Happy Easter

We hope all of you had a great Easter holiday. Although we weren't able to spend the holiday with family, we were blessed enough to spend it with close friends that are just like family. We made the 7 hr. drive to Des Moines, IA and spend a few days with Mike, Misty, Emma Jean, & Alex. It was so great and entertaining to see the kids all together. Sometimes their conversations just crack me up. Cooper, of course, showed off his climbing skills and went up their stairway several times, and fell down them only a couple. (Might I add only once while I was there and Stephen still hasn't fessed up to how many times while I wasn't there) Luckily there was a landing halfway. The girls did great in church and Morgan took communion for the first time. Emma walked her through it and right after they took it, Emma leaned over at the alter and said, "That's good, huh?" It was hilarious.
Then we made a trip to Lincoln to visit my Grandmother & cousin TJ and his kids. It was one fun filled day of Chilren's museum, lunch and topped off with Grammy's homemade chicken noodle soup and brownies. That is worth the 3 more hours of a drive to get there from Iowa. Then we had a 10 hr. drive home. There Cooper exercised his lungs the entire trip, except when he was sleeping to rest up for another round of screaching. But we made it safe & sound with lots of hugs & memories from the trip.

The sun will come out....

Finally!!!! Dreaded February has left and March has rolled in. The snow has finally melted and the temperature even got to a wopping 55 degrees. So we were outside last week. This is one of the first times Cooper has really been able to get out & play. He has been climbing in Morgan's jeep every chance he has gotten, so Morgan decided to take him for a spin. He was sooooo excited to go for a ride, without mom or dad tagging along. Their friendship is already starting to show, and it is such a blessing to see. I am sure there will be many, many times that they drive each other crazy, but it is so nice to see the times that they enjoy together.

Wii Tournament

Well, after a lot of searching and "store hopping" we found a Wii. It took us going to Indianapolis to get it, but we did. We have been making up Wii tournaments until the snow clears. Our first tournament was a tennis one. Morgan won and let me tell you, Wimbledon will be calling that girl. I made her this Tennis Trophy out of aluminum foil and paper. It's the little things in life that make kids happy. She can beat us at tennis, baseball and bowling. And the fact that she has learned to "heckle" us while we are playing is hilarious! She says things like, "I'm going to give you the heat."

Dad's Retirement

I am a bit behind in posting this, but that makes it no less important. My mom retired from teaching last June, and now my dad has retired from the firestation. It has been wonderful knowing that anytime I want to talk, they are just a phone call away. I know they are having so much fun together, as Tracie says, they need supervision. But I wanted to post some pictures from my dad's retirement party. Sorry, no pics of my family, I went alone. One of the bad things about having one kid in school, and one that isn't fit to ride on an airplane.

There are few pics of the two of them sitting still without Morgan wrestling Cooper to not get up. I am so lucky to have such wonderful kids who have such different personalities. They let me experience both the sweet shy one and the outgoing energetic one. But despite the differences in personality, they get along wonderfully ( at least for now.)

Snow Day

Snow! Not something you typically see in Texas at the end of February, but here in Indiana, it is normal. What are these people thinking. I am suprised the Red River isn't swarming with people "jumping ship" from all this cold. But I guess we are still here. So this weekend it was a balmy 38 degrees and we decided to get outside and get some sun. It's actually nice with no wind and if you have the right clothes, which took us years to finally get the right clothes. We went to a sled park and had a blast. Cooper was squeeling and raising his hands while we went down, which just reinforces my beliefs that he will never cease to amaze me in what crazy things he will come up with to entertain himself. Morgan got to go down by herself, she just didn't like climbing that huge hill. Stephen & I didn't like that part either. But all in all, it was a wonderful snow filled weekend. Now we are ready for some warmer weather, but it's suppose to snow 4 inches tomorrow, so we will just have to wait.

Pumpkin Patch

One of the great things about us moving back to the midwest is being able to see our good friends. We met the Slaymakers in Illinois for a Pumpkin Patch weekend. The kids had a ball riding ponies, tractors & feeding the goats.

Cooper's Top 10

The boy has just grown up so fast, I think someone forgot to tell him that he is my last baby and he should act accordingly. So here are his new tricks

10. Favorite food: manderine oranges & french fries
9. Dislikes: Peaches & mashed potatoes
8. Loves getting out of the baby gate & making a bee line for the stairs. He can climb without a stunt double.
7. Loves music: squatting & hands waving in the air are considered dancing.
6. Brushes his hair, just don't let him brush yours, it just means hitting you really hard in the head with a brush.
5. Washes himself in the tub. Some parts more than others, but hey, he's a boy.
4. Words he can say: banana, night-night, dada, mama
3. Loves his big sister to death. He lights up when she comes in the room.
2. Plays basketball: He loves putting the balls in the hoop and clapping for himself.
1. Walking/running all over the place. He is a true walker, now if we can only get him to keep shoes and socks on.

To go back a little bit & catch up. We moved to Lafayette, Indiana at the beginning of October and now only have a few boxes to unpack. (You know, the ones you stuff in a closet out of the way and act like they aren't there.) Morgan had no problem adjusting, she loves school and is doing quite well. Which means I am having to be on my toes and be able to spell anything at any time.
Example:
M - "Mom, why do I have to drink my milk?"
H - "Well, because it will make your bones strong"
M - "What will happen to you if your bones aren't strong?"
H - "You could get osteoporosis"
M - "How do you spell that? I need to write that down."

She is just growing up so fast. I actually got told to leave her alone in her room the other day. I swear there should be a support group!

I have not done any posts in a while, I am just going to chalk that up to moving and run with that excuse. But this morning I heard the cutest thing that just needs to be shared. Morgan's quote of the day: " Cooper, it's not all about you, (talking about Christmas,) It's about Jesus too." Maybe the true meaning is coming through.

Girl Scouts

It has been forever since I have been able to write anything. We will just chalk it up to moving across country and trying to get everything settled. Ironically, I am chosing to do this instead of opening boxes, which is my excuse for not doing this. Call it the chicken and the egg. We are doing really well here and surpisingly feeling very at home in such a short period of time. Stephen has been to a few football games (he even bought Purdue clothing, shhhh, don't tell the Texas Tech Alumni Association.) Morgan has become a "Daisy" which is the first step in Girl Scouts. She has made a lot of friends, especially the neighbor girls who come over often. I have yet to join any organization besides church and helping out at Morgan's school when needed. I am just trying to get Cooper on a routine,(which is not working well, if anyone asks) and getting the house taken care of (which is also not working well, but hey, I am having a lot of fun avoiding it.) Cooper has just grown leaps and bounds. He has 6 teeth and uses them daily to explore everything in the house, especially to eat carpet and cat food, yummy! He is now "toddling" all over the house and his head has the bruises to prove it. He has also learned rhythm and dances to anything that remotely sounds like music, including cell phones.

Visitors

Stephen's mom, sister & our nephew came to visit for a week. We took them to the usual spots, Myrtle Beach & Charleston. We are getting pretty good at this tour guide stuff, so if anyone wants a free guide, just come on down. Morgan & Jake were inseperatable. They had the best time together. Kim even taught them how to two step. Cooper enjoyed eating sand & being spoiled rotten by his aunt & granny.

A whole new view

Our little man is getting so big! I am just beside myself with how fast my kids are growing. I think it is the most commonly used phrase & you get tired of hearing it, but when it's your kids, you are just dumbfounded that they can grow so fast. I wish I could put a book on their head or at least install a pause button (and a fast foward button sometimes.)Cooper has started sitting up this week. The army crawl is still working for him so he isn't too keen on changing that.

kids

Cool Slideshows!

Outside Fun

No one told me that it was so humid in South Carolina. It is awful, I sweat just walking to the kitchen in the morning. But we ventured outside this week, Morgan is sporting her new look, too small of shirt, white mini skirt & pink cowboy boots. We are looking for the trend to catch on & her to have her own clothing line soon. Cooper is just a mess. Getting into everything, namely the plants & cat food. He is my exercise program.

Jello Happy

Untitled from Heidi and Vimeo.

Cute Saying of the Day

Morgan met a new friend the other day, Sophie. She was so excited about our playdate later in the week. So the day comes & I had taken her to McDonalds earier. Right before the playdate Morgan is playing with her HappyMeal toy & said, "I am going to show this to my best friend, um.. um... What's her name again?"

This gives me hope that memory loss has absolutely nothing to do with age.

A Fish Tale

So I decided to go out on a limb and make a more that "everyday" meal. I also decided that it would be good to do this without the help of a recipe. I see all those people in those magazines winning awards for their recipes so I think that if they can do it, so can I. So I attemp to make what I call "Almond Crusted Salmon." Let's just say, I am glad the smoke alarm did not go off, because I did not know that Maple Syrup glaze will burn under a broiler *That's just a free tip to anyone who was thinking of asking for the recipe. Then we cut into it & it is not done, so Stephen takes over and gets it "edible" for us. Morgan decides that she will have spaghettios instead, I don't blame her, I wanted them too. But I stuck with the fish. Mmm Mmm tasty. Right at the end of the meal she decides to take a bite, I think because Stephen was nice enough to make it sound like it tasted good. And her comment to me, "Even though I didn't like your fish AT ALL, it was the best fish ever because you did your best." Always looking on the bright side of things.

Mom's Retirement Party

YEAH! Mom is officially retired from teaching! To celebrate, we threw her a party at her house. This is a pic. of the cake I made her, it was a little rushed, but turned out ok. The party was suppose to be outdoors, but with the floods, we had to hold it inside. Everything went great until.... the kids found the mud puddle, formerly known as the garden. So they all got a "mud bath." All in all, we had a wonderful time, Mom enjoy your well deserved time off.