Our Little Peanut

So - with the addition of Cooper J, we thought that our little family had grown as much as it was going to for a while. Little did we know that when we picked Cooper up two weeks ago, we had already made another addition to our family... That's right - Cori is pregnant! She is finishing up her fifth week right now and is due on November 30. We found out on Matt's 25th birthday - what a great present!!! We are both wonderfully excited and can't wait to become parents... The baby (a.k.a. "Peanut") is already the love of our lives! Expect plenty of updates on this adventure as we transition from "young marrieds" to parents...

The Life and Times of Cooper J

So it's been a busy week with our little Cooper! He is such a fiesty pup - he loves to play and will chew on absolutely anything that he can fit in his mouth. But he's also very sweet and absolutely adorable!

We have learned that Cooper's affection for us knows no bounds... Matt was in the shower the other day and had taken Cooper into the bathroom with him, thinking Cooper would just play with his toys until Matt got out. We have a glass door to our shower, and Cooper stuck his nose to it and whined like he was getting his toenails pulled out. Matt, hoping that cracking the door to the shower so that Cooper could see him better, slid the door open just a couple inches. And that was all it took! Despite the fact that he HATES getting wet (bath, rain, etc.), Cooper jumped up in the shower and sat down at Matt's feet! He would rather get drenched in the shower than spend 5 minutes "alone" (i.e. in the same room as someone who's taking a shower)! A couple days later, he did the exact same thing to Cori! Like we said... His affection for us knows no bounds!

The housebreaking is going REALLY well... He has, not always - but often, started going to the back door and whining to be let out when he needs to pee. This is huge (and fast) progress! He still has an accident every once in a while, but that is usually because we aren't paying enough attention to his "I-have-to-pee-and-if-you-don't-take-me-out-I'm-going-to-do-it-behind-the-recliner" dance. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to housebreak him before we moved to our new house, but I think that we'll definitely be able to have him (at least 90%) ready within the next two months!

Finally, this was a busy week for the three Fryars (yes, we count Cooper as one of our numbers)... We went to the drive-in movie on Friday night (which Cooper J absolutely loved!) to see Twilight (which Cori E absolutely loved!). Matt turned 25 on Monday (just how many grays hairs does he have now?). And Cori, who is on Spring Break, has been working tirelessly on her ESL paper... We are looking forward to the weekend and a chance to see family for our nieces' joint 5th and 1st birthday parties.

A Week of Firsts

We always read people's blogs where they talk about all their kids' "firsts" - first steps, first words, first days of school, etc. We were talking about all the "firsts" that have occurred in our house this week with Cooper and decided that we should subject our readers to a list of Cooper's various accomplishments this week. So here it is:

• He got his first bath (and shower - that story to come later)


• He can now stay in his kennel for five hours during the day while we're at work


• He doesn't cry at night any more when we put him in his kennel


• He is eating two and a half full meals a day (though we still have to water his food down so it isn't as hard)


• He made it three and a half days without having an accident in the house (but then peed in the floor when we didn't take him out quickly enough after a nap)


• He LOVES playing outside and will stay in the backyard by himself


• He took his first walk on his leash - it was VERY short (but his second walk circled the entire block)


• He went to the park with Cori and Emma and (accidentally) ate a sno-cone


• He went to Cori's school and met all her students (and LOVED them all)


• He plays fetch (a.k.a. "get it-get it") and will bring the toy back after it's thrown up to 10 times (though he usually loses interest around 5)


• He is (later tonight) going to his first drive-in movie

As you can see, it has been a very busy week at our house! Matt has been on Spring Break this week and was able to spend every afternoon at home with the pup. Cori has Spring Break next week, so Cooper still has another week of getting lots of attention before our regular schedules resume.

He's a great pup - very cuddly at times, but also lots of fun to play with! He has very quickly become a part of our family, and we love him a lot!

Cooper - The Saga Continues (Day Two)

We have had a lot of fun helping Cooper explore his new home. I happened across an unusual toy - but one that he has a lot of fun with... An empty Diet Mountain Dew Can:

He has also had a lot of fun with plastic bottles of different shapes and colors, but the funniest may have been his adventures with a 2-liter Diet Mountain Dew bottle:

In addition to playing with random things out of the recycle bin, he has been really enjoying cuddling with us (and on us):

Finally, he does other, completely random cute things... Like these:

Cooper Juris Fryar

Well - Cori and I are "parents"... To an 8-week-old cocker spaniel puppy! I drove to Alma yesterday to get him. After a "well-child checkup" at my brother-in-law's vet clinic in Fort Smith, I brought him back to his new home in Fayetteville (until we take him to his next new home in Springdale in May). He is very cute and very, very cuddly! Here are a few pictures from this morning:

5th Grade Frustration

Today was possibly the WORST day of my teaching career - yea, I know it has only been 7 months... We have been working on poetry for the past 5 weeks. We would do 2-3 poems a week, knowing we would turn them into a poetry book. About 2 weeks ago, we finished writing poems and began typing them. My kids knew the due date of the poetry book and - seemed to be - working hard to get it finished. All last week, I gave them extra time to type their poems and on Friday I handed out the folder for them to create their "Poetry Book." I reminded them that it was all due by Monday morning. This morning rolls around and I head back to my kidney table (where the kids turn their homework in) and see 5 poetry books on the table. I remind my kids to turn their books in and I get 2 more back (to make a TOTAL of 7). I think to myself, "There is no way that I have only 7 turned in... Maybe they just aren't listening." So, I ask everyone to stand up and as I call their names, to sit down. I do this and realize that 21 of them do not have it turned in. I get extremely frustrated and think I will cool off by checking to see that they have turned in their TYPED narrative stories. I count the narratives and realize that I only have 7 of those turned in, too. I, ONCE AGAIN, remind them to bring me back their stories. Once again, I get 2 more for a TOTAL OF 7! At this point, I go off on them. I tell them how frustrating it is to work really hard on something and just not have it turned in. I realize the time and send my kids off to reading groups (hoping that I will cool off while they are gone). During reading groups, I get more mad and more frustrated at the thought of their irresponsibility and lack of care. My students walk back in the room and it is time to go to specials. I pull the 7 kids who turned both assignments in up to the front and thank them for caring about their school work and tell them that they will be eating lunch in the room for free with me today. I hear a couple of sighs from the kids sitting down and that just throws me over the edge. I tell the good, caring, responsible kids to go to Library while I have a "chat" with the bad, irresponsible, frustrating kids (I didn't really say that, but I sure felt like it). I just let loose on those 5th graders. I tell them how frustrated and disappointed I am at them for just not caring. I remind them of the long time frame they have to finish their assignments and tell them that not having a computer at home is NO excuse with the amount of time we spent in the computer lab. I then point out the kids who ALWAYS turn their work in and say how disappointed I am in them because this is not what I expect from them (in turn making them all of them, but one cry) and that I expect it from some of the other kids because they never turn their work in (making one of the other kids cry). I tell them to turn in their poetry notebooks as is because I won't give them more time to work on it. They do so and I send them to library while giving them the "teacher look." The one - usually responsible - student that didn't cry earlier comes up to me and says, "Mrs. Fryar does this mean I don't have detention after school?" I say, "You won't have detention, but you will probably get an F on your poetry notebook." His response... NO JOKE... "Thank goodness. I didn't want to have detention." I send him off to library because I just couldn't believe he would say that. I wrote a LONG note to his momma letting her know how disappointed I was in him and his reaction.

It was a terrible day and I hope that I have scared my kids enough to NEVER pull that off...

It's More than a House... It's a Home!

Well - it's official! The Fryars are going to be homeowners! We had our home inspection yesterday, and--with the exception of a few cosmetic issues and a broken drawer--everything passed with flying colors! We wanted to tell you about our house...

Location: Springdale, AR
Square Footage: 2,247
Stories: 2
Bedrooms: 4 and a bonus room
Bathrooms: 2.5

It has a small front porch (big enough for two chairs), a good-sized back yard with a porch, a small storage building, and plenty of space for our puppy and hopefully-soon-to-be kids! We looked all over Springdale at all kinds of houses, but we fell in love with this one. It is large enough for our family to grow into over the years, and it is on a beautiful and quiet street.

We're going to have a party this summer for all our friends and family - be looking forward to it!

Cooper

On top of signing a contract to buy a house, we also picked out a puppy this week!!! Yesterday we had posted that we were getting two puppies... After a lot of thought and research, we decided that getting two puppies at once was not a very good idea - for us or the puppies. So we have decided that we are getting on one pup - a little cocker spaniel boy named Cooper! Matt's parents are buying him for us as Matt's graduation present from law school. He will be here on March 13! This is a picture of this newest addition to our little family: