On Saturday afternoon we had Cooper's birthday party at Red Pin Bowling Lounge in downtown. The setup was excellent as we had two lanes that connected to a room with tables, booths and our own flat screen TV. The kids had room to move around and eat pizza and popcorn as they waited for their turn to bowl.

MY favorite party was showing up without having to clean my house and then two hours later leaving without the daunting task of cleaning up afterwards. I had an enjoyable time too! I could mingle around and talk with my friends as the kids played their game.

They also had one bowling pin for everyone to sign that attended the party. Cooper has it sitting on his shelf in his room and likes to get it down to show me where everyone signed. That bowling pin is heavy too!

My parents drove down along with my sister, Amy, and her little boy and my brother and his wife with their three kids. I was very glad they took time out of their Saturday to be with us even though it is a long drive(THANKS!). We also had Luke, Hope, Payt, Kate and Kyle from church and Joel from his soccer team.


Later that afternoon we headed to Chuckie Cheese's(crowded!) to another birthday party on Cooper's soccer team. It was a busy afternoon, but surprisingly we had no meltdowns and everyone was in a great mood. The boys were in their beds asleep by seven o'clock which was the best birthday present of all!


And this concludes the birthday celebrations of November(yeah!). On to Thanksgiving . . . may the craziness begin!

Dear Cooper

Six years old. As you were getting your haircut today the barber asked you how old you were and you had to correct yourself. SIX is a big number as you showed me how you would have to use both hands to tell how old you were. This is a milestone!

You were able to choose your favorite place for lunch. I was expecting Chuckie Cheese or McDonalds or something along that line. I should have known better. You can be so serious and deep in thought that you act like an old man. Furr's was the prime choice for you. I laugh at the thought of you sitting at Furr's with your daily paper catching up on the news.

You love to watch the weather and news in general as you sit very still on the couch and soak in everything they are saying. You are very aware of your surroundings and I have to be careful what I say around you because you are ALWAYS listening.


You love to learn and you do so by doing. Playing video games is your favorite whether it is the Leapster or the Xbox your focus is on completing the game. You are focused on the task at hand and can get lost in the moment of winning.

You are slow to wake in the morning as it takes you an hour or two to get moving along. You like to drink your fruit smoothie on the couch and watch Arthur and you will not respond to any questions until the show is over and you have finished your drink. This is one of the reason I kept you at home. Why rush the time of hurrying off to school in the morning when you could do better by starting later. You have been eager to read and explore new things. You are very creative in drawing and you like to create things. If I was to go to into your bathroom I would find at least ten empty toilet paper rolls in your drawer. You save each and every one for a 'project' you are working on.


You wear your feelings on your sleeve and you are working on controlling those. Your actions are being replaced by words as you are very good at expressing what is going on in your head. You can get frustrated easily, but are now able to talk yourself down. It is a huge step in growing up.

I am very proud of you and love spending time with you and listen to all the stories you have to tell in your mind. You are very quizitive and thoughtful. You like to make others feel better when they are sad and you need to hear words of encouragement from the people who love you most.

You have a sweet heart Cooper. Looking at you brings a smile to my own heart as I see life goes on. No matter what is going on around in the world I know that your Dad and I are doing our best to raise you. Being the first child cannot be the easiest road to take, but you seem to take it all in stride. You are a great helper, very responsible, competitive, organized and have a love for God without any explanation. "No worries," you say, "God can do anything!" He can Cooper because he blessed me by placing you in my life.

Happy Birthday baby boy.

Special Day

Happy Birthday to my baby who turns six today and my love who turns thirty-six. They are two peas in a pod and Cooper cannot understand why Daddy can be so much older when they have the SAME birthday? Sappy stories and pictures to come, but first we are off to celebrate at the Cowboy Hall of Fame with lunch at Furr's to follow(chosen by the six year old)!

Motherhood=Must Have High Self Esteem

Background Information: Cooper and I were reading a book on bobcats. He was trying to figure out how tall they were in 'real life.' I mentioned that they come to about my waist. The conversation went down from there . . .

Him: Well he could bite you in the stomach and then you would die.

Me: Wouldn't that be sad! You would miss me, right?

Him: Naaa . . . (face brightens with a HUGE smile) then I could play Xbox all day and do no school work!

Me: Who would make breakfast, lunch and dinner for you then?

Him: Me!

Me: What about giving you lots of kisses and tucking you in at night. Who would take you to your soccer games and help you clean your room each day. Come on, wouldn't you miss me?!

Him: (shrugs shoulders) Nah. I've still got Dad. He does good things with that stuff. Plus, he will buy me chips whenever I want!

Me: sulks away to like my wounds.

Brother Connections

"Abram . . . you are so lucky. You get to stay inside in the cool house while Wyatt and I are subjected to 'outside time.' No . . I can't just come inside our Mother locks the door during this time, your turn is coming little brother. Just you wait!"

Summer Ball

The months of June and July were consumed with Tball. We decided to put the boys on the same team so we weren't juggling between two different practices and games. Brian decided to coach and it was a great experience. The only downfall was the HEAT when we were playing the games and the lack of trees on the field. Tball is the perfect summer activity and I look forward to many more summers of 'ball.' Here is a video one of the mothers put together for our end of the year party. She did a fantastic job and all the mothers were in tears by the end because it was such a sweet video. It is long(6 minutes, two songs)but if you are a relative, it is very enjoyable!

Say WHAT?!

At this time last year I put Cooper into PreK at our local public school. By the end of September I pulled him out and decided to try homeschooling. It wasn' t that his school had done anything 'wrong' just the whole process did not feel right to me. "Because that is what we did" was not a good enough answer on why he needed to go to school. "It is where he learns to socialize" didn't make sense, we get LOTS of socialization at church, sporting events and our millions of playdates. "You have to let go sometime" was confusing because he is only FIVE. "How will he learn to cope without having different teachers" is plain silly. I am not his 24 hour shadow. He has influences of his coaches, music teacher, YMCA workers and friends and family that I know and trust who take him many places-without me.

I felt a tugging at my heart to do things differently. To go against what everyone else was doing and try something new. My active, curious five year old is growing quickly. I am already home with the four and five month old anyway. Why did he need to leave to 'go to school?' Now is the time to influence him. I have the control of who he hangs out with, what is being taught to his little mind and more importantly his heart. As each year passes I will lose more of that control as he gains more. I want to fill him up with who our family is as much as possible. I will never get these moments back.

The past ten months have been a work in progress. Some days were tougher than others, yet we managed through them. I found a GREAT curriculum in K12. Amazing material that engages my little guy and even teaches me a few things along the way. I openly admit I am not a baby person(Abram is quickly changes me though!)and Cooper was entering an age of great excitement and wonderment. I was enjoying his company and the quirkiness of his developing mind. I wanted to be the one who teaches him to read, to go from learning letters and sounds to reading his first book. I wanted to see his struggles and work through them. I did not want someone else dictating when we got up in the morning.

His Kindergarten year starts now. Today we worked on digraphs and trigraphs and the differences between the two. We also read Little Red Riding Hood and made finger puppets to act out the story. He read two short books and finished his math sheet while I fixed breakfast. All before 9 AM.

I could say it was because he is SO into learning or that I am just THAT good, but he had gotten a new XBOX game and he couldn't play it until his work and responsibilities were done. Hey! Whatever keeps them motivated. Here's to a great year . . .

Summer of Reading

This summer the boys participated in our local library's summer reading program. The theme for the summer was Catch the Reading Bug! and so the boys had a chart with different insects and each time they/we read a book they were able to color a bug to track their reading. The library also had different classes we were able to attend to learn more about bugs.

Our library has an awesome children's section and it never is crowded, so they have the run of the place when we go. I also signed them up for their first library cards that they keep in their backpacks. The boys even signed the cards on the back and everything! Every other week they took their backpacks with their card and were able to check out five books each. They were responsible for taking them to the librarian and handing her their card. After they were checked out they had to put the books in their backpacks. At home I keep all the library books on the window sill in the living room so they do not get lost with the books that are kept in their rooms.

Last week they boys reached their goal of reading 100 books. We headed to the library to turn in their charts and receive their prizes. They each got to choose a book to take home to keep forever, a free tator tots at Sonic, free admission to the history museum and a shiny gold medal. They were very excited and wore their medals the rest of the day. Here are the books they chose to take home. Hard back covers and all!

It is a great program and I look forward to seeing what next year's theme will be.

First Friend Sleepover

During the week of VBS Cooper had his first friend, Kyle, over for a sleepover. Both of his parents work during the day so we were trying to come up with a way where Kyle could come to VBS and the best solution was him coming to stay with us! He stayed two overnights and three days. He did GREAT as I worried if he would get homesick and I would need to call his parents in the middle of the night. He is a wonderful sleeper like my boys so the evenings were golden.

I tried to let Cooper & Kyle sleep together in the same room, but they were way to silly so Kyle ended up sleeping in Cooper's bed and Cooper slept in our bed. Everyone was so exhausted from VBS and swimming that all three boys passed out when their heads hit the pillow. Score for me!

The only downfall to the time was how sorry I felt for Wyatt. It is a road I need to become familiar with and prep for because it never fails when Cooper has a friend over those two want to be left alone and poor Wyatt is left to fend for himself. Wyatt tries to included himself by being the 'bad guy' in their playing, but ends up getting his feelings hurt as he is use to having Cooper all to himself. My heart just aches for him and I believe it is payback for how many times I left my own little sister out when my friends came over. Sorry Amy!



Each night after showers the boys were able to watch one Curious George episode before going to bed. Here they all are on the first night totally spaced out on the show. Don't you LOVE Wyatt's tattoo. We can all thank the doctor's office where we were TWO WEEKS ago. Those things hang on forever!

Season 2

Cooper finished up his second season of soccer in May. He had a fantastic time and loves all the action that comes with it. They just had their end of the season 'party' yesterday afternoon at the park. They each received a medal and team pictures. Cooper's coach announced he would not be returning in the fall. We want to keep the team together since they all now know each other so well, but that would mean we would need a new person to step up.

Brian had decided to coach Wyatt's team this fall which will be the first season for him to play. We wanted to try and keep the boys off of the same team so they could build relationships with boys their own age. Cooper & Wyatt do alot of things together and Wyatt has adapted to Cooper's friends and we wanted them each to have a team to call 'their own.' I am not sure we will be able to do that now. Brian might end up taking Cooper's team over if we can't convince "Coach Robeson" to help out. If this were to happen we would need to put the boys on the same team because I do not want to be running to two different practices and games alone. Oh, the dilemma!

Clean Up Begins

When we decided to get Cooper the four wheeler we had not only plans for play, but for work too;~) We had ALOT of limbs on the ground that needed to be cleared from the yard and our chain saw was dead(NOW we find that out). Sooo . . . Daddy had the great idea of dragging the limbs to the front with the two four wheelers. Cooper was up for the challenge and did a great job of hooking the limbs up to the four wheeler and dragging and dropping them at the curb. They got most of the work done before Brian had to be back at work. The next day Cooper asked if he could go outside and finish the work(what?!?!)and of course, I said "YES!" These are the pictures I took of him working alone. He finished up the rest of the yard and was very pleased with himself. I was too!