He's Four

Somehow this little guy has gone and turned four!  His birthday request was to have a birthday party with bikes and donuts.  Easy. So easy.  Coop is a lot like what I imagine his father was like at this age. Generally easygoing, a people pleaser, and friend to all.  He has his moments where he challenges us to the core - but his public personality is an agreeable and fun one.  He continues to be a "class clown" goofing off and seeing if he can make people laugh.  He loves and adores his big brother and therefore wants to do everything just like him.  He isn't very attached to anything except for Awesome Fox - his fox stuffed animal.  That fox goes everywhere with him and he absolutely loves it.  He likes to be outside playing ball and riding his bike.  He loves batman, pokemon, and all the Mario Bros characters.  Timmy is careful to expose him to ones of those that are appropriate for four year olds and not bigger kids - we know there is a difference :)  He is blessed to have tons of kids his age around church and that means he's never lacking for social interaction.  He enjoys watching Daniel Tiger on PBS with Bo (Bozer as he calls him).  He is a lousy eater right now, but we know that will change...his favorite things are oatmeal, nutella sandwiches, popcorn, and carrots. His absolute favorite thing is Donuts - he will never miss a chance to get a "chocolate with sprinkles" one. He no longer naps but goes to bed early and also wakes up early.  His favorite color is green. He enjoys being read to and it doesn't really matter what the book is, just read.

Oklahoma - Part One

The second part of this vacation was spent in a place we dearly love - Oklahoma.  We only lived there a year but it was a year of learning, great friendships, a first child, and a lot of precious memories.  I got lots of fun pictures so I am going to spread them out over two posts!

Our first night we headed for a hotel - we knew the kids (insert the whole family) needed some time to recoup from the hustle and bustle of family reunion.  I pride myself on finding good hotels and this time was no exception.  We got an awesome suite with actual doors that closed and had two king beds and a sofabed!  Lots of room to spread out!  We also got dinner at one of our favorite places "Ted's" and get some yummy Mexican food.

The kids loved all the "freebies" that come with the meal: tortillas, queso, salsa, chips, and sopapillas.  We left quite full.

After a good nights rest and some downtime we were ready for a fun 4th July!

We started off the day with a little walk at Lake Hefner and then we headed to Pop's!

Pop's is a huge soda shop on Route 66 that has every kind of pop you could want to try! We visited there on our last trip and the oldest two remembered it and were excited to return!  Everyone picked out a flavor and we all tried them and shared whether we liked them or not!

Coop's only requirement was that his soda was green.  He got a green apple one and gave it a thumbs up!

Lucy went with a Blue Cream Soda.  It also got a thumbs up - it was quite yummy!

Timmy and I are pretty much two peas in a pod when it comes to taste buds...so I was quite happy that he picked out the Red Velvet flavored soda.  It was delicious and probably my favorite of the day!

Lucy, Timmy, and I picked out something silly for Bo.  He got Bubblegum flavor because it just sounded interesting :)  I think the bottom picture gives you an idea of his reaction.  We all thought it was pretty gross - but still not the worst of the day!

I got Cookies n Cream Soda.  Hard to go wrong there right!?!

The worst choice of the day goes to Ben!  He picked out a Moxie Cola Elixir.  It tasted like medicine.

We let the kids run around and play for as long as we could tolerate the heat and then made our way through the parking lot looking for different state license plates!  Score - we got Hawaii!

Meyer Family Reunion 2014

We were able to make the trek over to the Meyer Family Reunion this year.  We headed to this spacious retreat center in Kansas.  

Two floors, nice and clean, and room to spread out!

This is what Boaz looks like at the end of a very long day of travels.  He was pretty annoyed with us :)

The retreat center was down the road from a small lake.  I went for several walks there -the first was just me, Bo, and....

Uncle Matt!

We weren't expecting Aunt Stephannie to be there so it was a super awesome surprise to get her for our first day there!

This is Grandma & Grandpa with all of their grandkids!  That's a lot of kids folks!

Lucy had fun getting to know her girl cousins a little better this trip.

We were all very excited to meet the newest granddaughter.

On the third day, Ben and I took all the kiddos down to the lake and we threw rocks, played on the dock, and played at the playground.

I also took a little hike with this sweetie and Cooper.

This guy, suffice it to say traveling with a 1 year old is not for the faint of heart (nor is traveling with four kids). He's into something, always.

Happy cousins!

The preschooler version of Trouble

Grandpa and Timmy engaging in a serious conversation

I think we've made dates to see Grandma and Grandpa in September and January - that will make for some happy little Meyers :)

Especially this dude who says Grandma and Grandpa are his best friends.  He did spend at least half of the reunion following Grandpa around!

He's Ten!

He's ten! Ten. Wow!  He has grown up a lot in the last year.  He made the switch to his favorite sport to play and watch being basketball.  He still loves football and baseball.  But given the choice you will find him with a basketball.  His taste in television has grown up and he now likes to watch Sports Center, Ninjago, Various Super Hero Shows, 19 Kids and Counting, and still occasionally Phineas and Ferb.  He still enjoys playing the Wii but not nearly as much as before.  I think that can partially be attributed to the fact that Cooper always wants to play with him.  He really likes his downtime.  Every day we have to be sure that he gets some quiet time that is all his...be it watching tv, playing a game, etc.  He gets that trait from me.  If you've lived with me...you know.  He would rather be home than out and about - with the exception of playing at a friend's house.  He does not like to have his picture taken (this is why you won't see him in tons of pictures). He is very affectionate and tender-hearted. He is compliant and thoughtful. He is precise and likes things to be done and said accurately.  He does not like to say goodbyes.  He is a great big brother and more patient than me some days.  Both little boys look up to him and copy everything he does.  He's not especially fond of school - mostly because of homework.  His favorite subjects are Math and Social Studies.  His school day is ruined if they have to miss PE.  He started the trumpet this year and by the end of the year did pretty well at it. He has a list of several hymns that are his favorites and will sing them loud and clear when given the opportunity - he especially loves Father Welcomes and Beautiful Savior.  He usually tells Ben when he enjoyed a specific hymn at church...knowing that dad will work it in again for him sometime soon.  He loves to eat but is as skinny as they come.  Some of his favorite foods are lasagna, crepes, nutella on anything, peanut butter, fried chicken, and strawberries.  He is turning from a little boy to a young man right before my eyes and I am loving every minute of it!

She's Seven!

Somehow this little girl is already seven!  She has had an exciting year and grown up tremendously.  First and foremost she is 100% girl.  She loves all thinks sparkly and feminine.  With three brothers that could easily get lost or diminished - but not in this girl!  She has been learning to do her hair and can at least comb out all the tangles in the morning and occasionally pull it back too.  I'm not overly anxious for her to take over this completely because I really enjoy doing her hair :).  She has been growing her bangs out since Christmas and that has made her face grow up tons.  She has lost four teeth in the last six months.  She gets super angry, really fast about almost anything that annoys her.  The good news she also gets over it really fast.  It's not unusual to find her crying and laughing in the same ten minutes.  She reads amazingly well and loves to do it.  She also loves to write and really loves to draw and create art.  She spends many evenings down with me in my Scrapbooking studio creating away.  I'm not going to mention how many supplies I've lost because of that ;).  She has been growing in organization skills and learning to put things away.  A lot of work and structure from both her teacher and us has helped with that.  She loves to watch her brothers play the Wii but rarely plays it herself.  She can tell you anything you want to know about any game that we have though.  She is easily overwhelmed by big tasks so we often have to break things down for her so she doesn't get frustrated.  She did gymnastics, swim team, and is now giving soccer a whirl.  We rarely see a real competitve side come out in her except for occasionally in school related stuff. She has been taking piano and does really well with that.  I am surprised how quickly she picks things up!  She enjoys downtime watching tv, especially Doc McStuffins, Frozen, Sophia the First, or whatever the boys put on :). She loves when Timmy makes time to play with her and talk with her.  Nothing makes her happier than that.  She often goes to sit with a different family during church - sometimes at my encouragement (four kids on my own is rough...) and others just because she wants to.  She has a few people that are her favorites and they know when they see her coming to let her slide right in beside them.  She still sings all the time - often after bedtime you can hear her all the way down the hall singing at the top of her lungs.  She is passionate and lives off of compliments.  She definitely is a people pleaser (hmmmm I wonder where she gets that from).  She is not a homebody and is the kid most likely to be excited to go do something.  She loves Jesus and it's fun watching her faith grow in depth and knowledge.  I am so thankful every day to have this little girl in our family and can't wait to soak up another year with her!

Our Christmas

Before Christmas gets too far behind us, I thought I'd share some pictures from our Christmas moments!  We were blessed to have many opportunities to worship and help lead others in worship!  The annual school Christmas program was on December 18th.  This years theme was "I Witness News Live from Bethlehem." Timmy was a wiseman and sang a solo.  Lucy was an angel and sang a duet.  And I once again directed it.  It went wonderfully and I am once again glad to get back our normalcy for a bit!  The Sunday School kids led the children's Christmas Eve service.  Lucy was a shepherd - I am amazed how much she looks like Timmy here!

Lucy played the piano (for the first time in public) at the Christmas Eve service.  Here she is warming up at home.

Our tradition after the Christmas Eve service (and before Ben heads back for another) is to open new pajamas!  I try to find some that fit their interests for the previous year.  

Christmas morning is always a test of patience for the kids, but they know we don't do presents until after church.  Church is just part of our life so they don't seem to be too phased with the waiting ;)

We took our family pictures on Christmas morning instead of Christmas Eve....I wasn't sure how crabby Bo was going to be and thought it would be less frustrating.

The boys had matching sweaters again.  Cooper picked them out.  I'm not sure how much longer Timmy will let me get away with this, but I asked how he felt about it before buying and he said "I'm good with it." So we will keep doing it as long as he will :)

These two love each other - so obvious in this picture!

Cooper totally looks up to his big Timmy

Lucy has never worn a red dress for Christmas!  So I decided that was the way to go this year!  Red is a great color on her!

Before we can make a final decision on a dress we have to check the spin out on it.  This one had an all tulle bottom so it was FABULOUS!

Can you tell which kid loves having their picture taken?

On to Presents....

Cooper loves Donkey Kong....in fact he regularly calls himself "Diddy Kong." We found this movie set at Sam's Club and had to get it!

Bo took to the present unwrapping quite nicely :)

He also was excited about the Donkey Kong movies.  He spent a lot of time staring at those and babbling something about "diddy" too.

I found this set of Clifford wood blocks at a consignment store.  They have been a huge hit!

Lucy has wanted an American Girl doll for a couple years now.  She made the decision that she would rather get that and not much else.  So we made a trip to the American Girl Store and looked all around. After determining the ones she liked best, she went off with daddy and I made the final decision.  So she knew it was coming....but which one was still a surprise. 

She named her "Kaylee" and has been having a blast with her.

Didn't get a picture of Timmy with his big gift!  He got Infiinity for the Wii and has been loving that.

Gram made the kids matching pjs....which is probably an easier task than trying to get all four of them in a picture.

Merry Christmas!