February highlights

As sloooooooow as January was, February zipped right through. March and April tend to get crazy with Amelia and Cooper's birthdays. and my semester ending and a new one beginning. Before we know it, it'll be summer with lots of trips, bike riding, camping and running out energy at the park. Hmmm, that ALMOST sounds like I'm looking forward to summer. I'd better stop before anyone gets the wrong impression!

Here are a few things we did:

Cooper's "thinking about it" pose. Whenever he needs to mull something over, this is what he looks like.

We saw Lynnli so much this month; it was a lot of fun. She and Amelia were watching "Tangled" while she texted on my phone.

Cooper's beloved Avengers shield popped, so I finally had some time to stuff it with batting and resurrect it so Cooper can fight off the bad guys (aka Amelia). She's taken more than one hit to the head.

This picture is on Amelia's blog, too, so some of you will get to see it twice. She has hit the age of being fashion conscious, and simply HAD to have colored jeans and a scarf to tie it all together. I wrapped the scarf first, but she told me it was wrong and re-did it. I'm super happy I have an almost-9-year-old to help me when I have a fashion dilemma!

Lynnli likes Frostys. She did not like that no one would feed it to her fast enough.

Not much is happening. I'm hitting midterm week and scrambling to stay on top of my classes, church calling, the kids activities and school projects and anything else that just happens to come along. Luckily, the kids and I are relatively healthy and looking forward to staying that way for the next ten months!

Valentine's Day 2013

We had a lovely, love-filled, happy Valentine's day. It started with no class for me, which always makes the mornings just a little smoother---and we needed the extra time. Amelia had her first etiquette/dance/dinner with the entire third grade. They were asked to wear their best clothes to school, so Amelia had a difficult time choosing her best dress. On top of that, she and her friends have been worried the last few weeks about who they will be assigned to dance with, and how it will affect the "crushes" in their grade. Apparently, Amelia has four crushes on her. Here she is with Cooper yesterday morning:

Cooper has closed the height difference to 3 inches and the weight difference to 8 pounds.

Cooper was secure in his t-shirt and jeans, because he'd taken a bath the night before with his special man body wash/shampoo, so he smelled like an "awesome boy" for the ladies.

After getting the kids off to school, I came home and hurried to get ready. 35 minutes later I went back to the school and helped in Cooper's class party. It was surprisingly not crazy, and the students were not too sugared up. After the party, I treated myself to a special Valentine sausage biscuit and diet Pepsi before perusing the library by myself.

At dinner, Amelia and Cooper drank from their special light-up Valentine cups, then banished me to my room because they were doing something "special". Half an hour later I was beginning to worry, then they called me out. I came out into a dark living room and a disembodied voice ordered me to turn on the lights. I did, and two adorable children jumped out at me and yelled, "Happy Valentine's Day!!"  I looked around and they had drawn, colored and cut out hearts and taped them to the walls. They brought me over by the dining room and showed me a "Match the Hearts" game they had made as well. I was blindfolded, turned around many times, and then tried to pin the half of the heart in my hand to the one on the wall. I missed completely.  After we all had a turn, we snuggled on the couch to watch a Charlie Brown Valentine.

The flash didn't go off.  I don't really make my children eat in the dark.

Cooper going through all his valentines from his classmates.

                                             Best. Valentine's. Day. EVER.

Groundhog Day and Sledding

Last weekend we celebrated Groundhog's Day by getting breakfast at McDonald's. Amelia and I had sausage biscuits (get it? ground-hog?) and Cooper decided on cinnamon toast. After a lovely breakfast, we bundled up and went sledding with some friends. Afterward, we had a fun visit with Joey, Jojo and Lynnli for a couple hours, then Mom, Dad and Courtney swung by. It was a fun Saturday! Here are some pictures:

Amelia with her hashbrowns that accompanied her biscuit.

Happy to be outside!

Lynnli had fun playing with all the fun new toys, whacking Amelia with Cooper's Thor hammer and teasing Cooper....as long as her parents weren't too far away.

Everyone is finally getting healthy after our loooooong January of colds, croup, pink-eye, and sinus infections. I'm not a fan of summer, but I was awfully happy when Phil saw his shadow on Saturday, which means spring is on its way!

These guys.....

....make me laugh.

New haircuts

Amelia and Cooper can fight well, but they play together really well, too. This is a picture of Cooper outside the bathroom door. He and Amelia had been pretending to text each other, and when she had to take a restroom break, Cooper just couldn't wait so he text her through the door.

I've decided I will miss the funny things little kids say. Amelia and Cooper are getting to the age where the things they say are more sassy than cute. So here are a few little still-little-kid comments:

Amelia: Mom, how many days until my birthday?
Me: Ummm, about 45, I think, why?
Amelia: When I turn 9 I'll get all adult-like. (She hasn't realized she's been "adult-like" since she was 2).

Me: (after Cooper had misbehaved) Cooper? Cooper! Look at me! Do I look happy?
Cooper: No, but your hair looks good.

And the Cooper Answer Is...

Cooper asked everyone in blog-land the question:

Why did people make sweaters?

Many of you answered valiantly and creatively--but incorrect. However, according to Cooper:

They make sweaters so people get hot, they sweat, then they drink lots of water, and drinking lots of water gives them strong muscles.”

Now you know. 

This Is Cooper

This is a post from Cooper. He wants to ask everyone this question, to see if they get the right answer:

Why did people make sweaters?

Ah, Cooper!

A few weeks ago, Cooper asked me, "Mom, when an elephant drink water through its trunk, does it taste like boogers?" At the time I laughed and laughed and laughed. Tonight, the kids were watching "Ice Age, Continental Drift" and I heard that same comment from the movie.

I turned to Cooper and said, "Is that where you heard that?" He smiled and said, "Yes, yes I did. I can't be original all the time."

 However, I am a quick learner, so I asked him, "Cooper, do you even know what original means?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, mom, it means there is no one like me."

No, Coop, no there's not!