Boo Boo Face

I was taking photos of Charlotte the other day and Joshua was trying to get her to smile at him. He thought it would be funny (being a little boy) to growl like a lion at her. She didn't agree with his humor. But...I was able to capture the moment on camera! Charlotte works up to a cry. She doesn't just let it out like her siblings did. She pouts and makes what we call the Boo Boo face...then she lets it out! It really is cute, as much as a baby crying can be.

Here is the progression:

Charlotte looking at Joshua

"I don't like what you're doing!"
Uh-Oh!

Waaahhh!

Oh, there is my Mommy!

Cast Away

Joshua is cast free! He got it taken off on Monday, and he is a happy boy! I feel like summer just began for us as we are doing outdoors activities again! This is Joshua just before having his cast cut off.
And just after!

That night we had a celebration complete with a cast away pirate cake that turned out to look like a box more thana boat, but he didn't mind!

First of the Summer

We picked our first tomato of the season. Karis has waited for over a month for this tomato to grow and ripen...and it was yummy!

More of Pop's Visit

One of the day's that Pop was here, we went to the Museum of Appalachia. The children LOVED it. I was supprised that they did. They loved the animals on the property.


This peacock was a particular favorite. There were several peacocks on the property, and their call is so distinct. The children were mesmorized by the pattern of the feathers.

This sundial was very interesting to Karis

Joshua loved watching the chickens and baby chicks in their chicken coop

He was so tired from all the fun that he fell asleep as soon as we got home. He didn't even make it to his bed!

Before Joshua broke his leg, we had several visits from various family members. My grandfather came and spent two days with our family and that was a lot of fun! I love seeing my children play with their great grandfather - it reminds me of when I was a child and how much I loved being with him...still do of course! Being with my grandfather also reminds me of the faithfulness of God. My 90 year old grandfather has tried his whole live to live in an honorable way and his life commends him. I love my Pop, and I love seeing my children do the same.

I don't know why the photos are posting side by side, but...oh well.

Karis is still trying to make everything out of paper. This is her attempt to make a robot costume out of paper. I actually thought this one was pretty creative. She used paper plates for the shoes, paper sleeves and then she got the kitchen strainer for her hat. This girl is going to love school!

Doing Alright

I am going to try to get caught up on posting photos on our family blog. Needless to say, updating the blog has been low on the priority list! Joshua is doing well. We are thankful that he is supposed to get his cast off tomorrow (June 23rd!) He has adapted remarkably well. I have been so thankful that he has still been sleeping through the night. I have heard of children who don't while haveing a cast on due to the insatiable itching. Joshua has only one time mentioned his leg itching inside of his cast. That is probably because he has two pennies, and a toy disc in his cast that I know of. Tomorrow we will find out what else he has shoved in there!

I have heard of an online company that you can send the link to your blog and they will print and bind an annual edition of your blog... does anyone know about this? I would love to have a printed scrapbook/journal ...

Poor Guy

Well, we have one sad little guy in our home. Sunday night Joshua broke his leg! He was jumping on our trampoline with several other people, and it got the best of him. I guess he just landed wrong...and broke his tibula and fibula - both the bones in his lower leg.

This sad little boy is doing fairly well though. He is sleeping rather well in light of the circumstances, and we are thankful for that. Karis is driving him crazy trying to take care of him!

Joshua chose to have a purple cast! We thought that was funny. I would have guessed that he would have chosen red - like his favorite race car - Lighting McQueen. But, he chose purple. For two weeks he will have this cast which goes above the knee. And then the plan is for him to have another one that will not go above the knee. The second cast might be water-proof, which would be good so that we could give him a bath, and he could even swim!

For two days, Joshua has been watching movies, but today he ventured onto the floor to play with his cars and airplanes. That was encouraging.

We are thankful that little bones are reported to heal quickly. The doctor said that he should be running around in a month or so. We are praying for that to be the case.

Our family has been so blessed by so many phone calls and e-mails. Joshua's babysitter even dropped off a coloring book to help him pass the time! Thanks Tera!

Cousins

My sister and her husband came and visited us for a few days this week. We had a great time. I will post more photos of the visit soon.

Ballerina

Karis loves her ballet class. Ann Lamachia teaches 3 ballet classes to different age groups at our church. She is very excited to have her end of the year ballet recital on May 6th. Here she is in her recital attire. Ballet has been very good for Karis. She has learned more than just how to do "tiny runs", "the flamingo posse", "toe taps", and the "cat and mouse". She has learned more about taking turns, remaining quiet in a class setting, controling her body, and participating in group activities.

Karis loves Ms. Ann. She makes ballet artwork for her weekly.

Thank you Ann for all that you teach these little ladies! They are learning more from you than you would imagine! Although the Lord gave you a house full of boys, your delicate nature is teaching my little one and the others as well. Thank you for your investment into their lives and the impression that you are leaving with them. A moment that makes me smile happened the other night as I was putting Karis to bed. She sat up and told me that she was learning a dance to a song that she recognized at church. She told me that it was for the recital and she thought it was supposed to be a suprise. She didn't even notice that if it was a suprise - she ruined it!! But what I loved about that moment was that Karis could sing the song to me and she told me that it was all about Jesus! Thank you Ann.

Tough Guy Joshua

This is Joshua's tough guy move! He is really becoming a tough little boy. He still wants to wear fairy wings from his sister's dress up collection - but less frequently! Actually, he hasn't wanted to in weeks and instead he has been playing with his army men collection and climbing on anything he can. Recently he climbed on our swing set as high as he could go and tried to jump off! Good thing his second mother, Karis was there to shout at him not to - and I of course was close behind to remove him from the high place!

"Who me? What did I do?"

Here's my sweet guy! His horid haircut is finally starting to grow out!

Here is the jumping maniac!

Worms

I don't know how it started...but our two older children are very interested in finding worms. They turn over every rock in our backyard looking for them. A few days ago it rained, and when the sun came out I sent them out in their rainboots (a favorite in and of itself). I didn't expect them to find as many worms as they did. With the recent rain there were a ton of worms close to the surface of the ground! They got a bucket and started collecting them.

I know, it is gross to me too. But I am trying not to pass on my aversion to bugs! My mother would scold me if I did!

The worm's fate is as expected...either death by crushing from the not so gentle Joshua, or burried alive in the sand box by Karis - who prides herself on being gentle to them! Too bad we weren't going fishing that afternoon - we would have had plenty of bait!

A Few Funnies

Karis has been saying a lot of funny things lately. Her vocabulary is amazing to me. To think that she didn't talk until 2 1/2 years old... now she doesn't stop! Here are a few of the funny things she has said recently:

"Mommy, I know you are allergic to real kitties...but are you allergic to pretend ones too?"

At the breakfast table: "Mommy, I know why they call this oatmeal! It is because it is made of oats and we eat it as a meal!" Once I tried to explain to her what meal is and how they roll out the oats she laughed and said, "Roll out oats... that is so funny Mommy"

Sweet Baby

Here are a few new photos of our sweet little one. She is so sweet. Being 6 weeks old, she is beginning to smile a lot and coo a little too. Karis gets a lot of smiles from Charlotte. It has been amazing to me how great of a big sister Karis is. She is really helpful with Charlotte.

It is hard to catch her smiles on camera because they come and go so quickly and eratically, but here is a blurry shot of the end of one of her smiles. It melts my heart!

This was too funny for me to not post. Charlotte sneezed right as I took a photo!

I took this photo on Monday - and I want to take it again when the light is better. But I still thought it was sweet.

We are thankful for the mercy of God on our lives. There has been so much grace with the addition of our third child. I am continually amazed and humbled as I contemplate the steadfast love of God to an undeserving mom like me!

Mommy's Make-up

This is NOT a black eye! Joshua disappeared upstairs for a few minutes - and when we went to go find him - this is what we saw!

Seatbelt Lessons

Since we broke into the backseat of our van with the addition of our third child, we began to teach Karis how to buckle her own seat belt. I didn't want to have to climb into the back of the van to buckle Karis every time we went somewhere, so we made a family activity out of seatbelt lessons.

Joshua cheered Karis on as Craig tried to teach her how to buckle. Honestly, I thought it would be a process of her figuring it out, but Craig is such a patient instructor, and she got it quickly! I asked Craig what other little tasks we could teach her!!

A few More Photos of Charlotte

Finally, a few more photos! I haven't beeen able to upload photos for a few days - for some reason the server was down...

A big thanks to Melanie Oldacre who took photos of Charlotte and us the night that she was born and posted them here the next day.

Craig and our three children!!

Our new family of 5!

Charlotte - 2 days old
Karis holding her little sister the day we came home from the hospital. The children love to hold their baby sister!

Charlotte Elyse born today March 3, 2008

Welcome Charlotte Elyse!
Baby Charlotte was born today, March 3 at 11:38 a.m.
7 pounds 14 ounces
21 inches

Laura said this was her best delivery yet! What an answer to prayer! Thank you Lord for your kindness and the gift that Charlotte is to the Cooper family.