Happy Birthday, Ol' Man!

Our oldest child, that big yellow lab in the picture below, turned 13 years old today, so we just had to celebrate! That's 91 in dog years. Although he is showing his age physically, as he struggles to lift himself up off the floor or walk himself up the steps, mentally, he's still that 6 week old puppy Kevin and I bought 13 years ago. Back then, he was a pretty big purchase... $250. He has been worth every penny!

Just look at that well mannered dog, sitting so patiently as we sing "Happy Birthday" to him and blow out his candles. Oh, wait... that's part of a chicken sandwich in Kevin's hand that Sampson has his eyes and teeth fixated upon.

He was with us for 5 years before Meghan was born. That's five whole years as an only child. We were worried about how he would take it... how he would feel about this new little person who quickly became the center of our world. When we brought Meghan home from the hospital, Sampson slept right outside her doorway. The moment she whimpered, his head would pop up and his eyes would ask, "Aren't you going to take care of her???" When she began sleeping in a bed, he slept in the bed with her. While taking the two of them on walks, he would not move further than five feet from the stroller. From the minute he met her, she was his best friend.

We love you, Sampson! Happy Birthday, Ol' Man!

Lake Fun

Meghan is a fighter. I'm not sure where this competetive spirit comes from (wink, wink), but she will not give up. Ever. She had her first wake boarding lesson this weekend at the lake. Although she never made it all the way up, she tried and tried and tried. Again and again and again.

Here, Kevin gives her a little coaching...

She's almost up...

almost...

so close!
It was only when her arms and legs felt like spaghetti noodles that she decided to hang up the wake board and pull out the inner tube. Luckily, she had enough strength left to hang on!

8U Champions!

Meghan's 2nd softball tournament of the All Star season was last weekend. After beating two very tough teams, one by one run and the other by two in extra innings, they went into the championship game undefeated. With it being a double elimination tournament, our opponent in the championship game would have had to beat us twice. They beat us in the first game by 5 runs, but our girls came back fired up for the second game and won by 10 runs. Meghan had a great tournament. She split time between shortstop and centerfield. At shortstop, she made some great plays, and at centerfield she caught three fly balls, firing one to 2nd base for a double play! She had some great hits as well. Here are some shots from the weekend...

After watching some College Softball World Series games last week, Meghan decided to wear her hair in braids for this tournament. This was a pregame picture.

Meghan playing shortstop...

Meghan playing centerfield...

Meghan with her Championship Trophy!

So proud...

The final tournament of the season (The Big One!) begins on Saturday. We're getting pumped up for that one!

How Meghan Spends a Rainy, Summer Day...

Poor Cooper!

Easter (A Little Late, huh?)

Better late than never, right? Finally, here are some pictures from Easter....

Cooper's Easter Breakfast of Champions:

An Easter egg on the hummingbird feeder???

Meghan showing Cooper the basket full of goodies the Easter Bunny brought him.

Cooper thought the Easter Bunny was pretty cool for putting an egg on his basketball hoop!

Meghan and Cooper had a blast searching for and finding all of the eggs the Easter Bunny hid for them. Good thing he put a toothbrush and toothpaste in each of their baskets. That Easter Bunny is a pretty smart guy, isn't he?

Snow Much MORE Fun! (The REAL stuff this time!)

It snowed in Georgia today! Here's how we spent our afternoon...

Meghan was amazed at how BIG the flakes were!

Cooper thought riding the Plasma Car in the snow was awesome!

Kevin was quickly put to work...

Woo Hoo!

When Cooper woke up from his nap and saw snow for the first time, he giggled and said, "Ball! Ball! Ball!" I think he thought his dream came true, as he noticed "balls" falling from the sky.

SNOW much fun!

For Meghan's birthday party, we took a small group of her friends to Snow Mountain. Stone Mountain Park turned a portion of their park into a winter haven for kids. The girls enjoyed snow tubing, snowman building, snowball target practice, and sledding. It was loads of fun!

One crazy crew...

Renee, Lauren, Allie, Aubrey, Hannah, Alex, and Meghan

Kevin and Andy give the girls a BIG push!
Snow angels...

Snow tubing! This was probably the most fun for the girls. After a fairly long line up the "mountain," the girls tubed down an "enormous" hill! This is Meghan at the end of her ride...

Going up the "mountain," we were able to ride a conveyer belt. These girls don't look like they're having fun, do they?

The girls, as well as Kevin, Andy and I, had an absolute ball!

15 Months Old... Enough Said!

Recently, I've found myself saying, "He's 15 months," an awful lot. That's really all I have to say.

Why does he think it's funny to run away from me as fast as he can the second I put him down in a public place? Because he's 15 months old.

Why does he find it necessary to feed Sampson half of every meal?

Because he's 15 months old.

Why does he find it amusing to hide the remote control in any piece of pottery he can find around the house?

Because he's 15 months old.

Why does he enjoy getting into the pantry to find a bag of chips, take them into the office, open the bag, pour the bag all over the floor and proceed to snack on the chips?

Because he's 15 months old.

Cooper is 15 months old. Enough said.

The Best Valentine Ever

Eight years ago today, Kevin and I were blessed with the best Valentine ever... Meghan! She was actually due on Valentine's Day, and I was scheduled to be induced on that day. Not for any other reason than the fact that my doctor was headed on vacation the next day, and I wanted him to deliver her. Meghan obviously wanted to be a Valentine's baby, as I went into labor naturally early that morning. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 AM. I was already dilated to 6 cm, so they gave me my epideral. (After some harsh words from Kevin. The car ride to the hospital was not a pleasant one, as I was having contractions every three minutes.) The epideral slowed me down, and actually allowed me to take a quick power nap. Around 11:45 AM, my nurse told me to start pushing. I pushed two times, and she then shouted, "Stop!" Meghan was ready, but my doctor was in the next room performing a c-section. He arrived about 10 minutes later, I gave one more good push, and Meghan was born at 12:05 PM. She weighed 7 lbs, 5 ounces and was 20 inches long.

My pregnancy was easy, the birth was easy, and Meghan has been a pretty easy kid ever since.

Happy birthday, Meghan! You make our world a better place. We love you!

This is actually the 2nd birthday celebration of three. The first was at school yesterday. For today, her actual birthday, Meghan had a friend sleep over. Here, we celebrated with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

(Notice Cooper... he must be having flashbacks of his own birthday party!)

Meghan's third birthday celebration will be next weekend with a group of friends. We are headed to Snow Mountain. (Stone Mountain... with snow for snow tubing, snowman building, and snowball fights... every Georgia kids' winter dream!) I will be sure to post pictures from that one!

Playin' Some Hoops...

Meghan is playing basketball for the first time this year, and she is loving it! Our practice sessions in the driveway seem to be helping her catch on to the game.

She has made four baskets this season with one just happening to be the game winning shot, against the first place team, with only 10 seconds left on the clock. Our 8 year old point guard who could give Allen Iverson a run for his money (o.k... not really), dribbled the ball down the court and passed it to Meghan. Meghan, with no hesitation, put up a shot from a rather far distance (for an eight year old) from the goal. The coaches (and fans) had "What are you doing?" looks on their faces that quickly turned into "Well, why wouldn't you do that?" looks as the ball swooshed through the net. It was quite thrilling for Meghan and gave her some much needed confidence on the court. She is now referred to as "long shot" by her teammates.

"Long Shot," in action...

One on one with Mom.... I believe she "schooled" me here.
Cooper likes to get into the action as well... he just needs a little more help.

We gave Kevin the assist on that one.

Cooper has just as much fun playin' hoops inside...

Puppy time?

We've been contemplating the addition of a new four legged family member. When I say we, I mean Kevin and Meghan. With Sampson being 12 years old, they feel a puppy may be therapeutic for the old man. They also feel that Sampson will help "calm" a puppy. (I envision a hyperactive puppy pouncing all over the poor, now lazy guy, and Sampson simply raising his head with that Scooby Doo "hmm????" look.)

My argument for the last year has been based on Cooper and his age. Well, after visiting Edwardsville for Christmas and spending lots of time at Stacey and Dave's house with their Bichon Frise, Moberly, my argument no longer stands. Although Moberly is not a puppy, as you can see, he is one of those "yippy" dogs. He doesn't walk. He ricochets. He has as much energy as any puppy I've ever met. As any puppy on Red Bull for that matter. He hops... constantly... onto your lap, onto his "brother" Blue, the large labradoodle, onto Cooper. And Cooper didn't mind. Not one bit. He giggled and giggled and giggled some more.

So, if we do end up getting a puppy, Cooper will be just fine. I, on the other hand, may feel the same way Seth does here...

Christmas in Edwardsville

He's really not spoiled... really... Mo just thought that Cooper needed to open one of his gifts early. Actually, this little barn toy kept Cooper entertained the entire weekend.

Adam and Tina gave Meghan and Kevin one of Adam's old guitars with lessons! I can't wait until they can play me some Keith Urban and Taylor Swift!
Sweet cousins... Meghan and Emma love spending every minute together when we visit Edwardsville.

Here ya go, Jeff! You made the blog!!! We hung out at Stacey and Dave's quite a bit with the family and the Browns. Here, Dalton enjoys some 'za on Jeff's lap.

Tati is afraid I'll post a photo of her on Facebook! (I never said I wouldn't put it on the blog!)

We had a great time in Edwardsville as we always do, catching up with family and friends.