Happy Birthday Gramma B!

Hello to you! It's me, the fabulous Cooper B, dropping a line with the latest and greatest from UB! First things first, we have to wish Gramma B a very happy day today. We heard she had a great one and we sure wish we could have been there to celebrate with her. Luckily we had her all to ourselves for 9 whole days. Mom said she will have to have a piece of Cold Stone ice cream cake tonight in Gramma's honor. Funny though, she didn't share it with me! She's been like that lately, quite stingy with her food. I don't want to say anything negative, but it looks to me like she could stand to share the food a little more freely...she's busting right out of her clothes! Speaking of, I have the bestest news of all...I am getting a little brother! The details are a bit shady, I am not quite gathering the whole concept, but it looks like he'll be arriving sometime around Christmas. Hey, maybe that Santa Claus will be bringing him to our house. I sure hope he's careful when he drops that precious package down the chimney! I'll let you in on more as the particulars come in. I don't know if I told you about the week I had with Gram, Gramps, and cousin Kent, but it was incredible! We went fishing, to the playground, swimming, EVERY day! Can you believe it? It was as if I had my very own entertainment crew. Cousin Kent played ball with me, read books to me, wrestled with me...he even let me crawl in his lap to watch tv and play with his hair! Is that true cousinly love or what?! I'll tell you, a good time was had by all! We went to a real live baseball game on Friday night, and wow, was it fun?! We all ate pizza and hot dogs, my favorite was the pink lemonade and the beer. As you can see from above, I am quite the little food conaisseur myself. And believe it or not, I have mastered the fork. I am practically saying everything by now and today, I learned how to read and say the letters A, B, and E. By the time mom goes back off maternity leave, I plan to be reading her medical journals to her! She'll need the help the way I figure it! More news...Yesterday I had another great day, m&d took me to the Carroll County fair and I sat on a HUGE tractor and petted some goats. I loved the animals! I also saw some cows, alpacas, sheep, and did I tell you about those John Deere tractors?! Those were probably my most favorite of all. The best news is we are going back this week and I can't wait. Dad says I can probably lasso a pig after I demonstrated my brute strength on the rowing machine today. I'll let you know how that works out. We had some visitors this evening, Ms. Michele and Mr. James, and boy, was it wonderful to see them! I have really missed Ms. Michele, of course, I played it cool at first, you have to know how to relate to these women; they sure are complicated creatures. Luckily, I already have a bead on them...dad has been teaching me well. She brought me a real live frog from Ocean City. Well, not really, but as close to real as fake can get! I think mom loved it even more than me, she played with it all evening. I am looking forward to seeing Ms. Michele, Me-mom, Pop, and all of my friends tomorrow. Mom says only 9 more days and no more hustle bustle for quite some time. I think that may be the best news of all. We also would like to give a shout of Happy Anniversary out to Grammy and Pappy J. They celebrated 12 years together yesterday. Hard to believe that August starts this week, and hey, can you believe I am already 18 months old?! Whew, I am such a big boy and sooo good! Come on by and I will tell you all about it! Oh, one more HUGE item to report, da-da is well on his way to getting his own Crossfit business. It will be called Crossfit Retribution and he is almost all done with the paperwork and such. Mom and I are so proud of him and happy for him too. He will hopefully soon be acquiring a contract teaching the men at his work, talk about a stroke of great luck! He sure deserves it, and we'll keep you posted when the deal is sealed. Well, I better run, you be safe and take good care. I'll be talking to you next month and bringing the latest happenings here in UB. Until then, we'll be thinking of you and missing you like crazy. Love to you and all your kin, Cooper B.

Happy Birthday Kamrie & Cody to name a few!

Hi there and howdy do! How is life treating you these days? I am doing super swell, no complaints at all. Of course, how could I complain when I am king of the domicile? You read it right folks, and from now on, just refer to me as 'Your Majesty', yes, that will do just fine. The reason I am sitting so high on the hog is I have twice the people here at home right now and everyone's goal is trying to please yours truly! Usually I have only mom and dad catering to me, but this week, I have Gram, Gramps, and cousin Kent all as my playthings! And boy do we play! You know mom and dad are as thankful as me to have them here, and don't think it is simply for selfish reasons. Mom told dad the other day that of course the help is more than wonderful, but she appreciates the company ten times more! I can't say I blame her. Yesterday we had a fabulous day. You will never guess what we did. We drove to Harper's Ferry and I swam in the river for HOURS for my very first time. M&D got in with me and we sat and relaxed in the river and threw rocks forever! You should have seen all the rocks! I was in hog heaven. And guess what else?! I held some fish! Real live ones! Cousin Kent caught about 25 fish while we were there and I wasn't a bit afraid of them. Good thing, because someone else sure was, not to mention mom's name or anything. I could have sat in that river all day! Gram knitted me some socks while we were there too; they are beautiful and the good news is that this pair may actually fit! She is having a hard time sizing up these big pigs! We all had picnic and snacks together and then headed on up to our usual haunt (Frederick) for dinner. What a great day! I had such a wild time, I crashed in my car seat on the way home...and that's the last thing I remember! Today we've been relaxing, well as much as we usually relax on a Sunday. Dad and the men did yard work while I went to town grocery shopping with the women folk. I am such a good boy! Mom and gramma tell me so all the time. I got to drive my own shopping cart car in Safeway while I noshed on Goldfish and potato wedges. The potato wedges were mom's idea, I feel sorry for her, she can't even finish the shopping without getting voraciously hungry! Good news though, we are expecting her parasite to be cured around December 26th, just in time for Santa, whoo hoo! Speaking of Christmas, we received a nice gift in the mail from our cousin Stephanie and want to thank her big bunches for it. Mom already hung it in my room and it looks great, matches my bees perfectly! I also want to say a very happy belated to cousins Kamrie, Cody, and Valerie. Today is Amanda's birthday, you'll see her pictured above with my friend Brady, and this Wednesday is Heather Halfin's big day. There's also a great big deal coming up this weekend with Gramma B's day this coming Sunday. This weekend also brings Grammy and Pappy J's anniversary. So if you see any of these special people, be sure to give them the appropriate regards. To give you a forecast of the week ahead, we plan on more fishing tonight, the Keys baseball game with fireworks next Saturday, with lots of play, play, play, in the meantime. If you feel like joining us, come on over; we would love to have you any time. Until then, you'll be in our thoughts and prayers. Take special care and remember to hug and kiss your family as often as you get the honor. We love you loads, Cooper B.

Happy Independence Day!

Howdy folks! How is every little thing? Couldn't be better here in UB, other than some extreme fatigue plaguing mom, we are all as fine as frog hair! I think she may have a parasite. It also seems to be causing her belly to swell and fast! Dad doesn't seem to be too worried though, he pats her tummy and tells her it looks nice. They are so weird. I know if I had a parasite, I would NOT be happy about what it was doing to the appearance of my belly or my energy level. Oh well, maybe I will understand some day. As you can see by the pictures, I have lots of news to report. We had the pleasure of babysitting our neighbor, Lily, when Gram and Gramps B were here visiting. As you can see from above, dada had it ALL under control. Lily LOVES dada. I have also attached pics of fun with Gram and Gramps, fun with Papaw Bill and Lisa (my first mud puddle), and fun at Great Grandma Hively's 80th birthday (that's me in the front beside the hot chick, I have such serious mojo : ). You can also catch a glimpse of aunt Helen and me on the couch and yes, that's me with two of the triplets and in my first little swimmers! This past weekend I went swimming in a big boy pool for the very first time. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but within a half hour, mom was throwing me into the pool to dad. What fun! I didn't want to get out of the water-nana. At least that is what I call ALL water, water-nana (watermelon). We all had such a wonderful and relaxing time this weekend in WV, we didn't want to come home! I played with the Smell triplets, Brady McCabe, MacKenna Halfin, Colton Miller, Lexi and Olivia Johnson. What a wonderful bunch of friends! AND contrary to popular belief, no fighting broke out among our wild and crazy group of kiddos. I will attach more photos to upcoming blogs as you know mom took a MILLION pictures. I also saw my very first fireworks. You can see me enjoying them above on dad's lap when I was actually supposed to be sleeping. I couldn't help myself, I simply couldn't tear my eyes off of them. You would have been so proud of me, I wasn't even scared of the BOOMS. I also got to play on Josh's tractor, which you know was great fun for me. I rolled in the grass, played football, and shared rocks with my new friend MacKenna. All in all we had a smashing good time; I sure hope your fourth of July was as great as ours. We also want to thank the Smells for their amazing hospitality. Before I forget, we have some birthdays to announce. First, some very belated, this goes out to aunt Head and Colt who had bdays in April, the 5th and 19th respectively. Also, aunt Carole's was this past Sunday, cousin Erin's was this Tuesday the 8th and Ms. Mary Caldwell celebrated hers on July 2nd. So if you see these lovely ladies please wish them a very happy one. We'll be sure to mark Colt and Head's bdays in big red letters for next year so they won't be missed! In fact, July is packed FULL of birthdays and I will have to post again next week just to name them all! More news here in UB, mom is 16weeks along with Baby B and dad LOVES his new job. I am talking up a storm, my newest words are ice, splash, and best of all THANK YOU! Can you believe what a nice, well-mannered, polite young man I am becoming. You know this little phrase melts EVERYONE'S heart. Mom and dad are so proud of me and now that I mention it, I am quite proud of myself. I am officially a GOOD BOY! Oh, I almost forgot, I also say "ruff ruff". Mom and dad never quite regain composure from their constant amazement at my feats of intelligence. I can't say I blame them! But don't just believe everything you read, come on down and witness me in person for yourself. I promise you won't be disappointed. You are welcome any time you get the chance. We'll leave the light on for you! Until next time, take care of yourselves and know we love and miss you here in UB. Thank goodness we have a visit from Gram and Gramps B to look forward to NEXT weekend!! Hooray! Lots and lots of lovey dovey, Cooper B.