Days 27 through 31

Day 27: No picture of today, so I'm posting this picture of Chance, after Ashley braided his hair the other day. We're missing Ashley because she went to her grandmother's house last night. We were supposed to get her back tonight, but sh'e staying an extra day due to a snow storm. What a bummer.

Day 28: Allyson came over today. We did some scrapbooking, played Creationary and Hand and Foot, and she hung out and watched Carriers (a very creepy movie).

Day 29: We celebrated Dad Cooper's 75th birthday tonight at Jeff & Sue's house. It was fun to see all the family.

Day 30: Nathan got a haircut today. He looks so good with it cut short. I was letting it grow out because long hair is "in" right now. Unfortunately, it didn't look very good on him because his hair is so straight. You'd have to carry a comb and a water bottle all the time. Anyway, he looks great now.

Day 31: I finished crocheting Molly this sweater today. I love how it came out. She looks so cute in it.

On Christmas Break

We've been having a really fun Christmas break. Nathan is loving it that he doesn't have to go to school. He's been playing with his new Christmas toys, especially his train set, and watching movies. That is his favorite thing, to watch movies and play at the same time. He's been in heaven.

We went to the movies on Saturday night. Nathan and I saw Yogi Bear, and Ashley and Dan saw True Grit. They liked it. Yogi was cute, perfect for Nathan's age. He laughed and laughed and laughed. As we were leaving the theatre he said, "Mom, call me Yogi." and he was talking in that deep Yogi voice the whole way home. I was worried we were going to have to listen to that for days on end, but luckily, he didn't even mention it the next morning or since. Phew!

I started crocheting Molly a little dog sweater today. It took me a while to figure out how to do this certain stitch, but I understand it now. I have a few rows done now. I think it's going to be really cute.

Dan bought me an itouch for Christmas, so I've been having fun playing around with it. I've added some apps and put some CD's on there. Fun! Now I just need to figure out how to use the camera and all that.

Nathan's favorite gift was his Zip, Zoom and Logging Adventure train set. We've set it up every day, and he spends hours playing with it. He also got quite a few trains that he's been wanting, so he's been one happy boy.

Days 23 through 26

Day 23: Ashley came today! We were all so excited to see her!

Day 24: After opening presents at home we went down to Mom & Dad's and had a party with the Mom, Dad, Gram and the girls (Mike and Hilda are in St. Thomas).

Day 25: On Christmas day, we went down to Mom & Dad's again. All of his brothers and his sister and their spouses were down there. It was really fun visiting with all of them. They are always joking around and laughing.

Day 26: Cambryn was all dressed up in her Christmas outfit in church today. I just had to take a picture of her.

Days 19 through 22

Day 19: Today was our Christmas program at church. The Primary children sang "Christmas Bells Are Ringing", I played "The First Noel" on my violin, and I sang "Away in a Manger" with Mom, Emily, and DeeDee. I also played the piano for a few of the hymns. The bishopric spoke in between each musical number. Jackie did an awesome job putting the program together. After church, Emmy came over and we watched Despicable Me. I love that movie!

Day 20: Nothing exciting today. For Family Home Evening we drove up to Eris Sessions' house to see her Christmas village all set up. Unfortunately, she wasn't home, so Nathan and I watched Despicable Me again while Dan exercised.

Day 21: We finally got some snow! I was hoping for no school today, but no luck. It wasn't enough to call of school. Anyway, Nathan was excited to play in it, so he headed outside as soon as we came home from school.

Day 22: Nathan had his class Christmas party today at school. They exchanged presents, had lots of yummy snacks and then had a sing-along with the rest of the 1st grade classes. I went down to help since I didn't have any children in my room. My students were having parties in their classrooms, too.

My digital scrapbook pages

Days 17 and 18

Day 17: I finally got my Christmas cards done this week! Yay! We went to our ward Christmas party tonight, but I didn't take any pictures. I'm relieved that it's Friday, and I'm looking forward to having the weekend off.

Day 18: Nathan and I went down to Mom & Dad's tonight to make sugar cookies with Mom, Gram and Emily. We had a good time, although my mom bought the little containers of frosting that you have to "spray" out, kind of like whipped cream containers. They were really difficult to control, so most of our decorating looked horrible. We had fun anyway.

Days 12 through 16

Day 12: Today was the Record Family Christmas party at the Silver Spur. It was really fun to visit with everyone, and the food was great, too! We have a lot of good cooks in our family. Here is my dad with his brothers, sister and mom.
Day 13: The reason for the season. I love this little clay figure of Jesus. I just got a new Nativity set, and this is the little figure of Jesus. It is so cute. The whole Nativity set fits in a little box. It looks like a gift, but when you open it, it becomes a whole Nativity set.

Day 14: I love our stockings. My sister-in-law Lil made them for us when we got married. When we had Nathan she made him one, too, so his would match the rest of the family's.

Day 15: Gram got a little kitten today! My mom picked him out and brought him home to surprise Gram. They'd been wanting a kitten because both Gram's cat and my mom's cat had recently disappeared. Anyway, Gram named him Max. He's so cute and cuddly. Nathan loves playing with him because he is so animated.

Day 16: Today is Megan's birthday. She's 12! She had a middle school chorus concert tonight so we drove down to see it. It was a great concert, and it was fun to see her, especially since it was her birthday. As you can see, Dan was embarrased when I was taking the picture. He gets embarrased easily, especially when I'm taking pictures with lots of people around, plus I made him scootch down so I could actually see him in the picture. This is his, "There, are you happy? Now take the picture!" face. Tee hee!

Good reader

While I was reading to Nathan tonight he said, "Mom, you're sounding like a real reader!" I chuckled to myself, and said, "Thank you. Why do you say that?" He explained that I was going "high" when I was supposed to, and "low" when I was supposed to (I think he was talking about expression in general) and when I saw an excitement mark, I sounded excited. It just cracked me up to hear him use teacher language. I can tell that Mrs. Cummings or Miss Felt have been talking about "what good readers do."

Days 7 through 11

Day seven: I took Nathan to Auburn where he had to do a literacy lesson "behind the glass" at Washburn School. Afterwards, we went to the mall to see Santa. It was so fun to watch him interact with Santa. He was confident but just a little bit shy. You could tell that he completely believes in him. The Santa at the Auburn Mall is so great with him. He asked Nathan if he is going to leave cookies and milk for him, and a carrot for his reindeer. Of course, Nathan said yes. It was so cute.
Day eight: I didn't take this picture on day 8, but this is one of the decorations I have up. Miriam Thompson found these porcelain Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls for me at a yard sale a couple years ago. I love them!

Day nine: Megan came for the weekend. Here she is, pretending to eat one of the ice cream erasers she got in the advent calendar I set up for her and Nathan.

Day ten: Megan broke her toe this week (she slipped down some stairs, and her toe got caught)! It hasn't slowed her down one bit though. She was still flipping around, doing all of her usual stunts.

Day eleven: We celebrated Megan's birthday tonight! She's turning twelve on Thursday. We gave her a new bedspread, a gymnastics blanket and a Ripley's Believe It or Not book. She also got some homemade fudge from Great Grammie and some perfume, lotions and chapsticks from my mom and dad.

Day six

Day six: Tonight we had a Christmas Family Home Evening. We started by getting out our nativity set, and then we did a Christmas activiy from the friend. Each day in December there is a question about the Christmas story and a scripture to read that will answer that question. The scripture references are written on ornamens that you tape or glue onto the tree. It was a really nice Family Home Evening. We actually read 6 days' worth, since it's December 6th.

December Daily

I've started a new project this month. I'm taking at least one picture each day this month. Then I'll compile them into a book or layout. I thought I'd put them on here, too.

Day one: Nathan started his Lego Advent Calendar. He had been counting down the days for weeks! The first day was this cute snowman.

Day two: Nathan's teacher had just finished reading them Charlotte's Web, so we watched the movie tonight. Here he is enjoying a freeze pop during the movie.

Day three: Nathan found this adorable Smurf hat while we were shopping at Walmart tonight. We cut off the braids (which looked way too girlish) and posed for some pics!

Day four: I made these adorable Christmas shoes for Cambryn tonight. I also made her a matching skirt. I love them!

Day five: We celebrated Jared's 6th birthday tonight. I love his sweet little smile in this picture!

Tangled

Megan, Nathan and I went to the movies last night to see Tangled. It was so good. We all loved it. It's definitely one I want to buy when it comes out on DVD. Dan saw Unstoppable. He said it was really good. It was the most intense movie he's ever seen. And it has to be really intense in order for him to say that.

I won the last level of Nathan's Astroboy DS game yesterday. I don't know why, but I loved playing that game. I spent too much time on it, though. It's hard for me to put it down once I get started. Anyway, I was excited that I beat every level.

Dan put up our tree this weekend. It looks so pretty. I hate putting up the tree, but I love it when it's up. I love it that Dan puts it up.

Today was the primary presentation. The kids did a really nice job. It was Megan's last one, which is sad! She and Nathan both did a nice job with their parts. They had both practiced their parts several times, so they did great. It was so cute to hear Nathan read his part.

Crafts

I have been in a really crafty mood lately. We bought white shirts at Walmart the other day and then used Christmas fabric to decorate them. This is the shirt that I made for Megan. She goes to Tri Start Gymnastics, so she wanted that on her shirt. I used fabric that I already had around the house for all of these projects.
I asked Nathan if he wanted a train or a robot and he said a robot. I think it turned out really cute, although he needs a mouth.

I made a bow tie for Nathan. I love it! He wore it today for the Primary presentation.

Here are the shirts, along with a skirt that I made for Gabby. I hope it fits her. I didn't use a pattern, so we'll see.

I thought the penguins were missing something, so I crocheted them these hats. I think they look better.

Next on the list is a pair of cloth shoes for Cambryn and a crocheted sweater for Molly and some more ties for Nathan.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nathan made this cute turkey at school last week. He loves it and played with it quite a bit after bringing it home. Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

Penguins

I've taken up crocheting again. I haven't crocheted anything in years, but I found some cute amigurumi patterns and decided to give it a try. My first project was to make these cute penguins for Nathan. The body is crocheted and the eyes, beaks and stomachs are felt. Nathan loves them and has decided they are father and son. It was fun to do something crafty again.

He cracks me up!

Tonight Nathan and I were checking out his new Lego City Advent Calendar. As I was opening the Amazon box, he was just bursting with excitement. He said, "God has blessed me." It totally cracked me up.

When I was putting Nathan to bed tonight, he was waiting to see if his toot was going to stink up the room or not. After a minute he said, "Mom, the smell isn't smellable."

Halloween weekend

We had a couple of Halloween celebrations this year. We went to the story hour at the library last week. Kids could wear their costumes, so Nathan was really excited to try out his new Mario costume. At the last minute, we ended up taking Branson, Kaedon and Garret, too. The kids really liked it. Mrs. Kugell, their former art teacher, read them a book and then they had snacks and made a recipe card for Halloween pie.

The ward Halloween party was last night. We had a potluck dinner first, then had a party for the kids. They had five little games set up that they could play. The earned a ticket for each game they played. At the end, they could redeem the tickets for candy and little trinkets. I ended up helping with the ring toss. Nathan was in a sour mood by the time they played games because one of his buttons had come off his costume. One of his cousins had pulled it off when they were horsing around. Anyway, he couldn't get over it, so he just hung around me. I kept telling him, "I know you're disappointed, but don't let it ruin your night. You can still play games and have fun." I couldn't convince him, though. Then, he decided to participate in the pinata, but it broke before his turn came up, and all the kids up front got all the candy. He only got one piece. He was bummed about that, too. So anyway, the party wasn't quite as much fun as it could have been, but still, he was happy with the little plastic fish and candy that he got.

Tonight we didn't go trick or treating because it's Sunday, but I tried to make it special anyway. I told him he could hand out the candy to trick or treaters, and he was so excited to do that. He was getting worried that no one was going to come, but then Branson, Kaedon and Tannon came! I was so glad they came! He loved giving out the candy to them. We watched Halloween specials on tv, like the Munsters and some Halloween cartoons. I also made a pumpkin pie (from the recipe we got at the library) and Nathan made cinnamon and sugar cookies with the left over pie dough. It was a nice, quiet, peaceful night with the fam.

Fun Halloween pics

I love this picture of Megan and Nathan with the pumpkins we carved. They had so much fun that night.

Nathan and I made these cute owl cookies for the ward Halloween party last night. I think they turned out really cute. Nathan had a lot of fun helping me, too.

My Mario! He was leaning toward a scary costume when we were at Walmart, but I kept trying to steer him away from them. I just don't like the scary costumes, especially for cute little children. Anyway, we came across this one, and he loved it. I thought, "Phew! We found one that makes us both happy." P.S. Do you think that moustache is big enough?

Mom & Dad's party

Here are some pics I've been meaning to share. This was the awesome cake that Mike & Hilda got in Boston for Mom & Dad's birthday. Everybody loved it, including Mom and Dad. It was done so beautifully.

Kathy gave them these cute hats to wear!

Nice weekend

This weekend was really nice. On Friday night, we just hung out together. I made no-bake cookies, and Dan put together his new eliptical machine. The kids made an RV with the big box it came in. It was so fun to see them being so creative. Megan and I watched a scary movie that night, but it wasn't very scary and we kept falling asleep. On Saturday, we went to Owen's birthday party. Then Nathan, Megan and I carved pumpkins. Nathan carved a jack-o-lantern face, Megan carved a skeleton and I carved an owl. I love how they turned out! Then we had Pizza Hut for supper.

I finished my last class (for now, anyway) on Tuesday. I'm all done with that class. I have two assignments left for my online class. I can't wait to be done with it. Once I'm done with those two assignments, I won't have another class until the end of January. I'm so excited.

I'm getting in the mood to do some crafty stuff. I haven't been doing that kind of thing for quite a while. I feel like I'll finally have some time in the next few months. I love looking at blogs that have craft ideas. Two things I really want to do is make some shoes for Cambryn, a robe for Nathan and some crocheting. We'll see what happens. Oh, and I also want to paint a desk that I got for Nathan from Mike.

Proud

I just want to say how proud I was of Nathan on Wednesday. He was hit in the face with a soccer ball during practice, but he got back in the game (okay, Dan forced him), and after a couple of minutes he just acted like nothing happened. It was his best practice so far. He did such a good job running for the ball and kicking it. Today was supposed to be his last game of the season, but it got postponed. Probably next Saturday will be his last game.

It's 11:00 at night and I just finished some assignments for my Master's class. I'll be done with this session on Tuesday, and I can't wait! I'll have until late January off. It will be so nice to have my weekends and Tuesdays free again. I am thinking of all the stuff I want to do with the kids.

I haven't eaten any junkfood since October 3rd. I'm feeling so much better and I've lost some weight already. My goal is to go a whole year. Than I'll start eating it only once a week. I know it sounds drastic, but it's what I need to do right now. I can't let myself have any or I'll slide right back. I'm excited that I'm actually doing it! Yay!

Busy weekend!

I love conference weekend. I love sleeping in and hearing all the talks. We have a little tradition that Dan carries out twice a year. He gets jelly beans and puts them in little plastic bags with our names on them. I'm not big on the small jelly beans so he gets me big jelly beans or spice drops. The kids usually color or draw, but this time they were into stringing beads into necklaces and bracelets. We have them watch one session, even though Dan and I watch both.

We had a surprise birthday party for my parents yesterday afternoon. My dad turned 60 on September 27th and my mom will turn 60 exactly one week later, on October 4th. They knew that we were going to have cake and ice cream for them, but they didn't know that we invited a whole bunch of family. Besides their children and grandchildren, we had Gram Record, Uncle Ken, Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Gene, Uncle Bernard, Aunt Diane, Kathy, Payge, Uncle Bert and his friend Doris, Uncle Bob and Aunt Cecile, and Dicky. My parents seemed really pleased. They kept thanking us for giving them the party. Mike and Hilda brought the cake, which was totally fabulous! I'll post pictures soon.

My mom is trying to find a home for her horse. He is just too skittish. He freaked out when she tried to put fly spray on him a couple of weeks ago, which resulted in a broken arm. This week he kicked the ferrier. Luckily, he didn't get hurt.

Nathan had two soccer games yesterday. I love watching his games. He is getting better at going after the ball. He was kind of done by the second game, but he did well overall. His teammates are Branson, Jesse, Kyle, Mikaela, Kayla, Bryanna and one more girl, but I forgot her name. It is so fun watching them play.

Time Out for Women

I just got back last night from my first Time Out For Women by Deseret Book. It was awesome! There were so many inspiring talks and perforformances. I drove our van down with Mom, Lil, Nina, Marianne and Debbie Blake. The rest of the girls in this picture rode down in another van (Cindy McWhorter, Cindy Bissell, Cathy Priest, Caron Beeckel and Rachel).

We were able to hear the following speakers/musicians:

• Jenny Oaks Baker (violinist)
• Virginia Hinckley Pearce
• Hilary Weeks (singer, pianist)
• S. Michael Wilcox
• Emily Watts
• Merilee Boyack
• MaryEllen Edmunds
• Mariama Kallon

It was such an amazing weekend! My favorite presenter was Mariama Kallon. Her story is just incredible. Even after traumatic experiences in Africa, she is able to have joy and a strong testimony. I liked hearing both of the musicians, although I probably enjoyed the violin more than most people there since I play. I'll definitely be going to the next one they offer here in the northeast!

Pics from the weekend

Megan and Nathan with Uncle Matt

Bonnie and Joe

Dan with his cousins Mark and Jen

Nathan, Dan and Megan at the reception

Busy Weekend

We had such a busy and fun weekend. On Thursday night, Dan picked up Megan. She came to school with Nathan and I the next day. It was fun introducing her to everyone. On Saturday morning we headed down to Vermont for Dan's cousin Bonnie's wedding. It was so nice to just spend time as a family. We had plenty of time to just talk on the way down because it was about a 3 1/2 hour drive. We laughed and talked, played a game, listened to music, etc. The game we played involved counting cows (and we added horses, too) on our side of the road. If we passed a cemetary, though, it wiped out all of our cows and we were back to zero. Nathan and Dan got up to sixty something, and got wiped out. Megan and I got up to fifty something before we saw a cemetary. Dan and Nathan ended up winning with only 4 cows. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend the time.

Dan was able to see some family members on his mom's side of the family that he hadn't seen in years. That was really neat for him. He saw a cousin that he hadn't seen in about 30 years. It was nice to celebrate with Bonnie and Joe. They were so happy.

After the wedding and reception we went back to the motel and used the hot tub and pool. Well, I used the hot tub, and the kids used both. It was actually quite cool out and the pool was not very warm. The hot tub was perfect because it wasn't really that hot. It was the perfect temperature. Lovely! The kids had a blast going back and forth between the pool and hot tub, acting like the change in temperature didn't bother them a bit. It was fun to see them having so much fun.

On Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting in the Montpelier ward. Then we changed into our regular clothes and headed to the Cabot Factory. We had been there years earlier, but Nathan was too little to remember it. We took a tour, which was really interesting, and sampled lots of cheeses. Then we headed back to Maine. When we got home, we ran inside just quick enough for Megan to grab her stuff and we went right over to Steve and Lil's for a Cooper get together. Dan's brother Matt was here from Utah and we all wanted to see him before he left. It was fun to visit with him and everyone else, too.

LONG, HOT week!

This was the hottest, longest week I've ever had. The heat in the upstairs classrooms at OES were absolutely stifling. I'm so glad it's over. I'm ready for some September weather. Bring it on!

Back to School

Nathan went back to school today. He started first grade. He was really nervous about it, but he did great once he got to class and settled in. Only a few tears at the beginning of the day and a few at the end. That's okay, though.

I made these cute "pencils" for the special ed. staff at school last night. They're made from rolos, Hershey kisses and paper. I got the idea from a scrapbooking magazine. Aren't they cute? I was going to give them to everyone today, but I forgot them on the counter. Oh, well, I'll give them out tomorrow.