Back from Reunion

We got back late Saturday night from our Cooper Family Reunion to the Keys. I honestly have felt that I have been hit by a semi truck I have been so tired. I am hoping to recover and get things back in order in a couple days.

We all had a great time on the reunion and the kids definitely loved seeing all there cousins the most! The weather for boating wasn't all we had hoped for, but you can't predict the weather and we made the most of it.

This is an octopus that the boys caught on their boating trip. Grant cooked it up one night and "He" thought that it was good and the rest of us at least gave it a try.Here's Miles holding up a starfish at the Aquarium in Key West. They had this cute little pool where you could touch a few different creatures and the starfish were the kids favorite. I don't have a picture of Shelbie but she was especially cute picking up all the starfish for everyone that was near her. Cousin Samantha wasn't to sure about touching one so Shelbie would pick one up for her and hold it near her so she could see it good.

One of the family activities was a beach Olympics. The weather once again didn't cooperate but we made due. Above is precious Coral holding on to her daddy in the ocean. The water in the ocean was much warmer than standing on the beach in the cold rain, so most of us got in the water and waited out the storm.

Coral modeling our family reunion t-shirts.

More reunion photos

Shelbie and Samantha

Hannah and Coral eating yogurt in bed (Coral wanted to be just like her cousin Hannah).

Shelbie and Coral having fun in the room with the boogie board. Who needs the water when you have your sister to pull you around.

Miles with his older boy cousins on the cooper side, Dalton and Tanner. All the boys went out on the boat one morning and Miles was so excited to get to go. Grant said that he did so good and was an awesome swimmer. Miles really is a trooper and we were so proud of him, even though he did throw up a few times.

When I asked Miles what his favorite thing about the reunion was his quick response was getting to see and hang out with Tanner and Dalton.

Right out side of our condos there were these huge crabs. Everyone had a great time chasing them down, especially the boys. Here's a picture of one of them with Grant and Coral, as you can tell Coral is not to sure about it.

Art

Miles loves art and this year in school it was definitely his favorite subject, with science close behind. His art teacher was so great and taught him so many different techniques and ways to express himself. I wanted to post my two favorite art pieces that he did this year in kindergarten. These two pieces were displayed in the annual fall art festival at his school. The first one uses water colors, pencil, etc. and he says that it has bugs and birds in it. The second one is a robot that he loved to tell me all about what it did. I love my Miles and he's great creativity.

Joy School Graduation videos

Joy School Graduation :)

Shelbie had the cutest little preschool graduation today. As many of you know she has been attending "Joy School" this year and has learned about so many wonderful joys in life. She loved going to school and she is very excited about V-PreK in the fall. At graduation today she got to say the opening prayer, which she had volunteered for. She was so happy to hold the microphone and say the prayer all by herself. One of her teachers was beside her and was trying to help her close her prayer, when she preceded to tell her teacher that she was not done yet. She then went on to thank Heavenly Father for Santa Claus and that Santa would always be with us, oh dear. She was so precious and proud to perform for everyone. She did a great job telling everyone about her "family flag" (the pillow cases behind the first picture on the chalkboard). Every family was to make a family flag about there family, who is in their family, and their family theme or what their family means to them. You can see a little bit of our flag in the picture. It's the third one on the top with the big green hand print on it. Our flag had all of our hand prints on it, a flower drawn by Shelbie for each person, and three things that the kids came up with when I asked them what it means to be a part of our family. The three things that they said were: we love each other no matter what (I shortened this to unconditional love), obey, and together forever. I thought that that summed up a little about what it means to be in a family and was really proud of there answers. Below are a few pictures from the morning including Shelbie with her two teachers, Ms. Angela and Ms. Lisa.

Here's Shelbie waiting in the hallway patiently until her name is called to come an get her graduation certificate.

Above is Shelbie during one of her songs. She loves to sing and I catch her all the time singing away while she plays.

So Excited!!!

I got my first Heritage Makers package this morning and I just can't contain my excitement! I am so pleased with how they turned out. Included in my order were 7 kindergarten books for Miles, his teacher, and 5 other moms in his class that wanted a copy. Also in my order was my 78 page blog book that I put together of my first year of blogging. I loved how the blog book looks and I think I'm going to use this from now on for my family scrapbook every year. Below are Miles' kindergarten book, my blog book, and the other 5 books all packaged up to hand out to the other moms. Thanks for letting me share my excitement!

Thank You's!

I put together these potted plants last night for Shelbie and Miles' teachers and I was really happy with how they turned out so I wanted to share. Shelbie picked out the pink for her teachers and Miles and I picked out the blue for his, especially because blue and white are his school colors. Both Miles and Shelbie have had great school years and I am forever grateful to there loving teachers.
As a side note I also gave Miles' teachers a storybook/yearbook as a gift. I took a picture of it and put it in my next post.
Below is Miles and his teacher Ms. Krank.

Totally Exchausted!

The girls and I joined Miles on his last kindergarten field trip this afternoon. It makes me sad to think that kindergarten is almost over and he'll be a 1st grader next year. I just can't believe how much he's grown this year and how much he's learned.
The field trip was to UF's fishery and we all learned some things that we didn't know. Most of the 3 hours was in the sun in 90% heat and taking deep breathes was about all that got me through it. I am really glad that I went and even that I took Shelbie and Coral, but the whole morning left me totally and completely exhausted! I guess this belly of mine is getting to big to be running around in the heat after my three kids. I'm pretty nervous about the fact that I have to survive all summer and my belly is only going to get bigger, sounds like fun :)
Here's Miles and Shelbie checking out the different critters that they caught in the pond. We got tons of tadpoles and a couple other interesting animals. I have to add that Shelbie does so well on these field trips and she just fits in with the rest of the kindergartners. She has another year before she even goes to kindergarten and I hope she won't be bored with the field trips once she gets there. However, something tells me that she won't, she'll just go with the flow as she usually does!

Here's Miles and Shelbie trying to catch some fish. They didn't have any luck, but still had fun trying.

Overall Coral was a great trooper the whole time. She either hung out in the stroller or hung out walking around with the kids. Above she is loving looking at some fish they had in this tank. Below is her passed out on our short ride home. This picture of her is exactly how I felt, I'm just not near as cute as she is when I'm fast asleep and drooling!