2 Months of Lil: Such a Sweetheart

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Our precious LilliAnn is 2 months old and in the words of her daddy, "she's such a sweetheart." I want to share a story with you that really portrays a father's love. This past weekend we went to a wedding reception and most of the people there were old friends from high school. I looked around and thought it was kind of weird - the people that I always knew would end up together, and others that I wondered how they got where they are today. It's funny how back when I was younger I never thought that our children would one day grow up together...just like we did. As I was going to get a drink I walked behind Jeb talking to a group of his high school buddies and I overheard him say, "she's such a sweetheart." I stopped right there. Being careful not to let him see me, I leaned in a little closer to hear more of the conversation. I felt like I was in high school again - the jealous girlfriend - listening to the guys talk about babes. I thought to myself, "who is such a sweetheart?" Me? A girlfriend I don't know about? I was SO curious about this conversation! He went on to say, "She's everything I ever wanted. Just precious - she's my girl." And then I heard it. "LilliAnn is twice the baby Reid was." My heart melted right there! My, how times have changed! Here's Jeb, standing with a group of guys, having a beer, and telling them how perfect his new baby girl is. Wow, now that's true love! She definitely already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. 

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When Jeb said that LilliAnn was "twice the baby Reid was," I think what he meant was that we are "twice the parents" we were with Reid. I think a little experience has made us just a little bit better with a new baby. I'm a little more laid back and Jeb's a little more particular about how things are done with the kids. LilliAnn is, however, less high-maintanence than Reid was and is a better sleeper - and more sleep makes everyone more happy! Reid was always so serious as a baby. We would try everything to make him smile and he wouldn't even smile in pictures - it was like he was trying to figure out what we were doing with that camera thing! His sister, on the other hand, is quite the little grinner. If she's not sleeping, it seems like she's smiling. She's such a happy baby and just grins so big whenever someone talks to her. She's even trying to have a "conversation" with you now and loves to talk back. She starts getting her mouth going and scrunches her eyebrows together and tries so hard until she finally gets some sounds out! And when it comes to eating, this girl doesn't miss a meal! She weighs over 12 pounds and has the cutest chubby legs. I always wanted a little baby with chubby legs! She's in the 75 percentile for her height and her weight - this is so different for me because Reid has always been in the 25-30 percentile for his weight and the 75-90 percentile for his height. I keep buying her clothes too small because Reid was in a 0-3 months for such a long time and Lil is already in a 6 month in some things! We're having so much fun dressing her up, but we've got to have more bows (although Jeb would probably disagree)! 

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Lil is such a sweet, laid-back baby and we're enjoying her more and more every day. We're already seeing her little personality come through - my mom thinks she's going to be very verbal, I think she's going to be a girly-girl (minus the drama)! We've already been practicing how to "shake it and shimmy!" I feel so blessed to have two beautiful children in my life and I'm looking forward to all the new milestones that are yet to come.

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LilliAnn Loves:

• water - especially the bath
• sitting on top of the dryer in her bouncy seat and sitting in the bathroom in her swing listening to the bath water run
• being held
• getting kisses
• being rocked and swayed
• being talked to and talking back
• sleeping right next to mommy
• riding the Ranger at the lake
• being outside

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Talking to Aunt Lacee

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2 Months Old - Sleeping in her crib for the first time (she slept 5 hours without waking up)

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Going out to eat at the Palmer Inn for Uncle Kassidy's 19th birthday

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27 Candles!

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Happy Birthday Jeb!

On June 10th Jeb celebrated his 27th birthday! I surprised him by inviting some of his friends out to the lake and having a Mexican Fiesta! We had Mexican beer, chips & queso, fajita's, his mom made him a pan of his favorite chicken enchiladas, grandma made a chocolate sheet cake, and I ordered him a chocolate cake with chocolate covered strawberries - his favorite dessert! 

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27 and still cool!

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Reid helped blow out the candles.

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Sporting the new Ray Bans the kids and I got him for his birthday!

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And helped eat all the chocolate off of the strawberries!

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Lots of friends and family came to help us celebrate!

Uncle Terry

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Stacey

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Grandma Lucy & Aunt Tammy

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Kari

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Dirty Boy!

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David & Ashley

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Gonzo! (Gonzo played football with Jeb at ECU and was a police officer with him at Shawnee PD)

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Chase & Josh

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Aunt Johnna

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Nana & LilliAnn

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Lil slept through her daddy's birthday celebration!

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Ranger Rides!

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CHEESE!!!

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Cook Family Reunion

Last weekend we had the Cook Family Reunion. My grandfather (my dad's dad), Glenn Cook, and his family are from Wewoka, and since three out of the six Cook children still live in Wewoka this was where the reunion was held. Grandma Lucy decided that we would have all of the events for the weekend out at Wewoka lake since her and grandpa live there and there's plenty of room. My dad's sister, Glenda, and her husband Terry live at the lake and my parents and Steve and Kristi (dad's cousin) have lake houses on Wewoka Lake as well. We have three "Cook" houses on our 40 acres at the lake and I've started calling it "The Cook Compound." 

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My grandfather and his five brothers and sisters and their spouses attended the reunion along with several of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. My grandpa's Aunt Mut (Flora - sister to my great-grandfather William 'Bill' Marion Cook), who is 93 years old even stopped by for the festivities. About 90 people attended the reunion and it was a great weekend of conversation, laughter, boating, swimming - and of course, GOOD FOOD. There definitely wasn't a shortage of delicious food - hence the family name "Cook." Grandma wanted the reunion to last the entire weekend since family was flying in from Ohio and Kansas. Friday night we cooked hot dogs on a campfire down by the lake at the Cook pavillion, Saturday we had sandwiches, wraps, hot wings, and fruit for lunch, then had smoked chicken, brisket, ribs, homemade macaroni and cheese, baked potato casserole, and lots of different salads for dinner, and Sunday we had a brunch of breakfast casseroles, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and fruit - not to mention the tables filled with Granny Cook's chocolate cookies, brownies, cakes, pies, and Aunt Wanda's blackberry cobbler. 

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Saturday's Lunch

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Aren't these the cutest summer cookies?

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Me & the newest addition to the Cook family

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LilliAnn and her great-great Aunt Wanda Hensley, of Wewoka

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Everyone wanted to hold LilliAnn and she enjoyed all of the admiration as well!

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My grandfather, William Glenn Cook - Always laughing or telling a joke! While we were all introducing ourselves and telling who we belonged to, Papa said, "someone was looking for their boyfriend earlier and I said, you might be a redneck if you're looking for your boyfriend at a family reunion!" He always cracks himself up and then everyone around him ends up laughing too. He gave himself the award for the "Most Hen Pecked." Grandma didn't think it was as funny as he did!

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Papa Glenn and his sister Shirley 'Cook' Clark, of Cleveland, OK

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My dad, Kelly Lynn Cook 

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Grandpa Glenn's brother-in-law Preston Clark, of Cleveland, OK and his brother, Doyle Cook, of Wewoka (my dad is in the oil business with Uncle Doyle)

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My grandpa's sister, Hilda 'Cook' Schmidt, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Aunt Flora, 'Mut', of Clinton, OK

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The Hensley bunch - my grandpa's brother-in-law, Robert Hensley, of Wewoka, and his son and daughter-in-law Tommy and Pam Hensley, of Wewoka

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Preston and Shirley's daughter Terry Matzdorf & her daughter

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My cousin-in-law, Karen, holding my second cousin, Eli and my cousin, Lacee, following behind

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Granny Cook's (Thelma 'Thomas' Cook) sister, Ruth 'Thomas' Johnson, Papa Glenn, and Aunt Hilda

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Aunt Hilda's daughter and son-in-law, Pam and Bob Coleman, of Cleveland, Ohio - They got the award for "Farthest Traveler"

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Setting up the "shoes" - Colton Johnson, Josh Rollins, Jeb Rollins, and Reid Rollins. Papa told my dad the week before that he thought we should have some form of entertainment at the reunion. Dad said, "well we've got a pontoon boat, a Mastercraft wakeboard boat, a ski boat, 3 waverunners, a Gator, and a Ranger - were you thinking of hiring a band?" Papa said, "no - I was thinking horseshoes!" haha!

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Reid and Audri playing on the porch of the playhouse

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Audri kept filling this bowl up with sand and telling Reid it was his birthday cake.

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The three would sing Happy Birthday to You and then pretend to blow out the candles and then eat the cake. 

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Reid didn't quite understand the "pretend" part yet, and ate the sand like it was real cake!

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Inside the playhouse

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Miss LilliAnn - all dressed up and ready for dinner

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Nana Karen holding LilliAnn - All ready for bed

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It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so glad that my children were able to meet some of their extended family that we don't get to see very often. We have a very close family and it's such a blessing to see all of the different generations get together to enjoy each other's company and share family stories and traditions.