Happy seventh to Coop!

Again, reserving this date so I can post a good letter for this birthday. Cooper, your seventh birthday is so emotional to me for some reason. Seven is so much older than six. More to come.

A new record - it's about two months until your eighth birthday and I'm writing your seventh birthday letter. I will get flack for this, but I'm doing my best. I'm seven month pregnant with your new little sister, so my brain is a bit fried.

Your seventh year has been full of first grade, play dates,  soccer, karate, and homework. You wanted a Halloween dress up party for your birthday, and that turned out to be an easy decorating idea and fun party. You made all kinds of new friends, and are as social as ever - just like your daddy. No broken bones, so super crazy illnesses ... All I can figure is that we're a blessed family.You did lose your first tooth in March, and gave your first big class presentation/report in May. Dad was beaming.

Your desire to succeed in academics and sports is pretty unreal. You moved up two belts in karate this year, played two rounds of soccer, and were identified as GT at school. (No one was surprised.) You have an ability to notice things, figure everything out on your own, remember the littlest of conversations, and imagine/daydream when it comes to anything. I've never known any person like you, Coop. So intense, passionate, forward-thinking, conscientious, chatty, opinionated ... I could keep going. Daddy and I truly feel like you are the best parts of both of us. I completely believe that.

We've had a great seventh year with you, and can't wait for you to be a big brother another time around. You love your sister SO much, even though you may not admit it. She's your favorite friend, and this makes me happy. You guys will play and play all morning long in the summertime - a joy to watch. I can't wait for your second little sister to come along and you can boss her around, too. :)

Coop, we love you so much. Even though we get frustrated with you at times and seem like we overreact to situations, we would never wish you to be anything different than who you are. Be kind, patient and loving to people. Take a deep breath and know that God is always with you, and you can always pray. Whenever you feel overwhelmed and out of sorts, God can fix things.

We love you.

Mom

Happy third birthday, Jules.

I wanted to get this post up by the 21st, and it looks like I have about five minutes. I'll edit tomorrow, but I wanted that 21st date up there. A letter to come ...

I showed everyone didn't I, Jules? It's two days before Cooper's birthday and I'm just now getting around to writing your birthday letter. You gotta understand ... Momma's life has been incredibly hectic since the new semester started. NO excuses. Here goes.

Your third year has so far been marked with sassiness and cuteness, disobedience and hilarity. You're saying things like "Mommy. You know what I love? You!" - which kills me every time. You went to your well check at the doctor a few weeks ago and said, after it was over, "My GOODNESS mommy! I got SO MANY TREATS at the doctor's office today, momma!" You did have a wart removed, flu mist spray and blood drawn. Those five tokens were well worth the bribery it took. You are 40 3/4" tall and 33 pounds - height 99th percentile. Shocker. You are definitely one of the tallest three-year olds anyone has seen in a while. You're welcome.

Jules: You love your new big girl bed (that used to be Aunt Kelley's) SO much, but you won't stay in it for anything. Most of the time, threatening to throw your blanket in the trash keeps you in bed. You have a strong will with a  sweet touch, which works well with your daddy. Not so much for me. It's unreal how much different you are from Cooper, and I still think I'm trying to get used to it.

Things you love: Playing in your room with me, sitting on Daddy's shoulders, going on a "famiwee wok" together, talking to yourself with your toys and pretending, your blanket and "Baby Panda," babies, "Chipotway," screaming in the car and talking over us all, swimming, playing with and loving on your brother (who would just die for you), bugging the heck out of your brother, eating Gogurt and pigs-in-a-blanket ... without the blankets.

Things you don't love: Halloween superstores (found that out the hard way), cleaning up after anything, Penny the Dog bothering you to death, ghosts, and getting into time outs.

The greatest saying so far: "Mom. You're cute. I think I'll keep you." I think I'll keep you, too.

Love,
Mom

I may or may not have three jobs.

I'm not even going to attempt to catch anyone up on everything. I'm starting in February and going until about now. :) I've started doing some contract work for The Alternative Board of Fort Worth, there's Photo Card Cafe' (my baby) and I'm teaching for ACU in the Fall over Skype - PR Principles. Let the studying begin! Oh, and do I have childcare in the summer. Mostly no. My kids are rad.

Everyone is doing well and really enjoying the summer. I'm in disbelief that it's over halfway over, but we still have a trip to Florida in August. It's not over yet. Seriously, I'll try and update this more!

Oddly, Cooper has pneumonia in this photo. That was three days out of school.

They love each other.

They got matching crowns! Ready for Haley's bday party.

Egg hunting at school.

Easter - lots of cuteness.

Easter - Haley, Jules and Nolan.

Easter - Nonnie, Coop, Haley, Jules and Nolan.

Soccer lovin'.

This is a look that is pretty normal for Cooper.

Cooper's Flames Soccer

Visit with the Wattersons

First day of preschool.

Last day of preschool.

First day of Kindergarten.

Last day of Kindergarten. Big boy.

Beach with the cousins and Nonnie!

July 4th!

Visit to Memaw and Pepaw's.

Cousins - Hejl Lake Weekend

 

Juliet swimming - below is Cooper speeding along.

Fun kids.

Oh my word. I still have a blog?

Hi people. If you count on my blog posts to stay updated, might I remind you that there's Facebook.

Let's see. We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas, of which I will post some cute pictures. (Sadly enough, I don't have tons of pictures from our Thanksgiving celebrations. But boy, do I have Christmas!) We had a fairly busy holiday season, but lots of fun this year with the kids being a bit older. Our Christmas tree was a little too ghetto-ish decorated for even one picture on its own. You may see a corner of it in another photo. The kids got everything they wanted from Santa, including an acoustic guitar for Cooper and a pink scooter for Juliet. We felt blessed this year during the holidays, and are so grateful just to be able to give our kids a Christmas morning. Juliet still wants to sing "Jingle Bells" every single night and asks if it's Christmas. I think we succeeded. Cooper learned more about the birth of Jesus, or at least communicated his understanding of what Christmas is about more clearly. Such a smarty pants, that boy.

January ... I'm not sure what happened to it. Where did it go? The Wattersons came to visit on New Year's weekend. I know there's more, and it had to be good!

Things the kids are doing/saying: Juliet is constantly happy and asking if other people are happy. I'll scold her, and she'll immediately ask, "Are you happy?" "No" is usually the answer, but she won't stop asking until you are. So cute. She is in a size 4T at 2 1/2 years old, so shockingly, she's tall. Poor girl, but I hear it's a good thing. She loves fruit snacks, Team Umizoomi, Dora, Mickey Mouse, Martha Speaks, books about Christmas and going potty, candy, applesauce, bacon, the pets, all of her family, and mostly Cooper. She's about 95% potty trained. (Pat on my back.) She says "Thank you SO much" all of the time, and "I love you SO much." We really believe she's the sweetest thing on earth, but we know that right around the corner is a phase that puts to shame all other phases in which Cooper morphed into scariness - the dreaded three year-old. Still, for now, she's the sweetest little thing ever. We love her.

Cooper is over halfway done with Kindergarten, and learning so much I can't keep up. We definitely didn't know as much as he knows in Kindergarten. More like second grade. With his new glasses (which are so cute by the way) he looks very studious. He's responsible with the glasses, which isn't out of character for Cooper. He knows where everything is at any point in time. He's completely aware of his surroundings and extremely observant in every situation. He knows every car, it's year, make and model, if the wheels are different than other standard wheels, and who drives what car. He never forgets stuff - just like me. He knows people by their cars - just like dad. He has a great time with Penny the Puppy, and loves to ride his new bike and play with his new iPod (thanks Poppie). Guitar is going well, but he doesn't want to practice. Sounds familiar. So much to say about Cooper. I love him.

Life has been crazy lately. Valentine's Day is coming up, so we spent the afternoon making class valentines, hanging out with Nonnie and Poppie (Poppie has a new knee, and is feeling better and walking!), buying boots for Cooper, and eating what else ... Mexican food!