ReDeployment, Christmas, and We're Three!!!

(Coop somewhere in Iraq)

Finally, I can talk about it - or rather blog about it. Not that I really couldn't before, it was more that I wasn't sure it was a good idea to announce we were home alone for a year because Dad was in Iraq. But all that is in the past now. He's home! Praises, hallelujah, 10 fingers, 10 toes (although I joke and tell him he'd be worth more if he came back with only 9), no major scars, etc, etc. He's home!

I was notified that he was coming home with the advance party and we decided not to tell the kids. Why? Well, the Army has a funny way of changing our plans and we also thought it would be pretty fun to surprise them.

The day he arrived I got the kids up at 0'dark thirty (or around 05:00). The boys weren't too thrilled about getting out of bed that early. Maren didn't fight me. I told her the night before we had an early appointment and I needed her help with the boys. Anyway, we drove to the parade field and waited....and waited...AND waited. We got there around 06:00. Finally around 6:40 we saw the convoy of flashing lights and buses. By this time Maren had figured it out. I asked her how she knew. She told me, "Well, when he left it was dark too and you're wearing makeup." What a smartypants. I asked the boys who was on the bus. Zach, serious as could be said, "Santa Clause?" I said, "No. Daddy is on the bus." Adam argued, "No. Daddy's workin in 'raq." I said, "No. Daddy's coming home." At this point I was in tears and the soldiers were in a HUGE formation on the field. Like all the other wives, I was freezing and desperately trying to search out my soldier. When the command of "CHARGE!" was given he made a bee-line right for us. Whew!

So glad to have him home!!!

We had an awesome Christmas, but the only thing that really mattered was that daddy was home. I got exactly what I wanted!!! And the kids did too - spoiled.



Maren got a pogo-stick (she's actually pretty good on it) and a Karaoke machine for her bedroom.


The boys wanted DSes. Santa said no, but did get them Leapsters. They call them "my DS" and have almost gotten the hang of it. And of course they got cars. More and more cars for me to trip over. Have you ever stepped on a matchbox car barefoot? It hurts!

It was the best Christmas ever. The only thing that could have made it just a little bit better would be to have family closer. I guess that's just one part of being a Military Family I will never quite get use to. There is always next year....


HAPPY NEW YEAR & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

We must be getting too old to really care much about ringing in the new year. Coop and I are generally asleep by 11:00. In fact, I cannot think of a single New Year's Eve that he and I have "partied". We're not much of the partying type I suppose.

New Year's Day really doesn't have any special significance at our house for being resolution season. New Year's Day isn't really anything at our house because January 1st in Adam and Zach's Birthday. Hard to believe my handsome two-some are three-years-old.

I just love these little guys. They keep me laughing and keep my busy. But why I do fear 2010 going to be a year of mischief and mayhem at the Cooper home?

Happy Fall Ya'll

Once again I'm over due to update. I'm going to try to cram a lot of things into a short blog. Ok, probably not. I'm probably going to put up a few pictures with a few not-so-clever captions and call it good. That sounds more likely. Besides, Blogger is being stupid tonight.

I want to say that October has been more hectic than most months, but I really don't think that is the case. Every month seems to bring on it's own unique challenges and it's own highlights. Here are a few of our October highlights.

We got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa early in October. That was a lot of fun. Rather than spend another boring weekend deep in the heart of Texas, we met up with them in Houston and then drove out to Galveston Island.

Unfortunately most of our "vacation" time was cold, rainy, and leaning on the miserable side. We got to spend one morning in the Emergency Room and one evening at the mechanic. Yea! I was asking for a vacation do-over by then.

It's hard for me whether to tell you the island is nice or not. They have done a remarkable job cleaning it up after the mess from Hurricane Ike last fall, but it was pretty gray and gloomy while we there there. We did get to spend a few minutes on the beach, but I wasn't about to let the kids go in the water.

We went to the aquarium at Moody Gardens and ate some great sea food. Ralph really dug into his lobster bucket at Joe's Crab Shack. I enjoyed walking around in the historic district looking at the restored homes. It's amazing these old homes have survived all the storms. They have been restored and kept beautifully.

(a couple of my favorites. I was going to add more but blogger is being stubborn)

The absolute highlight of the trip was crabbin'. Yes, we took the kids down by the ocean into some lagoon to catch crabs. There is no experience like watching 2 two-year-old boys and a 9 year-old girl get so excited about catching a crab with a chicken leg tied to a piece of string. Of course, there is also nothing quite like having your children run up and down the beach announcing "My mom gots crabs!" either. Maren and Zach were so excited about catching crabs (this was the day before the emergency room visit so Adam wasn't enjoying himself nearly as much).

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for giving us fun memories --- and for giving us crabs. :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Another Halloween has come and gone. I thought I better post this years costumes. The kids weren't too thrilled with what I came up with for them this year. I asked over and over, "What do you want to be?" and never got an answer so I was left to my own devises. This is dangerous. My children do not appreciate my sense of humor.

So here are my little felons. Obviously you can't see their backs but each one had a Not Guilty plea on the back of their shirts. Maren's said, "It's not my fault"; Adam's said, "Didn't do it"; and Zach's said, "So innocent".

It wasn't so much the black and white gear that got my gang in an uproar, it was that I made them trick-or-treat like this:

Yes, they were a chain gang and not happy about it. The kids might not have appreciated the humor, but most of the parent we passed on the street sure did.

Maybe next year they'll have answers when I ask them what they want to dress up as. :)

I haven’t updated my blog in, like, what? Forever? So much of my free time is wasted on FaceBook now that there are days I completely forget I have a blog. I actually had to do a password recovery today. Lol

Funny, amusing, and interesting things do happen. When they do I think to myself, “I should blog about this.” But then I don’t and inevitably I forget what happened or why it was funny or even interesting for that matter.

Life has been happening all around us. Maren went back to school – 4th grade. She told me that next year, she would be smarter than I am.

Ok, I’ll bite. “Why is that, Maren?”

Her response was pretty clever. She had concluded that she will be smart than me because next year she’ll be in the 5th grade, and she heard me miss a COUPLE Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader questions. (In my defense, I totally rock that game! I have NEVER gone out on a 4th grade or below question, but will admit I’ve been stumped on some 5th grade history/social studies questions (not my strongest subjects)).

She is growing up too fast. Soon enough, she’ll know it all.

The boys keep me busy, busy, busy. I’m amazed at how their little minds work in sync.

Have you worked with someone that speaks another language. You hear them chatting in the other tongue and you just KNOW they are talking about you (more than likely they aren't, but....). It’s the same with twins. I hear them talking – half English half Twin. I KNOW they are plotting against me. I think it goes something like this, "Jabber, jabber, jabber. This is really going to piss Mom off. Jabber, jabber..." High Five.

There was the time they flooded the kitchen counter by turning the faucet from out of the sink and onto the counter top. To the running water they added about a half bottle of dish detergent. Why? Because they wanted to make bubbles. To their credit they were successful. Very successful in fact. Bubbles on the counter, bubbles on floor, bubbles in their hair, bubbles on my stack of bills, bubbles, bubbles everywhere. All my creditors got a payment with a fresh lemon scent. Or the time the fire department was called to our house because they locked me out – again. They could have unlocked the deadbolt, but they were having too much fun making sand paintings out of salt and pepper from the shakers they emptied on the floor.

I can't get angry with them because every time they do something naughty they recover with something so darn cute. Most of the time they are rather sweet little boys, and more often than not, they are the ones entertaining me. A week ago they were eating their Dora the Explorer yogurt and I could hear them singing the Dora theme song, “Do-do-do-do dah yogurt! Do-do-do-do dah yogurt!” LOL. Another time I asked Adam what he wanted for lunch, peanut butter or tuna fish sandwiches, Adam wanted “peanut butter sammiches and grapeths”. To which Zach chimed in “No, no peanut butter! I want gold fish sammiches….. and grapeths.” I can barely keep a straight face with some of the answers I get.

And Maren really does do her best to please me. They boys idolize her, which means they'll probably be smart than me too.

I guess I should enjoy my last year of smartness as it seems my children are plotting my demise. Unless I stay one step ahead, my reign as Queen Bee in Cooperstown shall be overthrown by this time next year by 3 little smarty-pants. I’d better start brushing up on US History, and try my darndest to learn a new language.

Wonder if Rosettastone makes course for Twin…