Happy Birthday, Mays & Dallas!

Today is Mays and Dallas' birthday!

We had a great weekend in Los Gatos celebrating the boys' birthday and going to the Neil Diamond concert. Neil Diamond is probably mom's all-time favorite singer and John & I grew up listening to his music. I vividly remember all of the Saturdays and Sundays as Mom cleaned the house belting out "Wearing Blue Jeans." Mom, John and I went to the concert together. It was nice to spend a little time together just the three of us and it was great to see mom relax and enjoy herself. She has had a lot going on lately with my Grandma in and out of the hospital and definitely deserves a little down time.

The girls really enjoyed spending time with their cousins and the twins seemed to have a great time playing with their big cousins. It was lots of fun to play with the boys and not have them be shy or afraid of us. Cooper even liked playing with all of the "big boy" toys at his cousins house. I can't believe they are already 2 years old. Only re-enforces to me how quickly they grow and Cooper will be 1 before I know it (less than 2 months!).

Emma Jo is old enough now that she gets to help babysit the little kids when I am busy. In the hotel she watched Cooper while Grace and I went downstairs for a cart and coffee. I showed Emma how to answer the door with the lock on (since she was too short to see through the peep hole) and instructed her to not open the door for anyone but Mommy or Grammie. I think she felt very mature to be given that responsibility.

We'll see when Cooper wakes up, but I think he got his second black eye yesterday. The first one came a few weeks ago when he pulled the hamper down on himself in the bedroom. The 2nd could have come yesterday when he rolled down the back step to the patio. He was playing inside while Grace and I set up her tunnel on the grass. She noticed that he wanted to come out so she opened up the sliding glass door for him. Next thing I knew he was about 2 feet away from the step laying on his face screaming. When I asked Grace what had happened she reported that he came out to play and then started crying. I asked why he was crying and she had no idea. Then I asked how he got to where he was and she calmly replied that he had rolled there. He as fine after a second, so no longer term consequences beside a likely black eye.

New Pictures of Cooper

At Emma Jo's soccer game on Saturday, Cooper John enjoyed sitting in Grace's "big girl" chair where he kicked back with a cracker.Cooper loves it when I let him have a ride in this Silver Oak beach bag. He laughs and laughs, too cute!

YTRAP DRAWKCAB

What a great idea. Some moms are much more creative than I am.

Emma Jo's friend has a Backward Birthday Party today. They did everything backwards. The party started with favor bags, cake and presents. Then moved on to games and ended with breakfast. Such a simple idea, yet the kids had so much fun...

Today should be a better day

Today is starting out to be a better day than yesterday.

Friday night the little ones teamed up to make sure Mommy didn't get any sleep. Cooper chose 11pm, 2am and 4am for his up-close and personal with Mommy. Grace went for midnight and 3am. Lucy tried to get in on the action a couple of times as well. By 5:30am everyone was up and watching tv. That was a sure sign that Saturday was not going to be a good day.

Last night Jason was hunting and I was on my own. Cooper was a little challenge to get to sleep since he was so over-tired from no real nap on Saturday, but by 6:30 he was out. Of course the pizza delivery man had to use the doorbell, so at 6:45 I was back in there and by 7pm Cooper was really out. Grace followed close behind by 7:30 and Emma Jo was asleep by 8:15.

I had a visit with Cooper around 9pm when he had apparent night terrors, but thankfully didn't see any more kids until Grace had to go potty and Cooper needed to eat around 4:30am.

It's now 7am, we're watching Mickie Mouse, drinking coffee and smelling our cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. It should be a good day today...

Can you tell that they are related?

Oh, Ick!

How do kids instinctively know when you have washed their carseats, and when you have on a dry-clean only sweater?

That was the situation this morning when Cooper had a major blowout. I can't remember the last time he had one, but this was a doozy, and of course, I just washed his carseat yesterday. I guess I really will have to make it to the dry-cleaners today before my sweater smells permanently of poop.

Pumpkins

Tonight was the annual "name-your-pumpkin" ceremony at Grandpa's pumpkin patch. Emma Jo chose a perfect Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin while Grace went for the biggest in the patch. Cooper John was just happy to sit in the dirt and play with a dirt clod.

Notice that Grace wrote her own name this year!

GOAL!!!

Last night was our 3rd soccer game of the season. We played the Yellow Lightning Bolts. It was a fun game (a little cold), and Emma Jo scored her first goal!

Way to go Emma Jo!

1st Giant's Game

Back on the Fourth of July we took all the kids to the Giants game. I got the Silver Oak tickets on the 1st base line up on the Club level. That is the way to see a game! No lines for food or the restrooms! Grace loved that we could see a pink tugboat in the bay.

The guy next to us commented that we must like baseball if we named our son after the Baseball hall of fame. When I told him that our nephew was named after Willie Mays, he was amazed that we really were a baseball family.

He's hungry!

Cooper has decided he is too big for baby food. He loves "real" food, especially anything that is on Mommy's plate. Last night he was so hungry he actually wanted to eat Mommy's plate.

Ooops

Clearly, this is not how you want to start your week... This 1-year old Cat D6R rolled during a clearing job at the vineyard management company. Thankfully no one was hurt and the tractor only sustained minor damage.

Monday

Monday was back-to-school as usual. We got Emma Jo signed up for Girl Scouts (be ready to buy some cookies this spring!). She is now a Junior Girl Scout which means Mommy gets to sew patches on a green vest this year. Sunday night Grace picked a tomato out of Grandpa's garden and brought it into preschool for snack on Monday. Mrs. Winter reported that Grace shared the tomato with all the children and teachers, but Grace didn't want to eat any. Mrs. Winter ate most of the tomato and she reported that it was delicious, very sweet and meaty with very little acidity, one of the best tomatoes she has had all year.

I finally got my new Title and Job Description for a promotion I was offered in June. I'm now officially the "Consumer Direct Systems Manager". I'm happy with the title and responsibilities and glad to have that settled and behind me.

For dinner last night, Jason made Beer-Battered Fish & Chips. Emma Jo loved the "home-made fish sticks" although she said they were more flakey than store-bought and fell apart easily. I wanted to give Cooper his first taste of fish, but he was a tired little boy and fell asleep before 7pm.

Saturday - Soccer & Swimming

Saturday morning was Emma Jo's 2nd soccer game of the season. They faced the toughest team in the league, the Red Inferno. The Cool Cats held their own and looked great on the field. In the first half, Emma Jo was the goalie. She made some great stops! Thankfully the game was at 10:30 since it was well into the 90s yesterday.

In the afternoon, the whole family went swimming at the gym. Cooper loves the water! There is a baby pool that is only 1-1.5 feet deep. Cooper loves that he can stand in the water and splash, although he sometimes looks around as if he is thinking "where did that come from" when the water gets on his face. Grace is getting more and more comfortable in the water and will gladly play by herself in the baby pool or in the steps of the big pool.

Back to School Night

Thursday we had "Back-to-School" night for Emma Jo. She is now in the 4th Grade and has two teachers. Mrs. Davis is her regular teacher. Mrs. Hembree just adopted a new baby, Christopher John, so she is only teaching Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

At Back-to-School night we learned that 4th grade is much different than 3rd grade. The emphasis this year is on students taking responsiblity for themselves. They are encouraged to set their own study schedule and manage their own assignments. Parents were urged to step back and let their children succeed or fail on their own. This is also a year when we switch curriculm from A Beka to Bob Jones which is apparently a big step up in cognitive thinking.

The classroom displayed some of the students work from so far this year. Each student is making a scrapbook this year. The cover page showcased Emma Jo's name and had Christian characteristics for each letter of her name. Next was her "I am" poem. I loved reading how confident and thoughtful Emma Jo is these days.

Grandpa came to the house and babysat all three kids while Jason and I were at school and Grammie had choir practice. I heard that he and Grace counted and had tea parties while Emma Jo watched TV and finished her homework.

Soccer

Last night was Emma Jo's first soccer game. Her team, The Cool Cats, played the Purple Dragons. The game was at Vintage Oaks park, which has its pros and its cons. Specifically it has a playground (pro) but no bathroom (con). Cooper loved eating the grass and Grace loved the bag full of snacks. Grammie, Mommy & Daddy tried hard to remember Coach Andy's request that we only cheer, not coach from the sidelines.

Next game is Saturday v. the Red Inferno.

Hello

I received an email from Tracy today announcing her new family blog. That was the incentive I needed to finally start the family blog I've wanted forever.

I hope this will be a place where I can share the joys of our family. With 3 kids, we are always busy, but always have things to share.