Fall Campout

Every year we go camping in October for Grant's birthday.  Every year we like to try out a different camp ground.  For a few weeks leading up to our campout, Spencer would ask me everyday if it was time.  Finally when the day arrived he was so excited that he had to share the good news with his teacher.  I am so glad our kids love going camping, it sure makes the experience easier.  This time we went to Cleburne State Park.  We picked it because of the close proximity to our house.  With the kids in school it is hard to go anywhere far.  When we arrived we were shocked to see how small the camp spots were.  It was pretty tricky to get our big tent sent up in our spot, but we managed.  Because the campsite was so small the water to our camp site was inside the porch area to our tent.  We had to keep a close watch on Spencer as he could easily flood our campsite with his love of water.  After we set up camp we went and explored the playground, during our exploration we discovered two black cats that were obviously use to people and not scared one bit to walk into a camp site meowing for food.  We had to leave camp to get ice (there is always something we forget) and while we were out, we decided to rough it by getting some hamburgers to make dinner a little easier.  We brought our DVD player to watch a movie, I know we are sure rough campers.  Our kids are not really into the whole sit by the firer and talk, so instead we gather in the tent cuddle up in our sleeping bags and watch a movie with lots of junk food.  We crashed around 10:00 only to woken up by flashing red lights and lots of vehicles.  We later found out that one of the campers next to us got bitten by insect and had an allergic reaction.  After breakfast the next day we enjoyed a good hike to several scenic overlooks.  The scenic views were pretty, but for someone who is scared of heights the view was great from a distance. I might be scared of heights, but my kids aren't; which makes mom's heart race.  I start to play these silly what if scenarios in my head and then I start to visualize my kids tripping and falling down the cliff.  It is just best that I don't look, sure glad their Dad doesn't have that problem.  Spencer did good for most of the hike, but on our way back he sure let us know how tired he was and how much he wanted to go home.  After our hike we checked out and on our way home we all enjoyed a yummy treat from Dairy Queen.  It was another successful camping experience!

Grant had a very nice birthday, with lots of treats along the way.  Madeline and I took him out for lunch, the kids had fun wrapping his presents, decorating the kitchen, and making a super yummy cake.  Grant asked for a Dark Chocolate Cake and that is what we delivered.  It was a Dark Chocolate cake mix, with Dark Chocolate chunks mixed in.  The frosting was dark chocolate sprinkled with dark chocolate m&m's.  It was rich and Grant was the only one able to eat his whole piece, after one bite the kids and I were out.  It was definitely a rich cake.  A few days before Grant's birthday I took the kids to the store to let them pick out what they wanted to give their Daddy.  Madeline wanted to get him some mechanical pencils for work, Anthony chose jammie pants, and Spencer thought his dad would love every Angry Bird toy they had.  Spencer felt that since he liked Angry Birds, then everyone liked Angry Birds.  I had to keep steering Spencer away from the angry birds with my suggestions of other gifts that Daddy might like.  I won the battle with the angry birds, but finally gave in with Perry the Platypus (Spencer's second great love).  Grant loved all of his gifts and really enjoyed his Perry the Platypus shirt, though I think Spencer was even more excited then his Daddy.  We are sure lucky and blessed to have Grant as a Daddy and Husband.

Back To School

2012-2013 School Year

Anthony:  Fifth Grade.  Mrs. Breunig, same teacher he had in 3rd Grade.

Spencer:  Kindergarten.  Mrs. Briggs, same teacher Anthony had in Kindergarten.

I thought it would be nice while the boys were at school to decorate their room and to leave them a nice note.  The boys loved the decorations and insisted they stay up until the last piece of streamer fell off.  Madeline and I also made some cookies for us all to enjoy while we heard about the exciting things that happened on the first day.  I like being able to do things to let them know they are special and that they are loved at home.

Madeline started school a week after the boys did.  I wanted to do a surprise for her too, but knew that decorating her room was out.  Grant and I decided that he could bring home a treat for Madeline when he came home from work.  Madeline loves Lemonade and pink, so we decided a small bottle of Lemonade tied to a pink balloon would be the perfect Back to School treat!

Back To School Feast

I know Halloween is right around the corner and I am just now getting to Back to School fun, but sometimes life happens.

We have a tradition in our family where we have a Back to School feast Sunday night before school starts.  We decorate our kitchen, make a (semi) fancy dinner, and introduce our theme for the year.  The kids love it and they love the special attention that they receive.  This year we combined another tradition we have and that is using the current General Conference talks for our FHE lessons.  This time we did Elder Perry's talk about the power of Deliverance.  We focused our lesson on the part of where Abraham and the People of King Benjamin had the doors of their tents facing.  From Elder Perry's talk we learned that their doors faced the temple.  We applied this to us that if we have our doors (mind, eyes, and actions) facing towards the temple then we will be able to resist any temptation that might come our way.  Furthermore, we will have the spirit as well as the influence of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide us.  To help illustrate this we made tents (King Benjamin) style and we had the door of the tent facing our Temple picture hanging on the wall.  It was neat to be able to bear testimony to our kids of the importance of the Temple, the blessings that come from the Temple, and joy that comes when we keep our eye on the Temple.  To help them visualize this goal, I displayed pictures of the kids I took of them in front of the Kansas City Temple.  On the picture I printed the words I am going inside someday.  

After our feast and after our Back to School message/FHE it was time for Father's Blessings.  I love this about our tradition.  The mood is already set, the spirit is already felt which leads nicely into their blessings.  After the blessings were given it was time to get ready for bed to rest up for the new school year.

I love that our kids look forward to this every year.  I like that they ask what the message is going to be.  I like that Grant and I are striving to make Back to School not only a fun and exciting experience, but a spiritual one as well.  I know the kids are faced with temptations and decisions to make, and I like to think that we are fortifying them to face the battles that our out there.  I cherish the spiritual moments we have in our home and the testimony building experiences we experience as a family.  I know these moments are building blocks to their own testimony and to their own spiritual foundation.  I love to be able to share with my children those things that I hold true and the things that are of most worth to me.  I am grateful for the blessings of the Temple and for my Eternal Family.  To know the blessings, the joy, and the happiness that we experience here on earth will only continue with us in the next life and the moments that we experience here will only add to what we will experience in Heaven.  I am grateful that the Temple is a bridge between here and our Heavenly Father.  The Temple has been a huge blessing in my life and I hope our children will not only see the blessing but feel the blessings of the Temple in their own life.

Glow in the Dark Fun

One of the last things we did from our Summertime board was Glow in the Dark night.  I spent some time gathering glow in the dark ideas in preparation for our night of fun.  The kids really enjoyed building pyramids from plastic cups, adding glow in the dark bracelets to them and sprinkling their Lego figures throughout their pyramids.  Once the lights were off, an epic, glow in the dark Nerf gun battle ensue.  Once our pyramids and Lego figures were knocked over, the lights came back on and we again built imaginative pyramid creations and started the battle over again.  Spencer had more fun building the pyramids, he did get frustrated over the fact that his legs or arms would bump up against his pyramid and knock it over.  He just couldn't understand why his pyramids kept knocking over and he having to keep building.  Once we did a few rounds of glow in the dark Nerf gun fun, we gathered up our rings for glow in the dark ring toss.  This was fun for everyone, and kept our attention as we tried to get our rings around our glow stick pole-pretty tricky in the dark.  To end our glow in the dark fun, we had glow in the dark sprite, which is easy to make.  The kids really liked the fact that their drink lit up in the dark.  Our glow in the dark fun was a popular hit in our family, that we are planning our next fun.  This time we want to do glow in the dark bowling, Frisbee, balloon toss, and we will probably have fun with the Nerf bullets.  I am grateful that Target has the glow sticks in the dollar section, and with it being Halloween it is a prefect time to stock up.

Rangers

September is about over and I am still blogging about our summer vacation.  I haven't even touched back to school pictures, but there is a good reason.  The Cooper Family is embarking on a new adventure of homeschooling.  After much prayer we received the answer that it would be best to homeschool Madeline.  Homeschooling is going good so far, but it sure takes a huge chunk of time.  Juggling homeschooling and other responsibilities that come with running a household and family have been the biggest challenge.  However, I know without a shadow of doubt this is where Madeline is suppose to be and because of that knowledge we press on.  Grant has been a huge support and often times staying up late with me helping me plan and put together Madeline's lesson plans.  Madeline is a very visual learner and worksheets do not agree with her, so there is a lot of creativity and hands on learning going on.  This creativity and hands on learning takes a lot of time to make and put together.  Often times when I want to give in, I will get a text from Grant that says I am cheering for you; and because of that I can keep going.  I am sure things will get easier and we will get in a groove as the year progresses.  So it may be Christmas by the time I get back to school pictures up, but I will one day get caught up with my blog and my never ending laundry and ironing pile.

Okay I digress long enough, back to summer vacation!  The last week of our summer vacation we decided to a first for our family and attend a Rangers game.  We figured since the Rangers are doing good this year that the game should be interesting and a long with lots of popcorn and cotton candy our children should be able to last.  When I added Rangers game to our bucket list the kids were excited, except for Spencer but he takes awhile to warm up to things.  Because the Rangers are doing so well, so are their ticket sales; and because ticket sales are going up so our ticket prices.  However with lots of patience we were able to find some tickets that didn't cost us a mortgage payment.  The game was exciting and it seemed that every time a Ranger came up to bat they would make a home run.  Though making home runs is the object of the game, we learned for our family it wasn't such a good thing.  For every home run they would shoot off fireworks and fireworks and Madeline do not mix.  Madeline was starting to get pretty miserable and Grant and I were learning when to spot the danger.  However after the scored reached 10 Madeline was becoming accustomed to the noise and as long as we warned her and covered her ear she did fine.  So in the end the score was Rangers 12 and the Baltimore Orioles 2.  I figured it was a nice gesture of the Rangers to give the other team 2 points.  It was definitely an exciting game and a sigh of relief.  There is nothing like going to a score less, action less baseball game with a bunch of kids and when one of those kids is your darling little Spencer.  They have already requested going to a game next year.

Ice Cream Week

Last summer we were experiencing death defying temperatures.  With highs way in the triple digits and the heat index even worse there wasn't much to do to entertain the kids.  Out of desperation I came up with ice cream week.  Ice cream and hot temperatures go really well together.  The idea was to visit a different ice cream place each night for a week.  The kids loved it!  More importantly the thought of going to get ice cream kept them entertained.  Chalk one point for a successful week.  Now fast forward to another year.  It is summer, it is hot but unlike last year it wasn't as hot.  Yes we were in the triple digits, but 102 is a lot better than 110.  I didn't think anything about ice cream week.  However, the kids did and were eager to do it again this year.  What came out of desperation turned into a summer time tradition.  With all of our summer time fun we didn't get around to our new tradition until the last week of summer; but we did squeeze it in.  I think ice cream week is the most exciting week for our kiddos.  Who can beat sugar on a hot day.  This year we were able to find a new ice cream place and they did not disappoint.  I have heard about Rita's around in blog land and I looked them up and saw that there was a place in our neighborhood.  Rita's is total YUM.  They are mainly Italian Ice and custard.  When you mix the two, you have a divine treat.  Don't let the size of cups fool you, in this case less is more.  Because of the rich flavors it doesn't take long to fill up.  I made the mistake of getting a large size and it took every ounce that I had in me to finish.  I learned and next time I stuck to the kid sizes.  Now Rita's has turned into a favorite date night treat for Grant and I.  I guess I better hit the gym.

Main Event

Another day during our week long stay cation we decided to go to Main Event.  Our original plans were to go to the Bluebell Ice Cream plant to take a tour, but the tour time slots were full.  We didn't want to risk driving three hours to take a chance on the standby list.  After searching other places to go and see we came up empty.  There were lots of places to see, but cost was an issue as well as Madeline and the heat.  One of the activities we had on our Summer Fun Board was bowling.  I knew Main Event had bowling as well as other fun activities and the best part it is smoke free.  We decided to also to a round of glow in the dark golf.  The kids did well at bowling and they all got a few strikes.  Spencer still doesn't understand why he can't bowl again when he gets a strike.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the beauty of a strike but me; but I made up for it by getting a couple of hole-in-one when we played golf.  Spencer seemed to enjoy more the black light effect on his shirt then actually playing golf.  It is always entertaining watching Spencer play golf.  After our golfing and bowling experience we headed to Sprinkle Cupcakes.  Cupcake Wars is a show I like to watch on the food network (I watch it online) and one of the judges is the owner of Sprinkle Cupcakes.  I learned that there was a store in Dallas and since we were not too far I thought it would be fun to try out these famous Cupcakes.  It was a fun treat, but it wasn't anything over the moon special.  Maybe if we are over in the area again we might stop by and enjoy a cupcake.  In the end it was a very full day and the kids were excited to be home.

Going to the Beach

Down in Grandbury which is a couple of hours south of us is a little man made beach surrounding Lake Grandbury.  The city sectioned off a portion of the lake that is safe for swimmers and away from boaters.  They they imported (or that is what the web site says) sand from the Gulf to make a beach area.  During our week long stay cation I thought it would be fun to go to the beach.  Since we got there early it wasn't crowded which made swimming around and building sand forts a lot easier.  The kids enjoyed it.  We only stayed for a couple of hours, by then it was lunch time and the crowds of people who looked like they were ready to camp were starting to come.  On the way home we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  I am sure we will go again.

Great Wolf Lodge

To kick off our week long stay cation we went to Great Wolf Lodge.  It is basically a hotel (fancy) with a huge indoor water park.  We took advantage of the discount that we get from Grant's work and decided to splurge.  Since we weren't going to go anywhere this year, we decided we could justify spending a few extra bucks on a big fancy hotel.  The kids liked the room because it had a little built in cabin for the kids to sleep in.  The cabin had a bunk bed and then a toddler bed.  Perfect for our kids.  The kids were super excited about having their own TV in the cabin.  My kids love it when we stay at hotels.  We don't have cable and so they enjoy watching cartoons on Disney in the morning.  I think they are pretty silly.  The water park was fun and the slides were better then our local water park.  It was a little disappointing that there wasn't much for Madeline to do.  They did have a little kid area but the slides were too fast for her.  Because of her height she was restricted in what she could do.  She did enjoy the outside pools where a good chunk of it was 2 feet deep.  It was the perfect height for Madeline to pretend that she was an Olympic swimmer and do her laps-Madeline style.  After we got our fill from swimming we came back to our room and enjoyed our picnic style dinner with lots of junk food for dessert.  Whenever we go away, Grant likes to stock up on lots of junk food.  After our sugar rush we decided to have our own Gymnastic Olympics in our hotel room.  I feel really bad about those who were below us.  The kids enjoyed running from one end of the room to the other doing their Gymnastic moves.  It was a great way to get whatever energy was left inside out.  By the time Cooper Gymnastics was over, the kids were more than willing to go to bed.  The next morning after breakfast we headed down to the water park and pool area to play before heading home.  When you check out of the hotel you can still use the water park until it closes that day.  So for the price of one night stay at the hotel you can use the water park for two days.  They even allow you to check in early and play at the water park while you wait for your room to be ready.

Summer Fun Part Two

Our Summer break has been a pure bliss I am not looking forward to school starting.  The low key days have been heaven sent.  Our Summer bucket list is almost complete.  We didn't go anywhere this year, but we have been busy doing lots of fun activities at home and around the area.  I have loved spending time with the kids and will miss the time that I have with them.

Left to Right:  Enjoying 1/2 price shakes at Sonic.  Playing tic tac toe Frisbee in the backyard.  Miniature Golf.  Making Ice Cream in a bag.  Homemade baked doughnuts.  Sandpaper t-shirt art.

Wiggles

Anthony was a huge Wiggles fan, he knew all the songs and the dance moves.  Spencer is following in his brothers' foot steps.  The Wiggles are his favorite and he loves to sing the songs and dance along.  When Anthony was little the Wiggles were a popular group, but they have faded out.  I believe this is their last tour and we were lucky enough that they were coming to Texas.  Grant went along to his third Wiggle concert (he is such a good dad).  Spencer kept thinking he was going to watch the Wiggles on a big screen and he was shocked to see The Wiggles are real people.  It took a bit for him to take it all in and for the shock to wore off; but once that happened he danced along.  Grant said he had a great time, but he didn't want to let you know that he was enjoying himself.  He could only hide it for so long before he was telling us all about his fun experience.  Now that Spencer is our last child, we are officially finished with Wiggle concerts.  Even though we are finished with Wiggle concerts we are still serenaded at home to Wiggle movies and a little five year strumming his guitar as he sings a long.

Tie Dye

My kids love to do Tie Dye, but it is a little messy and hard to do with young kids, especially Spencer.  Keeping the dye from staining furniture, walls, and floors is just a nerve racking experience for this mom.  I was happy to see that there was another safer way to tie dye.  All you need sharpie markers and alcohol.  The kids had a lot of fun and Spencer totally got into it and he is not an art and crafty person.  It was fun to see the creativity come out in each of the kids and to see three uniquely different shirts.  I think we can safely tie dye in this family and not have to worry about walls, furniture, and floors getting dyed in the process.

Safety Town

There is a nearby city (there are no towns where we live, just one massive collections of cities) where the fire department has built a minature size town complete with roads, traffic lights and signals.  The purpose of this little town is to teach children through hands on learning safety rules and the importance of them.  There is a house where kids can learn fire safety, how to escape a burning house safely, and what house looks like after a fire.  They also do tornado safety as well as traffic safety.  The kids are able to drive around the town, where they have traffic lights to follow as well as traffic directions.  This minature town is usually opened to schools for field trips, but on Fridays during the summer they have family night where families can come and explore together.  There happened to be a Friday where Grant would be able to break away from work early and so we capitalized on the good fortune.  The kids really enjoyed driving around the town.  They have motorized jeeps for the younger kids and bikes for those who are too big for the jeep.  Madeline surprised us all by wanting to drive around with a bunch of other kids.  Madeline drove that jeep like a champ while cranky Spencer sat in the passenger side.  To Spencer's credit he fell asleep on the way over and so he was still waking up from his nap.  While we waited for our turn to drive around the town we went to the different stores where we learned safety rules relating to stranger danger, swimming, riding a bike, and what 911 is used for.  After spending the afternoon learning about safety we headed for a nearby mall and ate dinner.  I am so glad that we went, the kids were able to learn a lot through hands on learning, and we were able to have fun as a family.  A win win situation for all!

When the Cat Sleeps the Mouse Play

Grant fell asleep one afternoon in the living room, and well I couldn't resist.  I was laughing the whole time that my hands were shaking; but Grant had no idea.  When he woke up I told him his nails looked nice, he was confused until he looked down and saw what happens when one takes an innocent nap.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July was a simple day with our little family.  There were no big home improvement projects and no weekend crammed with lots of entertaining activities.  We started the day with fishing.  We have been fishing with the kids before and you would think we would have learned the importance of having all the poles ready to go with hooks and all; but I guess we haven't.  Spencer was bored out of his mind waiting for Grant to get the poles ready and was asking to go home before we even started.  Our fishing experience was looking like a dud which isn't good when you are trying to get the kids excited about fishing.  After trying our hand at fishing we decided to try a different spot and see if we would have any luck.  I am so glad we did!  As soon as the kids put their poles into the water, the fish started biting.  Each of the kids were able to catch a fish and they were excited.  Spencer wanted to stay longer and keep fishing; my how things can change.  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing different games out in the backyard.  One of the games we played was croquet with kick balls.  I used pool noodles and stakes as the hoops for the balls to go through; our feet were our mallets, and playground balls were our instrument of choice.

After our round of croquet it was time for water balloons.  I never have really done water balloons and so this was all new for the kids, and Spencer found his new best friend.  We tried target practice but when the chalk got washed away we needed a new target; this is where Daddy came into the picture he just seemed to be the perfect target.  

After water balloons we headed to the community center to go swimming in their indoor pool.  The kids like the pool and I like that I don't have to worry about the heat with Madeline.  We swam for about an hour and then we headed home to rest.  I really liked the quiet afternoon.  No big projects, no assignments, and no where to be.  It was nice to rest and relax as a family.  For our dinner we had hot dogs, chips, and watermelon from our garden.  For our fourth of July treat we made brownie kabobs.  I used brownies, strawberries, blackberries, and jumbo marshmallows.  The kids really enjoyed assembling their own dessert.  

After dinner it we decided to join the rest of the area and go see the fireworks.  Madeline is fearful of the sound from the fireworks and so we stay in the car to watch them; it just works better for our family.  We just found a spot on the side of the road to pull over to see the fireworks.  The idea was that we could simply leave when they were done and avoid the traffic mess.  Well that idea flopped.  The fireworks were only 10 minutes away but it took us an hour to get home.  Getting home at 11:00 with tired and cranky kids from sitting in completely stopped traffic for an hour was not how I wanted my relaxing holiday to end.  We decided watching the fireworks from New York on TV is the way to go.  The fireworks are set to music, we can have all the treats we want, there is air conditioning, and most of all no traffic.  I think fireworks on television is what we will do next year; the hassle with a bunch of crazy impatient people all trying to get home from celebrating our nations birthday is not how I want to end my holiday.  Besides we can control the volume and that makes everyone in our family happy!

Madeline's Baptism

Here it is August and I have yet to write about Madeline's baptism; things have been busy on the home front this Summer.

Madeline was baptized on her eighth birthday, just like she wanted.  In our stake they have Child of Record Baptism every Saturday before Fast Sunday.  Since Madeline has medical needs that need special attention she was able to get permission to have her own private baptism.

Madeline's baptism was one of those moments that will be seared into my memory forever; it was a moment where I was proud to be her mother.  Prior to her baptism we broke up the Fourth Article of Faith into four separate Family Home Evening lessons, we did this a month before her special day.  During this time we also talked to her about what she could expect to happen at her baptism and she even practiced with her Daddy a few times.  The one concern we had was if Madeline would allow water to touch her eyes.  Because Madeline cannot close her left eye, she doesn't like to get water in it, and to be baptized you have to be completely submerged in water.  As her parents we took this concern to the Lord and knew that because Madeline was making a righteous decision He would be able to help her and there wouldn't be any concerns.  Come baptism day, Madeline was a champ and the water was not a fear for her.  Because of her baptism Madeline is no longer fearful of water.  She now goes under water when swimming and she now prefers showers to baths; it is so amazing to see what the Lord can do when we turn our heart over to him.

One of the things that I did for Madeline's baptism was make her baptism gown.  I knew that there wouldn't be a jumper in the closet that would fit her.  I didn't choose just any white fabric to make her dress, I made her dress from my wedding dress.  My wedding dress was hanging in my closet safely wrapped up and it was just taking up space.  I knew I was no longer going to be able to fit it and with Madeline as tiny as she is I knew the likely hood of her being able to wear it one day was probably a slim chance.  I used everything from the buttons, lace, and material.  It was neat to be able to pass something so special to me to Madeline.  I have enough material leftover to make the boys their temple ceremonial packets.  My dress will no longer be tucked away, but will now be handed down to each of my children for them to treasure as well.

Back to the baptism:  Madeline was beaming on her special day, you could tell she knew she was making the right decision and she knew that her Heavenly Father was proud of her.  She was a breath of fresh air and a reminder to me of how simple, pure, and joyous the gospel is and the joy and excitement it can bring to your life.  Anthony gave the baptismal talk and he hit it on the nail and our Home Teacher gave the Holy Ghost talk and reminded us all who the Holy Ghost is and the important gift he is in our life.  When Madeline was baptized, me being the tough person that I am held back the tears.  It was a pure miracle to see our daughter baptized.  Eight years ago we didn't know if we would see this day; eight years ago we were overwhelmed with issues dealing with her heart and the steps it would require to give her a chance at life.   Now fast forward eight years later and she has overcome all those stumbling blocks with dignity and grace and with resounding faith in her Savior Jesus Christ.  Watching Madeline come out of the water, was like watching an angel emerge.  As her mother it was a pure gift and all the hard times that we have endured together were worth it in that moment.  In that moment I saw what I was fighting for.  The countless doctor appointments, therapy appointments, surgeries, hospital stays, and the hours of uncertainty, were all clear to me the moment she came out of the font.  Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the day to day living that we sometimes forget what the eternal picture is; the goal that we are all striving for; the very reason we came here to earth.  After Madeline was baptized we had a brief testimony meeting and we were all given a gift to be able to hear Madeline bare her testimony.  Madeline loves to bare her testimony, and to hear her testimony of baptism, the love of our Savior, His Atonement, and the opportunity to return and live with Him; put everything into perspective.  My focus was sharpened and my resolve made stronger.  It was Madeline's testimony that I felt my Savior's love, I felt His arms wrap around me, and I heard him say I knew you could do it.  I knew you would take care of my special daughter.  Madeline is a gift that keeps on giving.  I am so glad that I listened to my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.  I am so glad I trusted in them the day she was born and I was overwhelmed with fear of having to take care of a special girl.  I am so glad for the lesson I learned early on that all I needed to do was love her and allow the doctors to do the rest.  It was this lesson where everything was put into perspective to me.  I didn't need to get wrapped up in all the medical issues, I just needed to love her; and loving her was something I could do.

Here is Madeline's own words about her Baptism Day:  "I felt special on my Baptism day.  My Mommy took out her wedding dress and made a dress for my baptism.  We went to the Stake Center and my favorite part of the program was Anthony's talk, my big brother.  And then I got baptized by water.  And my dad confirmed me a member of the Church after I was baptized.  After I was confirmed I felt the Holy Ghost.  When I felt the Holy Ghost I felt happy.  While Daddy was changing I shared my testimony.  And my testimony was about baptism."

Aquarium

While Grandma and Sabrina were here from Utah we took them to a couple of fun places.  We went to the money factory.  The government makes money for the United States in two places.  Washington D.C. and Fort Worth Texas.  Pictures are not allowed so I don't have any to show you.  It was interesting to see how they make a dollar bills and to get a look at the new 100.00 dollar bill.  The tour was about 45 minutes, Spencer got bored but remained calm and went with the flow and well Madeline fell asleep.  Anthony of course being the history buff that he is enjoyed it and I was relieved that we made it out without a scene.  The other place we went was to the Aquarium that is at a near by mall.  It is a small aquarium.  We don't go often because it is pricey and well how many times can you look at fish before getting bored.  We figured it has been awhile and since Grandma and Sabrina haven't seen it that it would be something.  Besides what else do you do when it is well over a 100 degrees outside.  It is miserable enough for us Texans who are use to the heat, but Grandma and Sabrina who our accustomed to Utah weather it was a whole knew planet.

Madeline's Birthday

At the end of June, Madeline turned 8 and she couldn't be more excited.  For us 8 is an important year for you are baptized.  Madeline has come a long way in her eight years and has overcome a lot.  Things are starting to slow down for Madeline health wise and the surgeries are getting further and further apart.  It is nice to say that the Children's Hospital is no longer our home.  We still have our doctor's appointments but they are the standard check ups and we can handle those.  It is nice to be able to see that Madeline is doing so well that she can start to enjoy life and be a carefree girl.  We had a lot of family in town for her birthday and a lot of cousin fun.  There was playing in the pool, playing build a bear imagination, monkey cupcake eating, and opening lots and lots of presents.  Of course the biggest thing that happened on her birthday was her baptism.  I think Madeline was sung too several times that day and each time she would have a big smile on her face.  I am certain Madeline felt loved and special on her very special day.

I will post about Madeline's baptism shortly as soon as I can put my feelings from the down on paper, it was one the spiritual highlights of my life.

Father's Day

Father's Day was fun this year, but when you have a daddy like Grant it is always fun.  Our original plan was to get Daddy a pocket knife since he lost his, but guess what showed up in the washer one day....a pocket knife.  Now Grant could always enjoy a knife, but when it comes to picking out a knife I am not an expert.  I am more of butter knife or plastic knife person.  I didn't think Grant would want to carry around a plastic knife so back to the drawing board.  I have seen at grocery stores candy bar arrangements, but the only problem I would have to shell out 50.00 dollars for one.  Now last time I checked candy bars were not that expensive so I am pretty sure they were making a good profit off of a simple thing that someone could make.  I decided that the kids were going to make Grant a candy bar arrangement.  Grant loves flavored dark chocolate so we splurged a little and we each picked out a different flavor candy bar.  I knew Grant needed another bucket for outside work that he does and that is a perfect container to place our yummy chocolates in.  Now the problem was I didn't have anything to attach the bars too or to put them in.  Now I didn't really want to pay money for sticks or shell out money for Styrofoam, so I came up with the next best thing.  Sticks and rocks from the backyard.  We begin putting together our flower arrangement and filled in the extra space with special notes for our Daddy.  Feeling satisfied with our work I started to take the present to our secret hiding place and discovered that the bucket was a lot on the heavy side.  I guess rocks do weigh a lot.  With Anthony's help we get the present (barely) to its hiding spot.  Now our next problem was getting out of the hiding spot on Father's Day.  I wasn't in the mood to try to carry the heavy bucket again.  Being the smart person that I am decided that we would give Daddy a treasure hunt through the house to his present and let him pick it up.  Anthony had fun writing simple clues and we all had a good laugh when Grant realized what is present was and how heavy it was.  Eventually the rocks and sticks returned to their natural habitat, the bucket is doing its job outside, and Grant has taken the chocolate out of the house where it is nice and safe for him to enjoy.  We are really blessed with the best Dad and Husband one could ask for and it is always nice to celebrate the reasons why we love him so!!