We're baaaack!

I figured a five month break from blogging was long enough.  Time to sort through pictures and get going because we have had so many things going on and I am not going to remember half of them soon.  Also, the boys and I have had so much fun looking at old blog entries.  It makes me sad that I pretty much have skipped blogging while we have lived in Virginia.  I have so much to catch up on but I plan on just starting with where we are at right now- so here is January and February:

 Cooper and Tucker have been into painting.

The boys love to help us cook.  Most of the time I love it, but our kitchen is not very big and I find myself constantly tripping over chairs that have been left behind.

Cooper, especially, is our little cook.  He is also the one I am concerned about burning down our house.  Oh the stories I have missed out on sharing because I haven't been blogging!  Let's see, he loves anything that is not meant for children.  Permanent markers was a phase but that one is a common phase so we won't dwell

too much on that one. Our military white walls are no longer that white thanks to his artwork.  That goes for floor, table, chairs etc.

Some more of Cooper's loves/obsessions are:

Scissors- the bigger the better.  They are great for cutting up clothes and sheets.

Coins- SO.MANY.COINS.EVERYWHERE!  We are still going through this phase.  It is even more enjoyable for him if they are found in Mom's wallet/purse or one of his brothers' piggy banks.  Satisfaction is only achieved when there is a pleasant jingle coming from multiple pockets of pants and coat.

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Tacks- don't ask me what he loves so much about them but we went through a scary phase with these.  He loved sucking on them and we even found him jumping on his bed with a mouthful of tacks a few times.  Not to mention the fact that he kept taking down stuff I had hung up with them.  I started hiding them but he kept finding them.

Keys- He started stealing keys so Todd finally made him his own little set of random keys that we didn't need and he carried them around his neck on a necklace for weeks.  One time his teachers confiscated a set of keys from him at school and it turns out they were Todd's keys to the church.  Oops!

"Cards"- Cooper is so funny about his own little wallet being full of a plethora of cards.  Business cards, Gift cards, hotel keys, grocery store rewards cards, Insurance cards, library cards, airline cards, Dad's old I.d. cards...They all make him happy.  I will tell him we need to go somewhere and he gets all excited when he has a "card."

Cooper is a boy all about trinkets and collections.  He sleeps with them under his pillow, under his bed, has them stored in cup holders in his booster seat and constantly has pockets full of his treasures. It became a problem at school for a little while and I was literally having to check all of his pockets before school.  There were a few occasions when his teachers still found contraband on him even after I checked!  Silly boy.

I will share some more stories about Cooper later so that I have them written down somewhere.

I liked this paper since it is all about Fisher's likes these days.  Larry is his best friend.  They look so cute together- Fisher is really pale and Larry is really dark.  They have matching shoes but in different colors.   They love to play Pokemon, spy games, and different up clubs they make up.  Larry is really good at sports and Fisher is really smart so us moms like how they balance each other.
Fisher is a very patient big brother and can be so sweet to Cooper & Tucker.  He also is very tender with other kids who are being picked on or might be a little different.
We started him up in piano and art classes.  He was doing great in piano but has been frustrated lately because he actually has to practice.  When we were having an argument about he said something that describes Fisher to a T: "I want to be able to play the piano but I don't want to have to practice to be able to do it!"
Fisher is a perfectionist and gets so mad if he messes up at anything.  He would rather quit than try and have to work at something.  It has affected a lot of different areas in his life and will will probably be a big focus for us this next year.

I realized I don't have many pictures of Tucker and I am not sure why that is.  Here is one of the few that I had which happens to be blurry but oh well.

Tucker has been a little bit of a stinker lately.  He is a moody child- almost identical to Fisher when he was younger.  (This has caused me some anxiety, not gonna lie.)  He can be so sweet when he wants to be and is by far the cuddliest of the boys.  He is like a little cat and loves to rub his face up against our faces and hair and bodies.  His emotions are over the top and very unpredictable.  He is Really happy, really mad, really sad and it can change with no rhyme or reason.  Tucker is also a little mimic.  He idolizes big brothers and loves to repeat everything he hears.  Thanks to Nemo, his favorite quote is "I hate you."  He also loves "shut up" and will emphasize it with "poop butt" if he really wants to pack a punch.  Speaking of which, he recently learned how to punch.  Such is the life with three boys.  On the other hand, Tucker can be so sweet, tells me all the time that he loves me, loves his brothers and loves to hug them, wrestle with them, and cuddle with them in bed.

Tucker is obsessed with planes, jets and helicopters of which there is no shortage of in the skies around us.He still loves cars and animals and big trucks of any kind.  Playing outside is one of his favorite things.    

He recently became interested in puzzles.  He has absolutely NO interest in potty training and is turning three in less than two weeks.  Not looking forward to potty training.

Fisher had a big month in January.  He turned 8 at the end of December and went to his first scouting activity in January which happened to be the Pinewood Derby.  His car won shiniest paint job for his car "shadow."  He was doing really well but something happened and it cracked or a wheel fell off or something.  He had a lot of fun. We had a bunch of snow days through out January and Feb so he has only been about 4 times now.

The biggest event was that Fisher was baptized in January.  (On my birthday!)  I plan on doing a baptism post (we'll see if that ever happens) so I just wanted to touch on it.  It was a really sweet day and I am so thankful so many family members were able to make it.

We celebrated at Texas Roadhouse after the baptism.  Fisher and Chandler.Our kids have really enjoyed spending more time with their cousins this past year.

Steve & Katrina drove up for the weekend to be at the baptism.  We really appreciated it.  Traveling with four kids isn't a small sacrifice. :)

Todd's family were all able to make the long drive from Cincinnati and we were so grateful.  Unfortunately we got them really sick which was kind of miserable but it allowed them to stay a little longer with us!

My parents flew in all the way from Nevada.  My dad even gave up flying his birds in some bird convention/race thing going on out there.  That was a big sacrifice on his part.  :)  Hopefully one day we will live a little closer so that flying won't require seeing the Pacific and Atlantic ocean in the same day.

On Martin Luther King day myself and the moms took Fisher and Cooper to one o our local "Chesapeake" beaches.  It was a beautiful day. 

We are looking forward to many beach days on the Chesapeake and the ocean.  We especially are excited for our family reunion in the Outer Banks!

It was so nice having my two moms around.  :)  Talk about spoiled!

The boys loved having both grandmas around too.  

Three of my four blue eyed boys.

Tucker still calls Cooper "Poopa."

After the baptism we had some snow.  Only and inch or two but the boys had fun playing in it.  A couple weeks later we received about 7 inches.  We had so many snow days, holidays and teacher training days in January.  It was Christmas break all over again.

Within five minutes of being out in the snow, the boys had already started fighting and ended up in time out.  Here they both are in their timeout spots.  

And while I was laughing at them in time out these are the looks they were giving me.

Sad little boy.

Cooper was very into snow angels this winter.

And snowballs.  

Snowball fights are kind of an irritant for me.  The kids all want to make them and throw them at each other but every time someone gets hit, they whine and cry.  This goes for all their friends too.  I ended up banning snowballs.

Tucker didn't have snow pants but he had fun anyway.

He will ride his bike no matter the weather.

We made a really cool fort that you can't really see all that well.

I realized I didn't have many pictures of Tucker so now I am making up for it.

Valentines was fun this year.  The boys are really into holidays now.  We started off the morning with strawberry milk, strawberries and heart shaped pancakes.

I never told my other Cooper stories but one of the more recent days I had with him was I went into his bedroom in the morning to grab some clothes and found about $50 on and under his bed.  He had gone to where we keep our emergency funds and helped himself so he could have money for his wallet.  Later I was taking a quick shower and the lights turned off.  I realized that he had gotten into the circuit breaker (again) which he happened to find one day and thought all the switches were a lot of fun.  Not long after that I found him standing on a chair in front of our thermostat.  He had opened it up and was pulling out the batteries.  What is crazy is that looking at the thermostat, you would never realize that it opens up.  Leave it to Cooper to unlock the secrets of anything he is not supposed to touch.  Later I went to check on him in his bedroom and found him using one of his "cards" to pry the outlet covering off the wall.  

That is a typical day with Cooper.

Cooper had his first Valentines party and decorated his first box.  A funny thing about his name is that in the beginning of the year there was another Cooper in his preschool class.  They were known as Cooper D. and Cooper C.  Cooper D. left a couple months later and so it was only Cooper.  He still thinks his name is CooperC.  IF you ask him how to spell his name he will say: C-O-O-P-E-R-C.  It makes us laugh.

Fisher was obsessed with Valentines Day this year.  He is in love with a girl named Anna.  She is his girlfriend even though I keep reminding him that he can have girls who are friends but not girlfriends.  It doesn't matter.  He is going to be one love stricken boy.  

Anywhoo, he made Anna this special Valentine.

He told me that Anna has the "voice of an angel" and is the "most beautiful girl in the whole entire world."  When I asked about her voice he said her singing voice.  (Fisher loves music so it figures he would like a girl with a beautiful singing voice.  :)  He also told me that she is also nice and kind and rich.  :)  

My favorite line by far, though, was when he told me that he had been hit by Cupid's arrow.  He was in love.

I think I am going to have my hands full with my little drama King.  

Anna made Fisher a special Valentine.

And professed her love as well.

While I was working on this blog I bribed the boys with tablets and TV.  This is how I just found them.  :)  The bead necklace was a gift from Anna to Fisher.

Todd and I have some stuff going on as well.  One of these days I will blog about our trip to Italy. This past weekend we left the kids with Mom C. while we went for a long weekend to Tampa, FL for a friend's wedding.  We had such a fun time and can't wait to take another trip like this one!

We also have some stuff going on with Todd's job (Thanks Obama) so there might be some changes for us in the future.  We are hoping to know more this month.