First Trip to the Zoo!

Randy came home from work Thursday night and asked us if we wanted to go to the zoo on Friday! Of course we were super excited - Kendall has been talking about wanting to go to the zoo for a few weeks now. Last year we went in April also and it was such a great time to go because it wasn't too hot and on a Friday it isn't too crowded yet because kids are still in school.
So, Friday morning we packed a lunch, loaded the girls up and headed up the road to Houston. That is for sure one thing I miss about living in Ft. Worth - we were so close to the zoo! I think we would totally get a membership and go tons in the summer if it was closer, but since we have to drive an hour to get there, we make it a one time a year deal. That's ok - instead we go to the beach! :)

The first animals we saw when we got there were the sea lions! We saw them again on our way out and Kendall got to watch them do all their tricks. It made us excited to go to Sea World this summer and watch all the shows!

Cooper rode in the stroller before lunch and in the Baby Bjorn after lunch and Kendall rode in the wagon with our ice chest. It worked out great!

We loved getting to see the elephants and there were two babies! This one was so cute. It was eating and then...

...it layed down and started eating laying down! So funny.

Cooper loved seeing the animals and being outside. It was a beautiful day to walk around!

There is a new African section of the zoo where they put all the giraffes, monkeys, etc, and Kendall and Randy took a break to play some drums.

I'm not sure what caught her attention about these, but Kendall has been talking a lot about rhinos lately. So she was pretty excited to get to see them.

After lunch (in an air-conditioned pavillion!) we saw the giraffes. There were so many of them and they are so pretty! There were baby ones, too!

I think she was happy to get out of the stroller and be able to see more. I love that happy, smiling girl! She just smiles all the time!

Kendall and Daddy checking out the flamingos. This was about the time that Kendall started telling us she was ready to go home. :)

And, before we could get to the car, Cooper was out! She had so much fun and then just gave up. She was asleep pretty good, too, because I took her out of this and put her in her car seat and she never woke up! She slept almost the whole way home!

We had so much fun taking the girls to see the animals!! Thanks for a fun surprise, Dad!!

"Yay!"

Last week one night when I was cleaning up the kitchen, Randy was playing with Cooper before her bedtime. She was a little fussy...as she is a lot of nights around that time...so ready for those teeth to come in! He took her to her room to try and find something to interest her and found Kendall's zoo that she played with a lot when she was little. Cooper loved it! He left to go grab the camera and when he came back this is the happy girl he found! Sorry about all the drool - it's hard to catch her without any drool on her these days!

She even figured out how to press the button and get the animals to go around in a circle and play the music!

We weren't able to get a picture of it, but this was when she did her first trick...copying us! Randy raised his arms up in the air and said "Yay!" and Cooper raised her arms too! We got so excited so she kept doing it and smiling at us. Of course she wouldn't do it for the camera and then when we tried to Skype with Granny, Papas, Pops and Kiki this week she wouldn't do it then either. But we promise - she did it!

We love all the new things she is doing and are just having so much fun with her! Her big sister has a stomach bug today, so we are praying that she doesn't get it too. It wasn't very easy keeping them separated today!

First trip to the Beach!!

Randy and I took the girls to the beach for the first time this season on Saturday! It was Cooper's first beach trip! The girls wore their new matching swimsuits from Granny and they were too cute...and very bright! Thank you Granny!

We put hats on both girls to keep the sun off their faces. They didn't stay on long! It was a little overcast on Saturday, so it was a perfect day to try the beach for the first time with both of them. We met several friends from our small group and only stayed about an hour, but it was a lot of fun!

Cooper wasn't real sure what to think about it! I think she thought the blanket felt funny on the sand, and she didn't really want to crawl around a lot.

I took her down to see the waves...they were huge on Saturday!...and she was so interested in them that she couldn't even turn her head to look at Randy with the camera!

Happy girl! She is teething right now and we can tell she just hurts so bad sometimes but she still has that big beautiful smile!

Love those thighs!

Kendall and Daddy built sand castles...

...Cooper crawled over my leg...

...and Kendall loved playing in the waves. The water was so cold, and the waves were so high, but she loved getting wet and standing down there with Randy. A lot of new sand has been added to the beach and it was so nice!

Love that sweet face! She couldn't decide if she wanted to be down on the blanket or if she wanted me to hold her. I'm ready for these teeth to come through!

Sweet girl!

We had a great day at the beach! I am looking forward to going back a ton this summer again and watching these two precious girls have a blast!

Cooper is Crawling!

Cooper started crawling last week! This video isn't great, but she started going so we just grabbed the camera as fast as we could. She was heading for her sister and her princess shoes and wand!

Go Cooper Go!

7 Months of Pictures

I've been meaning to put all Cooper's month pictures up so we can compare, so I finally did it tonight! She is just getting so big!

7 months:

6 months: 5 months:

4 months:

3 months:

2 months:

1 month:

We love you Cooper Elyse!

7 Months Old!

Happy 7 month birthday, Cooper! You are changing so much and we are loving being along for the ride. Here are some things about you at 7 months:

- You are wearing size 3 diapers and size 6-9 month clothes.

- You are starting to crawl, but it really seems more like scooting around - we are already having to make sure Kendall keeps her little toys out of your way!

- You are eating solids after two of your four feedings each day. We have tried sweet potatoes, apples, bananas and peas and the peas were the only things you didn't like!

- You love to grab your feet and suck on your toes. Love that!

- Kendall is still the funniest person in your world - you laugh so hard at her!

- You never cry. Ever. You are just so happy all the time!

- You startle easily. The smallest things make you jump, like Molly barking or someone stepping into your line of sight that you didn't know was there. It still doesn't make you cry though.

- You love to work in your "office" (your exersaucer), and you love to jump in the jumperoo.

- Your eyes are so big and blue and beautiful and you just smile all the time. We love that gummy smile! Your hair is looking redder and redder the more it comes in, but it's still pretty fuzzy!

- No teeth yet, but lots of drool!

- You sleep from 8:30 at night until 7:30 in the morning. After you eat you take a morning nap, then eat again at 11:30. Then you eat solids, take another nap, and eat again 4:00. You eat solids after that feeding, too, and you have dropped your last nap of the day, so you are usually awake until that last feeding at 7:30. I think you are close to dropping the 4:00 feeding and we will just push the last feeding up to 6:00 or 6:30 and follow it with solids.

Love these sisters!

We have been having a lot of fun playing outside lately! We are taking advantage of the days where it's nice and warm but the mosquitoes aren't here yet. Randy went to Pine Cove this past weekend for children's camp, so Kendall, Cooper and I had a girls' weekend.

Kendall was excited to have a picnic one day out on the driveway.

"Hey Kendall, let me take a picture of you and Cooper!"

She is such a little ham. And so full of d.r.a.m.a. The drama llama is at our house a lot these days, Nacho. :) These girls just love each other so much! I know I write about that a lot, but it is one of my most favorite things. They love to laugh together and hang out together. Kendall is still so sweet with Cooper, helps me out a ton with her, and never gets frustrated with her or jealous of her. Cooper always wants to be wherever Kendall is and laughs so hard at anything she does. We are so blessed!

We are so thankful for our family!!