Super Cooper is 4!

It's been particularly hard for me to let this baby boy grow up. I have been seriously sad that he isn't 3 anymore. Three was such a good year for him! He has been such a Mama's boy. I've gotten lots of love and hugs and kisses from him. I think I am just afraid that as he gets bigger I'll get less and less of that cuddly time.  Kinda makes me wanna wrap him up in a blankie and start moving in reverse. Alas, I know that my efforts will be futile and I have to embrace the 4-yr-old Cooper which has so far proved not to be so bad. He's had plenty of love for Mommy today, even though he's 4. So, little boy, I'll let you grow up. I have no choice...

That being said- let's celebrate my little Cooper. Here's a little about this special boy.

1. He is incredibly goofy. A total ham who just eats up the attention he gets from anybody. This is pretty much proved by every photograph that I ever take of him. He loves to pose and be silly.
2. Many, many times Will and I have retired for the night only to find this little fella' (and his older brother) in our bed.  We've successfully been able to lock our door to keep them out for a long while. However, just last week we went to bed only to find them in there again! The next morning I asked Cooper how he got in my room and he said, "I used the key!" Ha ha! I have to admit I kind of love it that they want to sleep with us. It's comforting to have us all together at night.
   
3. This one is obvious to anyone who knows Cooper. He loves is totally obsessed with superheroes! In fact, he can name a couple dozen superheroes and villains off of the top of his head. He has also learned the real names of his favorites- Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Johnny Storm, Dr. Bruce Banner, Ben Grimm. He can go on and on.
4. He's been boxing since he was 1.  For some reason, he has always just taken to it. He's got a natural ability that's a bit uncanny. I, for one, am not thrilled about this but he does seem to love it. He doesn't hit when he gets angry. So it hasn't made him aggressive. He just seems to love sparring for fun. Here's a pic of him in one of his first sparring matched with his cousin Amy back in 2007. In fact, he moved through all of his cousins that day!
   
   
   
5.  To counterbalance his tough boy image I have to mention this- Cooper helps me make cookies every single Sunday night. He puts on his little turtle apron and promptly pulls everything out of the pantry that we need. Mom measures and then he adds everything to the bowl. He even knows how to gently tap the bowl until all the flour has been added to the Kitchenaid. Once the dough is made he always gets to lick the beater and has seconds and thirds of the cookie dough. Usually, he's full of cookie dough before the cookies are even done. I love having him as my cookie-makin' bud. Love this little tradition of ours.

Just a few of the things that we love so much about him. Happy birthday, bud! We love you! Here's a few pics from his first 4 years.

We love you little guy!

Back-to-school!

How can it be time for school already?! I never even got a chance to post all the fun summer stuff we did this year! Oh well. I'll have to come back to that later. Just wanted to jump on here and mention that Coleman says that, "2nd grade is awesome!" and Cooper is thoroughly enjoying his time in preschool. And I am thoroughly enjoying time to myself two mornings a week.  (Yay!)

A little about Cooper's 1st day in his new preschool: I dropped Cooper off at his preschool looking like the top pic and picked him up 3 hours later in his Flash costume. 

What happened, you ask? Dang kid ran home and got his costume when he saw a toy that reminded him of it! You see, Cooper's preschool is right next door taught by my sweet neighbor, Sandra. The whole group of preschoolers were outside playing when he took off towards home (30 ft. away.) The door was unlocked. (I was not at home.) By the time they went to get him (pretty much immediately) he had already grabbed his costume and was on his way back. Sandra, bless her heart, allowed him to wear it and even helped him to put it on. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw him but had a very stern "talking-to" with him soon after I picked him up. He won't be doing it again. Goofy kid. He is obsessed with superheroes.

Coleman's a 2nd grader! He was so nervous last night about going into a new class. In fact, it made me nervous to see him nervous. By this morning, though, he said that he was just excited and by the time he got home he said he had a great day "other than the ride home." Ugh! The bus ride home. He didn't get home until 4:45 today! School lets out at 3:30 so that is a dang long time to be on the bus. Granted he does go to school in another town but it should never take more than 1/2 an hour. The bus driver got lost when he tried to backtrack his morning route and ended up restarting his route from the furthest point. Huh?! What kind of idiot do you have to be to drive a school bus?! Sorry. That was uncalled for but I was just livid that he was on the bus that long. Thankfully Will is friends with the head administrator over transportation (perks of having a school administrator as a husband) so tomorrow this guy better get it right. Oh, that sounded threatening, huh? I can be a beast when it comes to my kids.

Anyway, here's a couple pics of Coleman before school this morning. He was stoked to wear his new Star Wars tee.

He's not really one to pose for pics. Ha ha! Love this kid!

Worth mentioning, too, I hosted a back-to-school donut party yesterday morning. You can read more about it on Jenn's blog. (Click here to see.) I really need to get to bed!