growing can be a pain in the mouth...

Cooper has a loose tooth.
A very loose tooth.
It wobbles back and forth to the point of laying horizontal in his mouth.
The little bugger will not come out.
Cooper has tugged.
Brent has pulled.

(all words in caps meant to be said with great emphasis)
This afternoon he said to me
"Whenever I eat ANYTHING, it hurts SO bad!"
I'm so sorry honey, I reply.
"This means I can't eat a HOTDOG EVER again!"
I understand how deeply he means this as his passion for food right now is hotdogs.
Poor guy.
Tucking him in bed tonight he said
"I'm going to pray that my tooth falls out tomorrow."
I think that's a great idea, I reply.
Ten minutes after placing the umpteenth kiss on his forehead he comes to find me.
"It just hurts TOO much Mom.  Now my HEAD hurts and everything."
Let's get some medicine, I reply.
I tuck and kiss some more and then
"I prayed five times that my tooth will fall out.  I threw some other stuff in there too but mostly just my tooth."

I would love to see the smile on Heavenly Father's face when he hears the prayers of a seven year old boy that has a very loose tooth and loves hotdogs.

this way he can one day prove to his own kids that he used to terrorize the playground...

The Responsibility Center at our elementary school is basically the detention cell for the unruly kids.  Having worked at the school for the past five months, I know well the little ruffians that spend time there.  BTW, the dictionary states a ruffian is "a tough, lawless person; roughneck; bully".

One month before the last day of school I walked into the school to help educate and uplift the future generation under my stewardship.  Suzy (keeper of the ruffians) handed me three pieces of paper as seen below.  She said something like "you're not going to believe this" with an apologetic tone in her voice.

My son had received a note to report to the Responsibility Center that morning.
Yeah, that's right...my son Davis.

Suzy explained that the reporting adult said that Davis was much too big of a kid to be putting smaller boys in headlocks.  I'm not denying the truth of that statement.  But I'm also saying that a particular pesky smaller boy that is always interfering should return a ball when asked instead of threatening to kick it away.  He's lucky Davis got a hold of him and not some ruffian.

And as a staff employee at our elementary school can I just say that I put out PLENTY of fires without sending kids to the RC.  Especially the tiny little fires that involve great kids.  How hard would it have been to say "Hey Davis, you're too big too handle other kids that way.  Keep your hands off."
Uh yeah...Davis gets it. He does not fall under the category of ruffian.

The pesky smaller boy was not hurt.
But the heart of my big boy was.

But with a little time and a father who has a great sense of humor when it come to stuff like this...
it's a joke in our family now to see if Cooper can stay out of the RC longer than Davis.
And this paper work will serve him well in the future.  It makes him look tough!!

a very good day...

Our Memorial Day was good. 

Us and the kiddos.

Enjoying a trip to the movies.

Enjoying the "still a bit too cold for me but not for the polar bears living with us" pool.

Enjoying some yummy BBQ on the patio.

Enjoying splendid homemade icecream.

Mostly...

enjoying each other.

And my big brother put flowers on my mom's grave.

I'm looking forward to placing flowers of my own when we visit soon.

I think Pioneer Woman's Photography post "Coming Home" is a wonderful start to remembering.
I honestly think this is a perfect way to celebrate such a day.

Remembering is powerful.

what TRADITION tastes like...

because four generations (at least) of hand cranked ice cream doesn't lie.

he comes by it honestly...

    Cooper's Little League season is over for now.                  

  

If there ever was a boy who would play night after night,
practice day after day,
and do it with a huge grin on his face all year long...
it would be Coop.

But then he is his father's son...
 

The little team that could...

Another season of Little League has come to an end.
We thought Davis' team would struggle to succeed.
But succeed they did and Davis was a CONSTANT contributor.
They survived in the playoffs game after game.
Soon they faced the #1 seed and in a nail biter finish, managed to knock those boys out of the tournament.
Our team didn't make it to the championship game but
they had already proved themselves all season long.