Guess who else had a birthday???

COHEN PHOENIX CAMPBELL!!!  

That's who!

He turned 3 on Sunday, June 19TH!

Coincidentally HIS birthday fell on Father's Day!  It was kinda kooky how Ian's birthday landed on Mother's Day and Cohen's was on Father's Day this year!!!

Cohen's morning began bright and early!  He woke up and found balloons all over on his bedroom floor!

The boys had a hay day tossing those balloons all over the room!

Being Father's Day, the boys decided to hide from daddy and wait for him quietly in their room...

Silence in our house normally means only one thing... and usually that one thing is TROUBLE, but in this case, when Spencer went into the boys bedroom to check on them, they all jumped out at him and surprised him, wishing him a Happy Father's Day! They LOVE surprising people, especially Daddy!!!

Isn't the following picture just priceless?!
I wish I had all the pictures I took that morning, but nearly all of the pictures were lost when our memory card for the camera got damaged later that same day.

Following Daddy's surprise, Cohen embarked on his birthday treasure hunt...

Once again, I apologize for the following picture but it does look kinda cool, don't ya think???

Cohen followed the super L.O.N.G. piece of ribbon I weaved through out the house until he came upon our treasure box and found one of his birthday presents he got to unwrap right then and there.

Since Cohen's birthday was on a Sunday this year, NORMALLY we would pack all the boys up and head out to attend church, HOWEVER, our entire family was sick! There were some of us who were starting to get better and over the colds we'd had earlier in the week and then there were a few boys, including Spencer, who were still feeling pretty miserable... did I mention that Cohen threw up 3 times on his birthday?!  I know. Poor kid.  But no worries... I'm the nice mom who still let him eat his birthday cupcake knowing that later on that evening he might puke that up too. What?! I couldn't NOT let him eat his cake! It was his birthday! It's his birth right!!! Needless to say, we decided to stay home from church that day.  It was actually quiet nice.  I needed the excuse to relax and do absolutely NOTHING.  We watched a few movies--- all three Pixar Toy Story movies for that fact (Cohen's absolute ALL TIME FAVES!).  And of course we napped. We had guests over that evening to help us celebrate... Grandma and Grandpa Campbell, Aunt Megan and Uncle John and Mata joined us for dinner -we had Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches--- so G.O.O.D.- followed by birthday cupcakes and ice cream.

I've been kind of slacking on birthdays lately...  instead of baking something SUPER cute, I just decided to bake up a dozen gluten free chocolate cupcakes, tint some cream cheese frosting a funky color blue, frost them and top them all with some sprinkles and Toy Story cupcake toothpicks and call it a day...

I don't THINK Cohen seemed to mind much--- at least he hasn't said anything yet but we'll see what he says 10 years down the road when he see's these pictures and understands that I was slacking in my "mommy duties"... I'll make it up to him next year, I PROMISE! Better yet, Bentley has his birthday coming up in just a few more weeks, followed by Noah's birthday in September--- I'll have to come up some REAL special cakes then to re-earn my "Mommy coolness" points back.

Cohen actually became really shy when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  I guess he's not used to having so many eyes on him at one time...

He better get used to people staring at him though because the kid has looks to kill and better yet, he's so incredibly sweet--- he's a double threat!  He has looks and personality.  KAPOW!

Seriously.  I've always believed that all of my boys are down right good looking and handsome, but Cohen... he just takes the cake! He defines "charming" and "adorable".  I have to laugh at times, because when he's with all of his brothers, some people--- strangers who obviously don't know our family--- mistaken him for someone elses kid ALL. THE. TIME!  Maybe it's the fact that he has brown hair while the rest of our boys are blond.  Or perhaps it's his greenish blue eyes and his long, thick, dark eyelashes or his skin coloring--- he's lucky in that he tans much quicker and gets much darker than our other boys... I wish I could show everyone a picture of Cohen's cute little tan line on his toosh from his board shorts--- the contrast between his tan on his back verses the stark whiteness of his bare bottom is SO STINKING CUTE!  I'd post a picture but then again--- it may not be completely appropriate--- but you get the point right?... Good.  Bottom line is he's just so pretty.  My sister Trish and I discuss it all the time because Cohen resembles one of her twin boys, Luke, also a very pretty boy, and her baby girl Juliette looks like she could easily be Cohen's sister--- we've decided that Cohen inherited his good looks from our late Grandpa Sabin... he was a pretty boy too--- probably had something to do with his American Indian heritage. We will have to keep an eye on his unibrow--- he was lucky enough to inherit that from Spencer's side of the family... the Campbell's to be precise... Luckily enough--- when it starts to grow in thicker and darker, we can just shave it, pluck it or wax it... we've got options, thank goodness!

At times I find it hard to believe that Cohen was my BIGGEST baby!  Keep in mind, he was 9 pounds at birth!!!  A real solid chunk---but I find it hard to believe now because he's so little and really actually petite.  It will be interesting to see how BIG he gets as he grows older because as for now, he's still easily fitting into 18 month old shorts... I even accidentally put him in some of Bentley's old 12 month old shorts just the other day and he didn't complain. He does have a MONSTROUS appetite however!  He eats all. the. time. and he'll eat practically A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G.  He's won the hearts of a lot of folk at church and every time they see him passing in the halls, they'll reach out and hand him a treat, be it a Tootsie Roll or a little box of raisons. He LOVES Nursery just because he gets to eat in there AND dance on tables!  Yep, DANCE!  Every time I go to sneak a peak of Cohen while passing the Nursery at church, he's dancing on the table tops!!!  I'm not sure how he manages to do it with out getting in trouble... I suppose it's his charm. Cohen sure does have the gift of CHARM and he knows how to use it for his advantage... he can charm just about anyone.  I think he does it by using a mixture of his looks, his subtle grin and personality; he's really an "easy going" kid.  We better be careful with how he chooses to use that gift because otherwise we might have some TROUBLE in store for us ahead.  Cohen's silly... he's LOUD!  He doesn't quite understand that he can control the volume of his voice... I can't even begin to tell you how many times Spencer and I have tried to teach him to whisper... probably as many times as I've tried to get him to use the toilet!  He's just so stubborn, he won't cooperate and do things when I want him too... it has to be done his way! Which isn't necessarily a bad thing- because his way a lot of the times is great! He's very meticulous!... alright, now I'm going off on a tangent. Back to what I was saying before... He's just LOUD and always has been.  He's already said probably a million things during Sacrament at church loud enough for the entire congregation to easily understand that we would have preferred to keep just between us.  His Aunt Laura jokingly suggested that maybe one day Cohen will make a fabulous baritone in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir... I can see it happening.

Cohen really is such a JOY to have in our family.  His older brothers, Noah and Ian, love him, and they also love to tease him almost nearly as much--- but don't you worry because Cohen's pretty scrappy; he can hold his own in a good ol' fashioned sword fight or wrestling match against the two... Bentley just adores Cohen--- the two brothers play fabulously together--- it's been nice.

It's also so sweet to see Cohen interact with our newest addition to the family, baby Atticus... he's very cautious but also very tender when he holds his hand or gives him his pacifier and he's EXTREMELY protective of him, particularly around his other brothers... I guess that's a good thing... right???

Cohen is plum cRaZy about balloons!  

He loves them!!!

I know the following picture below is totally messed up, thanks again to our dumb old s.d. card, but it was too cute not too share and I don't have any other like it at the moment.  Aunt Tricia absolutely ADORES Cohen--- that's not to say she doesn't love our other boys, but boy does she LOVE Cohen like he's one of her own!  I suppose maybe it's because he looks like one of her kids, or perhaps it's due to those occasions when Spencer and I would leave for somewhere, i.e. our trip to Hawaii or the hospital to have a baby, and we left him in Tricia's care...  'nough said, the two are bonded.  Anyhow, sweet Aunt Tricia mailed Cohen a birthday gift and it actually arrived a couple of days before his birthday, so he and his brothers had fun out in front of the house using it... It was a rocket launcher.  Those rockets launched pretty high up into the air--- a few of them flew into our neighbors backyard and a couple landed on our rooftop... I'm pleased to say that we've retrieved ALL of the rockets now and we'll be looking for much wider, open spaces to launch them from now on!

Cohen's pretty fearless.  He'll try just about anything... he's not one of those kids who just try's something stupid without putting thought into it and is completely reckless however... Cohen actually approaches things with poise and puts real honest effort into giving things his absolute BEST.  He's taken up a real interest in our skateboards recently.  I think he could actually be good at skateboarding too because he learned to balance pretty well on the skateboard all on his own. We'll just have to buy him some protective gear so he doesn't break any arms or legs.  He also enjoys riding his brand new bike he got for his birthday... It's a KaZam bike--- it's super cool... read more about the bike here.

B.T.W. Remember how I told you that Cohen's pretty little and how at time he still wears 18 month old shorts... well these shorts he's wearing in these pictures of him on his bike are 12 month old shorts!!! Yes- 12 months!

 

Cohen LOVES to keep up with his older brothers... If they're riding their scooters, he has to be riding his.  If they're playing swords, he's right there in the action with his sword.  If the older boys have their friends over to play, Cohen doesn't hesitate to join in on the fun. He LOVES to be involved!!! He can't wait to play t-ball like his older brothers... he has to wait though until next year when he turns 4.  He also can hardly wait until he starts school!!! Have I mentioned that he'll be beginning preschool at the end of August when school resumes?!  CrAZy!!!  I guess that probably means that we'll be butting heads a lot these next couple of weeks, because I've got to get him completely potty trained before then!!!  Maybe he won't have that tan line across his back any longer--- now that we have the backyard fenced in and we have some privacy from our neighbors, I'm half tempted to just not put a diaper or a Pull Up on him at all and let him spend all day, every day out back naked until he gives in and decides to use the toilet! He plays hard and he when he's not playing, he's sleeping.  He's such a good sleeper still; I'm eternally grateful for my boys who all sleep/nap so well still... I'd be a hot mess of a mother/wife if they didn't.

We love our crazy Co.  

That's what I usually call him now.  It used to be Coey, still is sometimes, but the nickname just sounded too endearing for our vivacious little boy--- he growing up so quickly- he's lost most of that baby look in him that he used to have and now he looks like a little boy so the nickname Co suits him well!