Our Week

This past week really has been uneventful, but that can be a good thing. We enjoyed Conference Weekend, the kids really enjoyed watching conference and were so excited when it was their turn to stand and sustain the prophet. At our house we have conference party, we start off conference weekend by making cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we get out our 72 hour kits go through them take out the food and put the food in. We then snack on the old food for the weekend. I also put together conference baskets (similar to easter baskets) for the kids with fun quiet activities for them to do. We then get the pictures of all the apostles and first presidency and as they speak we hang their picture up. Usually the kids play with their new activities from their baskets or work on their conference packets, until the prophet speaks. When the prophet speaks all activities are put down and they listen to what the prophet is saying. One time Anthony was busy organizing the apostles and first presidency in order by senority (I know my son can be weird) so Grant and I are thinking that he isn't paying attention, then all of sudden he start talking about what they are saying. Grant and I were surprised! He actually was listening and understood what was being said.

After Priesthood Session I usually ask Grant how it went and what he learned, however this time the kids (Anthony and Madeline) quized him on what he learned. They really got into it and were asking lots of questions. I thought it was neat for them to be asking their daddy what he learned at his meeting and for Grant to share. It turned out to be a nice gospel discussion.

We were going to go camping this weekend, but everywhere in reasonable driving distance are booked. We were finally able to get a camping spot in two weeks, so hopefully it won't rain. Madeline was going to school in the morning with other kids that turned 3. Well her teacher called me and asked if it was okay to move Madeline to the afternoon class with kids who are 4 turning 5. It is a smaller class and they are able to teach more academic stuff. Madeline is so advanced that her teacher felt that by going to afternoon class it would benefit her more. In the morning class the teachers are busy teaching social things which Madeline already knows and they are not able to teach things to help Madeline progress. Madeline started on Monday so this week I have been getting use to a new schedule and Madeline has been getting use to new friends. There are 4 boys in the class and they are all older than Madeline and they act like Madeline's older brothers. There is one boy who loves Madeline and loves to take her hand and walk her to class. He immediately gets off the bus and runs for Madeline to help her to class. In the morning class Madeline was really good friends with one of the students (his name is Anthony). For a long time it was just the two of them in class so they got to be close. She hasn't mentioned his name yet, she probably will when she realizes that she isn't going back to the morning class.

I am training to run a 5K. I am up to a mile and a quarter consistenly and 2 and a half miles total. At times I think I am nuts! It will be fun to cross the finish line (probably last). The kids are going to come with signs to cheer me on, they may be waiting a while. I need to get to three miles by May 3 so I need to cracking. I feel a lot better since I started this and hopefully after it is finished I can continue to run.

Well I feel like I am rambling and making no sense so I will go. Here are some pics for you all to enjoy.

Madeline and Anthony ready to watch Conference
Watching Conference

Conference Breakfast

We have take off!

Spencer hs been on the verge of crawling for a couple of months but never wanted to take the plunge and do it. For the past couple of months he would eye a specific toy or object that he wanted then he would study it and then lunge forward get the desire object and then lay flat on his tummy until someone would rescue him and help him back up. I have been working on trying to show him how to crawl (I don't know why now I will never be able to rest). This morning I guess he decided to go for it and he just started to crawl. It is exciting. I mean Spencer is 11 months and it is about time that he got mobile. At least I will be able to tell the doctor at his check up that he is mobile.

That's What it is all about

Last Sunday after General Conference, Anthony was in the office creating art and when he came out of the office this is what he handed me. For those of you who might not be able to read it, Anthony wrote: "Mommy Anthony loves you, Love Anthony. He then gave me a hug and then said I am so glad that you are my mommy. On Monday, Anthony again was in the office creating art and he came out of the office with a card that said Mommy Anthony love you. On the inside of the card he wrote Thank you for being my mommy. On the back in capital letters he wrote LOVE ANTHONY. He told me he wrote them in capital letters because he really loves me.

Being a mother is a hard job, some would even say it isn't very glamorous, but how many get homemade cards from their children that express their love for. I often think about the Tender Mercies of the Lord and in the ways that He shows His love and mercy for me and Anthony's letter was a Tender Mercy of the Lord. In that split second I was able to see that everything I do is worth it no matter how hard or stressful it is. And despite the days where I feel that I am not being a good mother, Anthony showed me that I am doing okay. I will cherish these notes forever. I have placed them by bed so I can see them every morning and every night and remember the true blessings and joys of my calling as a mother. I wouldn't trade this calling for anything. To be able to stay home with my children everyday and live life with them and watch them grow, is definitely a Tender Mercy of the Lord.

Funny Madeline

When going outside Madeline wears a hat to protect her eyes from the sun. Since she cannot close her left eye, it makes it hard to go out sun because she can't squint her eyes from the sun. To solve this problem, Madeline wears a hat. This has become such a habit that it doesn't matter if it is sunny or not she puts on a hat. I asked her if she wanted to help me water the plants outside which she was all excited to do, but before she could she had to get her hat...and this is the hat that she got. Now remember it is bright and sunny outside practically short weather.

Madeline lately has been saying the cutest things. Last night the kids had chocolate shakes from chili's. They are pretty thick. Well Madeline took hers outside and sat on the patio to drink her shake. She then comes in and says my shake is not working in my mouth. Grant then gave her a spoon for her shake. I just thought it was cute. Madeline has a g-button which is a port that is surgically placed in her stomach with an attachment outside. It makes it great when it comes to giving medicines. We just open the attachment and squirk the medicine in, the medicine goes directly into her stomach without ever touching her mouth. Well sometimes the lid to the attachment can come lose and well there are stomach juices in your stomach and so naturally some will leak out with the lid comes un done. Well Madeline usually would say her button is open, but now she says with a panic voice my stomach is leaking. There are other things that come out of her mouth, I need to be better at writing them down. If I remember anymore I will post them.

April Fools Fun

I wasn't planning on doing anything for April Fools. To be honest it never crossed my mind that it was April Fools. With not being in school, April Fools is just another day. It did cross my mind on whether Anthony would get his first taste with April Fools, but he didn't. I was looking on line for something to make for dinner and on the home page of the website there was a recipies for April Fools. I decided to check it out and I found this recipie. At first I wasn't going to make it. I don't have circle cake pans and meatloaf can take time to make, but then I couldn't resist the expression on Grant's face at dinner time. So I went for it and I was amazed at how fast it was to make. I made them into cupcakes instead and got out my Pampered Chef cake decorator to make the cupcakes look fancy. I didn't have cherry tomatoes, but I did have peas and I arranged them to look like green candies. Grant figured it out pretty quick, but Anthony totally went for it. He even told me that it isn't right to have cupcakes for dinner. He said that he was going to eat his dinner (what he made) first and then have a cupcake. He took a big bite, still thinking they were cupcakes and then he realized that they weren't and that was the end of that. Grant and I thought it was pretty funny. This might be a new family tradition. Here are some pictures of the final product.

Family Picture

I had this crazy idea to get a family picture. The last family picture was taken when we were in Florida and Spencer was a month old. I figured we have all changed since then, at least Spencer can sit, has his eyes open, and can smile...well at least I thought. We get to the studio and immediately Spencer starts crying. The photographer takes one look at him and he looses it and will not stop. An hour later still no pictures-well decient ones anyway. Either Spencer was crying, Anthony was making a strained face, had his eyes closed, or Madeline was looking somewhere completely oblivious to the fact that we were trying to get a family picture. Well we took a break, fead Spencer walked for a bit and came back and tried. Again Spencer started to cry. Grant was able to get a couple of good smiles from him by tickling him while the photographer was getting the picture. I was exauhsted by the end of the night and learned that taking a family picture is highly over rated. We tried sibling pictures, but all you got was Anthony and Madeline holding on to Spencer for dear life because Spencer was not going for pictures. Now Spencer is no little thing so he falls forward and almost falls off the platform on to the floor head first. At that point I decided we were done and I will try for a sibling picture when they are older or at least when Spencer has made peace with the photo studio and is willing to take a picture and not cry. So these are the two pictures that we decided on. They had a special to where you can get a free 11x14 if you ordered so many sheets. It was really hard to the number of sheets when there is only two pictures to chose from.

It is done! They didn't turn out bad, but it was much easier in front of the beach when Spencer was too young to care.

Easter fun

We have all of our Easter fun with Easter baskets and East Egg Hunts on Saturday and use Sunday to talk about and teach the real reason for Easter. This year I threw the kids a Easter Party and my Mom, Jonathan (my brother) and Mr. Gates (my mom's husband) came over to enjoy the festivities. I decided to do a new thing this year and hide their Easter baskets and then created a treasure hunt with clues leading them to their Easter basket. Anthony loves when I put treasure hunts together. He gets so excited that he usually runs off before he finishes reading the clue and then he can't find what he is looking for. Madeline did good with her treasure hunt. When I gave them a treasure hunt to find their Valentines gift she just kept saying going on a treasure hunt everytime we got to a new clue. This time she listen as Grant read the clues and at the end of the clue she knew where to go to find the next clue. We also had an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard. I had six egg limit for the kids. Madeline went first and Grant hid six eggs at Madeline's level that would be easy for her to find. This was her first time to go on a Easter Egg Hunt and she enjoyed running around in the backyard finding her eggs. Next it was time for Anthony and Jonathan to find their six eggs. This time Grant hid the eggs a little harder to give the boys a challenge. They sure enjoyed running around the backyard searching for their eggs. Besides the treasure and Easter Egg hunts we dyed eggs. I couldn't spend the money at the store for easter egg dye so I found a recipie on how to make them ourselves. It worked out great and the kids enjoyed picking out their colors and making their eggs. They did some solid colors and other eggs they did multiple colors. My kids don't like hard boiled eggs so afterwards I made deviled eggs. I enjoyed them before Grant could.

Some other happenings with the Coopers are: One night during Madeline's prayers she blessed that we would listen to the Spirit. I thought that was neat and very fitting. How many times do we get busy and forget to listen to the Spirit. Anthony has been talking a lot about death, the Spirit World, and the Ressurrection. We had a nice conversation during dinner time. Anthony asked his daddy how Jesus Christ organizes the resurrection. Grant then explained the order in which we are resurrected. I am amazed at the questions he asks and how much he really understands. On the way to church he was talking about General Conference and how it is a time to listen to the prophet. He said this time we won't get to listen from President Hinckley but that we get to listen from President Monson. He then went on to talk about his counselors and how Elder Cook won't be the last Apostle. He then told me how he loves to get the "General Conference" Ensign and take the poster out and hang it up in his room so he can look at the Prophet and the Apostles. Then out of the blue he said I am glad that President Hinckley has one of his helpers (President Faust) in Heaven with him to help him there. Children have the best testimonies. They are so pure and innocent and straight from the heart. I love to hear Madeline sing I am a Child of God and more recently sing Tell me the Stories of Jesus. I love to listen to her pray. She prays about everything and she prays as if she is truly talking to the Savior-all things I need to be better at. During family scripture study I love to listen to her point to the pictures and name the prophets in the Book of Mormon and a lot of times she already knows the story and she finishes it for us. She is only three but she really understands the gospel. Anthony is getting good at reading and he really enjoys reading his scriptures. We bought from BYU bookstore an Early Book of Mormon Reader. He loves reading from that every night. He also has his own regular Book of Mormon and a lot of times I find him opening it up and reading from it. A lot of times during sacrament meeting he is sitting quietly reading his scriptures-such a good example to me. The miracles and blessings of being a mom. These and many more reasons are how the Savior shows me His love everyday. I am so glad to be a Mom and to know of the blessings of the temple and the joys of knowing my family are mine for eternity.


Well what is a blog without pics.

Anthony going on a Easter Egg Hunt

Anthony excited about all his eggs!

Madeline excited to find all of her eggs!

Madeline found an Egg...Good job Madeline!

Another Egg in the swing, 2 more to go!

Anthony dying his Easter egg green

Madeline found her Easter basket in the fire place. You can tell she still had camping on her mind because when we asked her where do we roast marshmellows in the house and she kept saying outside in the fire pit. We finally had to tell her to go look in the fire place.

Anthony discovered his Easter basket!

Madeline and Daddy working together to solve the clues

Anthony found another clue leading to his basket of goodies

Madeline loves to push Spencer on the swing. Madeline just loves being his mommy period. Spencer doesn't mind, he loves to swing.

Madeline is standing on the back of Spencer's walker. Spencer was able to pull Madeline across the living room with her on the back. Now that is a strong baby.

Ooops forgot to show a pic of Madeline taking a stab at coloring eggs.

Camping Fun

We decided to go camping for Spring Break. We were going to leave on Monday and come back Wednesday, but when we heard that Monday and Tuesday were going to be wash out days we thought that camping in the rain with kids would not be a good experience. So we canceled our reservation. With it being Spring Break as well as Easter Weekend finding a camp ground with availability was hard. We finally found a camp ground with a spot for us at Cooper State Park. Cooper State Park is about a couple of hours from here. We figured since we are the Coopers we should go and check out Cooper State Park.

The kids enjoyed camping, fishing, and biking. We learned that Spencer needs to stay warm and sleeping in a tent is not his cup of tea. He cried the whole night until we put him in the car. Grant went out in the middle of the night making room for Spencer in the car. When he came back to the tent, Spencer had fallen asleep in my arms, but Madeline was starting to cry. So Madeline and Grant went and slept in the car. Grant would turn the car on and run the heater for a bit and then he would turn the car off. A few hours later I got too cold and so I traded spaces with Grant in the car. When Grant got back to the tent he woke Spencer up in the process of getting into bed. So Spencer joined Madeline and I in the back of the car. There we slept great. The next morning we rearranged some things, moved the air mattress into the back of the car for Spencer and I to sleep in that night. Spencer slept great and Grant and the kids shared one air mattress. Grant got up several times to help Madeline get comfortable or put blankets back on her. Anthony was the only one that slept great both nights. He is a born camper. He loves being outdoors and gets so excited when we go camping or go hiking. This was Madeline's first time to go fishing and she was so excited. She especially loved the worms. She was not scared of them one bit. She dove right in digging for a worm to put on her hook. Anthony on the other hand would not touch them one bit. Madeline wanted to put the worm on her hook, but Grant saw danger in her doing that and knew that she would poke herself pretty good. Fishing with Madeline was an adventure. She would swing her fishing rod around getting it tangled in trees or getting it hooked on her shirt. She enjoyed casting her line out and then reeling it back in or taking her rod and making circles in the water. Anthony has gone fishing before but he still has not developed the patience for waiting. As soon as he casts he is ready to reel it back in. He is getting pretty good at casting himself we just need to work on the patience part, but that will come with age.

With this camping trip we learned a few things. Cereal works a lot better than panacakes and next time I will prepare food ahead of time and just heat it up at our campsite. I felt like I was either cooking or cleaning up the whole time and wasn't doing a lot of relaxing. We also learned that we can make special camping chores for the kids to do to help with the load. They helped set up the campsite, but as far as cooking and cleaning we didn't have them do anything. Also paper products work just as good as regular plastic plates, and when camping you need to start dinner at 4:00 or you will be eating and trying to clean up in the dark. At 7:00 kids are tired and cranky and trying to clean up from dinner with tired and cranky kids who still want their smores is not fun. So with all that in mind our next camping trip should be better. And we probably won't go camping until it is a little bit warmer during the night or Spencer will have a fit. Next time we will have a sleeping bag for Madeline so that she can not get out of her covers and wake up cold. We had a lot of fun and I know the kids enjoyed themselves. The park was nice, the campsites were a little bit close together, but the spot that we were was a safe spot to be with kids riding their bikes. We were next to a circle so the kids could ride down the street go around the circle and come back without being in any real danger of cars.

Enough with the rambling here are pictures for you all to enjoy!

Anthony wanted to take a picture of our campsite, hence the number 59. Maybe he wanted to remember that 59 was a great spot.

A pic of Anthony riding his bike.

A pic of Madeline riding her scooter.

Where is Anthony? Where is Madeline? Grant took this picture during one of the many times he got up in the middle of night to cover up and help kids get comfortable.

Madeline and Anthony cooking their hot dogs for dinner. Madeline loves the campfire. We had to have a good lesson about fire safety and the way we walk around the campfire. This girl is either clueless or has no fear.
Madeline and Anthony enjoying the evening by the fire. Notice the tea kettle, the kids loves to have hot chocolate it is one of their treats they look forward to every night.
Anthony fishing.
Madeline fishing.
Anthony wanted to take a pic of everyone by the tent.

Cooper Look-alike Meter

We thought it would be fun to see who spencer favors. We weren't surprised that it was Anthony. There are a lot of pictures of Spencer and Anthony that look very similar. The funny thing is at birth Spencer did not look like Madeline or Anthony. When Madeline was born it was another Anthony only smaller.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Family tree chart

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Solve the Family Mystery

Which one is Spencer and which one is Anthony. In these pictures Anthony and Spencer are the same age. Spencer is now 10 months old and he weighs 23 pounds. He is officially weighs more than Madeline. I stood Spencer up to Madeline the other day and he came up to her eyes. Here soon people are going to think Spencer is older than Madeline. Spencer is not moving yet, my kids tend to be late bloomers in this area. I am not complaining I am enjoying the time that I have. He has 6 teeth, four on top and two on the bottom. He loves to jabber and has the "M" and "D" sound down pat. He loves to jump, swing, rock, and he loves sitting outside on the grass. He is the happiest baby who loves to laugh and smile. Now for those who made it through this paragraph I will entertain you by telling you that the top picture is Anthony and the bottom picture is Spencer. I should have saved the money and just put Anthony's picture up and said it was Spencer.

An Overdue Update

On Feb. 29 we were blessed with nice weather. Grant decided to take 1/2 day off from work and go camping for the weekend after the kids got out school. I called ahead of time at our desired camping spot and they said they had plenty of campsites available. Well we got there about 5:00 and they were booked. I guess there were a lot of people who had the same idea as we did. The kids were disaapointed because we were planning on going biking and fishing and hiking. So we came home disappointed and made tents in the living room. The kids thought this was a neat idea. Lesson learned make reservations no matter what month it is.
A weeked later it is snowing. After picking up Madeline from school she said it was raining and that she couldn't wait for it to turn over to snow. As soon as it did she was outside playing in it. After awhile her hands got cold so Grant brought her in. That did not set well with Madeline she still wanted to play out in the snow. Madeline has never really seen snow until now, however she knew exactly what to do.
Anthony building his snowman. The kids decided that a two ball snow man was perfect and that they didn't need the third ball. For Texas it was a pretty good snow storm not enough to cancel school.
Spencer loves his bathtime. As soon as he sees the bathtub he gets excited. He will spend the whole time splashing, it is fun to watch. He cries when you take him out. He even understands when you say time for a bath because he will get excited. He is such a big boy that he quickly out grew all bath tub baby devices. He sits up pretty good in the tub. Thank goodness he hasn't learned how to move yet.
Spencer is starting to get tired of baby food, I don't blame him that stuff in the jars looks nasty. He is still figuring out how to feed him self but he is getting better. Daddy made spaghetti for dinner one night and Spencer went to town afterwards. Needless to say a bath was in order and a good mopping of the floor. A side note, if Spencer has food in his mouth and he sees more food he will spit out what it is in his mouth to get the other food he sees, even if it is the same thing.

For Saint Patricks Day, I made the kids green pancakes, green eggs with gree milk, we even had green butter. Anthony was a little unsure about it but when he realized that it tasted the same he dived in and ate it up. After breakfast he commented on how he loved Saint Patrick's Day. I think this will be our new tradition

Another view of our green breakfast. The pictures don't do it justice. It was a lot of fun!

Spencer enoying his green breakfast.