Katy C First Grader!

Our Katy went to First Grade on August 25, 2009. She was very excited. She got herself a cute new haircut just for the occasion. She got up on Tuesday morning, took her shower, ate breakfast, got dressed, brushed teeth, dried hair and strapped on her backpack like an old pro. She was super excited, but a little nervous she said. She had said she was a little nervous for a few days before going as well. But she loaded up in the truck with Daddy and went on her merry way to Fabulous First Grade. Her teacher this year is Ms. Krishna Allison and Mrs. Joyce Hogan. She is going to have a great year! She is lucky to have a few friends in her class, not any of her close friends, but some friends she knew from last year. What a great time to expand her horizons and make some new close friends. I know she will love it and will do GREAT!

Katy,

We love you so much and are so confident in your ability to conquer first grade with flying colors! You are going to learn so many new things this year. You are going to grow up so much! Slow down, I can't stand it! I wish for you the very best 1st grade has to offer. I want you to learn new things, meet new friends, accomplish things you never thought you could! I want you realize how wonderful and smart and talented you are and to embrace the life in front of you! Most of all, I want you to have FUN! FUN! FUN! This is your only year to be "6," so take advantage of it and make every second count!

You are the most precious and most special girl in the world and we love you more than you'll ever know!

You are the best! I love you more than the man in the moon!

You and Me=Peas in the Pod!

Rockin' the World of Pre-School

Mason Burch Cook started Pre-K today and totally rocked the world of Pre-K with his amazing blue eyes, long eye lashes, and a smile that could melt the Statue of Liberty! Mason was so excited about going to see Mrs. Weesa (Lisa) and his new classroom. He was proud to be going to Katy's school! We walked in and he was a "wittle bit shiney" (shy) at first, but he found his cubbie, hung up his backpack, gave us some kisses and hugs, and headed to play with the dinosars! And there he was.....growing up a little more right there in front of me. Sigh!

I offered to pack his lunch, he said he would just eat in the cafeteria. I offered to come pick him up from school, he said he would ride the bus with Katy. I wanted to offer to wrap him up in his blaket and take him back home with me where we could snuggle together all day, but I knew he would just say something like, "no mom, you need to go take care of Adam, I will see you this afternoon," so I just let him go and wished him a fantastic day! And that, he had!

Mason,

We are so proud of you! You are the sweetest little boy on the planet! You are so smart and so funny, and so talented, and so.................AWESOME! We love you and wish for you the best the world has to offer. I hope you take this year to be completely and totally "4." Play, make new friends, learn new things, get dirty, get wet, make new things, read lots of stories, sing lots of songs, and............did I say play! This is your time to learn through play, so play with everything and everyone available to you!

Always know that we are here for you, loving you with all my heart! Always believing in you, always praying for you, always seeing the best in you! We wish you all the greatness in the world!

We love you Mason! Pinky Promise!

Big Lagoon State Park

I mentioned earlier that we had visited Big Lagoon State Park in Florida for Spring Break. Well, I wanted to talk a little more about the trip and add some more pictures.

We had an excellent trip! We were supposed to leave on April 10 (Friday) however, due to the storms and tornados, we elected to leave early Saturday morning (3:30). We met Chad and Heather and traveled together. We stopped for breakfast at a Cracker Barrell (it wasn't very good though). We arrived at the park in the afternoon. We set up camp and went down to the small beach at the inlet. Our first night, we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. That night we built a fire, roasted marshmallows, took showers, put the kids in for a movie and quiet time, and the adults played some cards. Sunday was nice at the campground. We started the day off with riding our bikes around and playing at the playground. Then, we decided to venture out to the water, BAD IDEA! The wind was terrible, so needless to say, we didn't stay long before going back to the camp sites. We spent the afternoon just hanging out together. Monday, it was RAINY, so, lucky for us, the National Aviation Museum was located in Pensacola, so we spend the day there. We returned the following morning for an air show presented by the one and only Blue Angels! It was AWESOME! Tuesday afternoon we were able to spend at the beach! It was beautiful and we practically had the beach to our selves. Problem was, Adam had a tummy ache so he wasn't too happy! We were originally supposed to leave on Wednesday morning, however, since we had only had one real day at the beach, we were able to reserve two other sites (yes we had to move for only one night-UGH)! We ended up staying until Thursday. We got to spend all afternoon at the beach on Wednesday as well. Beautiful weather. The kids had a great time! They found sea shells and played in the water and the sand. And what beach trip would ever be complete without burying kids in the sand! So, we had 4 kiddos buried up to thier necks in sand. Two mermaids, and two sharks. Adam wasn't really into the whole "burying" idea.

All in all, the trip was a total success! The kids loved it. They had a great time together and loved riding thier bikes at the camp groung. I tell you what, families who think vacations are only made up of high rise hotels and condos are doing thier children an injustice. The experience of camping in all kinds of locations are the things that memories are made of. Hotels and indoor plumbing are nice and will always be available, but spending time in the great outdoors (even if you have to squat), building fires and roasting marshmallows, riding bikes and playing in creeks, climbing trees and taking hikes, spending time with your family without interuptions or schedules are so much better!!!!! You just have to be adventurous enough to give it a chance. Trust me, your kids will thank you for it one day!

So there you have it, my senopsis of the trip, and my lobby for camping in the great outdoors will now come to an end!

I am thankful to have these opportunities to spend with family and friends!

So Much Has Happened!

Okay! I am a slacker! I haven't blogged in FOREVER! Danielle even had to email me to ask if I was ever going to post again! Sorry for those few family members who log on ever so often only to find "Nothing New!" So, here is a bit of an update.

All the kids have had birthdays! Katy is now 6, Mason is now 4, and Adam in now 2! I can't believe my babies are growing so fast.

Katy had her first slumber party for her birthday. She had 5 friends over, 4 spent the night. They had a great time! We started with making our own party hats, moved on to Pizza and Cake (Puppy Cake). Then we played a little Limbo (Katy's request). Then the girls got on thier PJ's and watched "Barbie and the Diamond Castle." They all went to sleep around 10:30 or so. We got up the next morning and enjoyed animal shaped pancakes! The kids all went home around 11:00. We all had lots of fun, the girls were great!

Adam had his 2nd birthday party with family and friends. Papaw Cook even came up for a visit. We did the regular family thing, family and a big dinner. He had a Football birthday cake. He enjoyed opening his presents! Katy got to open her family presents too. It was a great party!

Mason also had a family party. Hamburgers and Hotdogs, with a little Dinosaur cake for desert. The highlight of Mason's birthday party was the fact the Will brought out his old little 50 4-wheeler for Mason to ride. He loved it!!!!!! Of course! The weather was beautiful and all the kids had fun playing outside and riding the 4-wheeler.

We also went to Big Lagoon State Park in Florida for Spring Break. The Plemmons family and we packed up our campers and headed for the beach. We had a wonderful time! The first few days were a little cool, rainy..., but the last few were beautiful. The rain gaveus the opportunity to go to the National Aviation Museum. We all loved it! Very interesting and educational. We also had the opportunity to see the Blue Angels practice one morning, AWESOME!!!!!! We spent our last 2 days in the sun, on the beach! We came back on Thursday, we had a little trouble with the truck. The camper sucked our battery dry, so we had to unplug it, jump off the truck, then head on up the road. It was a little scarey, we sort of broke down in a bad part of town (Montgomery Alabama). But all was good, we got moving and never had any other problems. We got back on Thursday, the following Saturday was Mason's birthday party.

Katy is playing Tee Ball. She loves it, thinks it is lots of fun. She is doing GREAT! She is on the Red Socks (coincidental since that is her daddy's favorite team)! She has had a few games so far, and will play through the beginning of June. Mason is a little upset (to say the least) that he can't play this year, he'll be ready next year though. He is already better than I am!

Adam is talking a lot more! He jabbers about stuff all the time, he knows exactly what he is saying, I just wish I could figure it out! He is about cute!

What can we say? We are so blessed, beautiful and perfect kids (as far as we are concerned).

Ta Ta for Now!

P.S. I will add pictures of Mason's birthday later, they are not uploaded to the computer yet.

Got to catch up!

Okay, this a quickie. It is now February, I haven't posted since November! Bad! We are all doing well. Christmas was good (pictures later), New years was good, in bed before midnight this year! We went to Florida in January (pictures later), and now it is February and I will be 35 years old and it is a little depressing. Oh well, what can you do? The kids are great, Adam is starting to talk and is a funny boy. Mason is crazy as ever, you never know what he might come up with, and Katy is a little ole sweet girl, to the bone! They are all good and make us smile every day, we are so blessed to have them as our babies!

Well, that is it until I have more time. Just a quick update!

Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween kidos!

Adam pulling the Trick-or-Treat gang!

The girls all decked out!

The boys all decked out!

On the hayride!

The Cooks!

The Lohr's.

And the kids, one more time.

The Plemmons'

Cook kids carving the pumpkin, bofore the party.

Okay, so I am just now getting around to adding Halloween pictures and it is the middle of November....shoot me!

We had a really great Halloween this year. Aunt Mary and I made Katy a beautiful princess dress, which she loved! Mason and Adam were both Batman (or according to Mason, Adam was Batman's cousin, Batman). I made Batman capes for both boys. We celebrated Halloween by having a small Halloween party for the kids at our house on the Sunday before Halloween. Everyone dressed up (parents too) and we started by taking a hay ride around our neighborhood and trick-or-treated at about 5 houses close by. Then we came in and had pizza, chili, and chicken stew, followed by spider cupcakes. The kids had a great time playing together and they loved the fact that the moms and dads were dressed up too. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

On Wednesday before Halloween we went to church to our Trunk-or-treat. The kids had great time going around and trick-or-treating out of everyone's cars. Then they got to go on a hay ride. Adam and I ended up getting off the hayride just in front of the house and coming in to find that he had a temp of 103! Imagine that, one of the kids is sick. He remained sick for 5 days straight with a fever, he is still a little yucky.

On Halloween Night Katy spent the night with Sidnee and went Trick-or-Treating with her on the town square. Needless to say, we have lots of candy. Me and the boys went to the football game but then came back home where it was warm. So, our Halloween lasted a full week and was lots of fun for everyone!

It is so much fun to see the kids dressed up and excited about getting to pretend to be someone else for a little while. What fun it is to be a kid!

Apples

We gathered winesap apples from a neighbor and proceeded to "do apples." Katy helped Grandad peel the apples with the peeler, she loved it. We peeled, cut, froze, and sauced at least a bushell of apples. We sent a bunch to Aunt Mary and she dried them on screens in the sun, they will be used for fried pies later. We froze a lot for cooking through the winter and made some into apple sauce. We also made some "pear butter." Every thing turned out well and we have already enjoyed some of the frozen apples, applesauce and pear butter, now it's time to make some fried apple pies, yum!

Santa's Land

We went to Santa's Land with the playgroups on September 10. Mason and Adam had a great time, but we missed Katy, she was at kindergarten. We got to see lots of animals, including 2 baby bears being fed by bottles of FRUIT PUNCH! Mason loved that. They also fed reindeer, goats, sheep, a kangaroo... There were some rides too. Mason and I rode the Rudy Coaster and we all 3 rode the Merry-go-round, the helicopters, the Ferris Wheel, and the boys rode the boats and the cars by themselves. Adam thought he was so big getting to ride the cars by himself. We also went out on the paddle boats in the pond. It was FILLED with huge goldfish that just about jumped in the boat with you trying to get the food we gave them. Adam thought that was so funny, so did Mason. There was also a monkey island and a lemur island in the pond where you could watch them playing.

It was a really fun day for everyone and the boys had a great time. I am always glad to get to take the kids. Santa's Land holds lots of fond memories for me because Nanaw used to take me there every summer when I was little. We always had fun together. My favorite thing then was the Magic Show, but we did not get to see it this time. We will be looking forward to going again next year, I hope!

M is for Magnificent Mischeivious Mason

Did I ever mention that our Mason is a pretty Magnificent kid? Well, he is. He is magnificent, marvelous, mischeivious, mesmorizing, motivating... he is the sweetest kid and the most loving kid ever. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't walk around passing out hugs and kisses all the time, he also delivers his fair share of bumps and bruises, but, you can't help but love him! He steals everyones heart he meets!

He is funny too. Today I got home and he was emptying out his pants (underwear) from where he had filled them full of rocks at Pre-school. So, yes, he filled his pants with rocks, and rode home before he decided to take them out. He also mentioned that he might have had to sit in time out for throwing rocks on the playgrouond today. Of course, he told me all about it with a sweet smile and big ole blue eyes. He knows how to play the game!

Mason, we hope you never lose your loving nature or your appealing humor. You are one in a million and we are super proud of you and we love you very much. You are our most marvelous Mason! Always believe in yourself and your ideas, speak and be heard, listen and learn, live life to the fullest just as you do everyday!

We love you!!!!

A is for Adorable Adam

I hate to be biased, but have you seen my son Adam? ADORABLE, ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE! He is cutest thing, totally brightens up my life every day! He is funny, sweet, affectionate, full of himself, curious, inventive, stubborn... He is a 25 lb bundle of ADORABLE! He is so funny, he loves to make us laugh! He recently went to the Doctor for his checkup and was up on the charts, 45th percentile for weight, and 25th percentile for height. So he is a bit more round than he is tall right now, but boy is he cute!

Adam loves to play with Mason and Katy, he thinks he is as big as they are and can do what they do. So, he tries, and he falls (or gets pushed down) or sometimes he makes it, and when he does, you can just see the pride popping out all over him. He loves to "feel big." Mason and Katy are usually pretty good with him and include him in what ever it is they ar playing, and they are both super protective over him, they might push him, but no one else should even dare! He is lucky to have them as a big brother and sister!

I am hating how big he is getting. I want him to stop growing and stay this size forever. Before I know it, I will be carting him off to kindergarten. Oh, it makes me sad to think about it! The good thing is that it makes me more aware of the time I have with him now, and Mason too, I am trying to be more mindful of the time I spend with them, and trying to make the most of it.

We love you Adorable Adam!