A 9-Year-Old's Birthday Party...

Well, Jessica turned 9 years old on September 18. We decided to let her have a friend spend the night. She asked to have a friend from church stay over and Josh and I thought it would be nice to have the friend's sister also stay so that Dani could have a friend over as well. So, all of the sudden, we were making arrangements to have four tweens to entertain for Jessica's birthday. Then Tia and Sabine's mom told me that they had gotten Jessica a birthday present, even though it wasn't supposed to be a "birthday party." We always decorate for the girls birthdays anyway, so I decided to get some party favors and arrange for the girls to do some crafts at the non-birthday party. Then I mentioned that if Jessica would like we could also invite Cooper's babysitter's daughter, Elaina. Hmmmm.... As it turned out, Jessica had a birthday party and it was a blast! Here are some of the highlights:

What a Summer -- Now We're Back to School!

We sincerely apologize for the lack of posts in the past month, but as we warned early in August, we are all back to school and unable to keep up with the blog as much. We did; however, promise to do at least two postings a month, so here is the first posting for September.

Here are some things you may have missed over the summer:

Coop wearing his first suit (from Grandma Buttery)


Yep, at exactly 3 months, Coop rolled over for the first time and now he's a rollin' fool! (Actually the most up-to-date news about Coop would include our discovery of his first tooth this past weekend!



This is Coop dreamily sleeping in the Hapner family cradle (see the name above his head).


And just before school started we had an indoor back-to-school picnic in the living room.


Not sure why Jess always crosses her eyes when there is a camera around...


Here's Coop lounging in his swing during the picnic



In addition to going back to school, we are trying our hands at a more restrictive budget. So far, Josh is a champ at this, and Mel is struggling... But in an effort to have a quick meal on the cheap, she concocted this little treat for supper one night:

Stir Fry Ramen!