Cooper's 2! (and has been for two months)

Cooper, our "BIG" boy turned 2 at the end of June! Barely squeaking by at 20 pounds at 2 years, this mini-man is such a joy in our life! He surprises many people, when they see how cute and little he is, that he's even walking.... then he busts out a complete, grammatically proper sentence or two in the cutest little helium voice you've ever heard. The only consistent phrase he says that's incorrect is when he wants to be lifted up. "Mom, can I carry you?" I won't ever try to correct that one. :)
It's really fun to have such a vocal little guy who seems ready to soak up any and all knowledge he can get. He loves to cuddle and gives great monkey hugs. Having him stay so small gives us a chance to still have a 'baby'...who can fully communicate. It's great! We love this kid!
His current 'petite frame' doesn't carry over to his BIIIG smile!

Cooper is all about "I do it all by myself, Mom." Which includes handling fire hazards,
not letting a girl show him up (he totally scaled this thing right after she did),
swinging on the big kid swings,
nope, this isn't a 'big kid' shot, just a really cute one of him getting caught playing in a strewn mess of diapers

running to keep up with Tucker (or at least a solid attempt on short little legs),


eating twice as much as his older brother (which he really does + poops every bit of it back out = the same sized kid and 5-6 massive poopy diapers a day!)


and inviting older, cooler kids to his bday party. :)

We celebrated his birthday while we were in the rental interim house between moving from Richmond and closing on our new home in Goode. This is us celebrating Cooper's bday with our new friends, the Scotts (more stories and info to come on them and their cute fam :)

So, little man, although at age two you may be small in stature, your smile, intellect, courage, and heart are HUGE! We love you, bud!

You know you live in a small rural town when...

I've decided the longer time that spans between blog posts, the harder it is to just jump back into it and start blogging again. For that reason, I'm not going to give the 27 page blog post with 211 pictures that I should to 'catch back up' but I will attempt to do it in little, random, non-sequential bits. The first of this random bits will just merely be to say HI! We're alive, we're happy, life is good. We're in our new home and spending a lot of time trying to fill it (coming from 1000 square feet didn't leave us with much furniture to put in our new place). And I, being the 'artsy' person I am, am trying to think of creative ways to decorate, paint, and furnish instead of just putting things where they should be and calling it good (I'm sure go the more left-brained route soon for mere sanity purposes).

Rudy is loving his new job. He's become the 'Sedation Dentist' in the area and is getting good business from that. Seriously, who wouldn't want to be drugged to the point of utter relaxation, have all dental work taken care of, then not remember ANY of it the next day? The people he works with are great-- he even has patients that bring him cookies, apples, and thank you notes! Who ever thanks their DENTIST? :)

The people in Bedford (Rudy's office), Goode (where we live) and Forest (where most of the stores and social life is) are extremely kind and very friendly! I've decided, for the most part, I really enjoy living in a small town.
In fact, I've made a list!


"You Know You Live In A Small Rural Town When..."

...the well water you use for your home makes toilet water rusty and gets strange blue spots in the bowl-- but is surprisingly tasty.

...you drop off mail at the post office for the first time and the postal worker that you've never met says, "hey, aren't you the wife of the new dentist that just moved from Richmond? I think the neighborhood you guys moved into is beautiful!"

...you have to look for 'septic friendly' toilet paper at the closest grocery store that's 9 miles away.

...the talk of the town and new date night location is the brand new Kroger!

....you make the front page of the newspaper just after moving in...because you're a dentist...and you joined a dental practice....you pick what house you're going to buy by the fact that it actually get cell phone reception in it!

...you buy "half a cow" from the nice lady in the branch at church (and that's exactly what you get!)

...the 1.3 ACRES of land you own is one of the 'small properties' in the area.

...EVERY new person you meet asks 3 questions: 1. Where'd ya'll come from? 2. What broughcha here? 3. Have ya'll found a church yet?

...ticks, snakes, and deer are a constant worry.

...you are told (or find out for yourself) about the japanese beetle, stinkbug and ladybug INFESTATIONS that occur throughout the year.

...the closest Costco is over 2 hours away.

...no one has trash service-- everyone has a truck and they dump their trash at the local free dump site.

...you go to a DRIVE-IN THEATER to watch a movie.

...your neighbor stops by and tells you, "we're driving into town today, is there anything you need us to pick up for you?"

...you tell multiple people (including those that don't live in your neighborhood)
which house you just moved into and they tell you the history of all the other families that lived there before you.

...cows and roosters are the loudest neighbors you have.



This list will continue to grow, I'm sure, as I learn more about this fun area in which we now live. It's a great adventure and we're really enjoying it so far!

Pictures and more updates will come...hopefully soon! :)