Thanks11

I feel like I have not blogged in forever. Things have just kind of been plugging along here. We had a good Thanksgiving. Mumsy and Gus were kind enough to come celebrate with us and actually make it seem like a holiday. We all enjoyed it immensely.

The kids have been up to their usual antics. Jill is always saying things to crack us up. Here are a few (more for my memory than your enjoyment so feel no obligation to read).

- Cooper is still trying to learn to say words. Anytime we try to work with him Jill yells at us "he can't talk!" Tucker explained that Cooper was trying to talk and Jill said "trying means doesn't." Then we heard her saying to Cooper in the other room "Think in your mind: What are you up to?" I am very curious what he was thinking in his mind at that moment. He seems to be understanding more and more.. just hesitant to talk himself.

-- Cooper is not quite as popular as Jill was as a tot. He seems interested in other kids but then his idea of playing with them is pulling hair, shoving, and stomping on them. We went to the mall the other day and Jill, per her routine, threw money in the fountain and made a wish. Her wish "I wish Mama would quit work" then her wish for Cooper was " I wish other people would like Cooper". How sad! The wishing fountain is a great way to peer into her deepest thoughts.

--Coop is obsessed with brushing his teeth. Its kind of weird.

--The kids are playing more and more with each other lately. Its very cute.

Halloween Weekend

The weekend before Halloween was full of excitement for us. I had to throw together costumes kind of last minute. I had been dreaming of cute family coordinated outfits. i had all sorts of ideas but of course didn't get around to any of them. It wouldn't have really mattered anyways because at the last minute Jill refused to be anything other than a witch. I did not have the energy or time to put together anything for her so luckily we found costumes at Walmart and Toys r us at discount. Turns out sometimes it pays to be a slacker.

Jill was a witch and Cooper was a monster. At least that is what the label said. People were calling him all sorts of other things. We kicked off the weekend having a Halloween Party at Jill's preschool. Then trunk or treat at church.

Then Jill had two birthday parties from kids at her pre-school. One was at a horse stable. The other was at the little gym. Both were a huge hit. We also went to Boo at the Zoo but I did not get any pictures.

Jill, as tradition goes, trick or treated with Livvy and Violet Perkins. Some people called Cooper a drunk lizard when he was all delirous in his stroller.

Our pumpkin this year was kind of lack-luster... Jill insisted we just do a "mad face" pumpkin. I think we captured the mad.

Us

Did you know that Tucker and I met 10 years ago today? I didn't think so... but we did! It was in the basement of the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU. We were at a presentation encouraging us to attend the Y. I happened to be sitting next to him and after accidentally bumping my arm he opened up conversation with "Sorry, I didn't mean to touch you."
If you had asked me that day where I would be in 10 years- I would have been surprised to hear that my answer would be "married to this guy and living in Cleveland Ohio with 2 crazy kids", but I am glad it is. Funny how life works. : )

Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran my half marathon. I am so relieved to have it done! I had signed up a long time ago because I knew that paying for it was the only way to make me see it through. Anyhow, as it drew closer I was feeling pretty glum about it and felt like I was not going to meet my goal of running the whole thing. That is why I didn't really tell anyone about it : ).
Luckily, my friend Jenna, who also happens to live on our street, decided to join me with it and that made it WAY easier. We ended up doing better than expected and even surpassed our goal time. I was really happy with how the race went. This is the first goal I have actually met in a really long time. So, its nice to achieve one. I had been feeling a lot of pressure about the race for weeks leading up to it, so I feel a lot better now that it is behind me.
Otherwise our trip to Cincinnati was kind of a flop. We had made big plans of hotel pool fun with Jill and Cooper. We made a pretty big deal out of it on the way trying to get Jill excited. Of course, upon arriving, we discovered the heater to the pool was broken... so it was an ice bath. Also, I really wanted Olive garden the night before, but after driving forever to find one the wait was so long we had to give up and get Arbys. They messed up my race # too so that my name isn't listed anywhere.Oh well, it was still fun.
In the pictures below, you can see some of the fun from the race. The highlight of the trip. The dark one is before the race. Then there are some action shots. I love that you can see Jill cheering in one of them. She would yell "Go Mama, Go!". I was suprised how much that lifted my spirits and actually did make me run faster!

Sweet Jillian

We were lucky that when Jill was little we were able to get a alot of photos of her. In fact, most of the photos in our house are pictures of her as a baby/toddler. The other day she had a friend over and Jill took one of the pictures down to show her friend. She said "this is me as a baby. I was soooo cute- cuter than Cooper." She's hilarious.
Anyhow, this is the first time we got professional pics of Cooper so we chose to use our alloted pics mostly for Coop and not as many for Jill. This was really hard because Katie took so many close up pictures of Jill and Jill is so good at posing for pictures. Anyhow, we picked a fave of just her and then got her in some of her many roles.
I love that in the one family shot you can tell she is just dying to get up and drag Cooper back to pose. She is so loving, sweet, eager to please, and quick to correct anyone on what she thinks is the right way to do things (especially Cooper). We all love her very much!

All suited up

Our friend Katie took some family photos of us the other weekend. It was a lot of fun. Here are the best of Coop. Since we are on the topic of Cooper I will share some of his latest interests. He loves to jump, dance (spin in a circle with his arms out), do his "trick" (put his head on the ground, bum in air like a human triangle, fake laugh to fit in, and he has finally started liking books! He will bring me books now and then turn around and back up until he is sitting on my lap. Its one of my favorite things.

BikeAThon

A couple weekends ago Mumsy and Gus came to visit. And of course, Molly came too. Cooper was so funny with Molly. He is really intrigued by her but also terrified.
We all were really looking forward to this visit and Jill was so sad when they left. She always wants us to "tell her the days till they come" which means like the day after next (which unfortunately is not the case). That weekend was also Jill's bike a thon at preschool. We went there and then to a fun park to play. I think Mumsy got much better pictures than me, but here is what I have.

Here is some video of her in action. The movie also really captures the squeakiness of her bike. I definitely have tried WD40 (I am my father's daughter) but it will not quit squeaking!