Happy Halloween!

Hello and a great big Happy Halloween to all of you! We hope your Halloween is going swimmingly, so far, ours has been pretty great I must say. We started off the day wild and woolly at the local BJ's, what a hot spot that is! Mom and I frequent this venue and today was especially special as we had to renew the membership. Very exciting stuff. We also purchased some hors d'oeuvres for our big and spooky night. The Bryants' have actually been invited to a pizza gathering and some trick or treating in not one, but two elite neighborhoods in the area. Try not to be too jealous about how fancy we are getting here in UB; mom has really been working it to try to up our social status. We are doing pizza with the Farinas' (pictured above at Lily's first birthday) and their family, then we are topping off the night with a visit to trick or treat Ms. Michele and her fam. We are all very excited and thankful to have such wonderful friends to visit on this fine holiday eve. I must admit, I had some early practice in the frog costume; we attended the UB Lion's club party Tuesday night, unfortunately, the costume contest was bought out, and yours truly came home empty handed, but with a belly full of cookies and cider. I also have wonderful news to share. If you didn't know as yet, say you were vacationing on another planet, I have a baby coming to live with me very soon, at least this is what m&d keep telling me. Also, you may not have known, but my mom is neurotic, again, maybe if you never met her. I digress, anywho...she has been beside herself about sleeping arrangements practically since we found out about baby B's existence. Recently, she discovered she is likely going to have to purchase another crib and possibly some furniture to go with it. As you do know, mom has no job, so this has been a MAJOR source of stress and worry here in the Bryant household. Well, I am ecstatic to report that Ms. Michele has once again saved the day by giving us a dresser AND a crib for my little brother. Is that fantastic news or what?! Mom is so excited she can hardly contain herself. Dad is too, of course, as he is any time we can stop mom from her 2nd favorite pasttime, SHOPPING. I have to commend her though, all she buys these days are groceries and the occasional Barney video. I don't know if I have told you, but I LOVE BARNEY. I call him Barndney. Yet another one of my amazingly cute and charming attributes. More news, I have also been to TWO swimming classes. They are quite fun, even when you have a bit of a cold, except I fear that mom might possibly beat up the swimming teacher. Yes, you heard it correctly, but it would simply be to defend my honor. That teacher had the nerve to ask mom if I am a "stubborn two year old". Imagine our chagrin...I will have to say, mom handled it with poise and tact, but I fear what may happen if there is a next time...we shall see. Hell hath no fury like a pregnant woman...at least, that's what dad always whispers in my ear! The good news is, I love swimming, mom doesn't force me to do anything that upsets me in the pool, and the two of us are just fine in the knowledge that I am still a prodigy, even if the swim teacher doesn't recognize this yet. I know today is halloween, but I would like for all of you in blogland to join us with thoughts and prayers for Uncle Bart, who is once again fighting the good fight (thank God for the few and the brave), and also for Pop (pictured next to me on the big John Deere). He is Ms. Michele's dad, and my 3rd granddad, and you know we love him like family. He is going to have a tough upcoming few months of chemo and we all need to keep him and his family close in heart. He is tough as nails and strong in faith, so we know he can and will get through it. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my outing to the pumpkin patch with all my friends at the daycare. I drove a big tractor, rode on some hay, and picked some 40 odd pounds worth of pumpkins, what a great day!! Poor mom almost got arrested for pumpkin theft before they realized that wasn't what she was smuggling under her shirt! Hee hee. Well folks, I better get on my way, I have a frog costume to don and some treats with my name all over them. I will let you know how it goes for the world's most handsome reet, reet. If you are in the area, stop on by and I will share my booty with you, that is, if m&d (read mom), doesn't eat it all first. Yes folks, the proof was on the scales yesterday at mom's doctor visit. She had a five pound weight gain since last visit and we are mysteriously missing 4 1/2 pounds of chocolate bars which, by the way, were meant for Halloween (gone missing roughly 10 days ago). I am trying to keep an open mind, you know innocent until proven guilty and such, but you can do the math. Meanwhile, if you have any tips on our missing bag of candy, you can call UBPD! Take care of yourselves and have a safe and happy Halloween. We love you so much and miss you bunches, Cooper B.

I'm 21 months old!! Reet, reet, trick or treat!

Hello out there to all of you blog fans and a great big howdy do! I am happy to report the Bryants' of UB are doing great today, of course, we have been for quite some time. For those of you who don't know, today is my mom's 33rd birthday. We have been having quite a day for sure. I got to see a real live fireman at Ms. Michele's house, I had corndogs for lunch, and I also got an awesome new hat out of the deal. I am attaching a picture of me with my cool new hat, and of course, one with my cool mom. We are planning a big dinner out tonight, maybe in Frederick, and dad says he has a surprise or two up his sleeve. Mom has been very excited all day. In honor of her birthday, I tried not to take a nap so we could party hearty, but alas, she won that battle yet another day. I have LOTS of news to report for the upcoming week, for starters, I'm going swimming. After weeks of neurotic phone calls to the local YMCA chapter, mom finally made contact and was able to get me signed up for swim class. Monday, we are going on a hayride at the pumpkin patch with my friends and Ms. Michele, and Thursday, we have the fall party at my daycare. Tuesday, not only do we have swim class, but my reading circle is having a costume party at the library AND there's a Halloween extravaganza at the UB fire hall that evening. You may think this sounds a bit full for a 20-month old's social calendar, but first and foremost, thankfully, I am now 21 months old. Furthermore, mom is strategizing early for Halloween night. She not only expects me to put that frog suit on, she also wants me to wear it for more than 30 seconds. What is up with that?? Don't worry though folks, I am used to her asking alot of me and all I can say is...I will do my best, no promises. Luckily after today, we have a back-up costume; I can always wear my brand new fireman's hat. We have had quite a wonderful week so far, as if you couldn't tell; yesterday, mom and I crashed the 2-3 year old reading circle at the library. Don't worry though, I really played it cool. That librarian was none the wiser and they're supposed to be fairly bright! Mom and I sang songs, danced, listened to some big boy books AND we made a cuckoo bird out of a paper bag. Poor mom was starting to perspire about the craftwork as no one would provide her a visual aide. As it was, the bird's face and beak ended up on the wrong side of the paper bag and now the poor thing can't even open its mouth. Thank goodness dad has artistic ability, otherwise, I would be in some SERIOUS trouble in that department. More big news, guess who came to visit me on Tuesday? My friends, Ms. Michele, and me-mom! You should have seen how excited I was. I twirled circles around my living room, played cars with everyone, I even shared my decorated pumpkin cookies that Gramma B. made for me. Talk about showing some love!! We had a great time and we are hoping they all come back soon. Speaking of coming back soon, we had more visitors this past weekend, of a particularly special nature. None other than Gram and Gramps B. came to UB and boy, did we have fun. No beating around the bush this time, I gave them my most special grin as soon as I saw them, and it just kept getting better from there. Saturday morning I practically jumped out of my crib and mom's arms so I could get downstairs to see them! Of course, the visit was way too short, but we kept their shoes and hotdogs as a little insurance policy. If that doesn't bring them back soon, I don't know what will! Guess who else is going swimming with me, besides mom of course, my friend and neighbor, Lily! How about that? We also have a few birthdays to announce, cousin Kirk, uncle Jr., Becca High, uncle Keith, and YOURS TRULY turned the big two one yesterday, months that is. So if you see these special people, be sure to wish them the happiest of birthdays. I hope you have also received your Halloween present from us, what better surprise to find in your mailbox than a picture of Cooper B in a frog suit! Reet, reet! OH! One more very important item of business, be sure to keep up with your daily visits to dad's website at www.crossfitretribution.com. Dad is doing so well, kicking butt and taking names, not that we would expect anything less of him! We sure do have so much to be thankful for, including friends and family like you! Well folks, I think that is about enough news for you to digest on a Thursday afternoon. This handsome devil will be signing off with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you. Please take care and call, write, or even better, come and see us as soon as possible. We'll be looking forward to it! Until then, we'll be thinking of and missing you bunches. Reet, reet, trick or treat and lots and lots of love, Cooper B.

Hooray for Pumpkins!

Hi to all and Happy October to you! We hope this fall has been treating you very well so far; it sure has been a blessing for us. I will get right down to it, I can't wait to tell you how excited we are for dad. He had his first workouts this week with his new contract for Crossfit and it was a raving success. On Monday, 10 guys showed up and yesterday, they had a whopping 14! Today he had yet another 14-15! Isn't that the best? Dad says the office is all a buzz with excitement and both days his boss at the other facility showed up for the WOD (that's workout of the day for all of you not yet up on the lingo). It is looking quite promising for him to get a contract with Maryland as well and in the meanwhile, he continues to make contacts at other facilities very interested in his training. Before you know it, he'll have to send mom out to teach these guys! Can you see mom showing up in her current state trying to instruct a bunch of studs, HA! Little do they know beneath that basketball belly and extra padding lies one mean, lean, pull up machine! Guess what else? I am going to be a reet-reet for Halloween! For all of you who don't know, that means frog. Mom is a tad bit worried though as I haven't let her try the costume on for more than 30 seconds with trying to rip the feet and hat off. She gets so excited about this sort of stuff, I simply don't have the heart to tell her I am more like dad in this respect. Forget the silly costume, it's itchy (I told her so yesterday), just PLEASE, give me so darn dum-dums. For pete's sake, I am cute enough to warrant free candy as it is, don't make me put on a monkey suit (in this case, frog suit) and beg for it! Oh well, I can see this is one of the many future battles to come with dear mom and in case you're wondering, of course, I will take one for the team and do it for her. Besides, I feel sorry she had such a hard time finding a costume for me, the first one she ordered was supposed to fit a 2-4 year old but it was way too small. She had to switch from the bumblebee to the frog and get me a child's extra small! I guess those are the breaks when you are a big boy! Guess what mom heard me doing all on my own this morning...I counted to 10. You wouldn't believe how much I know, I simply don't want to lay it on her all at once. I don't think she and dad could stand it! I also want to update you on my new name, handsome devil. I like to call myself this and please feel free to do so as well. Mom and I went to reading circle on Tuesday and I noticed my sweet mug in a mirror by surprise during play time whereupon I proudly declared "handsome". Yes folks, I am shy like da-da, but vain like mom! I hope you enjoy the above pics, I wanted to show you some of my favorite activities. Dad and I love to play hotwheels and you can see us practicing our letters on my doodle board. So far I have made it to P. This past weekend mom and dad took me to a pumpkin patch and I had a blast on the tractors. I also posted some pics from last month when mom took me to the Catoctin zoo. The one with dad and myself is obviously self-explanatory...instead of fighting about which one of us is actually superman, we agreed to call a truce and, in honor, mom bought both of us the t-shirt. How sweet is that? Mom and I had yet another wonderful day today, we went to see Ms. Michele, Memom, Becca, and all of our friends. It was so great to see them and we are very much looking forward to Oct. 27 when we go with all of them for a hayride, snacks, and to pick our own pumpkin at the farm. Mom may not be able to do the hay ride, but I promise to have enough fun for the both of us. We are also expecting my friends to come over for snack and playtime while they study neighborhoods next week; we can't wait for that visit. Mom and I are going to the Halloween party with our reading circle too, and let me tell you, I can do without the tricks, but I am super pumped for the treats. I heard mom and her new friends talking and while I didn't catch everything, I know we can look forward to pumpkin muffins and rice krispie treats. Those ladies sure know how to party! We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the playground AND a tractor ride today before my nap, how about those apples?! Well, I better run, be on the lookout for your halloween card in the mail. Don't be surprised if I look like a real live reet-reet, underneath that frog suit, it's only me, Cooper B, handsome devil. Take care, be safe, and count your blessings. One of our most prized is friends and loved ones like you. Lots of love from me to you, Cooper B.