Halloween!

Hi friends,
it's been a while, hasn't it?
We've been keeping frantically busy on little sleep, but we understand that's part of the package with the little guys.
Halloween did happen, and I think it was a success. Bel was going to be a ballerina, but cooler weather called for a last minute switch to a turtle. She loved it.

I'm so sad we didn't get any good pictures - I may have them dress up again tomorrow for some decent ones.

I'll have to share a picture of Joseph's pumpkin tomorrow as well.
Happy Halloween!

The Elinor Show

This girl is crazy. She's got these eyes, and this voice, and this energy... she's crazy.

Pillowback turtle with Elmo/Elinor head.

"Buhbye, Mama. Luddyou. Going to work."
I'm not sure why, but that frilly yellow hat is the standard work hat.
Caleb uses it from time to time.

Working late.

Sometimes a girl just crashes. Here she had refused to nap on the bed.
The shoes are two sizes too small. I took them off after she went to sleep.

Quality time with the brothers.

Soccer mom.

It makes me wonder what little Jacob will bring to the family!

A messy, noisy life.

So, I haven't been blogging  much lately, but that is definitely not because nothing is going on. I feel like I have been so busy since Jacob was born that I haven't really had a minute to stop and catch my breath. And Halloween is just around the corner! Who is going to take care of the kids' costumes??... alright, they're in the works, but I am just amazed at the list of things that need to be taken care of that never gets shorter. Today, for example, we picked up our new van (wahoo!!), took Jacob to his 2-month well-child check, and stopped by the toy store to pick up two birthday presents for friends. All before lunch.

Here is a picture of that lovely new van, which we feel so blessed to have.

Our faithful old Windstar finally was pronounced too far gone to repair and we had to search for another family vehicle. This is a 2007 Sienna with relatively low mileage and at a price we could mostly afford (do you like all the qualifiers in that sentence?).

Jacob is two months old!! The doctor told me that he is a very proportionate, very large baby. He is now 14 lb. 9oz (up 7 lbs from when he was born!). He is in the 90-95th percentile for weight, in the 95th percentile for height, and his head is in the 95-98th percentile. We love our little guy.

Elinor sort of looks like a punk in this picture, but that is another story.

Another event that has been keeping us busy is Emily's soccer. A friend in the ward decided to coach a team through the YMCA, so Emily and a bunch of her friends here at student housing are on the team. It is really fun. Joseph noticed that she is grinning like a maniac in all of the pictures he got of her.

We enjoyed conference as a family this past weekend. The kids missed primary, but Joseph did a lot to make "TV church" fun for them. He did pitch their tent with the door thereof towards the... um, television, that thereby they might remain in their tent and hear the words which the prophet should speak unto them.
 He also popped popcorn and printed off some age appropriate pages from the various conference packets available online. It was probably our most successful conference yet.

We've had a lot of birthday excitement going on here the last couple of months. Here are the girls enjoying the really neat dolls that Grandpa Bartlett sent. Elinor just woke up from a nap so was not quite coherent.

It is a messy, noisy life right now. We are sleep deprived and just sort of making things work a day at a time at this point, but we are happy and feel very grateful for all that we have.

kid party

The kids' good friend Caleb had a party recently and his mom is a great photographer. Here are some of the shots of Emily that she captured.

Emmaline, Emily, Ben, Amelia

Thanks, Katie!

Miss Elinor

Yesterday was Miss Elinor's birthday. I cannot believe that she has gone from this screaming little baby...

... to this crazy little girl.

She was working pretty hard to get that present open. 

This girl loves her a good shot of sugar.

We have loved having little Elinor in our family. She really is one of a kind and we can't imagine not having her around to make us laugh, even when she's in trouble. Right now some of her favorite phrases are:
"Sorry about that."
"See that?"
"Wow."
"Ah hep oo pease?" (I help you please?)
"No, me toddler" (she's so not a baby anymore!)

and she's got this funny low voice that just cracks me up every time. She's definitely the most expressive of our kids, as you can tell by her various facial expressions in the pictures. I love two. I am excited to see where Miss Elinor takes us this year.

Birthday yesterday celebrate today birthday!

Friday was my birthday. I am now officially 27 years old and I have four kids and my husband will soon be done with his degree here at UT-Austin. It is a good place to be in my life. Yes, both Joseph and I are fairly sleep deprived at this very moment, but things in general are good. We all have our good health, we live comfortably, we have great friends and neighbors, and the seasons are changing.

Emily was thinking about my birthday for a while before it actually arrived. I found this on my pillow a couple of days before Friday.

 translation: "It's almost your birthday! Have a good birthday when it's time" (on fancy shark paper, of course).

Friday itself was hectic. I was out running errands all morning until I came home around noon to catch my breath, feed the kids lunch, and meet Emily after school. I was grateful for the bomb threat on campus because it meant I could have Joseph here at home with me. He had secretly participated in an academic study to earn a special $100 which he allocated specifically for my birthday. Because of this, he was able to get me some earrings I had admired earlier and then forgotten because of the price tag. I do love my good husband. After earring shopping we put a new battery in my watch, perused a used bookstore, stopped by the YMCA to pick up Em's soccer jersey, and finally went to the ward dessert potluck. Before dinner, but that's just a minor detail, right?

Saturday rolled around and Emily was very offended that we had not celebrated my birthday properly with cake and singing. We told her we would do it a day late, so she made this sign mostly to reconcile reality with her very strict rules regarding birthday celebrations.

"Birthday yesterday celebrate today birthday!" has sort of become our slogan. We suggested she make a sign for Elinor today saying "birthday tomorrow celebrate today birthday!" and she seriously considered it. But the hours and days really do fly and it was bedtime before she'd had a chance.

My belated birthday celebration really was nice though. I don't know how Joseph manages to know just what to do for me. He picked up some basil, spinach, cucumbers, and tomatoes from the farmers' market in the morning and made pesto and an awesome salad for dinner. Cake was his mom's delicious sponge cake with a seven-minute frosting sprinkled with coconut.

 

That evening we were able to sit and watch a movie together while all the kids miraculously slept (and stayed sleeping). This was a huge deal and so rejuvenating.

It was such a fun birthday. I am blessed to have a wonderful family that appreciates me.

Next up: Miss Elinor's birthday! Do we Coopers have the energy to keep on partying? With a girl like Emily around, we'd better!

Hard times

So, this is how Elinor's been looking a lot lately:

A little bit neglected and a little bit bewildered.

Times are tough for everyone. See that tough guy look on Caleb's face? And is he flashing a gang sign there?

 No real kites for these hard-luck kids (no shoes either). Big sis has to take pity on them and make bag kites.

 Do you see how disappointed Caleb is by this whole situation? He is not enjoying himself at all.

No, but really, things are good in the Cooper home.

See?

Lots of book reading going on.

And Elinor likes this, she really does. Says a 45-lb. Miss Emily.

Hook 'em, Horns!

And finally, the inspiration for my post, the weather has finally changed! We are definitely anticipating an Indian Summer, but are very much enjoying the cooler temperatures we've had over the last couple of days.

I'm excited for another Austin fall! I am looking forward to gorgeous weather, hours on the playground, and pumpkin-flavored baked goodies!

A Few Thoughts

Newborn babies go through a lot of diapers. We do laundry first thing in the morning every two days to stay on top of the diaper situation.

See? It's a lot of diapers. For just two days. This morning we totally ran out and we had no disposables either so the poor little guy ended up in pink. They were the closest to his size that we could come up with. Still not close enough though - he made a mess of his carseat during our shopping trip this morning.

 

That being said, I have been very impressed by how well our regular cloth diapers hold everything in. I don't think we've had any... spillage while using those.

 This is Tiny Baby Jacob. That space he is taking on the couch is just so small I had to take a picture! I can't believe how little he is and how fast he's growing. But I'll still be pretty relieved when I can get a good night's sleep again.

 People often ask how Elinor is dealing with being ousted from her position as baby of the family. She has handled it pretty well. I think she mostly shows her dissatisfaction by refusing to sleep at night, but there has been no open unhappiness directed at Baby Jacob. In fact, she is the kid most likely to worry when he cries and to bring me diapers or wipes when I need them.

 She does sometimes miss being held though. Joseph tries to accommodate all the childrens' needs.

 He's sort of a super dad. People have told me that I don't look as tired as I should and I'm pretty sure it's because of Joseph. I told him the other night that he's the one that looks as tired as I should. And he laughed, a little ruefully.

Whenever I have an extra second I pull out the pieces for El's quilt. I might be a little obsessed with the fabric and I hope to be able to finish by Christmas.

Emily has been having her own adventures at school and on the playground. The other day she slipped on the monkey bars and bumped her lip and teeth pretty good. Her top two teeth are still sensitive and pretty loose and she had one of the most impressive puffy lips I've seen.

 On Sunday we accidentally told Emily she could do her own hair for church and this is what she came up with. We thought she was kidding but she was absolutely serious and was crushed when we told her she had to take them out.

After she reminded us that we had promised she could do her own hair we allowed her to wear them to the first meeting of the block. I gave her a more sensible hairstyle for primary though.
I really couldn't look at her that first hour without laughing though! It was funny to me how earnestly serious she was about taking responsibility for her own hair and then how outlandish the results were. I love her!

First day of school!

Yesterday was Emily's first day of kindergarten! She was up bright and early to catch the super early school bus (it leaves at 6:48! Yikes!).

 Elinor and Caleb were right there with her. I was too, but mostly because I don't really ever go to bed with this new little guy around.
She had a great first day and seemed to really like her teacher. I can't believe we have a kindergartener! With time passing so quickly, Jacob will be starting school before I even realize it.

Baby Jacob

This is my baby. We finally decided on a name by popular demand. The kids settled on Jacob long before I did, so I just had to come around to it. I do like the name now. The middle name is Richard after my grandpa and my dad (his middle name).
Jacob is sort of a wrinkle-faced old man. But he's pretty awesome and we are starting to adjust to life with him around.

 I love the blanket he's in - my mom gave it to us as a baby present.

She also gave us this sweet diaper - a Ragababe that I'd had my eye on for close to a year. They're pretty difficult to get a hold of.

And here's another shot of the baby for good measure.

 And both of my babies. I can't really get enough of those guys.

I guess sometimes I can, but right now while they're sleeping and I'm just looking at these cute pictures I can't.

With me so preoccupied with the baby the older two have been really great about keeping themselves entertained since I haven't ventured out with all four kids yet. They spend a lot of time in wacky dressups.

Caleb as Ladybug Man.

Superheroes with helmets to protect their heads.

Caleb's pirate patch. Emily assisted with the taping to the face part.

Princess Emily.

Butterfly face painting. Joseph took the older two
to a free Alice in Wonderland play that they really enjoyed.

Our ward and neighbors have been wonderfully supportive during this time of adjustment. They have provided many meals and I have really appreciated not having to worry about coming up with something for dinner every evening. I feel like we have been well fed and well taken care of.