Cooper's Birthday Marathon

Today is Cooper's 8th birthday, but it feels like it has been his birthday all week! I had a birthday party yesterday for him with his friends - the first party for him in years - I get really overwhelmed and nervous planning parties for the kids' birthdays because so many of their friends at school go all out for the parties.  We had a fun outdoor Olympic themed party planned but that got tossed when it was the monsoon rain season this week.  So we improvised with a baseball theme, baseball bingo which was fun, and making leather baseball wristbands which didn't work out so well. It's annoying because I spent so much time shopping for the darn stuff to make the wristbands, oh well.  So they mostly ended up playing wrestling mania upstairs and came down for cake and pizza covered in sweat! 

Then tonight we had family over for cake again to celebrate Cooper's birthday and my sister Shawn's birthday which is tomorrow.  My favorite quote of the evening was when Cooper opened his presents from Austin and said, "Oh cool! I got a cup!" Nice, and it isn't the pee-wee cup either this time by the way.  We get excited about these items at our house I guess.  He also got several lego sets and has spent lots of time putting them together. I am so excited about him using his brain for once instead of just playing the Wii or watching TV.  

I can't believe my baby is finally 8 and will be baptized in a couple of weeks.  

Love you Cooper! 

A Dainty Girl

Here is my dainty baby girl . . . . 

Who just ate half a dozen scrambled eggs for breakfast!

A Reasonable Question

Will:  Dad, if you cut your head off, can you tape it back on?

Dad:  No, you can't.

Will adores tape, he uses it on a daily basis to construct swords with sticks, make art projects or tape those pesky pieces of clothing back on that aren't laying just right.  One of his Christmas presents was a workbox full of tape of all sorts.

I'm Kind of Proud of my Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes that I made tonight for our Relief Society birthday party enrichment.  When my friend asked me to make them she warned me that mine would be sitting next to Krafty Katrina and Expert Jolin's cupcakes (two sisters with lots of talents in our ward).  She was basically saying "make sure yours don't look like crap."  Well here they are, and I am happy about them.  Maybe not to the expert level yet, but getting there.

BYU Trip

I had the chance to go to Utah a few weeks ago and see my little brother Skyler perform his senior recital at BYU.  My parents, brother Scott and Granny and Grandpa Stauder came also.  It was like old times with me and my brother sharing a hotel room and hanging out with the parents.  It was a fun weekend and great to see the old Y again.

Happy St. Patricks Day

I decided to reenter the blogging world with a Happy St. Patricks Day post.  Austin's family is Irish and always make a  big deal out of St. Patrick's Day.  My efforts were much more simple, Lucky Charms for breakfast, corned beef and cabbage and soda bread for dinner, and a few chocolate golden coins that the leprechauns left for the boys.  

Paris the Pianist

Paris definitely has taken interest to her Mom's Piano lessons. Everyday she tries to climb on the piano bench, gets stuck and asks for help. She then asks for me to put up some music so she can "play." Never mind Paris is 1 and has no clue how to read the music. She watches her Mom and her students and she knows how they do it. And then she plays and plays. She sometimes sings while she plays. She does it for like 15 - 20 minutes at a time. And not for the crowd, she does it whether people watch or not. I took some video the other day when she did not know I was filming. Enjoy Paris the Pianist at age 1. So this is what it is like to have a girl :)

My New Best Friend Shops at Walmart

Today Paris and I did the beginning of the month 7 hour shopping trip to Walmart and Costco to get food for the next two weeks.  We were in line at the deli at Walmart when I met my new best friend.  He was a big African-American guy with shades and a cool jacket on.  He was also being helped at the deli.  He started smiling at Paris and asking how old she was.  He asked me if she was my first kid, "No, I have two other boys in school."  

"Really?" he said, "I thought you couldn't be older than 18."

"No, I'm actually 32."  

"No way, wow you are a beautiful woman."

"Thanks," I said blushing and smiling.

Then as I walked away he called out, "Stay beautiful." Just like an entry in my yearbook or something.

Needless to say this was the highlight of my day. Black guys always like me because of my big booty.  That's ok, I'll take whatever compliments I can get.

Paris' First Shiner

Courtesy of . . . who else? Big brother Will.

Big Snow Day!

Twas the night before the snow day and the little boys were all tucked up in bed with their pjs and underwear inside out, a spoon under their pillow and two ice cubes safely slipped into the toilet.  All to make sure that the magical snow will fall.  Or so  Will's kindergarten colleague promised.  Will has been performing this ritual on and off for a few weeks now and it finally worked.  The boys woke me up at 5:20 a.m. to lots of snow and requests to check the news to see if school was cancelled.  Cooper was in tears that school wouldn't be cancelled and the snow would be melted when he got home.  But of course it is, it snows about once every two years in NC so they close school if there is even 1/4 inch of snow on the ground and today there is actually about two inches.  

Will made a huge snowball and threw it at me! Cooper scraped off the car twice and Paris was scared of the snow.  Later we had an old-fashioned taffy pull to pass the day.

Will's Big Break

You will have to excuse the poor camera work and poor artistic vision as Will only had his dad to work with on a day off. We have only had the MAC for a couple of weeks, so we will get better. This was taken with the built in camera on the laptop. But it is still kind of funny, albeit very cheesy. 

I like this picture of Austin

A cute picture of Austin I took last night . . . . 

but the words coming out of his mouth were "Let's go over the budget from November Shan."  Then I found out how much I went over in every category.  The budget review - always a pleasure.

THE BIG HALF-MARATHON, otherwise known as the only exciting thing in my life right now

Finally the day of the big half-marathon came! After a sleepless night and lots of butterflies in my stomach, my alarm rang at 6 a.m. to get ready for the big event. I rolled out of bed and started the clothes layering process for our run in the 28 degree weather (though it did warm up to the 30s by the time we started). My "team" (the friends I have been training with for months now) showed up a few minutes later and we drove up to the Charlotte Convention Center to check in and get ready for the race.

We were overwhelmed at all the people there to run the race especially the people we called "professionals" - the ones wearing tight spandex pants, also the old wrinkled men were professionals and the people already wearing t-shirts and shorts. Needless to say, I didn't look like a professional. It's ok though because I was there just to finish. The starting line was different than I expected, because there were so many people running the race, it was basically just a big crowd of people waiting to start running, we barely heard the shotgun and then finally we were off!

Alison kept us to a speedy pace for a couple of miles and then I started getting a bit of a sideache so Michelle and I let her go ahead and kept to a slower pace that I could handle - no pride here, I just wanted to finish without having to stop and walk. Then at about mile 4 something really fun happened, we were running on one side of a busy street that was closed down for the race and I heard two of my friends scream my name. They were driving to come cheer us on and were stuck in the traffic. That was a much-needed boost, especially since someone turned to me and said, did you know them? I felt like such a celebrity.

Then those same friends kept showing up at different mile markers along the way to cheer us on. I appreciated that SO much, it totally kept me excited and going. Also Austin and the kids made big signs and came to cheer me on - that was motivating too.

I truly enjoyed the entire race until about the last .2 mile when I just couldn't believe it wasn't done yet! Then I crossed the finish line and stopped on my wobbly legs and enjoyed a band and free food and drinks. Then my family and friends congratulated me so I felt special and the rest of the day I took naps and ate lots of chocolate and dreamed of my next race (probably in April and I know Tricia, Heather and Molly are dying to join in!)

Thanks for my cheerleaders and my team who made this such a fantastic and life-changing experience!

Cooper all bundled up to come watch the race.

Will and the sign he made for me.

The sign Austin and Cooper made - notice Cooper wrote, "I hope you can do it."

The first of 27 layers to try to keep warm.

"The Team" minus Jolin

Gingerbread Houses with Nonni

Getting the Christmas Tree!

We decided to start a family tradition of driving to the mountains to get our Christmas tree! It was a couple hours away and a lot of snacks and dvd watching later, but we found the perfect tree. We rode up to the tree farm on a tractor-pulled hay wagon with some other friendly NC folks. The trees were beautiful - we could have chosen any of them and would have loved them. We even got free cocoa and cider at the country store afterward! But no rhubarb-strawberry pie, peach cobbler or soup - they were all out of everything warm and yummy so we settled for a peppermint-chocolate chip shake from Chick-fil-a on the way home.

Cooper's hard life

We recently started giving Cooper and Will allowance every week so that they can learn to pay their tithing and have money for the little things that they always want me to buy them or they can save up for bigger things.

So far the results are interesting, Will has already lost his allowance from his first week - not hard to do when he changes his clothes 10 times an hour and has piles of junk all over his bedroom. So I will be holding on to his allowance for him.

Cooper has been learning the value of money lately when I say that he can use his allowance to buy stuff that he asks me for, all of the sudden he doesn't want that item much anymore. The other day he wanted a Gatorade and we said, sure you can buy it with your allowance, and he asked us,"Do I have to make a living with my allowance?"

Yes, Cooper you do, time to start saving up for the mortgage.

Does Will have a future as a doctor?

Sometimes Will feels it is a good idea to trace the bones in his body to create a skeleton. And it makes a lovely lavender bath after.

A Great Tip to Get Gum out of Clothes

Anyone ever gotten gum in your clothes? Well today I did and I found the greatest tip for getting it out. Hot apple cider vinegar (warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds) and a toothbrush! Worked like a charm so I wanted everyone to know. Didn't come out quite as easily from my newly finished hand-knit sweater, but still worked. And it's a natural fix.

Grandma McKeehan Rocks -- 96 and still golfing

The boys and I went on a cross country trip last week on relatively short notice because we received word that my grandma had been diagnosed with cancer. Doctors estimate she has 2 - 3 months left to live. She is an amazing woman. I just wanted to be able to spend some time with her and make sure the boys saw her while she still had some energy and could be her perky self.

Some quick amazing things about my grandma:

1. She just turned 96.
   
2. Has golfed a round of 9 holes of golf every week to this day except in bad weather.
   
3. She has been married over 70 years!
4. She sent me a card on every holiday with $2 dollars in it (Halloween, valentine's day, Columbus day -- she remembered them all).
   
5. She is an amazing card player and gambler -- I was going to visit her this Friday. However, when I called Friday was Casino night. She bragged that she left with only $20. The free bus picked her up at the retirement home, paid for lunch and she wagged her fat gangster knot of cash in front of me of $450when she got back. Not a bad day at the casino for a 96 year old woman.
6. She made us our favorite meal every birthday.
7. Makes the worlds best Easter breakfast hands down.
   
8. Had season tickets to the Oregon State beavers for 30 plus years , during most of their run of almost 3 decades without a winning season (That is where I get my loyalty and sports dedication).
9. She made amazing peanut butter sundaes
10. The doctor asked if she could cut back to 8 glasses of coffee a day -- she said no and maintains her 10 - 12 glasses of coffee a day.

This is a song she used to sing that I think just captures her fun personality (notice the shoulder shake, expressions and smiles as she sings it to my kids and I on our last trip. If only everyone could have a grandma like Grandma McKeehan.

A Miracle on a Monday

Cooper has a good friend named Brady who lives a few doors down the street from us. They have played on the same sports teams and spend lots of time together. Brady ate dinner with us tonight and he is the most helpful boy I have ever seen. Plus, he is an only child, and usually I would expect kids like that to be spoiled and used to being served, but not Brady. When I asked Cooper to set the table, Brady said, "Oh! Can I help?!" Then he pretty much set the whole table including folding the paper towels into pretty little squares.

Then, after dinner, Brady asked if he could do the dishes! Um, yeah! So he led Cooper into doing all the dishes - handwashing them because the rest of the dishes are being washed in the dishwasher. They spent a good 20 minutes doing this and every time Cooper kind of slacked, Brady would call him to action. It was really sweet to hear their conversations, they talked about what kind of sports teams they want to play on when they grow up - pro football for Brady and pro baseball for Cooper though he can't decide whether he wants to be a 1st baseman or pitcher. Then they decided that after their sports careers they could own a restaurant together and they could be the washers!

My favorite was Brady's excitement over the plate that he got SO clean. By the way Brady's shirt is off in the pictures so it wouldn't get wet, not because I'm a pedophile.