Happy 1st Birthday Mr. Coop

Cooper turned ONE on 11/17!!!! He's growing up soooooo fast! He started walking right around his birthday. He waves "hi" and "bye bye", he signs "more" and "please", he loves to play with the TV remotes, toilet plunger, and play in his brother's room. He likes to have something in his hand as he walks around the house and gets into EVERYTHING!!!!! But I can't even describe the absolute JOY that this little man has brought into our lives. He is such a blessing to us and we love you Cooper Todd!!!!!!

Justin's wedding

Before Thanksgiving one of my good friends from highschool, Justin, got married. Here is a photo of me with my highschool friends at the wedding. Kristen is missing from this photo! And Adam(front left) is getting married very soon!!!! Good times!!!

Family Pictures 2011

We had our family pictures taken by Lindsay again this year. I couldn't be more thrilled with them!!!!!!! Here are a few of my favorites.

Update

It has been brought to my attention that it's been a while since I've updated. Thank you Shelley and Brian. :) I will attempt to update since summer with some pictures....which are kind of out of order. My "mom brain" fails me quite frequently because I've never been able to figure out this blogger set up.

Anyway.......I am home with the boys mostly full time now. I only work 1 day a week. It's working out great for us. My house is spotless, dinner is on the table when Chad gets home, laundry is always caught up, dishes are always clean and my boys never cry or talk back to me. Call me June Cleaver.

This is soooo far from the truth.....except the part about me being home more. It really is working out much better for us but our house is a wreck most days. I typically only clean when necessary. I like being able to keep up my nursing skills a little and get out one day, while being home for the rest of the week. Chase goes to preschool 3 days a week for 2.5 hours. He seems to be learning a lot. He wrote his whole name this week. He had been writing the C and H and "claimed" he couldn't do the rest. And since I don't do too well being the teacher we didn't work on it much. Thank goodness for preschool and his teacher!!!!!! Mr. Cooper is 10 months(almost 11) old! And we just can't believe it. He has the best smile! Since my last post he's learned to crawl, eat table food, pull himself to standing and started crusing. And throw a couple more teeth in there too. He makes us laugh daily!!! He loves his big brother and wants to follow him around and get into his stuff. Chase hasn't been all to impressed with this but we're working on it.

I also started another little fun adventure back in August. I'm now an independent consultant for thirty-one gifts. I enjoy doing this and it's really taken off. If you are interested in more info please check out my website----- www.mythirtyone.com/CaraGraves

Chase turned FIVE in July. Hard to believe!

We took a trip to South Haven, MI in August. We went last year also and couldn't wait to go back. It was fun to get away but I must say it's not so fun packing all of us up. I think it took me 3 days to pack us up and we were only gone for a few days. We need a van!!!!!

Maybe I will get better at this updating stuff........

our happenings lately

Just a few updates for the Graves family. We are excited that summer is here! Enjoying the sunshine!!! I am officially part-time @ work now and looking forward to being home more with the boys. Chad & I got to have a weekend away....just the two of us! We've been trying to steal away a weekend for quite some time and it finally worked out last weekend. We stayed downtown Indy thanks to Price line and my fabulous husband for knowing how to get a good deal! It was nice and relaxing! Our 8 year anniversary was May 31st. Time flies!!! Thank you to Maw-Maw, Paw-Paw, Nana, Rob& Tracey for helping with the boys while we were gone!!!!

Mr. Coop is sitting up...still a little wobbly but doing well with it. He's eating solids now and gobbles up whatever we give him. He is smiles all the time and continues to be a great sleeper! He will be 7months old on 6/17 and has 2 teeth.

Chase decided to try out the cowboy hats for him & Coop one day. Chase is lovin all of the "new" baby toys being out. I think he likes them more so than Coop.

We had to say goodbye to our sweet & sassy Sammy girl last month. She had gotten sick at the same time we were trying to transition both her & Stewart to being outside cats. She didn't handle either one very well and after much discussion we decided it would be best to put her down. We miss her! Stewart is doing very well outside and still comes in the house occasionally to nap.

Brothers

I'm sure that some day they will fight and maybe not like each other all of the time but right now my two boys LOVE each other! It warms my heart to see Cooper smile when Chase talks to him and when Chase laughs hysterically when Cooper does something funny. Chase said the other day "I love my baby brother". It doesn't get any better than that! If only I could freeze time....I'm not ready to be the mom of two teenage boys any time soon! Chase has to know where Cooper is and what he's doing at all times. He frequently asks us "When will Cooper get up?" or "I don't want you to lay Cooper down". I don't do it very well but I'm trying to soak up this brotherly love for all it's worth right now!!!! Easter Sunday....matching outfits

May 2011.....goofing around!!!

It's been a while....big changes around here

It has been brought to my attention, by a very good friend, that it's been quite some time since I've updated our blog. :) Why yes it has! Here is my attempt at an update. We've had some big changes around here....for everyone!

Mr. Cooper is almost FIVE months old! That's absolutely crazy! He is growing SOOOOOO fast. We just love him to pieces!!!! He is very happy, a good sleeper and eater, and we just love his smiles!!! He eats 4 times a day and takes down anywhere from 6-8oz of formula at a time. We will probably try some cereal at the end of the month. I think he's probably getting ready. He rolls over from his tummy to back and is looking like he wants to go the other way. He loves to "talk" to us and we love it! He takes 3 naps a day, his morning and afternoon nap last about 2-2.5 hours and he takes a late afternoon/early evening nap for about 45 minutes. He goes to bed about 7pm and has been sleeping until almost 7am! What a wonderful gift this is for us!!!!! He does sometimes wake between 5-5:30am but with the help of his paci goes back to sleep. I have been LOVING sleeping all night again. We feel so incredibly blessed with Cooper!!!!

Mr. Chase man will be FIVE years old in July! I can't believe that either! This kid doesn't miss a thing! And he NEVER stops talking. Before he started talking people always told me once kids start talking you will want them to stop. And I will admit that is true some days for us. Mostly when he won't stop interrupting us! :) His big thing right now is puzzles. He can't get enough. He has graduated to doing 100 piece puzzles. It takes him a bit to get them but he loves them! There isn't a day in our house lately that there aren't puzzles covering our kitchen table and the living room floor. And surprisingly enough his other big thing right now is Spider man. And this is surprising because he is usually so afraid of the masks that super hero's (or anyone) wears. We didn't go trick or treating last year because of his fear of masks. I still don't think he loves the masks but for some reason really likes Spider man. He has a puzzle of him and Chase doesn't ever want to put it away. And Daddy bought him some Spider man pj's over the weekend and he won't take them off! His best friend is still his white "gwanky" (blankie)......he wants to take it everywhere(you can see a corner of it in the picture above). He is a wonderful big brother and always wants to know where Cooper is and what he's doing. He will be starting pre-school in the fall. I am so glad the weather is starting to shape up because Chase needs to get outside and run off some energy!!!!!!

Cara: One of the big reasons I can't keep up with this blog is because I've been working full time and it's kicking my tail! The transition of going back to work has not been the best for us to say the least. So after many conversations (and tears) we have decided that it's too much for all of us for me to stay full time. I am going back to part time and hopefully very soon. I am going to hang around for a little while longer while my boss looks for a replacement for me and then I will be cutting back. This was a very hard decision for me because I do like my job, but I truly know it's the right decision. I need to be home more with our boys! I will work "as needed" for our department which will mostly likely be 1-2 days a week and PERFECT for us. I still want to get out of the house some and keep up my skills as a nurse. Kudos to those moms who work full time outside the home......SUPER moms they are!

Chad: Maybe most of you already know this but Chad has a new job! He is no longer teaching. He started with Nanovis (pronounced Nano-vee) in January. Chad actually works in the Micropulse building. Chad could explain things better but Nanovis will be selling artificial implants that Micropulse will manufacture for them. Chad kind of does a little bit of everything right now but his title is Assistant Operations Manager. He had been thinking of getting out of education for a couple of years now and finally started looking into other options. He is really enjoying his new job and it's a good move for all of us. He will not coach basketball any longer either, maybe help out a little on a volunteer basis. That was a tough choice to make also. Basketball has been a huge part of our life thus far. Chad has coached since we got married. We are sad to see that chapter end but are looking forward to our new changes.

Well friends.....cooper is getting up from a nap......so hopefully you are all caught up with us! Happy Spring!!!