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.

Halloween

The kids all looked great in their costumes tonight.
The rain didn't come!
Lots of candy was consumed.
It's all over for another year!
Success!



A few things I want to remember:
- Cooper and Hudson went out on their own with a couple of Cooper's friends. At first he didn't want to let Hudson join them but with a little (lot of) pressure from me, Opa, and Nana he made the right choice and let him come.
- Tag got tired after about an hour and Tony took him home. Reagan could have gone for two more hours. When candy is involved she doesn't give in easily.
- our Disney pumpkins were a big hit. Lots of compliments and people even took pictures of them.

- our friends Rich and Leslie joined us with their daughter Sophie for the second year in a row. I think it has become a new tradition.
- another tradition is potato soup, we have it every Halloween.
- Reagan got lots of comments and compliments on her Alice costume. She loved it, so all the sewing was worth it.
- I said that next year I won't do costumes that require so much work. But I know that come next year I will have forgotten that and do it all over again.

Now I'm off to raid the candy bags for the good stuff for a quick bedtime snack.

I guess when you're Woody, you are allowed to sit on your desk. Thanks Julie for capturing this little moment.

A great day of costume parades and treats for all their classes.


These white chocolate dipped strawberry ghosts were definitely the biggest hit. Will have to remember this one for next year.
Photos of all the costumes still to come. Stay tuned.

Splitting myself into three

That would have been the perfect way to be in all the places I wanted to be today. Lots going on at school and I wanted to be part of it all.
Milk jug skeletons in Hudson's class. Lots of cutting and hot gluing. Lots of hard work but such a cool looking result. A very cool project.

Caramel apples in Reagan's class. What can I say....yummy!

Rolling and cutting out Halloween cookies in Tag's class. They will decorate (and eat) them tomorrow.

So thankful to be a stay at home Mom that can be there to do this stuff with the kids. After school we put some final finishing touches on the costumes so they are ready for the morning. Then we went to work on creating some treats they can share with their classes. More on that tomorrow.
Cooper, who normally loves being at middle school, was feeling a little nostalgic for his elementary school days, when you get to have a costume parade and parties with fun home-made treats. As he helped me package them up tonight I made sure he got his share of tasting in before he headed off to bed.

Shaking things up

Something had to give...stress in the house seemed to be at a way-too-high level.
So...today we had ice cream sundaes for breakfast. When in doubt...eat ice cream.
For a few minutes the kids were in shock...then they dove right in. If nothing else, it gave them a fun and silly start to their day.