Cooper--5 years old!

And what a 5 years it's been!  We often joke that Cooper is our "Joseph, born in the day of our afflictions."  How true that is!  He was born the month after we lost our business, and we've never quite caught our breath since then!  

He was a breathe of fresh air for us.  What a sweet baby that helped us keep an eternal perspective.  He was the perfect snuggle partner for Dixon during his months of deep depression.  Cooper was the magic pill that could put a smile on Dixon's face, even in the darkest of days.
 

 He was a really easygoing, sweet baby.  He was born with strawberry blonde hair, which was so random for us.  The rest of our kids were all born with dark brown hair.  It quickly turned blonde and has stayed that way so far!

 We were those dorky parents that let his curly blonde locks grow a little too long.  My parents were on a mission and they didn't want us to cut it before they got back.  I finally couldn't take it anymore and buzzed him when he was about a year and a half.  I've never been a fan of long hair on my boys.

 He has always had a special bond with Dix.  Probably because of all the snuggling he got to do with him from a very young age.  I'm not much of a snuggler, but Dix is and so is Cooper.  To this day, Dix puts him to bed every night after reading to him (sometimes a huge stack of books, Dad is such a sucker!), and making up stories to tell him.

 Cooper is very shy.  He doesn't talk to people unless he knows them pretty well.  He just barely started talking to his primary teachers and he's had the same teachers since January!

Cooper doesn't mind being alone.  He's been the only child at home for a couple of years now and he is used to playing by himself.  In fact when there are lots of kids over, he likes to shut himself in his room to play with his toys by himself.

 Cooper is cautious.  He doesn't like to get hurt.  All the other kids learned to ride without training wheels when they were four.  Not Cooper.  He likes all the skin on his knees intact.  And so do I.  Because if Cooper ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

 Cooper is super silly.  He likes to dress up and he likes to make people laugh.  Awesome combination.

 Cooper is small for his age.  The rest of my kids have all been bigger, at least until they were 4 or 5, but Cooper started off small.  So people always think he's younger.  So they don't expect much from him.  Works for him.

 Cooper likes to help out.  At least he used to.  Now that he's old enough to actually be helpful, he balks just like the rest of them.  But he's getting pretty good at doing his chores and wants to start taking music lessons soon.

 Cooper loves to play outside.  It is almost fall which means we'll be able to start playing outside soon!  And he's only in half day kindergarten which means he'll get plenty of outside time all winter long.

 Cooper is adored by all of his brothers and his sister.  Well, Turner might not adore him, but he sure likes him.  The rest of them all cater to his every whim.

 He likes to play games, and is actually getting better at some of them.  Hasn't quite figured chess out yet, but give him a couple of months!

 Cooper is the king of hand me downs.  One of my favorite things is seeing pictures of him and remembering which child I bought that outfit for.  It's amazing the number of things that made it through five boys.  And they're not always the expensive name brand things either.  That's a whole 'nother post entirely.

Happy 5th Birthday to a fun little guy!  Glad you are in our family!