to hold the jousting stick and the stick horse as they galloped towards the targeted Iron Man cutout that hung from a rope. 

As we finished we heard a fiery breathing dragon up in the loft and so we headed up there to defeat him. We found he was filled with sugary treats and that dragon skin is tough.

We had a great time at the party and we were so thankful to everyone who came and participated in Tate's birthday fun day.

 Sir Tate and his loyal sidekicks.