Happy Birthday, Cooper!

This is Cooper's flower.  Isn't it soooo beautiful?  These were blooming when Cooper was born, so I call them Cooper's flower.  This one was the first to bloom in our yard and it got so huge.  It bloomed over two weeks before Cooper's birthday and stayed pretty right up until his special day.  I think it really wanted to be put on his grave.

And here it is:

We did all of the usual stuff for Cooper's third birthday.  Crazy dances:

Played hide and seek (bet you can't spot me):

Ate yummy cupcakes:

Mom made these amazing Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.
 I had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't eat them all before we left.

And of course we took lots of pictures:

Mom and Dad even let me hold the really heavy camera and take a picture of them:

We were lucky that the weather was nice for us while we were there so we were able to stay for a long time.  It only sprinkled on us for about 30 seconds and the sun even peeked out a few times.

Cooper would have been three years old. I had a Toy Story birthday when I turned three. I think Cooper would have had a Cars birthday party since Cars 2 just came out. I really liked Cars and I bet he would too. And since he'd be three, he'd probably start preschool in the fall and I bet he would love it like I do. I'm taking swim lessons right now (and I love them) and I bet Cooper would take them too. It would be fun to swim together.  He's my favorite brother that I like to visit and play with. We love each other and our best family. There are five people in my family: my Mom, my Dad, me, my brother Cooper, and baby. My brother Cooper is in heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. I wish he could come down and play Star Wars with me. I love my brother.

Happy birthday, Cooper! We miss you!

Family Pictures

Apparently there's a very good reason my family only has professional pictures taken every couple of years--they really stress my Mommy out.

Everyone was so worried about me ruining the photo shoot if I missed a nap that they forgot to worry about what big brother would do if he did take a nap. Ty is not a happy camper if you wake him up early from one of his random naps. And that's exactly what happened.

We drove all the way out to Maple Valley to take pictures at Lake Wilderness on Saturday only to find out that Maple Valley Days were going on at that very spot. And, of course, Ty fell asleep on the way out there. Luckily our fantastic photographer was very flexible and drove all the way back to Renton with us and took some great shots at a park near the Cedar River Trail.

Unfortunately, we had to wake Ty up before he got a good two hour nap in so he was not exactly a team player. In fact, he didn't even get the Star Wars Lego figures Mommy and Daddy promised him if he was good. Because he was sooo not good. Ha! Maybe that'll teach him. I hope everyone remembers that I was a perfect angel.

So even though Ty did his best to ruin every shot--including pulling his shirt up and sticking out his tongue--our photographer still managed to get some cute shots. You can check a few of them out here.

The Arboretum

Memorial Day weekend here wasn't exactly the kickoff to summer that we had hoped for. It was pretty overcast and chilly all weekend, but we were still able to get in some time outside. On Monday we made a trip to the Arboretum in Seattle. It was very cool with tons of space to run and jump and lots of pretty flowers to see. Of course, I wasn't all that excited to smile for pictures and Sydney rarely looked at the camera (this has Mom a little worried about how our family pictures will go in a couple of weeks). Believe it or not, this is a rhododendron I'm sitting on. It was huge!


Oh, look, a rare cooperative smile.



It sure is fun to blow on dandelions.

As long as you don't get any of the white stuff in your mouth.

Look at the size of the leaves behind me and mom.

Giant leaves again. Can you see me in this picture?

Me and my sis. I love my baby sister so much. She's so cute.


I really wanted to sit in this tree. But then I refused to smile once I got up there.

Wow, look at Syd's balance!

One last picture in the giant rhody. I love being outside. I hope summer gets here soon.