It's Back to School We Go!

A feast for a King and a Queen

Sunday night I threw Madeline and Anthony a feast that is fit for a King and a Queen.  We had a special dinner with our Special dishes, this all fit our theme of "You Are Special"  Grant and I served the kids, which they enjoyed very much.  Madeline and Anthony each had a crown to wear.  We read a book I am a Child of God and we talked about what makes a special.  Each child received a card listing the qualities that make them special.  After dinner, Grant gave Madeline and Anthony their back to school father's blessing.  The spirit was in our home and you could tell by Anthony and Madeline's reaction that they felt something too.  It was a great evening, I am so blessed to be their mother.

Tender Mercy Moment

For talent for FHE, Madeline and Anthony took turns talking about the cards that they made.  Madeline made a card for Anthony and told about how she loves him, what a great brother he is and that she likes when he plays with her.  She also told him how special he is to her.  Anthony talked about his card that he made for me, and this is what he wrote:

"Dear Mommy I love your lessons in family home evening because they make me feel love inside.  I also like it when you play and help me because it makes me feel that you love me.  I also like the work that you do to keep the spirit in are home."

I think we could have ended our FHE with our talent portion.  I am grateful for the Lord reminding me that despite my short comings I am still doing okay and that he loves me and with His help I can do even better.

A Sunbeam....staring Spencer

This is Grant's song he sings to Spencer every night when he lays him down for bed, afterwards Spencer tells his dad bye.  Grant turns off the light and as parents we can rest because our tornado is sleeping gearing up for new adventures.

Conversations

Daddy:  Madeline you need to listen and obey what Mommy and Daddy ask you to do.

Madeline:  "I will listen tomorrow."

Mommy:  "Are you ready for Kindergarten."

Madeline:  "Yes"

Mommy:  "Is  your class going to be big or small?"

Madeline:  "Big"

Mommy:  "And you get to meet lots of new friends."

Madeline:  "Yes, but I will still be a girl."

Anthony:  Madeline when I get to college, you will be in high school and when we are done with college then there is no more school.

Madeline:  Yeah and then we can stay home and play all the time.

It is fun listening in on the conversations with are children.

Camping We A Go...Cabin style

Well it is Texas and it is summer time and that means it is plain o HOT, to hot to go tent camping so the next best thing an air conditioned cabin.  We were not able to have a summer vacation this year, but we still wanted to do something fun.  We went on a little stay cation to a camp site that is about 30 minutes from our house and found ourselves a cabin right on Lake Grapevine.  We enjoyed the outdoors and then when it was too hot, we enjoyed our time inside our nice air conditioned cabin.  It also happened to storm during our camping trip, but we were safe and sound snuggled in our cabin, our tent camping neighbors didn't fare so well; they left for safer ground and came back for their soggy wet things after the storm had passed.  The kids really enjoyed themselves and they have repeatedly asked to go back for more fun.  We will probably make a few more trips back to the cabin, but we are still on the hunt for a rustic cabin out in the country and away from the city.

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Pioneer Day

In keeping with tradition of celebrating the holidays throughout the year, the Cooper family celebrated pioneer day in fashion.  I used the coloring book that I made for the Cooper reunion to talk to the kids about their pioneer ancestors, not only does the coloring book have fun pages to color and activities to do, but it gives an account in their language of who their pioneer ancestors were.  After our little lesson, we made stick horses and raced them around the house.  Then we made ink out of blueberries and used feathers to dip in our ink and draw and write with.  After that we made homemade butter which we used on our homemade cornbread.  We were going to cook our cornbread in our dutch oven, but mother nature dumped a thunderstorm that killed that idea so we used our modern day oven to get the job done.  Overall the kids enjoyed learning about pioneer life and how it is different than our life today.  It was neat to share with them about their ancestors and the faith and testimony that they had to endure what they did and to ultimately cross the plains to Utah.  We talked about how we need to follow their example and their faith for the next generation to follow.  We wrapped up the night with talking about the definition of pioneer and ways that we can be pioneers today.

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Swim Therapy

Madeline participates in a Swim Therapy program that is designed for children with special needs.  It is funded by a grant so the whole thing is at no cost to us.  The program runs from April thru October and it is every Saturday for 40 minutes.  Madeline goes with her Daddy, mainly becomes Mommy is not to fond of getting in the pool in public.  Madeline has been participating in this program since she was two, and she absolutely loves it and gets excited when Saturday rolls around.  Grant gets in the water with her and he becomes her life preserver.  Madeline's confidence level has increased through Swim Therapy.  Not only is she getting stronger, but she gets a little more comfortable around the water as each year goes on.  We are so glad for this program that allows Madeline to do things that other kids get to enjoy.  Hopefully we can find more programs out there that are designed for special needs children....still looking for some.

Madelineism

I thought the blogging world could use some more "Madelineism."

These all took place during conversations with her mother.

Madelineism 1:

Madeline:  "Why this" and "Why that"

Mother:  "Madeline Mommy needs to concentrate on driving right now so we don't wreck the car."

Madeline:  "Okay I am just going to talk to myself."

Mother:  "Great"

Madeline:  Continues to ask me why this and why that

Mother:  "Madeline"

Madeline:  "I am just talking to myself"

Mother:  "Well when you talk to yourself, you need to do it quietly"

Madeline:  "Oh....I guess I am a little bit talking to myself and a little bit talking to you."

Madelineism 2:

Mother:  "Madeline we are having pizza for lunch do you want cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza."

Madeline:  "I want the red pickle pizza."

Mother:  "You mean pepperoni pizza."

Madeline:  "Yes, the little red pickles pizza."

This took place with Madeline's Dad while they were fishing together.

Madeline was digging for worms to bait her hook with and while daddy was hooking the worm on, Madeline continue to dig for worms.  She would pull a worm out and big playing with it my seeing how far she could stretch it.  Then the very observent Madeline said while looking closely at the worm:  "Daddy, this worm doesn't have a head."  No damage was done to any of the worms during Madeline's investigation.

Tender Mercies of the Lord

I usually do not share things personal on this blog, but I have had a couple of experiences that have touched me, both of them have to do with Anthony.

Anthony has a goal to read The Book of Mormon before he turns 8 this November.  Everyday he reads a chapter a day.  Grant and I have been impressed with how well he is understanding what he is reading.  It also has been exciting to see his excitement in reading his scriptures, I hope this excitement follows him through his life.  Well I have been reading The Book of Mormon as well and I just recently finished reading it.  I told Anthony that I finished reading The Book of Mormon and with a big smile on his face he gave me a hug.  He probably will never know how much that meant to me, to see him proud of me for accomplishing a goal.  

Madeline has been receiving lots of get well cards in the mail.  A few times Anthony would ask when am I going to receive cards in the mail.  Sensing that he would love to receive a letter in the mail, I asked a few family members to join me in sending cards to Anthony.  A few days ago my letter arrived in the mail for him and he was excited to see that he was getting cards in the mail.  After he read my card he told me "I almost cried when I read your card."  I was surprise to hear that come from a seven year old.  I asked him why, in which he simply replied because I liked it and it made me feel special.  Again I don't think Anthony will know how much that meant to me.  At times I feel that I am so busy taking care of Madeline's medical needs, containing my tornado named Spencer that I feel I leave Anthony out.  I have been making a considerable more effort for him to realize and know each and every day how much I love him.  There are days that I feel I don't do so well in the area, but the Lord knows my heart and my pleas as a mother and he brings opportunities like these to let me know to not beat myself up so much that I am doing a good job and that despite my shortcomings my children are happy and feel loved.

These tender mercy moments have come at a good time for me.  I just recently experience some hurtful words and accusations that have really crushed my spirit, but my Heavenly Father knowing of my pain has showered me with these Tender Mercy Moments to aid in lifting my spirits, and who better to receive a Tender Mercy from than an innocent child.  

I truly have the best children and it is a joy and privilege to be their Mother and to serve them everyday and to experience the joy that comes from being their Mother.  My life is truly a gift.

Fourth of July Fun

In keeping with our families tradition of celebrating the holidays throughout the year, Grant and I threw a party for our  kids.  We started off the day with red white and blue cinnamon roll breakfast.  I took half the batch and dyed it red and the other half blue and then the white came in with the frosting.  The kids enjoyed it, especially Spencer, but then again Spencer doesn't turn down food.  We had a late lunch and we continued our theme of red white and blue.  Our party consist of making red white and blue Popsicles, making fire works with paint as well as with a science experiment, popping poppers in our backyard, reading books on why we celebrate fourth of July, and then we ended the night with driving around our city to see if we could see the fireworks.  We accidentally drove right in the path of the fireworks, so we pulled over onto the side of the road had an up close view of the fireworks from our nice A/C car.  

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Madeline's 5th Birthday

Usually when my children turn 5 then they can have a friend birthday party.  Well in Madeline's case that was out of the question because of her heart surgery.  We wanted to do something special for her day and that is when I thought she might enjoy going to a little girl salon and getting the royal princess treatment.  Madeline was so excited when it was time to go, and boy do they treat them like princesses.  You could see that Madeline was just soaking it all in enjoying every minute of it (except the hair washing).  She loved being the princess.  Afterwards we went to McDonalds per her request for her birthday dinner and then waiting for her at home was a surprise princess cake with butterflies celebration.  Madeline was ear to ear smiles during her special day which tells me that she enjoyed herself, and after all that she has been through this past month she deserves to enjoy being the princess.   After we washed the glitter off and out of her hair, she paused and told me that she was no longer the princess.  Well we were able to talk about what makes a princess and I told her that she doesn't need glitter to be the princess that she is the princess because she is special, because she is a Child of God, and Daughter of our Heavenly Father; so Madeline was able to learn that glitter doesn't make you a princess, but just being who you are makes you a princess.  It was a nice way to end a very special day.

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Good Shot

The past few weekends, Anthony has been participating in the mini camps over at Bass Pro Shop.  Anthony learned about fishing, BB gun, and Archery.  He was able to shoot a BB gun, fish in their pond, as well as shoot with a bow.  What we learned is Anthony is a good shot.  With the BB gun both times he hit the bulls eye and with archery he was right on the line of hitting the bulls eye.  Anthony must have a natural talent for this kind of thing as we have a rule in our house that you have to be eight to have a BB gun or a bow and arrow.  Now that Anthony has gotten a taste of both, he is excited to get his own BB gun and follow in his father's footsteps of shooting his army men.  Grant is excited for future hunting trips as well as trips to the gun range with Anthony.  What I have noticed is Anthony has a natural talent for anything that requires precision and timing.  On the piano he excels with technique and as we learn with the BB gun and archery he has a good eye.  The guy at the mini camps did tell Anthony to tell us that they sell BB guns and Bows and arrows in the store, we took it as he felt Anthony was good enough to pick it up as a sport.  In a few months Anthony will be eight and might just get his wish of owning his own BB gun.  

Mailbox full of love

For the past two weeks our mailbox and front porch have been filled with gifts, cards, and well wishes.  My father-in-law started a card chain from Florida and we have received cards from all over.  Each day I would bring up the latest batch of cards and show and read them to Madeline; and each day it would put a smile on her face.  Often times she would respond to me by telling me the cards were to help me be brave.  In her 4 year old way she understood what the cards and well wishes meant.  As her mother I found comfort in them as well.  Looking at her hospital room wall filled with cards let me know that there were hundreds of people who didn't know me or Madeline but cared and loved us the same.  With the cards, prayers, and well wishes I knew I could go on as long as it took, and I know that it gave the same encouragement to Madeline to keep on enduring.  Thanks to our friends from all over for your kindness and for thinking of our family.  Our plans our to take all the cards and create a scrapbook so that years from now Madeline can look back at all the people that thought of her and sent her butterfly kisses to cheer her up and help make her recovery a little easier.

Madeline went in on June 2nd for her last heart surgery.  The surgery was a success and in the words of the doctor it was uneventful.  Recovery went well too and 10 days later we were home.  The neat thing for me to see when I saw Madeline for the first time were here fingers and toes.  It may seem weird, but Madeline has always had purple fingers and toes due to circulation and lack of oxygen.  Now that Madeline is 92% oxygen she is pinker and her toes and fingers are now pink.  We are so happy to be able to put this behind us and to know that we will not have anymore heart surgeries.  Madeline is recovering well at home and is pretty much back to her normal self.  I enjoyed the time I had to spend with Madeline in the hospital, and in the evenings when we were together as a family.  We even had a celebration party for Madeline to celebrate her last heart surgery and the fact that she was so brave.  

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Spencer in the Month of May

Spencer's big event for the month of May was his birthday.  On Mother's Day Spencer turned two, and he didn't even know it.  We kept things simple, went and got his pictures taken and 

he didn't cry-wouldn't smile for the picture lady but would smile for me, but the big thing is he didn't cry that is progress.  Afterwards we took him to the toy store to pick out a gift.  He was more interested in the singing and dancing Elmo that Mommy was not going to buy so while he was playing Mommy went and picked out a gift with a more reasonable price tag that does not require batteries.  Afterwards all the kids played on the bikes at the toy store.  We had outdoor plans, but mother nature got in the way, but Spencer was content with what we did.

On his actual birthday we had cake.  I put individual cakes in ice cream bowls and baked them in the bowls and when they were cooked they came out like individual pies.  The kids were able to decorate their own cake and then enjoy it, and the best part was I didn't have any cake leftover to try to finish up.  Spencer sure enjoyed his cake unlike last year when he didn't want anything to do with his cake.  While we were singing Happy Birthday to Spencer he was screaming because he could see his cake and he wanted it, but Mommy and Daddy were keeping it from him for a silly birthday song.

That was about Spencer's month.  He was a good sport tagging along to all of Madeline's doctors appointments that she had, as well as tagging along to all of Anthony's events.  He behaved himself quite well and sat through the awards ceremonies without making a peep-believe me I am shocked!!!

Update on Madeline

On May 1st Madeline had her scheduled heart cath.  We weren't surprised when the doctor said that the numbers were okay to move ahead with her heart surgery.  I was able to schedule her heart surgery right away for the June 2nd.  I wanted her to be able to finish the rest of the year out and have it soon enough that by the time her birthday rolls around on June 23rd that she would hopefully being feeling well enough to enjoy her day.  During her routine recovery stay at the hospital Madeline developed a fever of 102 range.  Well the doctors and nurses were scrambling to figure out where the fever was coming from.  To be safe Madeline stayed an extra night.  They were able to determine that the fever had nothing to do with her heart cath.  While taking Madeline to the restroom, I noticed that her urine smelled bad like it usually does when she has an Urinary Tract Infection.  I told the nurse practitioner and she was tested for an UTI and the results came back just as I had predicted.  After a few days of being on antibiotics Madeline's fever disappeared and she was just fine.  Madeline does have an unique talent of developing fevers for no apparent reason.  Meaning there are no outside indicators of what is causing her fever.  She gets sluggish during the spike of her fever, we give her medicine, the fever goes away and Madeline is just fine and dandy until the fever comes back.  The fever will last for three days and she usually repeats this pattern about once month Only Madeline can pull off a mystery like this.

Next in Madeline's eventful month of May was field day.  Madeline's class did not participate in the schools field day, but her teachers did have some fun outdoor games and activities for the kids' to play with in a separate area.  I was able to go and watch and help out with Madeline's field day experience.

Madeline was award her second gator great award at school this year, making three total since she started attending school.  I was able to go with Madeline to her gator great breakfast award ceremony and enjoy a cinnamon roll and milk with her.  Way to go Madeline!

At the end of the month Madeline was able to go to "The Purple People" party.  It wasn't because she drank some purple juice and turned people, but instead she completed the reading bingo black out game at school.  The librarian put together a bingo sheet for each color of the rainbow with different subjects/ideas for the kids to find books on and read about.  The object was to fill out each bingo sheet (Bingo blackout), the kids would receive a charm for that color and those that completed them all were invited to an specially party just for them held at a huge play place for kids (that have money) to got to after school.  Madeline sure had fun with her dad playing on and enjoying all the activities they had there.  Good job Madeline!

Update on Anthony

On May 4, Anthony had is first grade music program at school.  The boys were to dress like weeds and the girls were to dress like flowers.  Anthony went as a dandelion weed.

On May 8, Anthony participated in his field day.  Daddy was able to take off from work and watch and participate with Anthony in his field day, Anthony was pretty excited to spend the time with his daddy.

On May 21, Anthony graduate from being a Tiger Scout to a Wolf Scout.  He was pretty excited to be getting his awards.  We joined late in the season and so Anthony had a matter of a few weeks to get his bobcat and tiger award.  Anthony charged in at full speed and we accomplished all his requirements, and now he is ready to get started working on his wolf- sounds like we will have some fun summer activities.

On May 22, Anthony had is award ceremony for first grade.  Each child read what they liked most about first grade and along with that each child was awards at T.Q. (Top Quality child) award where the teacher listed why that specific child was considered a Top Quality child. Anthony's teacher wrote that Anthony has a thirst for learning everything around him and has knowledge beyond his years.  Anthony also was awards for having straight A's all year long! Way to go Anthony, Mommy and Daddy are very proud of you!

On May 23, Anthony had is first piano recital.  He played three songs.  "How Firm a Foundation" and "Christ the Lord is risen Today" from the simplify hymnal and a duet with his daddy for "When the Saints go Marching in."  Anthony definitely rocked the house.  Good job

Anthony!!