Macey loves Preschool!

Macey asks to go to preschool everyday, and I wish I could take her everyday! At the beginning of January, they sent her home with a book about colors, and she read it to us. My favorite parts were "Black Black, quarterback" and "Brown Brown your jeans fell down"! I have a video of her doing it, but of course, it's too big for blogger. :)

Macey is such a character. I wonder about what she says when she isn't at home. Although, I never know what she is going to say when she is home, either. :) She brought home this worksheet last week from school, and it made me laugh out loud. If you are wondering: No, we don't make our children take cold baths.

In case you are curious, yes, those are all bubbles. I asked her when I saw her picture what she does before she goes to bed every night. She got a sly grin on her face and said, "I take a cold bath".

This past week Macey had pajama day at preschool. She picked out her jammies about a week before it was pajama day. She was SO excited! Macey never looks at the camera. Every time I ask her to look, she looks away. (It is near impossible to get a picture of her and Cooper together, looking at the camera!) She was so excited for Pajama Day that she actually posed for these two pictures. Every time I look at them, it makes me laugh. For a girl who doesn't hold still a lot, she held perfectly still for these pictures!

Outside Time!

It has been a really warm winter! One day, this last week, it was dry, and we were able to go outside and play on our swing set. The kids were in heaven, and we played for a couple of hours. This warm weather is already teasing me. I am dreaming about what my yard and garden could be this year. We have already burned weeds, tilled our garden and trimmed all our fruit trees. (See? Antsy. :) )

Macey played in her "house" under the slide, and all the kids put their claim on their swings. (We have three--two regular and an infant swing.) Macey made us all kind of dinner dishes with sand box toys, dirt and plants.

Every time I tried to get on Cooper's swing, he would run from where ever he was in the yard, nodding his head "yes", and saying "Hey! That's my swing, O-tay?!", repeatedly. He was pretty cute, but at the same time, oh boy! I'm going to have my hands full!

Jemma LOVED the swing! She also loved that her dad was home to push her on the swing. She giggled and explored the new seat she was in. (Sorry, I only got pictures of Jemma! I promise we were all there!)

Family Movie Night!

We wanted to do something special for the Martin Luther King holiday. Scott was able to be home with us, so we wanted to do something special! We didn't have too much money, but we decided to go get a $5 pizza, ice cream and a couple candy bars as toppings! We brought it all home for a picnic dinner!

We watched "Tinkerbell and The Pirate Fairy" (we put 10 movies in a hat, and we all picked on out until this was the only one left...I don't think it was any of our first choice! :) ). The kids LOVED it! Although, I think that ice cream was the best part!

January Random!

The month is almost over, and the only post I have done is of Cooper's birthday...which is at the very beginning of the month! I don't have too many pictures, so you get a written update, too!

Macey: She is a Sunbeam! She is officially primary aged. It's fun and hard being in Primary and watching her all the time. :) First, can we all agree that 1:00 is a terrible time for church?! Three hours of church is hard on a three year old! She is restless by the last hour. The week before she went into Primary, the kids sang in church. I had been teaching Macey the songs at home, so she went up front with the kids. She said, "Hey kids! Are you going to sing? Wait for me! Wait for me!" Half way up to the front, she turned around and gave Scott and I a double thumbs up and a cheesy grin. She didn't sing a whole lot, but she was good to give us thumbs up through out the performance. I'm never quite sure what Macey will say or do, and it always cracks me up!

Macey is back to preschool. This month they have been learning about the five senses. Her favorite day was the taste day. They tasted jelly beans. Macey said some were yummy and some were yucky. She told me the black were yucky. Then she paused and said everyone else thought they were yucky. I asked if she liked it. She told me she did. I asked what she did with it when she put it in her mouth: "I ate it." She is my daughter! Her dad gagged a little at the thought. :)

Cooper: He makes me laugh multiple times a day. He has ceaseless energy! Cooper will tell me he wants a nap, and then we will walk into his room, I'll tuck him in, and he will sleep. He goes right to sleep. He naps everyday, and he needs it! Macey stopped taking naps at 18 months. Having a 2 year old that sleeps is a blessing--for everyone!

Cooper gets into mischief easily. I noticed one day he was quiet, so I went looking for him. He had gotten Christmas candy off our counter, and was in the back corner of his closet eating them. Another time, I found him with scissors. Thankfully, no hair was cut, but his Avenger's pillow case, bed pillow, our couch slip cover, Cooper's sheets, his shirt, and the couch pillow were attacked before I found him!

He has a big vocabulary, and he and Macey have lengthy conversations on a regular basis. As a mom, it's one of my favorite things to listen to. Sometimes, Macey has to tell me what Cooper is trying to say.

This month he has gone to two "hoops" games at the High School. He loves basketball, and he loves to cheer. He is the apple of his father's eye.

Jemma: She is so calm! Macey and Cooper like to play with her (I caught Cooper dragging her by her arms across the floor this week...) and she just smiles and laughs. She loves them, and we all love her. Her hair is getting longer, and she is our blonde babe. She hates rice cereal and sometimes oatmeal, but she loves fruits and vegetables.

Jemma can roll all directions. She rolls and pivots to get what she wants, and everything else she can't reach, her siblings will get for her. This is my favorite stage--before they can crawl, and then walk, and then run :)

Now to pictures! Cooper likes to sneak my camera when I'm not looking:

One day, I came in to find Macey and Jemma playing together. Macey found Cooper's glasses and put them on Jemma. Jemma thought it was great...there was a lot of giggling!

Jemma eating her real food! She loves being big and eating with her brother and sister.

Macey never takes a nap. She will only take a nap if she REALLY didn't get sleep the night before. Because she never naps, she is extremely tired at about 6:30 every night. Some nights, we can't quite get her to bed fast enough. I love watching my babes sleep.

Cooper is 2!

First, can we take a minute to admire all that cuteness that is Jemma Caroline? :)

This year was Cooper's golden birthday--he turned two years old on the 2nd! We were excited that Scott got to be home for his birthday, so we knew we had to do something fun!

We decorated the house and laid out Cooper's presents for the morning. We hung some streamers from his bedroom door and placed a finish-line streamer for them to break when they ran through. So, what did they do? They ran underneath it!

Our Avenger's lover was given mostly Avenger themed gifts (A Halloween Iron Man costume, Avenger's body wash, and some Avenger's school supplies...and as you can guess, I have been stocking up and shopping sales for a while. :) ) Plus, he got a new baseball hat and a tool set! He was one happy boy!

Grandpa and Grandma gave Cooper some new clothes and a scooter! (They were also better than mom and dad and got sister, Macey, a present too! Although she doesn't look like it...she was SO excited for new play-doh!)

There was a bit of a learning curve with the scooter, but I think we have figured it out!

After a quick waffle breakfast, we headed out for bowling and pizza!

We realized once we got to the bowling alley, that we actually went there for Macey's 2nd birthday! I guess it's tradition! They had adorable little kid bowling shoes. Cooper was obsessed with the bowling balls--organizing them and carrying his own (14 pounds!) ball. Bowling was absolutely awesome...until the 6th frame. Then, it was past nap time, and Cooper was hysterical. We played on, and he went and sat out the game with a package of fruit snacks. :)

We decided to get our pizza to go! Jemma went down for a nap, and we all ate a late lunch.

We watched a movie, and then the kids played with dad while I pulled together dinner!

We didn't have an exciting dinner, but we did have birthday cake! (I realized 9:30 the night before that I was out of red food coloring! I found some red sprinkles in my cupboard...but it make the cake a little crunchy!)

The next day, we were able to pull out Cooper's tool kit. Macey was absolutely wonderful on Cooper's birthday. She didn't throw any tantrums and let Cooper celebrate Cooper's day. The next day, when the tool kit emerged, was a different story! She sure loves the tools...almost as much as Cooper does!

I can hardly believe Cooper is 2! I read in our local newspaper today about the New Years baby that was born in our county for the 2015 year. I felt like it should still be Cooper, but that was two years ago--crazy! We love our spunky Cooper, and we can't imagine life without him!