Carter's Fall Update 2016

Carter is still on a Pokemon Go kick. Before he got a binder for his cards he would organize them like this and then hope that nobody would mess them up for days at a time.

"I want to learn how to do roller skating. And I have roller skates but I don't know how to do them yet." 

Friends!! Carter always wants to be with his buddies. There are a couple neighborhood guys that frequently come over as well as some good buddies from school that he invites over to play. A good day for Carty Man is one FILLED with friends and activities.

I am amazed by his upper body strength! Ninja boy for sure!

This fall Carter played soccer and now is trying skating lessons.

Carter is a daddy's boy and LOVES Pokemon Go.

He likes to entertain us:)

Football game!!

He is always wrestling, running, throwing, jumping, and making noise! Such energy...it's crazy to me!!!

Turkey Bingo winner!!

Carterisms from the past couple of months:

-Carter: "I heard the sweetest song ever today! It goes 'Dun....Dun Dun Dun...Dun Dun Dun' and it's amazing!!"

Me: (at an embarrassingly loud level) "IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER IT'S THE THRILL OF THE FIGHT. RISING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF OUR RIVALS...!"

Carter: (mouth open) "HOW did you know that??!"

- Carter: "Mom, we said a swear word in Sunday school today."
Me: 😯
"Ohhh wait, was it in a Christmas carol?"
Carter: "Yup."
Me: "Buddy, an ass is another word for a donkey. But you can ONLY call a donkey that at Christmas, when you are singing. EVERY OTHER TIME a donkey is just a donkey. Got it?"
Carter: 😯

"How long will we have Ava? She's obnoxious but I don't want her to leave!!"

-Carter wants to be around people and have a planned activity happening 24-7

-We've realized that when he is anticipating fun, he has a VERY HARD time settling down.

-He is doing great in school and loves reading Magic Tree House books.

-One of his highlights of the day is if we let him play games on the ipad.

Cooper's Fall Update 2016

We asked Cooper what he was playing. He said it was a game he made up called "Reckless".

 He's always climbing and testing the limits:) In the picture on the right he is stacking chairs on top of a table for a higher seat.

 Thankfully he will still agree to use safety gear! 

 Cooper has gotten quite a few Viking Pride awards this fall. One in particular was for giving his snack to a buddy that didn't have one:) Another one was for telling a teacher that he liked her fancy shoes! 

 He is losing a bunch of teeth! 

 Cheering for the Hawkeyes with dad.

 Mr. fashion. Still loves shorts all the time. Loves to tuck in his shirts. And loves to match colors:) 

 He played soccer this fall and is taking skating lessons now with his brothers.

 His reading is really coming along. We've started giving him Pokemon cards as prizes for doing extra reading at home. The first morning after we hung up the book chart he woke me up at 6am telling me he was ready to get reading!!

 Classic Cooper play. 

Cooper got a little annoyed before dinner because Tim was playing Counting Crows a little too loud...
Tim: "Hey Coops, you might want to head downstairs because I'm about to crank up "Omaha"!
Coops: "That's okay. I like Omaha. That's our code name for the girls we chase on the playground!"

 Football game this fall.

Cooperisms from the fall:

-I sent the boys down to the dress-up box to figure out what they want to be for Halloween. I got this Captain America one on clearance last year and the boys were complaining that it was too big. Of course I did what any mom would do and put it on..."Hey boys! It's Mamma America!" 

Cooper: "Mom, that is sort of embarrassing."

-Cooper: "Mom, did you know that there is a poop emoji on your phone? A poop-moji?"
Me: "Yeah buddy. I do." (My friends send that to me. All. The. Time.)
Cooper: "Mom, why do adults need a poop-moji on their phones?"

-He still calls us Casey and Tim. But has started calling me mom. Tim is a little upset:)

-Carter walked into the kitchen one night complaining about dinner. 

Me: "Well thank you Carter, that was encouraging!"

Cooper: "Mama!!!! That is WAY TOO SASSY!"

He calls us out on our stuff:)

-Cooper: "Dad, who do you love better? Me or Cros?"

Tim: "Well that impossible to answer. That would be like me asking you who you love better between me and mom."

Cooper: "Well that's easy. Mom!"

-On the way to school one cold morning (Cooper in tshirt and shorts as usual)

Me: "Cooper aren't you cold?

Cooper: "No, I'm hot blooded!"

Carter: "Every human being is warm blooded Cooper."

Cooper: "Yeah well my heart is burning inside of my chest!"

-"I can't wait until I go to college."

Me: "Why buddy?"

Cooper: "Because I'll be able to have any cereal I want! And will they have eggs too?"

Me: "Yes"

Cooper: "Yessssss!:

-"Mom, don't vote for the girl. She'll take away your guns."

-"Mom, why does the girl want to restrict guns? Is it because she likes birds?"

Surgery, Halloween, & Our Crazy Lives

The past month has been pretty crazy! Tim was gone for 4 days of training in southern Minnesota. He got back late on the night of his birthday and the next morning I went in for surgery on my leg (to remove a vein where I was getting blood clots). 

 My parents came to help which was a huge blessing!! 

 Recovery took longer than we thought which made for a pretty crazy couple of weeks. In that span we went Trick-or-Treating with some friends (Cooper's friend Channing from school and his family). Tim also spoke at a conference in Fargo and went to a Hawkeye football game. We also had a big outreach on campus, hosted our regional team for their training visit, and also put on a retreat for our Juniors and Seniors that are thinking about missions. 

 And we still have this crazy, amazing, busy, loud, adorable girl! Whew...we made it but WE. ARE. TIRED!!

 In that crazy stretch I got a babysitter for Ava so I could take the boys to a UND women's basketball game! So fun!! I've been discipling one of the captains this year and the boys met a bunch of the other players at our fall retreat! Here are some other highlights:

 Neighborhood play dates!

 The boys are taking skating lessons on Sunday evenings! 

 Viking Elementary's Turkey Bingo fundraiser. Carter won the Lemonade stand! 

 Swimming while Tim was at the Life Ops retreat.