Holiday Fun!

I know it has been a long time since my last post, but things have been pretty busy at our house, and there have been several nights that I should have sit down and written a post, but I simply did not think too. Anyway, we had a great Christmas, and I'm always sad when it's over. I'm not going to give a play by play commentary on our holiday schedule, but rather jot down some of the things that stood out in my mind. First, Lena is officially walking. For the past month and a half, she has been taking steps here and there, but mainly crawling. On Christmas, of all days, she finally decided that she was finished crawling. Daddy followed her around Joanie's house during our Christmas lunch, and he said, "I think she' done with crawling" and that was that. She is so cute to watch. I don't remember Cooper looking so unsteady when he first started walking, but maybe he did. Momma commented this morning when she watched her walk across the living room for the first time that she just looked too little to be walking. It is still very new and cute, that's for sure. Boy is she into everything! I'm not sure what it is about walking that turns them into such little curious creatures, but she has been toddling around the house from one roll of toilet paper to the next cabinet that she can tear into. I knew that as soon as she was walking, it would be crazy, and it is! She just smiles and you can tell that she is just thrilled with her new skill. Christmas morning was alot of fun, of course. Cooper woke up at about 6:30, and we managed to get him to lay in our bed until about 6:45, at which point Lena woke up. I, of course, felt exhausted. I don't know what it is about Christmas morning that makes me feel like I have run a marathon in my sleep every year. I guess it is all of the excitement builds up and culminates, at least for me, to that morning with the kids. I did not feel that I slept too bad, but every time I woke up during the night, I would feel that anticipation, and boy did it wear me out! Of course, the kids loved everything that they got. Cooper's biggest reaction was the stuffed dog that I got him, Brutus. He had seen this dog in a store and fell in love with it. When he opened the box at Christmas, he kept saying "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness" - it was great:) Since then, however, Brutus has spent most of his time just laying around the living room because Cooper is too busy carrying around the smaller beanie baby puppies that Santa brought him. He has even ditched all of the little stuffed animals that were his "babies" before the new puppies arrived at Christmas. Of course, Taggie, has stood the test of time, thank goodness. He has been playing with all of his new Christmas toys, but his absolute favorite thing to do is for you to lay on the couch or the bed with him and "pretend" with his puppies. He LOVES for you to talk for them and pretend with them. I guess this is where his 3 year old imagination is coming into play, except that the person doing the talking has to do most of the imagining, which is hard for me, becuause I have never had the best of imaginations and creativitiy. Cooper's gift opening is worth mentioning this year. It was a little nerve racking for me. His method consisted or ripping through his gifts as fast as he could so that he could decide which toy he liked the most and wanted to get out and play with. There was no time to appreciate each gift individually or reflect on who gave him the gift, just a mad dash to open the next one. John and I had to have several "talks" with him regarding his attitude during gift opening times this past week. "Attitude" is a word that reminds me alot of Cooper lately. He has a bad one, alot of times. I hope it's just a phase that he is going through, and I have been praying about it alot lately. Sometimes, he just seems unhappy, and I worry about that. He has always seemed a very happy child, and all of his yelling (mainly at Lena), attitude, and sulking is getting me down. I still think he is having a hard time sharing his world with Lena, and I try to put myself in his shoes. I feel that I try to go out of my way to give him the attention that he needs, but I'm sure that I could do better. Right now, I am just trying to make sure it doesn't generally affect my attitude, which is something new for me to be dealing with when it comes to my kids. I hope we get it all figured out soon, and please don't anybody tell me that we might not ever figure this one out:) As far as funny moments lately, I know there have been many, but a couple stick out in my mind. First, the twinkle in Lena's eye as she is discovering this great big world. We have seen alot of that lately, and it is beautiful! Something cute that just came to mind was when my family came over on Christmas eve to celebrate, Cooper would run straight up to greet the men and ask them to come to his room to see his new train (that Gammaw gave him). I thought it was funny that he was only asking the men at first. I think he finally got around to asking the women, but only after he had asked the men - lol! Finally, my favorite comment from the week was Friday night when John's family was over, and Cooper, Tristan, and Garrett were sitting at the card table eating pizza and chicken. Tristan and Garrett were drinking Mtn. Dew and Cooper told them "You can't drink Mtn. Dew if you have teeth." I heard this comment but was not paying much attention until the boys kind of laughed and said "Says who?" and Cooper said "Gammaw.", and I about hit the floor laughing. You see, I have explained to Momma that I did not want the kids to have soft drinks not only because of the caffeine, but also because they are so bad for their teeth. Well, in an effort to put off Cooper's begging for Mtn. Dew when she has one, ocassionally, at my house, she told him that she can have Mtn. Dew because she is old and doesn't have any teeth, but you can't have Mtn. Dew if you have teeth! Sounds pretty good to me, and obviously, Cooper bought it:)

More Walking!

I just wanted to post a message (mainly for my future reference) that Lena is taking more and more steps. She took about 5 in a row this morning before falling, I believe. She will take a few steps almost every time she goes to move, before she will lose her balance and fall down and crawl. It is very different from the way that Cooper started walking. He waited until he was 13 months to take a step, but I can still remember the day he took that first step and he was walking all the way across the living room by that night. Once he took his first step, he was not going back to crawling. Lena is starting earlier, but taking it a little slower along the way. Fun stuff!

Lena's First Birthday Party!

I'm a little late posting on the birthday party, but it has been a busy couple of days trying to get up all of our Christmas decorations. Man, I love them, but I HATE putting them up:) The birthday party went great. Thank you to everyone who helped - Memaw, Pa, Phoebe, Melissa, Daddy, Stacy, and I sure there were others. Lena had a great time. I haven't watched the video yet, but my Mom said she was having a really good time playing with the older kids. I missed most of that, I'm afraid. She did not dig into her birthday cake like I expected her too, but after I took the rest of it away, I tasted it myself, and it was not good. I am not sure if Walmart gets those things frozen or what, but that little cake did not taste good! I thought to myself, no wonder she didn't dig into it - yuck! I also had just turned to walk across the room when Cooper, evidently, sternly told Lena "Don't you eat it all, Lena!", so I hate I missed that one too:) In the end, I thought it all turned out wonderfully. It could not have been better, in my opinion:) I wanted to mention some of Lena's first words in this post. Besides Momma and Dadda, she says "Hey, cold, and uh oh." I thought cold was an odd first word for a baby, but to each his own. We are trying to get her to say Cooper and Angus, but she has not attempted those yet. I expect her to be jabbering away in no time. As much as Cooper talks, I can't imagine having another talking toddler in the house . . .Calgone, take me away:) Although she isn't walking yet, I expect that is right around the corner too. She is cruising alot more lately, and she will stand up and balance on her own, so I know it is just a matter of time.

Happy Birthday Lena!

Of course, yesterday was Lena's first birthday. We did not do anything much to celebrate. Pa pa brought her a card and since I could not wait to see her eat her first birthday cake, I had made her a little cupcake and put redi whip and sprinkles on it. We gave it to her after dinner, since John worked, and she devoured it in 5 minutes flat. At one point, her mouth was so full we thought she might choke, but she proved she is a pro at eating already, with no teeth! I had the video camera set up, and the camera ready, but I was so enjoying the moment that I completely forgot to take any pictures. I did, however get it on video. She had a hard time going to sleep (probably a sugar rush from the cupcake), and she woke up very early this morning. I went in her room at 5:15 this morning and tried to rub her back and sooth her back to sleep, but she was wide awake. So, in a moment of weakness, I broke all of my sleep rules. I got her out of the bed (1st rule breaker), took her to our bed (2nd rule breaker), and nursed her (3rd rule breaker). I expected her to fall back to sleep after nursing, but she was wide awake in our bed for about an hour. She finally fell back to sleep around 6:30 laying in the crook of my arm. I couldn't help but think that she slept the exact same way exactly a year ago. The night that she was born, she and I slept in the recliner in the hospital room. She lay in the crook of my arm and slept, while I just laid there and watched her sleep all night. We had the sweetest nurse, Patsy, who, by the way, was the same nurse that delivered Cooper. Unlike the nurse the next night, who was determined to find a way to keep Lena from sleeping in the bed with me (it didn't work:), Patsy was perfectly content to let Lena spend her first night next to me in that recliner. Happy First Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!

These are some pics we took the other day out in our yard

Halloween Fun!

Well, we had a jam packed super fun Halloween weekend. Friday night we did a little trick or treating in Daddy or Paw Paw's neighborhood before we went over to the huge Halloween celebration at Western Avenue. We had a great time watching the kids have a great time. It took alot of coersion on mine and Mom's part to get Cooper into his costume, and he expecially did not like the makeup on his face, but after he saw that it kind of "glowed" he was alright with it, and did not seem to notice it the rest of the night. He had so much fun doing the big "blow up" rides and obstacle courses at the party, and we kept laughing at him because he was dancing while he stood in line waiting for his turn. I wish you could have seen his moves - John and I dance alot with the kids at home, but I have no idea where he got these moves:) I guess he was having so much fun that he just could not hold it in - it was great! Lena had a great time getting smiled at by everyone. She would just smile right back, having no idea what the fuss was all about.

On Saturday we went with Daddy to the Pumpkin Fest downtown. The weather was gorgeous, so it was a perfect day to be outdoors. Again, Cooper wanted to do all of the big blow up rides. Last year, he would have nothing to do with any "rides" whatsover, but boy has that changed. He even did one obstacle course and Daddy and I were not sure he would be able to climb over, but he did it with ease. He had a blast doing that and was rather unhappy when we ran out of tickets. It was a lot of fun, and having Daddy was great. He strolled Lena around, while I kept up with Cooper. I don't think he minded, seeing as the "Pumpkin Princess" was getting alot of attention from the ladies. I let Lena wear her Halloween costume to Pumpkin Fest too:)

Later, Garrett, Noah, and Tristan came over and the fun continued. The boys had a great time playing Wii. It was alot of fun to watch them all play tennis at the same time. That night, the older boys played wii for 4 hours straight! Our friend, Kenny, came over to play, and he is getting married next weekend. Well, he said he had just told his fiance that he wanted to have 4 boys, but I think we may have given him a dose of what that is like:) They were really good and alot of fun - and energy! Oh yeah, and fighting - physical and verbal:) We made Cooper go to bed on schedule because he was up late the night before. We told him that the boys were going to bed too. Well, it did not take long for him to come out of his room looking for his "taggie" which we could not find. I felt pretty bad when he found the boys still playing wii. It ended up taking him a long time to fall asleep that night because he could hear the boys in the living room playing. We probably should have just let him stay up too - oh well.

We don't watch the news, so we did not know that the time was changing so lo and behold, we got to church an hour early - lol. The boys did not mind, they just got to play on the swing set, and we got to go to Sunday School for the first time in a long time:) We finished off our weekend with Savannah's Birthday party. It was alot of fun, and Savannah was so cute. She looked really cute in the tutu that I made her. I could kick myself because I forgot my camera. I wish I could post a picture. She is so sweet!

There are a couple of things that stand out in my mind about the weekend. First, was Cooper's dance moves and happiness at all of the fun things we did this weekend. We have really been struggling with Cooper lately because he still gets very easily frustrated and throws little "temper tantrums" any time things don't go his way. As much as he reacts dramatically when things don't go to suite him, he reacts equally as dramatically when he is happy about something, and his dancing while waiting in line is another example of that. Last week, we went to buy some pumpkins for John's work (12 of them!), and Cooper was running around the small "pumpkin patch" screaming "Momma, Momma, look! Look at this pumpkin Momma! Look, Look!" - I mean, geez, they are just pumpkins, but you would have thought they were undersea treasures in the way he was reacting. It is cute and amusing to observe his "high's", but the "lows" feel like they are wearing me down sometimes. I just try to stay calm and realize that this is just the way God made him, and he truly does wear his emotions on his sleeve.

One of the other things that stands out about the weekend is Lena's blossoming personality. I am afraid to say that she seems to be equally as "fiesty" and "dramatic." We have a new family at our church, and they have a little girl who is just a few weeks younger than Lena, and her name is Natalia. I have been watching the two of them in nursery some lately. Boy, does Natalia make Lena look like the little "diva." Natalia is so good. She just crawls around and entertains herself, and you barely even notice she is there. Lena can even grab the toy that she is playing with, and she doesn't even mind. Lena, on the other hand, is very vocal when you take something from her, and very vocal about other desires, which yesterday, were Savannah's taggie and pacifier (yes, I left both of hers in the car:). Just like Cooper, on the other side of that is the fact that she smiles easily at others and lets you know when she is happy. John and I both foresee many "butt whoopins" in her future - man, I wish I could have a dollor for every one of those:) On the way back home, I asked John, "What is it with our kids being so "fiesty? Are we fiesty?" He said, "Maybe." Man, I don't feel fiesty, but I guess you never see yourself as others see you:)

Also, Lena's intense love of all food can be somewhat alarming to me at times. Last night, she had a very good helping of hotdog, beans, and potato salad, and as soon as she saw Savannah's birthday cake, she starting crying for it. I don't even know how she knew it was cake, and I know she wasn't hungry, but it was all I could do to hold her and keep her quiet until she got a piece. And yes, she had her very own piece that I had to feed her before I even got any. Then, I had to get her away from the table and the cake just so I could have mine. I have never seen anything like it, and I see locks on the pantry in our future!

Ok, so now for my favorite moment from the weekend. Yesterday all of the boys were playing outside, and Tristan, accidentally rolled over my foot in Cooper's pedal car. It hurt really bad for few minutes and I went over and sat down on the patio. A few minutes went, and John and I had went on with our conversation, and Cooper stopped his Big Wheel's and said, "I need to go see Mommy." He came over and sat down next to me and put his arm around me and said "Are you ok Mommy?" I gave him a hug and thanked him for checking on me, and reassured him that I was fine, and he went back to playing with the boys. It was so sweet! He may be a handful lately, but he is my handful, and I thank God for every day I have with him!

Pumpkin Picking

We took the kids to Patterson Farms in Mooresville today. It was a beautiful fall day and a perfect day for pumpkin picking. We had a good time. We took a friend of Cooper's, Elijah,with us. Well, supposedly, they are "best friends" but you could have fooled me. They fought about and over everything today. There were 100's of pumpkins in the field, and lo and behold, they wanted the same one! Ok, so we cut the day a little short because we got tired of dealing with 3 year old attitudes, so it could have gone a little better, but you can't win em all, I guess:) I managed to get a few good pics, and I am also posting some pics from our day at the park earlier in the week.

Ah, the things kids say:)

Cooper loves sweet tea - it's definitely his beverage of choice. I don't often make it at home, but sometimes, when we go out, we will let him have some (watered down, of course:). Sometimes, if it is near nap or bedtime, however, we will tell him that he can't have it because it has too much caffeine in it. Daddy and Cooper spent the morning together this Saturday, and went to eat at Cozumel. Cooper, of course, wanted tea to drink, and Daddy said he took a big drink through his straw, and then said, in his own enthusiastic way, "Ummm, I love caffeine!" Daddy laughed and said "You do?" and Cooper said "Yeah, I love it, and Mommy loves caffeine too!" - LOL, well, he's got that one right:)

Zoo pics

Cooper and Payton

Cooper and the river otters

Cooper and John in the Elephant Tracker Helicopter