It's A...

This post is a little delayed, but it's time I tell you...we're having another baby!  Yep, we are crazy like that.  And believe me when I acknowledge that we are in fact crazy.  Life was just getting too easy around here so we decided we needed to throw in a newborn to really shake things up.  We have dabbled with the idea for years and finally decided to just go for it.  The thing that really put us over the edge was Christmas in 20 years.  Yep, you read that right.  We want to have a house full of craziness when we get older and one sure fire way to get that is to add another human to the crew.  So we did.  Makes total sense right?

On this particular day we decided to find out what this tiny human would be.  I'm too old and too tired to do a big reveal party so I decided just to do something fun with the boys.  This in my head was WAY cuter, but in my head it wasn't raining for two days straight and we weren't stuck inside!  But balloons deflate so the show must go on! So here you go...

And just like that our world REALLY got rocked!  We had two balloons at the house (in case something went wrong) and Bennett promptly asked if we could pop the other one (in hopes that it would be blue inside).  I assured him both balloons would have the same result.  I think he's still trying to recover.  Once she gets here though I have no doubt that he will be ever so loving to his new baby sister.

Another Adventure...

I had asked Bennett numerous times about different activities he could partake in.  I offered up baseball, basketball, playing an instrument.  You name it, I offered it.  I DID NOT offer Hockey.  Don't get me wrong, I love watching hockey but hockey is not a convenient sport to play.  They have awful practice times and it seems like there is a lot of traveling in order to play.  Yep, I was self-admittedly being a scrooge.  Well somehow Bennett got it in his head that he wanted to try Hockey.  He asked me once to sign him up and in true Mom fashion I ignored him.  But he was persistent and kept asking so eventually his nice Dad signed him up for a "learn to skate" session.  As it turns out learning to ice skate is tough business.  After week 2 I think he was ready to give up, but he carried on and by the end of it he was pushing his little support device away and skating to it!  This was BIG PROGRESS and we couldn't be more proud.  Mainly we were proud that he stuck with it when it wasn't easy, not a trait that runs strong in this family! The session is over now and I'm not sure what our future in hockey will be, but he sure looked cute in the gear...

Ninja Warrior Style

We found a new gem, a Ninja Warrior place!  And this meant we had NUMEROUS visits over the winter months.  One day I just had Bennett for some reason so Violet joined us out at our new favorite location and I think she was a fan too!  Bennett's favorite is the rope swing, I think it brings out his inner Tarzan.  I think Julia's favorite part was TRYING to get over the warped wall.  Trying was the key word there ;).  Next time Julia, next time.  Regardless of success or not on the many obstacles I think everyone was proud of their performance!

 

Goodbye Cooper

Well, the inevitable happened.  Our time with our faithful companion came to a close.  Chad and I got Cooper for our first wedding anniversary, surely year one is dog right?  He had been by our side for 2 (and a half) kids, 2 houses and so many other milestones.  He was an amazing dog, great with the kids and just wanted your love and attention.  He was a bit of an escape artist so we did find ourselves roaming the neighborhood on numerous occasions looking for him but in true Cooper fashion he was faithful and always went to the same spots to visit his friends.  Though I'm not ready to get another dog (maybe ever) I will say the void he has left is a big one and I miss him dearly.

Here are a few of his "last" pictures.  We found out he had cancer and once diagnosed he went downhill pretty quickly but we managed to get a few more pictures in for the memory book.