Taking one day at a time

We are definitely ready for some warmer weather and for SUN!! In the meantime, we've been keeping ourselves busy....I love this picture! We bought a much needed new dining room table recently and Cooper had to be right with his Dad putting it up. He had so much fun being right there and "helping":) Let's just say it may have taken Matt a bit longer than planned:)We have made our way outside for some more family fun in the snow! The process of getting everybody ready has gotten much easier now that we've done it several times. You may remember from a previous blog that we were pulling our kids around in the snow in a red wagon...well the kids now know what sled riding is really suppose to be like. They loved being pulled around in the yard in the new sled and playing in the 3-tiered fort Daddy made!!

Ava and I have just finished the Letter A week. I found this free program that is printable online that teaches a letter each week. She loves to color, make, bake, read books, etc. and I really thought she would love doing something like this. Needless to say, I am doing a much smaller scale than what's online and it wasn't a lot of work for Mommy and seemed to be a lot of fun for her (and Cooper of course). So on Friday to complete our A week we made an apple pie....learning doesn't have to be all about reading, writing and arithmetic, right?

Vacuuming....some said turn on the vacuum and your kids will love the sound and put them to sleep...not ours! Ava was super scared of it when she was younger and Cooper well...he really has this love hate relationship with it. I wish you could see him....he gets out his little vacuum and stays on the other side of the room as Matt while he sweeps and the minute Matt moves toward his way, he is off and running to the other room with the vacuum in hand:)

What a Fun-filled Weekend!

Do you ever have those weekends that are extremely full but so fun and filling? That was ours! Our friends, the Horton's and the Person's, came over Friday night for dinner. Matt discipled the men when they were at Central State. They are now graduated, married and fathers! I also knew their wives while one also went to Central and the other to Cedarville. The Horton's live in PA now and came back for the weekend. What a rich night of catching up and encouraging one another.

Another wonderful thing of the evening was watching our kids play! We had 7 kids all 3 and under:) They had a ball together! After running amuck for lots of the evening the adults decided a VeggieTales movie was in order:)

On Saturday we went with our friends to a Wright State women's bball game. They were playing Wisconsin Green Bay who's head coach is a friend of ours. When Matt and I were dating we would double date with he and his wife. Matt was able to head over to the hotel after the game to hang with him and his team. He and his wife are great models to us of living out their faith and loving others well!

For many of us, snow has been falling and falling:) So, today I brought out some of the toys that have been statched away for awhile!!! Ahhh...they were like new:) The dress up clothes were one of those...thus the pics below. Let's just say we came to the conclusion that we need to purchase a few more items...like a fireman's coat/boot's, maybe a policeman's costume or GI Joe??? Coop in butterfly wings and pink princess dresses?? And all day, he so wanted to wear the glass slippers but they wouldn't stay on his feet because he was in his pj's all day:) Gotta love a snow day!

2 Tubes later

Cooper did great this morning at the hospital. He did not like that he couldn't have anything to eat or drink this morning but there wasn't much time anyway since we had to be there at 8am.

It's amazing all that has to happen for a 5 minute procedure but he did fine. We were actually done sooner than I thought which was nice. All and all we were there only 2 1/2 hours. I was very pleased with the staff...they definitely know how to interact with little ones! Cooper's highlight was getting to ride around in these push cars they have. The only probably was after surgery he wasn't allowed back in them since he was still a little loopy and dizzy!

The doc said there was lots of fluid behind both eardrums and they were pulled tight...not sure what all that means exactly but we have a follow up appt. in 2 weeks where we will find out more.

Thanks for praying for our sweet little guy!

P.S. Ava got a fun Daddy date while we were gone...they headed to the children's museum.

Please tell me they will grow up to be best friends??

Okay, look at these two...I know I am biased but I'd say they are cutie patuties!!! I love capturing these kinds of moments! And then there are other kinds of moments...like four times this week where Ava has pushed her brother out of the blue for no reason?

He has two bruises on his face to prove it and one on top of his head I'm sure that you just can't see because of his hair! Is this brotherly sisterly love? Not sure, but I am thinking a few more months and the tables might be turned? Please tell me that when they are 20 and 22 they will not be pushing anymore but will be best friends??

Life around here has been pretty good...Cooper had his first "throw up" earlier this week and we are so thankful it didn't last long and hasn't been passed on to any of us! There is a nasty virus going around at our church where we are fairly sure he caught it. We also just got back from our first ENT visit and Coop will be getting tubes in his ears early February. I am actually kind of relieved it is just scheduled and praying that this will lessen his ear infections/fluid greatly!

As for me...I had a very fun evening last night just catching up with a good friend in Columbus! Teresa and I go back to my time on staff at OSU. We only live and hour and 20 minutes away but with each of us having two children it has been really challenging seeing one another. So, my sweet husband said, "Go, have fun" and that's what I did. It was just good and refreshing:) Reminds me that I want to be proactive to continue to stay connected to sweet friends no matter the distance! Thanks Teresa for taking time away from your family after a day at work to catch up!

Fun in the Snow?

Okay...let's just say I've never been a big fan of going out in the snow to "play!" Even as a child, I hated getting wet and being cold! So...now what's a girl to do that has children who want to go out and play? You guessed it...we went out and had a ball! It's so much more fun watching them!

As you can tell...we don't have a sled! We are one of those families who waited till they needed one and then they were all sold out! So...my amazing husband headed to the garage to see what he could find and you guessed it....the radio flyer red wagon!!! double seater at that! They loved it!! Cooper especially did not want to get out! Ava had a blast making snow angels and throwing snow balls at us all....much to my surprise, she is not like her mother at all. She didn't want to come in and get warm and dry!

The one thing I really really don't like about all this fun....is getting ready!!! So much work to get the boots and bibs and hats and gloves all on for a mere half an hour!!! One of my favorite things is always coming in for hot chocolate! Guess what the kids hated the "lukewarm" chocolate I made for them! Oh well...it really was a fun Saturday morning!

Go Bears!

What do you do on Sunday afternoons???? Just a few pictures of this last Sunday from our house:)

It's A White Winter Day!

Well, I just looked and my last post was Thanksgiving....so now I'm writing to say Merry Christmas! It really was Christmas at our house....we decided to have Santa come early to our house because we will be traveling for the next week or so. It was so so much fun this morning watching Ava and Cooper's eyes light up as they came downstairs this morning in their matching pj's! Oh to be a kid again:) We don't have our pictures loaded yet so I'll have to post them later. To top it off we looked out the window to see the ground and trees covered in snow!

A few funny moments.....after the kids came in and saw all the presents under the tree, Cooper bee lined it into the kitchen and stood at the refrigerator screaming because he wanted breakfast! We were trying to get him to open his stocking before breakfast...but boy, did he throw a fit! With him, food always seems to come first:)

Another funny thing.... we were having lunch and I asked Ava what was her favorite thing she opened and to my surprise she said, "my Dora panties!" Are you kidding me??? What about your cute dollhouse??? Oh well...so glad she enjoys the small things too:) We have had a delighful day so far and are looking forward to celebrating Ava's 3rd birthday in a few days as well as Christmas with our families!