For Mother's Day I asked for some blogging time. Some family blogging time. Lame, right? But as it IS Mother's Day, and I lay in bed at 9:30 a.m. (being lucky enough to sleep in today with only a few interruptions), I lay thinking how I am the blessed one. (While also smelling the best aroma of home made whole grain waffles-YUM!) Today is the day the kids/husband honor me...but it should be the other way around. Mason handed me the card he made me at school at 6 a.m. He's been saving it in his room since Wednesday for crying out loud! Hannah and Jaxon also gave me their thoughtful cards they made at both school and church, but I especially feel blessed to have been given these particular kids to raise. Sometimes I look at them and wonder where the heck they came from--they have such unique personalities and characteristics that are sooo natural to each of them, and not instilled by me or their dad. I don't think I ever knew how powerful mommy love can be. Something that I'm sitting here trying to think of good adjectives to describe, and can't. Its sitting in the ER with my 8 year old and holding his hand and thinking of all the amazing things he's going to do in his life. All the people he's going to influence and connect with, and change. Its seeing Hannah being her kid self and causing tornado-like disaster with her brilliant imagination, but then the next minute cooking herself breakfast and making her own lunch for school like a grown up. Its reading in her card that she wants to be just like her mom. Like, really? Regardless of my petty outbursts and ridiculous-ness...she still wants to be like ME? Wow. I guess cause I'm her mom. Which puts a TON of responsibility on these shoulders. Mommy love. Its laying next to the 3 year old in the morning for an hour while he patiently plays with my hair while waiting for me to get up. Its the 6 year old that climbs on my lap for snuggles, and to push my hair behind my ears. Its in the defenses that go up the SECOND anyone might say or hint anything that suggests my children might be less than perfect. Well, sure, they're not perfect, but only I am allowed to say it! I am really enjoying my children these days. I am realizing how fast the days are going by and how they're not staying the same age, or size or same anything! I am humbled by them and learning from constantly. I expect that they will teach me soo much more, than I will ever teach them.
I am so thankful to my own mom and the things she taught me in ways more than just her words. Her amazing example spoke volumes and I hope to do the same for my own kids. I know I have work to do.
I really should take pictures of my house right now. What happens when the kids happily entertain themselves while I work on the computer. Scary, but worth it. They're making memories! I LOVE that they all get along so great and can play together for so many hours. I think a lot of it is because of Hannah. She really involves everyone and allows everyone in on the action. They say they're playing the "boat game." All their webkinz on blankets on the floor. Jared is making a tri-tip and roast vegetables for dinner. And since its our 2nd day off (Easter was the first) in our 60 day sugar free challenge--we are having home made chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream that Jared picked up last night at Coldstone. Yum!
I'm spoiled rotten today. And I need to take pictures to post. Okay. Got some pictures. Not the best, but its something to remember today by.
So it used to be, the favorite activity of the day (besides video games) was Hannah and Jaxon playing "babies". Don't tell them I told you. They would get out the playfood, clothes, blankets, whatever and play for HOURS with their babies. It was awesome. Nothing but quiet, happy play for hours. Well it seems like Jaxon might be outgrowing that or something, cause for the past couple weeks its been Hannah and Mason playing "webkinz school." Meaning, all 40+ (or something like that) of the kids webkinz sit in Hannah's room and listen to the teachers (Hannah and Mason) teach, and then they do spelling tests, math tests, etc. Its another game that takes hours and hours and happy and quiet play that I LOVE. I also love that Mason is a part of this one. He's young enough that Hannah can boss him around as much as she wants and he's happy to comply just so he can be a part of the game. Its actually really sweet, because Hannah doesn't act too bossy most of the time. I took a few pictures when I walked past Hannah's room and saw the webkinz all set up for school, while the kids were eating lunch or something. This game happens daily. I LOVE it! And then Jaxon and Isaac play other things together, which makes me happy too!!
(Oh P.S. this group of webkinz in the picture is only a tiny fraction of how many there really are!)
March. Lots of rain. Some more sickness. Kind of foggy feeling thinking about it. Last weekend we had a couple of dry days so Jared and Travis took the kids to Sugarloaf State Park to ride bikes. I met them over there since I was taking Jenny and Maya's pictures there too. You can see those here. Before Jenny got there I scoped out a few different spots and took pics of the only kids who would cooperate (Mason and Isaac). I got a couple of Jaxon and Jenna's kids, but Hannah refused the camera! I will figure out something to get her to cooperate. The kids had soo much fun cruising around on their bikes, getting super dirty and eating barbecued hotdogs for dinner. I would've taken more pictures of all the action, but I was taking pictures of Jenny and Maya for most of that time. But I was happy the kids were in nature, exercising and being with their favorite people--their cousins!
Cute little Will was LOVING Jenna's sunglasses. Couldn't resist getting a few of his cuteness!!
So February is a blur. Its now mid-March. We had a lot of sickness in February, and on birthday week (the week of Feb 16 and 17th) I had the flu I think. So the birthdays we had for Hannah and Mason were somewhat lame, and the pics are even lamer. Nevertheless I must post them anyway for records sake! I can't even remember, but I think on Hannah's birthday Jed and Kalleen came and took the kids out for dinner. Yes that's what happened. They took Hannah, Jaxon and Mason to Fresh Choice for dinner (their favorite) and then came back over here for Hannah's cake that Kalleen made (a horse face!). For Mason's birthday, somebody was sick so the other Coopers wanted to keep Will away since he had only been out of the hospital for a little while. And Mason's only friend was at his brother's bday party, so we had nothing going on for Mason. At the last minute I decided to take the kids to Powell's candy store and then to the movie Gnomeo and Juliet. It was really fun and they did great! We had a small cake for Mason's birthday, since we had just had one the day before for Hannah's birthday. Then the 18th was Friday, and Hannah had a party. She invited over a few friends and watched movies, had pizza, presents and cake. It was super low key since I still wasn't feeling that great. She had a blast though and that's what was important. I just can't believe how old these kids are getting, and so fast!! Hannah is 10. In only 8 more years, she'll be an adult. That seems ridiculously fast. Yikes. So here are a few birthday pics.
So this week (and last) have been horrible with illness. We've been thrown out of routine and been housebound...which does not go too well for me. Last week Jaxon had strep and was really really sick. Thursday was a good day, I made it to the gym, and then by that night Isaac had a fever. By Saturday night Mason had a fever, and by Sunday night it was me. So, as I write this, Tuesday night, I still feel like I'm swallowing knives, even with a load of motrin and tylenol...and I tested negative for strep. The kids are all doing great and recovering beautifully. I'm sad because I'm spending mornings in bed when I'm normally at the gym. I got on the scale to see numbers moving upward today and that was not a good feeling either (uh--understatement). So...first of all, I wanted to post pictures of Isaac's freaky hives. He got them every day in the afternoon, for 3 days. However he didn't seem to be too bothered and they went away quickly with benadryl.
Yeah, seems really upset doesn't he!!
Today I kept myself loaded up with medicine since the kids had dentist appointments. Jaxon has 2 cavities but doesn't need braces. Cavities is cheaper than braces so I'll take it! Hannah has had braces but has no cavities. Yes!! She's thrilled about that. Jaxon goes Friday for fillings...at the same time Jared goes to get his stomach scoped. I might have to switch around some appointments since I need to be driving Jared to and from his.
I started feeling really lousy though by the time we made it home from the dentist around 3. I got started making a super easy chicken noodle soup for dinner and since its Hannah's 10th birthday tomorrow, she wanted to make chocolate chip cookies as her treat that she brings to share with the class. I was all for it since I could barely handle making the soup. So when the soup was done I had to take a few pictures of the little bakers. I think she's learned great baking-cookie skills from her Mor-mor..cause she lets her brothers help and was all kinds of patient with them, when I would have been losing it just to get the job done. It was super cool to watch.
I am amazed that my first born is almost 10. I really am. I might only have 8 more years with her under my roof, I sadly realized today.
I will post about her tomorrow...cause its gonna take some serious thought. This girl's amazing and its an honor to be her mom.
Yup. The title says it all. Jaxon came down with a fever last Saturday, and on Monday the doctor informed us he had strep. So he's been on antibiotics since then but it took a couple days of really really sick Jaxon before they kicked in. He wanted me to sit with/hold him most of the time, so I didn't get much done. BUT since he's 8 and not much of a snuggler anymore I tried to enjoy it! He was fever free all day Wednesday so was able to go back to school yesterday. Then last night Isaac came down with a fever. Great. After a doctor visit today, he does not have strep...yet...but she gave me a prescription just in case he gets worse over the weekend. I made it to the gym once this week. I worked out at home the other days but it is just not the same. :(. Call me selfish, but my daily crazy hard workouts is what gets me through my days of chaos. So today I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep all day since I'm so low energy from doing nothing. I did finish up some maternity pics and blogged about those...but that's about it! So hopefully this weekend is rejuvenating. The kids have school off Monday--Valentine's Day-- so I'll have to get creative and take some cute blog-worthy photos...but realistically..that may not happen either! My sleepy sick Isaac is calling so I better run..til next time...
Um. Yup I'm slacking. When I'm up to my eye balls in photo shoots for other people I forget to take my camera out on my own kids and then I don't want to post anything if I don't have pictures! This is going to take some work I guess! But since my last post...well we've had a lot of sickness going on, in fact Jaxon has another fever/sore throat tonight. He was crying at Travis and Jenna's that he was just so tired and wanted to sleep (it was 7 p.m. and he's 8. Come on.). So that was kind of a good sign that he wasn't feeling too well.
In the past couple weeks though we've had Carson and Max over several times while Jenna and Travis are trading shifts at the UCSF children's hospital...and the weather has been awesome so we've been outside alot. Hannah will be 10 in 2 weeks so thank goodness she FINALLY taught herself to ride a bike last week. And now she wants to ride outside every single day after school. Mason's bike, that is. He can't or doesn't want to ride it so she's cruising around on this little orange I-don't-know-what in Jared's ginormous helmet. SO. For her birthday...bike and a helmet. Sweet. It only took 7 years longer than the neighbor Ciara to learn how to ride. (All our neighbor's kids learn to ride 2 wheelers when they're 3--it puts us to shame, for sure.) But, Jaxon learned how to ride his bike through his little friend Jonny's coaching: "you can do it, Jaxon! It's easy!" And he was almost 8...so I think I'm not going to worry about teaching Mason or Isaac. They'll figure it out on their own eventually, right?? And then while the kids road their bikes I practiced a little photography trick called "panning" which I don't usually use and it was the perfect opportunity to try it out. So I will put in a couple of those pictures in a minute.
Another couple things--we have the movie Despicable Me in the car on all the time. If we drive half a block to the school, the kids turn it on. Its ridiculous. I have the stupid thing memorized and I haven't even seen it. I just have heard it. The sad thing is, Isaac can barely talk and he was saying the words along with the movie the other day. He has it memorized too for crying out loud! The problem is I totally have the character's voices in my head with what the actor actually looks like..not the character. If that makes sense. Like Gru. Its Steve Carell. So I see Steve Carell in my head when I hear Gru talking. Same with Will Arnett. I see Will Arnett..not the huge banker guy or whoever character he is the voice for. So I need to watch the movie to know what I'm listening to. Wow. That was a long paragraph on a random thought. I think about it all the time though. Cause I'm driving all the time and all I ever hear is Despicable Me! I really like the character Vector's voice. But I don't know who's voice it is, so I see Vector in my head. In his "warm up suit" that the kids think look like pajamas. Can't WAIT to see that part. Its hilarious! Okay I'm rambling and sleepy which means end this post before I delete it. I will find some pictures to post first though.
