Just Having Fun!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

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.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

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

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

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.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I have been tagged

So I have been tagged, my very first tag I feel so honored. Thinking of 7 things about me that would be interesting has been a challenge.

1. When eating lasagna I go for the middle piece no matter what. I do not like the crust. I always leave the last corner of my sandwhich-a crust thing.

2. I do not like anything touching the bottom of my feet especially crumbs on the floor.

3. I am always straightening things. It doesn't matter what it is, I have to have things straight and centered. I am always strainghtening things on the kitchen counter, pictures, and things on a dresser.

4. I do not like clutter. I am always cleaning and organizing things. Grant bought me a label maker for Christmas and I have had fun labeling our whole house.

5. Before I got married I was a vampire at the children's hospital. Lets just say I didn't make friends with the children.

6. Grant and I dated for two weeks before we got engaged. We knew who each other were for about a year. We had the same friends and were at the same group parties, but didn't know more than each others name.

7. I knew Grant was going to be husband before I even knew his name or who he was. I just knew from the back of his head and a little help from Heavenly Father.

Now 7 things about grant:

1. Grant died once; thank goodness it didn't last long. I am so glad he is here.

2. Whenever Grant has a thought or wants to say something, he touches his nose with his index finger.

3. When Grant eats a sandwhich he holds it like a plate and eats all the way around the sandwhich before he eats the middle.

4. Grant empties his pants pockets the same way at night and fills them the same way in the morning. Infact he gets ready for bed or for the day in the same order everyday.

5. Grant has eaten an aborted duck egg.

6. Grant built his own bike. It was his bike that helped him get his current job.

7. Grant broke his neck in a BYU sponsored car accident. This explains the reason behind number 1.

Now since Brittney tagged everyone that I know who reads my blog, I can't really tag anyone so if you read my blog and have a blog of your own consider yourself tagged.

We Escaped!!

We decided to escape from jail (mundane things of life) and head out for a family day trip. We went to Turner Falls in Oklahoma about a couple of hours away. The kids had the day off from school, the weather was beautiful and Grant had nothing pressing at work, it just seemed like the perfect thing to do. The kids enjoyed hiking around and Anthony had fun hiking up to the caves with his daddy. The caves were too high up for Madeline to hike to, but she enjoyed hiking around on some of the easier trails as well as hiking up to and looking around in some castles that they had there. When we got there Anthony was excited and ready to go. We however had to get the bags ready for the hike, change spencer's diaper and feed him alittle bit. This seemed too long for Anthony who was itching to get to the hiking trails. We discovered yesterday that Anthony loves to go hiking. He is not much for walking around the park or the neighborhood, but take him to a hiking trail and he is gone. He marched right up to the moutain (mole hill more like it- no where near like the Rockies) with no fear and began the assend to the cave. Anthony is not much for sports and animals scare him, but hiking he has no fear. Grant had to work to keep up with him. Anthony was always a head of the family and he seemed to be lost in his own world. The kids brought flash lights to use in the caves. Madeline wasn't able to hike up to the caves, but we found a castle that she could hike up to and she got use her flashlight. She didn't know that it was a castle and not a cave, but to her it was a cave and she was content and we were happy to find something that she could use her flashlight. The kids were tired and so were we at the end of the day, but it was so much fun to escape from jail and enjoy the day as a family.