Updates on the Kiddos

Ok time for a quick update on the kids.  They're are doing great of course.  Growing up too fast LOL 

Cooper is really starting to take on the "big brother" role, bossing the other two around and bullying his little bro... Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's not LOL  The bossing I think is too cute, but then sometimes we have to say, "Okay Bud.  Let mommy and daddy do that", like today Chloe was wanting to get down from the dinner table without eating and go lay in bed, so we kept telling her, "Eat some first, then you can go lay down", but she kept whinning and asking to get down so Cooper says, "No.  First you eat your dinner THEN you go to bed!"  LOL  It was cute, but again, we have to try to teach him that he's not the boss.  And the bullying little brother....yeah that's not very funny.  He's not TOO mean to him, but he definitely pushes him around.  Poor Brode :(  Josh says he used to pick on Brian ALL the time, but of course now they're best buds, so hopefully it's just a phase...  He's doing great with his ABCs and learning shapes and colors and numbers and even tries to "spell" stuff sometimes just saying random letters. LOL  He's obsessed with cap guns and going outside to "shoot his shots" which is adorable.  Oh and both the big kids have discovered computer learning games which is a blessing AND a curse since we practically have to pry the mouse out of their hands.  Cooper really loves the paint/coloring stuff on there.  And he LOVES to help mommy cook and bake.  The other day we made cupcakes together. Brodie was napping and I tried to get Chloe to help, but she wanted to keep playing Umi Zoomi on the computer, so it was just Cooper and I.  He did all the mixing and ingredient adding by himself (with my help measuring of course LOL)  Even though Chloe wanted nothing to do with baking the cupcakes, she sure as heck wanted to eat 'em LOL

She's doing great as well.  Turning into quit the little drama queen diva.  She learned how to fake cry for attention which has become quite a difficult challenge for mom and dad.  We have to weed out the fake crying from the real crying, and when we spot a fake we have to get her to stop and actually talk to us and ask for what she wants the right way without whinning, which she usually does most of the time if we just talk to her a bit and get her to calm down.  Hopefully that's just a phase that she'll grow out of because I remember Cooper going through something similar.  We're at about the same point with her potty training as when we left off.  She's still wearing a diaper the majority of the time and will use the potty occasionally, but  we're at the point where almost everytime she has an "accident" in the diaper she tells us that she should've used the potty, so I think we're inching a little bit closer.  She's doing great with counting and ABCs and shapes and colors as well, and we've found her little niche.  She LOVES animals, especially snakes.  We were shopping at King Soopers and they were going bonkers, so we passed the toy aisle and I let them pick out a few things to keep themselves occupied and she wanted these two huge rubber snakes.  Like actual scaly feeling rubber snakes. LOL  She played with them the whole rest of the shopping trip and I even had to buy them ($5 a piece...) so she could take the home.  She held them all the way home too LOL  And then she went shopping with Grandma and Papa a few days ago and they bought her this little bag of plastic zoo animals and she went crazy over them!  She played with them all night naming them off with Grandma and then just playing with them by herself.  She's loves to play by herself just as much as she likes playing with the boys.  She'll sit there and make the animals talk and have little conversations with them and tell them to go to sleep etc.  It's just adorable.  And speaking of playing with the boys, although Cooper is busying picking on Brodie, Chloe loves to play with him, and he's getting old enough now to where he can do a lot of things they do, like the other day him and Chloe were playing "tag" of sorts.  He would chase Chloe for a little bit, then she'd turn around and chase him.  So sweet.

And speaking of Brodie he is the sweetest little boy ever.  He's so adorable and is such a snugger and boy does he love his Grandma!  He'll snug up with everybody, but especially Grandma.  He'll just lay his head down on her chest and just rest there and snug in.  It's so cute.  He's been snugging up to me quite a bit too which is so fun because Cooper is growing out of his snugging phase and doesn't really want to snug with momma anymore :(  Sadness.  They have to grow up sometime though right?  Anyway, Bro is doing awesome.  Walking like a champ and finally becoming a little less bow legged LOL  He's talking A LOT and trying to say a bunch of new things and even trying to COUNT!  Yes count!  It's crazy.  He's best at six and nine are the two numbers he says the most, so nothing in order yet, but he's trying.  And he's so funny too.  Yesterday he brought me each of my sandals one at a time handing them to me and saying "shoe" which I just thought was so cute and smart and then once I'd put both of them on he held his arms up for me to pick him up and said, "outside".  He handed me my shoes so I would take him outside! So smart!  So of course I did LOL  He loves being outside just as much as the older too.  They love all the farm animals and all their outside toys and especially going for rides on the four wheeler with daddy.

Anyway, that's pretty much what we've been up to around here.  Kids just being crazy little buggers keeping us entertained and making us laugh and smile.  Thanks for checking in everyone :)