Max as Toy Soldier

Max was a toy soldier in the community play last week Pinocchio. I’m so glad he ended up wanting to be in it. I loved being a little part in the community plays when I was young. Here they just practice everyday for a week and then have 2 shows on Saturday, so it’s real fast and fun. He had a good time doing it with his friends. Max just hates having to wear face paint.

Keeping Me Busy

Daisy and Walt bring us so much joy, but they sure do keep me very busy!

I've never felt the need for child safety locks until now! One getting into the kitchen cupboards while cooking I could handle but two, makes me crazy!
Innocent Walt, got into the office closet.
Not so innocent Daisy, toilet papered my bathroom, and had a ball as you can see!

Daisy is officially walking and it's so cute because she is so little and her arms move up and down as she walks. She's already trying to run!

Walt is starting to stand on his own.

There is so Much to Talk About

Feeding the ducks on Daisy and Walt's birthday.
Max, Hanna and Van love climbing the trees.
Daisy and Walts first milkshake. Happy Birthday!
The kids had a great time at the Pahrump carnival.


Van
Hanna
Hanna's new haircut. It looks so cute on her and I can actually do her hair now! Hanna is such a wonderful big sister. I love that she loves Daisy and Walt so much, it sometimes makes me crazy because of how much she wants to "love" on them, but really she is so great with them. One morning Daisy was awake early and Hanna was up too so I asked Hanna if she could take her in the front room and play with her and I fell back to sleep. Well, about an hour later (oops) I woke up and jumped out of bed, ran to the front room and I see that Hanna had put Daisy in her highchair and had given her Cheerios. Daisy was as happy as could be and Hanna had the big sister role all taken care of. (That was about 5 months ago.) You would never guess how much help a 4 year old could be until you really need those extra little hands. Thank you Hanna for being such a wonderful helper to me and such a wonderful big sister! I love you.
We went to UT last weekend for my mission reunion and got to go to Temple Square during Sat. morning conference. We walked around temple square and watched part of conference in the old tabernacle. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring the kids there.
Hanna, Uncle Kurt and Van walking on Temple Square. We had a great time visiting with Kurt.

Pahrump Fall Festival Parade

My preschool was in the parade last Saturday! Thankfully a family from my school took over and did our float for us, they did an excellent job! There were 13 of us that rode on the float, the inside of the "bus" even had benches attached for us to sit on. The "bus" was donated to our school. The kids did a really good job during the parade, some got a little tired and grumpy during parts, but all in all they waved and cheered for "Pahrump Valley Preschool!"

All About Van

Van is officially weaned from his 24/7 pacifier! How did I do it? Well, the babies have been biting into his pacifier anytime they found one and I was determined not to buy anymore. But then he would like ones he hadn't liked before because they were better than the ones with holes. So we were down to 1 pacifier and we lost it last Sat. well, that night he did fine, Sun. night in the middle of the night he came in crying for a few minutes while I held him and then fell asleep. I was expecting Monday that he'd be over it. I got him dressed and a few minutes after he had his pacifier! He said, "I find it momma I find it!" I took it right away, he had found it in his shorts pocket, but now I had no excuse, he did find it, but there was no way I was going to start the whole thing over again! So I told him that we're not having it anymore, you're a big boy now. The saddest thing was he kept saying, "I find it momma, I find it." That was by hard the hardest day. It hasn't been all that easy, every time he's tired he cries for it, but I kept telling him Saturday we will go on a date together and he could get a toy and a treat, which would sometimes help. We went to Walmart yesterday and he got himself a toy gun. That night he still asked for his pacifier. Van carried his pacifiers around in handfuls, which means if he lost "one" he lost them all!
This is a very scary spider (a scorpion spider, which luckily can't bite) Van killed with his pacifier a few months ago. I guess it was good for something.
This is a dime Van swallowed when we went beach camping, which happily came out the very next day.
Here is a cute picture of Van that I just love and have never posted.
Van has also been my only child (thus far) to write on the walls, floor, furniture, table... it must be the new house's fault. Good thing for the magic eraser. No picture because I really don't want any encouragement of that sort what so ever!
We love you Van!

Daisy and Walt's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Daisy and Walt's birthday yesterday at my friend Shelly's house, we had a swim party and BBQ, which was so nice! All of Danny's siblings and their families were there (which I'm bummed I didn't get my camera out soon enough to get them all, it was his sister's birthday so she left early). Danny's mom Dee, his Aunt Laura, my dad and Debi, and a few friends and their families. It was great having everyone there to celebrate with us! This was of course the biggest 1st birthday party I've had for any of my kids, but there's TWO so it had to be big, right?!
Grandpa Ernie, Walt, Dee Dee, Uncle Jeff, Auntie Laura
Grandpa Ernie with Walt
Grandma Debi with Walt
Allison with baby Whitney (Autumn's baby), Dee Dee, Uncle Tom, Daisy, and Danny
Walt needed a little help from daddy to get started, but after tasting it he didn't mind getting a little dirty!
Daisy new just what to do. As you can see her hand is covered in Walt's frosting she kept stealing bites from his cake and anyone else that came too close!
Daisy and Walt digging in! YUMMY! I actually didn't let them dig in for very long just long enough for some pictures and video. They were still recovering from their colds.
A big thanks to my niece Taylor for making Daisy and Walt's own cakes!


Here is a video of Daisy and Walt eating their very own personal cake.

Labor Day

Danny, I and the 3 "big" kids went to Red Rock last Monday for Labor Day. My mom stayed home with the "little ones" and we enjoyed climbing and hiking together.


We drove through a small town called Blue Diamond on our way home and saw 4 donkeys just hanging around. One even came right up to our car window; neat!

First Day of School

Max all ready for first grade of school and Hanna ready for Pre-K. They are getting too big too fast.
Max started his first day of First Grade last Monday Aug. 24, 2009. I can't believe my baby is getting so big! He is soo funny about shoes and clothes we got some really nice hand me downs and it makes me crazy because a lot of the really nice stuff he won't wear. Like his GEOX shoes they are for babies he says because they have velcros. A cute truck shirt also for babies. I guess he sees his baby brothers in velcro shoes and truck shirts so that is where he must get it from. Also he will never wear sandals even if we are at the beach or going to go swimming he wears his tennis shoes and socks only. I asked him the other day what he thinks when he sees people in sandals and he said, "I just don't like toes."
Van's first day of preschool. Van's not quite old enough not until Nov., but since I have room and it's my school he's currently enrolled.
Hanna (being a little stinker) and Van with me (their teacher Mrs. Jensen).

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY DAISY & WALT

Daisy and Walt are 1 year old today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Daisy and Walt have been such a joy in our lives. We feel so blessed to have you both in our family!

Daisy is much smaller than her "younger" brother, but is more mature than him in many ways. You will usually find Daisy crawling or climbing on anything she possibly can. We have to put all the kid chairs up out of reach or she is climbing from them unto the table. Daisy sleeps in her crib in Hanna's closet and one day Danny came in to get her and she had climbed from her crib onto the closet shelf.
Another time she was playing on Hanna's bed and she stated to scream and I turned around to find her hanging from the windowsill (I caught her in time). When we take a shower we put Daisy and Walt into the bath to play and use it like a play pin, well of course Daisy has figured out how to climb out of there as well.

Walt is a patient "big" mamma's boy! If anyone holds a baby it's always Daisy because everyone knows how much Walt just loves his momma.
You will usually find Walt sucking his thumb and taking it easy.
Walt is starting to become more brave with standing along furniture and he is starting to crawl a little more. (He still prefers his one arm army crawl most of the time).

Pahrump Valley Preschool

Our front desk. (Danny painted our logo on the wall).
I start my preschool up tomorrow. I currently have 5 children in my T/TH morning 3-4 preschool class from 8:30-11:00 and 5 children in my M-TH afternoon Pre-K class from 11:30-2:00. I will be teaching the classes until I have more enrolled. After 6 students per class I have to have 2 teachers in the classroom. We are licensed for 12 in each class.
Our calendar/lesson/play... room. (Danny also painted this fun coconut tree on the wall where I hang numbers 1-10 in each of the 10 coconuts.) What a talented husband I have!
Our art/writing area.
My mom has moved in and the missionaries have moved out. My mom will be watching my kids on T & TH and a friend will be coming to my house to watch them on M & W. Max will be starting 1st grade, Hanna will be in the Pre-K class and Van in the T/TH preschool class.
Oh ya, I'll be on the local NEWS at 3 different times tomorrow night, funny huh?!

Beach Camping August 2009

Sorry it's been so long since an update! Here is a quick over view of our beach camping trip we took at the 1st of the month... On Sunday we went to see the Newport temple and attended sacrament at the chapel across the street which ended up being the singles ward and Daisy was play screaming which sounded so load Danny had to take her out. The Newport Temple is so pretty, I guess they all are.

Me with my very sleepy children on the temple grounds.
Our typical set up; Daisy and Walt in the playpen, A child sleeping (Hanna) on the towels, some of us (Uncle Michael and Aunt Rebecca) just kickin' it. The water was so nice, I think we all went in everyday. If you didn't know I love body surfing and I do it pretty much every year we go. (Except for last year when I was 33 weeks pregnant with the twins, but the time I was 6 months pregnant with Van I did.)

Went to the beach house for the day. My sister took much better pictures than I but I haven't yet copied them onto my computer, so sorry, but these will have to do.

Hanna, Baxter, and Daisy filling the sand bucket.
I just love this picture of Daisy and Van fighting over the sand bucket. Even though she's little she already can hold her own!
Walt as happy as can be, even with a mouthful of sand! I was quite surprised how well the babies did, one night was a little hard but for the most part they did really well! I wish I took more pictures everyone was there; Mom, Kurt and Skye, Rebecca and Baxter (at the beach house 1 day; Kristine, my dad and Debi), Michael, Greg, me, Danny, and our 5 children. Even my cousins (The Webb's) and all of there kids, and a lot more one other day for a Cooper Family Reunion; really my pictures don't do justice! We all had a wonderful time despite the tired cranky moments. Thanks mom for a wonderful family vacation!