Easter Egg Hunt!

6 Apr 2008

I know that this is a little late but we really did have a fun easter egg hunt on easter. We all went to Grandma James' house and found eggs full of candy. Then we ate lots of candy and probably went to bed without brushing our teeth. Yay for dental insurance!

This is William. He has a pink basket because he forgot his and had to borrow one from Grandma.

This is Derek. Notice the Thomas the Tank Engine toy clutched firmly in his left hand. Even candy cannot make Derek forget about Thomas.

This is Tyler. He of course found the most eggs. We made him share.

This is Jared. I guess his egg had a dog in it.

A Fish Out of Water

2 Apr 2008

Tyler did his first book report! I am so proud of him. I am also amazed that they are assigning out book reports in kindergarten now. When I was in kindergarten all we learned how to do was color on paper instead of walls and pronounce our own names correctly. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but I'm sure that I didn't do a book report. Anyway, Tyler chose to do his on a book called "A Fish Out of Water." I don't know if it's his favorite book, but it's by far my favorite book to read to him so he might have picked it to make me happy. It's about a boy who feeds his fish too much and it turns into a giant fish.

Jared and I helped Tyler to make a paper mache fish sculpture and type out 5 sentences about the book. It was a big hit at parent night! Unfortuneatly, all the other kids had posters and so Tyler felt left out and wished that we'd done a poster instead. So here's advice for all you budding parents out there - don't be creative or awesome, just help your kids make boring old posters.

Going to Bed

29 March 2008

A few weeks ago, Tyler called me from his bed to tell me that his tooth was loose. I came in to find him jumping all over the place and being really silly.

I got a good grip on his bottom front tooth with a washcloth and pulled and pulled (it wasn't really all that loose) and finally it popped out! Yay! Tyler lost another tooth. He got another $1.25 but this time the dollar bill was folded into a flower that holds the quarter in its center. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the dollars.
Apparently Derek wanted his tooth pulled out too so he helped himself to some nitrious oxide that he found just lying around.
Fortunately, he snapped out of it just in time to cuddle himself to sleep in his sleeper with his Home Depo Pez dispenser car, his Thomas the Tank Engine book, 2 sippy cups filled with water and 1 million blankets.

Tyler's 6th Birthday!!!

21 Mar 2008
Tyler made out very well for his 6th Birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Cooper gave him a cowboy costume to match the cowboy hat and horse he got for Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa James bought lots of cool sciencey stuff they found at the planetarium, including a chemistry kit, bubbles, and color-changing slime. Tyler's Mom and Dad got him an official, Star Wars lightsaber (this one lights up in either Sith or Jedi colors, and these sweet blades shoot out of the sides of the hilt when you press a secret button!), and the dart gun shown above. There's no better way to describe the gun than to just hit 'play.'

Kay's Postcard Quiz

We're really proud of how Kay's illustration career is taking off and now she even has her very own website! Some of you may have received postcards in the mail advertising the site. When we received ours, we thought it was beautiful AND thought-provoking!This is the thought that it provoked, please vote and lend your voice!

Pita Pockets

2 Mar 2008

I know that my pizza dough recipe makes good pizza crust but Joseph suggested that it also might make good pita pockets. I baked three pizza crusts in a row and they all poofed up like balloons. I think Joseph might be right. I got the recipe from my new favorite cookbook "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook." It quite litterally is the perfect cook book. Though the recipies are not for the faint of heart, they make the best food I've ever tasted. Here is the pizza dough recipe:

4 c. flour

2 & 1/4 tsp. rapid-rise yeast

1 & 1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 & 3/4 c. very warm (almost hot) water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixer with the dough hook attachment and all the wet ingredients in a large measuring cup. Turn on the mixer and drizzle in the wet ingredients. Knead in the mixer for 5 minutes - add flour 1 Tbl at a time if needed. The dough should stick to the bottom of the bowl but not the sides. Make the dough into a ball and put back in the bowl with plastic wrap on the top. I turn on the oven to 350 and let the dough rise on the top of the stove for 1 hour. Turn the oven up to 500 and make sure you have a baking stone inside. Divide the dough into balls and roll out about 1/4 inch thick. To make a pizza crust make sure to poke a lot of holes in the dough with a fork or put on the toppings before you bake. For the pitas, just plop it in on the stone as is (no holes). Sprinkle the baking stone with corn meal - flour will burn - the corn meal does too but not as much as flour. Bake for about 5 min.

Welcome RALPHIE!

1 Mar 2008

Yesterday we picked up our new puppy Ralphie. He is a Bichon Frise and he is such a good dog! He came already paper trained and is starting to like is crate more and more and care about his new collar less and less - and after only 1 day. He and Derek are pretty much soul mates and take turns leading each other all around the house. Earlier today, I saw them each chewing on different corners of Derek's favorite blanket. Tyler likes to organize all of Ralphie's toys and make sure that he gets to play with each and every one. Here are some photos:

This is Ralphie.

Tyler and Derek are so excited to have a dog!

More excitement.

Dad was not so much excited as he was sleepy.

Cute little video of our cute little dog.

Here Are Some Videos

26 Feb 2008

I don't have Joseph's litterary prowess and probably won't ever create anything like the Emilyusaurus Rex (or what ever it was) even if I could. But I can post videos to my blog. Yay!

We're Going to TEXAS!

25 Feb 2008

It has been quite awhile since my last post. On the 11th I started working full time and the extra 15 hours a week has really cut into my blogging time! Oh well, the extra money is super nice. Good news - Jared received his acceptance letter from the Air Force psychology residency program in San Antonio. I am so relieved. Jared will report to COT (commissioned officer's training) in Alabama on June 30th. He will stay there for 5 weeks and then report to the Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB (air force base) in San Antonio. We can't go with him to Alabama but we will for sure be there in Texas. I don't know if we'll move before Jared's training or after, but either way it will be sometime this summer (we'll see how long it takes to sell our house). And, yes, Lisa and Rachel and Cory and all the little Maughan kids, you are more than welcome to come visit anytime. As they say, "everything's bigger in Texas" including the houses. I can't find anything with 4 bedrooms that's less than 35,000 sq ft. After one year of residency, Jared will be assigned to a base somewhere in in the US for the next 3 years.

Here is a picture of what Jared might look like in a military uniform. (Note: You might recognize the expression on Jared face. It was featured in the Valentines Day blog 2 weeks ago :)

Here is a picture of the base in Texas.

Here is a picture of the Alamo - located in San Antonio.

Here is a picture of the Riverwalk - also located in San Antonio.

Here is a picture of the puppy we will be getting on Saturday. His name is Ralphie.

This post was published by Suzie - not by Jared like it says below!

Valentines Day

15 Feb 2008

Happy Birthday Brian (Feb 14th) and Kay Lynn (Feb 16th)! We love you guys!

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and it was such a good day. Jared had roses delivered to my office and all the ladies (all 2 of them) were jealous. They made my office smell so nice. We went out to lunch at Cafe Rio and then Tyler and I made chicken enchiladas and heart shaped sugar cookies for dinner. Tyler got me a cute little kitty (purple stuffed kitty - not a real cat!) for a valentine present and I got him the Ratatoullie DVD. Derek got Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs. Jared got a gift card to Pet Smart which he used to set up his fish tank and 4 gold fish. All in all, it was a pretty great day!