Happy 7th Birthday Amelia!

Amelia is 7! I can hardly believe it! This morning she woke up and said, "I feel older." I'm so thankful to have her in our family. She's a happy, considerate, helpful and fun little girl. She's a wonderful big sister and daughter. She fixes the best peanut butter toast-and-milk breakfast in bed, and is a gymnastic genius. We love you, Amelia!

Amelia at 3 months old.


She had a great day! She loved the gifts Cooper and I gave her and was quite gracious. Cooper did well, he sat by her while opening presents, but didn’t actually open any. He’s dying for his birthday, though, and I’m happy that they’re only two weeks apart!

Opening gifts with Cooper Boy:


I got Amelia off to school and Cooper and I grabbed some cookies from the store to bring into her class after lunch. I came home and made her cake (rainbow chip with purple frosting) then we headed over to the school about 12:15pm. I was a little (okay a LOT) nervous to take Cooper. He’d been up at 5am with Amelia and no nap.

He did GREAT. He sat with the kids while the teacher finished reading them a book, helped Amelia hand out the cookies, and was really well-behaved! After school we hurried through homework and left Cooper with a baby-sitter. Amelia and I went to Fat Cats to have her birthday party. Amelia and her friends ate, bowled, golfed, shot foam balls at each other and played in the arcade. Let me just say four 7-year-olds can get crazy, and they can get crazy FAST. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Malia and Amelia.


Eating and bowling. Addie, Malia, Rebecca, Amelia.


Singing to Amelia as loud as possible:


Shooting foam balls at each other and me:


Miniature golfing as quickly as I've ever seen:



Amelia after a great birthday, tons of sugar, and alot of running around crazy:


They all had a great time and were tuckered out by the time their parents came to pick them up. Happy Birthday Amelia! I hope you had the best birthday ever!

Duh, Mom!

We were having FHE tonight and talking about temples. I asked Cooper, “How do we walk in the temple?” I was trying to lead him to say reverently, quietly or softly. He said, “One foot in front of the other.”

Yo Ho, Let's Go!

Ahoy, mateys!! The Disney channel has a new show called "Jake and the Neverland Pirates". The kids LOVE this show. I must admit it has a catchy theme song and pretty funny lines. This afternoon they made their own pirate ship. With some help from an old pillowcase and some maps I dug up, they pretended to be Jake and Izzy. They stayed true to their character even through disagreements. I heard, "Yay hay, no WAY!" and "I'm going to leave you in the middle of the Neverland Sea!" Luckily, they worked out their differences in time to thwart Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.

Amelia has attitude even as a pirate. The pouch around her neck is pixie dust, given to her by the pixies for emergencies only.


Cooper being Jake.


Their boat with their crew. (All the babies had a headband tied around their heads).

I Would Like to Apologize...

...for the blood-curdling screams you heard today from 3:20pm-3:40pm that radiated for a 700 mile radius from Rexburg, ID. Amelia was getting sealants on four teeth and one pulled.

The dentist, his assistant and I have only temporary hearing loss and hope to have a full range of hearing restored in a few days.

Amelia is fine, suffering only a bloody nose and a few broken capillaries around her eyes due to the trauma. When the screams died down, I asked her what hurt so much. She looked at me strangely and said, "Nothing."

Next time we're skipping the happy gas and going straight for the Valium. For both of us.

Crazy Weekend

Last weekend was crazy busy. Friday started things off with grabbing Amelia a haircut before her pictures on Saturday. Friday night was actually relaxing, because Amelia didn't have her gymnastics for three hours anymore. We visited Ben and Matthew for a bit, and then came home.

Amelia always asks for straight hair when she gets it cut.


Cooper has begun to walk in front/stick something in of front the camera when I'm trying to get a picture. Have any idea where he learned that, Andy?


Andy and Amelia sans Cooper's influence.


Saturday morning we got up, ready, and drove into Idaho Falls. Amelia had her pictures taken (which I'll post later--they've changed the format and I can't cut-and-paste anymore) then went to lunch. Afterward we perused Toys R Us, as the kids birthdays are coming up. I tried to explain to them they weren't going to receive everything they liked. I gave up by aisle 3.

Amelia had received a $3 off coupon, so she purchased some pom poms and a feather boa. Cooper opted for a dollar motorcycle. Cooper was getting cranky then, so we decided to drive a bit. By the time he fell asleep we were half way to Blackfoot, so we continued on. Cooper woke up in Blackfoot, looked out the window, held up one finger and said, "Excuse me, this isn't Idaho Falls." Brilliant, that child.

After a bit we went back to Idaho Falls to meet with everyone but Courtney (whom we missed greatly) and celebrate October, November, December, January, February, and March birthdays. It was a little chaotic. Then best part was when Katie Call decided to come back with us to spend the night! Everything is better with a little Katie Call! We came back, put the kids down and had a nice girls night. Katie stayed through Monday, which made the weekend even better.

Amelia with her boa, pom poms, and chosen dance outfit.




Lest you think I'm not representing my children equally, Cooper just didn't want to be photographed this weekend. See?


Monday the kids went to their new gymnastics class and Amelia rock climbed for the first time. She was SO excited and did really well.....until she was 2/3 of the way up and then glanced down. I must say the guy belaying her wouldn't let her come down and encouraged her until she made it to the top. He's stronger than I, I would've let her down at the first tear!

Now onto a few busy weeks!

Top 'O The Morning To Ya!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I love this holiday, even though I'm about as English/Welch as they come. Maybe I could marry an Irishman......anyway, this morning Amelia had toast and green milk in a green cup with a green straw. Cooper did not. She wore her green shirt with a green clip in her hair. Cooper did not. Cooper is a St. Patrick's Day Bah-Humbug. Amelia is excited to have a teeny-wheeny little greeny party today, and Cooper just wants to go to school. Happy Leprechaun Day!



I've added one of my favorite links about a little Irish girl who wants her school knocked down. Slainte!

Irish Girl Wants School Destroyed

Cooper's Big Day

Cooper talked about his "big day" all day Monday. He had his first gymnastics class Monday night. Or, "na-nas-ti-nicks" as he calls it. He did really well, only having a few small issues of waiting his turn. His coaches were really patient with him.

Amelia also had a new class. I took her off the team due to time, money and communication issues with the Booster club. I simply couldn't keep up while working nights and weekends. So after Cooper begins school, if Amelia still wants to do the team, I'll have her try out again. Her new class is "Fun 'N Fit". It was the only class even close to her level. There is a tumbling class, but she would be in with 6th graders--12 year olds. Anyhow, she really liked it. It includes conditioning, rock climbing, and tumbling.

So far the kids are happy!

Cooper ready for his first class.

Amelia's Logan Meet

This weekend we had Amelia's gymnastics meet in Logan, UT. It was fun, she did really well! She has improved so much from her first meet a few months ago. This was her last meet for awhile, I'm moving her to a different class for the next few years. Cooper did okay; I've decided he just needs sleep, familiarity and a routine to be happiest. Thanks to my parents for going with us, I know it wasn't the most ideal weekend. Thank you especially for reassuring Cooper he hadn't "wost me for sure" while I was at the meet.

I'll apologize for the shaky video--I think we can all agree it's a good thing I didn't become a surgeon.

Before the meet. She's got her game face on.


Picture of her bar routine. I didn't record the routine she was judged on. Cooper made things a bit difficult.


After the meet.


Floor routine.


Vault. (you might want to fast forward about 15 seconds).


Beam


Her scores: Vault--8.6 Bars--6.3 Beam--4.5 Floor--7.1 All Around: 6.6

Not bad for a six year old.

All her awards from this season.

Sometimes Mornings Are Hard...

Snow Play

The temperature warmed up a bit over this last week. The kids had, and still do, cabin fever. I was risking coughs and stuffy noses but I bundled them up and sent them outside. They had such a good time! Here's some pictures:






The time outside tuckered them out, so they relaxed and watched a movie for a bit.

Mormon Mom Minivan Madness

I have a pet peeve, and it's Mormon Moms in Minivans(In Rexburg). I will refer to the above as "MMMM" for simplicity from here on out.

During the cold winter months, I drop Amelia off at school. So does everyone else in a 12 block radius. Normally it's a simple, in-and-out process.....as long as you get there before the MMMM.

As you know, Rexburg is a family community, and being so has an enormous number of children under 10--hence an astonishing number of minivans. I began picking Amelia up across the street after I had my first brush with the MMMM at the beginning of school. As the end of the school day arrives, the front of the school is packed bumper-to-bumper with minivans. Most have the cute little stick figures of their family in the back window, or a sticker somewhere proclaiming how proud they are of their cub scout.

But they aren't the dangerous ones.

The most lethal are the Mormon Moms that are trying to manuever their vans into compact-car spaces while talking on the phone, breaking up fights between younger children THAT ARE NOT BUCKLED IN, fixing their perfectly streaked hair with their inch-long manicured nails while waving to other Mormon Moms in Minivans. They are the ones that miss side-swiping other cars (say, a small red sports car) while they are trying to multi-task.

To top it off, most are about 8 months pregnant.

Now I try not to judge (and fail most of the time), but never has my tire-gauge hand itched so much to flatten a few tires. Mostly the ones attached to Toyota Siennas and Kia Sedonas.