March Happenings

Nice weather is here, but I guess living in Texas we really never experience cold weather.  I do love Spring.  I love how it brings a feeling of fresh start and I enjoy being able to take advantage of longer day light hours.

Grant's work in conjunction with Legoland had a lego building fun day for the kids.  This was our first time to go inside Grant's work, due to security we can only go inside on family day and those are on Sundays usually during church.  The kids were excited to be able to go inside Daddy's work even if it was just the cafeteria.  There were two options the kids could choose from, Lego Masters or on your own build.  For Lego Masters you were just given a bag of legos and then at your appointed time you would go and build your helicopter with help from the masters at Legoland.  For on your own build you got to chose a kit and essentially build it on your own.  Seeing the crowds of people we chose build your own.  Anthony does not need any help when it comes to Legos, Madeline is getting pretty good and we are lucky if we can get Spencer to focus through at least a couple of steps.  Between Grant and I we were confident that we could help Madeline and Spencer.  There was a 5.00 fee for each kid and the kits we chose would at least been double that at the store so we thought it was a win win situation.  We picked out our lego set (which of course was a helicopter) and found a corner and went to town.  Our kids finished before the rest of the event really kicked off.  We looked around for a bit at the lego displays they had there and treated our kids to the consession stands.  After our lunch and looking around we headed home.  I wasn't sure if the kids thought it was a fun outing because we finished so fast, but as we were leaving Anthony expressed what a fun time it was.  It is always nice to hear that reassurance from your kids.

We just finished with Spring Break and I love Spring Break.  I love for one week of not being dictated by the schools schedule and instead we can dictate our own schedule.  I love how for one week things slow way down and we can spend lots of time with each other.  Spring Break gets me really excited for Summer Break.  It is a tradition in our family to go camping every year for Spring Break and that is what we did.  For Monday and Tuesday of Spring Break we stayed home.  I wanted to give the kids something fun to do so I devised a nerf gun battle once their dad came home from work.  I made a warning sign for him to see on the door and I included a loaded nerf gun with extra bullets.  The kids and I made forts throughout the living room and we each had our own loaded nerf gun with extra bullets.  Once we knew Daddy was home we all went to our designated spots to prepare for battle.  It was a fun nerf gun battle that lasted for 30 minutes; having the forts made it extra fun.  Bullets were flying everywhere, in fact I am still finding them as I clean.  Our nerf gun battle turned into a tickle match and when that was done we headed to the Rec Center to go swimming in their indoor pool.  After swimming we went to Taco Bell for dinner.  It was a lot of fun to have a solid few hours that evening spending time together.  While we were eating our dinner at home it was fun and neat to talk as a family about our evening and what we liked about it.  I treasure these moments!

Tuesday was spent with packing and getting the house cleaned up for our trip.  I try to get the house nice and clean before we go anywhere so I don't have to come home to a messy house, it sure makes unpacking easier.  It is quit an adventure and an undertaking to get ready to go camping, but the kids enjoy camping and they are all pretty good about pitching in and helping out.

Of course in Cooper style we packed our camping trip full of fun activities so I will let that have its own post.

February Happenings

February has been rather a quiet month for us, which is great, but we have done a few things that are worth mentioning.  Some of the more significant events are getting a post all of their own, but the every day stuff I will lump into one awesome post!

1.  Grant is still working on the bathroom, but we noticed that with all the dust from sheet rock and mudding that it was starting to affect the kid's asthma.  Grant plugged away on a couple of late nights to get that all done and then he spent a day deep cleaning the floors and doing what he could to rid the house of all the dust.  Spencer decided he wanted to jump in and help, which is not at all Spencer.  Spencer and chores mix together like oil and water.  Grant handed Spencer a rag and with Spencer like enthusiasm he hand cleaned the floor.  I think he just like being able to play in the water and not get in trouble.  Anyway after a lot of hard work we were able to rid the house of the dust and the asthma issue went away.  The bathroom is still a work in progress but at least the walls are painted and the tile is starting to be brought in.  I am confident it will be done sometime this year.

2.  One of the mornings in February the boys had Doughnuts with Daddy.  It was mainly a way for them to plug the Watch Dogs program and to get more Dads on board.  The boys enjoyed being able to have breakfast with Daddy at school.  Spencer asks often when daddy can be a Watch Dog at the school, but with Grant's work schedule it just isn't possible.  Maybe things will slow down and Grant can spend the day helping out at the school.

3.  For a few months now Anthony has been our babysitter.  It has been a nice treat to be able to go on a weekly date with Grant.  On one particular evening we came home to see the kids gathered together and Anthony reading to Madeline and Spencer.  We tell Anthony that he is going to be a great Daddy one day, to which is rolls his eyes.  He has really stepped up to the responsibility of watching Madeline and Spencer.  He feeds them and when needed he gets them ready for bed.  He has even learned the ropes on giving Madeline her medicine.  Now that is a special treat having an extra set of hands in getting her medicine ready.  When her tummy hurts, Anthony isn't afraid of hooking her g-button up to the syringe that relieves her tummy of the built up gas.  Grant and I are enjoying the freedom that comes from having an older child who can and will watch his younger siblings.

4.  Spencer has been showing some interest in wanting to learn how to ride a bike, Madeline has been asking for a bigger bike, and well Anthony was still not interested in riding at all.  With our upcoming camping trip Grant and I thought it would be neat to be able to have the kids bring bikes and ride around the trails.  Spencer and Madeline were all on board and I saw this as a great opportunity to challenge Anthony into riding a bike.  I casually asked him if was going to let his little brother pass him up in riding a bike.  That got him motivated to learn to ride a bike without training wheels.  We went down to the store and let everyone pick our a bike and helmet.  After school one day we headed to a nearby park to ride our bikes around the pond.  It took Spencer a little bit of time to figure the peddling out and after about 10 minutes Anthony was passing us by on his bike.  You could see the smile on his face and the excitement he felt with learning something that didn't come easy to him.  Now that the weather is nice the kids ask all the time to go to the park to ride bikes.  It is nice to see their excitement and it is nice to do something that is active as a family.

5.  In February we celebrated Chinese New Year.  We made our traditional paper lanterns, used chopsticks that we get from Panda Express, and had our traditional menu of Spaghetti.  It is always fun to see the kids use chopsticks and with Spencer's personality he is a hoot.  This year he resorted to stabbing his spaghetti.  This year we made homemade fortune cookies and each of the kids wrote fortunes/nice notes that we placed in each of the cookies.  It was fun to open them and read the notes inside.

Boy Scout Campout

On February 23, Anthony was able to go on his first Boy Scout campout and he was definitely excited.  Grant was able to go with him, which I think made it extra fun for Anthony.  Anthony loves spending time with his dad.  The troop went to a nearby Boy Scout campground.  They got a late start so they didn't get to the campground until after dark.  It happened to be a chilly night so they quickly got a fire going and got busy putting all the tents up.  Anthony knowing it was going to be cold decided to bring his little 2 man tent for him and his dad to get cozy in.  After Anthony sent up his tent he helped the others.  It didn't take long for them all to set up camp and then it was time to sit by the fire and eat s'mores.  Anthony brought supplies to share with others and we introduced the troop to how we do s'mores.  Ours is more like a s'mores buffet.  Not only do we have regular graham crackers but we also do the graham crackers with cinnamon.  We include the regular chocolate bars, but we like to also include Reses Peanut Butter Cups, York Peppermint Patties, Kit-Kat bars, and Grant likes to have flavored dark chocolates.  My favorite is a smore made with York Peppermint Patties.  Our kids aren't really to hip on the different flavores of marshmellows they have out now.  Grant says they sat around the fire for awhile eating lots of goodies until they were all done.  When it was time to hit the hay Anthony still had a little bit in him.  For Anthony you can't go camping without playing games in the tent.  He brought a Battleship card game for him and his dad to play and being the nice daddy that Grant is they stayed up for a bit and played a couple of rounds of Battleship.

The next morning they discovered frost on the tents as well as a frozen water bottle which means one thing all those present earned their polar bear patch.  Anthony actually did well through the night and didn't complain about the cold.  They immediately got a fire going and the boys went to work cooking breakfast for everyone.  Anthony was on pancake duty and he flipped those suckers until his hands were frozen cold and then he passed it off to someone else.  After breakfast they went on a 5 mile hike with each of the younger boys taking a turn navigating the map and learning to work with a compass.  Anthony got pretty tired during the end of the hike, but he stuck it out and didn't complain-that is just how he is.  They also did some knot work as well as each of the scouts taking a turn teaching another scout the square knot.

After lunch they packed up and around 6:00 that evening a tired Grant and a tired Anthony walked through the door.  Overall I think it was a pretty successful campout and Anthony was able to get a lot of things crossed off.  He has a few more requirements and he will get his Tenderfoot.  His goal is to get his First Class before he turns 12, so he is well on his way with accomplishing his goal.

Valentine's Day

Madeline was coming down with cold/respiratory illness, hence why she is not smiling.  She looks how she felt.

I have never been very big on Valentine's Day, but the kids enjoy it so I try to put some effort into it for them.  This year I decided to surprise Grant and actually get him a present.  He has mentioned a few times how he wanted to display his Boy Scout Eagle Award in a shadow box.  He wanted this for two reasons; it doesn't do any good locked up in a box and also to show Anthony want he accomplished and to help Anthony shoot for the same goal.  I decided for Valentine's Day I would do that for him.  He was very happy and surprised, surprised that I remembered and surprised that I actually gave him a gift.  Grant surprised me as well by giving me a gift.  He remembered me mentioning in passing how I like these certain water bottles so for Valentine's Day he bought me one and filled it with paper hearts.  I thought it was the perfect gift.

This year I decided to do a count down to Valentine's Day.  Every morning there would be a heart taped on each of the kid's door with what I love about them.  Some days I would include what I appreciate about them too.  When Valentine's Day came each child had 14 hearts on their door.  I really loved doing this because I was able to focus on them and their divine qualities.  Sometimes it is easy to get hanged up on the day to day grind that we tend to lose focus, but for 14 days my focus was clear and I saw them for the Children of God that they are.  Valentine's Day is long past and the hearts are still on the door, they just don't want to take them down.  I think I have started a new tradition, and it is a pretty good one too!

For our family activity I thought it would be fun to have a nice dinner with candle light.  The kids never have had dinner with candles so at first they thought it was strange, but quickly warmed up to the idea.  They mainly thought it was cool to eat in the dark.  For dessert I made red ice cream floats with red edible sugar sprinkled on top.  It was simple but everyone enjoyed it.  I have learned in recent years that great memories can be created even when you simplify things.  With me homeschooling Madeline I have had to learn to simplify and I have discovered that the kids get just as excited as when I killed myself to put on a production.

I knew the boys would be getting Valentine's from school and with Madeline being homeschool I didn't want her to feel left out.  I had Madeline make a Valentine sack and then I had the boys each make her a Valentine's Day card.  Both sets of Grandparents sent Valentine's Day cards as well so I saved those to include in her sack.  So when the boys came home with all their loot I was able to surprise Madeline with her very own loot as well.  When they were done with exploring all their loot from school, I surprised them with a gift from Mommy and Daddy.\

Even though I think Valentine's Day is a day for the card makers and florist to make lots of money, it is nice to stop remember those you love and to remember why.  Sometimes it is also nice to think outside of the box and give a gift truly from your heart.

Arrow of Light

On February 3, Anthony received his Arrow of Light award and crossed over to Boy Scouts.  They had the ceremony at the Boy Scout Museum and they brought in a local troop to do the Arrow of Light ceremony.  There were 19 boys in Anthony's pack that received their Arrow of Lights that evening, pretty impressive.  Between the 19 boys there were four different troops there to receive their boys.  For cub scouts Anthony went to a community pack, but for Boys Scouts Anthony chose to go with our troop in our ward.  Brother Walker was able to come and receive Anthony which we were grateful for. After the Arrow of Light ceremony the families there were able to explore the museum.  It has been on our bucket list to go to the Boy Scout Museum but we just never have gotten around to it.  The kids really enjoyed all the hands on things to do there.  In addition to the exhibit they also have an art exhibit with lots of Rockwall paintings.  Madeline really enjoyed looking at the paintings, she is starting to get into art.

It was a great evening and we are so proud of Anthony and all the hard work he has done.  Anthony is enjoying Boy Scouts and has the fire and desire to get his eagle, he is so excited for what lies ahead for him.