Happy Birthday Momma

This week was a busy one.  Not only did I get most of my conferences completed, it was my birthday.  I came home late in the evening after a day filled with meeting with my students' parents to find flowers, presents, a cake, and my two handsome boys waiting for me! Boy did they make me feel special!

Eli and I ready to blow out candles.

Blowing out the candles.  It's a good thing I had a great helper!

A natural Eli smile.  No goofiness involved.  He is such a handsome little boy!

Yours truly. 

38 1/2 weeks!  Only 9 days to go at this point in time!

Season's End of Soccer

Last Saturday, October 29th, marked the last Dragon's Soccer Game for Eli.  He really had a good time this year playing on the 5/6 Pee Wee Soccer team and having Coach Daddy and Coach Scott as his "leaders."  It was still pretty evident that he is still four years old, did a lot of following the bigger kids, but man almighty, he still got into it. Especially at practices.  He really loved going to practice and doing the different drills.  As he put it, there's too much running in games and not as much fun.  He still liked it though and was mostly all smiles.  

The first few pictures are actually from the 10/22 game.  I love autumn in the Pacific Northwest because you get great tree shots in the backgrounds!  Isn't it gorgeous?

It was a little muddy on the field.

Here is the last game of the season!  E just kicked the ball back in.

Eli and his best buddy, Jack, smiling into the sun.  It was amazing, the sun was actually out for this game!

Catching up...

These pictures are a few weeks old now, but we went to the pumpkin patch!

My two handsome boys.

I think Eli got the easy end of the deal.

Hunting for just the right one...

or seven.

See, I was there!

Playing in the kid area.

It's roping time!

He LOVED trying to rope the cow (there really was one, you just can't see it)

The funniest part of the whole day.  He didn't rope the cow, but roped himself instead!

Pumpkin Time!

Last weekend we ventured to the pumpkin patch (hmmm....I should probably post those pictures when I'm back upstairs on that computer) but carved them today.  We had a fun time.

Here are the boys cleaning out their pumpkins

Of course, they both tried really hard not to smile.

 When we were finished, we put them out on the deck and waited for it to get dark.

It finally got dark and we lit them up!

Eli wanted to play Simon Says in the bathtub and was a statue fish....

And here is me and Cooper with just under four weeks to go!  Can you believe that in 26 days there will be four of us?  Crazy...although, there isn't a whole lot of space left, so I'm okay with that and getting to finally meet our little wiggle worm.  

We Only Have HOW Long?!?!

We finally decided we needed to update with a belly picture today.  We have five and a half weeks until we meet our littlest man, Cooper.  We are scheduled for a c-section on November 18th - as long as Coop decides he doesn't want to make his debut early.  

Right now I'm going through the final certification process to be a GLAD trainer.  We finished the 2-day today with Susan here from Orange County.  It wasn't nearly as daunting as we thought it would be.  She was much more comforting and reassuring than we thought she'd be.  It was a long day, we went from 7:20-5:40, came home had dinner a little down time, then prepped for another hour and a half.  Four more days and we'll be done!  At least tomorrow starts the fun part - the part where we actually work with the kids!  YAY!  So...don't mind the tiredness and need for a shower...here's what Cooper and I look like at 34 weeks!

7 Weeks and Counting

I can't believe that this weekend marks 33 weeks down, 7 to go until we meet our dear little Cooper!  We got the call today that we are officially on the schedule for a c-section on November 18th.  I can't believe it!  In exactly 7 weeks we will be at the hospital with our newest little man, unless of course he decides to come a little early on his own.  We'll see what happens!! 

Eli is pretty cute, he talks to all his friends about Cooper.  Just yesterday, he had a friend over who wanted to play with Eli's old dinosaur toy.  When his friend asked him to get it out for him, his first response was "No!  That's for Cooper!  It's my little brother's!"  When I said it was OK, he said "OK, but it's still for Cooper."  And I love, LOVE how he says the name.  It comes out more like Cooooper.  hehe 

We've been trying pretty hard to prepare Eli for the changes that are coming.  He's used to little ones at the babysitter's house, but it will be different when we don't leave them there in the afternoon.  Our friends just had a little guy on Tuesday, so we went to say hi and meet their little guy.  All Eli wanted to do was see him and hold him.  It was pretty cute. 

Crimson Through and Through

Here are the pictures I promised.  We finally took our little man to his first WSU Cougar football game.  It was incredible. We started our morning by joining Don Hower and the Cougar Marching Band for morning rehearsal, spent some time playing on the turf of the field (really, how many people get that opportunity?), visited campus, and endured the scorching sun for a very hot, late summer football game.  

Ahhh.  The memories.  Here are a few we can share with you.

Eli LOVED being down on the field and played on the sidelines.

Daddy remembered to bring the football along for a little one-on-one football game of their own.

Even though I didn't run and play football with the boys, I was in my own heaven taking their pictures while they played.  There is proof I was there that day.  See....

During the game itself, we sat next to the CMB.  Eli thought they played too loud for his liking, but still enjoyed watching their horn flashes while listening to their music.

Part of our entourage included Auntie Sarah, Uncle Ryan and Brooklynn.  We didn't end up with a picture of the Lundes and Missa.  :( 

Aren't they just adorable playing together?! I love my guys.

Eli was thrilled to be sitting so close to the field when he got to see Butch.  Not once.  Not twice.  But THREE times!

We ended our visit with Martin Stadium with a family picture.  The next time we're there, we will have Cooper too as a Cougar family of four!