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!
