Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! This says it so well. I love you all, you are a HUGE blessing to me and now that my mother is gone, I turn to all of you to help me learn, so thank you.


This is for the mothers who have sat up
all night with sick toddlers in their arms,
wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer
wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying,
'It's okay honey, Mommy's here.'

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at
work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains
on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and
make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.
And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to
babies they'll never see. And the mothers
who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art
collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars.
And that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?' they could say, 'Of course, I wouldn't
have missed it for the world,' and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens

This is for all the mothers who sat down with
their children and explained all about making
babies. And for all the (grand)mothers who
wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go
hungry, so their children can eat.

For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight,
Moon' twice a night for a year And then
read it again, 'Just one more time.'

This is for all the mothers who taught
their children to tie their shoelaces before
they started school. And for all the mothers
who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons
to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?'
in a crowd, even though they know their
own offspring are at home -- or even away
at college -- or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids
to school with stomach aches, assuring them
they'd be just FINE once they got there, only
to get calls from the school nurse an hour later
asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone
astray, who can't find the words to reach them.
For all the mothers who bite their lips until they
bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of
recent school shootings, and the mothers
of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their
children to be peaceful, and now pray
they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?
The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and
sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart?
Is it the ache she feels when she
watches her son or daughter disappear
down the street, walking to school alone
for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to
dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put
her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again
at 2 A.M. when she just wants to hear
their key in the door and know they
are safe again in her home?

Or the need to flee from wherever she is
and hug her child when she hears news
of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are
universal and so our thoughts are for
young mothers stumbling through diaper
changes and sleep deprivation...
And for mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. For all of us...

Hang in there. In the end we can
only do the best we can. Tell them
every day that we love them. And pray
and never stop being a mother...

What's Happening

I can't believe how quickly May is going by already!! This week has really gone fast! Monday, my friend, Dennisa and I took six kids, including Cooper to the zoo! I don't know what we were thinking!! It was fun, though, she was babysitting five and I had my one, we were all wore out by the time we were done and didn't even have time to see it all. Next time we decide to go insane, we will put bright shirts and ropes around the waists of the kids to keep them all together!
I have been working on packing with no real system, just whatever I'm near that I think we can go ahead and put in storage. I haven't moved in nearly four years, so I think I've forgotten what work it is packing and then adding a baby to the mix is a little more challenging. I do what I can at nap time and pack a box here and there when he's playing on the floor next to me, so it will all get in place eventually.
Cooper is getting better and better at army crawling on his belly and really trying to get his belly up and crawl, it won't be long, now. He can get across the living room pretty fast. His favorite thing to get him going is following Harry dog around, which kind of freaks Harry out a little, I think. He jumps up on the couch when he's tired of being chased, it's quite comical.
I put some of our zoo pics and some cute Cooper pics on this slide show, so enjoy!!

Packin' Up

We are looking to close on the sale of our house on the 28th, which is only about 3 weeks away!! It's so sad to think about leaving here, this was our very first house and we've lived here nearly four years, which is a record for me. We are starting to pack and get things put into storage, since we will have to store our entire house for the summer. We will be staying at the trailer house at the lake for a few months. It is so weird that we'll be there again, we stayed there before we bought this house and now we'll be there again until our shop with the apartment is finished. We plan to build our house in the next couple of years. We are hoping to be in our shop apartment before Cooper's birthday and have his first birthday party there. The guys started doing some dirt work this weekend. We have a driveway now, I had to try it out this afternoon. Lots of dirt has been moved and quite a bit of progress was made for a day and a half of work. Now we have to get going on getting some of the fun paperwork stuff started and get ready to build something, this will be fun!
Cooper is growing like a weed! He is just about ready to crawl, he is getting the hang of army crawling on his belly and getting where he wants to go. Once he figures out that he can lift up on all fours and coordinate it all, he'll be going non-stop! He has also figured out that he loves to splash in the bath tub, which is so cute! We are having fun as usual with him, it's always some thing new. He is just such a little blessing and I am so thankful that I get to be home with him and soak it all up! I'll be keeping you posted and taking pictures of our building progress and Cooper, of course!

Camping

We had a fun time camping last week. Cooper is a good little camper! We went to Arcadia Wednesday and came home yesterday. It was such a nice little mini-vacation. We got to visit Shawn, Morgan, and the kids while we were there, so that was really fun. Dennis kept Cooper for an entire day for the first time on Thursday so that Morgan and I could have a girls' day out. We had a lot of fun shopping and went to a girly tea room for lunch, we had so much fun, especially since we haven't done that in a long time and we don't get to see each other too often. Our friends, Loren and Jamie, from Pawnee came down Friday night and camped next to us. They have an 18 month old named Jacob and him and Cooper are just fascinated with each other, it is so cute to watch them! They are picking the next place and I know we'll enjoy going again!

SOLD!

Well, we have big news! We have sold our house, we will close somewhere around May 28th! We are hoping to get our shop built soon so that we will be able to store things there and build living quarters to stay in until we get ready to build our house. How exciting and a little scary!!
Here are some cute new pics of Cooper. He is sleeping in the top one, he has all kinds of ways he sleeps, but this is the newest and so cute. He is getting soooo big! He will be seven months old on Sunday, I can't believe how fast it goes by! We are just having so much fun with him, he has quite the little personality shining through more and more every day.

New News

Cooper had his first overnight stay this weekend! He stayed at Nana & Poppy's Friday night and he had so much fun. I think he was not ready to go home! The slide show has some pictures we had taken about a month ago and a few I took last week of him at home with Harry dog.
I enjoyed going to Mary Kay Career Conference over the weekend, here in Tulsa, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun girl time!

Happy Easter

Well, it's been quite a busy Easter weekend. We took Cooper on his very first camping trip (unless you count the ones we went on when I was pregnant). We didn't go too far, just to Keystone State Park in Sand Springs and our new camping buddies came from Pawnee. We were thrilled to have someone to go with and they have a little boy that is 18 months, so he and Cooper were just fascinated with each other. Dad, Nancy, Marie, Ryan, and Grange came out for burgers Friday night since we were only about 5 miles from Dad's house. Cooper didn't know quite what to think about all his new surroundings, but he got right at home pretty fast.
Mamaw and Papaw came to visit after church this evening, and Cooper was in such a good mood for them and just giggling away for Papaw. We just have so much fun with that little kid! He really reminds me that God is good all of the time. Happy Easter!