In The Leafy Treetops

Madison has been showing a great interest in climbing trees. We have a great tree in our front yard for climbing. One day she was up in the tree and told me to take her picture. Madison is becoming a monkey. And I have to say, she is making her Daddy very proud too! We love her!

Easter Sunday Part II

I tried to download the video of the Easter egg hunt, but blogger wouldn't let me. So, here are the pictures. We had lots of fun!
Hyrum checking' out his new discovery. (I know, my child doesn't like wearing clothes!)


Little Miss Madison venturing off to find more Easter eggs... little does she know that there's at least 2 behind her!

Cory pointing out an egg hidden in the tree.

Madison says, "Its so heavy"! Madison had to switch all her eggs into a bigger basket. Her cute little one was overflowing!

Cory and Madi battling in the egg fight. They had so much fun! Each person grabs a hard boiled egg and knocks it against the opponent. The winner is the one who can go the longest, and knock the most people's eggs without their egg being cracked! Cory won, he's vicious! Madison wanted to keep on going even though all the eggs were cracked. She got really into it.

Easter Sunday Part I

We had a wonderful Easter. We started the day out by reading the account of the Resurrection of Christ from the scriptures as a family. We had a fantastic "church day", as Madison calls it, and came home to take a Sunday nap. After our naps we started the hunt for our Easter baskets. It was so much fun to watch the kids expressions as they found their baskets! Then we went out for the egg hunt! We had a great dinner and ended the day with the infamous egg fight. More explanation and pictures on a future post!
Hyrum found his basket! (Well, we really didn't hide it for him, we just put it in the middle of the family room.)

Madison was so happy to have found her basket!

Hyrum scored on some treats!

Madi scoping out her Easter basket...

Madison had to go outside to try out her new bubbles that were in her basket!

Cory enjoying watching Madison blow her bubbles. (I tried to get him to look at the camera, but he doesn't like getting his picture taken.)

Cory told Madison to look for the Easter Bunny! (Daddy slipped outside and hid the Easter eggs in the front yard for our hunt.)

Preparing For Easter...

On Saturday night we boiled some eggs and let the decorating begin! Call me a boring mother, but I didn't want to deal with the mess of color dye, so we just used crayons and markers instead.Madison loves anything that deals with coloring and art, so she was in HEAVEN!
Don't disturb the master at work, this is serious business!

Here are the load of eggs that she colored...

As soon as she was done she went straight the the drawer with dish rags in them and cleaned herself up! What a clean little girl. She sure makes my job easy!

Fashion Model

While we were visiting Grandma and Papa in Utah Madison found some fun things to dress up in. She loved that fun hat she found in Grandma's closet and a Naartjie shopping bag from that day. She couldn't help but fashion it all off for us!

What a cute girl!

Creative Brains

We are a family full of creative brains! Ok, the only creative one in our family is Madison. Its fun to see the creations she comes up with!
This is a cute little piggy bank with Chicken Pox.... I suppose???! Madison loves to play with playdough. It sparks the creativity in her once again. One day I found this little piggy in our kitchen cupboard. I think he was resting to get better... or until the playdough eventually crusted off. Madi sure makes me laugh! :)

Here is the artist at work! If you look closely, you can see that Madison drew a "smiley face heart" right above her hand. I'm so proud, she did the whole thing by her little self! She drew an M and then she connected the bottoms with an arch... it was very interesting to watch.

Hyrum's favorite part of sidewalk chalk is eating the chalk! Go figure!Don't you just love how we use our front porch as our grafitti area??

This is a cute project I worked on with my mom during our trip to Utah! I absolutely love how the block letters turned out! I love how my mom can make me look so crafty!

New Milestones...

Hyrum has had a fantastic week! He has reached two major milestones. (In my book anyways.) Hyrum has finally learned how to feed himself. Hallelujah! I don't have to sit there and feed him cheerios all day long! AND he has mastered the art of crawling. And he is soooo much happier now that he can crawl. (I think Madison is too! She calls Hyrum her "little buddy".)
Hyrum eats like his food will be taken away from him any second. Crazy boy!

The proof is in the pudding.... so here it is folks! (Sorry I couldn't get more... my battery died on me.)

Good Times...

Here are a few more (of many) pictures from our trip to Utah. We love cousins!
Hyrum and Carter playing on the floor together. Hyrum was a little jealous that he couldn't crawl yet!

Hyrum playing peek-a-boo through the toys at Grandma and Papa's house!

Spending some time with Grandma!

Hyrum and Carter got to ride next to eachother in the car wherever we went. They both look tuckered out!

Singing With Grandma

Aunt Caitlyn bought a new microphone toy for Madison and Hyrum before we came to visit. Grandma had a lot of fun teaching Hyrum how to sing into the microphone.

Hyrum learned that he needed to open his mouth up wide, but why wasn't anything coming out?!

Hyrum being a little camera shy...

Sun Bean...

Last night we had fettuccine Alfredo and green beans for dinner. Madison had every primary song fresh in her head from nursery earlier that day. I stopped eating and watched Madison to see what she was doing. She had a green bean in each hand singing: "Jesus wants me for a sunbean to shine for Him each day.... a sunbean, a sunbean, Jesus wants me for a sunbean...." And so she went on and on. The hilarious part is that she changed the sunbeam part to sunbean. Every time she sang sunbean she made the green beans that she was holding in her hands jump off the table. Cory and I had a good laugh at dinner. I think we have a future nursery leader on our hands!

Sunday evening my mom had gotten all of my cousins together for dinner. Not to mention, my mom made chicken marsala for dinner, and it was amazing! It was so good to relax and enjoy the company. Hyrum and Madison really enjoyed spending time with Heather and Nate.
Heather saves the day! Hyrum, as you can plainly see, is not very happy in this picture. The cruel mommy that I am, was making him take a nap. You can tell by the picture that he never took one. Hyrum was very happy to be rescued by Heather!

Madison settled right next to Nate with her back pack ready to play. She loved listening to him read a story to her. Madi got nice and cozy with her blanket and her baby doll. She loves Nate! A while later they were singing on a play microphone and Nate taught her how to sing like a "superstar" with her finger pointing to the sky. She still does that every time she sings into the microphone and she explains to me that "O.G. helped her". (Nate has taught Madison that his name is O.G. (original gangster) ) Thanks O.G.!!

When You're the Best of Friends...

Hyrum had a blast playing with cousin Carter for a week while we were in Utah. I think the boys were in training while they were together. Carter tried to teach Hyrum how to crawl and take good naps during the day. And Hyrum tried to teach Carter to eat a lot of baby food and sleep 12 hours during the night. It didn't work as well as the Mommy's would have liked! It was a nice try though... and we had a great time!

Carter loved chewing on the microphone.

Don't these boys look cute in their overalls?!

We're Back!

The kids and I just returned from a fun-filled two week stay in Alpine, Utah. It was so good to see my parents and see Madison and Hyrum loving every minute with their grandparents. It was also a bonus that Hilary and Carter were able to come for a week. Oh, the fun we had! There is no way I can put all of our adventures into one post, so you'll have to bear with me with the multiple posts that will follow. First of all... I just want to say, how do you fit three people in the bathroom in the airplane? One person is barely able to fit. But Madi had to go potty and so the kids and I had a little trip to the bathroom. Hyrum sat into the sink, and Madi and I squeezed in. It was actually pretty comical. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that one!

She's Busted!

Cory had a late night at work yesterday and didn't get home until 8:30. Madison usually goes to bed around 8:00. I had already put Hyrum to bed and told Madison that she would be able to stay up if we lay down on the couch. I should have known better when Daddy stepped through that door that there was going to be one excited girl on our hands! Needless to say, she got to stay up just a tad past her bed time!
Cory and I went into the kitchen to eat dinner when he got home. I had fed the kids, of course, but hadn't had relax time to eat. We had the cheese out as we were making up our burritos. As I turned around to get the cheese, this is what I found!
Madison got BUSTED! Caught in the act!

She was taking bites out of the block of cheese. I can understand if she wanted a slice of cheese, but no. She wanted the whole block! Had I not fed her dinner 2 hours ago? Apparently not enough!

She had a hay day (or should I say night) with that cheese! Madison definitely keeps us laughing in our home. She is so fun!

When anything breaks in our home Madison always tells me that "Dad will fix it". One morning Cory was trying to fix the lawn mower so he could mow the lawn. Madison was so excited when he got out his tools! Madison will always jump at the opportunity to help Cory fix anything! She loves tools!

I'll help you fix this, no sweat! Is this the tool you need Dad?

I love how Hyrum is just sitting there taking it all in. I love family togetherness time, even if it is just fixing a lawn mower!

Behind The Scenes

You may wonder why I post a hideous looking door on my blog. There is one word for that. MADISON. My child stays up, when she is supposed to be sleeping, for about an hour cleaning and organizing her room before she goes to sleep. (She is very OCD.) When we moved into our house there were air bubbles in the paintjob on the door. I think Madison thought she was fixing the problem, but actually made things worse. What is a mother to do?

The sad thing is that there is nothing I can do to stop her. I guess it all has to be sanded down and painted over eventually. Oh well...

Madison was very proud of the work she had done on her door. Little stinker!

In the past few weeks Hyrum has been interested in moving around. He can't crawl quite yet. But he is very excited to find out how.
Here is a picture of Hyrum taking a break from all the hard work!

Hyrum is so close to crawling! Here is a video of his progess. It's such a fun time for him to learn and grow. We're planning on his cousin, Carter, giving him lessons while we're in Utah! (Yah for Carter... he just started crawling!)

Happy Birthday To You

My mom is going to LA to see "Wicked" with my dad and my sister for her birthday. Since my mom is leaving on her birthday, I had to post this early to make sure she gets it on time.

This is a little message from Madi and Hyrum: We love you Grandma! We're your #1 fan. Thank you Grandma, for playing with us in the sand.Our wish for you is to have a Happy Birthday. Can you believe we get to come visit in only 10 more days?!!!

Madison's favorite song to sing and dance to is Happy Birthday. I tried get her to sing to "Grandma", but she's a little selfish. She likes to sing it for herself only.

My mom is the greatest! There are no words great enough to express the admiration I have for her. My mom has taught me so much. I love you, Mom! I hope you have a happy day!

"Mommy Paige Pooper"

Lately Cory and I have been teaching Madison about her name. People ask her name all the time and she never responds. So we have taught her that her name is Madison Paige Cooper. Now we have found out that she still doesn't tell people her name because she is a shy little girl.... yah right! (But that's what she acts like some times.)Madison goes around supposedly writing her name, she says its "Madison Paige Pooper". She is very proud of her name. I know, she can't pronounce the "C" yet.
Like most mothers do, when they are serious with their children, I say "Madison Paige Cooper!" The other day I was in the other room of our house and Madison didn't know where I was. She got in her serious tone and said, "Mommy Paige Pooper! Where are you?!" I started laughing so hard. That night I had to tell her that my name is Mommy Cooper, not Mommy Paige Pooper. She needs to claim her own name and be proud. Hahaha. Kids are so funny! :)

Newest Hairstyle

Ever since Madison had enough hair, she has twirled it when she got tired to put herself to sleep. We thought that was a great self calming technique. It was great until her hair grew to be really really long. Madison has put one too many knots in her hair. I have not had to cut them out, but I do spend lots of time trying to comb them out. I still think I'm damaging her hair. A lot of hair still comes out with the knot. Madison twirls her hair like a mad women when she's tired and going to sleep. She really goes to town. I've seen her in action! I had to take a picture to remember the wonderful hairstyle she has come up with for her hair.
I don't think Aunt Caitlyn, who is a hair dresser, would be very happy with that knot! Any tips to get them out?

I think this is a precious picture of Madison--too bad she has that big knot in her hair!

Napping Children:Happy Mommy

Every mother, I think, can attest to the fact that children's naps are neccessary for not only the child, but the mother. Hyrum, however, has not been napping very well for the past few weeks. And its driving me bonkers! I thought that maybe his napping schedule needs to be switched because he doesn't need as much newborn sleep as I was giving him. But he has decided on his own that napping is not what he wants to be spending his days doing. He will only sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up crying and will not go back to sleep. (Trust me, I've tried letting him cry himself back to sleep... not working!) When we went for his 6 month check up the doctor just told me that maybe he doesn't need as much sleep as most babies do. I don't like that thought. He gets grumpy during the day, I know he needs to nap, but he just refuses. I want to just blame it on the teething. But those teeth are just taking their sweet and precious time! What does a mother do? Hyrum sleeps great at night, I guess I should count my blessings for that. (He sleeps from 7pm-7am with no interruptions.) But I know he can be much more happier during the day if he would only take some decent naps. Madison's showing him up by napping longer during the day than he is and she's 2 years older than him. Any suggestions?