Boys Room

This project has been in the works for awhile, but it is finally done (minus a few touches).

I started by painting these cute canvases and putting clothes pins on them, so the boys could display the things they have made, or invitations/ certificates.  I think they turned out great.  i used tape to block them off then painted them with regular acrylic paint, kind-of fading the color out toward the edge.

This wall by the closet has the same basic idea, but it is more gallery style for art.

The shelf on top we added yesterday the board has "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray..  We sing that song EVERY night before bed.  I am going to get current pictures of the boys framed, to put next to it on the shelf.

These are the boys shelves.  The Picture sitting on the lower shelf will be hung between the shelves once it is reframed. and I found a cute vinyl that says something like ..being a brother is better than being a superhero..... that I will put by it.

Each Boy has their own shelf to put their "Treasures"

The top shelf is Coopers.  He can reach it from his bunk.  He put his legos, trophies and piggy banks up there so Jacks can't get them.

Jacks shelf is a little bare.  he doesn't have any trophies, so he put his trains and favorite cars on it.  Last night he kept having me lift him up so he could see his trains!

 I finally Finished Jacks big-boy-quilt.  My Mom helped me clip all the seams while she was here for Christmas.  

It was a crazy-lot of work, but i love how it turned out.  I had to make each and every one of those different balls, and then about 15 Star squares too!  Just like with Coops, I hope (after all that work) that this is a quilt he will love and use for Years!

I got this great Vinyl to go above the door. "Guess how much I love you?"

 AND "THE WALL"

Isn't it great?  I love how it ties all the colors in the room together.  I still need to paint the Toy Box, it will be the color of the blue stripe.

 Now stripes are not easy to do, especially on orange peel walls, but here is how i did it.

First I used yarn to show where the tape should be after I marked all the measurements on the wall and baseboard.  We had already painted this wall the color of the ceiling/baseboard so the colors would stand out better.

 My space that need to stay wall color were 4 inches, so using the yarn as a guide we taped in all the areas that needed to stay white using 2 inch tape.

 Then this is the most genius part!  I found this hint online.  "Paint the edge of your tape the wall color"  that way if the paint bleeds underneath it is the color of the wall!!  Brilliant right!

 But I did have to go back in a couple of places where the tape had buckled and squish it back down using the back of the paintbrush, but I think part of the problem was that my tape was kind of old.

 Then let dry and paint with the color you want!

 When all the colors are on the wall, let dry until you can touch the wall.  be careful to rip the tape from the wall, down and away, so the edge of the tape helps "cut" the edge.

And voila, perfect lines, perfect edges, and on orange peel!!

Love it!!!

There you go my first ever tutorial!!  Pretty proud of it!!

And that is the boys room!

My Boys January 2013

 Cooper is so ready to be 6. so what that it is still 5 and a half months away.
he is excelling at school.  he is the best reader in his class, but sometimes looses focus and ends up writing half a word before rushin on to the next one.  He just got a new group and he is so excited that "Cameron" is at his table.

We have had our first after school/friend from school playdate. It was great and the boys got along great.  jacks tried so hard to hang out with the "big boys" and they were very generous with him.

Cooper loves Primary and is awesome during Singing-Time.  His face turns red and he sings really loud, whether he knows the words or not.

Cooper is OBSESSED with video games and computers.  He is also REALLY GOOD at video games, for a 5 year old.  Sometimes it is hard to get him to do anything, but play video games.

Cooper has been taking on more and more responsibilities around the house.  He takes care of the shoes from the front entry, he takes clothes to the washer, he can clear the table and wipe it down.  He can fold laundry and put toys away.

 Jacks is a crack-up.  his newest thing is "please-o-please-o-please" he says that with every question he asks...so cute.  He is a typical egocentric 2 year old, and everything is his. "My I-pad' My TV, My Truck. ect.  Its cute, but can get annoying.
He is super smart like Coop.  He can recognize all the letters (upper and lower case) and tell you what sound they make.  He can recognize his name, and Coopers.  He can run a touch screen and loves to watch Thomas the train on YouTube.
Jacks also has chores.  He is responsible to clear off his plate and cup from the table, put away his jammies, and clean up his trains and toys every night.

I used these 2 pictures because in profile they look so alike.  

I love it!

 We are working hard, and Playing hard.  I, especially, am trying to appreciate the small quiet moments.  Jacks coming in at 2:30 in the morning needing to rock.  Cooper needing me to sit with him in the morning, Nicks arm draped across me while he sleeps.  This is good, Life is good, I am so Lucky.

 A little "Sleepin Beauty"

2012.. don't let the door hit ya!

Lets be honest 2012 Sucked  Like, a lot!

But in between the many scary/awful/painful moments there were moments of joy and lots of Family Fun.

I have never before done a year Recap, but hey, why not! 

Plus 2012 was my lowest post total ever, so I know I missed a lot!

I will try to include pictures of things that I haven't written about yet.

I am going to assign a word or phrase to each month that sums up what we did or experienced that month.

January: Family Fun

I did not take a lot of pictures this month, but the pictures I do have are of us Together.  

We went bowling.

Jacks "Helped" me.

Probably did not make much difference in my score one way or the other. ;)

Coop wasn't too terrible, and he had so much fun!

See.  Check out those "Awesome" scores!

We are so proud! (sarcasm)

I LOVED Coops little baby shoes though.

These are feet.  Yup Earth shattering, right?  These are their cute little bathroom stools that they stand on to reach the sink

I tell them multiple times a day that they are delicious, cause seriously, so yummy!

February: Independence

Looking back at this month there are a lot of images that show my boys striking out on their own and experiencing things for themselves.

Here is Coop waiting at school for the doors to open.  At the beginning of the year he had a HUGE crush on the little girl sitting with him.  but after some rather inappropriate and traumatizing kissing episodes, he got over it.

Here the boys are chasing bubbles. (obviously)

I love watching my kids chase bubbles, not sure why. 

 You can't tell in the picture but jacks is carrying around a Thomas Train.  It has been fun the last year to see his little personality/obsessions come out.

 Here is Coop playing a Dancing game with the boys at our old daycare.

This tree was hideous.  We applied to have it removed in this month.  so Ugly.  Hated it!

Jacks learning to play independently.  and being deliciously cute!

This is a great video of Jacks trying to run down a hill.

Since February is the month of love I had to include pictures of the love of my life, being an awesome dad!

March: Different

Looking back at these pictures I noticed how different my boys are.

Coop waiting for Daddy after school.

Jacks the same day.

 Cooper at the park, Brave and Adventurous.

 Jacks, a little timid

 I know that these differences are mainly due to the fact that they are 3 years apart, but with each passing month Nick and I catch ourselves saying Coop never did that.

However:

Coop did do this with dad too!

April: Yum
So I have realized the fact that not every month will be brilliant or insightful and that the only pictures I may have will be of my children eating Popsicles. (I am so ashamed).
Still its a good picture and an awesome video, so....

Waiting for Daddy in the foyer at work.

And looking back I realize April was awesome and I have cute pictures and videos somewhere. Easter trips and egg hunts, conference, new rims, lawn mowing.... I am really glad that they are on my blog, cause I can't find anything but the aforementioned Popsicle pics.

This month I was really dealing with the school/daycare decision.   It sucked.  But it has turned out to be infinitely better than I could have imagined.  I am so thankful for April 2012, for the spiritual strength and insight I was given to find a place for my boys that is safe, and wonderful.

May: the Beginning of the End
Looking back it is hard to see things that happened in May and not be sad.  May was the last month of 2012 that I could walk/run/get up from the ground/do anything!
But it was a good month filled with graduations, birthdays (Coop and Jacks) and
  Anniversaries (My favorite post of 2012).

Random Birthday picture of Coop with his new goggles and Dinosaur feet.

June: Doing Hard Things

If you look at my blog posts in June you might not even know that I have kids.  So here is what you missed.
Some of these pictures were included in July, but they happened in June and I didn't write too much.

After surgery, with a desire for the summer to not suck to bad, the boys I went to the park several times. This was "before new car" so the block and a half took me about 15 minutes on my crutches.  My boys needed the outing so badly.  

Play group, one Thursday, was to Jumping Jacks.  I knew Coop would be fine, but that Jacks would be required to merely sit by me and do nothing.  So I hired our neighbor to "jump" with him for the hour.  He had fun, Coop had fun, and I had to sit.  I wanted to be with them so bad, it was hard to watch them play and just have to sit.  And not just at Jumping Jacks, but the whole summer.

They got really good at playing together....

And taking care of each other. (I think Jacks is picking Coopers Fleas;))

 While Daddy was a Scout Camp the boys and I went on a DQ date.
It was so fun and sooo messy!

I don't think Jacks had ever had an Ice cream cone before

Cooper won't eat the cone, so he would make me bite it down so he could reach the rest of the icecream.

 Cooper also finished T-Ball in June.
He learned a lot and got pretty good.

 Here is one of his hits.  He hit at every At-Bat in this game.

July:  Play
July was Vacation month, and we Did Play.
The boys on the mall toys.

At a birthday party

 Looking Cool

You can find Vacation Posts Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here

I am so glad we went on vacation.  I'm glad I could participate as much as I did.  I wish I could have gone into the ocean, but hey you can't have everything.

August: Back to School
My first day back, was hard.  At the end of the day I sat and cried, cause I hurt so much.  But by the 3rd week I felt good enough to get back to work. Not just teaching, but making Pots.  These are what I came up with.

 These came to the school one day.
The note said " Hope this makes your day a just little better. Love You! Nick "
Yah, It made my day better.

 Jacks newest Bad Habit.  He bites his fingers, not his nails, his fingers, and toes.
We have had to band aid his fingers multiple times.

Leaving the boys was hard, but I quickly discovered that it would be easier because of the amazing people that I found to watch them.  They really love my kids.  And are so wonderful with them.

 Yup, Delicious!

September: um..we may be in a Fight.
The month started Great! An Amazing Camping Trip, Good Friends.
I made this at work.

Remember this post.  I was so excited that day, to sit cross legged again was awesome and made me feel like I was going to be ok.

Tuesday Night I went on a Bike ride.  I felt so strong, so capable, so on my way.
Wednesday morning I told my 1st period class about my bike ride of the night before.
I should have known something was up though, because I did this to my platter.

Then I fell.
The puddle was so tiny, so stupid.
As soon as I fell I knew it was bad. Really bad.

October: The End of the Beginning
October was hard, like so hard.  But the boys didn't stop being adorable, or needing me. so here is what they did in October.

Jacks got sick (again)
So we stayed home.
This is the first Picture I texted to nick. "He is being so good"

This is about 3 minutes later "Never-mind"

 Conference Sunday we drove up to Kolob Lake for a picnic.

{Posing}

 This is the Cute Little Cooper-Man,
that Coop made for School.
I made the clothes, he decorated the rest of it.

 Reading with Dad

Golfing
Where'd the ball Go?

Making Mini-Golf look Cool

I haven't written down the surgery decision/story.

At my appointment we were given the option to just do an arthroscopy, and hope that fixed everything, or do the "whole shebang" see June, and actually fix it.

Sucked.  The "whole shebang" meant a guaranteed 6 weeks on Crutches, Again.

But the arthroscopy meant maybe not fixing the problems.

So after prayers, fasting, temple trips and more doctor consultations. we decided on the Arthroscopy, but gave my doctor the power to do "The whole shebang", if he decided it needed it.

Up to this point I had had 2 ultrasounds to check for clots in my leg.  One of them was followed by an Emergency CT scan, because the blood flow in my Femoral Artery was all wonky. Calling Nick and asking him to come to the hospital for that was terrifying and awful. It just felt like if it wasn't one thing it was another. That CT was followed by an appointment with my OB/GYN to check for Tumors on my ovaries, then a consultation with a vascular surgeon.
We never figured out for sure what up with my Femoral Artery, but all the specialists agree that it is not life or leg threatening.

So glad October is over!

November: Alone

Coopers confidence in his reading has really taken off lately.  I walked in on him reading to Jacks one night, I I tried to video it, but as soon as he knew I was there he started asking for help.
here is the video I did get

I spent the first 20 days of November alone.  The boys went to the babysitters in the morning, Nick went to work and I sat at home.
The boys and Nick would come home, I would try to make dinner, but Nick would end up making it and doing the housework most of the time.

I did get to go do Coopers Thanksgiving Party at school.  they had the most rockin little hats, and it was so fun!

We drove to Nicks folks for Thanksgiving.  They live 7 hours away so long, and made even longer because  we had to stop every hour, so I could walk and stretch.

I took these picture of the boys on one of our "Pit-Stops"

Here is Jack next to his favorite thing ever: His Track!

We have to build this at least one a day.
We have made a house rule that the track is packed up every night.

I went back to work the 25th

3 weeks left in the 2nd quarter.

December:  Coming back

We are starting to find our places as a family again.

Cooper is taking on more responsibilities and chores.

Getting a sock from the laundry

Jacks: hanging out with the trains.

Things are starting to work again, for all of us.
I think Nick is glad to have me back in the mommy role, although he has been great at picking up the slack.

Goodbye 2012
.............
Good riddance
.........
 .