1st Birthday Party

We had Shiloh's 1st birthday party last night.

 

Here is her personal cake.

 And here we are singing, yup you guessed it, "happy birthday".

 Here she is thinking. I wonder what she was thinking about.

 And here I am trying to talk her into eating lots of sugar.

 maybe....

 but I don't want to get too messy...

 OK, sure, I'll eat some, but only if you feed it to me so I don't my hand messy.

Then she opened her presents.

 Her first baby doll. 

Jeff had quite a few stipulations, not baby that pooped, peed, cried, ate, cried, giggled, talked. He says they creep him out, I can understand that one, they are a bit creepy.

Apparently he's never been down the baby doll isle, and doesn't know how hard it is to find a doll that doesn't do any of those things, that described all but this one doll.

 

  

 Attack!

Pretty.

What? She is ONE?

This picture really has nothing to do with her birthday, but she is cute. This is her new favorite toy. Her brother's play knife. She carries it around with her all. day. long. 

And now onto the birthday celebrations.

Last night, I told Mason and Cooper that Shiloh's birthday was in the morning. Cooper said, "In the morning, I'm going to be SOOOO proud of her for being one." So cute. I love those boys. I love watching them with their sister. Knowing they love her more than they, or I, ever thought they could. 

Then this morning, I gathered the boys at her bedroom door to sing "happy birthday" to her. As soon as the door was opened, we started to sing. It was cute. Shiloh was standing in her crib waiting for me. She started to dance. Then when the song was done, she let go of her crib for a few seconds, clapped, then clung to her crib again.

For Cooper's preschool, I made cupcakes for snack so we could celebrate Shiloh's birthday. You see, Shiloh is a part of their preschool too. The boys love her and have included her in their good morning song and they all want to hold her during circle time. 

Anyway....we sang "happy birthday" to her. Then she got a cupcake with pink frosting on it. As soon as I put it on her tray, she stuck her nose in it, laughed at how funny she was, then picked up the cupcake, and gobbled it up. 

Case and point to how much these boys love her. They ate a cupcake with....wait for it....wait for it....pink. frosting. on. it. (gasp). Can you believe it? That's a GIRL color. Ewwww we can't eat anything pink! WE are manly men. OK fine. We'll do it, but only for Shiloh. (Oh and don't tell anyone else we ate something that was (shhh) pink).

And here she is eating said pink cupcake.

Then Grandpa and Grandma Borders came over to give her birthday present. Once daddy got home, she (daddy) opened her present.

LOVE Cooper's face. Can you see why I love this kid?

Happy Birthday baby girl. Now, STOP growing. Stay my baby girl forever. What? You don't want to? You are so naughty! But oh so cute. Oh and do you think you will ever take those fingers out of your mouth? On second thought, keep them in there until you turn 25, no boy will want to kiss you with those in there. hehehe

Speaking of naughty, we haven't even bought her a birthday present. I guess that will get done tomorrow.....or maybe the next day, hopefully. Funny how different things are with the third. I'm sure we had Mason's birthday presents WEEKS before his birthday and probably Coopers at least a week before. I can't remember. I'm getting older. I think Alzheimer's is setting in. Seriously.

Crazy Cooper

 I love this kid. He is so full of personality. He has one of the best laughs and smiles. I can't help but laugh when he laughs and smile when he smiles. We have had so many people tell us that Cooper is their favorite kid. I'd have to agree with them on this one, he is one of my favorites too.

Here are some happenings with Cooper over the last few weeks.

Jeff brought home his wild land fire fighting boots for his Halloween costume. One day, Cooper put on the boots and came (awkwardly) walking into the living room. He wants to be just like his daddy, which I think is a pretty awesome goal and a great person to want to be like.

 

Then on Halloween night, he decided to be a punk rocker(again, just like daddy)/army man, instead of a pirate, which is what he originally wanted to be. 

 

  

 On another day, Cooper got in trouble for something and was asked to go sit in the corner. A few minutes later, I went to find him to talk to him about he had done. I searched and searched. Downstairs and upstairs, no Cooper. Then I noticed a pile of pillows in the corner behind our couch. Upon further investigation, I found Cooper behind the pillows. I thought for sure he was asleep, due to the lack of movement. So, I went and got the camera and told Jeff to come look.

 

 Then I got closer for a better look and to see if he was really asleep.

  

 That's when this happened....

  

 So yeah, he was never asleep, he was tricking us. What a clever little man.

  

He loves to sing, but doesn't like to have any back up singers.

Goodbye

On Monday we said good bye to our 4Runner. It was a bitter sweet day for me. Looking at this picture makes me miss MY 4Runner. I know, it's kinda silly. Why would I miss a vehicle? We had it for 7 years and it was a great vehicle for us. I loved driving it, being up high, the roar of the engine as it started. Yeah, I know it's not kinda silly, it's really silly. 

Halloween 2011

 We had a great Halloween this year. We had the Snell's over for dinner, then we all trick or treated around our neighborhood. The boys did really well. Cooper made sure he told everyone, "no peanuts". Then without fail, one of the other boys would say, "but I want peanuts". A few people were confused. Shiloh was a champ. She sat in the stroller quietly, bundled up in a jacket, a coat, hat, and blanket.

Beware of Rrrrrrr J Cooper

 G. I. Mason

 Shiloh the giraffe, who would not wear the head piece. Still one of the cutest giraffes though.

 The punk rockin' duo. Oh yeah baby! That's right. Yes, Jeff really shaved his head that way, no he didn't keep it. It was shaved off that night. Yes, I really did die my hair black, it is still black.

At our ward Halloween party......

There were room decorated for the kids to go around and trick or treat at, games, face painting, and a cupcake walk.

 Cooper putting his hand in to see if he will get a trick or a treat, he got a treat.

 Fishing for the goods.

 Getting a basketball and a football painted on his face.

Cooper wanted a read face. Why? No body knows.

Score of a deal!

Last week I went to Walgreen's and got all this:

 6 Crest complete toothpaste

4 Oral B toothbrushes

2 cover girl mascara

4 carmex cap stick

6 candy corn

1 milky way

6 $0.25 candies as fillers

The total for all this: $68.26

My total: $10.28!!!

Total Saved: $57.98 Oh yeah!

So how did I do it? 

The toothpaste and toothbrushes were $5.50 for 2, with a $3.50 register reward, making the 2 items $1 each.

 Then I had $2 off one Crest complete toothpaste or Oral B toothbrush, making each item a $1 money maker! 

I also had a $8 off 2 cover girl make-up and they were buy one get one half off.

I basically had to get the other stuff just so the register didn't show they owed me money and because at Walgreen's, you can't have more items than coupons, and register rewards count as coupons.

I love them.

 I love to find random pictures and videos on the camera. One Sunday, Jeff took these pictures and videos of the kids while I was getting ready for church. Aren't they all so cute? I think so.

 

  

 

 

Mason singing the theme?? song for his school and doing the sing language that goes with it too.

My cute boys singing together.

Sick Boy

Mason has been sick with a cold for a few days, so I kept him home from school today. Around noon, I asked him and Cooper to change out of their pj's. (Don't judge, we like our pj's) Cooper came back down stairs a few minutes later all dressed. I figured Mason would start screaming at any moment for someone to come upstairs with him because he doesn't like being upstairs alone. After a while, I forgot that Mason was upstairs by himself. (Bad mommy) When I remembered he was up there by himself, I went upstairs and found this:

 This boy NEVER takes a nap. He must have really needed one.

Jack O Lanters 2011

Because Jeff has training with the fire department on Monday nights, we have Family Home Evening on Sunday nights. So last night for our activity, we carved pumpkins.

Look at how cute Mason is looking up at his hero.

Proudly holding up their finished pumpkins. I carved a small one for Shiloh with an "S" on it. Notice her looking at me like I'm a weirdo holding up some funny orange thing. So cute!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

This last Thursday, Cooper and I went on a field trip with our little preschool. We are both absolutely loving preschool for some of the same reasons, and for some different reasons too. Cooper loves being with two of his good friends. I love being with two of my good friends too, it's great that they happen to be the moms of Cooper's friends. Sometimes we adults get so wrapped up in talking, we loose track of time while the boys play together. Cooper loves to learn and I love how laid back our preschool is. Oh and the official name of our preschool is: The Coop-dee-poop-dee-Sully-wully-Bryce-eee-boo Preschool.

Cooper with his cart ready to pick his pumpkin.

His prefect pumpkin.

Cooper, Sully, and Bryce with their pumpkins. They barely fit in the cart, they complained, but we made them squish together. (Meany mommy awards coming our way.)

While paying for our pumpkins they became friends with this stuffed bear.

After we got our pumpkins and looked around some, we headed to another farm for lunch. there was this awesome play area there.

Cooper

Sully

Bryce

We had a fun field trip. So fun I didn't get may pictures.

Walkin babe

Much to my dismay and pleading, this little girl won't stop growing. I want her to say my baby forever. She is getting better at balancing and walking with her walker.

11 Months

 This little girl with the devilish grin turned 11 months old Monday. We all love her so much. Some of us love her a little too much at times. She loves to be loved....most of the time too. (If you know what I mean.)

And of course, she still loves those three fingers. I personally love her fohalk and the ease of styling her hair right now. I really wouldn't mind if her hair stayed short for another year.

She is getting around pretty well. Crawling, standing, cruising around furniture. She has even stood on her own for a second or two a few times.

Ring Bearer

Cooper was asked by his second cousin, Stefoni to be the ring bearer in her wedding this next summer. I got the phone conversation on video because Cooper has the best facial expressions when he is talking. You can see the video here.

Anaphylaxis

It is often hard for people to understand just how bad a peanut allergy can be, especially when the person suffers from anaphylaxis. This past week brought a comment that both hurt me as a father and angered me at the same time. It left me wondering, do people really understand what an anaphylactic reaction is and how potentially lethal it can become, because if they did, such comments would not be forthcoming. It kills me to tell Cooper, you can't have this or that, while he looks at all the "yummy" food or candy, and then see the sad look on his face. Here is a video of a man having a mild peanut reaction, Cooper's last reaction was 2-3 times this bad.

And God bless Mason, who told me he was not going to eat the "yummy" candy, because he didn't want Cooper to get sick.

Having a child with a food allergy, is not something I would wish upon anyone. It is a hard and trying road that we have to walk on a daily basis. We need to be constantly vigilant or risk potential exposure and to be more blunt potential death of a child. My only wish that food allergy and anaphylaxis was more understood.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42949566/t/allergies-scarier-bogeyman-many-kids/

Everyone should read this story.

And here are some pictures from Cooper's last visit to the ER in November after he ate a piece of candy that had a nut in it at preschool.