Kenny's favorite part of summer.

Let's begin a review of summer.  Since we missed so many summer events here in blog land, I'll start filling you in.  In no particular order, mind you.

We'll start with the beach trip to Orange Beach with my family.  Now, everyone knows that I can't go to the beach without Kenny literally begging to take family pictures, so we were sure to get that taken care of right off the bat.  He coordinated our outfits, planned the perfect time with great sunset light and pepped everyone up to give their best smiles.....

Yeah, right.  I believe his exact words were, "Do we really have to do this?"

And yes.  We did.

The family.  With appropriately coordinating outfits.  Of course.

Papa, Gammy and their boys.

Possible my favorite picture...

Another favorite.  Really any picture with Sam smiling is a sucess.

Sam (4), Tristan (3) and Charlie (8)

Everybody.  And it only took me precariously balancing the camera on a single fence post a couple of times to get a passer-by to offer to capture our smiles.

Wanna know a secret about me?  Look at my feet in any picture where they are showing.  I absolutely, cannot make my toes be normal in a picture.  It's like my body knows the rest of me has to be normal, so my abnormal has to come out somewhere...

"Are you serious??  Are we really done??  We can go....?"

Ready, set, go!

And looks like someone face planted...

Can we say handsome?

Too little for handsome.  Still just cute!

Almost a big boy. Sigh.

My baby is about to look like a big boy.  And I have a love/hate relationship with my dentist office.

I promise these two topics are related.

I love our dentist.  And the receptionist.  The dental hygienist, on the other hand, makes me bonkers.  

As a parent, it is my job to decide how old my child is.  And as an adoptive parent, that unfortunately has been a subject of discussion before.  As my dental hygienist, it is your job to clean our teeth.  It is not your job to question the reason I have chosen said age.  

Nor is it your job to ask my children if they played with lions and tigers in their backyard.  Really??  They are still incredibly dangerous animals.  And just because they are from Africa, doesn’t mean that life was a constant safari.  Or that they even had a backyard.  Fortunately, they both stared at her like she had lost her mind.  And when she looked at me, I gave her a sad shake of the head.  Similar to the one that Kenny uses for me when he can’t believe I’ve just opened my mouth yet again, instead of using my verbal filter.  Which probably happens too often.  If you know us, you know what I’m talking about. 

Now, Sam has lost several teeth already.  All at the young age of 3.  And his six year molars have already begun to make their appearance.  That does not make him automatically 6 or 7-years-old.  I promise he is 4.  Four-ish.  And she would realize that if she spent any time at all with him.  Yes, he is tall and has lots of big people teeth.  But he is just a baby!!

And as funny as he looked missing his bottom teeth, his top two middles (you know, the ones you sing about at Christmas?), are barely hanging on. 

Let me get something straight.  I’m not opposed to my children loosing their teeth.  I realize that’s a natural progression of aging.  But I am opposed to my 4-year-old looking like too much of a big boy without his two front teeth.

So, you’ll have pictures soon of a snaggle toothed Sam. 

And I’ll continue to argue with my moron of a dental hygienist about how old my kids are. 

And about how they ran wild in the grasslands of Africa with elephants and monkeys.

Roll Tide.

I remember vividly my first Alabama football game as a college freshman. It was in Birmingham, back when the Tide still played games at Legion Field. It was a warm (ok, blazing hot) day with a noon game time. And being stuck in a bowl with 80,109 other sweaty people made it almost unbearable.

Especially since I was just getting used to the 'ol college ways of staying up til 4 AM.  I honestly can say that I sat in the roaring loud student section and slept.  Sitting on the bleachers with no backs.  Passed out cold.  And I can truthfully say it was totally from a lack of sleep and not an artificially induced coma that other new college students sometimes find themselves in.


I did my share of cheering on the Tide to their 34-10 victory against Houston.  But what I remember most is that I actually feel asleep at a football game.

Now some of you may feel like I am not a true fan to go to a game and fall asleep.  But if anything, it proved an early devotion to my beloved Crimson Tide.  Why else would I have tolerated such an event with a visible lack of sleep??  Pure dedication and commitment, my friends.

Plus, there was this guy.  With cute curly brown hair and beautiful blue eyes.  And I was hoping to see him there.  So, maybe my motives were a little skewed.  But fortunately I don't have to pretend to show up at the same places as him anymore...

So, here's to a great season...my annual "Roll Tide!!" post.  Let's take it all the way, fellas. 

We owe it to Auburn, you know.

I can also honestly say I never did this.  Although, I might have been cooler.  But it would have been no fun if the "D" fell asleep in the middle of the game...

MIA: Lunch?

I should be up to more regular posting now. Since my beloved DELL has returned to me running faster than ever. Huge thanks to our computer repair guy who will remain nameless for his own protection. And ours. Not sure he wants to have to fix everybody’s laptop.

Now, a fairly good reason for not returning to regular posting is our schedule that has been turned upside down. Charlie is 3 plus weeks into 2nd grade and loving it. And on a whim, I’m no longer teaching Mother’s Day Out, but doing more work up at the church. So, Sam started preschool this week. The two of us will conquer work and school 3 days a week now, instead of 4. And for that, I am thrilled!  I also have both boys in the same building with me while I'm working.  And I think if I'm going to work a little, that arrangement couldn't be any better!!

First day of Preschool!  Yes, he is tall.  Wearing 5/6 clothes and size 1 shoes.  I promise he is only 4.

Around lunch time on Sam’s first day, I went to peek in on him. He is always Mr. Independent, so I wasn’t worried about him at all, just really wanted to make sure we were behaving. I walked up on the class as they were lining up for lunch.

Let me back up a little…I learned that morning that lunch is included for the preschoolers and I didn’t have to send Sam a lunch. Unfortunately, I had made him one.  And he is quite attached to his lunch box.  Really food in general. He had been more concerned about his lunch box that morning than his backpack.  He didn't care if he had anything else, as long as he had that lunch box.  My mistake:  I simply took his lunch box back to the car and assumed he’d eat lunch in the cafeteria with all his friends.

As I peeked in, I was met with those big, brown eyes that are only reserved for coming tears. And as soon as they saw me, the tears came. His lunch box was gone and in his little mind, that meant he wasn’t eating. Despite me and his teacher explaining that he was going to get to eat fried chicken and mashed potatoes with everyone else. I took off to the car to fetch the missing lunch box and met up with him in the cafeteria.

Really, he just needed to hold it. He held it in his lap while he dug into his yummy chicken. And was perfectly content. It’s really my fault. I should have never taken his lunch box without actually explaining what would happen at lunch time.

You don’t mess with food when it comes to the Cook boys!

Two years.

So, two years as a family of four??

I know you hear people say it all the time, but I honestly can't imagine life without the boys.  On one hand, the process of adoption is one of the hardest, emotionally taxing things you can put your family through.  The waiting.  The trusting others for things you have no control over.  Trusting GOD for perfect timing, finances and all the tiny details. 

And the flip side of that is sharing the rest of forever with your family that God picked out before you were ever even a thought.

You know all those years you have prior to being a grown up that you spend wondering and planning out how your life will look?  How perfect things will be with your smoking hot hubby and your 2.5 kids and your white picket fence?  Ok, so I have the smoking hot hubby, but I never hoped for the 2.5 kids or the fence.  Having half a kid would just be creepy. 

But having two kids from Ethiopia never really crossed my mind.  Adoption crossed my mind, but I hadn't really ever played it out.  Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine just how blessed I would be by two little boys from a tiny village in Eastern Africa.  The lessons they would teach me about patience, about faith, about falling in love with someone that you've only seen in a picture.  Lessons about life itself.  Lessons about how blessed and spoiled we are as Americans. 

I've heard stories over the past two years that have shocked me.  Stories that make my heart hurt knowing that they aren't just sad tales, but real life experiences that I haven't been able to protect my children from.  Experiences that have shaped their little hearts and personalities and will forever be a part of their history.

But their history also includes an amazing story of God providing a way when all we saw were obstacles.  Their history includes a family.  A family that may be crazy and at times dysfunctional, but one who loves them with no reservations.  A family determined to make those tales that are recounted in the years to come, happy stories.

It's been two years.  They haven't been perfect.  They haven't always been easy.  And sometimes they have been down right hilarious.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I wouldn't change a second of it.

Here's to two as four.  Who knows what the next two hold.....

Looking at pictures from their time in Ethiopia.  Laughing at each other.  And their bad haircuts.  Can you say mohawk?

Gotcha.

Two years ago today, I was threatening to hop on a goat and head off down the undeveloped roads of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia if someone didn't take me to my boys fast.  We were just minutes away from them and couldn't get our driver to see the urgency of the situation.  I may have been in a slightly irrational state, but I just couldn't bear waiting another 3 hours, when I had already waited 18 months.  I mean, we were finally were on the same side of the world as them...

Stole Daddy's hat...

We were sitting outside because he was having the beginnings of what I can only assume was an asthma attack.  They had just started roasting coffee beans inside, which we learned very fast, threw him into a wheezing, coughing fit.  Fortunately I don't roast my own coffee beans, so it's no longer a problem.

Loved stickers...which we placed at random, all over our bodies.

Hanging out at the Guest House later that week!

Picking flowers for Mommy!

On our way to go get some dinner!!

More later on our 2nd year as a family of four...

Is anyone listening to me??

I would really like to know what exactly my kids hear when I open my mouth.  Sometimes, by the way they respond, I'm assuming their little ears must hear the nonsense from the Charlie Brown cartoon when the adults are talking.  "Mwa, mwa mwa, mwa mwa mwa mwa!"

Tonight on our way home from church, where the boys had to be torn away from ice cream and bouncies, we had a conversation about why it was necessary to go to bed.  And since "Because I'm your mom and I said so!" wasn't cutting it, I went into deep explanation about how it was a school night and we had to go home, take showers and get to bed because if you don't get enough sleep you will be cranky and ill and you might get sick because your body would be too tired to fight off germs.  Great explanation, huh?  Although, the whole "I'm your mom, hear me roar!" thing should have been enough.

Yet, immediately after all that came from my mouth, Charlie said...

"Why do we have to go to bed?"
"I just told you."
"I forgot."
"You forgot?  Or you weren't listening?"
"I don't know."

Long pause because I was tired of talking.  To myself.  And being ignored. 

So Sam piped in...

"Mommy?  I don't hear you talking anymore!"
"I'm done talking.  No one is listening."
"What did you say, Mommy?"

Seriously.

Growing up = Too fast

I officially have a 2nd grader.  Again.

We did this last year, but after a week, decided 1st grade was a better fit.  And he's feeling pretty smug that he's already done the first week of 2nd grade.  Like that will give him some kind of upper hand among his peers.  The only upper hand he has is that he is at least 10 feet taller than everyone else in his class.  Well, maybe not that tall, but give him another year and he will have passed me.  I know I'm not that tall, but I'm also not 8 years old.

Charlie is secretely excited about school starting.  He slipped up the other day and accidentally told me he was excited.  But quickly changed his mind when he realized that I might use that against him.  He's a smart kid.  Because I have reminded him of his hidden excitement several times.  Once in front of his new teacher.  I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes at me.

Yesterday was the first day of school.  Handsome?  Yes.  Still secretely excited?  Yes.  Loving 2nd grade?  Yes!!

You wanna know who wasn't excited?  Sam.  Felt a little abandoned by big brother who went off to play with all his big friends.  Some big crocodile tears was all it took for Mommy to declare it a special treat day and off we went for a Happy Meal!  While we were at the park later, another Mom asked me why he wasn't in school........Yes, he is also ginormously tall.  But he's still my 4-year-old baby.

Anyone want to see a side-by-side comparison of 1st grade Charlie and 2nd grade Charlie?  I do. 

Tissue anyone?  How do I make them stop growing up???

Excuse my cell phone pics and their horrendous quality.

The loss of summer.

I’m not gonna lie.

I’m in a minor state of mourning.

I can’t believe that in less than a week, summer break as we know it will be over. Not summer.  Just summer break.  (See HERE if you are confused.) 

As much as I crave a schedule and routine, I'm not one of those moms who can't wait for their kids to go back to school.  I'd much rather have lazy days around the house, than the rush that the school year seems to bring with it.  Honestly, I really just don't like to get out of the bed before the sun does.  And the snuggling from a wiggly 4-year-old can't happen if I'm out of the bed before he is.  I do have my priorities.

My 8-year-old will be starting 2nd grade in a couple of days and I’ll again have a private pity party over the years that I never had with him.  Have I mentioned he's almost as tall as me??  And my 4-year-old, with Mommy in tow, will return to his Mother’s Day Out Program in just a few short weeks.  He's not as tall as me, but thinks he is.

Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s Mother’s Day Out for other mommies. I sacrifice and stay with the children to ensure their safety, emotional and educational well being.  And it’s my job, so I really don’t have a choice.

The only plus...  It has almost felt like fall here in Kentucky this week.  Eighty degrees and no humidity.  Almost made me want to build a campfire and roast some s'mores.  Almost.

As you mourn summer's passing with me, enjoy a couple pics from our lake trip with Kenny's family...

The boys and Aunt Stephanie

Everybody.  Well, almost.  Missing Kenny...

Sam with Uncle Mitch trying to grin his way into driving the boat.  Unfortunately, Uncle Mitch is dumber than I thought and Sam soon had a (well-supervised) turn behind the wheel.

Refused to get in the water without his ring, even though I assured him his life jacket would do the job.  Really wanted to try.  Never quite made it...

Mommy and Charlie scaring Gran and Aunt Denise by standing up on the tube.

Apparently, he doesn't need my help to scare them...

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Not that anyone but me would notice, but I'm still without my laptop, which means I can't edit pictures.  So, here they are in all their unedited glory.  Drives me a little nuts. 

"Eskited" about "misking" up some "Mescican"...

Although the boys have been home almost 2 years (Yeah.  I'm not kidding.), we still have trouble with some letters and sounds.  Specifically, the letter "x".  For some reason both boys have trouble with some words that have the letter "x".  For example, mixing or excited or Mexican.  Which come out like misking, eskited and Mescican.

The whole thing started after we overheard Charlie telling Sam he was "eskited" about....well, I don't remember what...just that he was "eskited".  After eavesdropping for a few minutes on the x-challenged conversation, we tried to help him correct his pronunciation.  Funny thing is, he can say fox, six, ax and several other short x-words, but can't get the word mix to come out right...

Kenny:  "Repeat after me:  six."
Charlie:  "Six."

Kenny:  "Six."
Charlie: "Six."

Kenny: "Six."
Charlie: "Six."

Kenny: "MIX."
Charlie:  "Mix.....YAY!!  I said misk!!  Awwww..."

This conversation happened, oh, I'd say maybe 8 times, with the same exact ending every, single time.  Followed by our laughing and his frowning, begging that we do it again.  He doesn't like to not "win" and this little game of phonics was beating him. 

I personally think it's kinda cute.  Despite my big-almost-2nd-grader's lack of amusement with his x-shaped ordeal...

I'm a #4.

NOTE:  All of the following is the author's opinion and sometimes overexaggerated truth.  And meant purely for your own entertainment.  Don't be offended.  Especially if you are a Redneck.

Lately I've discovered that we don't really fit in around here.

I am not a city girl.  But I'm not exactly your typical raised-on-a-farm girl either.  And I don't think I'm a Redneck.  Not totally anyway.  I really like being outside.  I don't mind getting dirty.  I like to play in the dirt, go camping, get sweaty, play football, cut the grass, etc, etc.  But I've never done anything like birth a cow or slop a pig or sheer a sheep.  Not that I'm opposed to those things.  Just never done it.

Where we live, I'm discovering 3 categories of people.

#1  Born and raised Spencer Countians.  Which usually means they have had a little bit, if not a lot, of that farm raisin' I was talking about.  They also all root for the Kentucky Wildcats, hate the Louisville Cardinals, take offense if you assume they are from the city and can spot an outsider from a mile away.

#2  City transplants.  People from Louisville that have decided they don't really want to live in the city, but are still just city folks that now have a commute.  They may have bought a tractor or a boat to try to fit in, but that Louisville Cardinals sticker on the back of their fancy SUV gave them away.

#3  Rednecks.  Sitting on your porch in a lawn chair (or your couch), trash in your yard, yelling at your kids, truck up on blocks, stealing the neighbor's cable, cigarette smoking rednecks.  Sometimes with a touch of #1 added in.  Which means there may be a tractor parked next to that 1983 Chevy truck in your front yard that's up on blocks.  (Actually a whole other sub-category referred to as Hillbillies.  A farm-influenced Redneck.)

Yesterday, while on a visit to a nearby park with the boys, we walked down to the creek where I realized quickly we were surrounded by Rednecks.  Except these Rednecks had brought their bare-bellies and cut-off jeans to the creek to sit in their lawn chairs.  Right smack in the middle of the creek.  (I really, really wish I had a picture.)  And I'm pretty sure part of their family was also sitting at the picnic tables folding their laundry.  I'm just hoping they hadn't done it in the creek.  Either way, I gotta good laugh out of it.

Now, we typically wear enough clothes to cover all necessary skin.  And I try to keep the carport cleaned up instead of letting the toys flow into the yard.  All of our cars have tires and run fairly smoothly.  And smoking is an absolute no-no at our house.  We aren't from around here and don't have a tractor.  But due to the looks we get, I'm fairly sure that we have formed our own category in Spencer County. 

I went to the local Dairy Queen the other day and had a lady stare at me so hard I finally asked her if my fly was down or if I had spinach in my teeth.....  OK, so I didn't really.  I did stare back.  And grin really big at her.  Which made her terribly uncomfortable.  And the only reason she was studying us so, was because my kids are so stinkin' cute, people can't help but stare.

So, our own category.....

#4  Really cute, Alabama-transplanted, obviously conspicuous Ethiopians.  Some of us are from Alabama, some of us are from Ethiopia.  We are all adopted.  And we are all really cute.  And we may sometimes act like city folks.  Or maybe even Rednecks.  We don't have a tractor or a boat and we pull exclusively for the Crimson Tide.  We may look different, but we are terribly fun to be around.  Honest.

I'm proud to be a #4.  And will continue to be friends with the 1, 2 and 3's.

As long as we can all still laugh at each other.

Summer. And Sam.

So, wanna know how our summer is shaping up??

Sleep, eat, go to the pool, play outside.  Repeat.

So, you see, that's left little time for blogging.  And my laptop is still under the weather.  While that's a little annoying, it's given me no reason to waste endless hours on the computer.  A plus for all involved.

To indulge your need for an informative post, let me give you an update on our youngest.

Oh, Sam.

He keeps us rolling.  The funniest things come out of his mouth.  All the time.  And the funniest faces.  He still tends to use far more words that necessary to convey his thoughts.  As if he doesn't know which word to use, so he'll just use them all.  So, like his brother, conversations tend to last longer than they really should.

Sam's most recent antics include wanting to know what we are doing next..."Mommy, after we eat, what we doin' next?"  "We're gonna go to the library, buddy."  "Mommy, after we go to library, what we doin' next?"  "Coming back home."  "Mommy, after we come home, what we doin' next?"  "I have no idea."  "Mommy, after that......what we doin' next?  Mommy?  MOMMY??"  (usually I just wander off in order to avoid the barrage of questions)

Another line of questioning that is fairly common..."Mommy, whatcha eating?"  "It's a granola bar."  "What's a granola bar?"  "It's my breakfast."  "What's breakfast?"  "It's what we eat in the morning."  "What's the morning?"  And on and on and on we go....

He's also fairly certain he doesn't need "sunscream"....I've given up trying to explain...."I don't need sunscream.  I'm not hot yet, Mommy."  Sunscream.  Yeah.

He also doesn't like it if I'm reading a book, but he can't hear me.  Usually it's when it's a book for me, so it's not necessary for me to read out loud to myself..."You're not reading, Mommy.  I don't hear you talking."

I'll leave you with a conversation from tonight.  He had been in his room serving a little time-out due to direct disobedience.  I was going through my 30-second spill of obeying the first time Mommy says something, instead of the third and I notice he is chewing on something.  We had eaten dinner about an hour ago, so I just assumed maybe he had stowed away some leftovers back there, as gross as that might be...

"What is in your mouth?"
Without so much as a pause..."A booger."
Pause for a little throw up in my mouth..............
"Go spit it out.  Now.  And go back to your room."

I was utterly disgusted that he was literally chewing on a booger.  And my first response was to get him as far away as possible from me.  Hence the return to his room.

He's all boy.  My big 4-year-old-booger-chewing-motor-mouth-boy. 

I still love him.  How can you not when he wraps his arms around you and says, "Mommy, you look like a princess!!" while looking at my wedding picture hanging in the hall??

Pure entertainment.

So, I'm looking through the pics from Alabama and this is what happen.  In my head.  Scary, huh?  Now you know that there's a running commentary going on up there all the time...

While checking the weather and deciding if we should make a run for it....  Verdict?  We did need to run.  Fast.

I've decided my children are incapable of being posed for a picture.  Give it up.  It's just not gonna happen.



Yes, I really saw someone sporting their suit and socks.  It wasn't pretty.



Steer clear of Tristan at the Splash Pad.  Or the 'Pash Pad, as he calls it.

The joys of camping.

Our fear of fish in the water begin here.  After he saw a tadpole.  Yes, he is scared of tadpoles.

Mr. Attitude.

A moment of realization...

Despite Sam being quite a bit taller than her, she's very clear that she will always be older.  And smarter.

Alabama Adventure. Not the amusement park.

Sorry to leave you hanging for so long, but after our fun-filled-week of VBS, we (me and the boys) took off to Alabama for two more weeks of more fun than we could handle.  Really.  I asked Sam what his favorite part of our trip was..."Playing the Wii, Mommy!"  Yeah, we also have a Wii at our house.  Apparently it doesn't take much to please that child.  Also makes me realize that if I would only allow him to play video games all day long, he would be the happiest kid alive.  Unfortunately I'm a mean mommy and that will never happen.  Would hate for his brain to turn to mush.

So, since wrapping up our VBS week, complete with our infamous TOP TEN LISTS every night, I can't seem to shake living life without a top ten. It's like my brain has been programmed to think of each day as a top ten...so, until I return to normal and that's not likely to happen soon, indulge my issues as I recount the fun we had.

NOTE:  Our KY buddies Nicole, Grace & Emma joined us with our family for a few days in Alabama.  God bless their souls.  I think we are still friends...


10.  The boys painted rocks to go into Katie's garden that my mom has planted in the backyard.  Charlie painted an owl, since he is the one who gave her that distinction when she worked nights at UAB.  And for Katie's love of ladybug, Sam painted an abstract version with a little help from mommy.



He free handed this.  I know, it DOES look like the owl from Bambi!



9.  Charlie and Grace tried to make themselves into human sandwiches as they used Gran's pool to leap into.  The picture made it way funnier.  They never actually hit each other, but came really close.  Which was good for Charlie since Grace was still sporting her "cement arm" from her disco dancing accident in our basement.

8.  We went camping for a couple of days in Dad's new fifth wheel at Rickwood Caverns.  While enjoying a picnic lunch one day outside the camper, it suddenly lurched towards us as another camper rammed into his.  Since he has only had the camper for about a month, he wasn't real happy with the collision that occurred while the Park Ranger supposedly directed the offending camper into their spot.  There was no real damage to dad's new toy, but makes a good story, right?

They are actually ALL looking at the camera...!

Making mud pies with water guns and sand pails.  Also made really dirty boys.

7.  We took the kids to go play at Turkey Creek.  Now, for those of you from Alabama, put away your prejudices.  No, we didn't go play at the dump, but that's what I would have thought, since while I was growing up, that's what Turkey Creek was.  An actual dump.  Now, someone has decided to make it into a peaceful little nature preserve and a really neat little place to take the family.  They had a blast in the water for about 15 minutes until we heard distant thunder and waited about 30 seconds too long to decide if we should make a run for it.  We all ended up soaked (even those of us who hadn't fallen in already...yes, that would be me) and having our picnic lunch at the grandparent's house wearing Pop's over sized t-shirts while we sat in our wet shorts and our shirts took a turn in the dryer.  Which gave Grace a chance to look through the picture albums from 1987 and see my "I-think-I'm-A-Boy" phase, including the accompanying haircut.  It wasn't pretty.  Trust me.

I'm not sure if Nicole was trying not to slip and fall.  Or making fun of me because I just did.  Both are very good possibilities.

6.  We went to the lake with Kenny's family this past weekend and the boys had their first boating experience.  Complete with a new love with tubing.  But for some reason Charlie decided that he couldn't get in the lake because a huge fish may eat him.  Unsure of where that fear came from, I assured him that the fish were only in the middle of the lake, while his 4-year-old cousin laughed at him and the little "white lie" I issued in order to get him into the water. 



Showing our best sides.  Probably not necessary.

5.  During a Father's Day lunch that got a little out of hand, I ended up cleaning cool whip from my face with pound cake.  It was much better the first go-round also topped with strawberries, but thankfully Cliff didn't take the retaliation that far.  While Pop wondered where he went wrong with the direction of our family...

4.  Sam has perfected his wheelchair racing skills thanks to an exhibit at McWane Science Center.  There just happen to be a large screen playing a video loop commercial about a tour of Birmingham right next to the set up that allowed you to actually sit in a wheelchair used to race and see how long it took to get your heart rate racing.  He thought that HE was making that little cartoon car race around the streets of the 'Ham and worked and worked his little arms on that wheelchair.  He triumphantly jumped off and declared he had won, as we got a good laugh at his ambition.  He's so cute, it really didn't matter anyway!

3.  We went to Point Mallard Water Park.  The last time I went there, I was a stupid teenager, refused sunscreen and had Off bug spray accidentally sprayed in my mouth.  I was burned beyond belief and puking my guts up.  It's a wonder I had a desire to return.  But we did and the kids had a blast.  We all used sunscreen, even those of us that already have great tans.  :)  And there was no need for bug spray this time around.  I some how got nominated to take the big kids to the bigger water slides after lunch, including one that resembled a huge toilet in the sky.  I refused to go down, but soon succumbed to Grace and Charlie's pleading and found myself at the top of a very big toilet.  Realizing that we were going to be flushed into an 8 foot catch pool, I ventured down first to be there when the kids came down.  Charlie came down first and was completely disoriented by all the spinning and swam the wrong way.  He made it to the wall, but panicked when he couldn't get a hold on the side, prompting the lifeguard to go in after him.  So, he had to be rescued.  And I had to fill out paperwork recounting the event and promising not to sue the makers of the largest toilet ever.  Don't worry, he was fine.  And believe me, I'm definitely saving this story for his future wife..."Remember the day you had to be rescued from drowning in a toilet...??" 

2.  After having to be rescued by the lifeguard, Charlie went from being fairly fearless to quite afraid of doing anything in the water.  He spent the majority of one day practicing his swimming just so he could jump off of the diving board.  He would line himself up with the board in the shallow end and swim to the side, knowing that if he could swim that distance there, surely he could do it in the deep end, too.  It took all day and the promise of $2 from Aunt Kim to get him to make that first jump, but by the end of the second day he was flying off the board and not looking back.  Same with the pier at the lake, once he decided the fish wouldn't eat him alive.  So, he may appear fearless, but it's actually a very practiced and calculated fearless.  Now I know I don't have to worry about him doing something stupid.  At least without thinking about it first.

1.  Since Charlie had to be rescued from a toilet, Sam didn't want to be left out of that action. So, he took a header into a real toilet. I get him up each night to potty before I go to bed. Most nights I do all the work, except for the actual peeing, because he is still totally asleep. The other night was no exception. But this night he was particularly floppy, almost rag doll like. I could barely keep him standing up straight as I got him positioned in front of the potty. Before I knew it, he was going head first in the toilet and caught himself with both hands completely submerged in the potty water. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, since now I had a kid who was soaking wet. With toilet water. Gag me. Funniest part: He never even woke up. Sorry, no picture to document. And no lifeguards or paperwork this time around.

If you've made it this far, I'm impressed.  I've bored myself and I'm the one writing it...

I'm quite certain they'll be more pictures.  There were too many not to share. 

So, stay tuned.......

Too much fun? Nah.

Ring.....ring.....ring.....ring....

You have reached the Cook Family.  We are unable to take your call at this moment because we are out having fun.  Please leave us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.  Thanks!  And have a great day!!

Beep.

An up close look at VBS. Spencer County Style.

We are VBS-ing it this week out in Spencer County and to be totally honest, I don't have the time (or energy) to update two different blogs.  Something about VBS totally fries my brain.  Plus my laptop battery has gone kaput, so I only have a few moments each night to update using Kenny's laptop. 

So, keep up with us this week over here.  Complete with our nightly TOP TEN LIST...  maybe only funny to us...