A whirlwind of fun

The kids have been exceptionally hilarious lately but that will just have to wait...

I have a TON of pictures from one of the best weekends of the year. Halloween and Maddie's birthday. And Jim and Kris were here to join in the festivities with us.


I love how all these pictures tell the exact story of what when on at "the orange park" (as Maddie and Lyndon call it) this lovely Fall morning...

Just take note of WHO are the ones playing all over the jungle gym... :)

I can just hear them discussing their plans now as I look at this picture. Jim and Jonathon came up with a brilliant plan...a timed obstacle course. Starting with monkey bars, flying over the climbing wall and sprinting down the stairs to just name a few of the obstacles. Kris and I threatened that the hospital would be a bad place to spend a vacation but it just fell on deaf ears. I must say it was very entertaining watching them compete. I also must add that it did look so much fun that Maddie, Lyndon and I all had to try it out at least a couple times. Kris would have been on board as well except that she was still recovering from out last game night in Nebraska where she broke and dislocated her toe. Yes, we take our game playing to the extremes in this family.

Kris taking the kids on a little walk. They LOVE their Grandma and Grandpa.

Now for Halloween...

This year Kris made the costumes for the kids. Maddie was the purple fairy from Tinkerbell. Kris did such an amazing job on their costumes. They are perfect down the the last detail. On a side note: Kris made Jonathon and I costumes the first year we were married. Mine is Dorothy and Jonathon's is the scarecrow.

Without fail, whenever we have worn those costumes to a costume contest we win. every time.

...and Lyndon was a Ninja!! ...Or should I say LYN-JA! Yeah, we have some pretty darn fortunate kids who have both grandma's who will not only make them ANY costume their little hearts desire but are also so creative that they think of things like Lyn-ja! How cool is that?

I threw this picture in because it makes me laugh just looking at it. That's Lyndon all the way...smiling and running.

We are just about ready to go trick-or-treating and what is Lyndon doing? ... eating a cupcake. Mother of the year... right here.

I love these two...

The shear amount of candy is sickening. Remember when getting a candy bar or anything chocolate was so rare? Now that's the majority of their bags!

At least he wanted a little water to go with all his sugar.

Maddie's Birthday...

Phew, what a whirlwind of fun events! This one jam packed, fun day. We started out with opening gifts.

Lyndon was upset that he didn't get to join in the fun.

There's a gift for Lyndon! Phew, that was close.

Maddie got some amazing gifts. It was extra special thanks to Jim and Kris and my Mom and Dad. Maddie loves her gifts, we really appreciate it.

After we opened gifts we went to the outlet mall, then straight to Maddie and Lyndon's favorite place in the whole (a close second goes to...The Dollar Store) ...Chuck E. Cheese!! It was pizza, games, music, games, tickets, games and prizes. Everything Maddie could ask for.

Then later that evening we went to The Oasis on Lake Travis for dinner. It is so nice there. Good food, beautiful and relaxing. The perfect end to the evening.

The birthday girl.

When we got home we finished off the night with cake and ice cream. Pink balloons, pink cake, pink frosting, and pick ice cream...of course.

I loved this...When we finished singing to her she closed her eyes and make a wish...

...then blew out the candles.

Unfortunately, Jim and Kris had to leave early the next morning. Talk about a depressing day. ...for all of us.

Dear Maddie,

I can't even wrap my head around the fact that you are 4 years old. How is that even possible? I swear it was just yesterday that you were just a tiny little baby staying up all night and sleeping the day away. I love every little thing about you. I love that you still have that little speech impediment that Daddy and I still can never mimick. I love that you want to be me. I love that you are a little pack rat. I love that you bat your eyes at me thinking it's going to help your cause. I love what an amazing big sister you are. I love your hard core infactuation with anything pink and girly. Sometimes I look at you and I can't believe how beautiful you are. I love you with all my heart my Maddie girl. I'm gld you had such a magical birthday.

Love Always,

Mommy

they keep coming up with new material...I love it.

I hid around a corner just waiting for Lyndon to come...(gimme a break, he loves it, I swear.) As he flew around the corner I jumped out and said, "grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!" To which he squealed, flung his hands over his heart and said, "Oh! You scared my heart!"

Maddie is just as imaginative as ever. During a recent rainstorm we were driving in the car and she exclaimed, "I love my little friends on the car window!" After a couple seconds I realized it was the raindrops who were her friends...

Yesterday I gave Lyndon a piece of candy and he promptly said, "Oh tanks, Mom! Eura best!" (Oh, thanks, Mom! you're the best!)

When it comes to bedtime Maddie and Lyndon see it more as playtime, much to our dismay. But I do love how they interact. It's still fascinates me. So a couple nights ago, as they are supposed to be in bed, I hear Maddie say to Lyndon, "You stay here this time, I'm gonna go." And then she proceeds to come into my office making up some pathetic excuse for getting up. (Lately, don't ask me where in the world she got this, but she's been saying "Mom, I need to get up, my bum is sour." again, don't ask. I don't have a clue of it's origins or it's meaning.) So here she is searching for an excuse but I quickly send her packing. As she is leaving I decide to follow her to her room. When I got there, Lyndon was already planning his escape, but instead, he was scared to see me standing there. I say a quick, "Go to bed!" and as I leave only hear Lyndon in a super excited voice exclaim, "THAT. WAS. AWESOME!"

Their all-time favorite song is "You Belong To Me" by Taylor Swift. I let them watch the music video on Youtube with me and now they ask for it over and over. They both know the words and sing it on a regular basis. A couple nights ago Lyndon was like a broken record singing one line over and over and over and over again. "...I wear T-shirts, she wear short skurts."

Lyndon has a green baseball hat that he calls his "gay hat". ...yeah, not a clue.

I finally went through the pictures I've taken recently so we're going to have a random photo log...

Lyndon likes to put Jonathon's hat but he likes to fasten the straps under his neck like a bonnet.

Oh, this is a fun one. Compliments of Madaline. I kinda had flash backs to when she cut her own hair. It's looks all too familiar...check it out.

Making cookies spiders... 'tis the season.

Lyndon actually loves to help me clean. Too bad he's no help yet.

We went to a really fun birthday party for Maddie's friend, Sarah. She had a clown who did a magic show, painted the kids faces and made balloon animals. Pretty cool.

Wanna know what Maddie is building?

It's a cage for all her "Bat" friends. I couldn't see them but she and Lyndon could.

Lyndon getting his face painted for our ward Halloween party.

"oooooh, scarrrrrey."

a very beautiful witch. a princess witch, if you will...

lyndon, lyndon, lyndon...

In the last 24 hours Lyndon has:

a) drawn a mural on the playroom floor with a crayola black marker.

b) after I SCOURED the house and banished ALL writing utensils, he, by some miraculous detective work, found a green PERMANENT marker and wrote all over the carpet in my office.

c) while he was "in bed" he filled up a toy that looks (and acts as) a huge bowl, using the bathroom sink and proceeded to dump the warm water in the hall...several times. Incidentally, Maddie, trying to clean-up the mess, pulled out EVERY SINGLE TOWEL AND SHEET from the hall closet and began sopping up the mess.

d) found an old pen that no longer worked and SOMEHOW managed to extract the ink from inside the pen and "tattoo" himself. (see the above pictures..ink on his leg and on his hand.)

I know what you're thinking,..."Katie, why don't you WATCH that kid?

if you only knew.

if you only knew.

P.S. Even though I wanted to strangle the kid every time I discovered his devilish acts, I couldn't help but laugh out loud as I was typing this. especially as I pictured him filling up that HUGE bowl with water and carry it down the hall, spill it and start all over. I wonder what his goal was?

so much love in Moreland, Idaho.

2 days ago I walked into our pantry and was instantly lost in a whirlwind of cozy, sentimental memories...

As is turns out when you mix the smell of laundry soap, a bag of potatoes and various canned goods it produces this magical concoction that takes me right back to my Gramma and Grampa Coopers house. (that's how we pronounce it.) I stood there taking deep breaths and dreaming about some of the best times of my life.

My gramma and grampa didn't have much but what they did have was nothing less than perfect looking through my eyes as a child. There was always Sunny Delight in the fridge, cough drops in grammas bottom drawer (that we would sneak), our "special" mug that hung on the hook with our name on it that we never got to use, yellow shag carpet that I got to go around and trim the snags, the "twin beds" that always had matching comforters on them, the bread drawer with a never-ending supply of wonder bread, half and half along with white sugar to drown our cream of wheat in, grammas silky nightgowns that she would let us wear to bed, the picture of a little stream surrounded by trees hanging at the end of the hall that would light up, the little wood tractors that grampa made, that shampoo that had a picture of wheat on it (what brand was that anyway?), the hot tub which, let's face it, was practically a full size swimming pool in our eyes, and grampa's special hot cakes that were the size of your plate.

I sure to miss those two.

I hope I never forget how it feels to have grampa nuzzle his whiskery face in my neck or have gramma carefully apply her red lipstick to my lips.

...I guess I'll be sure to keep laundry soap, potatoes and canned goods close at hand.

just call me Neil.

I was ready to leave for the store so I went upstairs looking for Lyndon. Hummm, not in his usual spot, the playroom. So I kept walking. He emerges from my office like this. As he approached me he says, "I astronaut. heheh. I astronaut." Pretty clever kid.

I astronaut too.

Maddie is pretty much always in some type of pretend play. It doesn't matter where we are or who we are with. At the park this week she was a princess (of course) and Lyndon was a cowboy. Maddie wanted him to be a prince but he put his foot down and insisted on being a cowboy. so proud. I was a puppy. So every time Maddie, uh I mean princess, asked me a question and I would answer her, she would immediately prompt me to bark instead. I gotta say, it wasn't my favorite game. I was a tad bit self-conscious. Every time I would "ruff-ruff" I'd get several other parents staring at me. oh well. I like to play along. She looked at me at one point and said with the sweetest voice you've ever heard, "Mom, um, can you please bow to me?" then proceeded to bat her eyelashes. Well, she IS the princess and I'm just the dog so I oblige and give her a little curtsy. She accepted the gesture but then showed me how she would REALLY like it and demonstrated with a grand swooping bow, head down and all. Can anyone say over dramatic? Okay, it's true, I thought it was hilarious. Both Maddie and Lyndon are pretty good little comedians. Case in point: As I'm typing this, Lyndon, who is supposed to be in bed just came running into my office...with a pair of Maddie's panties on his head. He stood right in front of me without saying a word. I just stared at him for a while until he broke the silence by saying, "It's me, Lyndon." Did he think he had me fooled with the whole panty thing on his head? who knows...

the sad truth...

Dear Famous Dave's Bread Pudding with caramel sauce,

I think about you every day. Why must you haunt my thoughts with your sweet moist breading and your gooey caramely sauce? Why must you be located too far from my home? Why do you have probably close to a million calories? I tried, but I can't be mad at you. I love you too much.

I'll never forget you,
Katie

Happy Birthday to Jonathon!!

My Jonathon's birthday was on Thursday. It makes me feel young knowing that even though I'm in my 30's, my husband is still in his twenties. :)

I can remember the very first time that I saw Jonathon. We were both missionaries in Houston. Both of us were training a new missionary so we happened to be at the mission office at the same time. I remember looking across the parking lot and seeing an elder wearing black cargo pants (with his shirt and tie) and doing some kind of skateboarding trick. Huh, that's pretty cool, I thought. I had no idea just how cool he really was.

Boy was I lucky to get to find out.

So here are some things that impress and fascinate me about that cargo pant wearing Elder:

-His brain is CHOCK full of facts. He can EASILY answer questions like, What are the names Jesse's twins boys on the show "Full House"? or Who are the original members of the band "No Doubt"? or How many yards penalty is given for a personal foul in football?

-He's extremely polite.

-He is the fastest reader I have EVER known. I'm not kidding. We were watching a show and at the end there was a paragraph to read concerning the future of the main character. I literally JUST finished the first sentence and he was done with the paragraph. I didn't believe him at first so I quizzed him on what he just read and sure enough, he'd read it. amazing. Every time he speed reads through something I'm still a little dumbfounded.

-He has so much care and compassion for the people he loves. (And even those he doesn't.)

-His determination is mind blowing.

-He thrives on people telling him he "can't" do it.

-He remembers every date and detail of our relationship. (Wish I could say the same for me.)

-He can figure out how to master any game out there. Board game, card game, sport, video game...you name it...give him just a couple rounds and then he will have the game or opponent beat. I'm not gonna lie, it's a tad bit annoying but totally awesome when we play on the same team.

-He's right 95% of the time. No, I'm not kidding. This is a little annoying too but I've just come to accept it and thrive on it.

-I'm still in awe over this one...His first and foremost priority is little old me. It's true. It's taken me a while to even believe that it was true but in fact, it is. If Katie ain't happy, Jonny ain't happy. So he literally does everything in his power to make my life amazing. See, I told you I was lucky.

-He is an amazing Dad. He loves Maddie and Lyndon so much. He so sweet to them. He's a good teacher for them. And an incredible example to them. They're blessed to have him for a Dad.

I made him his favorite breakfast... full of non-breakfast foods. Any nothing says "Jonathon" more than a skull or two. Happy to oblige.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you.