fall!

so we went to marble falls and visited the pumpkin patch last weekend. my pal found the goats to be the most exciting thing there. he was a little tentative at first (or maybe dad was just worried he'd get his short baby fingers chewed off)

he latched on to a little yellow/white pumpkin and that was the one we took home for him.

my handsome little fella! we had quite the time until he pooped his pants and we realized we didn't have wipes. so our visit was somewhat shortlived but still fun.. a little trip to HEB for wipes, some clean britches and one thomas and elmo potty movie later, we were home and my buddy had a good nap.

mr. independent

so mr. bossy britches is becoming quite independent, but shows me that he still needs us in the cutest ways... we basically have to lock him in his room at night with the safety knob cover thing (otherwise we have to put him back literally 1000 times), so ocassionally he'll send us smoke signals like this one... this is his favorite book right now and he'll read the whole thing to you. "now stop turning pages!" he'll holler. he will also feign illness and distress, but we are too smart for those wolf cries. eventually he falls asleep in the floor and we put him back in bed. not ideal, but that's what we are working with.

he thinks he can prepare his own meals. he tries to cook toast without me, and he can put butter and jelly on anything with his cute mini-butter knife that lives in the lower cabinet so he can reach it. he also "cooks" oatmeal (he loves to help stir and knows which buttons to push on the microwave). the messier the better.

he is also now at the point where he is enjoying some of the things dad likes.. here they are at a football game that steve's buddy is coaching.. my pal wanted to run out and play football with the big boys!

last but not least, he is getting pretty bossy in terms of what he wants to do and when he wants to do it.. patience is not yet a virtue. he is starting to love dora and diego and here he is with his halloween spooky kitty cat glasses. he loves all things halloween! we will drive around the neighborhood and he will point out every pumpkin on every porch and say "do you see it mama? do you see the pumpkin? i see it!" he loves spooky ghosts and skeletons and i think once he gets a taste of the halloween candy we may have a hard time getting him to stop eating it.. i guess he has his daddy's sweet tooth too.

the life and times of copeland

sorry it's been so long! we have been busy.. cope has been in early childhood intervention for some language delay but is now talking up a storm.. we went with our good friends chloe and evan to see thomas and cope asked for days to go back! we had to tell him that thomas went back to the island of sodor to work..

cope riding thomas

my pal is now sleeping in his big boy bed (well... he usually falls asleep in the floor at the foot of the bed with his sweet paw poking out.. then we put him in the bed)..

cope has also become obsessed with the camera and "cheese".. this one is a self-portrait..

cope has been really busy with dad working in the yard and playing since the weather is cooler

he's become a much more dignified eater and now says "napkin please".

my pal is obsessed with balls just like his daddy.. he is truly his dad's son.
he'll say "try hit ball on tee mommy!"

like father like son! at least i have convinced daddy to wear a hat like his sweet little buddy. we are so blessed!

mommy weekend and disco fingers!

my pal and i had great labor day weekend. daddy is elk hunting so we had some "mommy and cope" time. the first evening we played in the yard and my pal got some itchy bug bites so then i was too paranoid to take him back out. we went to the mall and played on the playscape, which my buddy enjoyed.

we splashed in the bath since it rained the rest of the weekend..

the ball popper has been resurrected to it's former status as favorite toy
and i taught my baby how to do disco fingers! what a great time we had, but cope can't wait for dad to come back from "camfing".. aka camping.

pig knuckles in germany

so a month back steve and i went to germany to visit some good friends the leadbetters who are living there. cope, being the well-experienced traveler and son of his frugal father, tried to go as a carry on, but he wouldn't quite fit so we had to buy him his own ticket.. he hung out with nana and papa in jesup while we traveled across the big pond.

he just had a terrible time being spoiled while we were gone.. green-mama, nancy and grandma deedee took him swimming and got in his good graces.

while we were gone we explored the area around stuttgart germany where our friends live. we ate big pretzels and drank big beers.

and steve ate a pig knuckle at the hofbrahaus. it's exactly what it sounds like.

hitler used to have get togethers here..

we visited a concentration camp, which was of course, very sobering and sad.

and we took castle road to heidelberg and visited the castle there.

this is a local farmer who drove through the streets and rang a bell and hollered..it's like a vegetable ice cream truck.. very cool!!

i missed my pal pretty bad, but at least we had sweet fat shane to love on!

we had a good trip but i don't think we'll be leaving my pal again anytime soon.