Naked bike riding- Henry.

Our favorite people- Mister Paul and Miss Susan came over this weekend to do a little swimming. We had so much fun, we didn't leave the pool until it was almost too dark to see.

When we got home, mama stripped June out of her bikini and went upstairs to get her jammies. Meanwhile, Juner snuck out back for a little naked bike riding.

Scrawny little kid.

I hope someone washed that seat.

We don't have any pictures to prove it, but on Friday, we all went to the Y with my school class. They have a zero depth entry water works pool for kids. It gets as deep as 3 1/2 feet and I was completely confident, even in the deep end. (I'm only about 40 inches tall.) I ran under lots of water falls and we all took good naps when we got home.

On Saturday evening, mama and Mister Pail both ran a 5k. Called the Beat the Heat 5k, it's run in the evening so you can truly appreciate the splendor of July in North Carolina. Lucky for mama, it was only 80 degrees with a slight breeze. Perfect for a nice run. Paul of course, ran a swift 21 minute 5k. Since mama just hurt her back one week ago, papa was not so pleased that she was running at all. But mama said activity was the only thing to loosen up her tight muscles and squeaked in just one second under 30 minutes (although her official time was 30:01- we know that's not right). She was pleased with her time, as it was her first race in over three years and because when she ran on Friday she was only able to run 14 minute miles. Mama has also decided to only run races in the evening because they served, subs, pizza and beer to all the participants. What is this, Wisconsin?
Mama wanted me to show you the purse she made over Cooper family vacation. You can't really tell because of the print, but there is a green lining and lots of curved piecing. She still needs to find a big button to finish it off, but is pretty pleased with the finished project, even if it meant the (hopefully) temporary alienation of her in-laws because she refused to take part in a particularly rowdy and loud game of Pit.

Finally, we excited to announce for the second time that we have a house in Clemson. The first house didn't make it past the home inspection- something about a leaking hot water heater led to the discovery that there was no drainage or working sump pump under the house. So we abandoned that house for this house. The inspection is tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed that we don't have to go back to Clemson again until we move. Mama says she's sure we've looked at every house in the county.

My camera- Henry.

For Christmas, I got this cool camera as a present.

Mama remembered she hasn't uploaded any of the pictures from it, so here are some of my best shots.

The camera doesn't take that good of pictures, than add a boy that won't hold still very long to take the pictures, so most turned out blurry. This is Aunt Jenni and Aunt Elizabeth.

Uncle Kevin. By the way, mama had a dream that Uncle Kevin and Aunt Elizabeth found out the paperwork for their marriage had never been filed, so they weren't legally married. So they decided to take the whole family to Hawaii to make it official. What do you think Uncle Kevin?

Mama.

Most of the pictures I took were of bottoms, torsos, toys and toes. Here's one of Great Grandma Wagners snow globe. Mama says she spent hours watching it when she was little.

At Christmas, we spent the night at Great Grandma's. She read us stories before we went to bed. And if it's possible, her big old house is even quieter that the Seibert house. We've been in the city too long.

Jazzie.

A ferocious dinosaur. This dino (and my fear of it) was the supposed reason I didn't nap yesterday.

Me during colder times.

Grandma Cooper's Christmas tree.

Girl, me and Grams.

Grams' animatronic Santa.

Pawps and Juner.

My car light.

A car crash caused by a giant pepper.

And papa's Dr. Pepper.

Feeding herself- Henry.

Yesterday, mama got up the guts to let Juner hold her own spoon. Mama loaded up the spoon with yogurt and handed it to June. June did a great job feeding herself and never once threw any food on the floor or walls.

Mama got a lot of pictures of June and they really show- um, a lot of personality. Take a look for yourself.

(This picture shows off those signature teeth.)

June is really growing before our eyes. She started following simple commands. Now she'll bring you her bottle or other favorite toys if you ask. And mama was pleased yesterday when she told June to go put her nukie and blankie in bed and come downstairs. And that's just what she did.

We have it on good authority that the army is rolling out this combo as their new uniform for all enlisted privates. Classy.

We think Juner shows some serious Seibert tendencies in this picture. Those big goofy teeth and huge smile could be easily mistaken for Oliver or Uncle Kevin as a child.

We also think it might be time to put this shirt away.

And here are two big kids. Last night, papa worked late and mama took the easy way out for supper. After a good meal of easy mac, she promised to take us to the grocery store. That's a really big treat because our grocery store always has samples of strawberries, cheese and meat, plus free cookies and balloons for good kids. What a great night.

More movie night and playing outside-Juner.

Here's a few more pictures from movie night. I snuggled in with papa for a few minutes during the movie (thought I spent most of it playing with toys). You can see Henry is beside himself with laughter.

I thought it was funniest when papa tickled my ears.

Today, we decided to head out back to play as it was only 85 degrees out. (I thought July was supposed to be the hottest month of the year. It has been very mild, or maybe we're just getting used to it.) Notice I've ditched both of my shoes as I am perched precariously on this tall Big Wheel.

Mama's main motivation was to keep us busy and occupied while she read her Harry Potter books, but she did pay enough attention to us to take a few pictures. I chased Henry and tried to put chalk in his wagon.

Henry showed off his peddling skills.

And I, for once, got out of the car the right way, instead of diving head first out. Check out mama's garden behind me. It has been steadily supplying about 5 small tomatoes a day. And she noticed today that the peas are coming in. We're losing hope for the rest of the produce.

When we got inside, mama took me straight to the sink for a mini bath. I went straight for the pile of clean dishes. I got a hold of mama's 8 cup glass mixing bowl and threw it straight on the floor. Mama has been saying that we have too much stuff too move. Now there's one less thing to pack. Mama remarked on how much glass has been broken in this house since I became mobile. She also remarked on my capacity for destruction- I managed to break tupperware today. That's right, I managed to crack plastic. Mama can't decide if I'm a lovable handful like Dennis the Menace or if I'm housing a demon that will start its rampage by tearing the house apart and throwing spectacular temper tantrums.

Lucky for us, we were banished to the tv room to watch shows for 45 minutes while mama had to crawl around on her hands and knees. While many pieces shattered and stayed together, like this cool piece, most of the mixing bowl broke into teeny tiny pieces that mama found because she stepped or kneeled on them. If anyone is going to a Pampered Chef party in the future, let us know. I have an order.

The weekend- Henry.

Once a point of terror in our house, we're now quite fond of our big toy Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Mama vividly remembers a time in Wisconsin when I banished my T.Rex to Juner's crib and cried for a half hour when she got it out.

This T.Rex, when it's not rampaging against Matchbox car towns, has a button on the back that opens and closes its mouth, while emitting some pretty terrifying sounds. I like to try and get it to pick things up in its mouth. Last night I spent a good 45 minutes "feeding" it animal crackers and creating quite a lot of crumbs.

June is apparently following in the footprints of Aunt Girl in that she loves to be scared. She will pick up the T.Rex and carry it around, hounding mama and papa to make it roar, then she looks terrified and runs away- until the roaring stops and she started all over again.

She even roars back at the dinosaur.

Here she is caught in the act of scaring herself.

On Thursday, mama promised me that we'd go out for ice cream if I ate a good supper. She was very surprised that I ate, especially because she'd made Ethiopian food for supper (we miss Buraka in Madison). So we braved a rainstorm and headed out for ice cream. I insisted that we both wear our full rain gear.

I've been so funny lately, mama decided to take a long video of me. If you've got almost 4 minutes, here's a glimpse of daily life with a goofy 3 1/2 year old. Mama also wishes she'd caught on tape when I'd explained to her that the scrape on my knee was healing. "It shrinks back into my bones."

June has been saying a few new words. Among them: "Mama" "Papa" and "Bubba." In this video you can hear mama say those words a lot, but June only says "mama" and goes back to making mischief. It is pretty cute to hear her babble though. Mama say that I never babbled, I just pointed to what I wanted and yelled "Becky!" She says that Juner's babbling reminds her of our friend Nora when she was a toddler. Pay attention to what a stinker she is. Mama pulled a muscle in her back this weekend at the gym. So she's been on the couch while papa is playing Mr. Mom. He tried to clean the house, but was surprised at how quickly June had torn it all apart again.


Here's another attempt to get her to talk. If you listen closely, June kind of says "Di-so," or "dinosaur." She really love dinosaurs. You can also hear me helping June out with some words. I'm tired of hearing mama trying to get her to talk. It's not so hard. I do it all the time.

We mentioned that I really like painting. Here's a finished piece. Look at how well I stayed in the lines.
Mama got this cute shot of June watching the tv in full zombie mode.

On Saturday, we had a big treat when Mr. Doug called us and said he'd be stopping by on his way home to Fort Bragg. We were really excited when he brought his dog Sasha. Mama even let Sasha sleep inside (she had a cage) and Sasha proved to be a very nice dog.

Sasha was a nervous little dog and really only warmed up to Juner. Maybe because thye were the same size.

I asked Mr. Doug if he would leave Sasha with us, but mama said no.

Finally, on Sunday night, we had a special movie night. Papa got Wall-E on blue ray and we've been dying to watch it. It had enough bloopers to make me laugh the whole movie. Here's a sample of what it's like to watch a funny movie with me.

And here's what it's like when I'm not laughing- a LOT of questions. By the way, if you haven't seen Wall-E, go rent it. It's the cutest movie we've seen in a long time, and we're all debating whether how to rank it among the rest of our favorite Pixar movies. (Mama thinks it might be her new number one.)

My southern style-Juner.

Lately, I've been noticing mama's sense of style (or lack thereof) isn't quite up to par in the south. We've noticed it especially at the gym. Mama gets up every morning and just pulls on some clothes and puts her hair in a headband. She doesn't even put on makeup (before her workout, of course). Mama was also painfully aware of her lack of effort when she was sandwiched in between two ladies discussing the trouble they have matching their earrings to their workout clothes. Mama felt a little awkard because she was wearing sweats and her favorite purple gym t-shirt. (Note from mama: I don't wear the same purple t-shirt every day. I just have four of the exact same shirt.)

That being said, I've had to take matters into my own hands. Henry picked out my dress and insisted that I be a princess today. I accessorized myself. I was a big hit at the gym, even if mama was a little embarrassed to have a beauty queen with her.