Our National Night Out

My first two days of working part time have flown by and it's back to work tomorrow. Earlier today I was dreading the thought of tomorrow mornings routine and the unknowns I'll face at work. I had decided that their is only one drawback with working part time...I still have to work part time. But as the day comes to a close, I'm feeling a little better about tomorrow, maybe even looking forward to it.

The past four days at home have been fun despite a cranky, sick toddler who is anything but himself. Cooper's been battling a stomach bug but has still managed to play on and off throughout the day. At McKenna's urging, we took a trip to the library yesterday to check out some books and get McKenna her very first library card. Last year they told her that when she was able to write her first and last name she could come back for her own card. She didn't forget about that and has been after me for months to go get her own card.

Today our goal was to stay home and get some rooms put back together since the painters are finished upstairs. We didn't get too far though since Cooper wanted to be held a lot (which was fine with me). Around lunch time we decided we needed to get a few supplies for dinner and just get out of the house for a bit. So we ended up at the park feeding the ducks. The kids had a great time, as always. I'm not sure what it is about feeding ducks that all kids seem to love. Thanks Mimi for the big box of Cheerios. The ducks loved them!

Cooper seemed to perk up a little late this afternoon and so we headed out as a family to National Night Out. On our way there I just kept thinking that the last time we went to National Night Out Cooper was only 5 weeks old. I carried him around in the Baby Bjorn and pushed McKenna in the stroller. I remember being so proud that the evening went off without a hitch and I managed both kids by myself.

We had a repeat performance tonight. The kids had a great time. What an awesome night. I wish they did it a couple times a year. (Megan, don't have a heart attack over that!) It is such a fun night and a great opportunity for the kids and parents. My favorite part is seeing folks that I haven't run into in awhile. So Megan, please tell all of the United Way Volunteers that all their hard work was greatly appreciated. We can't wait until next year!

McKenna always like the pony rides and this year Cooper had his first pony ride too.

After a turn on the bounce around we had a toasted marsh mellow with the Boy Scouts, said hello to the search and rescue dogs, had McKenna's face painted, and took a turn on the mats at the LARA gymnastics spot. McKenna showed off her best forward rolls, using no hands to stand up and even did her cartwheels for everyone. Cooper was again in for a treat tonight. He was allowed to go out on the mat with Mr. John (McKenna's gymnastics teacher) to practice his forward rolls. Poor Cooper has spent the past year watching idly as the kids are out on the mat at gymnastics practice. He was thrilled to finally get his turn!

And last, but not least...our budding fire fighters each had a turn with the fire hose. The object was to use the water to knock a ball off of the orange cone. It was especially fun that they lady helping them is one of my co-workers. Cooper pointed at the fire trucks a couple of times exclaiming, "Pappy fire truck" which kind of confused everyone. But we knew what he meant. In Cooper's eyes all fire trucks belong to Pappy or Uncle Kyle. Too funny.