Brewer at Baseball

While Cooper is busy playing baseball, Brewer has discovered the clearing inside the tree's by field #1.  He runs up and down the paths, playing with sticks and finding rocks.  This is a boys dream come true!

 Sometimes, Brewer finds a buddy or two to chase after during this time as well.

Someday Brewer will have a place like this to make his own fort in!

Mo Mo Ga Ga

With summer in the air, the sounds of motorcycles can be heard all around.  Brewer is infatuated with them and points out every single motorcycle on our way to and from work, and also that he can hear one when playing outside.  But because motorcycle is a hard word to get out the right way, Brewer started to call them mo mo ga ga's and hence the name has stuck!

This past spring, Brewer and Cooper got to sit up on Grandpa's motorcycle!  Brewer thought he was king for the moment.  He is waiting for the day to take his first ride with Daddy.  And whenever Daddy pulls into the driveway with it, Brewer reminds everyone that is around that the mo mo ga ga is hot!

Down at the Beach

A summer favorite of ours has been to go down to Carol Beach.  It is a small little beach in the middle of a neighborhood and one that we stumbled upon trying to find the dunes.  It is quiet and peaceful, not too many people know of it. 

 Last summer, we let Grandma and Grandpa Beck into our little get-away place; and they too have grown to love it.

 We try once again for a family photo, but the boys have something else on their minds...

 like the waves crashing onto the shore, or the boats that are zooming by us right now....

like jumping on all of the big rocks...

like finding the biggest rocks on the beach and throwing them into the water and waiting for its splash!

Father's Day

On Sunday, June 19th, we celebrated Father's Day!  Cooper and Brewer love their Daddy very much and always look forward to their time together!

 Cooper loves to play baseball, build things, and fish with his Daddy.  Brewer loves to sit on Daddy's momoguycle, and help him cut the grass.  But most of all the two of them love to tackle Daddy!

Thank you for all that you do for us Daddy!

Baby Shower for Julie

On Saturday, June 18th we had a baby shower for Julie.  She is expecting the end of July and so we got together with family to celebrate the up-coming arrival.  Her shower was held out at the the Kenosha Country Club where we enjoyed a nice lunch and great conversations!

 Auntie Sue, Nicole, and myself pose with the Mommy to be....Julie!

Julie takes one more picture before everyone leaves with the whole group.  Lots of stories and advice were share for Julie...Good Luck and we can't wait to meet your new little one! 

Mud + Water = FUN!

This summer has been full of hot and rainy summer days.  Together they have claimed an area on the side of the garage as their area.  Once upon a time, we use to plant their, but now its where they dig and haul dirt with the dump trucks around the yard.  But after it has rained or by pour more water into the dirt, they have a mud pit to play in.  Thankfully the bathtub is just down the hallway!

Play Ball!

Cooper was busy this summer playing Coach-Pitch Baseball for the Rex Plex.  Most of his games were held on Saturday mornings at 9 or 10am.  He loved having family come to watch him play his games.  On Saturday, June 18, Papa came to watch him play along with Grandma and Grandpa Beck.

Waiting for the baseball to come his way was a patience tester for Coop.

In his batting stance, we always remind him "elbow up" for great form.  For the most part, Cooper always hit the ball from the coach and only had to hit it off the tee once or twice.

Swings and he runs to first base!

Cooper takes a picture with Papa before heading home.  Good Game Cooper!!!

Sophia's Baptism

On Saturday, June 11th, we made our way up to Wausau, WI for Cousin Sophia's Baptism.  The boys, Grandma, and I went up to Green Bay to pick up Great Grandma Beck before getting to Auntie Kris and Uncle Tom's house.  Daddy and Grandpa were going to meet us there since they had gone up to the cabin the night before.

 Daddy is Sophia's Godfather and Pattie is her Godmother.  Brewer is entertaining himself walking back and forth between Mommy and Daddy.

 Sophia didn't even cry during the pouring of the water.  She slept for the most part and then woke up at the very end.

 Daddy lit the candle for Sophia and then held it while the Priest said a prayer for Sophia.

 Sophia was beautiful!  She loved every moment of her baptism!  Congratulations Sophia!

 Uncle Tom, Auntie Kris, Gabby, Sophia, Grandma and Grandpa Beck, and Great Grandma Beck smile for a picture.

Daddy and Sophia

On our way out of church we accidentally opened the door to this chapel.  Don't take Cooper's look too seriously...he's not one to pose for the camera.  Brewer on the other hand will still smile at the sight of any camera.

Tucan the Bird

Cooper brought home his art project that they have been working on for most of the semester!  Now we have Tucan the bird proudly displayed in our living room!
Another piece of good news...Cooper brought home his progress report and Mrs. Kornder is sending him off to first grade...Good Job Cooper!

Is It Summer Yet?

The boys have been busy playing outside in the back yard; Cooper is looking forward to his summer vacation...just a few more days of school.  They have been making forts to jump off of and crawl all over.  And they have discovered that this can be so much more fun when you add WATER!

A Little Behind

With all that is going on right now...I have fallen behind on our blog.  I will try my best to get it up and going as soon as possible.

Planting of the Red Pepper

At Easter time, Cooper got a little greenhouse garden kit to grow his own Red Pepper's from Grandpa and Nana.  It has been sitting on the counter since then waiting for those extra five minutes to get it going.   Today was our lucky day!  First, he emptied the two packets of dirt into the green base and then added 1/4 cup of water.  We were amazed how quickly it became dirt!

Then Cooper carefully planted 5 red pepper seeds

and covered them with dirt.

He put the cover on the green house and we set it up in the window.  Now we just need to wait for it to grow!

SQUEEEEEEZE

Since Easter, Brewer has been working on his potty training.  For the most part he had the potty part down, but would ask for a diaper to have a BM.  While we have been working with him and encouraging him to go on the toilet, we have been rather unsuccessful.

So this morning was not exception.  He was walking around the house when he came to us asking for a diaper.  We told him no, that he could go on the toilet and that he needed to go squeeze to see if something came out.  He went back to playing, trying to ignore the fact that he did in fact need to go to the bathroom.  That is when he ran from the living room, into the kitchen yelling, "I need to squeeze!"  And that is what he did!  He was so proud of himself and so are we.  Hopefully we can keep this going and say bye-bye to diapers sooner than later!

Elizabeth's Tree

While I was visiting with her friends, Chris pulled this picture up on her phone.  I got teary eyed when she saw it because it is a very special picture.  This is the house that we owned on East River Drive in Green Bay, and it is the house that we lived in when we got married.

Shortly after we got married, my mom had a dream of Elizabeth.  And in this dream, Elizabeth wanted us to have a tree planted in our front yard so that it would grow like the love between us would grow.  She also wanted it to be planted in the front of the house, in the event that we should move, that we would always be able to drive past the house and see our tree. 

That is what Chris did.  She drove past our house and took a picture of our tree.  I cannot believe how much that the tree has grown since we planted it in 2003.  It is beautiful!  The next time we go to Green Bay, I want to drive past the house to see it for myself.

As I shard this picture with my mom today, we learned that Uncle Vince passed away this morning with his loved ones at his side.  Uncle Vince, please give Elizabeth a hug and kiss for us after you have danced a dance with your love Mary.  



Daddy's Night/Mommy's Night

On Saturday night, Mommy went to Milwaukee to meet up with her friends Chris and Jess for dinner, and the boys stayed home for a guys night.  

When Mommy left, we were outside playing in the backyard running all around and through the sprinkler. We had a lot of fun getting wet too!

Then we went for a walk to get some movies. Don't tell Mommy, but we ate our dinner in the living room while we watched our movies!

Mommy had a great time catching up her her friends.  A year is way too long in between their catch-ups!  We had a great dinner at the Melting Pot in Brookfield, and it was yummy! Mommy only wishes that she was feeling better so she could have enjoyed a glass of wine or a fun drink that Chris and Jess had sampled! 

Celebration at School

On Friday, June 3rd, Cooper celebrated his 6th Birthday with his Kindergarten Classmates.  At first, he wanted to bring cupcakes with pirate rings on them, but Mommy forgot to order them in time.  So Cooper came up with the idea of bringing doughnut holes from Dunken Donuts!  His friends loved them and at the end of the day, he got to pick something out of the Birthday Treasure box!

Flordia Marlins - #6

Cooper is playing Coach-Pitch Baseball once again for the Rec Plex and tonight was our first game.  Cooper was super excited to finally get his t-shirt and hat sporting the Marlins.

 The first time he was up to bat, he had to swing a few times before he was able to hit the ball. Unfortunately, he was tagged out right away.  After he got back to the bench, he asked me to go get his bat bag in the van.  He wanted his own bat.  On his next trip up to bat, Cooper hit that ball hard and made it to first base with no problems.  The Cubs were scrambling all over trying to get the ball.  Good Job Cooper!

 Daddy is one of the Assistant Coaches once again, so Cooper can get a few pointers while out in the field.

This year Cooper picked the #6 jersey...last year he was #5, maybe next year he will be #7!

Fieldtrip to Milwaukee Art Museum

A few weeks ago, Daddy and Cooper went to the Milwaukee Art Museum for an all school field trip. The art teacher at Pleasant Prairie arranged for the entire school to go to the Art Museum with the help of the PTA. Overall, it was a great field trip, but a little over the heads of kindergartners. Daddy and Cooper did a scavenger hunt to see if they could find all of the items on the find list. They had a great time together!

Memorial Day

 Hopefully Summer is finally here to stay.  Our Spring has not been too nice to us this year, so hopefully the weather will straighten up and give us nice weather to handle.  Last week, we were almost ready to bring out the winter jackets it was so cold out!

 This weekend, we stayed home to get some stuff done around the house.  Daddy worked on the house and got the front all done with the new siding and new light.  He even got a few of the landscape bricks out back during the rain.  Unfortunately the rainfall on Sunday afternoon dampened all outside plans.

 The boys and I spent some time over by Gg and Papa's helping Grandma Maria and Auntie Tina with some projects around the house.  We moved the furniture downstairs on Sunday and then today we finished up the planting in the yard.  I planted 140 impatiens in their yard plus some geraniums and begonia's.

 After I was done planting at Gg and Papa's, I came home to plant some flowers into my garden.  It is just a start and hopefully I will be able to get some more over the next few weeks.
 The boys enjoyed the nice warm weather by running through the sprinkler.  Brewer ran around saying "I'm taking a shower"!  Both boys even got a little sun on their shoulders too:(
 This afternoon, we went down to the beach to enjoy the summer day with Grandma and Grandpa Beck.  Surprisingly it was much cooler than the 85 degree's at our house.  The boys had a great time throwing rocks into the lake.  Then we went back to Gg and Papa's for a picnic.  Auntie Debbie and Uncle Dennis arrived to help out Gg and Papa for the next few days.  Cooper and Brewer had fun running through the sprinkler with Ava and Conner at Gg and Papa's too! It was a great day!

A Day with Grandma Maria

Grandma Maria came down to Kenosha to spend a day with each of the boys!  On Tuesday, she went with Cooper to the Milwaukee County Zoo with his Kindergarten class and together they had a blast!  Grandma took some amazing pictures of the animals that Cooper is going to put into his book!  Then they went to Gg and Papa's and hung out until Mommy and Daddy came to get him.

Wednesday was Brewer's turn!  Grandma came and picked Brewer up from school and they went out and picked out flowers for Gg and Papa!  They played lots outside and downstairs.  Thank you Grandma for spending your days off with us!

Art Class- Dinosaurs

Brewer made this really cool dinosaur in art class with Auntie Sue this week!  This was also our last art class for the session!  Brewer had a blast going with Auntie Sue and cannot wait to do it again in the fall!  Thank you Auntie Sue for taking me:)

Art Class - Under the Sea

Brewer made an Under the Sea mobile that we are hanging in the living room.  Brewer once again did some painting and gluing with Auntie Sue!  He is loving art class time!

Auntie Sue had a good laugh today.  After class, Brewer gets 2 peanut butter roll-ups and Cheetos's to eat on the way home.  However, on this day we didn't have any Cheetos's and Brewer demanded Cheetos's all the way to school!  Sorry Auntie!

Derby Party - Great Grandma's Birthday

On May 8th, we went to Auntie Sue's house for the annual Derby Party/Great Grandma's Birthday Celebration. This year we celebrated her 80th Birthday!  Happy Birthday Great Grandma! 
I won the drawing too with the help from Grandpa!  Nicole was passing out names, but I waited too long.  So Grandpa shared one of his names with me...and I won the race:)

Mother's Day

I got to spend Mother's Day with very special people today!  First, my boys surprised me with flowers and doughnuts...beautiful and yummy!  And then we went over to Gg and Papa's for brunch with Grandma Maria, and Grandma Beck!  Everything was yummy! 

After the boys woke up from rest, we went down to the lake to walk around before going over to Villa D'Carlo's for pizza!  I had a great Mother's Day!

Art Class - Flowers

When we asked Brewer what he did at Art Class, he said "shh!  Flowers!"  And that is what he did in art class today, Flowers!  Auntie Sue and Brewer made this awesome spring flower windsock.  He got to paint and glue and color all in one project....heaven for a two year old!

Easter Sunday

This year we celebrated Easter with the Beck's and went up to Gabby's house for the special day.  It was extra special too because, today was the first day we got to meet our new cousin Sophie!  She is so little, but will soon enough be running all around with the other three.

A rare photo opportunity...Cooper isn't hiding and has a smile of some sort on his face!

It is also the first picture of all four cousins together!

New family picture! 

Daddy is holding his Goddaughter, Sophie Rose!