Today

In amongst the chaos that was today, I found a few moments to stop and record.
The boys were out in the snow that we woke up to yesterday morning. It was melting quickly so they had to squeeze a little more fun out of it.

Tag wrote me a little love note. He struggles with his writing so I was particularly impressed that he worked on this all on his own.

Only 5 weeks 'til Christmas

That may sound like a lot to some but not to me.
So if I already have to start thinking about it and organizing it then I want to be in the mood.
So the decorations are going up and the Christmas playlist is back on my iPod.
Around the house today...

Christmas candies are out, the lights are twinkling, and Michael Buble is singing "Let it Snow".
My December Daily books from past years are also out and I am working on this years.

Lego and Science Fair

Today I found this

and this

and this.

Everyday I pick up at least one piece of Lego off the floor, and it falls out of the dryer with each and every load. I will miss this one day.

I will not miss Science Fair projects. Of this, I am sure. Spent tonight gluing all the information onto Cooper's backboard as it is due tomorrow. He says he is 'not good at gluing'. I apparently am a master at gluing. So I glued...and it is done. I will not miss Science Fair.
He invented a "School Supply Swiss Army Knife". I was skeptical when he first had this idea, but he pulled it off. And quite well I think. But I will still not miss Science Fair.

Little skipper

And the skipping season has officially started.
Of course they have been in practices for about 6 weeks now but this weekend she had her first tournament.
Fortunately, we were the host team so there was no traveling involved. The whole thing took place at the high school we can see from our back window.
Reagan loves these events and she never seems to get nervous before her events.
Their head coach is so great at putting the girls together on teams that they always seem to excel and come away with lots of ribbons. And of course, lots of ribbons mean lots of smiles.
Even in the events that Reagan thought they did horrible, her team placed second. It was a good learning weekend for her to realize that we are not good at something the moment we try it. Things worth learning take time and work and patience.

Cooper

I never know when I'm going to embarrass him just by being around or when it's totally cool to have me around.
He is a good babysitter and never complains when I leave him in charge.(sometimes the others do)
It's totally fine with him when Taggart sees him at school with his buddies and goes running over to say 'HI'. He sometimes even has a hug for him.
He is obsessed with Lego. More specifically, Lego mini-figures. He spends hours creating them, finding the exact right piece to add, and more recently filming them and voicing over to make Lego movies. This actually needs a blog post all to itself. Hours and hours spent. Will try to post more on this soon.
Has found a real place in 'film club' at school. So thankful for great teachers who take time for our kids and show them new things and open up their minds like I know I never could. Really wanted to post a video here of what Cooper recently starred in and had a hand in editing at school but blogger won't let me do it. If I figure it out, I'll post it.
Drives Hudson crazy. But yet Hudson still wants to do everything that Cooper does. I know that there is a deep friendship in there somewhere just waiting to get out.
Loves to be loud and silly - sometimes to a fault.
He has definitely found an interest in girls. Probably for much longer than I have known, but more recently quite willing to share his interest with the rest of us. He went to his first dance last weekend and, much to my delight, came home and was eager to share all the details of the evening with me. Okay, I'm not so naive to think he shared all the details, but I got more than I know I will ever get from Hudson.
He is a great kid and I need to remind myself of that often. He also has away of pushing buttons that I never knew I had.
Today I wanted to go and take photos of the kids in downtown Abbotsford - possibly for a Christmas card but mostly because it's been so long since I've done it. The rain came before long and we weren't able to get much done. Cooper was my first subject and he was cooperative and willing for the few minutes we had.
He most definitely has the 12-year old attitude going on, but his head is in another world most of the time. But Cooper is a unique kid with so many strengths and qualities which will take him far in life. Those same qualities that can sometimes make him a challenge to parent will some day serve him well.
Love ya, Coop.

The red cup is back.

Christmas has definitely already been on my brain lately. Making lists of gift ideas, things to do, all that stuff. But the awaited red cup at Starbucks confirmed it today - Christmas season is upon us...and I'm good with that. Especially with a peppermint white mocha in my hand and the warm sun on my face. (warm enough for just a t-shirt this afternoon)
But if you look closer on that cup you'll see something that inspired me even more today than my sweet coffee.

I love this. This is why I blog. This is why I scrapbook. To tell our stories to our kids...to our kids' kids...and so on. So happy to be reminded of it today.
So here's today's story:
Tag is always well-behaved at school. His teachers in the past have always told me how quiet and polite he is - never a problem. Of course, knowing him like we do at home, this has sometimes been hard to believe, but hearing it time and time again from teachers and on report cards has convinced us. Today was not one of those days. His teacher wanted to talk after school because Tag had a rough day, as she called it. He couldn't focus on his work and he was disturbing others - making it hard for the teacher. I have found myself analyzing this today, trying to figure why he would have done this. Is this a start of some new behaviors to look forward to? He told me he was just really tired today and he didn't want to be at school - he wanted to be at home. Fair enough. Don't we all have days like that? I told him tomorrow will be better.
I know he needs a little extra encouragement with his school work - it doesn't come easy. He would rather be doing just about anything else than practicing his reading or writing.
But as I got dinner ready, him and Tony sat at the kitchen table together doing his homework of putting words together to make sentences.



He did well and got through them all without too much trouble and some good help from Dad.
I especially liked that we was proud of himself. Tomorrow will be a better day.