It's All About Teeth...

Big news in the Cooper household.  Ready?  Maleah has a loose tooth!!!  She is so excited!  She told me earlier today (Monday, July 26th) that her tooth hurt her.  I asked her which one and she pointed to it.  I was busy at the time and didn't have a chance to get an up-close look at it. I told her that maybe that meant that it was going to become loose soon.  Well, then later tonight she said "Mommy, my tooth really hurts."  So I said "Let me see it.".  Oh my gosh!!  That thing is so loose, it's barely hanging on in there.  I think she'll lose it in the next day or two.  It is so gosh darn cute.  I can't believe she is old enough to lose teeth!  So here is a picture of her loose tooth (bottom, right center).  By the way, thank you to Aunt Angie who bought her a special tooth fairy pillow back in May.  Maleah has it out and ready to use at a moment's notice. 

More teeth news.  Carissa has two new ones.  Molars, in the back.  She laughed the other day and I was like "oh my gosh, there's two new teeth back there!".  They snuck in on me.  I didn't even know she was getting them and then boom!  They're in all the way.  So I have one losing teeth and one gaining teeth. 

Jason and I, neither one have any teeth news to report.  Thankfully we haven't lost any and aren't getting any.

Okay.  The suspense is killing you, isn't it??  Well, here is a picture of my new ride - a new-to-me Mustang convertible.  It fits the four of us perfectly and is super fun to drive.  I told Jason that if I got one it had to be a 5-speed like the Capri and that was all I cared about.  He said all he cared about was that it was V8 and that we stayed in our price range.  Well, then it turned into I wanted black or white.  Then it turned into he didn't want tan interior.  Then I axed the black and said it had to be white.  Well, before we knew it the Mustang that we wanted was hard to find because we had so many qualifications for it to be "the right one".  We found three in the United States that were for sale.  The closest one was in Jefferson City, Missouri.  That is the one that we bought.  And I love it!!!  Apparently, Ford thinks that most white Mustangs will be bought by women and most women would not want a 5-speed.  They must because 99% of white mustangs are automatics.  I'm getting ready to "girly" it up too.  A little pink makes everything better, right??

Maleah was so funny in the car the other day.  She told her Dad that he was a good driver but I wasn't really.  Jason stuck up for me and said that I was a very good driver but that it just took me a few days to get used the gears being so much closer together in the 'stang than in the Capri.  Maleah then said "Okay!  But if she wrecks it, I'm not payin' for it!".  Lol. 

Carissa likes to say "NO!" now.  It's cute and funny now but it's going be annoying later I bet.  She's turning into quite the little parrot.  She repeated a lot of things today that she hasn't said before.  They weren't all that clear but I could tell what she was saying.  Maleah will holler for me and say "Mom!!" and Carissa will echo her in the exact same tone and everything and say "Mom!!" exactly like Maleah.  Funny stuff.

Poor Carissa.  She had her vaccinations today.  Three shots in one thigh and two in the other thigh.  I hate that for her.  It broke my heart to do it to her.  I just kept telling myself that it is so much better than her being sick.  She didn't cry much when they did it.  She was so tough and so not like her sister.  But she cried later in the day and I could tell that she just didn't feel good.  I just rocked her and rocked her and she just cried and cried.  It was no fun for either of us but it didn't last long (thanks to Motrin - is that on my list of best inventions ever??).  I just kept thinking about all of the mothers who have rocked sick babies who didn't have Motrin or anything to give their babies.  How terrifying and sad would that have been, not knowing if they would get better?  We are so blessed and half the time we don't even realize it.

Hotter Than Blue Blazes

Two blog updates in one week?  Less than a day apart?  What is going on with me?  Am I motivated or what?  I guess so.

We spent the evening at the fair tonight and let me tell you folks.  It was hot!!!  H - O - T- T- Hott!!  It was hotter than blue blazes!  It was hotter than hell in hell's kitchen.  It was hotter than a cat on a hot tin roof.  It  was so hot the chickens were laying hard boiled eggs!  I saw two trees fighting over a dog, that's how hot it was.  The birds were using oven mitts to pick up the worms from the ground!  Okay, that wasn't really happening but my shirt was wet with sweat and my makeup was pretty much non-existent after about 15 minutes out there.  I hate to complain though since Jason works in higher temperatures than that on a regular basis.  Thank God it is him and not me because I don't think I could do it.

Maleah had a Das-zle performance tonight on the stage at the fair.  That's why we were sweating our butts off.  We had to be there at 4:30 and got home around 8:30.  Thankfully, Mom offered to watch Carissa for me so I didn't have to deal with her (Carissa, not Mom, lol).  That poor baby would've been really miserable out there in the sun.  Maleah tumbled and did two dance routines.  She did great.  She lost me in the crowd for a few minutes though and got all panicky.  She also got in trouble for talking when she was supposed to be quiet and lined up for her next dance.  She panicked over that and wanted to go home.  She is not used to getting in trouble from anyone other than me or Daddy so that freaked her out a little.  But she calmed down and went on to do a great job dancing.  Personally, I think in the future she will get in trouble LOTS AND LOTS of times for talking when she's not supposed to.  It's hereditary and she gets it from her Dad.

I got some pictures of her tumbling but didn't get any of the dances this time.  I was too busy fanning myself and watching her dance.

After all of the dances were over we stayed and she rode rides.  She rode the Scrambler for the first time tonight and LOVED it!  She rode the Dragon rollercoaster at least twenty times.  She rode a lot of rides and didn't want to quit.  I was so ready to go home though!  Plus there was a storm rolling in so I finally managed to get her out of there.  She had fun but was getting really hungry, since she hadn't eaten supper yet.  That girl needs food on a regular basis or she gets very weird.  She gets to acting really badly, very whiny, and she gets a headache and she cries a lot.  This is what was starting to happen.  So we had to scram. 

We made it home, Maleah ate ravioli,  and we all needed a shower in the worst way.  But it was storming!  So then I had to wrestle over the decision of whether or not to bathe the kids during a storm.  Will lightning really come through the lines and shock them in the tub?  I have never known anyone that has ever happened to.  I haven't even seen that on Discovery Health or TLC.  How long was it going to storm?  Should I wait it out?  Or will it storm all night?  Would it be okay to run the water, fill up the tub, stick them in, wash 'em up real quick, and then take them right out?  That is what I finally decided to do and I am so glad because they have both been asleep now for about an hour and it is STILL storming!!!  I threw caution to the wind though when it was my turn and didn't even debate it.  I jumped in and took a nice cool relaxing shower while it was thundering and lightning outside.  I hope my mother doesn't have a heart attack when she reads this...

So I'm halfway through with my B90X program.  Today is day 45 and I am halfway through the Bible.  I am so proud of myself for sticking to it.  I'm getting closer to the New Testament and feel like the good part is coming up so I'm sure I'll make through to the end.  The Old Testament can be a little bit depressing in parts.  Those poor people.  If you think you've got it bad, you need to read any of the books in the Old Testament.  Because we've got it good people!  How blessed are we??  Thank you Jesus for loving us enough that we don't have go through all that they had to then.  All we have to do is ask forgiveness for our sins and we got it.  Those people had to sacrifice like five rams, four bulls, three cows, two goats, and a partridge in a pear tree (well, not that one really).  Can you imagine the mess of all these dead animals all the time?  And all of the blood?  Because they would sometimes sacrifice hundreds or even thousands in a day.  The logistics of it all is mind-boggling.  I am so thankful to be me.

Speaking of being thankful to be me...  I have decided to sell my Capri - the convertible that I have loved so much and is almost exactly like the one I drove in high school.  I've had it for a few years now, ever since Jason surprised me with it for Valentine's Day/my birthday.  Who doesn't love somebody surprising them with a car exactly like their favorite one from years past?  I am sad to see it go because it is a great car that is fun to drive.  But Jason has talked me into getting a convertible with a bigger backseat for the girls, something cuter, something with a bigger engine, something that I absolutely love more than the Capri.  It's really funny that I had a hard time agreeing to it but I did.  So goodbye Capri.  Love ya girlie.  I hope you get a great new home!

Jason's birthday was Tuesday, the 13th.  (By the way, he was born on a Friday, the 13th and they named him JASON!!  Can you believe that??  lol.  He was born before the movies.  Also, a fun fact, our first date was on a Friday the 13th...)  Last year on his birthday he bought me Acadia #2 (also known as the "dry one").  Well, he's on a roll because this year he bought me something else for his birthday.  The new item in the garage.  See what I mean about being blessed?  I have a husband who loves me.  I get a car and he got a deer stand for his birthday.  How fair is that?  He spoils me, that's for sure.  Thank you honey.  I love you!  Stay tuned everybody and I'll share pictures later in the week of what's now in the garage.

Carissa is into hiding from me.  If I ask her any of the following questions, she runs and hides:  "Carissa, do you need your diaper changed?", "Do you want to take a bath?" or "Can you come here so I can put your shoes on you?".  She usually hides under Maleah's loft bed.  The bottom is a tent so she hides in the tent.  Well, when I found her in there yesterday and peeked into the tent, she immediately put her hands over her eyes.  She is convinced that if she can't see me, I can't see her.  So funny and so gosh darn cute!

Oh, by the way, Maleah was sure she saw George Lopez in town the other day. So if anyone else runs into him, let me know! Thanks!

Maleah's Big Day

Our summer is flying by so fast and we are staying so busy it's been hard to even keep my blog updated.  I'm going to back up to the 4th of July and tell you guys about Maleah's big day.

She was in the All-American Boy and Girl Contest here in town.  It is an annual contest for little kids, ages 3-6, to wear their swimsuits and walk up to a panel of judges and impress them.  There were 50 little girls in it, and 30 boys.  There are no microphones and the crowd can't hear what is being said.  It's just these kids talking to the judges and looking cute in their swimsuits.  I did it when I was little and from looking at the pictures, I don't think I enjoyed it very much.  Maleah was in it last year too and loved it!  She made it to the top 10 girls and won a small trophy.  I warned her this year that just because she got a trophy last year doesn't mean she would again.  But guess what?  She got 1st runner up this year and got a trophy almost as tall as she is!  She was soooo excited!  There is no telling what she told those judges.  We all know how much she likes to talk.  I asked her what they asked her and what she said.  She said that she couldn't remember everything but she remembers that they asked her what her favorite food was and she said "chocolate".  That's for sure.  That kid would eat a Hershey's candy bar for every meal and wash it down with chocolate milk if I'd let her.  I bought the super cute swimsuit that she was wearing months ago and wouldn't you know it, she went and grew on me.  So, the suit was a little tight and the bottoms kept riding up a bit but oh well.  I guess this is an instance where procrastination would have paid off.  But, nooooo!   I had to be on the ball and buy the suit months before the contest.  The matching hat and purse were "so her" too.  And no, I didn't tell her to pose in all of the pictures.  That is also "so her"!  So here are some pictures of her big day.

After the contest was over she performed with Das-zle (her dance and tumbling group).  So immediately after pictures were over for the winners, she had to change into her tumbling suit, then after she tumbled she had to change into her dance outfit.  I was worn out just changing her outfits and hair ribbons.  Whew!  She did great dancing and tumbling though.  I had never seen her tap dance before and she did an awesome job!  I am so proud of her!  Carissa was pretty proud of her too and kept clapping for her.  I love the picture of all of the little girls' tap shoes.  Maleah is wearing her orange Bryce Rinehart memorial bracelet on her ankle.  She never takes it off. 

Carissa's favorite thing about the whole day (I think) is that Maleah won a little basketball and Carissa got to play with it.  She loves to play ball!  What in the world?  Where did that come from?  I don't know what to do with an athlete and don't really enjoy spending time watching team sports.  I have a feeling Carissa will be changing that.  I plan to encourage things like Scholar Bowl and Band.  My kids will probably laugh at that one day. 

After our big morning at the contest, we headed to our friend's Deb and Paul's for a cookout and fireworks.  We had a great time.  But our kids were so exhausted that night!  And Jason and I were too actually.  It was a really big day and my bed felt so good that night.  To say that I was tired was an understatement. 

The next day we took some 4th of July pictures at Mom and Dad's house.  Here are the three granddaughters - Chloey, Maleah, and Carissa.  Somebody didn't want to sit still and we had a terrible time getting a picture of them together. 

We really had a great weekend.  We have so much to be thankful for! 

One Sleeping Girl and One Possum

Hey all! I hope you are all having a lot of summer fun. I know my girls have sure been staying busy with fun summer activities.

Maleah had a tumbling meet a few weeks ago.  It was a "fun meet" and wasn't actually a competition.  All of the little girls got a trophy and Maleah had a lot of fun.  Carissa on the other hand, not so much.  She wasn't into sitting still and watching Sissy perform.  She would've much rather been down there on the floor running around.  Here are some pictures from the tumbling meet.

My Mom and Dad went camping at Rend Lake and we went down to visit them. It was a long drive for the girls and they fell asleep in the car. They both have a tendency to put their favorite blankets over their heads to block out the light when they get tired. Here is a pic of my sleeping beauties.

Maleah has been into posing for the camera lately. So here are some pictures of her making some faces and some of her poses.

We got our new dishwasher put in and it works great! But I think the best part about it was the big box that it came in. My girls (and the neighbors and some friends) all got a lot of enjoyment out of it. Carissa liked to drink her milk in it every morning. Maleah made it into a playhouse so here are some cute pictures of them and the box.

Maleah is really into her swim lessons and is still doing awesome. She improves every week and is really impressing me. She has also been practicing riding her bike without training wheels this week and is doing great. I am so proud of her! She learned a few weeks ago but was really nervous and hardly ever wanted to ride her bike. BUT, she got over that and has been riding every day this week. I had promised her a new bike if she got good enough to ride up and down the street without me helping. And she did it! So she got to go to Walmart and pick out a new bike! It was the first time she got to pick one out since we have always been lucky enough to have some bikes passed down to us.

My Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this past week. That's pretty awesome, isn't it? Congrats Mom and Dad!!

One day Carissa fell asleep on the floor.  This has only happened twice.  So I said, "Oh my gosh!  She's so cute laying there on the floor asleep.  I'm going to take her picture!".  So Maleah (a little jealous) decided that she would lay down and fake sleep too so that she could be in the picture.  So here's a picture of one sleeping girl and one possum.  Note the matching outfits.  How cute is that???

Carissa's favorite things to say this week is "Whirrzzz ma sisterrr" (Where's my sister?") and "Whirzzz ma dada?" (Where's my dada?), "uh-oh!" and "Whoa!!!". It's so cute to hear her talk. She has such a sweet little voice.

Maleah has been super funny lately and I'm trying to think of all of her "blogworthy" moments but a few of them I promised her I wouldn't tell anybody. She even came to me in tears one night with a confession that she thought I would be upset about it. You could tell it was just eating at her that she had done something, that in her mind, was wrong. It was the silliest little thing that wasn't anything to worry about. Poor thing. She has worried herself sick about something that didn't even matter. Here's something funny, the other day she was playing with someone and told them "I'm the next Taylor Swift, don't you know?". Crack me up! She is getting super excited about the thought of picking out school supplies. That excites her way more than the idea of actually going to school. That's how I always was too. I guess she gets that from me. 

Jason is gearing up for a birthday in a couple weeks.  I think it's a sign that you have a really awesome husband when he gets a hand written birthday card from the jewelry store.  Last year for his birthday I got a new car.  I can't wait for his birthday this year.  lol. 

I went to Bike Club tonight and we had a really awesome ride!  My brother Brad planned a "trivia ride".  There was probably about 15 or so riders and we rode about 9 miles around town.  There were clues and hidden prizes on the route that we had to look out for.  Then at the end of the ride we all met and had a quiz over what we had seen/done on the ride.  It was really hard!  Some of the questions were "how many left turns did you make?", "how much was the price of diesel at Hucks?", "what was the Friday night special at the restaurant?", etc.  I won a water bottle and a lottery ticket.  Keep your fingers crossed that it's a winner. 

Have a great Independence Day everybody!!!