Cooper Turns 1!!

Wow, Cooper is one! I can't believe it! Cooper has been such a blessing to our family. Noah loves being a big brother and Mike and I feel so lucky to have two such wonderful boys.

Friday we had a family get together to celebrate Cooper's b-day. He LOVED the cake!! I had to keep squeezing frosting out of his nose so he could breathe! :)

Happy birthday, Cooper. I love you so much.

Coos Bay!

So a couple of weeks ago, my BFF Susan and I loaded up our kids and headed out on vacation to her home town of Coos Bay. We left at 4 am thinking the kids would sleep for quite awhile. They slept for a little bit, but not for very long! The drive took us 13 hours (about 3 of that was stops). We were VERY glad to finally get there!

We had such a great time! We went to the beach - where Noah played in the ocean for the first time!

We fished at Empire Lakes - where Noah caught his first fish!

We spent an entire day at the most beautiful lake - Loon Lake - where Noah was able to swim, play on the beach and even drive the boat!

The weather was awesome almost the entire time. The last day we were there it was typical costal weather - windy, foggy & chilly! We still had a great time going to a really fun park. Noah got to play on the toys & feed the ducks.

We decided to leave 6 hours ahead of schedule and hope the kids slept more. It was a good plan! Noah & Kathyn slept most of the way! Cody stayed awake for awhile & kept lookout for deer with us. Good thing! One almost hit us and 2 more crossed in front of us!!

It was such an awesome trip! I am so glad we went! Although, Susan & I are thinking next vacation is JUST us!! Our Hubby's can keep the kids!!!

Photo Tag!

So my friend Kim has tagged me in the past, and sadly, I only had one person to tag from there. Luckily, she didn't tag the only other peeps I know! ;)

So here goes. This is a photo tag. You have to take photos of these 10 photos as they are right now. (not cleaned, scrubbed or primped in any way!)

1. The Fridge. Ewww...when was the last time I cleaned this thing out??!

2. The Closet. Obviously Mike came in and messed this up before I could get a picture... ;)

3. The Kitchen Sink. The items that would not fit in the already full and running dishwasher...

4. The Laundry Room. As I am leaving for vacation in a day this room is getting LOTS of use tonight!

5. Self-portrait. Dang...I am starting to look old!

6. My Favorite Room. My deck is my favorite room! I LOVE our deck! We eat dinner outside, turn the tv so we can see it from the deck & just relax.

7. Dream Vacation. At this point Coos Bay is my dream vacation! It has been forever since I have taken a vacay! I'll have to post a picture when I get back on Wednesday! :)

8. The Toilet. Not bad for a Tuesday with a 4 year old. (It gets scrubbed on the weekends)

9. What My Kids Are Doing Right Now. Awww....how cute are they??! :)

10. My Favorite Shoes. I LOVE these shoes! They are sassy (and a little sexy) and actually even comfortable. I have even full on run in these shoes! (I was late for a meeting).

I am supposed to tag 5 people, but since I don't know that many with blogs (sad) I tag my BFF Susan, Erin & Jeremy.

There you go! Your turn! :)

Big boy teeth already??

So, last Monday was Noah's dentist appointment. During his check-up we discovered that one of his permanent teeth is coming in already! WHAT? He's only 4?? I know he got his first tooth really early, but I was shocked that his permanent tooth was already popped up! I'm not ready for him to have big boy teeth - he's too hard on them! :)

The Rest of the Noah Birthday Story...

So yesterday was Noah's 4th Birthday. His party will be this Saturday, but we wanted to do something fun for him on his actual birthday. So...we braved Chuck E. Cheese. Tuesday night is for sure the best night to go! It wasn't crowded at all. Noah & Adam had a blast!!! They played airhockey and rode some fun rides. We gagged down some cardboard - I mean pizza and soda. Noah was so good! The best part of the night was the present Noah got from Aunt Jenny. It was a full Spiderman costume - complete with mask! He LOVES it! We had to pry it off of him last night! He wanted to wear it to bed! He put it on the second we walked in the door from school today!

He is super excited for his swimming party this Saturday! Watch for pictures coming soon! :)

I've Been Tagged!

So my friend Kim tagged me on her blog. Here are my answers:



3 Joys
1. My boys! (all 3 of them!)
2. Scrapbooking
3. DDP


3 Fears
1. Something happening to one of my boys.
2. Heights
3. Spiders


3 Goals
1. Getting my Masters
2. Promoting in my office
3. Getting organized


3 Obsessions/Collections
1. Scrapbook materials! I have an entire room full!!
2. DDP - it is the best beverage invented!!
3. Junk food...I can't seem to go without it! It's amazing that I don't weigh 500 lbs!


3 Random Facts About me
1. I love Guitar Hero!! I suck if I try & do 4 colors, but I love it!! It is so addictive!
2. I can quote 100's of lines from movies. I don't know why, but they seem to stick in my brain forever!
3. I love reality tv. Especially the Bravo Tv reality shows! They are the best! The best part was there was no interruption during the writers strike!! ;)


3 People I Tag
As Kim tagged 2 of the 3 people I know who have blogs, I guess I have to tag Jeremy! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!

Today is Noah's 4th birthday! I can't believe that 4 years has flown by! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! Stay tuned for birthday pictures! (It's too darn late to download them tonight!!)

About time!

So I decided that I better update this thing before everyone stops reading it!! It has been quite a while since I have written anything, so let me give a quick recap....

• Commencement is finally over! It was a lot of work, but was a great success!
• I got an A in my class!! I am so excited that I successfully passed my first graduate course! Next semester I have 2 classes...I'm a little nervous to double my load, but I think I can do it if I stay organized.
• Cooper started at the BSU Childrens Center on May 19th. We are so happy that we moved him there. The baby room is SOOOO much better. I love his teachers, Terri & Leslie. They were Noah's teachers last summer.
• Noah completed a successful year in Becky & Katy's class. He learned to spell his name, can count to 20 (most of the time!) and can even recognize the letters in his name in order! He is doing so well! He started a new class for the summer. He was a little hesitant at first but has adjusted pretty fast.
• Cooper turned 10 months today! He is so much fun! He is pulling himself up on everything these days! He says "Hi", "Dah-dee" and "khe-khe" (kitty). He LOVES the kitty! He gets super excited when he sees him! Poor Morph, he will put up with anything from Cooper & Noah just for the attention!
• My last update is a sad one. My BFF Susan, who happens to be a member of my staff, announced her resignation today. She has accepted a postion at CWI. She lives in Caldwell and the price of gas is just killing her family. This new postition is WAY more money and it is in Nampa. I am really sad that I won't be working with her everyday. She is such a great friend and I am going to miss her. I know we will stay BFF's forever!

2 More!

Cooper's top 2 teeth have finally popped through! They have been driving him CRAZY! Now he has 4 little chompers - 2 on top & 2 on bottom.
He is crawling all over the place these days. He get's so excited when he reaches his desired destination! Noah is getting excited that Cooper is more mobile. It is making it harder for him to understand that he still can't play rough with though!

I Did Not Beat Pete...

But I had a great time anyway! My BFF Susan, her daughter Kathyn, Noah and I all participated in the 1st annual Beat Pete 5k for student scholarship fun run. We finished in 52 minutes - shattering our anticipated completion time of 60 minutes!! We thought it was pretty good provided I was pushing 40 lbs of Noah in the stroller and Susan was dealing with a 13 year-old who cannot walk a straight line! I was a little chilly, but a beautiful walk. Noah loved crossing the bridges and thought we were crossing several different rivers!

There were over 750 participants and Susan was ecstatic that we were not last!! Over 300 people beat Pete and he donated $2000 to the general student scholarship fund! I am looking forward to next year. I have already told Susan to start preparing for the Race for the Cure and the Women's Fitness Celebration. (We will be walking both of those as well!) Hopefully, this will kick start my metabolism again and I can lose the rest of this baby weight!

And then there were 2!

Cooper's second tooth popped in last night! It's ever so tiny compared to his one chomper. Our pediatrician says that he has a bunch of teeth about to come in! Poor thing has a bug and is not a very happy guy the last couple of days. :(
He has started crawling too! Mostly military style. He gets up on his hands and knees, but forgets to move his arms when he launches himself forward and ends up face planting!

BRRRRR.....

What the heck! A high of 44 today???? I am sick of the cold weather! Mike had an 8 am softball game this morning - he FROZE!

I am just looking forward to the end of the week...60 is sounding great!!

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny made a stop at our house and left WAY more sugar than any 3 year old needs! We have had to ration it out to keep Noah off the walls! Between the basket we did plus the one from my mom, he has candy to last months!

Noah had a great time coloring eggs, only breaking a few when he dropped them into the dye! He thought it was pretty fun to stir them really fast causing dye to splash everywhere....I did not find that as funny!

Cooper loved his Easter toys. (Noah did too!) He used them all like hammers! :)

We had a pretty mellow Easter. I made beef short ribs for dinner - they were really yummy! Mike, of course, watched basketball all day! I know most of you are shocked by that! :)

Finally getting Healthy!

So this post totally captures the lack of brain power that I have these days...I composed this on the 16th and never posted it! Sad really...

It has been a LONG couple of weeks! I brought the plague home from Boston...the day after I got home, I started feeling realy crummy. Turned out to be the flu. Which I passed on to Noah, then to Cooper (who also got a double ear infection) and finally to Mike. I was the first one sick and the last one well! I ended up with a sinus infection as well. I am just now finally starting to feel better! I think we should have taken stock in Kleenex - we went through about 6 boxes in a couple of weeks!

So, what happened while we were sick.....Well, Cooper got his first tooth! It popped in on the 25th of February! It is so cute - and SHARP! Luckily, he quickly learned that if you bite the breast that feeds you, it stops feeding you! He is trying to get another one in, but nothing yet.

He is trying to crawl, but usually only manages to scoot backwards. That just ticks him off. He rolls all over the place and can spin around on his belly pretty well! I am content to let him stay put for awhile!

Noah is doing well in school and is getting really good on the computer! He can click and drag things around and can navigate through pbskids.org like crazy! He LOVES to play on my computer. He really wants to play on the laptop, but so far we haven't allowed that. Today he figured out how to print! I nixed that right away! He can get a little obsessive and I don't want him wasting all my ink! :)

Stuck in Boston...

Well, Kelli & I were supposed to fly out of Boston tonight and be landing in Boise right about now, but.....Mother Nature had other plans. We were snowed in! It has been snowing here ALL day! It is starting to lighten up now, but it is still snowing! I am praying that we are able to make it out tomorrow. I miss my family!!! I made arrangements for Noah to spend the night with Adam to compensate for me not being home. I hope it works! He is a mama's boy and he is missing me as much as I am missing him! This is the first time I have left Cooper and I am really missing him too!! I can't wait to snug them up! I have a feeling I may have to wake them up when I get home at 11 pm on Saturday!
Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I make it out!!

It has been a long time...

I have a lot to catch you all up on! (I am currently in Boston, so I will have to add some pictures when I get home) Where to start?? Well, Cooper is 6 months old now! He weighed in at 17 lbs 8 oz! He is eating rice cereal and green beans - he loves them! I am going to introduce peas when I get back. I can't wait to see his reaction...Noah had a full body shudder after his first bite of peas!! Cooper is rolling over now. He is a super happy baby!
Noah is doing great at BS School. His teacher introduced a new book called Cat Kong. Noah LOVES it! My mom bought it for him. He has heard it so many times he has memorized it! It is so adorable to hear him "read" it! I tried to videotape him reading it to Cooper, but he stopped as soon as he saw the videocamera.
Mike is still bowling when he can and playing basketball. He had his first softball meeting the other day - practice starts in a couple of weeks! I can't believe it is about to start already!!
I was officially accepted into the MPA program! So far, I am really enjoying the class. It has been difficult to get back into the swing of doing homework - especially with two little ones. I am trying to do as much as I can on my lunch breaks. Like I said earlier, I am currently in Boston for a commencement conference. So far, it has been pretty interesting. We haven't had a chance to go out and see Boston yet, but are hoping to get a chance tonight. Well, that's all for now! I'll add some pictures this weekend when I get back to Boise. I can't wait to see my boys! I miss all three of them so much!!!

Congratulations are in order!

I wanted to offer my congratulations to two of my pals who have had recent job promotions. First, congratulations to Connie for getting the Registrar position at College of Western Idaho! I am so happy for you! I will miss you at BSU, but at least I will see you every Tuesday night in class!!
Second, congratulations to Kimberly on her promotion to Associate Registrar! You have done a great job and this promotion is well deserved!

Back to school...

Well, after an almost 8 year break, I am back in school! I started the MPA program on Tuesday night. I think this will be a really fun class. My friend Connie is in the class with me. I'm pretty happy about that! I just hope I can easily get back into the homework groove. The reading seems pretty easy, so I am hoping I can get most of it done on my lunch breaks. Heaven knows that getting anything done with Noah around is a little challenging! Wish me luck on this new adventure!!

Pay it Forward...

I signed up to play Pay it Forward on my friend Kimberly's blog and I recieved this adorable snowman. Now it's my turn to pay it forward! The first 3 people to contact me (either by commenting here or emailing me) will receive a hand made gift. You must then Pay it Forward to three friends. I don't know what I'm making yet, but I promise it will be cute! :)

So much to catch up on!

Holy Cow! I have so much to catch you up on since my last post! I've included lots of pictures for you too!

The Sunday before Christmas I took Noah on the Polar Express (well, the Thunder Mountain Railroad version anyway!). He had a blast! My mom & I took Noah and met up with some friends and their daughter, Liesa. The train went from Horseshoe Bend to Montour, aka - Santa's Village, North Pole. The train ride was fun. Noah got to see Santa on the train and then got to sit on his lap when we got to Santa's Village.

Christmas was so much fun this year! On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents house to spend the evening with them, my siblings and their families. Noah had a blast playing with his cousins, Dylan and Mya. Of course, his favorite part of the evening was opening his presents! Cooper didn't really care so much about that! ;) Both boys got new Christmas pj's and Noah also got new slippers...they are Donkey from Shrek!

Santa was a little busy the week leading up to Christmas....he only found out a week before Christmas that Noah wanted a "toy stove"! Poor Santa, he thought he was done with all his shopping for Noah! Luckily, he's a softy and was able to locate the desired stove at Toys R Us! ;) Santa even surprised me with a new laptop for school! Santa is a pretty good guy! :) Since Thanksgiving went well, I decided to try my hand at Christmas dinner. It turned out great. We had my family and some friends over then went to Mike's parents. Where we, of course, ate again! :) It was great to see everyone. We even got to meet BJ's finance. She seems really nice...from what I could gather from the few words I heard her say! :) I still can't believe he is getting married! He is so young!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We celebrated by doing a whole lot of nothing! :) They boys and I fell asleep. I did wake up at about 5 til so I could watch the ball drop. Then I went to bed!! Cooper turned 5 months on the 2nd, so New Year's day I took him to get his pictures taken. They turned out so cute!! I can't believe how fast he is growing! He is such a happy baby. He is all smiles most of the time!

Well, that should catch you up! I'll try to stay on top of this a little better now that the holidays are over! Happy New Year everyone!!