Ice Storm '11

Well it has been years (at least 20) since I remember having an ice storm like the one we've just had. All of central Indiana has been shut down for 3 days! The first day out of school was great...everyone is happy to have a day off, the second day...not too bad, got a little stir crazy by the afternoon but don't think I want to be stuck inside for a 3rd straight day with 3 energy packed boys, BUT the third day does come and I decided that if we don't get out of the house we might not all come out of this ice storm alive. So we decide to venture out down to Abby's house for a little while. That was a life-saving visit for everyone involved. Then in the afternoon the boys went and played at a friend's house. Thank goodness! It is nice to be able to spend time together but there is a reason why the boys go to school, and Chris goes to work.

Cooper only goes outside with sunglasses on.  He has always had light-sensitive eyes.  I don't blame him though it is really bright when the sun reflects off the ice/snow.

The boys got out to play on the ice 2 of the 3 days off. Big chunks of ice for everyone! I feel like Antartica came to us. If I had to imagine what it looked like all I had to do was look out my backyard....little bit of snow and lots of ice. It was really pretty when the sun reflected off the trees and fields.

Cooper going down the slide.
The coolest thing I think the boys experienced with the ice was sliding down their slide onto the ice. They would slide an additional 8 feet or so beyond the slide. I reminded them that is how penguins get around on the ice. I didn't go down but it looked like lots of fun.

Camden taking a turn.

Cooper going down again.

 Our visit at Abby's included baking Oatmeal cookies...yummm!!  Thank you Abby for a fun visit.

We survived the Ice Storm:)

Always A Winter Wonderland

That seems to be the theme this winter. The boys have gotten out in the snow a little (I think though for the most part they are over the snow and are ready for spring to arrive). We didn't get our driveway shoveled the last big snow and after a couple of days of driving over it, it became a little icy. The boys had fun sledding down it.

They had fun pushing each other down the little hill.

Our driveway is perfect for Cooper because it isn't to daunting to get back up the driveway after going down (as opposed to the hills at the park).

One and done...

We did get together at my parents house for the Colts' playoff game. It was such a late game that we decided to make it a sleepover. We had a great time and it would have been even better if our beloved Colts could have hung on and won. We were joined in our sleepover by Abby's family, Andrew (who might not be asked back to a Colts playoff party since they lost and he isn't a Colts fan), and dear friends of the family Greg and Jill.  It was one giant sleepover!

Expending our pregame jitters/energy with some tackling. We needed a few defensive Colt's players in the pile-up. I think the representation amongst us were all offensive players.

Zach and Daddy couldn't resist the wrestling party...it is a total boy thing. Sometimes my boys are in much better moods when they do a little wrestling with each other.

Getting all settled in to watch the game...well almost. Bennett went to bed, Camden and Carson went upstairs to watch a movie, and I think Cooper was the only one who stayed around to watch the game with us on and off.

Cooper loves his little cousin Elly Rose. He is so gentle with her and loves to go up and hug her and touch her hands.

 Morning brought us donuts and a wonderful egg and sausage casserole thanks to my mom.

New Year's Bowling

We continued our New Year's bowling tradition again this year. As always it was lots of fun and competitive. I have made the teams up for the last 2 years and for the second straight year I have been on the losing team. How can that be? You can bet next year I will stack the team that I am on...Bowling Team A for 2012 will be Chris, Abby, Dad, and Me. Sorry Zach your poor performance in the first game puts you on Team B (and the Captain for Team B should buy you a beer before the first game if they want to have a chance). Cooper and Bennett who played as one person were even on the winning team. All in all it was a fun time and the boys remembered that we went last year so they were looking forward to it.

Everyone getting set and finding their perfect ball. Chris, you might need to mark yours with your name next year so no one puts it back.

Entertaining in between turns. The wedgits have been a big hit with all of the boys. I highly recommend them.

Bowling at the same time. The boys definitely improved from last year. They use the bumpers. There were a couple of time for each of them where their ball didn't hit the bumpers. Carson even got a legitimate spare!

Even putting the right fingers in the holes.

Cooper really enjoyed the bowling.  Abby and I loved the little bowling shoes they had in the little boys' size.

 Papaw helping Cooper bowl.  Each time Cooper bowled he had to go give Papaw a high-five.

Elly Rose didn't sleep her whole first bowling experience away.  Her time is coming.

My team is on Monitor 8...I will get on a winning team.  Even if it means I have to join a bowling league myself (in addition to stacking the team of course).

Christmas '10

Christmas 2010 will go down as one of the best! The big boys are at just the right age. We loved seeing their eyes twinkle with the magic of Christmas. I really hope that when they are all grown up I can still hear their little voices and giggles as they carried on coversations about Santa and how he delivers all the presents, Jesus and his birthday, and getting ready for all of our Christmas gathering with our families. Even Cooper sat on Santa's lap. It really helps to have 2 older brothers. It is always a busy time, but Chris and I wouldn't have it any other way and we enjoyed every second of it.

Camden on Christmas Eve keeping tabs on Santa as he travels around the world delivering presents.

Carson and one of his most prized possessions. One of the things he wanted was a Spiderman shirt. Thank you Aunt Abby:)

 

 Thomas the Train is one Cooper's favorite.  He is admiring the new shed.

 

ahhhhh Pillow Pets...need I say more.  We are now the proud owners of a yellow bee (Coop's), a dolphin (Carson's), and a penguin (Camden's) all thanks to Santa:)  Other than their Wii, I think this is their favorite gift.

 The Wii...Santa decided they needed something extra to do in the wintertime.  It is pretty fun...even Mommy and Daddy have enjoyed some competitive games. 

 

Camden really wanted a radio for Christmas.  They love to play their CDs but I have to say that he REALLY needs more CDs to listen to because as much as I like Carrie Underwood, I don't think I can listen to another song of hers for quite some time.  Thank goodness his birthday is right around the corner.

"Christmas at the Movies"

Our Christmas Program week continued on Thursday with Camden's school program. We weren't sure if we were going to be attending it though. On Wednesday of last week Camden came down with croup for the second time in 3 weeks. I knew he needed to go to school on Thursday in order to attend his program. I ended up keeping him home in the morning (which he wasn't happy about because they were taking a "field trip" to the high school auditorium to practice) and letting him go in the afternoon. As I expected the Program was well done by both the music teacher and the kids and Camden did his best despite not feeling well. Memaw and Papaw Q. took him out for an ice cream treat afterwards.

They are singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Camden is the sixth one from the right.

Now he is the seventh one from the right.

Here is how Cooper spent most of his time watching the program.

Carson's Christmas Program

We were lucky to get Carson's program in. Monday was when he was suppose to have his program but we had a snow day instead which also meant his program was canceled. This was one snow day that was initially frowned upon rather than celebrated. Thankfully though, they were able to reschedule it for Wednesday night. Carson's acting debut was in Act I, The Story of Christmas. He followed in his big brother's footsteps and played the part of one of the three wisemen.

This was when he was walking in. He was so excited to see us all there watching him.

Singing "Away in the Manger".

Getting ready to follow "the brightest star in the nighttime sky" (the "star" is in the picture above). They had to follow the star all around the room until finally greeting baby Jesus.

Act II, The Story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Singing "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S".

Avery was too cute not to include.  They were singing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".   She also sang a solo.  I'm always so impressed with the Preschool Program.  Mrs. Russell and all of the teachers do an awesome job preparing the kiddos.  They start practicing way before the Christmas season so I always get to hear all about how they are practicing and what songs they are singing. By the time the program is here we are all excited to see their hard work pay off.     

Oh, Christmas Tree...

The weekend after Thanksgiving we always pick out our tree and decorate it. This year was no different. We enjoyed an afternoon of Christmas music, Christmas movies..."Christmas Vacation" (my personal favorite), and just getting the house all decorated for Christmas.

Carson helping cut the netting off of the tree.

oh the anticipation....

 They love seeing which one is their own ornament and which ones were mine from when I was little. Every year the boys get at least one ornament for Christmas and now that they each have quite a few, it is exciting to hang them up.

This is the extent of Cooper's participation. He wasn't too into hanging them on the tree.  He had a meltdown when he spotted a Thomas the Train ornament and couldn't part with it.  He was more into dancing to the Christmas music and watching his brothers...just taking it all in this year.

Learning to decorate beyond the bottom third of the tree.  

  Even though Cooper didn't like decorating the tree, he does love his tree.  He thinks he is the only one entitled to turn on the tree lights (and all other Christmas lights in our house).  It is the first thing he does in the morning and whenever we leave or come home.   

Cooper's 2nd Birthday

Saturday we celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday with all things Curious George. George is a big hit with all 3 boys. They love the books, the PBS show, and the movie. It was so cute to see how excited Cooper was for his birthday party. All he talked about was who was coming and the candles on his monkey cake. And once we picked up the balloons, they became the topic of his conversations. I've always said that once I became a parent my kids' birthdays were my absolute favorite days of the year, and seeing the twinkle in Cooper's eyes all day long knowing that all the excitement was for him reminded me why I stress so much to make their day as perfect for them as possible.
**More photos are in the web albums**

Curious George likes to paint on the walls...so I put up butcher paper so the kids could color on the walls...which they all enjoyed.  Cooper apparently thought it might be fun to color on Bennett as well.

Cooper is a sweet little boy but he can be sneaky...and here he is sneaking a swipe of icing off his cake:)  I guess he is allowed since it is his birthday.

He had this shy little smile on his face while we were singing to him. He wouldn't look up at anyone but he was happy:)

Digging into his banana cake and ice cream...YUM!

Showing us how old he is now!

 He's all partied out but still not letting go of his balloons.  He has been carrying them around for 2 days. 

 This is on Sunday right before bed.  He was asking for more cake.  He hadn't had any and since it was his actual birthday I thought he deserved some.  His brothers were already in their room with Chris so it was just Cooper and me at the table enjoying a little quiet time and cake.  What I didn't know is all he really wanted was to blow out the candles again.

He insisted on me putting candles in his piece of cake and lighting them so he could blow them out again.  Just had to get one more celebration in before his day was over.  As soon as he blew them out, he pushed it away and said "done" and was ready for bed.  He didn't even take one bite!  This age can be challenging at times, but it is also times like this that I love and cherish.