What I love about Cooper...

is that he is soooo DANG cute. Seriously. It is so much fun to watch him do life. I thought I would give a bit of an update on him. He is growing so quickly and you forget when you have 5 year olds that they soak up things like little sponges. The following are some fun little updates:

**He has about 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom - he eats anything and everything
**He grabs my hand and leads me places
**He loves giving kisses - he even is learning to blow kisses
**He can say dada, uh-oh, again, and many other things we don't understand
**He loves to sit and read books
**He has been walking since 9 months and running since 12months
**He is loving the water already. When at the pool I think he thinks he can swim if I let go of him.
**He loves to slide and step up and down on steps.
**He really thinks he can play basketball with his dad outside
**His favorite past time is riding in the escalade with his sister driving him.
**He likes to bat at the ceiling fan chains. It is a routine as you leave his room.
**He is really good at opening and closing doors without hitting his fingers

Most of all he is just pure sweetness. He is such a content happy little one. Enjoy the pics from the summer so far.





Proof that Cooper will eat anything.









Summer fun swimming!

Ellie & Jackson Graduate Preschool

It's official. Jackson and Ellie have played house enough times and colored with every crayon in the mega-crayola pack to graduate pre-school! I kid - we actually had a parent-teacher conference a few months back and they went over how ready they were for kindergarten and I was pretty amazed at how much ahead of the game they will be starting off. The teachers have done an amazing job. The kids can spell and even read some short words. I recall starting first grade not knowing how to read a dad-gum thing.

We went to the graduation ceremony and I watched as parents in the crowd worked overtime to get the perfect angle for their filming of the entire shebang. Can we come up with some sort of society-approved solution for reserving seats at events like this? How do people get into these places so early to stick homemade "Reserved" signs on so many seats? I picture moms crawling thru the AC ducts and repelling down into the auditorium to reserve their seats hours before everyone else gets there.

But I digress... The graduation was adorable. The kids we dressed in all white cap and gowns. They sang songs and had speaking parts. One little girl made my loud cackle laugh erupt when she walked up to the microphone then blew into it like 4 times just to make sure it was on before speaking. "Check one, check. Sibalence. Can you hear me in the back people? Okay good. Today is a good day because the Lord made it."

Ellie and Jackson both nailed their speaking parts. Jackson even had a "Woohoo!" in there that was funny. They called them up one by one handed them their diplomas (probably all written in crayon), shook their hands then had them pose at center stage so the parents fighting for a spot in the middle of the auditorium could capture the Kodak moment. Then after it was all over they gave them gift bags including a really loud, annoying horn that said "Graduate" on the side. I was sure to lose theirs in another kids bag.

So our kids are all growds up. They'll no doubt have their own Facebook pages soon and start asking for cell phones so they text their bff's.

The Bash 2008

The Haught family has a tradition of every other year traveling to Destin Florida and enjoying life that exist on no time table. Each time we go we make it an adventure by picking a new home to stay in. Let me just say that the homes are always amazing and I could do life like that always! Our Haught party exists of Chad, myself and kiddos, His brother and family, his sister, His mom and dad, and then my mom and stepdad. It is amazing but every year we still continue to like each other :-).

This year was filled with fun. The weather was great, a bit windy, but enjoyable. Our days existed of, getting up, eating breakfast, putting our suits on, and heading down to the beach. mmmmm. Each year it gets better and better. This year all the kids LOVED the sand and water. They skimboarded, built sand castles, crab hunted at night, boogie boarded, and much much more. The beach is one big adventure for them.

Cooper was a whole new element that we added this year. We weren't sure what he would think but boy he loved the sand and was intrigued by the water. By the end of the week he would run towards the water and then come back but always having fun digging in the sand or watching the birds swoop down.

We ate some amazing meals! The great thing about our group is that we will shop at super walmart (spent right under $800 bucks) on groceries and then assign a night to each family. We have some amazing cooks so you can't get better than that.

The guys went deep sea fishing and had a blast. This was something Chad really was looking forward to and it met every expectation he had. He caught the biggest fish of the group - 14 pound grouper! Impressive! Check out the pics.

Chad, myself, his brother Jeff and wife Tanya played golf one day. Yes they took the women with them. We had so much fun. Check out the turtle on the course. Fun times. I have played again since then and am looking for some girls to play golf with!

These vacations are such an amazing time for our family. We desire to continue these trips for as long as we can do them. It is such a sweet time for us to spend as a family. We laugh, eat, relax together. We celebrate family! I want these memories to stick with our kids as they grow older.

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