School of Hard Knocks: The last 2 months...

The last two months have come and gone and we have mainly been busy watching the two boys grow up before our eyes.

Carson has started taking (gun) shooting lessons, against my wishes, but what can you do when the father is the teacher!

(Proper holding positing?)

I think Chris' main objective is to try and convince me why Carson needs his own gun in an effort to truly just own yet ANOTHER one (regardless of 'whose' it is).

Cooper has just taken off...literally. On top of learning to crawl (or pull) the beginning of the year...

Cooper and cousin Colbey

He has also learned to pull himself up and walk along items. He is pretty proud of himself for this accomplishment because it brings him that much closer to terrorizing Carson's train set, and following behind him everywhere he goes. Not only does he get up, but he can get himself back down too, which is pretty amazing. Carson would always scream for someone to put him back down after learning to stand up. Cooper has been able to do both since 8 months old.

He has also learned to ride a 4-wheeler. Ok, so not a real one, but he still thinks it is cool.

That is until big brother comes and takes over, insisting he is a better driver...

Apparently he isn't though because it was his driving skills that made the crash occur!

That is ok though, because off again we go...pistol in hand.

The one adventure we have had was going to Charlotte and staying with Erin & Mark (and kids). Carson got lots of play time in with Katie, and Talia as well when we met them at the park. Then on Sunday (March 14) we attended baby Will's name blessing. Afterwards we headed back to Sarah & Adam's for lunch, before going home. It wouldn't be a family event without attempting a family picture (and not having everyone in it).

Cooper decided he wasn't really ready to go home, and tried escaping.

Funny story: Apparently Carson is the topic of conversation in all his girl cousins homes. Katie and Talia both (and Baylee) like to talk about how he is their best friend, and how much they miss him. Well while we were in Charlotte we had some preschool drama going on. Talia was upset because Katie said Carson was her friend, and Talia said that NO he was HER friend. This all transpired at the park on Saturday. Then Sunday when we were at Talia's house eating lunch they both INSISTED on sitting on either side of him. Carson just doesn't care either way. He was interested in eating his lunch and getting outside to play. Somewhere during the lunch hour (or minutes) Katie, who apparently loves to sing, started to sing "Carson is my friend" and Talia would reply "no, Carson is my friend". This preschool musical (as Chris called it) went on for a few versus, getting more forceful with each verse, until I had to put an end to it so that no one got too emotionally hurt. It was pretty funny though.

On the subject of Carson, boy is he changing every day. There is nothing he can't talk about. Complete sentences and conversations are definitely a part of his life now. He is getting pretty funny with what he says as well. He loves his cartoons and toys (especially blocks and Thomas, or if we are at Grandma's then Little People). He likes to play with Cooper at times, but if he gets in the way then he grabs him by the feet and pulls him backwards...only to have to do this about 50 times in a row because Cooper just keepts crawling back to where Carson doesn't want him to be. They do love to take baths and play together in the water...

Carson sporting his mohawk

He gets very proud of his "towers"

Cooper is a very determined boy. If he wants something he figures out the best he can of how to get it. If he wants to play then he squirms his little body out of your hands until you put him down and he rushes to whatever toy he has his eyes set on. He is such a little guy that it is amazing everything he can do already. He also has his bottom two teeth that are desperately trying to poke through, so that should be any day now.