6

This boy of mine is growing too quickly. He was counting down the minutes until he would turn 6. Months before his birthday he would ask me, "Mom, how many more days until my birthday?" In fact, the night before his birthday he told me, "Mom, I want to skip my bath tonight, get my jammies on and go straight to bed so that when I wake up, I'll be six!"

He wanted a "Sports Party" where all the boys went through an obstacle course performing different sports. He had a blast. 

Things I love about him at 6:

- He has a very competitive spirit (LOVES any kind of challenge!)
- He LOVES going to school. Hope that never changes!
- He is determined. He is great at riding his bike and has been determined to master it!
- He loves games of any kind (even races of who can get dressed the fastest). Loves the Wii of course!
- He has a testimony of our Savior and of prayer
- He still wants a goodnight kiss from me
- He adores his Dad and wants to be just like him
- He excels in school with reading and math
- He still loves super heroes/guys and loves to play with them at any moment
- He loves sports of all kind (favorites: soccer & football)
- He is very kind-hearted and always willing to help anyone in need
- He helps me to do what's right
- He still pronounces some words wrong (I hope he never gets them right...it's so cute)
   (bisgetti (spaghetti), biz-anya (lasagna)
- He loves to help me do anything (especially cooking)
- He's a good boy about doing his jobs around the house (hardly complains when he has to help Caleb with his jobs too)
- He loves to laugh and giggle with his brothers and sister
- He's sensitive yet tough

Happy Birthday Gunner! We love you so much. We are proud of the boy you are and are grateful you are in our family. It wouldn't be the same without you. You are a great example for your brothers and sister. Thanks for always keeping us laughing and enjoying each day as it comes. Happy Birthday Gunn, you are six now...only 364 days until you are 7!

Gymnastics

I have a crazy flipping monkey girl for a daughter. She is constantly hanging on my bed upside down, doing flips and somersalts and loves to walk across the back of the couch. So, I enrolled Bree in a gymnastics class once a week so she could get all the jumping and flipping she wanted! I think she's a natural...

An experience I'll never forget

On the Friday of Easter weekend we were able to spend some time with Justin's family at a picnic lunch at Freestone park. We had a great time being together. The cousins all had so much fun running at the park and also did an egg hunt.

Krista & Ryan & their family joined us for the day & it was so great to spend time with them. That night we headed to the Easter pageant at the Mesa Temple with some of our family. Click here to learn more about the LDS church and pageant. 

There are probably over a thousand people that attend the pageant every night.  

Before the program started, there were cast members that came out to mingle with the people in the crowd. Shephards, Roman soilders, angels, etc. I was talking to Bree about what we were about to see and she seemed very interested. 

We had eaten dinner there and just then I turned to go put our pizza box underneath a chair behind us and when I came back, Bree was gone.

I checked underneath chairs, in our stroller, next to her cousins...

She was gone!

Well, I found out later she decided to go on a walk by herself...in a sea of about 1000 people. 

I tried to be as calm as I could. The first thought that came to my mind is "you are on the Temple grounds surrounded by nice people, she'll be okay."

 I told Justin & our family to start looking for her and everyone spread out. Then started asking people if they saw a little girl... when we didn't immediately find her, the worry started to set in.

After about 10 minutes of intense worry and fear I saw Krista carrying her back to where we were sitting. 

She said a nice couple had seen her wandering around and took her to where the lost children are taken (the Flagpole for future reference).

When I asked her where she was going she told me, "I want see Jesus Mommy."

She thought that she might get to see a glimpse of Jesus up close. What a sweet girl. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. Tears of relief & gratitude that we found her and tears that she knows who our Savior is and wants to be with Him.

Through the whole program that night, she was so entranced with the music and was sure to point out where Jesus was standing. She also loved the angels and the dance of the 10 virgins; because they were princesses, of course.

 I can't help but think she was surrounded by angels when she went through her cancer

almost 2 years ago. And I think that's why she has such a special relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because I know He carried her through those months of pain and suffering. 

And He is still with her today.

I'm grateful we can celebrate the real meaning of Easter which is our Savior's resurrection and celebrate the knowledge that He lives and will be with us always. 

Happy Easter!

Easter weekend

I've never really been very pro-Easter bunny. 

Don't get me wrong, I love to celebrate Easter. I love traditions that we have.  Dyeing eggs, decorating with fun pastel colors and using this holiday as an excuse to buy lots of chocolate & candy to hide all over the house.

But, the Easter bunny? I've never really "got" the idea of him. But, this year my mom insisted on taking my youngest 2 kids to see him at the mall. It was fun, but it was freakishly hot outside (one of the hottest days in April) and we waited in line far too long only to find out that Bree wanted nothing to do with this overgrown bunny. I didn't blame her. He was kinda creepy looking. :) 

Bode, on the other hand, didn't care at all, as long as someone (or some-thing) was holding him, he was happy. Bree, at least, gave me a cute pose...far far away from the Easter bunny. 

This little one is so delicious. He's such a good baby. 

One of our Easter traditions is spending time together at the Phillips Lake to hang out with family, grill hamburgers and hot dogs by the fire, water-ski, dye eggs and of course, the Easter-egg hunt!

Gunner couldn't wait to get on the water and practice his skills. 

Gunner loved to water-ski (at least he thought he was skiing) :)

 Caleb loved the jet-ski. 

Bree loved the cupcakes!

Uncle Dave instructing the kids about the hunt.

The hunt is on! Gunner was first in line to grab those eggs.

Isn't she cute? 

Caleb was happy with his loot.

Gunner was such a sweet brother. He stopped several times to share his eggs with Caleb or even point out more eggs for Caleb to find. What a tender hearted boy. It melts my heart to see how much he watches out for Caleb.

Easter Sunday. Love my boys in matching shirts. And I'm so glad to have a little girl to dress in pink! (Even if she is making a double-chin face).

We hope you had a fabulous Easter! We are so grateful that we could celebrate the knowledge that our Savior lives! 

Blessing Day

Today Bode was given a name & a blessing by his Daddy. 

It was a beautiful blessing. 

He got all dressed up for his special day.

We had a lot of family attend. Thanks to all that came!

I got a picture with the man of the hour. Isn't he so cute? A bit of a chunk these days, huh? I love his chubby cheeks.

The blessing outfit was Gunner's and his shoes were Caleb's - baby Converse. Love it!

We had lots of family at our house for the traditional luncheon after the blessing. And between being hostess and feeding this little guy, I didn't get any pictures of everyone that attended. Shame on me. 

I did manage to get lots of kisses by my first baby though.

These were some of the highlights of Bode's blessing:

"Bode Michael Cook"

"We love you and are so glad you have come to our family. You are now surrounded by great men. Develop relationships with them and look to them for advice. Your family loves you. We bless you that you will be great friends with them. Develop characteristics of kindness and be gentle like your mother. We bless that you'll have a special relationship with Caleb. We bless you to be patient and proud of him. We bless you that you'll grow and serve your fellow men, that you'll receive the Aaronic & Melchezidek priesthood. We bless you'll be a good student. Study & read your scriptures. Bless you'll be a good man and serve a mission and go to the temple. And bless you that one day you'll have a family of your own. We bless you'll have a great testimony of the Son of Man. Know you are created in His image. We bless you that you'll have a good direction of right and wrong and that you will always choose the right. Your family loves you."

2 months

Why do babies have to grow so fast!? My little Butterball is 2 months old today. 

The time has seemed to go slow at moments and then at other moments (mostly when my kids are fighting with each other) it can't go fast enough!

But, alas, time will keep moving. Babies keep growing, kids get older and I wish I could reverse the clock on myself! All I can do is take lots of pictures, try to savor the sweet quiet moments with these babies and enjoy the moments of laughter and the noises of my children at this age; because I know it will be gone before I know it.

My little man is smiling. Already. He started this at 7 weeks. 

Other stats for Bode at 2 months:

* sleeps 6-7 solid hours at night. It's so dreamy! Now if his Mom would go to bed on time!

* still nurses every 3 hours during the day

* turns his head towards voices he recognizes. He knows his immediate family.

Weighs 11 lbs 11 oz (50%)

Height: 24-1/4 inches (90%)

Head: 15-1/2 inches (40%)

Shots - 6 immunizations in total. 3 shots to the legs with 1 oral. Poor babe. He's hurting pretty bad. But he's tough already!

He loves to cuddle and still nuzzles into my neck. (One of my favorites about this is he crinkles his forehead when he's under my neck.)

I. LOVE. IT!

I'll take another Mama's boy any day!

Breezy loves him and asks to hold him every time I am holding him. I thought she might be a little jealous but instead she really just wants to mother him. I love it. She's a natural.

I've been trying to let her help with bathing, changing diapers and getting him dressed. She's so careful with him and loves to sing him songs. It's kind-of funny that she isn't as interested in baby dolls since Bode was born. I guess it's all because she has a real baby to tend now. :-) 

Oh my baby, please stop growing and stay my baby forever. 

Anyone want to grant my wish?

Big girl

Lately, all I've been blogging about is my little girl. Yes, I do have other children and I love them dearly, but hey, I only have 1 little girl & I do love to spoil her 

so there ya go. 

Breezy reached another milestone before she turned 3 years old. She's potty trained! 

Yay Yay Yay!! 

She started being interested in panties so I thought, "I'm home all day (with a 4 week old newborn, mind you!) and going no where (literally) so why not potty train her!"

I admit, a few days in I wanted to throw in the towel.  She had a few days of accidents and I was so sleep deprived from being up with the baby. But, we pushed through it!

I offered lots of bribery with M&Ms (which she calls N&Ns) for pee pee and Disney princess figureine dolls with more M&Ms for going poop. 

It only took her 2 weeks and she is fully trained! She can even sleep through the night and stay dry. I was not expecting this so, of course, I'm super EXCITED about it!

In addition to her princesses she received a new Princess dress of her choice. She loves to model it and won't take the thing off. 

(I promise, I do her hair, but it ends up undone in seconds!)

Our little Cindarelly worked so hard she passed out upstairs. It was so quiet and I couldn't find her for a moment. She was sleeping sweetly, dreaming of her prince.

She is super proud of herself and we are so proud of her too! 

Love you Breezy!