Catch up time-March thru Dec 09

I have been such slacker on updating the blog. I had little notes for the past year but have seemed to have misplaced them (my common theme this year) The kids have grown over the past year in more ways than one. I guess Jason and I continue to grow with them too....

I will try to highlight some of our events from the past year.

March- 09

Karina and Cooper had their faces painted for the first time at a friend's Birthday party. Uncle Mike kept Cooper and Karina for a night so Kirstin and her friend Christine could have a 24 hour spa visit. Uncle Mike pulled all the mattresses down to the den and they "camped out" and watched (and fell in love with) Sponge Bob for the first time. They also loved feeding Uncle Mike's new Coy. On our last night we got a special surprise...Pappa came to spend the night with us at Uncle Mike's house! We always love having company come to our house and March was great in that regard. Grandma and Pops and the Perkins family came to visit.


April-09
We had a couple of 'firsts' around here in April....Cooper and daddy went to Tuscaloosa to see the "Blue Angels", Rocky caught his first squirrel and played with it in the yard much to my disliking (even the hose did not deter Rocky), We fly out to OR over Easter to meet Darren Hoff, won our first big prize at The Kid One Charity event we attended...(hearts on Fire Diamond Necklace) and our least favorite first for K & C was their allergy testing. The funniest thing for me that month was the morning I was panicked looking for them all over the house and couldn't find them anywhere (my mind was going thru all the possible scenarios) Needless to say, I found them in the car, in the garage, with the doors closed, watching a movie. Yes....they had figured out how to open the car, turn on the radio/DVD all by themselves!

May 09-

SPRING!!! With the last of cold weather, the mice decided to nest in our garage. Boy was that a month long process. Cooper didn't understand why I would scream anytime a mouse would run by, his response was, "mommy, they are just like the mice on Cinderella". Cooper is going thru a new phase of insisting on wearing his Oregon Duck t-shirt EVERYDAY! (and most days he also wants to wear his Red "Cars" boots too. I am learning to pick and choose those battles. We were excited to be able to go to the zoo without our coats. It continues to be one of Karina and Cooper's favorite outings. I played in my first tennis tournament and was excited that we won 3rd place! Jason has started to travel some to Germany again and that has been a hard adjustment because we all miss him so much when he is traveling! We had a great time with the Gambrell family at the "Beach Club" for Memorial Day week. We decided that the Beach Club was perfect since it was our five yr anniversary.

June-09

We kicked off the summer with Rave's free movie Days. The kids LOVE going to the Theater to see movies and I love that the tickets are Free! Took the kids to see "up" Cooper-forgot he needed to go potty b/c he was into movie(sitting on my lap) had to run to store mid movie to get us both new pants. Glad j was with us!!! Now it's funny... We have started back to the pool. It is amazing how well the kids swim and how much they are like me and could live at the pool. We spend most mornings swimming and then have a picnic lunch at the pool. Some nights we even go back because daddy will meet us there after work. The kids get so excited when Jason gets in the pool with them. We spent a day on Lake Mitchell at our friend's house for a day. It was the kids first outing at a Lake and they loved riding the seadoo and playing. Karina wasn't crazy about what might be swimming around her legs in the water! The not funny thing this month....when Jason and I returned home from our date night, we noticed there was fingernail polish on the rug and couch.....RED.....Cooper had decided to paint his fingernails all by himself (without the babysitter noticing). Enough said on that one.

July-09

We spent the beginning of the month preparing for the MB President's retirement party at our house. It turned out to be a very successful party. We spent a fun 4th at our friends pool and the kids actually enjoyed the fireworks this year. We bought Cooper a Gameboy DS to help with our long plane rides out to Oregon since it was just Karina, Cooper and I making the trip this year (Jason was in Germany). It was amazing how he mastered all the games without even being able to read. The kids had a blast during our two visit out to Grandma and Pops. Their favorite thing this year was riding the ski lift up to Mt. Bachelor and playing in the snow.

Aug-09

Karina had begun to ask tons of questions about her adoption, skin color, and birth mother. She wishes so badly her eyes were blue like daddy's. One day she will realize how beautiful she is with her big brown eyes. We celebrated Cooper's 4th birthday. He wanted a doughnut rather than a cake. Mike came to visit us and of course we didn't want him to go home. We always have so much fun when he comes over. He decided that we should take the kids bowling on this visit. I think I spent the whole time laughing while Mike was trying to show them the difference between rolling the ball and throwing the ball. Karina cried for a while after he left.

Sept-09

We celebrated Karina's 5th Birthday. Where is the time going? Jason had a couple of various work and pleasure trips to Vegas and Germany. We just kinda chugged along during September otherwise. Cooper is still insisting on wearing his Oregon Duck shirt (we had to buy a new version) and threw a fit when Karina came down on game day with her Alabama cheer outfit-ROLL TIDE!!!

Oct-09

The kids loved helping decorate the house for Halloween. It seem like this was the first year that they really understood about costumes and Halloween. They seemed to have something new everyday that they had decided they were going to be for Halloween. Grandma and Pops came to visit. We decided to Go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins this year. Pops had the pleasure of carving the pumpkins with the kids. Jason had to travel to Germany during part of their visit. Halloween night we decided to have a party at our house as "base" for the adults. It was such a fun night especially for the kids who were on a big sugar high!

Nov-09

We took the kids to Disney on Ice. Karina was mesmerized by all the glitter costumes and Cooper was mesmerized by the popcorn and sprite! Jason planned a surprise getaway weekend for me with my good friend Christine. He continues to be the love of my life and is always doing thoughtful things.....including leaving a surprise envelope with $$$ for our trip and a few special bottle of wine. We flew up to Washington DC for Xavier's Baptism. It was so nice to get to spend time with Cristy and Xavier. The kids really enjoyed the Smithsonian museum and DC zoo as well. We got to spend the day with Pappa and nanna at the Baptism too! Thanksgiving was at Uncle Mike's this year with Pappa and Nanna joining us. The Perkins family came up and spent a day with us.

December-09

What a fun month! We kicked it off celebrating Jasons Birthday, then we had snow (second one of 2009-RARE) The kids kicked off Christmas with their Christmas program at Pre-School. Rocky kicked off Christmas by going up to the "Christmas closet" and stealing all of our dog/cat Christmas presents and bringing them down to open (see picture) Then we waited patiently for all our various company to arrive. We were lucky and to have Uncle Mike, Grandma, Pops, Uncle Den, Uncle Stan, Cristy and Xavier all come spend Christmas with us. We hosted our annual Christmas Eve dinner for all our family and extended family (Polinksys and Hobbs) We were sad at the loss of Diane Abernathy (Cindy's Sister) this year on Christmas Eve. We were both very proud of how patient and well behaved both Karina and Cooper were during this time while we spent much of the Christmas days in Tuscaloosa with Cindy and her family.

s.

SNOW!

Wow. We actually have snow here which is hard to believe since it was 71 degrees Thursday. Kids and Rocky loved the snow. However, after about 5 minutes Karina almost started crying because "her hands were so cold". Good thing we live in a warm climate. Katie came over and built a snowman with the kids complete with Aspargus arms and carrot nose. Rocky wanted to eat the arms and Cooper wanted to eat the snowman's head. We solved all the "cold" issues by coming inside for some Hot Chocolate. Cooper wanted to know "how all the snow is going to go away". Here are a few pictures and video.

We like the snow.....but it is cold

Videos of first walk in snow and building a snowman....

Where has the past month gone????!!!

Wow-what a month! First news...WE FINISHED OUR LAST POST PLACEMENT VISIT WITH THE SOCIAL WORKER!!!!!! I guess Karina and Cooper get to keep us now! So, Let's just start with "sickness etc" since that has always been a topic in our house the past 3 years......


Both have had black eyes....Karina from Cooper "tossing" a block at her because she ws laughing at him and Cooper from running into the couch full speed because he was ready to take his bath-his was a BIG shiner. Cooper and daddy had a trip to Children's Hospital on a Sunday night (right after mommy and daddy got home from their date) because he was a "musketeer" and jumped from Ottoman OVER the couch onto the floor. Diagnosis...bone came out of joint at elbow. It was popped back in place with the warning for him to not to hang etc. for at least 3 weeks. His teacher told me the next day that she was sorry, .....when she turned around he was on the monkey bars. That's our boy, jumping right back in the mix...no pain, no gain. I woke up one Friday morning with a soar throat.... kids and I still headed to the gym that Friday morning, but made a quick stop by the drugstore for some throat spray since the vinegar didn't make my throat stop hurting, then got my place up right up front in the step class, after 30 minutes just walked out (in front of 50 ppl) because something didn't seem right. After Cooper kept playing "jump on mommy"while I was crashed on the bed, I gave in and took them with me to the doctor. We all know how much I LOVE going to the doctor's office! Turns out I had a fever of 102.1 and Strep throat. Nothing a little Codeine/Tylenol/antibiotics taken over the weekend couldn't fix! Karina has had a bad chest cold since November 6th. After many x-rays the past few months and numerous doctor's visits, turn out she has childhood Asthma. She is doing GREAT with the inhalers and does it all by herself! Now she should start feeling better and not have a "coughing" fit when she is playing outside. Cooper had a nice little adventure with Pin worms which I mis-diagnosed for 2 weeks as night- time constipation. Of course, once we figured out what it was and the doctor gave him a pill, Cooper wanted to know if he could hold the dead worm!!!! And of course the past few months.....daddy has stayed well as usual!!! I just can't figure that one out since he is the only one in the family not taking vitamins etc.!!!


Everyone seems to be getting "older" around her (with the exception of the parents but that is a different blog). Even Rocky graduated this month from Obedience school. Either Jason or I and Karina would take Rocky every Monday night for school. We figured out after night #1 that Cooper would probably do better with a babysitter! Karina would even run some of the drills with Rocky in front of the whole class! I am not sure who I was more proud of during class, Rocky or Karina. Rocky even won a prize on graduation night for holding "stay" the longest......now if we can just get him to quit running off in the woods. Karina and Cooper are both picking out their clothes and dressing themselves in the morning. We moved all clothes down in the dressers so they could see everything and it has worked like a charm! Best thing for me is that they actually "match" when they come downstairs!!! Karina was invited for her first "spend the night".....but we haven't done it yet. I think we are having more of a problem with that than she is at the moment. She CAN'T be old enough for that yet....can she? Like I said, everyone is getting older around here. Cooper likes to show us how he can "pee like daddy" which when viewed meant, standing up and using NO HANDS to guide. Luckily, he is pretty coordinated if that is what you call it and will put the lid down afterwards! Cooper still gets so mad at us for making him wear a pull-up at night, so his solution is to wear under ware over the pull-up! That is our Cooper, always coming up with a solution. Karina told me the other day that she wants to "go to ballerina school".....I guess I can't keep putting off activities/classes for much longer.....well maybe another 6 months??? We have hosted quit a few playdates at our house with many children. Both really love having kids over to play! Karina AND Cooper have discovered the love of playing dress-up. Karina came down one morning to wake us up and she was dressed as Snow White. I love seeing her be silly since she tends to be a serious little girl. Of course she still loves her Poly Pockets....so does Rocky. I keep finding Poly Pocket heads around the house! Karina LOVES music. I will hear her singing in her room, singing to the songs on the movies and she asks me to put certain songs on her I-pod. Cooper on the other hand thinks he is either 'Buzz Light year' or a 'Musketeer'. He can repeat the lines verbatim from all of their different movies and is always saying, "mommy, do you know what ____ says," and then will repeat a line from some movie. He is still tying ropes all over our house and locking Rocky in various rooms. Needless to say he is ALL boy even though he likes playing dress-up with Karina. We took them to their first circus. Karina really like all the glittery costume and wanted to know why, "daddy didn't have a glittery coat" like the ringmaster. Cooper like all the high wire acts...go figure..they involved ropes! I think they both like the Sprite and Popcorn best of all!


Daddy has been working around the clock-leaves around 4:45 am and gets home anywhere btwn 6:30-9:00 pm. We are proud of him for working so hard to provide for us and try to let him know how much we appreciate everything he does. Times are hard out in the world and we are trying to keep a positive attitude even though we miss our "family time". He still managed to run the Mercedes Marathon and placed number 58th in his age group which had almost 300 people. This is a man who only trained on Saturday and sunday. I am so proud of him! He also still manages to be a very caring and patient daddy even though he is very tired these days...even our social worker commented on what a great daddy he seems to be as she was leaving!


Funny things said this month (that I can remember)

• Cooper repeated AGAIN the quote from a few months back, "mommy you look like a mermaid"....I am starting to get a complex.
  
• "I have a little Pee-pee and daddy has a BIG pee-pee" Cooper
  
• "Jesus made your throat hurt" Cooper as we were driving to the doctor (does he know something I don't know????)

• "Look momma, you are naked just like me, but I can see your va-jay-jay" Cooper as I was getting in the shower.

• "momma-you need to wait for daddy because he can do it-he can fix everything" Cooper after numerous tries to light the gas fireplace

• "why do you have so many tooth pickles" Cooper while opening my bag of toothpicks

• "mommy, I think Cooper might be grumpy because he didn't have a nap" Karina being perceptive

• "Karina is MY mommy" Cooper (well she thinks she is)

• Karina, "mom I want to be a mom when I grow up" Me, "well you can be anything like a doctor and a mom" Karina,"then why aren't u a doctor & mom?" hmmmmmmmm...

• "what color is the baby" Cooper when I told him that Bela's new baby sister was coming to play too.

Things seem to be going so fast! ...Here is a video of their newest favorite..dancing to mommy's music....