Dominique's Class Play

Dominique had her school play this past week. They did a musical version of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". Dominique played the part of the Cocoon. She knew all of the songs perfectly, and her play was so cute! She really loves music, and is considered advanced in that class. Here are just a few pictures from that night.

Cooper's Party

Cooper celebrated his 3rd birthday this weekend with a small party with his pals. His birthday is really on Monday 3/9, but we had his party on Saturday. He had Tonka Trucks for his decorations, invitations, and party hats, but he wanted Spiderman cups and plates, and a Kung Fu Panda cake. It was a lot of fun for everyone there. As each of his guests left I told him to tell them "Thanks for coming", but he said "Bye, Happy Birthday!" to everyone instead. He really liked all of his gifts, after he opened each one he would say "I love (fill in what he opened)". So "I love monster trucks." or " I love Spiderman." or I love firetrucks." He was greatful for each gift he got. He is a sweet little boy, and we love him so much.

Our new van!

After years of mocking those who drive "minivans" Mark and I found ourselves in a bit of a predicament. We are having another baby this summer, and did not have room to put him in our Toyota Camry. So being snobs, we went shopping for an SUV with 3rd row seating, but discovered that the "seating" was only big enough for our daughter, and nearly impossible to access without A LOT of hassle. So the salesman suggested we try a van. We did. We drove a Toyota Sienna, and it was nice, but we still needed to try something else. Then we visited Honda. They were having a very big special on their 2008 models that did not sell in 2008. So we test drove a 2008 Honda Odyssey. It was SO COOL! It drove so nice, and the interior was so roomy, it made us feel kinda bad for mocking van drivers. After some negotiating (they really needed to sell it, and we did not need to buy it) we found ourselves happy driving home in a 2008 Odyssey with 6 miles on it! We have never bought a "new" car, (another thing we have mocked others for...shame on us!) and it was a lot funner and scarier than I thought it be. We really love it, and our kids could not be more excited. We are looking forward to our next road trip (at the end of March we are driving to Utah) to really enjoy the comforts of our new van.

A Very Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas this year. We stayed home and on Christmas Eve we made our first prime rib dinner (it was just like my Dad's...perfect!) and the kids each opened their one gift before going to bed. The next morning I woke up at 6:15 and couldn't go back to sleep, but I kept thinking that any minute the kids would come running in wanting to go downstairs to see what Santa had brought. Well after 45 minutes I finally went into the kids' room and woke Dominique and told her to go wake her dad, and I tried to wake Cooper. I softly shook him and said "Cooper, Cooper, don't you want to come and open presents and see what Santa left you?" And he sat up, looked at me, shook his head no, and laid back down. I did not give up, and I did finally convince him that he really would be happier if he would just get out of bed. Needless to say they were very excited to both give and receive their gifts, and we had a great Christmas morning. I especially liked the yummy breakfast made on my new waffle iron! Cooper got some cars and dinosaurs, Dominique got some dolls and a new digital camera (pictures by her will be posted shortly) and Mark and I got many things like a new dresser and desk, and tickets for the Rapids (soccer) home opener and second home game. Overall, once again, Christmas was a success! We hope that all of you and yours had a great holiday week as well!

Adventures in Potty Training

We have started the lovely process of potty training our son this week. All our daughter needed was to see that she would get to wear My Little Pony panties, and then she went in the potty. Not so much with Cooper. He is very excited to go to Chuck E Cheese with Xander (his buddy), and is always saying "When I poop in the potty I go to Chuck E Cheese with Xander!", but getting him to even think about the potty when he needs to has been rather unsuccessful. His Dad took him the the bathroom on Sunday, and he told Cooper to just "Push the poop out", and Cooper's response was, "Where's the button, Dad?". So, please, wish us luck as we learn yet another lesson in why boys are harder than girls. (So far, anyway)

Blake is HOME!

My youngest brother Blake got home from his mission on Nov. 19th. He was in the Mexico City East mission, and he "came home" to my mom's house in Hanna City IL. I say "came home" because he had never been there before, as my mom remarried and moved to IL while he was gone! But most of his family made the trip out and we think he felt "home" enough. He looked great and sounded very Mexican. One of the first things he said to me was "Wow, you kids are so pale!" It was very funny to listen to him, as he didn't just learn Spanish, I think he forgot English! He did not have any English speaking companions, and litterally only spoke Spanish the whole time. It was fun to hear all of his stories...even if he did speak a little slowly as he translated in his head. During his homecoming talk he was saying who he was and forgot my mom's new last name for a moment and that was pretty funny! But the whole trip was a success, and it was great to see him back in the US!