Cooper's First Piano Recital

Sunday evening Cooper had his first piano recital.

He's been taking lessons since October, so about 8 months now.  He has worked hard and made significant progress.  He played "Lightly Row" with both hands from Suzuki Book 1, as well as "Just For You Canon in C" from Music For Little Mozarts Book 2. He did very well and I'm so proud of my little boy!

Cooper was luky enough to have some special guests attend his first recital:

Grandma Wilcox and Shalani

Grandma and Grandpa Raymond

We feel very privileged to have our guests make the 4 hour drive for Cooper's recital.  We enjoyed the visit!

Cooper with his piano teacher, Mrs. Gail Perkins

Cooper with his proud parents!

Ashlin was being so cute and smiley, I just had to put in this picture of her!

When the wind blows in Idaho...

...it really blows! Wednesday night the wind started howling. It was blowing so hard I could feel the windows pulse. I was afraid some of the windows might start to shatter so I made the kids come into the center of the house. One of windows did get a crack in it. Anyway, the wind was so loud that I didn't even hear the loud cracking sound outside- the sound of this...

A HUGE live tree was literally uprooted from the ground and landed on our shed! Randall was gone that night (of course!) He had taken Cooper with him and they were spaying our dog Sally for a Boy Scout activity- think vet science merit badge. Thankfully the wind blew the tree toward the shed and away from the house. And somehow the tree managed to miss pretty much everything I had stored in the shed, including my new Bob double jogging stroller!

The next few days were spent cutting and clearing out the tree.

Lainee Carson watching the action from the safety of the swing set

Let's Play Ball!

Cooper finished up his 2nd T-ball season last weekend. Somehow I ended up being a coach again. I told them I couldn't do it this year with Ashlin, but the guy who was going to coach backed out at the last minute and they asked me if I could do it. I agreed to do it ONLY if I had help than last year. Thankfully I had 3 wonderful ladies help me this year, and it really made things a lot easier for me. Ashlin did wonderful- she was a perfect little angel during practice and games. On cold days I'd have a neighbor girl come and sit in the car with Ashlin and Lainee, which was also very helpful.

I love his stance at the pitchers mound... he looks like he's getting ready to throw a fast ball!

Made it to 1st again!

Check out that throw!

I noticed a huge improvement with all of the kids who played last year. It's amazing what just one year of t-ball does to improve their basic understanding of baseball. Last year (since it was the first year of the t-ball program) the majority of the kids playing were completely clueless. I'm curious to see how much of a difference we'll see in a few years when my t-ball kids get into the older groups.

Cooper getting ready to hit the ball

Running to 1st base

Waiting his turn

Getting a little help from mom

Ashlin hanging out in the stroller- all snuggled up

Ray Meyers Memorial 10K

Cooper's school sponsored a 5K/10K walk/run last Friday.  It was a fundraiser for the school, and I thought it was a great way to get the community involved.  They kicked off the day by having Lori Otter (the governor's wife) come speak, then they had the race.  The race gave the kids some incentive to be physically active so they were ready for the 5k/10k--- whichever they chose to do.  I intended to run the 10K, but they were having a health fair at the finish line and asked if I would participate in that, so I walked the 5k with Cooper.  Randall even took the morning off to come walk with us.  We put Carson and Lainee in the double jogger, and I carried Ashlin in the infant pack.  Cooper and his little kindergarten friends ran quite a bit of the 5k.  I was very impressed!

Cooper and some of his friends reading a book after the race

Carson and Lainee trying on some gloves at the health fair

Ashlin chillin' in the shade underneath my health fair booth.  Isn't she soooo cute!!!

"Nerd" Day!

This week was Spirit Week at Cooper's Elementary School. The theme for one of the days was dress like a "Super Smart Genius". (I thought to myself... aka. "nerd.") Anyway- Cooper got all dressed up and I thought he looked hilarious; so did all the other kids at school. When Cooper walked in that morning they all laughed and kept saying, "Look at Cooper!" I was a bit worried that Cooper would be embarrased, but he was pretty proud of his stylin' get-up!

Some details about his outfit:
The T-shirt was an oversized T-shirt that he received from the library.
He tucked his oversized shirt into his 'getting on the small-side' wranglers
He put a calculator into the pocket of his long-sleeved shirt
The bright orange glasses are from their nerf dart set.
Well, Cooper may look like a nerd, but I think he really is a super-smart genius!

Easter Fun

The Saturday before Easter Cooper had his first T-ball game. Right after the game there was a little Easter egg hunt in the park. The kids had fun looking for eggs. I think Lainee ended up with the most eggs- not as much competition for her age group I guess. I ended up throwing away most of the candy to prevent a major sugar-overload.

When we came home we noticed someone had paid us a visit...

When Lainee saw all the eggs in the yard she starting running around and yelling, "The Easter Bunny came, the Easter Bunny came!" It was so cute and funny!

My cute kids on Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday we got together with some friends for a big Easter dinner. It was very enjoyable. Randall left town the next day for week and was gone for the entire week.  I had a 2 day Idaho Dietetics Conference in Boise, so I had to find babysitters for Carson and Lainee, drop Cooper off at school, then take Ashlin with me, then pick the kids up at 5:00, get dinner, practice piano, bedtime all on my own... holy smokes I was exhausted!  My hat goes off to all the single working mothers of the world who have to do that every day.  I am soooo grateful for my husband!  He may be gone a lot, but he does his best to help me out when he is around.  And he frequently comes to get one of the kids in the late afternoon.  They "help" him work for a few hours and love every minute of it!