Spring is NOT here....

Welcome Spring!?!?!  I am quite confused by this whole Spring Equinox deal as I thought Spring meant warm weather and no snow. I keep asking my parents, "Are you sure it is spring?"   We had a photo shoot last week with our Easter outfits on and with a nice, fuzzy bunny (NOT the scary one at the mall).  Here are our favorite pictures from our portrait sitting.  Happy Easter! 

These pictures are so handsome of us, I must say.  Cooper looks a bit like Orville Redenbacher and I look like.... a handsome stud.

Welcome Huck!  Mommy's friend Emily had her baby this week.  They were not sure if they were having a Hadley or Huck, but out came a boy, so Huck it is!  He is absolutely beautiful~ when Mommy told Cooper that the baby's name was Huck he said, " Why Huck.... because that is so, so, so, so cute?!?!?"  We look forward to seeing him soon.  Mommy loves the above photo because Huck is ALREADY loving his time with the ladies. Just look at him smiling :)

Speaking of so cute.... we were jamming in Mommy's Jeep on our way back from preschool to Will.i.am and Britney Spears ("Scream and Shout").  We transport Ethan~ Mommy's friend who also job shares works opposite days, so we bring Ethan to preschool and back to his daycare provider's house afterwards.  Mommy loves this time together because she gets to see 3 crazy boys talking about random stuff and rapping/jamming together.

In closing, we had a few good days of outdoor play, before the last couple of FREEZING cold and miserable ones.  I asked Cooper if he wanted to ride on my Kitty Cat snowmobile and this is what Mommy captured on her iphone...it is titled, "Brotherly Love."

Darn Snow!

 Are you tired of all of this snow?  As much as I love riding my snowmobiling each day, I told Mommy that I was ready for the snow to melt away.  Doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon!  Last weekend, Mommy ran the Shamrock Shuffle at the University on a team of 23 other teachers.  It was part of a wellness program the district is promoting and Mommy joined a team with some of her friends.  We went to cheer her on (Cooper rang the annoying cow bell as she ran by).

 We stationed ourselves mid-race and at the end.  There were over 1,000 runners participating in the race and the conditions were HORRIBLE!  It was rainy, drizzly, sleeting, slushy and chilly. 

 Mommy ran by us and was so happy to see her cute boys cheering her on.  It gave her the boost she needed to keep going.  In case you are curious, Mommy always turns super red when she runs and exercises.  She doesn't sweat normally, so she mainly looks like a tomato and stays red the entire day.  In her words, "it's annoying."

 Blowing kisses.....

 Last Stretch!

 All done!  Way to run Mommy!  She ran 3.2 miles (yes, .1 longer than a 5K) in 32 minutes.  This is not a fast split time to her standards but they did not start the time as people went across the starting line and her group was half-way back, meaning it took FOREVER (5ish minutes to get on the course) and the conditions were terrible.  Her goal was around an 8 minute pace, so she is thinking with those factors, she met her goal :)

We enjoyed a morning swim and play at a local waterpark.  We had gift cards to use at our favorite place, so we went on a Sunday morning and it was a blast.  We went down the waterslides a bazillion times and loved the lazy river.  This was the only picture from the day since our parents were in the water all morning with us.

 My hockey season came to an end.  We were all ready for this since I started playing in the GOAL camp in October.  I continued to play up to receive more instruction and ice time.  I am doing a lot better with skating and stick handling, but need to work on "game" strategies and puck handling.  I love hockey and will play again next winter.

 Mommy hopes I will wave to her in the stands when I am in high school too :)

 A few days after our last practice, we had a fun night with pizza and ice time.  Cooper came to play (me too finally gets a chance to play with the big boys) and Daddy enjoyed dusting off his hockey skates to join in. 

 We received ANOTHER snow storm that delayed schools this past week.  We received a ton of snow and the roads were terrible.  We attempted to shovel and then decided to play.  When Mommy asked Cooper what he was doing with the big shovel instead of his kid one he said, "Shoveling this darn snow!"  I think he is even sick of this stuff!

 Here is our tunnel/snow hill in the front yard and Cooper wanted to see how his tricycle does in deep snow (um, not too well).

 Mommy' fingerprint

 This is what a snow day looks like in our basement.......

 Since hockey is over, I moved on to another sport- swimming!  Hockey has taken up Saturday mornings and Wednesday nights so I was unable to sign up this winter for swim lessons.  You can tell... the other kids in Pike 2 are much faster than me and they all are fearless in the water.  I am doing fine, just need to work on getting faster and gaining confidence with doing big bobs (all the way up and all the way down into the water).

We must be craving summer.... we made malts with Daddy last night and Mommy caught him doing this.... no wonder Cooper is all jazzed up at 4:00 a.m. (True story~ Cooper has been waking up between 4-5 a.m. for about a month.  Mommy is now desperate for answers, medications, WHATEVER (mostly sleep) so she called the pediatrician to see what he suggests. We are patiently awaiting a call back today. Good thing for noise machines because my sleep has not been disturbed even with our rooms next to one another.

 This is called bribery.  Mommy is trying to get lots of shopping done before Mom/Dad go to Cabo in 10 days.  She bribes Cooper with treats and the DUM rides that suck up all of her quarters.  Cooper brought his constant companion, Lovey, to the mall just for the occasion. 

 We started spring cleaning at our house.  We are giving baby items away, consigning some items and getting ready for our summer garage sale.  Mommy and Daddy have decided that a family of 4 is perfect for us.  They think we have good balance and with all the running and vacationing we do, it is just easier to have 4 people.  Plain and simple.  So, no reason to keep wondering if Lily or Lola or Christian or Cassius (Daddy's nickname) will arrive anytime soon.  They will not, at least our parents hope they won't.  We ended up getting new bedding and Cooper and I switched beds.  Cooper now has my twin bed and since his crib converted to a full size bed, I got his.  Cooper picked out rocket ship bedding, along with planet stickers (stars that glow in the dark, a throwback to Mommy's childhood).

 Mommy would like Daddy to paint the green stripe either red or orange (that's a hint Dad) to match, otherwise the colors worked perfectly with his new bedding.

 Cooper has planet and star clips to hang up his artwork from preschool.

 And here are the glow and the dark stars.  The good part is you don't see them in the daytime, they are flat and blend into the ceiling paint, thankfully.

 And here is my pirate bedroom with my huge bed.  I was crabby when Mommy took this picture.... we added matching decals around the room and my paints and curtains match well too!

 We hung up our Disney signed frame in my room since the pirate theme and Disney ship seem similar.  We love that photo and our memories from the trip.

And I insisted on taking a photo (myself) of the $40 ship lamp I NEEDED so badly for my room (Mommy is rolling her eyes).

We will be sure to post our Easter photos from our photo shoot this past Tuesday on our next blog post (this weekend)!  We loved the fuzzy bunny we were able to include in our pictures and Cooper and I look like little gentlemen in our pictures....then again, when do we not look less than adorable!?!?!?

Lovin' It!

 Happy end of February!  We had a busy few weeks, but then again, when is it NOT busy in our house?  Our above photo is from Lutsen, more details on that trip below...

 Valentine's was good and bad.  The good part was we had some special presents for each other, including Cooper's artwork from Come and Play (above) and this adorable plate Jenny (daycare Mama) helped us make for Mommy and Daddy.  They loved it! Cooper and I have our fingertips and toes stamped onto the plate.  We had black toes for a few days :)  The bad part was we were sick, once again.  Details below!

 It was like Christmas on Valentine's Day morning.  First off, school was cancelled for Mommy due to some snow and ice.  This meant we had a PJ morning and gift opening.  We each got a Potato Head (Cooper wanted Mrs and I wanted Mr).  We play with these constantly.

 We received Peter Pan, some slippers, light-up boots (Cooper) and light-up shoes (me), candies, dollars, and some games.  We feel loved!

 At school, we had a Valentine's party and our family made this Mail Truck for my Valentine Box.  Mommy assembled it and I artistically colored it.

 Cooper and I went to the pediatrician that morning, we were diagnosed with pneumonia, so that meant ALL 3 boys (Daddy included) had pneumonia, were coughing like crazy and needed meds.  We are SO done with this winter @)(%_@!#)!~

 Earlier that week, we had a playdate with Laurie Jo and her two girls, Lucy and Lily.  The Moms heard some commotion and came downstairs to find us jumping in the spare bedroom crib.  All they could say was.... "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!" 

 We had plans to head to Lutsen Friday night for a long weekend with our good friends Meggen, Pete, Lauren, Abby, Margy and Bob.  Because we all had pneumonia (minus Mom) we decided to get some steroid med's for Cooper and drive up on Saturday morning.  With some new medication, Cooper was MUCH better by morning and we were off to Lutsen- just a 'short' 4 1/2 hour drive.  Once there, it was time for snow fun!  Daddy's goal was to make it home in the same vehicle, which we did!  No crashes and we had a great time!

 We had a dance party in the living room (Lauren LOVES to dance... she is the leader of our pack as a BIG Kindergartner)

 We made snow tunnels and did tons of sledding!

 Lauren and I are two peas in a pod... we both love to be outside all.day.long.  Cooper was still a bit under the weather, so he had shorter outdoor outings and was cranky.

 Mommy attempted to squish her hinder on this saucer and try it out.  Yep, it was fast!

 Crabby Coop (so cute below) wanted to try the Superman position while sledding... he just didn't want to look while Pete was navigating the sled.

 We love his baby blues.....

 Yay!  We finally get a photo with ALL kids in it.  Cooper even cracked a smile :)

 I had my first backseat driver experience.  Lauren wanted to ride with me, so I scooted forward and let her ride along.  I went very slowly and took my job and her safety very seriously. We only tipped twice as I attempted to make a few turns into the 4 foot high snowbanks. 

 We went for a family snowmobile ride- I rode on Mommy's sled and Cooper rode on Daddy's sled.  There was soooo much snow up north and it was beautiful!  We had a great time outdoors, couldn't get enough!

 And here is our annual kids on the step photo.  We look forward to many years of winter fun together at the "cabin!"

 Cooper and I were busy shaving in our tub (we have suction mirrors) and our parents caught us... only another year or two of these pictures before it will be totally inappropriate!

 This past weekend, everyone gathered at Grammy's house on Saturday for a fun day on the lake!  We hung out with our cousins, went snowmobiling, ice skating and ice fishing together.  We love seeing them and couldn't believe how BIG Emmett is getting (almost 4 months old!)

 Me and Uncle Ben

 Bennett and Uncle Matt

 Me showing off doing the kneeling thing on my snowmobiling while cruising loops

 Letting "me too" ride on back while slowly riding on the lake

 Mommy took this photo before work last week, just look how handsome we are in our matching shirts (compliments of Grandma Carla!)

Our last tidbit is from our volunteer night at Feed My People Food Bank.  Mommy had conferences so Daddy took us to package food with his Rotary Club.  We had a great time and were excellent helpers.  We understand why we were there~ to help people who don't have food get food.  We are blessed to not have to worry about food.  We were able to wear funny hats, scoop rice, and we hung out with the Gordy's Guru (silly guy who is a big kid at heart and is a spokesperson for a local grocery store).

 We will definitely do this again...Papa, we know you are so proud of us as you do this kind acts too!

Hugs to all this last week in February and we hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!