Clare had her turn up at Grandma and Grandpas. They all had a great time and grandma and grandpa saw a side of Clare that only Scott and I had seen prior to this. Clare is an extremely loving, sweet, intelligent and super funny little girl. But when she's around the extended family, she's always super excited and frankly, can be a bit of a scheister! So, once they had her alone, Grandma and Grandpa finally got to see the other side of our little Clarebear - the one that keeps us from strangling her when she's being a scheister. Clare has also finally mastered the art of using the toilet. It took some pretty sweet "Tinkerbell", "My Little Pony", and "Dora" underwear to do it, but it is finally done. She's doing so good and now there is only one left in full time diapers. Can you say, "yay"?
Cooper is getting HUGE! He's 7 months now. He learned to sit all by himself last month which makes him infinitely more happy (if that's possible being that he was one of the happiest babies I'd seen prior to sitting). He's experimenting with all sorts of new sounds - I'm quite sure "mom" is being perfected. He also is experimenting with new "grown-up" foods like cheerios and ripe bananas.
I've been enjoying the summer immensely. I've had a great time in my bible study/book club. We've done a great book this summer (Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell) and the women I meet with are all really fun and, dare I say, classy. One of the books we're just starting, Surprise Me by Terry Esau, has shown me what a small world we live in. I really enjoyed going to see Beth Moore when she was in town. I had a super fun time having my first colonoscopy! (All clear - thank you Jesus. And thanks to Chris and Karen for the heads up!!). And I finally bit the bullet and stopped biting everything else by joining Weight Watchers. I'm down 8 lbs with 20 to go before I reach my super hot momma weight. MOPs is starting up again and once again I'll be in leadership, this time as the Team Leader which entails a bit more responsibility than I've had the last couple of years. Thus, more meetings which have already started. And that brings us to the present.
Cate is up at grandma and grandpa's again this week. It's so nice to have only 2 to focus on and yet I'm so excited when I have all my little chicks back in my nest with me, too. I'm busy preparing for a family birthday party this Friday for Clare who turns 3 on the 26th. Then on Tuesday, her actual b-day we'll have a couple of the neighborhood kids over (Bryce and Emma) during the day, and then after Dad gets home we'll go to that 5-star joint called Chucky Cheeses. Can I just say, I can't wait until my kids feel the same way I do about CC's?! I think I have have a good 7-8 years before that happens. (notice how I didn't link to CC's website - let's not encourge them)
