Hangin' With Mr. Cooper

Before Cooper was born I decided I needed to take a trip out there sometime after he arrived.

The rest of my family went out over Christmas but we stayed home. I decided January or February was probably a great time to take a trip to Phoenix! Especially after this crappy winter!

(It was 2 degrees when we left St. Louis, with a -20 windchill and 75 degrees when we arrived in Phoenix- I seriously almost cried when I stepped out of that airport!)

I was flexible on my travel dates and just kept checking to see if there were any great flight deals. As luck would have it I found one on a Friday night and got everything booked! For Christmas my parents and aunts and uncles gave my grandparents a trip to Phoenix so they could see Cooper too. When my mom found out how great my deal was we decided that they should come out when I did so they'd have someone to travel with them. It worked out great! It's always fun to have travel companions- when they aren't your kids ;) Grandma McDonald also met us out there so we had one big party in Phoenix!

We got to Josh and Joni's around dinner time on Thursday. I didn't waste any time getting my Cooper snuggles in!

He loved bath time! How adorable is that face?!

Ryan sent me this picture of Peyton Thursday night. She fell asleep in Belle's cage! At least she was better for him at bed time than she is for me!!

Grandma and Grandpa stayed at a hotel but I stayed at Josh and Joni's.

Friday morning Coop and I spent some time talking to each other. He was so adorable trying to mimic some of my faces!

 

Joni had to nanny that morning so they little boy just came to their house. We hung out while she ran a couple errands and Josh got grandma and grandpa from the hotel. He also picked Grandma McDonald up from the airport. That night we went to Tempe for dinner. Josh and the grandparents went ahead of Joni, Cooper, and me and walked around for a little bit. After dinner we walked around a lake in Tempe and drove around the ASU campus.

Saturday morning we vegged out and got ready to go to the outlet mall (the Coach store was calling my name!) Joni and I had a little 2 month photo session with Cooper!

 

We spent the afternoon at the outlet mall which was amazing! It was 76 degrees out and gorgeous! I took full advantage and wore flip flops and capris! A little slice of heaven on earth right there! 

{3 generations of Keith's}

Sibling fun

We hurried back from the outlet mall so we could head to dinner (at Brio) followed by the Gilbert Temple open house. The temple was gorgeous and it was great to be able to walk through with all our grandparents! Cooper was the perfect baby the whole time!

After the open house we met our friend, Brianne- from Virginia, at a Gelato shop. She wasn't able to stay very long because her husband had trouble with the kids at home but it was great to get to see her!

Grandma McDonald had to sneak in some Cooper cuddle time!

Sunday morning we went to church. I just stayed for Sacrament because grandma and grandpa didn't want to stay all 3 hours. We came back to the apartment and laid out by the pool for a couple hours. It was amazing! I totally think we need to move to a warmer place! I am so over winter!

That night we went to the Kibby's for dinner (our friends from here that moved to Phoenix a couple years ago). We had so much fun chatting and catching up!

After dinner we played Domino's back at Josh and Joni's. It was so much fun!

 

Monday morning Coop and I got our last cuddles in before we had to head to the airport :(

Our trip went by way too fast! I'm so glad I was able to go, though! I had so much fun with Josh, Joni, Cooper, and our grandparents! 

It was a great vacation and the perfect vacation spot for this winter hater!

(I just may have to keep my eyes open for more good flight deals)!

 

And Ryan did a great job holding down the fort while I was gone!

(Sometimes it's good for him to see how hard this single parent business is!)

Did Anybody Tell You

Chances are good that if you're a mom you've experienced all these things! And if you're a future mom you will experience them. So here's your heads up!

-You will most likely not eat another meal without one of your children stealing food from your plate! 

Peyton will literally plop herself on my lap and just dig right in! Yesterday she ate all my cereal at breakfast. 

-If you thought the food stealing was bad, good luck with your drinks! Chances are good they will be infiltrated with floaties after your kids are through with them! Kiss that liquid refreshment goodbye!

-Say goodbye to precious alone time- you can't even go to the bathroom by yourself! Most of the time I have two kids and the dog in there with me. Ryan asks why I don't just lock everyone out (because that's what he does and they leave him alone). If I do that I am met with screaming, crying, and pounding on the bathroom door- and you know what, it's more peaceful to have them in the bathroom bugging me than listening to that ruckus!

-You will inevitably pick up the same messes over and over and over again. All. Day. Long. And some days you're sick of it and decide not to and your husband comes home to a battlefield and probably wonders what you've done all day, not knowing that the house was clean numerous times and you just can't deal with it anymore!

-Did you just sit down after walking in from the kitchen? Because that's a good sign one of the kids will ask you for some milk or popcorn- or any other item they'd like you to get for them (that's in the room you just left)!

-BUT-

-You will also experience a love deeper than you ever knew possible. You will catch a glimpse of Heavenly Father's love for each of His children. You will turn to Him as you pray for patience and guidance in raising these children He has trusted you with.

-You will be loved unconditionally and forgiven for the many mistakes you will make along the way (and you will)!

-You will be constantly in awe of how sweet and kind your kids are. Like the night they were eating candy and you wanted one of the snickers Peyton had. You said "awe man, I wanted a snickers" and Colin comes over to you, breaks his crunch bar in half and offers you the bigger half. And it melts your heart- because even though these kids can drive you nuts at times you are reminded just how sweet, loving, giving, and compassionate they are. And you vow to try to be better. To try to be the mom they deserve. To try harder not to lose your patience (which is really hard right now while Peyton is going through the hardest stage of her life thus far).

Back to Those 2-Year Old Troubles

A couple nights ago I went into Peyton's room to get her up from her nap. It was a little after 5 and she had just started crying. It was starting to get dark outside and the light was off in her room so it was pretty dark in there.

 

Imagine my surprise when I turned the light on and saw that she was sleeping on the cabinet that used to be her changing table!!! I told her she couldn't do that, that she could fall off and get hurt.

 

Apparently she didn't listen. She was taking a nap today (and let me tell you, these 2 naps are pretty much the only successful naps we've had in a few weeks!) and all of the sudden I heard a huge bang and immediate crying. I ran upstairs and sure enough she had been sleeping on her cabinet again and fallen off.

 

I checked her out, she wasn't bleeding but her cheeks were red (1 more than the other) and her nose had a line on it. She wouldn't tell me where she hurt so we sat in her rocking chair and cuddled. She fell back asleep but woke up about 10 minutes later after I laid her in her bed.

 

Her cheek's aren't as red anymore but she's starting to get some bruising. Poor girl!

Needless to say, the cabinet has been moved into her closet so there is nothing she can climb on besides her bed and rocking chair (and hopefully she won't climb on and fall off that rocking chair because I'll have to take it out of the room!)

 

You see the line on her nose and kind of see the bruise starting on her left cheek.

This girl sure does give us a run for our money!

This Wolf Obsession

 Colin really likes learning about animals. He watches Jeff Corwin on Netflix pretty much every day.

He draws pictures of them and sometimes even tapes animal body parts to himself so he can legitimately look like one! (At least in his 6 year old mind)! The other day he was playing outside and came in with a couple leaves. The next thing I knew they were taped to his head acting as wolf ears!

 

Yes, he's still on the wolf kick.

Remember when he asked to stare at a picture of one on my phone for 4 hours?!

Well evidently he's still thinking about that wolf picture!

On Sunday as we were driving to church he asked us how old he had to be before he could get a cell phone.

Answer: At least 16

He said "How about 13?"

We were like no, you don't need one that young.

To which he replied "I need the monkey killer to send me a picture of that wolf!!!"

 

Oh my goodness, we cracked up!!!

Two Year Old Troubles

Peyton was the easiest baby.

Literally.

Slept through the night from the get-go-

I used to have to wake her up to eat!

Never cried.

Was always happy.

Didn't get into things...

 

Then she became mobile.

This girl gets into EVERYTHING!

She was climbing before she was walking-

hence a nice little head concussion requiring 1 x-ray, 2 CT's and 2 visits with specialists.

 

Now we have entered the wonderful land of the terrible 2's!

She can be so

 mean!

She pushes Colin down.

And I mean, full body weight- as much force as she can muster.

She bites. She hits. She sometimes even pulls hair.

She doesn't want anything to do with Ryan.

It was getting better but I think she's regressing.

 

We have also given up the binky-

which means nap time and bed time have been wonderful this past week!

And by wonderful I mean nap time is pretty much non-existent!

She sits in her room screaming, destroying everything she can get her little hands on, and banging her head on the door, as well as crying.

When I go in to get her she says "I bonked my head, Mommy."

"I know you bonked your head, you crazy girl."

 

Bed time has gone from the simple routine of saying prayers, reading a book, cuddling, and singing songs (her favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells)

to screaming and crying and me having to go back in there numerous times.

 

So why did we give up the binky?

Well, she lost it!

And I've been telling her for months that when she lost it again she was done.

She lost it one day last week and we found it at night then lost it the next day and we never found it.

So we are done!

 

But you know what--

Even though this little girl gives us a run for our money

and is sometimes mean,

90% of the time she is the sweetest, funniest, cuddliest little girl you ever did meet

(to me anyway!)

And we are so grateful and blessed to have her in our family!



Happy Birthday 6 Year Old!

Colin may have gotten the best birthday present this week- which happened to be his whole birthday week off of school!

That 7 inches of snow I wrote about on Sunday turned into 12-14 inches and left us snowed in for quite some time!!

We quite enjoyed our Sunday laziness, and Monday. By Tuesday we needed to get out of the house so the kids and I ran some errands. I was really excited when we got the call that night that school on Wednesday had been cancelled. It just didn't feel right to have Colin's first day back at school be on his birthday!!

We relaxed and hung out at home that day. Around lunch time Ryan took Colin to Target. We were going to get him a new bike for his birthday but hadn't done it yet because we weren't planning on being snowed in. The smallest bike they found was still a little too big and Colin didn't feel comfortable on it so he decided to wait until spring time to get a bike. Which was probably a smart decision seeing as how he can't use it right now anyway!

He did want the Superman 3 movie so they got that and a new sword he picked out. When they came home he watched his movie. Afterwards we met my mom and Little Ryan at Red Robin for dinner. After dinner we came home and had cake and ice cream.

It was a pretty fun birthday!

 

 

We are so proud of our 6 year old! I can't believe how big he's getting! He is such a sweet and funny boy! Life with him is awesome and we are so blessed that he came into our family 6 years ago! He is such a great older brother. He and Peyton have really enjoyed playing with one another this week. They're so cute together! I've loved having him off of school and am pretty depressed that he'll probably have to go back on Monday. But, the learning must commence sometime! He's super excited to be 6 and is already telling me that he's almost 7...and 17- for some reason he's stuck on that age! Please don't wish your life away, baby boy! The time goes by too fast as it is!!!

 

We love you soooooooo much!!!

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

I never fully wrapped my head around the fact that it was 2013.

I guess it's becoming real now that we've hit 2014!

Good grief!

 

Ryan's got high hopes for this year.

He keeps saying we're going to "crush 2014".

Not sure exactly what that means but I'm pretty sure he's expecting good things!

His biggest hope for this year is that our house sells and we're able to find some place else-

Definitely closer to his work, definitely not in Illinois, potentially not even in the St. Louis area.

I'm just putting my faith in Heavenly Father and believing that everything will happen how it's supposed to.

 

We finished up 2013 by relaxing-

Lexi joined Peyton at the breakfast table

Peyton, Jeannie, and I went to the mall. Peyton and Jeannie rode the Merry-Go-Round a couple times. Peyton was so cute. Each time they'd come around she'd wave at me. It was adorable!

Jeannie flew back home the Friday after Christmas. We spent that weekend getting some things done around the house and relaxing.

 

We spent New Year's Eve at my parents. We had fondue (meat and chocolate), watched football, and hung out. We decided to spend the night so we wouldn't have to get home so late. I thought it would be amazing because we could go straight to bed after midnight. Peyton had other ideas though. That girl was awake until after 1:30! We finally thought we'd gotten her to calm down and all of the sudden she was sitting up singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

 

The next morning we were awoken with the sweet aroma of fresh waffles.

Let me tell you, I think we need to stay at my parents more often!

On Wednesday the kids and I stayed at my mom and dad's and watched movies and hung out while Ryan came home to work on the house. Poor guy!

Now we're a few days into 2014 and we're gearing up for Colin's birthday this week.

Apparently he needs to have a friend birthday party this year. I'm not super excited about this and I don't feel like planning it so we'll see what happens!

 

I'm also looking forward to my trip to Phoenix at the end of January to see Josh, Joni, and baby Cooper! Not only am I excited to see them but I'm pretty excited to escape this stupid winter weather! (We currently have about 7 inches of snow and it's still falling).

 

Even though I'm not a fan of snow, I am enjoying this guilt-free lazy day- still in my PJ's, cuddling on the couch, watching movies.

 

I've got to say, 2014 is starting out pretty great!