November 2011

11/13/11
Sadie has been so sweet with Parker. She whispers to him a lot and pats his head and is really a lot sweeter with him than I was expecting. Cooper loves him too and loves to hold him. Today he tried to carry him while we were doing dishes and that was a bit scary, but that's been the worst thing so far.

Sadie has been saying a lot of funny things lately. I need to write them down so I remember them but a couple classics:
When you ask her what she was for Halloween she always says , "itty at." She leaves the first sound off of almost every word she says. Amma, Ampa, a lot of others I can't think of now.

A couple weeks ago in church we were looking at a picture of the 10 lepers getting healed and for a week after that every time she saw a picture of someone with a head dressing (like Jesus with their typical hats) she couldn't focus on anything except, "hurt" over and over.

She loves when things are broken apparently because she just makes a funny sad face and says over and over "broken"

11/27/11
On Black Friday we bought a Christmas tree and I set it up while Cooper and Sadie were sleeping. I didn't spread out all the branches so it looked pretty pathetic. Cooper woke up and in his dazed state he just stared at the tree. I said something about how it looked pathetic but we'd fix it. Cooper said, "I think" long pause "it is just right." It was so adorable.

Sadie has been talking up a storm lately too. She got a dog that walks and barks from Grandma and Grandpa when they were here and she loves it and carries it around. She loves to say "I love you too" and it is so adorable how she says it. Another tree story. When Sadie saw the tree she just gave it kisses. Yep, just on the branches. She is a loving little girl with a will of steel. She has an opinion about a ton of things and is pretty persistent about getting her way or throwing a fit. It has gotten a lot better but we still have a ways to go.

Parker is Born!

Even though Parker was due on Halloween (Monday) he still wasn't here by our appointment on Thursday (11/3). So we set an induction date for the next Wednesday (11/9) if he wasn't here by then. I was starting to get ready to have a baby but he didn't seem in any rush. Grandma Murphey got to our house on the 29th and she offered to watch the kids on Friday night so Spencer and I could go on a date before the bussiness of a newborn hit us. We went to the only Mexican restaurant in State College and I might be a believer that spicy food induces labor. On Saturday morning at 1:30 am, I woke up having contractions. I spent about an hour deciding if they were really contractions or not and finally decided that Parker was just waiting to be born on Aunt Sam's birthday. I woke up Spencer and told him. I started packing my hospital bag (yes, pathetic that at 5 days overdue I hadn't done that yet), and then went downstairs and watched TV (turns out the Disney channel and HGTV are not that interesting to get you through severe pain) through contractions until 4:30 when I went upstairs to get Spencer and we started our breathing. I was feeling like it may be time to get to the hospital with contractions being less than 5 minutes apart for quite awhile but Spencer said I didn't look like I could be hurting enough to be very close (Not sure he'll live that one down). By 5:30, I was showered and packed and ready and we debated about what to do about Mom and the kids. I wanted her to be there for Parker's birth but he didn't pick an entirely convenient time to arrive. After I woke her up (and Cooper by accident since he was in her room) and told her my contractions were two minutes apart, she figured she should probably come to the hospital right away (was she ever right!). We asked Craig Swenson come over and stay with the kids and, lucky, Cooper was already awake; it was about 6:30ish by now. We went to the hospital. Not actually a fun drive when you are apparently in transition. Should have learned with Sadie but apparently I didn't.  We were there and all checked in by 6:50 and Mom got there just shortly after us. I was dilated to a 9 and half when I got there so I just had to wait a couple more contractions and then we could have him. Parker David James was born at 7:25 am on November 5 and he is so sweet. He was pretty purple from coming out so fast, so the doctor held him for a lot longer than the other doctors ever have. After she got him cleaned up, she set him on me, at which point he promptly peed all over me! We got to snuggle him and hold him or quite a while because he didn't have to go to the nursery and get his bath until after 9. Then they took him into the nursery. Spence went in with him and Grandma watched from the window outside. They ran all sorts of tests on him, then weighed him. He weighed 9 lbs 1 oz and was 21.5 inches long. Because he was so big, they had to prick his little foot 5 times over the course of the day to check his blood sugar levels. He's fine, fortunately. His bath went great and he looked like a new baby afterwards. It turns out that he has enough hair to do a full comb over, which is a pretty sweet look when you're less than 3 hours old. Then they gave him back to Spence and we got to hold him for quite a while. Mom went home and grabbed Cooper and Sadie and they came up to meet him for the first time.Cooper and Sadie loved him and fought over who got to hold him. They were adorable and we got lots of pictures with them. He did awesome for his first night. Because his stomach was full of junk, he was spitting up a lot of stuff, so the nurses kept an eye on him in the nursery. They brought him to me at midnight and 4 am, and he ate both times, and ate regularly after that. He did great. We got to bring him home around 3 pm November 6 and he's a great little boy. We love him so much already!

October 2011

10/3
We drove to Punxatawney, PA to meet Phil the groundhog (because turns out, PA is always too cold on Feb 2). On the way home Cooper had me explain to him three times what groundhogs day was so he could teach it to Daddy.

10/3
I was talking a nap on the couch while I had the kids watching a cartoon and I woke up tucked in with Sadie's blanket. We are talking about the blanket she gets mad at other kids for accidentally touching. I felt privileged.

10/3
Sadie chose "temple" for our FHE song. Cooper chose "getting baptized" for our lesson. It was cute. Cooper can sing all of "I Love to See the Temple" by himself. I got him videoed this morning and it was adorable.

10/5
Cooper came home from Co-op and said, "I want a playroom." I told him that maybe we could have on in our next house. After a couple minutes he said, "Maybe our next house could be in Washington." (on a side note. when Grandpa heard Cooper wanted a playroom he started trying to figure out how to get him one. When he and Grandma came in November for Parker's birth they gave Cooper his way. THANK YOU!!! Our house feels SO much better!)

10/6
Getting ready for preschool I pulled Cooper's jeans down a little so they didn't look too short. He looked at me a bit distressed and said, "But Mom, then people will see my underwear!"

10/6
Cooper got to pet a llama at preschool and I was having him tell Spencer about it at dinner so I asked, "What did you pet at school today, Cooper?" Sadie jumped right in with "Doggie!" (see a pattern?) Cooper just looked at her kind of disgusted and said, "I did NOT pet a dog."

10/8
Sadie would not walk at the pumpkin patch because of the dirt. What a girly girl!

10/22/11
This is a sample of one of Cooper's emails to Uncle Troy on his mission. He know that he can manipulate me into letting him use the computer if he says, "I want to email Uncle Troy!"

tttttttroy

i love you.  i miss you.........

fffffggruwei8u cdyw7eeeeeee9sddf8trt3=12`

3WZX3M9E30342
IIIIIIIII'D BBBBBDCMMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
 4 322444444444444444444WT ECDDDDDDSd      e544446ecd 
                                                                                                                    
deeeeeeeeeeeeeeerf frttttttttttttttttttttttttfrrrrrrcc45555555555555547
4343733re5d c

Preschool is fun. I loved my field trip. I went to a farm. I saw cows. (typed by Alyssa)

tkkkkkkkuvy6y869i84nbptpcnt555555ttoyi3c42iouiyn ,,b     ee  e
l eeeeeeee e  l llll0----------------- gfhoby-uh 77708 T ][[ kku8pu 78t7676i       


Love,
cooper

September 2011

9/1/11
Today Cooper had his first day of preschool. The first thing he said when he woke up this morning was "I'm so excited to go to preschool today!" It was adorable and made it not too bad. His face did get a little sad when he saw the bus and when he was buckled in it was a pretty gloomy face looking up at me but no tears at least. Getting off the bus I was holding Sadie. She kept saying "Bus. Bus. Me. Bus. Me." And a minute after it drove away she pointed down the street and said, "Cooper! Cooper! Cooper!" It was pretty sad. When I got him off the bus today Coop had a bright smile on and said he had fun at preschool. He said he learned how to read too. Not bad on the first day, huh? :) When I asked how he liked the bus ride he responded with, "That was the part I didn't like very much." He didn't answer too many questions with any amount of detail but it seemed like a positive experience overall which was way better than I was anticipating. I can't believe how fast he is growing up and what a sweet little boy he is. I'm so proud of him!

While Cooper was gone today two friends came over and we canned 37 jars of peaches all together. Sadie had fun helping get everything ready, and mostly had fun with her 3 friends that came over.

The first day of school she wanted the train out and as soon as I had it all set up she just laid on her blanket on the floor and stared, like, "I'm so sad and lonely!" It was very sad and was a perfect day to have friends over. She missed Coop quite a bit both of Cooper's first days and kept asking about him. Also, she was pretty upset she didn't get to ride the bus.

9/25
When we asked Cooper what he learned about in nursery Sadie shouted out "Doggie! Horsey!" (her two favorite things incidentally. When people ask her what her name is or how old she is she just says, "Doggie!") Cooper said, "We did not learn about animals in nursery!" Imagine this over and over again with Cooper getting more and more frustrated and irritated at Sadie.

9/26
Sadie stuffed an entire piece of lunch meat and some broccoli in her mouth and then started to chug some milk too. There was no room and it all came spitting back out like a fountain. It suprised her quite a bit.

9/26
Eating sandwiches for lunch. Me: Cooper, eat the rest of your sandwich.
Cooper: Are you sewious?
Me: Yep. (with a smile because it was hilarious)
Cooper: Stop being sewious!

9/28
I was wearing pajama pants and walked into the bathroom where Cooper was. He quickly informed me, "Mom, I think you are getting too big for those pants." I took some consolation in that fact that I'm 8 months pregnant but upon further questioning it was my legs that were getting too big so I can't even blame it on Parker.

August 2011

8/19/11
Cooper really wanted to have a tea party tonight so that was fun. He had fun pouring his orange juice from the mini tea pot to his tiny cup and Sadie had fun slopping her juice out and hollering "mo! mo!" she is crazy! For the full 20 minutes she couldn't remember to say please on her own. Ah well, it will come. Today when we were taking Spence to the airport he was buckling her in her car seat and she was yelling "blanket" I walked out with the blanket and she stopped yelling and just said "thank you" So at least she is good about that.


8/19/11
We went shopping this morning, the kids and I, and that Cooper is such a shopper. He loves it. He's always asking what is for him and making suggestions for what Parker would like. This morning we were looking at Cooper clothes and we found an outfit that he liked. But then he saw that there were swimming trunks and it was all downhill after that. He found a Cars on that he really liked but then he figured he needed a swimming shirt to go with it because big Cooper had one. He is so funny once he gets an idea in his head. I remembered seeing a $3 one at Macys so we went back to find it. When he talked to Grandpa later that was the first thing he told him about. His not so little obsessive streak reminds me of someone else I think....is anyone else thinking Uncle Troy?

8/25/11
I was getting ready for Enrichment with Sadie watching. She picked up my perfume and handed it to me. I said, "Yeah, do I stink?" She just looked at me and said, "Yes."

8/26/11
Cooper went in the bathroom to "look at my blue eyes" (which has been happening a bit recently). He came out and said, "I almost fell in the box in there!" very exctietedly. I said something like "oh yeah?" and he said, "Like, ALMOST." 

July 2011

6/25/11
On Saturday we went to Hoopfest. It was really fun even though we didn't know anyone there. We had a shaved ice there that was fun to eat but Sadie was so ready for a nap that she couldn't even function. She was literally laying on the sidewalk throwing a screaming fit while we ate it. What do you do? She is such a funny little thing with such a strong personality. She really is a good sweet girl but she knows what she wants and she has a hard time compromising on it. When you are only 1 that is a problem.

7/1/11
We had a fire and Grandpa said something about cinders so Coop asked what those were. Grandpa explained it. Later Uncle Tate came home and Cooper was teaching him. "The things that fly up in the air are called ellas." I just about dies. Get it? Cinders? Ellas? Funny boy!


7/2/11
Parker has been kicking like crazy lately. Cooper loves to kiss my belly and say I love the baby. He is going to be the most adoring big brother. Probably too adoring but that's okay. Sadie points to her belly most of the time when I ask where the baby is but last week when I was helping her pray I said Bless the baby and she looked up to my stomach and smiled so I think she gets it enough.

7/2/11
Cooper opened his birthday package from Uncle Troy today. He loved it. Of course he had to dig in right away but he listened to the whole letter first and smiled away. What a good Uncle. He thought it was awesome to get a package from Poland. Tonight he said, "Uncle Troy is baptizing people? Why?" Ash asked him the other day if he wanted to be a missionary and he said no. He didn't want to baptize people. Apparently we are going to need most of our 5 years until baptism to convince him that it's okay.

7/15/11
So since summer started and we pulled out the shorts Cooper has been obsessed with shorts pajamas. He cries for them almost every time he can't wear them. He even incorporated them into his bedtime songs with Daddy. They made up a new verse to "The Wheels on the Bus." When Daddy asked what the kids on the bus said Cooper said, "I want to wear shorts jammies." Naturally the next verse is "The Daddy's on the bus say 'You can wear shorts jammies.'" It was part of his nighttime songs for quite awhile. Well, since we have been sleeping in basements for the last month and a half I have been putting him back in pants pajamas. Last night he saw the shorts and cried for them all over again. We struck a compromise though with how funny he looks I think we both lost.

7/15/11
We went to Seely Lake and swam a little bit during the Cooper family reunion. It was kinda cool but Cooper didn't seem to mind at all. He's been a little bit of a fish lately. Sadie likes the water but the cold bugs her a bit more than it does him right now. They flip flop positions so much that it's hard to keep up with them. Parker has been kicking like crazy these days. He is just over a pound and just over a foot.

June 2011

For some reason my pictures are mixed up in random folders and I can't find June. Hopefully I'll find them somewhere and add them, since then I would actually know what happened in June :).

As it stands, in June we went to Spokane and had a blast! Lots of picnics at the park, lots of playing, lots of wagon rides, lots of donuts, lots of shopping, and tons of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Murphey. I'm sure when I see the pictures I'll remember a million other fun things we did. We always have way too much fun with Grandma and Grandpa. With Brooklyn the story was a little different. I'm not sure what it was but Cooper was just plain mean to her. He would push her over every chance he got, try to scare and hurt her, and just generally not be the nice boy he usually is. Sadie and Brooklyn had a bit of a jealousy thing going on and Sadie was also not nice. So with all the fun June held it also held an awful lot of "STOP!"s and time outs. What do you do besides be SUPER grateful that the Brooklyn, Cooper, and Sadie all love each other and play nicely now.

June 7 we had an ultra sound. We took Cooper to the ultrasound but left Sadie with a friend since Cooper is excited for the baby and Sadie is not even going to know what hit her.  Cooper, the whole ultrasound, kept saying, "are those the baby's two eyes?" So the technician showed him a bunch of times where the baby's eyes were. It was pretty cute. At the end she said, "It's a boy!" and Cooper threw both his hands up in the air like a touchdown and said, "Hooray! It's a brother!" It was adorable. He couldn't have been any more excited about it. A couple minutes later he said, "Mommy, there's a boy in your tummy!" He said over and over since he knew we were getting a baby that he didn't want two sisters. We had talked a ton about how we didn't get to choose whether our baby was a boy or girl. Heavenly Father chose and surprised us. At lunch after the ultrasound Cooper was kinda talking to Sadie and said "I went to the doctor and chose." Yep, he's still going to take all the credit. Later that day I was talking about everyone that we were going to go see this summer and I ended my list with Aunt Janelle and Uncle Craig. Cooper asked who so I said, not Craig, Lucas' dad but Uncle Craig, Daddy's brother. His reply, "Daddy's brother is there and my brother is in your tummy!"

6/15/11
Sadie threw the biggest tantrum ever during breakfast. Still not sure what it was about but she screamed and screamed and screamed until she wore herself out and needed some snuggles. I think it all started when Grandma put ketchup on her scrambled eggs and Sadie wanted to do it by herself but after a tragedy like that there is no recovering. She has been doing a lot better at the tantrum thing lately. That was the best one we've had in awhile and she has begun to be a somewhat reasonable human being at least some of the time. (When you're a parent you take joy in the little moves forward). It helps that she's learned to speak a bit more and can actually tell us what she wants. Somehow that makes life sooooo much easier!

6/16/11
Anytime we go anywhere Cooper asks, "Are we going in my van?" ?Yep just a little possessive. Tate asked Cooper if he was going to go to school and Coop told him high school. Tate asked if he was going to graduate and Cooper asked what that was. Tate told him it was to finish and Cooper said, "No, I don't think I will do that." Apparently Tate's graduation was not the high point of his week and he didn't want to sit through another one.

6/18/11
Tonight at dessert he was just chatting to himself and I asked what he was saying. "Just make up words." Well, okay then.


6/18/11
Ashley, Curtis, and Cooper are sleeping in the backyard in a tent right now and we had a fire tonight so that was a lot of fun. I was just out there tucking Cooper in and trying to convince him to keep his arms in the sleeping bag (it's going to be like 50 degrees tonight) and he said, "But it's not comfy!" Such a nerd.

6/20/11
Today Dad was waiting in the hallway while Cooper went to the bathroom. Dad sat on the banister to wait and wait and wait and Coop looked out and said, "I don't think that is a very good idea."

We went to Dicks last night for milkshakes and Cooper ate his entire thing. All of it. Sadie took down a really good portion of hers too incidentally.

Mom and Dad decorated the cupcakes for Garrett McCoy's wedding reception and Sadie spent the whole time trying to snitch some.

6/20/11
Cooper was brushing Grandma's hair. When she asked if he was done he said, "Just hold on." After a couple reps of that he gasped in stunned surprise. "You don't look like Grandma anymore! You look like Brooklyn's friend" Who knew a hairdo could take off 50 years?

6/20/11
Today we went to Riverfront Park and fed the garbage eating goat. Cooper liked to feed it from the start but Sadie took a little bit of coaxing. She finally decided it was less scary through the nostril. Whatever. Then we fed the ducks. They both loved that. Whenever the ducks or geese fought and splashed Cooper would stand back about 5 feet to feed them for the next little while. He also would only throw his bread to a duck, not a goose. He came to feed the ducks and that is what he intended to do. Sadie loved them so much I was a little worried she would just in after them. One time she ran right up o the edge and growled at them. I guess she just wanted to show that she was in charge. After the ducks we rode the Big Red Wagon slide. Cooper went all by himself sometimes but his favorite was riding down on Uncle Tate and Grandpa's shoulders. Sadie went down once on her own. And not again ever after that. She looked terrified and hers arms and legs flailed the whole time. It was pretty funny. After the slide we got to ride the carousel. Cooper and Sadie loved it and went twice. Brooklyn was not as much of a fan. She only wanted to go once. And wanted may be too strong. Then we went and took a look at the beautiful falls and drove to FroYo for some yummy frozen yogurt and toppings, of which Sadie gobbled HUGE spoonfuls of whosever bowl was closest. Aunt Ashley helped Cooper get his very own. He wanted raspberry yogurt with only gummy bears. On the drive home we had Cooper call and tell Aunt Ash thanks for the ice cream and gummies. When she said I love you he replied, "I don't love you and I want to throw you in the garbage." After Grandpa hung up we explained how that was not a nice thing to say and how it hurt Ashley's feelings. His response, "The reason I said that is because I'm subseesed with garbage!" And yes, if you were wondering, he has been. He wants to throw everyone and and everything in the garbage right now. When we got home we were locked out of the house until Curtis and Ashley got home (well, until Grandpa crawled through the attic) and Cooper beat Grandma to the upstairs bathroom. In his usual way he was taking his time while she waited. She asked him to hurry because she needed to use the bathroom. He told her there was another one and she explained that Grandpa was using it. He told her there was one downstairs to which she replied that he could go use that one. He said, "I'm fine. I'm just fine." It is almost impossible to rush that little guy.  

May 2011

We had an exciting May! Grandma Murphey came to visit! We ate a lot of ice cream, spent a lot of time at parks, picnicked, went to the Washington DC zoo, spent a night in Philly, and played, played, played. And planned and had Cooper's 3rd birthday party! He had a balls party where he only had 4 different cakes! (You can definitely tell Grandma was in town to plan and execute!) We decorated the house after he went to bed and his reaction when he came down in the morning was priceless. He loved his birthday and he loved sharing it with Grandma. Unfortunately we did have to give her back to Grandpa (even though Cooper kept saying he was NOT going too). The sadness was lessened a little because we were headed west in just a couple weeks.

Cooper on the way to pick up Spence today (5/6/11): Singing "This Old Man" for the hundredth time said "I am obsessed with this."

Cooper and Sadie both pet a dog today (5/6). It actually took more coaxing for Sadie which is surprising because Cooper's fear of dogs is usually way more than Sadie. It was fun to watch him be much less scared and weird to see Sadie more scared.

Sadie is a little rebel right now. Whenever she is doing something wrong and you catch her she turns and runs away from you.

5/19/11
Giving Cooper a haircut (which he was perfectly angelic for for the record).
me: I'm just trying to find some sneaky long hairs.
Coop: They are playing hide and seek.
me: Those silly hairs are good at it.
Coop: ...They are wearing pants and underwear. (very matter-of-factly) That is what I am thinking about right now.

We kept asking Cooper what he wanted for his birthday dinner. After a couple ideas he just said, "I'll think about it later."

When Grandma asked him the day after his birthday (5/24) what his favorite present was he said. "markers and my coloring book."

On Monday (5/25)  night we were building up going to the zoo and out of nowhere Cooper said, "I'll go to the zoo but I won't give Grandma back to Grandpa." It was an argument he had had with Grandpa on the webcam on Sunday.

Coop rode his new scooter to the park and most of the way there he just got off it and said, "I'll just walk with it. It is easier."

At the zoo Cooper was running and the elastic buttons came undone on his pants and they fell all the way to the ground. It was pretty funny to see him pant-less in the middle of the zoo.

Sadie was choosing her donut on Wed morning taking Grandma to the airport and said, "Sprinkles" clearly enough to understand.

It rained one day but was warm and Sadie had Crocs on so she got to play in the puddles. You couldn't have found a happier girl.

Sadie loves to ride Coopers new scooter as much as he does and is always waiting for him to get off it. She was the first one to get it our this morning.  (5/27)

Easter 2011

Easter was a blast this year. The Easter bunny brought Cooper a tee and baseball bat and he couldn't have loved it anymore. Sadie's favorite part was that no one tried to take her away from a big basket of candy. Almost every picture for Easter morning her mouth is stuffed! We had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt that was a ton of fun. It's so nice to have so many friends so close! Dying eggs was fun although Sadie just kept cracking them so most of the work was left up to Cooper, who liked coloring on them. Grandma and Grandpa Murphey sent the awesome Easter clothes. Sadie's Cinderella dress was SO cute!

April 2011

So the bathroom picture might be inappropriate but I think it's too funny to pass up. Sorry! We spent a lot of time in the bathroom since Cooper enjoyed taking his time.

Cooper was good at taking care of babies in April which was good because at the end of the month we told he and Sadie that there was a baby growing in my tummy. Cooper beamed and smiled and asked, "Can we play 'Throw the Beanbag and Catch?'" Sadie didn't really think too much of it.

This was a month of packages. Well, really only a day I guess. One day we got 5 of them! Delicious Easter bread (thanks Coco and Hector!), Easter and birthday surprises from Grandma and Grandpa James, and 3 boxes of summer clothes and surprises from Grandma and Grandpa Murphey. We had a blast having a fashion show and you would not believe how much Cooper likes new clothes!

One Monday we went to Petco and looked around and got fish for family home evening. Cooper named them Elmos and Steve. Yep, Elmos, because there is three fish and two names. Both orange ones are Elmo and the gray one is Steve. Just like the previous two sets of goldfish. He sure is a creature of habit. When Mom asked what their names were he changed it to Grandma, Elmo, and Steve. The gray one was Grandma. He didn't score any points there. They have since returned to Elmos and Steve though. Sadie loves the fish and wants to look at them all the time. She also likes to try to reach into their bowl. Not so okay.

Sadie has figured out that if she keeps asking for more books before nap and bedtime that she can usually stay up for longer. It is the longest she sits still all day but I love that she loves to read.

Cooper has figured out some tricks for prolonging bedtime. He has been asking for a drink lately, getting up after 1/2 hour of laying there to try to go to the bathroom again, reminding us to brush his teeth, etc.

Every time we put Sadie's shoes on she goes and sits in her seat of the stroller. "I'm ready to go now."

Sadie has been the most accident prone thing lately (actually not funny). She hit her head 4 times yesterday, a couple times today and fell down the stairs. In fairness, one of the times yesterday (the one that actually left a mark) is when Spencer was setting her down and misjudged that her feet were on the ground and she smacked into Coop's bed right at scripture time. She has a bruise between her eyes, poor thing.

Today we were at the mall and I listed Cooper all the things that we were going to do before we got home to take naps and he said, "We need to check out The Childrens Place."  He was ruined in Washington.

Cooper likes to quote things from books. The only one I can think of right now is from "Huggy Buggy, Police Car Saves the Day," one he has memorized all the way through. I was saying something and he (appropriately) said, "Don't worry." I thought, how cute! I wonder where he picked that up. Coop contunued, "I'll have them home in no time."  ahhhh. That makes more sense.

Sadie used to know all of her animal noises. Used to. She won't even say woof anymore. She never misses a baa or moo but anything else is usually out of the question. "On the Farm" has been her favorite book lately and when I leave out the animal noises she fills them in. Hooray! I even got a woof tonight.

It's hard to tell whether Sadie answers a question yes or no because she won't go to the effort to open her mouth. Everything is just kinda mumbled.

Sadie has been scared of the slides this year because on the first warm day I pulled her leg to help her start down the slide and she flew all the way off the end. Today she decided to give it a try and I have not seen her with that terrified of a look in a long time. It was kinda funny. She figured out to go down on her tummy though and giggled and giggled every time.

Cooper spent most of his time today playing in the sand at the park. There was also this airplane ride with two seats and he always asked for Sadie to come play it with him. He's so sweet.


On Tuesday we got 5 in the mail. FIVE!!! Cooper could not have been more excited. 3 were from Grandma and Grandpa Murphey, 1 was from Grandma and Grandpa James, and 1 was from Coco and Hector. It was just like Christmas. We opened Coco and Hector's first. It was 2 huge loafs of Easter bread (which Cooper is pretty much in love with. He asks for some at least three times a day). We webcamed the James' to open theirs and the kids favorite part was the candy but they liked their Easter surprises too. Cooper really really wanted to open one of his birthday presents but he finally got over it. Then we webcamed Mom and Dad and Trent and Sam to open the last three. They were mostly clothes and Mom had been apologizing all day because they wouldn't be that fun to open. I said, it they are clothes, Cooper will be fine. He opened the fist one and in his excited voice, "It is clothes for me." He picked up each outfit and admired it. He tried on three that night. Sadie followed his lead and tried on a couple outfits. She loved her sunglasses, and of course, found the candy. Cooper has been trying on about 5 outfits a day since then. It's been cold but he has been so excited about his new clothes that I've been letting him wear shorts in the house. He could not have been any more excited about his clothes. Mom got each of them so many cute things. I'm even more anxious for warm weather now! Oh, Sadie got a pair of underwear (they match an outfit and the girl has to potty train sometime) and she could not have been happier about it. She held them up and smiled for at least a couple minutes. Like, "Look how big I am. I get underwear." It was really cute.

3 am on April 20 Cooper comes in to go to the bathroom. He wet his bed so both Spence and I got up to make it go a bit faster (It was the first time in over a month that he's had an accident and it has happened 3 nights in a row now. I think he's not getting enough sleep and he's just too tired to wake up but who knows. It's not really a big deal. Anyway....) Just as it was time to go to bed Cooper asks Spencer, "Is it time to make Mommy breakfast in bed right now?" It was so cute that he was that excited. And that they plotted it the night before. At 7:10 Cooper comes up and says, "Don't get out of bed! We're going to bring you breakfast in bed soon!" And he gave me a birthday hug and kiss. Then when they brought up breakfast Cooper literally jumped up and down the whole time they sang Happy Birthday. It was darling. When I asked for another birthday kiss he said, "No, just a birthday hug." Okay, fine. I'll take it. I love how excited he gets about life. It was the sweetest! Then Sadie ate half of it before we made it off the bed to come downstairs and eat together. Boy, does that girl love strawberries and waffles!

Katie brought me over flowers and a bag of candies for my birthday just as we were finishing up dinner. Cooper definitely didn't miss the candy and I told him after dinner he could have one. He asked quite a few times while I was talking to Spencer and finally in his whiniest voice he said, "Mommy, I really want your candy."

On 4/21/11  we headed to our park. Cooper crossed the parking lot ahead of Sadie and I and along the way Sadie got distracted picking dandelions. I heard Cooper holler something from the grass and said we'd be over in a sec. Another Cooper holler so we went faster. We found him pinned against a big green utility box. Feet, back, and shoulders all glued to the box. The reason for his terror: two robins were sitting in the grass about 20 feet away. I think he may not grow up to be a park ranger. He and nature don't seem to get along well.

On 4/21/11 Cooper woke up from him nap pretty early. He sat on the couch and stared out the back window for 20 minutes without moving. I thought he was going back to sleep and all of a sudden I hear, "There's a butterfly....It went in the garbage....You need to kill it." He then found a tiny bug on the screen that I was also instctued to kill. He's not a fan of bugs.

Sadie is obsessed with shoes right now. I mean OBSESSED. She doesn't play with toys these days. She just wears different shoes though the house. Then leaves them. Everywhere. She loves Crocs, her galoshes, and my shoes in particular.

Sadie has turned into an avid reader in the past month. She loves to cuddle and read. And she would do it forever sometimes. Her favorites rotate but she reads at least 4 (usually more) books before she goes to sleep at both naps and before bedtime. She also brings books to read while she's playing. She can't enjoy the end of any book because when there's only about 3 pages left she has to start getting another book, just to make sure we don't run out of books and stop reading.




4/29/11
On the drive today to DC Cooper randomly said, "Tate does not have braces on anymore." We talked about it for a second and the he said, "He had them on the last time we were there." What a random weird kid. On the drive home today he was going to the bathroom (at the most disgusting bathroom I have almost ever seen) for 15 MINUTES. Instead of concentrating on the task at hand he was chatting about anything he could think of. At one point he looked up and in a surprised tone said, "Why are you wearing church clothes?" Ya know, the ones I've been wearing ALL day... and then with even more amazement in his voice he said, "You match today." Really Coop? As opposed to every other day where I just put on random things. Talking has added a lot of fun to our life.

Sadie is the most distractable little girl ever. She can be walking along and all of a sudden you hear "ock, ock" and your stopped picking up a rock. Or worse yet, picking up a dead worm, a live ant, a piece of grabage, you name it and while Cooper is 10 steps back in horror, Sadie is thoroughly investigating whatever it is.

March 2011

March seems like it was full of a lot of food. We celebrated Dr. Seuss Day with green eggs and ham, a lot of books, and some paper bag puppets. Mardi Gras was next with Jambalya and king cake. Then pi day. We also got in a couple tea parties, some dressing up, and a trip with Katie and Lucas to Hershey to shop and see the singing cows.

Cooper has been into saying, "I don't need bib. I a tough guy."

Cooper's true dream and desire this winter has been a snow shovel. He finally got a child size one and was in heaven even though there was no snow (which won't be a problem tomorrow).

Sadie has been saying a lot more. She says thank you, mama, dada, yeah, no, nana, uh oh, okay, ook (book), bib, moe (more), ease (please), all animal sounds, eye, nose, baf (bath), out, in, done, off, on, up, down. That's all we can think of for now, but I'm sure there are even more than that. She also has the shrill scream down pat and she's not afraid to use it, like in sacrament meeting for example).

She is adamant about not wearing a bib once she decides she's done.

She has hit a new stranger anxiety phase and my little miss independent has turned super clingy. She hates nursery and won't venture out on her own.

She loves to feed her baby and hugs every stuffed animal and baby she gets her hands on.

She loves to do whatever her big brother is doing. Like, exactly what he is doing with exactly the same toys.

She could eat a hundred bananas a day and often out-eats me and Cooper.

One night Cooper had a ton of energy at bedtime. I was trying to get him to lay down and he was not really doing it. Finally I told him, "You can't wake up unless you go to sleep." He replied, "And then I eat breakfast?" and laid right down and I didn't have another problem.

On the way home from church last week Cooper started singing "Follow the Prophet" because he learned it in nursery.

Sadie has bruises all over her legs from falling. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when she's in shorts. She'll be bleeding all the time.

Cooper loves to give Sadie hugs but he practically strangles her...for a long time. We've had to institute a 2 second hug poilicy to save poor Sadie. She is pretty patient for that long at least.

Sadie wakes up slowly usually and falls asleep slowly. It's hard to know how long she actually sleeps because she really enjoys just playing in her crib, sometimes talking, sometimes not. Taking off her socks. Taking out her bows. There's not much entertaining but she finds it.

When she wants something, Sadie just says please over and over. It doesn't matter what it is. She doesn't expound on it. She is excellent as saying thank you. Tonight at dinner at the Swenson's she took a couple bites and looked up and said thank you. It was really cute.

We have been changing time out for Cooper. He used to just have to sit on the stairs until he would say he was sorry, but for him that usually was 1/2 a second and it seemed like it had lost some of it effectiveness to we decided to set the timer for 1 minute and start it over when he moves or talks. So far I don't think it has lasted less than 10 minutes. In the middle on on when Spencer reminded him to be quiet he actually started barking and making other assorted animal noises because that's all he could think of to do not to listen. Yeah, he's stubborn all right. 

February 2011

In February we finally made it home to Spencer and boy were we excited to see him. The weather was warm enough for a couple of park days and then much much colder for some fun in the snow. It was nice to be back together after such a long time apart.

2/11/11
At our tea party today I showed Cooper and Sadie how to daintily hold
their cups by the handle. After only 3 mishaps Sadie figured it out
and drank her next 30 cupfuls that way. (Turns out 1 tablespoon of
lemonade is not that satisfying and the kids can drink A LOT of them.
And Sadie would rather eat a banana than a chocolate cream puff. Weird
girl.)

Cooper trying to hit hit golf ball into his hole (from on the verge
mind you...and after three misses) Hit's the ball  and looks down
dejectedly and says, "Come on. Come on golf ball." I'm afraid he's
going to be a golfer like his Grandpa Murphey and Grandpa James.

2/13/11
The other night we were singing Cooper how much is that doggie in the
window and after we can "I don't want a bowl of little fishes" we
paused and asked why he didn't want fishes. His reply "Them die." So
funny and already an expert goldfish owner.

 2/23/11
We went to the temple on Feb 23 and we were stopping to eat on the way home from DC. As we were getting off the freeway Cooper said "Don't take Tomtom inside." When Spencer asked why he said, "He eat my food!"

Same trip waiting with the kids at the temple for Spencer to come out I told Cooper he was such a smart boy. He said, "You the biggest girl in the whole wide world." Wow...the whole wide world, huh?

January 2011

The kids and I spent January in Spokane. Spencer was able to come for a little bit, but we extended our vacation much longer than him. Stinks to have a job. (But we appreciate you for doing it Spence!) We fed Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike's horses (Cooper asked to constantly and never actually wanted to be the one to feed them), fell in love with malls with toys (and spent the rest of the year asking if every mall we were going to had toys...ours doesn't), visited Grandpa Murphey's work, and had a blast hanging out with Grandma, Ashley, and Brooklyn all day.  Also, my Grandma Murphey, or Gram, passed away and we spent some time in Missoula with family for her funeral. It was nice to be able to be there and celebrate her life, even if I did spend most of the service outside, literally, in Montana in January with two children who weren't ready for a whole funeral.

1/20/10
Cooper eating fajitas at dinner: Starts crying and holds up
his finger "I bite me"
1/21/10
Ashley was saying "I like..." and Cooper would copy her. She
said "I like grilled cheese." Cooper replied with "I like boy cheese."
1/21/10
Grandpa was feeding Sadie a Bismark donut. They made it to the
good part and Sadie started to squirm to get down. Grandpa said
"You're at the good part" and stuffed it in her mouth. He asked her if
it was good and she vigorously shook her head no.
All of January:
Grandpa: I'm at work
Cooper: You bring me a donut. And Grandpa has. Cooper has probably
eaten a donut or two everyday.
1/23/11
Sadie had to go to the emergency room for nursemaids elbow. She was
complaining a bit about her elbow and favoring her left on for awhile
and in the evening I held her hand and she jerked back from me and
then she really started complaining. She wouldn't even pick up a piece
of candy or her blanket with her right hand. She finally calmed down
and then just didn't move her arm, but every time it moved she cried.
We were in and out of the ER in less than an hour and the three people
we talked to all diagnosed it the same. It only took the nurse
practitioner two spins of the elbow (which didn't feel good for Sadie)
and then after the crying subsided she was back to normal. It's a
common childhood thing that should go away at about 3ish but it's made
me paranoid about grabbing her arms! Hopefully it doesn't happen
again.
1/24/1
Grandpa: Are you going to marry your mom?
Cooper: No. I going to marry Grandma. pause. Where her married dress?
1/24/11
Grandma and Cooper have been reading a book about pumpkins all
day long and as Cooper was trying to think of things to keep him from
falling asleep he said, "I get a big pumpkin at the pumpkin
patch....How I carry it?" Always thinking. It's going to kill him to
wait until fall for this again.
1/24/11
Today grandpa's giving cooper a bubble bath. they call in Alyssa.
cooper's got a Santa Claus beard on and says 'ho ho ho'! Alyssa says
'oh it's Santa Claus and Sadie. (to sadie). Where's Cooper?' Sadie
looked at Alyssa as if she was stupid and pointed at Cooper and said
"right there" as if that was the dumbest question she'd ever been
asked! She's talking a lot more now and we can occasionally understand
a bit of her chatter.

December 2010

Wow, who knew it was a lot easier to remember what happens if you don't wait an entire year to write it down. We went to Utah for Christmas last year and had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa James. All six cousins were there so the kids had nonstop cousin fun. They played, made cookies, made a candy train, opened presents, went on a boat light ride, visited Santa, went bowling, and just had fun seeing everyone and celebrating Christmas. Also, we were able to go to Provo for a day so Sadie could meet Uncle Tyler  for the first time. He had been on a mission in Guatemala since Cooper was only a few months old, so it was kinda like his first meeting too. They love their Uncle Tyler!

November 2010

We had an awesome November with a lot of "big piles of leaves." That is what Cooper wanted all November. The huge piles of leaves made such an impact on him be began making piles of everything from unmatched socks to pillows. He didn't mind them in his face this year though I can't say the same for Sadie. She liked the crunching and making piles but wasn't too into playing in them. Another highlight of November was when Uncle Tate came to visit! Cooper and Sadie had a blast snuggling him and just adding Uncle Tate fun to every day life. We had fun cooking different dinners and hanging out. While Uncle Tate was here, the low of November also happened. Our car quit. Bummer. One funny note. While we were at the car repair shop (don't get me started on that place) Grandpa Murphey called and all Cooper would say to him for about 2 minutes was "Our car broke" in the whiniest voice he could muster. Over and over. It was really funny. The car is fixed (thanks to some awesome friends and favors) and we have some wonderful friends (thanks Kuntz' and Moss') who let us use their extra cars so we weren't totally stranded. Okay, back to November. After Uncle Tate left :( we decorated for Christmas and celebrated Thanksgiving a little atypically. We were planning on going to the Foust's but since we didn't have a car we had to abandon those plans. Instead we cooked here at home. On Thursday morning our neighbors called and we had a couple extra friends for dinner while their Mom was a the hospital in labor. It was a blast to eat Thanksgiving dinner with 4 small children. Lots of curves thrown at us through November but we survived it and had fun anyway!

October 2010

Okay, October was a blast. Before and after Grandma and Grandpa's visit we kept busy too. Katie and I made applesauce for the second year in a row. Cooper got on a Twister kick where we drug it out every day. We started potty training (and mostly finished it...) We went to the pumpkin patch (and had the hardest time getting any usable pictures). Cooper whined the whole time until I understood what he wanted, which happened to be a little pumpkin. Sadie's favorite cereal is Frosted Shredded Wheat (still actually). Cooper got on a cupcake kick where he loved to make, and of course eat, them. We went trick or treating at the Penn State Sports Museum where we met the Nittany Lion up close and a little too personal for Sadie. We also went trick or treating to houses on Thursday, which is when State College moved trick or treating too. To top it off we had a trunk or treat at the church. These kids definitely caught on the the phrase trick or treat and the candy that followed. A discussion of October wouldn't be complete without noting that we finished most of it without Spencer. He took his comprehensive exams right before my parents came and studied from 6 am to 10 pm almost every single day for the 6 weeks preceding them. I'm happy to report that his hard work paid off. He passed with flying colors and exceeded his committees expectations. Way to go Spence! We're all happy to have that behind us.

Grandma and Grandpa Murphey Visit!

In October Grandma and Grandpa Murphey came for about 10 days. It was so fun to have them here and Cooper and Sadie adjusted quickly to the spoiling. They got Cooper a battery 4-wheeler and about went crazy trying to help him drive it. Cooper couldn't steer it and couldn't figure out how to keep the ONE button pushed in. Grandpa carried it around way more than Cooper drove it but the day after they left he drove it all the way to the park. Figures, right? We also had ice cream. A lot. We spent a lot of time playing but a little time touring around too. We went to Hershey, Lancaster, and Philadelphia and had a lot of fun showing them some of our favorite things. It was harvest so the Amish had a ton of horses out pulling balers that was fun to watch. We spent a lot of time reading, snuggling, and I'm pretty sure I Grandma and Grandpa's favorite part was discovering Cooper's unquenchable appetite for donuts. We enjoyed the beautiful leaves and carving pumpkins and a hundred other things that are just more fun when you get to do them with Grandma and Grandpa. We miss you!!!

September 2010

Wow, it's crazy to look back and see all the fun things we've done! September started off with a trip to Pittsburgh with the Swenson's to see the zoo. The kids loved it. I think the only smiling picture I got of Cooper there was looking at the goldfish. It figures, right? The aquarium there was a big hit too. Cooper loved the sharks and we were able to watch the seals do a cool show. Then we kicked it up even another notch of fun and went to the Delaware beach with the Kuntz', Swenson's, and Goldies'. We had a blast relaxing at the beach, playing in the waves, collecting sea shells, digging in the sand (or eating it if you were Sadie), watching the sun set on the bay, and eating and hanging out at the house. Cooper and Liam loved being pulled by Brad on the boogie board and even got quite a way down the beach pulling it and giggling by themselves. We're so lucky to have such awesome friends! Our ward playgroup also went on a tour of the apple farm again this year. It was really fun and apparently so interesting that my kids couldn't look at me to muster even one smile. I love it when they do that. I had to throw in the picture of Cooper and his scraped knees. We spent every night of the summer putting medicine and band aids on after bath time. I don't know why I'm so anxious for shorts weather again.

August 2010

Publish Post

August was a very packed month! With the end of summer in sight we got in a lot of swimming at Whipple Dam, playing at the park, and sidewalk chalk. In addition to the basics we made strawberry freezer jam, went to the Little League World Series, went to the Grange Fair, checked out Penn State's agriculture fair, and ate our first McDonald's ice cream cones So funny! Cooper delicately licked his, wiping up every drip with his napkin. Sadie...not so much. She fully enjoyed and dug into her ice cream. The Kuntz' also invited us over a few times to swim in their backyard pool. (I just got so sad looking at those pictures and thinking how much fun we all had with the Kuntz'! We can't wait to see them this summer!)

Sadie Turns 1

Sadie turned 1 on August 5. She had a lady bug birthday party and had a blast eating her cake. She had some friends over to for her party but her biggest admirer was her brother. Cooper watched adoringly as Sadie dug into her cake. She smeared it all over, dumped the plate on her head, and then was done. She was such a fun party girl!

July 2010

For 4th of July this year we went to Montana. It is my all time favorite place to watch them. Right by my Aunt Suzie's house you sit right under the fireworks and the boom of the explosions shakes your insides. It is the best! While we were there we stayed at Petty Creek and it was so fun to explore so many places from my childhood with my children. Grandma Murphey taught Cooper how play "she loves me, she loves me not" with daisies and we had fun throwing twigs and leaves into the creek. We headed back to Spencer in PA shortly after that and had a lot of fun hanging out with Daddy, taking walks, going to the playground, waiting out the rain, and taking care of Daddy when he dislocated his shoulder and severely sprained his ankle.

June 2010

Okay, so I know June was over half a year ago but I couldn't just let all our fun go without giving it at least a little mention.

Right after we finished off our vacation in Utah we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Murphey's house in Washington. We had a blast keeping busy! We picnicked at a ton of parks, went to the lake, swam in the backyard, prepped the backyard for Uncle Trenton and Aunt Sam's wedding reception, redid the downstairs bathroom (okay, okay, we took a couple pictures and that was the extent of our help in the renovation), watched Uncle Tate um some baseball games, went to Riverfront Park and rode the carousel, sent Uncle Troy to Poland on his mission, and spent a lot of time playing and snuggling. Thanks for all the good times!!!

The Rest of Utah in a Flash

Catching up never gives anything it's whole justice. We had a ton of fun with Grandma and Grandpa James' in Utah. We went to the Children's Museum where the balls were a huge hit. (I couldn't resist putting the pic of Coop dressed up like a fairy because cousin Kailey had that one on first.) We also went to the aquarium where Cooper loved watching Kailey touch the sting rays. He got brave enough to put his hand in the water a time or two, but never to touch. Sadie sure liked splashing in the water. We swam in Dan and Kathy's hot tub, had fun at Grandpa's work picnic, had a nice Memorial Day picnic (thanks Trenton and Sam for coming), met Katie and Lucas for ice cream, and just had fun being together. I didn't get a picture of Cooper squashing Brookelynn but know that it happened a lot.

Grandma James' School Program and Ice Cream

Grandma James' 5th grade program was while we were there. They did a great job and after we went out to ice cream. Cooper was way more interested in playing on the toys but Sadie fully embraced her ice cream. This is after she ate a ton of Grandpa Murphey's milkshake and got the worst stomach ache all night so I was a little worried, but it was worth the risk watching the enthusiasm she ate that ice cream with.

Playing in Provo

We were able to spend a couple days with Ashley, Curtis, Brooklyn, Trenton, and Sam. It was nice to see everyone and relax. Cooper loved the playground and he loves his aunts and uncles! I especially love how he says Attie (Ashley) and Bam (Sam).

Cooper's Birthday Party

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Cooper turned two! We had a really fun party on his birthday at Grandma and Grandpa James' house.  Cooper loved opening presents and loved the tools, bubbles, and "folf"set that he got. He blew out the candles, but his favorite part was licking them. In fact, he took EVERYTHING off the cake piece by piece and licked them. Then, after he ate the frosting, and only the frosting, off his cake he dipped the candles in over and over to lick them off. What a kid! 

The Zoo

We took a trip to the zoo! Grandma Murphey wanted to take her grand babies on an outing and we had a day nice enough to go to the zoo. We had a blast. The giraffes were a hit and so was spending so much time with Grandma.