Celebrating the Small Things

Cooper went potty on the big boy potty this morning!!!  Ever since Jackson has been potty trained Grant and Cooper want to sit on the potty any chance they can get.  Jeff put Cooper on the potty first thing this morning and when I went in the bathroom to check on him, he had gone potty!!  I cheered for him, and he stood up, in his birthday suit, threw both hands up and said, "WOO-HOO!"  Now this probably will not happen again for another year, but I don't care, we are still celebrating!

Thankful!

This is the time of year we all take extra time to recognize and remember all the things in our lives that we're thankful for.  There are so many reasons why I'm thankful this year, but these are my top 4!!

I'm so grateful for you Jackson!  I love to see that handsome smile and to hear your sweet laugh!!  You warm my heart with your hugs and kisses everyday.  You are so special to Mommy and Daddy and we love you!

Jackson and Grandma made these turkeys for our placeholders at the table.  Jackson had fun putting the turkeys together for everyone, but he really loved tasting everything during the process.  He has my sweet tooth and loves all things chocolate!!  Poor guy ended up getting a touch of the stomach flu and wasn't even able to sit at the table with us for our Thanksgiving meal.  Thank goodness he bounced back quickly!  He is back to running around the house, playing with trains, and pestering his little brothers.

I am thankful everyday for these two sweet boys, Grant and Cooper.  I'm amazed every time I see them that somehow we were blessed with twins.  The last 19 months has been an amazing journey of tears and laughter, but every day Jeff and I are just in awe of the miracle of these two precious little boys.  Grant, we love your sweet hugs and all three of your dimples when you smile.  You wear your heart on your sleeve and even at the young age of 1 1/2, you know just what to do to make everyone feel loved!  Cooper, our ball of energy, we love your big smile and your easy way of always making us laugh.  Sometimes Mommy wishes she could bottle up your energy!!  We love you both so much and are thankful every day for you!

I know I don't say it enough, but I am so grateful for my wonderful husband.  He is amazing in every way!  He is a wonderful father to our three boys and a loving husband to me.  I love watching the boys run to the front door to see who can get the first hug when he comes home from work.  (sometimes I win that race!!)  Thank you Jeffrey for being such an amazing father and husband.  The boys and I are so blessed to have you in our lives, and we appreciate all the hard work you do to support our family!

We had a fun family filled Thanksgiving, with all of the boys' grandparents and Great Grandma Norma coming to visit us.  Now it's on to Christmas at our house.  We decorated the house this weekend and the boys are in awe of the tree.  We've already had one broken ornament, I have a feeling there will be more.  Life always gets terribly busy at this time of year, but I hope that you all are able to take time to cherish your family and the reason for this season.  I know we will!!

Ear Infections and Play Dough

Poor Cooper did a lot of this today.

This is what a severe double ear infection does to my little "party animal."  He spent the first hour of his morning laying on the floor of his bedroom without moving.  That's when I decided to call the doctor.  After having a dose of antibiotics, Tylenol, and a serious nap he was showing signs of his "true" self, like singing The Elmo Song. :)  He refused to take his hat off the entire day, even ate lunch and took his nap with it on!  Maybe it made his ears feel better?

Jackson has started dropping his nap in the last month or two.  I only have him lay down 3-4 days a week.  Today was a no-nap day, so Jackson and I got to spend two hours together with no distractions while Grant and Coop napped.  We pulled out the play dough, which hasn't been touched in months.  Jackson loved making "worms" with his little tool!  I forgot how therapeutic playing with play dough can be!!

Iowa Visit

Last weekend I took the boys back to Iowa for a long weekend visit.  Jeff was super busy with his grad class and swim meets so it was a good weekend for us to be away.  We split up the drive on the way there and spent a night in Cedar Rapids with a good friend of mine from college.  I don't have any pictures from our short visit but the boys had a great time playing with Addy and Ava, and I really enjoyed my time catching up with Tanya!  Thanks for letting us stay with you:)

While we were in Iowa we spent time with my parents and Jeff's family, we got to celebrate my brother's birthday, and we spent an evening with two of my college roommates and their families.  It was a busy weekend, and with the time change added in there, we were all thoroughly exhausted when we got back.  (Whoever came up with Daylight Savings must not have had little children!!)

The boys and I spent a day at Jeff's mom's house.  The boys had a blast riding on Gaga's riding lawn mower.  They spent most of the day outside chasing the dogs or riding the mower.  They were dirty and tired by the end of the day!

Jackson at the wheel!

Grant is holding on tight!  Cooper is just along for the ride!

Grant peeking in the fountain.

Cooper loved chasing after Kevlar.  He kept saying, "I get you!"

Jackson helping Papa pick up the leaves with the leaf sweeper.

The little boys had to check out the tractor too.

Fall/Halloween 2010

The last month has been so busy with visitors and trips back to Iowa!  Since the beginning of October we have only had one weekend at home with just our family.  We have had so much fun spending time with family and good friends who we don't get to see often enough.  In between all the visits and trips, the boys have gotten to play around in the leaves, enjoy the changing weather, and of course trick-or-treat on Halloween!

We have two giant maple trees in our front yard and every year our yard is turned into a sea of yellow leaves.  The boys had a great time sitting in the big leaf pile, running through them, and throwing them in the air.

The boys were superheroes for Halloween this year.  Jackson was Superman, Grant was Batman, and Cooper was Robin.  They did a great job of protecting the neighborhood and making sure no candy went to waste!  Our Halloween celebrations started on Friday with a parade at Jackson's preschool, which is also Jeff's high school.  Jackson got to see a lot of his "high school friends" and even got to spend some time with Daddy during his free period.

The little boys had to try their costumes on Friday too, so we snapped a few pictures of the two of them.

Grant showing off his super power...swiffering!

We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with the boys.  Jackson loved it!  This was the first year he truly understood what we were doing and really got into saying "trick-or-treat", picking out his candy and moving on to the next house.  The little boys were not so thrilled with the whole thing.  Grant was tired and just wanted to be held and Cooper just wanted to eat the candy.  He held on to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup from the first house all the way until we got home.  Needless to say the peanut butter cup was smashed to pieces and had to be thrown away.  We are already looking forward to next year.  I think Grant and Coop will enjoy it much more next year.  Jackson says he knows what he wants to be for next year too...we'll see if that lasts for another 11 months!

The superheroes in my life!

Cooper holding tight to his M&Ms

Hugging his buddy:)

Time to head home.

A Special Message...

WE HOPE YOU HAVE A SPECIAL DAY!

WE LOVE YOU!!

Haircut

Grant got his first haircut.  I've been putting it off because he has such fine hair, I just hated to cut it.  He was such a good boy and sat so still in Mommy's lap.  He got to watch Elmo while his hair was being cut and that definitely helped.  Here is my handsome boy!

He looks like such a big boy!

Cheese!

Superman!

Jackson was Superman for Halloween this year, and he took his job very seriously!  I just have to share this story...

On Sunday at church, Jeff was greeted by the lead teacher when he picked up Jackson from Sunday school.  She told Jeff she had to tell him a story about Jackson that would go down in the history of her experiences at church as one of the funniest things that has ever happened.  All the preschoolers were sitting listening to the story for the day.  The teacher said in her story, "All of a sudden a superhero was in sight."  Jackson raised his hand high and said, "It's me!  I'm right here!"  I can just picture his little eyes opening wide and shouting for all to hear that he was Superman!  (Of course, she was talking about a much different type of 'superhero' :) )

Can you hear him singing the Superman theme song?