March Happenings

The month of March was a fun one.  Cooper had a choir concert, Amelia spoke in church, and Cooper had DARE graduation. Most importantly, Amelia had her 14th birthday, but I'll do a separate post for that. :-)

First, Cooper has his second choir concert. He did a wonderful job and it's hard to believe he's finishing up his 5th grade year. It seems like after my kiddos pass the 4th grade the years speed up! Here's a pic:

Cooper is gaining on Amelia height-wise. I think he'll pass her this year. All Amelia said about it was, "Guess I'll need more high heels."

Here is his DARE graduation picture. Amelia loved seeing all her old teachers!

Amelia had another orchestra concert. I'll try to post a video of them playing "Pirates of the Caribbean." She did a great job. Here she is with her friend (who is NOT shorter than Amelia, Amelia is just wearing heels) and a photobomber friend:

We also visited family a bunch:

That's it! After birthdays we get into the craziness of school ending. I can't believe another summer is almost here. We have girls camp, youth conference (she's 14 now!), scout day camp, family reunions, swimming lessons, and lots of sleeping in!

Umm, Where Did January and February Go?!

Wow.  I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted until I downloaded a few, and I mean few pictures to put on. Where did January go?! I can say we were very, very busy with all the after-holiday settling into a routine. Lessons, school, projects, parent teacher conferences, New Beginnings, Scout cake auctions, well-checks, eye exams, etc. Unfortunately, not many of those are picture-worthy. Here's a quick summary of Amelia and Cooper's check-ups though:

Amelia: 20% in height and weight.
              EXCELLING in school, ballet, and violin.
              Braces will be on another 6-9 months, but she's progressing well.
              She still doesn't need glasses....yet. Probably next year.
              She's holding on to a little over an inch in height on Cooper.

Cooper: 90% for height and weight.
              Getting better at his guitar.
              Straight A's in all subjects at school.
              Got new glasses, but his prescription isn't as strong because his eyes are growing along with                the rest of him.
              1 1/2 inches shorter than Amelia, but a shoe size bigger.

A few pictures I did get:

Our Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse.

Amelia used her Christmas gift card to get highlights for the first time. They look really cute! I'll try to get a picture of her with her curls. 

She always has the hairdresser straighten her hair because it's so hard and time-consuming we don't do it during the week usually.

Amelia working on her driving. LESS THAN A YEAR people. She'll be behind the wheel! 

We also visited family a lot. We had a new member of the family--a chocolate lab named Clyde. Cooper was in heaven!

We also had Valentine's Day. Cooper's can for the valentines was a toilet. He giggled all day long.

For the long weekend we went the movie Greatest Showman, and I have to admit--I wasn't really thrilled about going, but it ended up being a really good show! Of course, having the star be Hugh Jackman didn't hurt! Onto March and allllll the craziness of birthdays. Amelia will be FOURTEEN and Cooper will be ELEVEN. Can you believe it?!

Christmas and Beyond!

Whew! Christmas is over! The holiday season is always fun, and full of crazy busy fun things to do. Here's a couple highlights:

I took Cooper and Amelia's picture for the Christmas letter--guess which one I chose?:

Amelia had her orchestra Christmas concert. I am amazed at the progress she has made. She works hard and practices most of the time I ask! :-) 

She also had her recital, but the video is so big I'm having trouble posting it. Here she is with her teacher:

Our family Christmas party:

And, of course, CHRISTMAS! 

For Christmas from Nana and Grandpa, Amelia and Cooper received jump passes for the Gravity Factory:

That's it! We had a fun New Year's Eve, and are ready to tackle 2018!

Nutcracker 2017

We have survived The Nutcracker!  It was a crazy week, but Amelia and Cooper were so excited to perform. Cooper even opted to stay in the "man cave" the remainder of the ballet, so I sat and enjoyed the dancing. We were lucky enough to have my mom come up for Saturday night's performance, and my kiddos were thrilled to have her there! Here's some pictures:

This is Amelia and Cooper dressed for the party scene. 

After the ballet. We don't have a picture of Amelia in her Waltz of the Flowers costume because there was a costume Nazi at the door forbidding any ballerina to go past the hallway with their costumes on. 

Nana!

Cooper is getting rather, ahem, specific with his candy bouquets now.  He puts in requests. One of these years I'm going to get him flowers just to watch his reaction. :-) 

These are pictures from dress rehearsal. This year Amelia and Cooper stood next to each other a lot during the dances. Cooper was thrilled. Amelia a little less so.  Notice Cooper's double thumbs up to me? Love it.

Both children did a wonderful job and I am so proud of them! I'm proud of Amelia's hard work and effort she puts into her dances, and I'm proud of Cooper for not climbing in the fireplace during the performance. It's the little things. Onto recitals, ward parties, and final school days before the break!