Embarrased for Posting This!

So we were having dinner at some friends house tonight and got home after dark to find two cops in our house doing a search. We had locked the door but I guess it did not latch all the way and blew open. Our neighbor, which is the best neighbor ever he is always looking out for us, thought we were out of town and someone had broken in. The cops proceeded to tell us that our house looked like it had been ransacked (spelling ??) and that someone had been looking for something. Josh replied, "yeah our kids." This is the embarrassing part, our house was so messy that I would have thought the same thing as the cops. Lesson learned, I had just been telling Josh, we need to clean our house before we go anywhere.

Cooper's Birthday

It's hard to believe that another year has gone by. Cooper has grown up so much. The day was busy and full of lots of fun. It all started with opening presents, then we went for a car wash, visited an auto show, ate lunch at Burger King, rode rides at the carnival, ate pancakes (Cooper's favorite) for dinner, sang the happy birthday song (more than once), and ate basketball cake.

I didn't get a good picture, but he did blow out the candle all by himself.

Both of the boys are looking at Hallie because she was trying to eat the rocks and dirt. They are so helpful, both boys took turns taking the rocks out of her hand.

Cooper was still so mad from having to leave the carnival. We can always count on Carter to pose for the picture, I love it.

Cooper cried when it was time to leave because he had so much fun.

While Josh and I were busy making the cake this is what Carter and Cooper were doing. We set up two twin beds, one for each. Carter always asks if he can sleep with Cooper, but we tuck them in their own beds, but before Carter falls asleep he climbs in bed with Cooper.

Cooper's choice (our tradition is making a "fancy" cake of their choice for each birthday), he loves basketball. I caught him eating on the cake before it was time, when I asked him why, his response was, "We eat cake".

Roses!!!

I have always wanted rose bushes. I love that we have so many in our yard!

How could you not love these kids???

Carter is doing great in pre-school he loves it. He comes home with all of these fun things to tell me about. His imagination and word vocabulary grow everyday. He likes acting out stories and writing words, letters, and numbers. I often find him talking to Cooper and other kids as if he is the dad or mom. Carter is the best at getting Hallie to laugh.

Cooper decided to ride is three wheel down our front steps he made it to the bottom and rubbed his forehead against the concrete. It didn't look like it was going to be much more than scratches but it has turned into a big scab. A funny thing that Cooper said. We went to the doctors office and we asked him what was in his ears he replied, ear wax. Its funny because he has never said that before and I wasn't expecting that.

How Hallie has grown. She is now 17 lbs, (45%), 28 inches (85%), lets hope she gets more of Josh's height. This picture was to show her first pig tails. I love having a girl so I can dress her all in pink and give her cute hair dos. She is army crawling, and when she sees something she wants she can move fast. She also has started sitting herself up from a laying position. She loves to play and often if she could I think she would follow Carter and Cooper around the house.

Josh's "The Incredibles" Car

This is Josh's new run around. It is funny to see him drive it. It makes me think of Mr. Incredible when he drives it.

Caterpillar Things!

These things have attached to our rose bushes and trees in our yard. I think it is gross, Josh just calls it the natural process. Carter and Cooper are facinated with the caterpillar's.

A Few Recent Photos and Update

We found out Cooper had a bilateral hearing loss shortly after he turned 2. We got him fitted for hearing aides and he has been wearing them since July. With aides he can hear almost everything. When he started wearing the aides we noticed a big difference in him. Before the aides he was so quiet and was content to play by himself and would be very shy around other adults and kids. Since the aides he loves talking to adults and kids and is learning new words and sounds everyday. In February, we did further testing with an Audiologist and ENT Doctor. During the doctor visit we discovered that Carter and Hallie also have bilateral hearing loss. We were shocked, Carter can talk so well and he seems to hear very well. Hallie did not pass her infant hearing screen so we were concerned that she might having hearing loss, we do not know what she can and cannot hear but so far she seems to respond to our voices. What a day that was to find out that all three of your children cannot hear. After going through the emotions and doing some reading on deafness I am just glad that their hearing loss is only mild to moderate. They can hear most speech without aides and will be able to communicate orally.

Hallie is getting big so fast. She can now sit up by herself for long periods of time and when she is ready she will fall to her tummy. She is getting so close to crawling, she has the motion but usually scoots backward. She loves attention and is a very happy baby.

Carter has started going to preschool. He loves going. He asks me everyday if he can go to kindergarten. He always has stories to tell when he comes home. I am still trying to decide what is a story and what really happened. He is good at stretching the truth. Carter is getting so smart. He has started picking up conversations that Josh and I have. He called Grandma tonight and tried to tell her something that Josh and I had talked about. Guess we better start being careful about what we talk about around him.

Cooper is making so much progress. Eight months ago he knew about 5 words; now he has so many words and learns more everyday. It is so exciting to watch him learn language.
I posted the pictures of Cooper to show how mad he gets when I get the camera out to take pictures. We seem to get very few with him happy. I thought that it was just because he wanted the camera but after family pictures this last weekend I am not sure why he hates it so much. Carter on the other hand is such a poser, except when we get a good picture of Cooper, then Carter is doing something funny or is not looking.

Navajo Bridge

Grand Canyon where Jodus Freaked Out

Josh made me say it!!

Carter's Art Work and Writing Skills

Oh, Time Sure Does Fly!!!

It seems like last week I was going to update the blog with Christmas pictures, and now the month of January is almost over. The kids are getting so big and so smart.

Carter is my 5 year old going on 20.

Cooper makes me giggle every day with a new word or phrase that he learns, and gets so excited that I understand what he is trying to tell me. How do you say no to a kid when they learn how to say more doughnut please? And when I give in he says, "Thank you mom, your welcome".

Hallie is weighing in at 15 lbs 25 inches long, and still has blue eyes. She is definitely our girl, and stubborn too. When I took her to get her shots last time, she cried just as hard when they gave her the oral shot as the poke in the leg. I was telling the nurses that my boys loved the drink and drank it up. The nurses replied she is the first baby that they had seen cry over the oral shot. Hallie is mobile. I am not ready but she is. I leave the room for a second and see has rolled to the other side of the room. She screams when she gets to the couch or chair because she doesn't know how to roll the other way.

After dinner the boys started playing under the table, they even got Hallie in on it. I thought it was so cute how they were all playing together. I just had to snap a picture. Oh and like the boy's new hair cut?

Snow! In Arizona?
The flakes were the biggest that I have ever seen. It was crazy. They shut everything down for 2 days because of 3 inches, not what we are used to.

Hair Cut "Buzz" Time!

The boys always have random sleeping pictures, I guess Hallie is just following in their footsteps.

Let's just say that you don't want to see your baby like this, and not moving, when you enter the room, but once I saw she was just sleeping I thought it was cute.

Grandma gave us a cupcake pan for Christmas. The boys always love the commercial, and ask if we can make a big cupcake, well now we can.