Card Exchange

This is my card for this month for the card exchange. I used my Cricut again - if I knew how to put a little link on that word I would. I just love that machine!

Lady with the Aligator Purse

Mother, mother, I am ill

Call the doctor over the hill,
in came the doctor, in came the nurse,

in came the lady with the alligator purse...

Bailey had her first play at school this past week. It was so cute! She was the 'lady with the alligator purse, and I am so sad I didn't get a better picture of her full costume, which had huge crazy purple hair, and rather large glasses that wouldn't stay on her face. I was so impressed with how well all the kids did, and I just love her teachers. They put in so much effort to do this play. Love ya Mrs. Crane, Miss Lori, Miss Chris!

Alias

My friend Shelby posted this and it was funny to read. In all of my other circles, I am otherwise known as...

1. MY ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)- Ellie Toyota. Wow how lame am I? This just proves I could never be a rock star.

2.MY GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)-Baby ruth chocolate chip. Not very intimidating.

3. MY “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-coo

4. MY DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)-Pink-dog

5. MY SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)-Christine Edmonds. Hey thats kindof hot. Or kind of old lady-ish come to think of it. Hey, maybe old man milton thinks it's hot.

6. MY STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)-coo-je. This is so nerdy.

7. MY SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)-"The green lemonade."

8. MY NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Ralph verne Carl

9. MY STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)-
Heavenly chocolate'. I guess if I were a black stripper. Just proves I could never be a stripper either.

10.MY WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )- Ann Brent. Dang, now my cover is blown if I actually ever have to go into witness protection. That is a good cover name!

11. MY TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)- Rautenberg Rome

12. MY SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) - Christmas hydrangia.

13. MY CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)-
Grape-hoodie

14. MY HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree-) granola magnolia. Okay, I really ate fruit loops for breakfast, but I eat granola sometimes and that just sounded better.

15. MY ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)-The Scrapbooking Rain Tour (Groovy!)

In Captivity

Here sits our lonely tree. I broke down and bought the mondo octagon gate due to one very busy 18 month old who will remain nameless. I thought I was outsmarting his roadrunner-like pace and super-stretchy-arms and whatever super-hero qualities he seems to be hiding from me, but to no avail. Super busy baby can climb inside of the gate, but that was before discovering that he could slide the gate to reach his own new private collection of ammunition (Christmas balls) to throw at the great big green target (afore mentioned tree in captivity). Did I mention my right eye has a twitch?

roadrunner with super hero powers

Every year since having the three musketeers, I have tried to make tree trimming night a fun family night together, in hopes of creating the same magical memories I had with my family as a child. This year was especially exciting for me because Bailey and Jake are old enough now to really remember this Christmas. We had decided to put up our tree the night before we left to Utah for thanksgiving so that when we got home it would be shining in all its Christmasy spirit and glory when we returned ready to start our Christmas season. This year I had grand expectations, and just a little bit too much on my plate it turns out.

As if packing for a trip with three small children (okay, just taking care of 3 small children) isn't chaotic enough, I wanted to finish getting packages together to take to Utah with me (which included baked goods and candies), I had started this whole 12 days of Christmas project to do with my 30 or so 8-11 year olds at church (which for starters included 6, no kidding 6 hours of cutting tags with my Cricut cutter) and of course I wanted a clean house for tree decorating night so we could get out the video camera and take pictures without toys and laundry running amuk (Carter loves to drag laundry all over, and socks, lots and lots of socks). And maybe this still doesn't seem undoable, but there are no words to fully explain the storm that brewed in my head.

Not to sound like I think I am the greatest, but I am often pretty impressed with myself when it comes to multitasking and time management and get frustrated when it all doesn't work out how I planned. Well, I think the motherboard in my brain shorted out. It got fried. Too many details for one mama to keep up there. And I was so sad that our fun night didn't go as planned. For one thing, the kids ran around for close to two hours repeatedly asking me if they could put the "ordnamets" on the tree yet. You see, I was making batch after batch of lollipops, and various other stuff that I must have blocked from my memory. They were so patient. We finally got to the decorating part, and promised that we would all have a sleep over party in the living room that night by the tree. We were supposed to drink hot chocolate, watch a Christmas movie, sing Christmas songs, and read a Christmas book. Together. Well, the kids did all of it, minus mom and dad, who were running around in the mess of it until 12:30 that night when Bailey came into our room and asked for probably the 20th time if we were going to come in for the sleepover party now that the movie was over. Yes, Bailey, we will be there in a minute. We are liars. They fell asleep, and so did we in exhaustion - in our own bed. Bailey was so, so disappointed in the morning when she woke up and saw we never came in. I feel so bad! I ruined her tree night memories, and what's worse, she will remember for reals this year!!!

Our little devil

Our little angel

My personal super hero. Isn't he handsome? even lying there under that tree, rugged and taking charge. He should have his own calendar. Sorry ladies, this ones all mine.

I really did it to myself this time. I literally have walked around in a daze until this past week, that is one reason I haven't posted in so long! I know that I cannot be everything to everyone and still have fuel left over to put in my own tank. I definitely paid the price this time for trying to "do it all." I am learning through my own life lessons, that it is okay to set limits on what you can do with your time. I just had a real reality check this time around, and in the future, I plan to do things differently.

Thanksgiving a month later

We seriously contemplated going out to eat for thanksgiving dinner this year. We had finally decided we would probably stay in and have a little feast with just the five of us. We were actually really looking forward to a quiet turkey day, where we could just relax and decorate our tree. Usually Turkey day consists of 30 plus people, and with half of those being small children, it can get pretty chaotic, no matter who's side of the family we are visiting. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love that Chris and I have big families. There is lots of love, lots of fun, and plenty of stories to tell, and when we all get together, we usually share all of the above.

But this year, because of the distance in between us and our respective families, we now had "options" and it was fun to think of the possibilities! Our good friends Jen and Dale Yancey (who live in Utah) called and talked us into thanksgiving with their family, so we ended up going there.

A little background on Jen and Dale: They were our neighbors in our first little apartment when we were newlyweds in Everett Washington. They were newlyweds too. Chris and I found some of our BFF's for the past almost 8 years now, and our belly's have ached from laughing our guts out ever since. Jen and I call Chris and Dale "the girlfriends" because they talk to eachother on the phone more than Jen and I do. We are not phone talkers. In fact, most if not 90 percent of our nights out with the Yancey's were coordinated by Chris and Dale themselves. We almost died a little inside when they moved to Utah (Where Jen is from) but recovered when we decided to move only 4 hours away from them less than 1 year later. We love you Jen and Dale!

We had a delicious meal at Jen's Aunt Trina's house, and went to her Grandma's house later for a little meet and greet.

Dale's 30th birthday was the day before, and Jen had gotten him a Yellow Lab puppy they named Oscar. Dale even got him a sofa to sleep on in the kitchen. I almost pee'd my pants when I saw him loungin on his little doggie pull out bed. He is livin the good life with the Yancey's as owners. Bailey and Jacob wanted to take him home with us to play with our dogs Brandi and Buddy. Did I mention that the little stuffed animal that Oscar carried around is a minnieme version of himself that was once Dale's childhood stuffed Dog? Cute.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the four of us. I always kick myself for that. Next time I swear I will. I did however get some cute ones of Dale reading with the kids. He is going to be such a good Dad someday. Bailey, Jake, and Carter LOVE Jen and Dale.

The day after we all went to Provo to see Enchanted. We met up with my brother and sister in law. The movie was fun for all ages, and even Chris liked the catchy music in the movie. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of McDreamy. After the movie I enjoyed some much missed shopping while the kids played with Dale and Chris in the play area, and that is a sad story in itself.

Poor Jacob. As most of you know, he has some spontaneous barfing difficulties, and it can be unleashed anytime, anywhere, and if I am anywhere in the viscinity, my mommy barfsensor starts beeping and I can cut any conversation or activity short to catch the barf before it hits the floor. How sad for me, really. It is an acquired skill. But Daddy's barfsensor is not as highly developed as my own. Apparently, they were in this massive playarea, populated by many children while their parents basked in the frenzy of the day-after-thanksgiving shopping, and Jacob lost it all over the center of the play area. Chris panicked, scooped him up, and took off. He called me and asked if I thought he should attempt cleaning it or run away, and when I told him to find some janitorial people to clean it up, he was relieved at the thought. He did however make Dale hang out around the corner with the perpetrator while he reported the crime. He told them "hey, some kid just threw up all over the middle of the play area..." right as three other huffy mother's over heard him and threw in their angry two cents "yeah, we were just coming to tell you about the disgusting mess!" Such is the life of two parents with one barfing child. What can ya do?

Isn't Carter Cute?

All in all, we had fun, ate good food (Thanks Red Robin, we miss you) and we are glad that we went!

Girls Night Out

Pictured left to right: Me, Amy, Jenny G., Shelby

(Okay, I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but didn't post it until I got the pictures.)

This past weekend I had my first official "girls night out" since moving here. It made me a little sentimental about all of the fun GNO's spent with my long lost BFF's from Washington - you all know who you are - and I miss you guys (sniff) But it was so much fun and long overdue!

We went to Johnny Carino's an italian restaurant in Idaho Falls - YUM - and had quite an enjoyable time in the company of adults minus the fuss, muss, chaos, and mess of all of our little ones. I hadn't been there before and it was delicious.

The true reason for our evening out was to celebrate Amy's birthday! Happy Birthday Amy! You are one of the kindest and friendliest girls!

By the end of the evening my head hurt from laughing, and I got to know three fun girls a whole lot better. And you girls are fun.

My favorite one liners said by Amy, that coming out of her mouth are more hilarious than I have ever heard another person say: "Let's be honest here..." followed by something so honest you almost spit your drink out, and "I'm not going to lie to ya..."

Oh, if you could only hear it come out of her mouth. Ahh, good times.

Engaged!

Well, it's official. This 26 year old menace to society is finally off the market! That's right ladies. This eye-candy is officially spoken for and we all couldn't be happier!

This is David, one of my little brothers. David is a super-fun, super-funny, super loveable and adorable guy and I have been wondering when he would meet mrs. right! This is Jen. The love of his life. He just proposed this last week and it is now official for January 26, 2008 in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. Jen, you are too cute and David, you are so lucky. I love you both and am so happy for the two of you! Congratulations!

Card exchange

I belong to a card exchange group in my ward. We don't get together or anything - we just have a theme for each month and then give our cards to one designated person who then drops off the batch to everyone once they are in. I love it, love it. I have gotten some of the cutest cards, and always have one whenever I need one. This month we had to make a Christmas tag instead of a card and here are mine. I think they turned out pretty cute. The picture below is just the back of the tags. I made them using my Cricut machine. I love that dang cricut it makes to cutest stuff and I am so addicted to it.

Goin for broke

She's going for broke. The second one popped out tonight. This is her letter to the toothfairy, It was past bedtime and I didn't have the patience to let her write it herself. I am a mean mom :( I feel bad now.

Farewell Calvin Klein

And, a great pair of Calvin Klein's bites the dust. So I ripped my fat pants. NO not because I am so large and in charge that the seams split out the butt. I know that is how it sounded. But sadly, my only pair of jeans that fits (since I STILL haven't lost 20 pounds from having my last child 18 months ago, yes 18 it is sad) yes my ONLY pair of jeans that I was so desperately attached to because I am in denial and unwilling to purchase more (because I will lose those dang pounds just you see). I seriously almost cried. Purchasing jeans has been a very traumatic part of my life. I have flashbacks from the tween to teen years just thinking about it. I am 5'4" tall. That is exactly between petite length and regular length which means yes, sadly, petite is totally high water and regular is like 4 inches too long, and it just has never been a joyful experience. Except for this one time when I went shopping with my friend Nicki. I had finally lost the pounds after having children 1& 2 consecutively. Yeah, then I got pregnant 2 months later.

It all happened a couple of days ago... I was hurriedly putting away the dishes and had two different cupboards ajar and happened to catch my bum on the corner of one and those comfy Calvin's caught their demise.

I was not happy that date night had to turn into a jean shopping extravaganza and I think once I informed Chris of that info. he had to go in the other room to hide his own tears. He hates to go shopping with me.

But, yes ladies, the Lord answers prayers because we went straight to Macy's in the good old jean dept. there and low and behold, they still had the EXACT same pair I had purchased 3 years ago! It was as if a spot light and heavenly concourses of angels sang as I walked closer to that rack of pure curve hugging just in the right places, big enough in the waist yet roomy enough in the thunderthighage area yet long enough with a pair of high heeled boots to make me look like I am curvy and all of 5'7" (you ladies with height don't know how blessed you truly are)! Hallelujah! And thank you Calvin Klein and Macy's for all you have done for me. Date night was saved and my faith in finding a pair of jeans to adequately adorn my stout legs was restored!

Snickerdoodles if your good

I watched the Oprah show this week when the Osmond family was on. It was heartwarming and fun, and their family is amazing. They are before my time, so I knew of them, but of course didn't participate in any of the adoration and Osmond-mania that has followed them by their loyal fans for decades. I was touched to see their posterity gather and especially moved when I saw the 6 brothers singing with Marie on stage.

This got me feeling sentimental about my parents and the posterity they started. Growing up we had a lot of music in our home. Some of my fondest memories were spent singing together on family night, at Christmas time, or in the car on trips here or there. I love music and how it has such power to uplift our hearts and bring joy in the room. I have such admiration for my brothers and have many fun memories with them.

Going to church on Sunday was definitely rowdy. We took up pretty much an entire bench and what I remember most is brothers (okay I wasn't innocent and definitely contributed to said rowdiness) playing bloody knuckles,(I didn't participate in THAT) thumb wars, pinching each other, and good old fashioned "punched ya last" - of course this was all done inconspicuously low in our laps out of the view of most other benches. We were always amazed later to hear people telling our parents how they just can't believe how well behaved their 7 children were during Sacrament meeting. Because my parents were always mortified that we were so obnoxious in their immediate vicinity despite their weekly talks to us about appropriate behavior and reverence expected in the appropriate places. Every week my Dad would finally stoop to what we all stoop to at some time or another as parents - blatant bribery.

"If you guys would just be good for the rest of Sacrament meeting, (he would whisper, and then it would be shared through the grape vine) I'll make snicker doodles when we get home!"

This would motivate us for another 5, 10, 15 minutes for as long as our respective attention spans would allow before the bloody knuckles would recommence, but Dad being the softy, and treat lover that he is would always cave, and we made ourselves sick off of delicious snicker doodles most Sundays. He wasn't home very much, and in fact worked 2 jobs most of my life. He has often expressed sadness about how much he missed of us growing up and how he can't believe we have grown, but he definitely knew how to make the time he did have with us very memorable! My dad is not the master of organization however and would completely demolish our entire kitchen in the baking process, and then be too sick from cookies to clean it up afterwards. He drove my poor mother crazy each week!

I attribute my love of baking yummy comfort food to my own home environment, and the many memories I have from holidays and all those fun Sunday afternoons spent baking together. And I think of my parents quite often most Sundays after church, when we are gathered in our own kitchen, baking our own version of "if you can just be good through sacrament meeting..." But we make Chocolate Chip cookies.

Thanks Mom and Dad for loving us and creating such wonderful memories. We love you!

The whole barrel of Monkey's

Halloween was as always, eventful. We all went to the kindergarten school in the morning for the big parade.


This is Bailey with her friend Ry behind her in line. She claims he keeps calling her "Lover girl" ohhhh, the drama of kindergarten.


This is Bailey's teacher Mrs. Crane dressed as Mrs. Wishy Washy (A book they read) Bailey thought that she was so hilarious


Bailey Dying to go Trick or treating




You don't even know how hard it is for Jacob to keep a straight face in a picture


Okay so his monkey pants are just a tad high-water. They were all monkey's last year too. Mom was too cheap to spring for new costumes this year, and since they mostly still fit... But isn't my baby monkey too sweet?



the kids with their loot

The houses are so dang far apart here that Jacob was dying after about 10 houses and wanted to quit! Bailey just kept complaining "but my buckets not full yet!!" She is a die hard trick or treater. Lovin that candy just like her mama (sniff)

Our friends The Ball's took a picture of our family for us - when she sends it to me I will post it.

By the way

By the way, I am now tagging Sarah, Lori Ann and Jotien (Jenny G. you too so hurry up with your blog :)

I have known Jotien for a while now. She is a super-fun super-cute super-mom of 6 kids in our ward. She said Hi to us our first Sunday there (though she will probably never remember that because she is one of the friendliest people I have ever met!) But, Jotien thanks for making me feel so welcome and you didn't even know it!

I met Sarah through a mutual friend of ours and the three of us ended up going to a Time out for Women in Pocatello. Okay, Sarah, you are hilarious, I mean seriously. Sarah is a beach blonde hottie from California and we bonded through our actual ties to what civilization really is and in wondering how the heck we married country boys. She has three cute kids and her youngest, Jack (who is dang cute by the way) is in Bailey's kindergarten class! So fun! Sarah, you are so fun!

I have seen Lori Ann several times and couldn't figure out how I knew her - until she came to a get together at Jotien's this weekend. Duh. She works at the kindergarten school and I have fully met her before when I helped in Bailey's class once. Okay, Lori Ann you are a hoot and I am so glad I met you. Lori Ann has three girls. Three. Okay I fully have good friends with three boys. Maybe I can arrange a hook up sometime in the far future!

Jenny G. (There are alot of Jenny's around here and it is so wierd having good friends with the same name as yours) Jenny G. is my neighbor and good friend. She took me under her wing when we moved here and I am so glad she did!! Jenny, you are one fun girl!

so girls, tag you're it.

I'm it

My friend Em tagged me a couple days ago. I am guessing I am supposed to complete a list about myself and tag others. So far I have read Em and Nicki's. Here is mine...

1. I absolutely love... to hear from my friends. I am terrible at keeping in touch, but I sooooooo appreciate it when I get a phone call (or comments on my blog! I know I am lame) or a kind note. I am very sentimental and kind words are very cherished and much remembered!!

2. I don't care if... this is a hard one. I have been contemplating it for a while now. I am going to agree with Emily. I don't care if it rains. In fact, I really miss it now that I live in Idaho!! It is so dang windy here I can't even put my decorations on my front porch! So annoying! But I think the point was to pick something I don't care about. I miss the rain and how clean and green it makes everything.

3. I like to...listen to music when I am feeling blue. I love the power music creates to uplift my spirits! Here's a shout out to all those with the talent to create it!

4. I play... on the trampoline with my kids and quite often pee my pants a little. Okay that may be to much information for some of you, but I can't help it! I had 3 babies in 4 years. c'mon now.

5. I have a horrible habit of... letting mount washmore collect. I have decided that I kinda like doing ten loads of laundry in one day. I can watch T.V., listen to music and fold all the live long day. And the best part: I only have to put it all away ONCE a week. Hallelujah!

6. I will never... ever ever bungee jump, sky dive, or do any other activity that could result in my untimely death. I am not an adventure seeker, but rather like to be comfortable, safe, secure on the ground, and know what is going to happen next.

I tag... tiffany, and um... hey, I don't have any friends that blog here left to tag! Boo hoo! Jenny G. your next with your blog so then you are it.

Calling all toothfairies

Well folks, it's official. Bailey has lost her first front tooth. That makes 3 this year! Holy Cow!

Here she is today. It was very loose so she set out on a mission

Biting on an apple wasn't as successful as imagined. It hurt but was a brave effort. We finally resorted to dental floss tied around it and shimmied back and forth, and vuala! Out it popped.

ahhh... the awkward toothless phase has only just begun. It wasn't so bad when the bottom two came out. That front tooth is a little traumatic though. Great Job Bailey! You were so brave! I love you!

Super saturday

Our ward had Super Saturday on the 20th. I made this magnet board, and magnets. They are super easy to make and Cute huh?


One of the bad things about moving elsewhere. Bugs. What the heck is this? All I have to say is Gross. Where are the bugs I know? I like the bugs I know. I know it is only Idaho and not africa or something, but this bug is not a spider, but looks like one and has wings and spots.

sweet tooth

So, it has been a stressful couple of weeks for us, and Chris has a contract to finish a job in ten days, thus, had to work the first Sunday since our moving out here. So of course, I skipped church because although I may have braved it in Washington before Carter was mobile, I have surrendered to the facts that yes, my children are unruly and I am willing to be annoyed with the unruliness of it all in the comfort of my own home, minus the 2 hour rush and painstaking effort of getting ready and to church on time; minus the blood sweat and tears inflicted by high heels toting a 25 pound-can't-stay-still-for-one-minute 16 month old, minus the irritation and headache caused by a 4 year old who will remained nameless.

I feel justified if you can't tell.

But to tell you the truth, things have been stressful for the Cook family the past couple of weeks, and my normal routine has felt impossible to accomplish. Just couldn't do it. The past two weeks, I haven't worked out. I haven't gone to bed at the time I tell myself I should in order to wake up for said workout. I have even broke the cardinal rule of no food after established time in the evening and have found myself eating zoned out in front of the DVR.

And I woke up this morning in need of comfort. And what says come on over for some comfort more than some chocolate chip cookies? Well, if you have been to my house you would know the Cook's bake chocolate cookies on a regular basis. They are pretty much a staple at our house. Milk, eggs, cereal, chocolate chips. Staple.

So all day, in the back of my mind, the cookies were literally beckoning. And by this afternoon, I had finally talked myself into baking a healthier version - oatmeal raisin. They are at least a little healthy right? So I whipped em up at nap time.

A word to the wise. Don't make cookies with unsalted butter. They are barf.

oh well, I guess I really didn't need cookies anyway.

Did I mention Carter is driving me CRAZY?



Yes, he can now climb up on our kitchen table. His most joyous accomplishment to date. He is so proud of himself. He annoyingly scoots out all of the chairs across the house and climbs up on whatever else he can get on as well. Did I mention one of my pet peeves is when the kids leave the chairs scooted out from the table? Well it is. It looks so messy. Yes I know there is macaroni under the table but the chairs being visually askew is SO annoying. I am re scooting them in after the craft making child all the live long day. Now I am having to accept this from yet another child. Did I mention I am developing a twitch?

I'm back!

Hello friends - I am blogging again. I am a little unfamiliar with this new site, so work with me here as I post from now on. Yes, it is time to return to share all about my family and my life. Some of my great friends have gotten cute new sites and inspired me, and it has been well over a year now since I have posted, and figured it was time to return.

This is us in a nutshell: There is me - Jenny Cook a 28 year old mom of 3 hilarious children. Bailey - 5, Jacob - 4, and Carter 16 months. I got married to the handsomest guy around - Chris aka "the professional" in 2000 and we have been through alot in our 7.5 years together. 3 kids, 4 miscarriages, 5 jobs,6 homes, and moved our family a heck of a long ways from where we once called home in Everett Washington. We now reside in a small town in Idaho and sometimes wonder just how in the world we ended up moving from a big city to a small farming community with neighbors that have cows. (pee-yew)



I have the best husband around. Not to brag or anything. He is tall dark and handsome, and we joke that he is "the professional" because it seems as far as handy work goes he can and has done just about everything. He just turned 30 this year. All joking aside, I really feel like I am one of the lucky girls. He helps me wherever I need help. It just seems he gets better every year. He is a great husband, a really fun Dad, and one of the hardest working guys I have ever met. And yes, every once in a while I still get butterflies in my stomache when I am with him. Who could ask for anything better?


Bailey is our angelic child. Thank goodness she got to our family first! She is kind and gentle, eager to please and loves all things girly, adventurous and crafty. She started kindergarten this year and is lovin it!


Jacob is in a nutshell, a troublemaker. He is very sneaky, and likes to cause trouble, but will do just about anything to get you to laugh - and yes we usually do when it comes down to it. He is hilarious and silly, but hates all things adventurous and is very cautious. We just barely got the kid to finally sit on a swing. He has moments that I truly think he is the sweetest boy around, and is just dying for praise and approval. I love this kid.


Carter is our little tank. He has the chubbiet cheeks of all my children and has a get out of my way attitude. The kid can push Bailey and Jake out of the way if they are in between him and a cookie. He is my first child that likes to climb things and is driving me crazy. He gets into everything. I have locks and gates all over the house, but he still manages to scale the gates and pick the locks. He is very sweet and silly, and we love the chub outa him.

And then there is me. I am a girl with 6 brothers. I'm not interested in gossip or playing cruel games the way alot of women do. I love how men get mad, then get over it. I prefer to talk about the problem however, then find a solution. I am living the life I always wanted. I dreamt of being a mom, and although it has it's hard days, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. (except for the daily longing for adult conversation and time out with my girlfriends and husband of course.) But I am doing what I always dreamed of and that makes me happy. Did I ever guess my life would be like it is at this point in time? No way. I never thought we would live where we do, have the profession Chris does, and I could never imagine what life with 3 little kids would be like either. A 3 ring circus most days.

Although I love my life, it has actually been the hardest year of my life so far. Sometimes I have actually thought I wouldn't survive it. But here I am still breathing in and out, and yes I am a survivor. This entry is long enough and sometime I will feel inclined to share some more.

So here we are - the little Cook clan. We are a young family on an new life adventure, just trying to do our best and figure it all out. Until next time...