Madeline, My Dancer

My beautiful little dancer,

I love to watch you dance.

It makes my heart happy.

More pictures from her recital coming soon...

15 Months Old

My busy little Cooper.  Walking everywhere and getting into everything.  He's always hungry.  He loves grapes and cottage cheese.  Berries, and sometimes bananas.  He likes macaroni and cheese, pizza, and quesadillas.  Loves yogurt.  If you're lucky, he'll eat meatballs and chicken and cubes of cheese but only on certain days.  Most days they'll end up getting thrown across the room.  He used to like broccoli but now will only eat peas (and only frozen ones at that!).

 He loves looking at the Christmas tree.  Loves having me show him all the pieces to the nativity.  He says, "seh-sus" for Jesus and thinks every animal says, "baaa".

 He loves playing on my bed (and has only fallen off once...)

 He has quite an arm and can throw balls across the room.  Unfortunately, he thinks it's really funny to swat at your face.  Yes, he's made my face bleed a few times!  It's hard to help him know it's not nice when he's laughing so hard!  He also still likes to claw at your cuticles!  But his snuggles are the best.

He says:  dada, mama, bapa, bye bye, oh wow, uh oh, baaa, yeah, nana (for banana) and is really really good at pointing at what he wants.  He's also pretty good at shaking his head (over and over and over!)

He weighs 21 pounds, 9 ounces (15th percentile) and is 32 inches (75th percentile).  Tall and skinny like the rest of us, though he's my only kid not off the charts in height.

Cooper makes everyone in this family giggle.  Makes us all happy (even on his grumpy days-which are quite often lately since he still has a double ear infection...boohoo), and I like to pretend he still needs two naps.

Coopey, you're the best!  That's all there is to it!

Ethan's Birthday

He was very excited in the morning.  He liked the balloons hanging from the fan (a tradition) and the "8 is Great" sign too.

 Ethan requested a vanilla cake with orange and blue homemade sprinkles.

 My 8 year old:

 We went bowling in the afternoon.  It was the first time the kids have ever gone, and they loved it!

 We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner afterwards, and then went home for cake and presents.

 He was completely spoiled and ended up with toys, books, games, and cash.  Hard to beat that!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Ethan

Our Bishop smiled at me last Sunday as we met with him for Ethan's baptism interview.  Then he said, "I bet you never thought you'd have an eight year old!"  He couldn't have said it better!  I can hardly believe my first little baby is now eight.  

 And it's been amazing to see how much Ethan has grown over the last couple of months.

 He's started to notice when people need help.  He reaches out without being asked.

 He adores and takes care of his siblings

 And he has a sweet and sincere testimony.  I've been in awe as I've watched him grow to an age where he really can be accountable.  It's been amazing and has filled me with gratitude.

 I'm so grateful Ethan is in our family.  I love what he adds to my life.  His chattering, his projects and paper airplanes.  His lego creations spread around.  His piano playing and math facts.  How he makes juice for dinner and plays with Cooper when I need to do the dishes.  I love watching him swim.  I love hearing him read.  I love his laugh and smile.

His birthday was a blast yesterday.  More pictures of the festivities to come.  Today, I'm just glad he's mine.  And getting so excited for his baptism.  Only three weeks away!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Can't believe you're 8!  I love you to pieces!

What we've been up to

Decorating for Christmas

 Playing in the snow

 Off-track swim lessons (Ethan's taking too and he's getting really good!)  Madeline also LOVES it

 Getting ready for the Christmas recital

 Festival of Trees

 Treat making and eating

November's Ten Things

Ten Things to Smile About in November!!

1.  Playing in the leaves

 2.  Going with my friend to an all-day education conference

3.  The Mother and Son night at Ethan's school

 4.  Haircuts!

 Though Cooper did NOT smile about getting the haircut, only smiled when it was over!

 5.  Celebrating Nana's birthday AND my brother-in-law Ben's birthday - so glad we got to see you!!

6.  Seeing so much family

7.  Cooper's joy in playing outside

8.  Celebrating my Tenth Anniversary

9.  Going to the temple three weeks in a row, and doing all the different ordinance work in order from week to week.

10.  Thanksgiving!