Cooper [now 5 years old]

My little man...now FIVE YEARS OLD. I can't really stand it!  I told him that he was not allowed to go above 4, but I guess he betrayed me. Ugh...how do you let you baby grow up?  It seriously kills me, but he is so darn fun, and so darn cute...that I guess I can handle it. We had the pirate party on a Saturday, and we had taken some pics of the party with a backdrop.  After his party, he was anxious to get out and play with his new flag football set.  Well...I bribed him to let me take a few pics of him first (since we kind of have a tradition of doing this on his birthday).  So I did this all in the matter of minutes.  Apparently the boy has some skills.  He has learned well from his mother and now just knows how to bust out those poses. He was cracking me up. So yes...I will now post far too many pictures of my boy.  But who the heck cares?  Right? 

Things I love about my five year old Coop:


He is just so dang funny.  Alway coming up with a crazy dance move, a silly face, or something funny to say.  


Today he asked me if Jesus created the world. I told him yes, but with Heavenly Father's guidance.  Cooper asked me if Heavenly Father was the boss of Jesus. After we established that they are pretty much a team, and that Jesus loves doing what Heavenly Father wants him to, cooper says to me, 
"Mom, when heavenly Father told Jesus to create the earth, I bet Jesus just said, 'LET'S GET THIS THING DONE"!  


He can spend up to an hour doing Wii "Just Dance 3".  


He tries so hard to keep up with his big brother that he is going to be an AWESOME football player someday.


His raspy deep voice.  Seriously...it should be on commercials.  Along with that lisp...he could be making us some big bucks. Too bad he is SO DANG SHY around people he doesn't know. 
I love how much he still loves me.  Always makes sure to give me enough kisses each day. 


His ability to navigate john's iphone far better than I can. 


I love this boy so much. Happy Birthday Cooper.

Yo Ho Ho Ho

 Yo Ho Ho Ho, a Pirate's life for me.  Well...for Cooper at least.  For Cooper's 5th birthday party, he wanted a pirate party. We had a "amazing race"style treasure hunt, complete with tasks and clues.  We had "pin the treasure on the map".  We had a surprise visit from "the Dread Pirate John".  I think we achieved as much of the "pirates life" as we were going to get for one day.  Whew!  But we had so much fun and the kids seemed to love it. Most importantly, Cooper loved it.  

                                           The SURPRISE VISITOR, The dread pirate John!
(Okay...I must say...John did a great job with this. I basically sprung this idea on him the day before, and he ran with it.  He even gave the kids sword fighting lessons. Hmm. I think I like Pirates more than I thought :)

Goodbye to sweet baby Colin

Our hearts are breaking because of the loss of this precious little boy.  Colin McConaughy died this past month of a brain tumor, only diagnosed days before his death. The shock and sadness still hits me every time I think about him and his family.

The McConaughy's were friends of ours here in our neighborhood.  Our son Carver, and their son Andrew, have been in school together for three years, and been the best of friends.  Andrea and I carpooled to school together and our boys spent countless hours at each of our homes.  I remember two years ago when the McConaughy's adopted sweet baby Colin.  He had been waited for for so long, and he was truly the light of Andrew and his parents lives. Last summer, the McConaughy family moved to South Carolina, which has caused Carver much sadness. 


Last month I received an e-mail from Andrea telling us that Colin had suddenly gotten sick, and that after three weeks of doctors appointments, they found a brain tumor.  She was asking for our prayers, but a day later, little Colin passed.  The family was in utter shock, as were we all.  I cried for days.  I know that little Colin has gone to live with our Heavenly Father, but I cried for her family. I cried for his mother. I can't imagine what it would feel like to lose your baby. I am praying constantly that the Lord will give the McConaughys comfort. 


I had the opportunity to take so many pictures of Colin, and his family. I put this collage together and printed it on a 11x14 matt board for the family. I wanted to post it as a tribute to this little boy, and his brave family. He only needed to come to earth for a few years to get his body, and the McConaughy's are the family that were chosen to take care of him.  They are a very special family. 


Be sure to love on your little ones today, and every day. Hug them tight and be thankful for every minute you have with them. 

Prader Willi Convention

Can you imagine what it would be like to ALWAYS feel hungry?  Can you imagine if you were genetically built to be this way? Can you imagine what it would be like to only be able to eat half the calories as an average person, just to keep alive? Can you imagine needing a growth hormone that costs  $25,000 a year, and insurances don't want to cover it.  My 13 year old great-nephew Payton knows what this feels like. He was born with Prader Willi Syndrome, but was not diagnosed until a year ago.  His developmental delays were thought to be a result of a difficult birth.  The diagnosis was a shock, but a blessing as now my niece knows better how to take care of Payton. In November there was a Prader Willi Convention here in Florida.  Joanne contacted me to see if I could get together a group of people that might like to help out at the conference, with the PWS kids, while their parents attend meetings.  I was so excited to be a part of this and talked to women at church and got a small group that were able to come.  From one of them, a whole school group decided to come as well.  The mormon missionaries in the area were contacted as well, and 40 of them came to volunteer one of the days.  Kinsey and I went for two days to help with these kids, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had.  It was wonderful to be with my nephew for those two days.  My friend Stefanie and I were able to help with his group for the first day, and Kinsey and I helped the second day. I grew very very attached to these kids in his group (ages 10-17) and had such special moments with them. I love seeing my niece and her husband (Payton's mom), and my sister and her husband (they were all attending the conference). 

There was a "SURVIVOR" theme to the convention. These kids face very serious issues in their lives and they require special medications and special care and supervision, just to safeguard their lives.  They are very concerned about schedules, and what is happening next, and why...and WHEN.  Biggest question of the day?  "WHEN IS LUNCH".  We helped with many fun activities and crafts for the kids and grew to know them and love them. They are so sweet and so loving. It was AMAZING to have all of those missionaries there.  What a great sight to see them connecting with the kids. What a neat sight to see the conference workers so impressed with them.  19 and 20 year old boys that are polite and don't use bad language, and love kids?  They couldn't believe it.  It was wonderful to be a part of this.  Just wish I had brought my camera to capture the essence of my experience there.  Luckily a friend of mine took a few of these pics for me. 

               Me and Kinsey with some of our wonderful friends that came to help at the convention. Savannah Sardon, Megan Wallace, Stefanie Dowdy, Lorraine Roe, and Rachel Mann (not pictured)

Just a boy, his mom, and a very famous mouse

What could be better than a whole day at the most magical place on earth...with a little boy as cute as this!  Well, about a month back, Cooper and I had so much fun on our special date to Disney.  I had a couple of free tickets to Disney and I wanted to go with Cooper.  Honestly, even though we live so close to this magical place, the kid has not been since he was pretty small, and since we don't have season passes anymore, we don't get to go very often. So, Cooper has been "earning" his ticket by getting smiley faces for being positive and helpful (Which means it took a bit of time to earn).  We had been waiting for the perfect day to go (which means we have been waiting a long time).  Finally, in the middle of December, we picked a day.  Before all the Christmas vacationers descended upon Disney, and far enough into the season that it was not too hot.  Cooper skipped pre-school and we high tailed it to the park...and WE HAD SUCH A GREAT DAY! We got there the minute the gate opened and that kid did not give up until we were kicked out that night. In the first two hours we just ran from ride to ride and had literally no lines.  Cooper got to ride everything he wanted...multiple times.  What was his favorite?  The Speedway.  We went on it five times.  The lines got a bit longer, but most rides were still only about 10 minutes. What a great day.  How fun to just be with my little guy all day long. He just talked my ear off, asked me 20 billion questions that I think I made answers up for, and was in the best mood.  We had such a wonderful time.  Of course I was tired by about 1:00 p.m., but I pushed on for the boy :)

A little more Christmas

Christmas eve was really neat this year. We had been so busy during the season and done some really neat things as a family and with great friends, so it was fun to just be together as a family on Christmas eve.  We had dinner at Macaroni Grill (kind of a tradition of ours, when it works out), then we headed over to the "Christmas Carousel".  When we lived in Seattle, we used to take the kids to ride a special carousel at christmas time.  And what a totally cool carousel it is.  So beautiful.  So we thought we would perpetuate the tradition here.  We headed home for hot chocolate, a special lesson about Christ, opening Christmas p.j.s, and the reading of the "Night Before Christmas". It was such a special evening and I loved seeing the excitement on the kids faces. 

And Christmas day was...as wonderful as ever.  Awww. I love Christmas. I love just hanging around the house in our pjs.  I love our Christmas brunch of egg nog, monkey bread, and egg caserole. I love taking naps.  I love watching movies together and playing new games together.  

I love Cooper's Face above.  So dang excited.  These boys know how to REACT to their Christmas presents.  

And this year...I loved going to church in the middle of all of this.Yes, that originally would have been said in a sarcastic way.  Actually, the last thing in the world I wanted to do on Christmas day, was get all dressed up and go out. That being said, once we actually got there (our church is 25 minutes away...so it's not just like walking across the street or something)...I LOVED IT! I loved being in church and hearing the beautiful Christmas music, feeling the spirit, learning more about Christ, and seeing so many of our special friends.  

The whole Christmas vacation was wonderful. Pretty sure I ate my own weight in cookies, candies, and other yummy stuff...but that's what new years resolutions are for...right? For John's birthday on the 30th, I had a photoshoot in the morning (not sure how that happens every year), but then I grabbed John and we escaped to Daytona Beach to an AMAZING hotel called "the Shores".  Oh my goodness. So gorgeous, such neat rooms, on the beach, fire pits around the pool, four poster beds, giant christmas tree in the lobby.  Seriously an amazing get-away. So glad we could get away and just be together to celebrate his birthday. Wish I would have taken my camera...but I think I was trying to get away from it. It was a VERY busy season for my photography.  Think I had 12 shoots in the last two months.  A blessing, but so busy.  Anyway, i think we have some cool pics of our "get-away" on John's phone. Hmm. it would be cool if I knew how to find those.  Hmm.