My Beautiful Mess

So yes, I haven’t blogged in awhile, and yes, now that I actually am it will be about my kid again! Sorry…I have found that I enjoy “scrapbooking” about my family here - good way to put a memory all together and share it with my family and friends. So “move along now” if you aren’t ready for a whole bunch of pics of my SEVEN YEAR OLD!!! Where did the time go??? Where did the smiley, rounded-faced blondey boy go??

Well, actually, he is still here - just now in BOY form!

We celebrated with him for almost all of last week. It started the previous weekend in Tulsa with my family - to celebrate his birthday, my niece’s dedication at church (my brother and his family live in Tulsa), and Mother’s Day. We took a trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium and then “partied” at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. Here is Coop touching a bamboo shark (remember, this boy LOVES sharks)…

Feeding sting rays…

And seeing this massive bull shark along with some lemon sharks (hard to get a good pic in the shark tank tunnel)….

Then on the 14th, his actual birthday, we celebrated with pizza and cake at home with Ryan’s family - and surprised Cooper with this….

It is a leopard gecko, and he has named her Patty. He is doing a great job taking care of her! We all think she is so cool - though Mom here lets the boys feed Patty the crickets - I’m sure I’ll have more Patty blogs to come!

I like this photo - he is on the phone with my mom, his Nan, with whom he has a special bond. Since most of my family lives out of town or even the state, he got lots of birthday calls that day.

And finally, we had a party with his friends this Saturday in our backyard. “Transformers, more than meets the eye!” We had 8 kids, including most of his good buddies from school.

This last photo is some of them reading clues during a scavenger hunt we sent them on to find the party favors. They were actually able to read the clues by themselves! Too cute!

Then later after the party, we took him and Drew and his buddy Austin to see Speed Racer (I’m going to need another post on that sometime soon!) and then burgers and ice cream at Braum’s - a very full day!

As you can see, our Cooperman is such a great kid! He is very smart, has a great sense of humor, and is very creative! He is the best Big Brother and friend - so compassionate and loving! I am so honored to be his mama, to be allowed to watch him grow into a sensitive, passionate young boy who already recognizes how much God loves him and believes he can do anything he puts his mind to with the help of his Creator. Lord, over and over again, thank you, thank you…