Conversations with Cooper

Mom took Cooper to school one day last week and she sent me this email after she got to work:

"Cooper talked all the way to school.  We talked about Monster Jam and I mentioned later that today was Thursday.  He said yeah and tomorrow’s Friday.  Then it’s the week-end and Kamdyn can play the Wii all by herself.  I asked him if he couldn’t play, and he said no b/c it was his consequence for being bad at my house.

Somehow we got on to when he had the stomach virus after that.  He said he got it from Kamdyn.  He talked about throwing up and it being yucky.  He said his mom said he couldn’t throw up in the toilet, but his Dad is bigger and he is the boss of the house, so he gets to do what he wants to.  But his mom is older.  She is having a birthday and she’s going to be 73!!!

Not a dull moment this morning!!!  Too funny!"

I'm thinking this is a vast improvement from their last car ride together where he talked about the Wii the entire way there!  However, his facts are a little off!!

Punishment

I think Mark and I have finally stumbled onto a punishment that might actually be effective for our kids!!   It's been one of those weeks where our kids are constantly at each other, which usually turns into a wrestling match with hair pulling and face scratching.  We call it the "Mexican standoff," because neither one will let go and I wish that I had a picture to show you now.  Cooper goes for Kam's hair (and he shows no mercy!) and Kam usually digs her nails into his face.  It's pretty brutal but actually comical at the same time.  Cooper does scare me though because when he gets mad he attacks and he is rough!

So after two incidents last night, Mark told the kids to stand together and hold hands. 

I think they would have rather had spankings, to be honest!  I added insult to injury by getting my phone out to take their picture and they both went mad!  Brian and JJ were there and will attest that they were furious at us.  I can't wait for them to see this picture on our blog!  Does that make me a mean mom for finding some humor in that?? 

Let's Be Honest

Hello!!!!!!  Is anyone still out there actually reading this blog?  Mark asked me the other day if I was ever going to update my blog again.  I replied that lately it was a lot of work to update it and I didn't think anyone actually read it.  He reminded me that he and his dad did so that was reason enough to keep it updated.  I am only kidding about no one reading it...sorta!  I know there are five of you who read it and want me to keep it up!

I began this blog as a way to keep up with what was going on in our lives because I'll never be a scrapbooker!!  I'm not even going to pretend.  It soon became a mini obsession of mine to blog about every funny comment, face, or move that my kids made.... and you all know that Kamdyn gave me plenty to write about then....

Let's be honest though... life is not always a laugh a minute and sometimes your kids are going to be sassy and whiney and backtalk and I could go on and on.  I think that's where I've been the last few months.  I didn't have anything funny to write about so I didn't want to bore you with any of the drama.  

Kam loves school but we've (mainly me and Mark!) experienced some changes since she began.  Somewhere along the way, she picked up a very smart mouth and sassy attitude.  I know...everyone says that happens once they start school...but I didn't want to believe that about my child!  This should not be surprising to someone who has called their child "Sybil" since she was two, should it?


Kam has always been a very strong-willed child.  I have a love/hate relationship with that quality now.  I know that will be so beneficial to her as a teenager and adult but as a child, that trait has driven me mad at times.  She's so like her dad - you can't make her do anything she doesn't want to....like wear a certain shirt or her hair in any other way than a headband!  Oh, the hair drama!!!  

Mark says that last semester at least one of us left crying every morning over hair and clothes.  He's totally right on that!  At times, I learned to pick my battles so there were some days Kam looked like her hair hadn't even been brushed.  That's a hard one for me!  But we are making progress.  Just this week she has worn her hair in a side half-ponytail and last night she let me braid it so she could wear it curly today.  Those are major victories for us!!!!

I've not forgotten about Cooper.... He has become really funny in the last year and I've not blogged about him as much as Kam.  With Cooper it's not so much what he says, but more the way he says it.  The way he emphasizes things  ("yea, man" is my favorite thing to hear him say) and his mispronunciations keep us in stitches.

For instance, he has always pronounced L's as W's so he'll say, "I wuv you, Mommy" or "my weg hurts."  He also says chicken "nunnets" instead of nuggets which always cracks us up. His latest and probably my favorite is that he says "fremote control" instead of remote control and "fressert" instead of dessert.  Don't ask me where that came from!

Cooper is obsessed with the Wii so we have had major issues with him on that for the last few months.  He was only allowed to play on the weekends but I let him play a lot over the holidays and I am paying for that now.  Some days I want to scream when he asks me for the 400th time, "can I play da Wii?"  

He always has been and promises me that he always will be a "momma's boy!"  No shame in that, regardless of how Mark teases him about it! 


So having said all of that, I am going to attempt to blog more this year.  I have lots of catching up to do so I'll be posting pictures from the last month next week.  It's also "birthday season" with the cousins, so we'll be spending lots of time with them in the next month or two.  Until then!!!

Merry Christmas

We had a great day with Papaw Sonny today.  He came down to spend the day with us and bring the kids their presents.  It's the first time since Mark and I have been together that we have not all gotten together either before or after Christmas.  Stephen, Carla, and the boys are in Vancouver for Christmas so we had to change things up this year.  Luckily, we were able to spend Thanksgiving together and see everyone.

The kids were so excited that they wouldn't even get dressed.  Cooper told me that he didn't have to be dressed to open presents.  Guess he has a point, although SpongeBob pj's are not what I would have picked for pictures....

PaPaw brought too many presents and my kids must have asked a thousand times if they could open them while I was cooking lunch.  We finally gave in and let them have at it.  Cooper especially loved his laser remote control trucks!  Kam loved her Barbie Video Girl and had a good time making videos of everyone.

Cooper pretty much crawled all over Papaw all afternoon long and begged to play the Wii.  Is there a Wii addiction support group?  Because he is seriously addicted!  And before you think bad of me, he is limited as to how much he can play, but it's Christmas vacation so we've let him play a little more than normal. 

Cooper did NOT want Papaw to leave and begged him to stay!  HInt, hint Papaw...next time-spend the night!

We were going to go see the Christmas lights at Garvan tonight but I couldn't talk anyone into actually getting ready to go.  I think everyone is pooped--especially Cooper!!  Guess we'll see them after Christmas.

Hope your Christmas is blessed!   Take time to remember the true "reason for the season!"

Sunday Morning Brawl

The kids in their Christmas clothes before church Sunday morning...  I took more pictures of Kam "posing" but couldn't get them to go upright on here.  So this will have to do.  Obviously, I didn't coordinate their colors this year!

 The kids choir sang at church on Sunday morning and I was watching Cooper up there thinking how handsome and cute he looked when he began shoving Bo, the boy next to him.  It started out cute and I wasn't alarmed at first because I thought surely someone would get his attention and tell him to stop.  I was wrong.  Cooper began shoving and then I began shoving Mark to go up there and get him....Mark didn't think it was that bad but obviously he couldn't see everything.  When Bo hit the floor, I jumped up to go get him.  He set with me for a minute and then walked back up there and begin clowning again.  This is a new side of Cooper that I'm starting to see!  Afterwards, Mark said he probably needed to go apologize to Bo's parents.  Uh, yeah!!  Sorry Wendy and David!!! 

Back to the Manger

The kids at church had another musical on Sunday night entitled "Back to the Manger."  Kam was Mary in this one.   She would not let me drape another piece of fabric around her neck or wear a headband to keep the head dress on.  I knew it would never stay on...

I'm not sure Kam sang as much during this musical as Wednesday night's.  This was the first time the kids used books to sing out of and she spent most of her time flipping pages and punching the girl next to her to see what page they were on.  It was priceless!

Shepherds and wisemen....

I was right!  The head dress didn't stay on past the first song when Kam walked down to the second row to hand it to me...after coming down once before for me to adjust it!

Mary, Joseph, and the wisemen...

The kids have the most awesome choir director, Mrs. Linda, who has worked so hard with them this year to pull off two Christmas programs.  Kam loves to sing and I think a lot of that is because of Mrs. Linda.  So proud of all the Caney Kids for the awesome programs this year!

Cooper's Christmas Party

Cooper's Christmas party was on Friday morning.  The kids sang lots of cute songs and read Chrismas stories.  Here he is shaking his jingle bells enthusiastically....

He didn't sing as much this time.  I think he did that just to bother me....

The mom who made these is way more talented than I am!  Sad thing is that a lot of them got thrown in the trash right afterwards.  I hate to see a good cupcake go to waste!

One of the girls passing out her treat bags....  Cooper's class is a little "treat bag" crazy!  You wouldn't believe how much stuff he comes home with!

Cooper and his best buddy, Cade....

Cade's mom told me that Cade says some silly things and says that he learns them from Cooper... Somehow I knew she was going to say that!!