Baylor OU Game 2018

We had a great Saturday at OU Baylor football game in Norman.  This was the 5th year in a row for David and I to go together and Cooper's 2nd year.  We debated a lot about whether or not to go.  But when the game was scheduled for 2:30, we decided that would be a pretty good time for us and we could even do the trip in one day since I had to be back to volunteer at church on Sunday.

We got Cooper up and headed North.  We made our traditional stop for Chiloso breakfast tacos in Denton.  Cooper also enjoyed a banana with his taco.

My very favorite football watching buddy! 

Cooper was still awake as we got closer to Norman, so we stopped for lunch about 20 miles south of town and then he took a short nap while we drove the rest of the way.  Then he was rested and ready to go!  He started out in his OU gear for a quick campus walk.

We parked in the free parking and took a shuttle to campus, so I put Cooper in our Lillebaby carrier for that walk and ride.  We don't use our carrier a ton anymore, but when I put him in it he snuggled right up!

We let Cooper walk around a little and then stopped by the new BSU building that is being built.  We had visited the site of the new building when we stopped in Norman at Thanksgiving so it was neat seeing the progress that's been made.

A quick shot of him in his shirt!  We got lots of compliments on it at the game.

We made our way up to our seats right as the players were coming out on the field.  We were right in the middle of row, so there wasn't much room for moving around, but Cooper did well.  He sat with each David and I some and then wanted to sit by himself in between us.  The OU stadium required us to have a ticket for him, so he had plenty of bench space to sit.

A quick family selfie before kickoff.

Love this boy!  He loved watching football.  He would see the game on the screens and say "football!" and then loved clapping and saying "yay!" whenever people around him cheered.  He lasted the whole first quarter in our seats and then we went down and took a break where he could walk around.

He spent almost the entire 2nd quarter running up and down the ramps.  We were able to hear the action and stop and watch some plays on TV and the ramps were pretty clear of traffic since it was during the game.  

We weren't sure what we wanted to do after that.  I didn't really feel like crawling over a bunch of people on our row again only to have to sit in one place when I knew Cooper would want to be all over.  David looked out and found a few sections he thought might have some empty seats in the end zone, so we tried to check those out.  We ended up meeting up with a few friends-- David's friend Dean was at the game with his dad so we talked to him for a little while, and my friend Jill was there visiting her niece who is a Freshman at OU this year.  The section we thought had some room was pretty crowded when we got there, but we were able to scope out another section on the opposite side that seemed pretty empty.  Once we got there we realized it was the edge of the student section, but lots of people had gathered there were there was more space and it was perfect for us.

Coop could climb on the rows and go up and down the stairs.  He would climb and then pause briefly to clap and say "yay" and then go right back to climbing!  

We made it to the end of the 3rd quarter before we decided to head back to our car to try to beat some of the crowd.  OU had a pretty solid lead, but we did get to see some fun Baylor touchdowns before we left.

After our long trek to our car, so we got settled in and got on the road.  We stopped after about 30-45 minutes to get dinner and gas and then hit the road.  We got back on the road around 8:00 and Cooper did really well and slept most of the rest of the drive home.

It was a great day and we had fun continuing the tradition of this game with our little family.  We were definitely all worn out from chasing and carrying Cooper.  But it was fun getting to experience a football game with him this year-- any time he sees a game on TV he gets so excited and says "football!" so it was neat getting to show him an in-person football game.  Even if his favorite part was climbing the stairs and ramps, it'll be something we remember for a long time!

Sooner Bear Shirt

We are off to Norman today for our big football game and a day of introducing Cooper to the OU stadium.

Last year when we went to the game Coop had the perfect shirt:

My sister-in-law, Aja, had this onesie made for us and gave it to me at my shower.  And I thought it was perfect for wearing to the game.  As I looked closer at it, I realized that the OU and BU were made from fabric that I had used for burp cloths and bibs and other projects.  So I decided to use some of the scraps I had leftover to try to make something similar for this year:

 It was pretty easy to put together.  The shirt is from Hobby Lobby.  I printed and cut out a football and then used it to trace half on the Baylor fabric and half on the OU fabric, making sure to get the letters in it.  I made the football bigger this year, so it has more than just the letters, but since that brought in some extra color I left it like that even though it's maybe not as neat and tidy as just the letters like last year.  

After cutting it, I ironed it on the Wonder Under and then ironed it onto the shirt.  I sewed around the football using a zig zag stitch (green thread on the Baylor side and red thread on the OU side).

I used Heat Transfer Vinyl, cut with my Silhouette, for the Sooner Bear words.

Overall, it was a quick project.  Cutting, ironing, and sewing I completed the whole project in one night after Cooper went to bed.  And I already had the fabric, HTV, and wonder under, so the only cost was the shirt itself!

It's fun getting to make a few customized things for Coop.  They aren't as perfect as things I might find on etsy or other places, but I like how it turned out and can't wait to share today with him!

Hallway Update

Yesterday I shared this picture of Cooper at the end of our hallway and all of my hallway projects.  I've had a few projects tucked away and just looking for the time to do them and the place to put them and finally I decided to add some things to our hallway.  So here's a glimpse of it all:

On the left is our photo map with the quotes around it.  On the right is our new ruler growth chart and then some shadowboxes and clocks.

I had seen the idea of doing shadowboxes for important family moments (wedding, birth of babies) and then a clock to represent the time.  And I thought it was really sweet.  So I'd bought the shadowboxes months ago and then finally completed them.  Our wedding one has the invitation and program, a picture of the bridal party during the ceremony, the penny I wore in my shoe that David's mom had given me, and the earrings I wore.  Cooper's shadowbox has his birth announcement, his Little Guy onesie, a hat he wore in the hospital, and a piece of the hospital bracelet.

And then I bought the clocks at Walmart and set them to 4:00 and 7:53 respectively.  And I made up this sign to go with them.  We decided to put them at the beginning of the hall so we can add more as time goes on.  And they're in the middle height-wise so we can put some of our family pictures up above and below them if we want to move any from our living room.  I did joke with David that we can only have like 3 more kids before we run out of wall space for shadowboxes and he reminded me that we'd probably run out of room space before that so room for shadowboxes was probably the least of our concerns ha!

I also have been wanting a growth chart ruler for a while and I found one at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and used by 40% off coupon to snatch it up.  We debated about where to put it.  Originally we'd planned to put it in Cooper's room (since if we have more kids, our kids will likely share a room in this house at least for a while) but then decided on the hallway.  So I painted it and mounted it in the small space between our bathroom door and our bedroom door.

And then we marked Cooper's height at birth, 6 months, and 12 months.  Can't wait to add 18 months next week!

And our photo map isn't new, but we've definitely added some more states!  We added 5 states on our Fall trip in 2016, Missouri Thanksgiving 2016, New Mexico in April, and Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama last month!  As we've been getting more states closer together I've had a harder and harder time tracing them.  When I did our states for our beach vacation, I decided to try finding an image of the state online and resizing it to the size of the one on the map and using that to trace and it worked perfectly.  It seems like such a simple idea, I don't know why I didn't do it before!  I just measure the width of the state on our map and then resized the image to that width and kept the proportions locked and it worked out exactly right!  

It was fun having a few new things to work on and adding some more personalized decor to our house!

What's Up Wednesday

I can't believe September is almost over.  But I am a pretty big fan of October, so bring it on!  Getting in on What's Up Wednesday to tell a little about what we're up to!

What we're eating this week

Ranch!  We went on a family grocery store trip on Saturday and David picked out some wings to eat for dinner that night.  So we stopped and got some Wing Stop Ranch (the very best ranch) to go with it and when David asked for a large container, they ended up giving him 7 individual containers of ranch.  So we've been eating it with everything.  We had wings Saturday and Monday night and burgers on Sunday.  Last night we changed it up a little with some salsa chicken which I'm using to make enchiladas tonight.

What I'm reminiscing about

This little guy's first Baylor OU football game last year.  The game is coming up again this weekend and we've been debating for a while about whether or not to go.  We finally decided to do it and as fun as it will be, I think taking {almost} 18 month old Coop to a game might be a little crazier than taking 5 month old Coop to the game.  I know this weekend will be fun and a new adventure for us all, but I can't help but reminisce a little about all the snuggles in the carrier and those precious headphones.

What I'm loving

Cooper is deep in the midst of toddlerhood and I'm kind of loving it.  His little backpack is my favorite thing and he loves to put it on and walk with it.  Granted, he also takes it off every 5 steps and then gets mad because he wants it on again, so don't be fooled into thinking that I love every moment of the toddler irrationality.  But, I love that he's starting to show more independence and is doing so many things to try to help AND I love that he still loves to snuggle and wants to be held and sit in my lap to read books.  It's a sweet time with my boy, even though he drives me crazy several times a day!

What we've been up to

Our school year activities are now in full swing.  MOPS, teaching ESL, Bible Study, and an apartment ministry.  I knew this Fall would be busy for us and so far our packed schedule doesn't feel too overwhelming.  I'm glad to be plugging in more at our church both through getting to know other moms at MOPS and through serving with ESL and the apartments in our neighborhood.  

What I'm dreading

While I love that the weather is finally cooling off, this rain has been crazy and I'm dreading that it seems to be hanging around in the forecast.  I  know it's part of the Fall weather, but I feel like the amount of rain we've had has made our mosquitoes crazy and Cooper gets bit like crazy just walking from the car to the house.  So I'd at least like it to cool off enough that the mosquitoes go away!

What I'm working on

I've been working on some decorations for our hallway and I think I've finally finished so I'll share some more pictures soon.  But I've been working on painting and organizing pictures and hanging it all up.  (Note the toddler on the other side of the gate.  As I was trying to take these pictures he was in all the bedrooms getting in to all the things, so to the other side of the gate he went.  Again-- not every moment of toddlerhood is awesome, but it's all pretty funny looking back at it even if in the moment I was feeling crazy!)

What I'm excited about

October!  Kicking off the month with Cooper turning 18 months old and we've got big plans for celebrating national taco day, going to the fair, visiting the pumpkin patch, playing outside, enjoying Halloween, and so on!  Who knows what all we'll end up doing, but I just love that month.

What I'm watching/reading

With the new TV season kicking off this week, we're trying to figure out what all we want to watch.  We're trying out a few new shows to see what we think.  I don't know what all we'll end up watching other than...

This is Us.  We watched the premiere last night and it's definitely one that we tune in for every week!

What I'm listening to

I was so excited that Lauren Daigle's new album was available on Amazon music.  So we've been streaming that quite a bit while we drive around and play.  Free music is my favorite.

What I'm wearing

Leggings and tunics.  Sweat pants and t shirts.  Shorts.  My wardrobe is getting quite the workout with all of the varying temperatures right now!

What I'm doing this weekend

Going to Norman to chase my toddler through the stadium and maybe watch a few minutes of football!  Looking forward to continuing our tradition of going to the Baylor OU game together.

What I'm looking forward to next month

All the October things that I might have already gone a little overboard about.

What else is new

David and I both ordered new glasses last week.  After some recommendations from friends and family, we decided to try out zenni so we uploaded our pictures and spent an evening "trying on" glasses on the computer.  Our glasses should be coming in soon so I can't wait to get them.  And I love that if they're not my favorite I didn't spend very much on them.

Bonus question: What's your favorite way to eat/drink Pumpkin?

Pumpkin muffins and Pumpkin bread are my favorites.  I've been trying not to eat as much bread recently, so I haven't had much this year.  A friend of mine made some low-carb pumpkin bread and brought me a slice at MOPS on Monday so I've been enjoying bites of that this week.  And I'm looking forward to trying out a few new pumpkin muffin and pumpkin cheesecake treats later this Fall!

And that's what's up around here.

First Day of Fall

The first day of Fall was a pretty great way to kick off my favorite season.

It started with matching my boy in our Baylor Green and jeans.  Then we met up with some friends for breakfast tacos.  We didn't get any pictures, but it was fun catching up with my friend Emily and spending time with her husband and little girl.

Then we headed to play with our friend Leon at the mall.  After lunch we came home for Cooper's nap.  After nap we took a family trip to the grocery store and got a few snacks and treats along with our typical groceries.

As soon as we got home I lit my Spiced Pumpkin candle.  I bought it last year on clearance at the end of Fall-- at the time I almost didn't buy it because it wasn't something I needed or would use right then.  But today, I am so glad I grabbed it while it was on sale.  

When we had talked about it being the first day of Fall, we'd looked at some Fall activities to kick the season off with Cooper.  It was raining all day, so it took most things off our list.  I did see a toddler Fall Bucket List that had "play in the rain" on it, so we had planned to do that.  But Cooper actually didn't want to splash, he just wanted to come inside, so we did.

We settled for Pumpkin Smoothies before dinner as Cooper's first fall treat.  Cooper and David both really liked it!

And we cooked up wings that we'd bought at the store to have for dinner along with an evening of Football watching.

So thankful for this new season and all the fun it will bring!

Play-doh Day

September's "silly" holiday was National Play-Doh day!  It fell on a Sunday and it ended up being the same day that we found our turtle friend and took him back to the park and we stayed home from church because Cooper seemed to have a little bug.  So we weren't sure if we'd get to play-doh, but we ended up having some time before bed so we broke it out.

Cooper had never played with play-doh before, so I figured this fun holiday would be a great chance to try it out.  He was not sure what to do with it, despite us showing him

And this is how he felt about us telling him he couldn't eat it.

At this point, we had to take a break from play-doh for another snack to satisfy his eating desire.

After a snack we were back in action.  Once I made a few letters as well as a ball out of the play-doh he was ready to play.

He loved bouncing the ball on his tray.

And he did finally get comfortable smashing it and squishing it.  After he got playing we just let him do what he wanted to with it and he played with it for a good 30 minutes or so.

He also loved putting it back into the cups at the end!  I had looked at some recipes to make our own play-doh, but play-doh is so cheap that I could buy 5 cans of it for the cost of the 1 ingredient I needed to buy for homemade play-doh, so we went for the real stuff.  At some point we might try making some so it is more taste-safe and we can experiment with different colors and scents.  But for this day what we had was perfect!

Happy Play-Doh Day!  Stay tuned for October when we're celebrating National Taco Day which might be one of our very favorites!

Turtle Adventures

Sunday afternoon I went grocery shopping during Cooper's nap and when I got home, David said he thought there was something living in our pool.  He had seen something swimming, but whenever he was out there it would dive deep where he couldn't see it as clearly.  But as we were standing inside, we saw a turtle swimming around in the pool.  David wanted to go take it out, but I didn't really want to just set it free in our yard.  So we decided to wait until Cooper was up and then take it back to the park near our house and release it into the pond since that's most likely where it came from.

So we went out after nap and tried to get it.  As soon as we came outside it dove under the water.  It would come up a little but then go back under one it realized we were still there.  In the picture above it's right by the wall (excuse our green pool-- all the rain we've gotten has made it hard to keep up with, especially since we're not really using it right now!)

He finally was able to get it out with a net and put it in a box to take it to the park.  Coop and I were inside while he got it so we didn't scare it away again.

We let Cooper come out and see it before we packed everything up.  He loved talking to the turtle.

We took it and David set it free by the pond.  He had been hiding inside his shell the whole time since we'd gotten him out of the pool, but as soon as David put him down he scurried off into the pond.  We watched him swim a little but he dove deeply pretty quick and swam away.

Then we had a picnic snack dinner at the park complete with cheese, crackers, meats, grapes, and drinks.

Cooper did really well sitting on the bench!  He got down a lot to go walk around, but then would come back for more food.

It was a fun adventure on a Sunday afternoon!  Grateful we had the park closeby to take the turtle back to.  We've also had ducks from the park come swim in our pool, but they can get out on their own and find their way back home.  We weren't sure the turtle could, so it was fun getting to go together to take him back to the pond.  

Date Night Jar: A Show

We finally did one of our out of the house dates from our Date Night Jar!

This month the one we drew was to go see a concert or a show.  We looked at several options and decided on a comedy show.  We had looked into a few comedy clubs in the area, but ultimately David suggested going back to Comedy Sportz (where we went for his birthday last year) and enjoying another one of their shows.  So we booked babysitting with Grandma and headed out for a night together.

First stop was dinner!  We stopped at Rudy's on our way up to McKinney and enjoyed some barbecue.  We've been going to Rudy's for breakfast tacos occasionally, but hadn't had lunch or dinner there in a while.  It was a yummy dinner and we enjoyed good conversation while we ate.

We had time to kill when we got to McKinney after dinner, so we walked around downtown and ended up stopping in this shop for dessert.

David tried their Cookies and Cream pop and we played Connect 4.

Then we headed to the "Arena" for the comedy show.

We bought a pair of glow sticks to vote for the red or blue team.  The show is an improv show with 2 teams competing against each other in different activities.

Both teams were really funny, but the blue team definitely started the night strong!

Everyone on stage at the end!

It was another fun show-- we laughed a lot and really enjoyed ourselves.  It was fun going and doing something that we wouldn't normally plan for a date night!