KIDS ARE SO FUN……..

I seriously have the best kids ever.  They are so funny and are growing up so fast!  I am not saying they are always the most well behaved and well mannered but they are awesome!  In public I think they stay in check but at home they get a little crazy!

This week was a fun one!  Raelynn participated in the science fair this year and I was so proud of her.  It was all her, she wanted to do it, she picked her project and she put it together.  It was an amazing experience for her and I think a very big confidence builder.  Most of the participants were 4th and 5th graders so I was shocked the Raelynn stepped out of her comfort zone to participate.  Anyway, we are not sure if her red ribbon was just for participation or if she got 2nd place :) but regardless I was extremely proud!

We also had some mornings that were a stubble to get up.  I put Coop in bed with Raelynn to help wake her up but I don't think it worked!  If I remember right, this ended with Raelynn kicking Coop off her bed while fake crying!

So while my pride shines for my daughter, my laughter continues at my son.  One night, long after the kids had went to bed, I went in to my bathroom to wash my face and found this.  Yes, those are Coop's undies dangling from the door hinge.  I knew they had gotten up there while either being kicked or thrown and the next morning he confirmed he had thrown them like a basketball!  He is so hard to get angry at and his smile and giggle always prevents me from getting to upset with him.

Tonight was a big night too.  Coop lost his first tooth!  I almost started to cry thinking how this is the last first tooth for me.  I cannot believe how they are growing up and how fast it is going.  Coop will always be my little boy but watching him pass more and more "firsts" is breaking my heart!

WRAPPING THE PAST COUPLE WEEKS UP……..

Oh what chaos all the snow brought.  So Lawrence received about 12 inches of snow the week of Feb. 3rd which led to messed up work schedules, no school and a lot of rescheduling.  The kids did not have school after Monday due to snow and cold temperatures.  It is always a great shuffle to figure out work and kids but it all worked out.

Snow Ice Cream, Yummy!

We ended the week with a fun swim party sponsored by our church and a sleep over with best friends.

Last week we spent much of the week just trying to catch up from the chaos of the week before.  Raelynn attended her first 4H meeting at an actual member and loved it.  There are a couple 10 year olds who really have grasped on to her and she loves them and they seem to love her.  The meeting was great for me too as I received much more information and I think I may actually survive having a daughter in 4H.  The families were great and assured me that they would hold my hand through any animal or camping outings we had and would even house our bunny or hamster or any other smelly animal Raelynn may want to adopt.  They were really quite wonderful.

Tuesday the kids celebrated Valentine's Day at school since they were out again for the rest of the week due to conferences.  This time I got to attend Coop's party.  It was fun because I do not know a lot of the parents in Coop's class so it was nice to meet some of them.  Coop's teacher is amazing and I enjoyed watching her interaction with the kids.  There are 22 kids who are all at different levels in development, discipline and maturity.  I have always been amazed at how Kindergarten teachers do it but Coop's teacher does it with so much calmness and structure.  I feel so fortunate to have Coop with her!  Anyway, the party was actually a lot of fun and it was great to be there with him.

Thursday was our scheduled conferences with the kids teachers.  I cannot tell you how much I look forward to conferences.  I am at the school enough that I have a pretty good idea how things are going but I love seeing the work the kids have been doing and hearing how the teachers think the kids are doing.  Coop's conference was pretty short and sweet but I talk to his teacher every morning when I go in to read to the kids so we kind of chat about things as we go.  We did get to see some development in his drawings and writing and progression in numbers.  He is doing fantastic.  Raelynn's conference was awesome.  She is maturing so much and her teacher recognizes it as well.  She also stated how nice she is to everyone which makes me more proud than any grade.  Raelynn feels like she struggles with math but she is doing well with it.  Academically things come fairly easily for Raelynn and as things get more difficult and she has to actually apply herself, she feels she is not doing as well.  The truth is it actually makes her do better.  She does need reassurance but with a little encouragement she can master anything.  It is so interesting to note the differences in the kids.  Coop writes so well, Raelynn's penmanship was horrible until this year; Coop reads at a lower average and Raelynn always read way above her level.  Coop likes math and is good at it, Raelynn does not like math but is also good at it.  They are just such different people in so many ways which I love.  It makes parenting them completely different as well.  Raelynn and I were talking this weekend and we were talking about how I parent them differently.  She said she notices that sometimes.  I asked her if she thought I was easier on Coop than I was on her and she said yes for some things.  I told her I agreed but then I asked her if there were things I gave her more responsibility and flexibility with and again she said yes.  I told her it would always be that way and I hoped she could understand the difference but if she ever felt it was truly unfair she needed to talk to me about it.  She said, "Nope it's fine because I don't really see you and Coop hanging out playing with each other's hair and talking about life like we do, it makes it all even." I almost started to cry knowing that she cherished our relationship as much as I do.  The only thing that kept me from crying was the shock that my 8 year old can even relay those feelings to me in that manner or even process that our time together is special.  She is simply amazing to me.

Friday was Valentine's Day which is always fun!  We had to start the day with Valentine's Day Donuts, it is becoming a tradition!

The weekend was filled with friends and fun.  Raelynn spent the night with her best horse buddy and they had a great time.  She and Emma became friends over the past summer at the horse shows.  Emma's family is great as well.  We have been keeping the girls in contact over the winter so they can continue their fun friendship over the summer while they are riding.  The girls have made it so easy and they have so much fun together and are so good together.  Raelynn had a great time.  Then Saturday one of Raelynn's friend's Dad planned a surprise for his wife so we got to hang out with her on Saturday.  Again, these girls are just all so good and it makes having them over a delight.  I am so thankful that Raelynn is surrounding herself with wonderful friends with wonderful families!

Last week was also Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week.  Obviously this week was a big deal for us and for the foundation.

WONDERING……..

There are times when you just reflect and wonder; wonder how you are doing as a parent, wonder what the kids will be like in another 5-8 years, wonder how you could do better…..tonight was one of those nights.  I was making dinner and had just got done talking to my niece and I couldn't help but wonder how my kids perceive how I am doing as a parent.  I think about how I think I am doing often but it never occurred to me that they may have a completely different opinion.  Raelynn was in the living room working on her book report and Coop was across from her playing games on the computer when he was suppose to be practice his sight words.  I turned dinner down low and walked into the living room and asked them both for their attention.  I sat down between them and I asked them.  I asked them how they thought I was doing.  I told them I wanted the truth, what could I do better or what do I do that they just don't get, anything.  Coop just looked at me and said I did fine and there was nothing I should do different.  I was sure his answer was strictly to please me so he could get back to his game.  Raelynn's response though made me laugh.  "Well you could buy us more candy and you could let us sleep in more on school days but really Mom, face it, you are like a really good Mom.  Even when you don't let us do stuff you tell us why and it makes sense, which, really just makes us madder but yea, you're pretty good a the Mom thing."  I told them that forever I would ask them this question from time to time because I tell them what I expect of them, they need to be able to tell me what they expect of me.  Raelynn patted my head and said, "Yea Yea Mom just keep reading your books and googling and you'll do fine."  Her sarcasm was hilarious but right on.  I will keep reading and watching and learning and asking and listening and wondering how I'm doing but I am just glad I can ask those who matter most how they think I am doing!

Coop celebrates the 100th Day of School!

Coop's self portrait!  Maybe the big ear jokes are going a little too far, hahahaha!

Coop and Raelynn LOVE some late Christmas presents!  McDonald, KS celebrates 125 years!

 The last couple weeks have been packed hence the reason the blog has not been updated.  The week started fun for the kids though.  Monday they didn't have school so they spent the day with Aunt Bonnie and of course had so much fun.  I, on the other hand, had a meeting every night.  Monday and Tuesday night were meetings about the school carnival, Thursday night was our CCF Board Meeting and Friday was suppose to be our Family Meeting Night (our once a month meeting to discuss family matters :) ) but friends that we don't usually get to spend time with invited us over for dinner.  They have a son that went to daycare with Coop and Coop was so excited to spend the evening with them.  They are an amazingly strong family that has fought many battles and always came out on top.  They are an inspiration and it was a super enjoyable evening!  Then Saturday I had a short radio interview, Raelynn had a cheer clinic and I met with a friend to discuss our Disney Vacation!  This past week just continued the late nights with a CCF meeting on Monday night, fundraiser on Tuesday and then PTO, Coop's first soccer practice on Wednesday and then Raelynn cheered at a high school game on Friday.

The boys had fun too.  At half time they got to go down and shoot a basket for a bag of chips.  Unfortunately Coop didn't make it but he still got the chips so he didn't mind!

The CCF Fundraiser was one we have every month.  It's called CCF Cook's Night Off.  Once a month a participating restaurant donates money back to CCF from their sales during a given night.  This week was at Freddy's and they were amazing.  Their staff went out of their way to make it a success.  They even let the kids go back and make their own Sundays.  It wasn't just our kids either it was all the kids.  They worked so hard, were so kind and simply went over the top.  I was so happy with the turn out and even happier with the staff.  Simply amazing service!!!

Saturday followed with Coop's soccer game, which surprisingly went really well and then he spent the afternoon playing with one of his buddies why Raelynn worked on her science project.  Oh yes, Raelynn chose to do a science project this year.  I am so proud of her for taking the initiative to do it and then following through with it but I knew nothing about how to do a science project.  At Raelynn's school the 5th Graders participate in the science fair but it is open to all grades.  Raelynn wanted to do it last year but was not quite as committed as she was this year.  Her original choice this year was a complicated solar system that moved and lit up, etc.  I finally convinced her to scale it back a little for her first year since we had no idea what we were doing.  She agreed and decided to do an experiment on Super Sized Salt!  It took 6 days to grow the salt crystals and then she was ready to write her report and put her board together.  She had it all in her mind and did such a great job.  It will be fun to see how it compares with the other experiments to know what she did really well and what she could do better.  More than anything I was just so proud that she chose to do it and worked very hard on it.  Anyway it definitely kept her busy this weekend and now she has moved her focus on to her book report that is due next Monday.  The book is read and the report is started so once again we are moving towards completion.  I want the kids to learn early not to procrastinate and thankfully Raelynn also does not like procrastination.  Coop on the other hand may be a little harder to convince :)

Sunday we went to church and then back back home to get some goodies ready for the Super Bowl.  We joined some friends to watch the game and I, and my 2 dedicated children, were the only Bronco fans.  Needless to say, I took a little heat but it was a fun night as always.  Today started nice and early as I had to be at the school at 6am to make sure I was able to get the kids signed up for Boys and Girls Club over Spring Break.  By 5pm today they had already called off school for tomorrow due to the projected snow.  This always cracks me up because when I was a kid I don't ever remember them canceling school based on a weather forecast when the sun was shining.  Anyway, so as any working mother, I am very grateful for a flexible job and understanding boss.  I am not sure even now what our day will look like tomorrow but I am sure at least part of the day will be a "work from home" type of day!  Snow days and sick days have always been a challenge for me because I feel pulled between work and my family.  There is no way to ever express how grateful I am to Tom for always making sure family comes first and just makes days like tomorrow make me want to work even harder for him! Just another blessing in my life.

So tonight as I was putting Raelynn to bed she said, "Mom do you know Mr. Adam reads the blog?"  Mr. Adam is Raelynn's staff at Boys and Girls Club.  This guy is amazing!  He has patience and understanding that cannot be taught but is just within some people.  Raelynn adores him, respects him and will miss him so much when he leaves.  Anyway, she said Mr. Adam wanted to know why he never made the blog!  I burst out laughing and Raelynn did too.  When I started the blog I started it to keep family and friends up to date on how Coop was doing, then it developed into a Journal for the kids as I have the blog printed into a book for each of them every year, and then at some point the blog got linked to the CCF website and my FB account, again just to keep family and friends in touch.  Now the blog has become a place for shout outs!  Heeheeheehee, so at Raelynn't request I am giving a shout out to Mr. Adam and Mr. Adam I sure hope you choose to read this post!  Hahahaha!  Our family loves you!  Thank you for all you do for my kids and so many others as well.  We are grateful for you every day!