Oh, What a Difference 9 Months Can Make!

Here is Amelia and Cooper and on their first day of school:

And here they are on their last:

Their teachers do a fun "time capsule" to show how much they've changed over the school year. Amelia grew an ENTIRE inch this year, and Cooper----well, Cooper grew about 2 1/2. (Amelia is wearing 1 inch heels.)

Cooper riding to school on the last day!

Amelia walking with us.

  

As tradition, we had lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe and ate enough to last a few days!!

Summer has officially begun for this new THIRD and SIXTH grader! Let that one soak in a minute.....

Continuing our End-of-the-Year Fun...............

The last couple weeks I've been lucky enough to chaperone both Cooper and Amelia's school field trips. Surprisingly, bowling with 85 second graders was just as loud as going to the museum with 5 fifth graders! Here are some pictures:

Cooper eating his lunch before getting his bowling on. 

Afterward we watched a movie. Do you know how often 85 second graders have to use the bathroom during a 96 minute movie? About 134 times!

We also had Amelia's last orchestra concert. She has improved so much over this year, and has decided to continue with the violin next year. We're deciding whether to take a few lessons this summer to keep up her skills and maybe improve a little bit. Here's my violinist:

 Last Friday I went with Amelia's "team" (3 classes) to the Museum of Idaho. They have a pirate exhibit and it's really interesting. I may go back again when I don't have to wrangle two high energy 11 year old boys, and three independent girls. I was tempted a couple times to have the boys walk the plank! :-)

Amelia with her two friends. She's just a darling little thing, isn't she?!

Finally,  Memorial day we had our first picnic of the summer and ride on the carousel:

We still have a few more things to pack into this week--last parties/dances/kickball tournaments/picnics of the year! Then these second and fifth graders will officially be finished!

Pinewood Derby, Powerpoints, and Spy Parties!

The last few weeks have flown by. Cooper had his first Pinewood Derby for Scouts. He did a great job, and did most of the work on his car by himself:

Now that Amelia's dance year is over, she decided to cut her hair. While we were waiting in the very stylish salon, she found a pillow she couldn't live without. Guess we're going shopping!

Because of our crazy schedule, Cooper's birthday party was last weekend. He chose a spy theme. Here he is with his dark glasses and code name. During the party the spy trainees learned to diffuse a bomb and get rid of the evidence (pop balloons), target practice (water guns), obstacle course with lasers (streamers), treasure hunt for clues, and finally figure out how to open a package that was locked (pinata). Cooper had such a good time he didn't notice everyone had brought presents for him until the party was over!

Amelia and her friend helped me corral and train the five high energy spy wannabes.

Mother's Day was wonderful. Cooper and Amelia made me a powerpoint. It was so fun to watch, and they did a great job.


After making my powerpoint,  Amelia and Cooper had so much fun they each made one for themselves. Cooper asked me to take a picture of his, but instead I took a video of him watching it. It's pretty funny:

I think that brings us up-to-date. We still have end of the school year parties, field trips, and celebrations.

Cooper's Baptism!

Last Saturday Cooper was baptized! It was a little harder than I thought to see my youngest hit this milestone. He seems so grown up already in a lot of ways, but then he'll also revert to toddler-age in the next moment!  It was a wonderful day, and he was SO EXCITED! He woke up at 5:30am and said, "It's a big day!" I gave him his new set of scriptures and case and he took them out, flipped through them, and put them back over and over. He is so excited to "look up scriptures using these cool tabs." He was baptized by his BFF Andy:

After the baptism, Grandpa confirmed him and did a perfect job. I think he was a little nervous, but it went well. Afterward, a friend of the family from Hawaii told Cooper when children get baptized in Hawaii they get a lei:

Cooper handled all the attention and well-wishing very well. Afterwards we went back to our home and had a luncheon. As excited as Cooper was to be baptized and become a member of the church, he was equally excited to get into his play clothes and "relax and get used to his new gifts". LOVE. THIS. KID!!

Although it was "Cooper's Day", Amelia managed to jump into a few pictures.

He went up to the stand yesterday in church to be introduced as the newest and "most enthusiastic" member of the ward. He looked so cute standing beside the bishop in his suit, grinning out at the entire congregation--his smile much like the one in the picture above! I realized in ten short years he'll be standing at the podium giving his missionary farewell. *Sniff* I was beginning to be sad until the bishop shook Cooper's hand and said he could go sit down. Cooper walked reverently to the stairs---then jumped down all of them at once. 

I still have some time. :-)

Amelia's Recital and Bear World!

We had a busy, busy, busy weekend! First, Amelia had her recital for her jazz dance class. She had a solo in one song and did PERFECT. She was "a little nervous, but then I just ignored the audience". It was completely packed so I don't know if she heard Cooper and I screaming her name, but people several rows around us knew we were proud of her!

She LOVES dancing and performing. She wants to try out for the competitive team, but I don't know if she can do that and still be in ballet, violin, church activities, etc.......I think she has some hard choices to make. Ah, to be so talented. Must be a burden!

We also squeezed in a visit to BearWorld this weekend before Amelia's practices. It was a nice, cool day and we had fun!

This guy ended up climbing onto the car behind us!

The bear cubs are always so cute!

This picture probably doesn't help Amelia with her fear of nature.........

Next up, Cooper's baptism and birthday party!

Birthday Wrap-up

Whew! We made it through birthday season at our house. Amelia and Cooper are one year older and wiser now, and we're moving on! Here's a few pictures of Cooper's day:

Cooper also had his second grade talent show. He chose to do gymnastics. We played a video of his last showcase, and then he did two tricks in person:

This doesn't look hard, but I tried it.......I do not have the abs of steel this boy does!

After turning 8, Cooper was also ready to begin scouts:

Not gonna lie.....it made me a little sad he is growing up so fast! But I'm so proud of the person he is becoming.

Although most of last week was about Cooper (Amelia had the same experience her birthday week) I wanted to post some pictures of both of them. We were walking into a gas station and Amelia and Cooper saw "the coolest thing"! It was this:

They thought having a phone OUTSIDE you could call someone on was the COOLEST thing ever!! And here I thought being able to carry a phone everywhere with you to call someone was neat.......

We also visited Nana and Grandpa. For his retirement gift from the credit union, the board gave Grandpa a chair that lifts up so he can get up and down easier. He was gracious enough to let Amelia and Cooper try it out about 5 times---then he wanted his turn. :-)

That's it for now. We will have recitals, a baptism, end of school activities, and SUMMER PARTYING coming up. Stay tuned!!

Know What's Great? Cooper's 8!

Cooper turned 8 years old today. He is full of charm, mischief, and outright fun. He is such a happy, thoughtful boy and I can't imagine life without him. There is never a dull moment around him and I love him more than words can say! He's been a charmer since birth, loves to never wear pants, and has a smile that is contagious. Happy birthday, Coop!