Destination Disneyland Halloween 2009

Ian, Ethan, Emma and Grant ready for the Trick or Treat party!

The pirate family! argh....

Ian checking out the Toy Story soldier, they were cool!

Emma as Ariel...love the RED hair.

Our first night at Disneyland was Halloween 2009. What would it be like there? Lots of fun, rides, candy, fruit, veggies, cool stuff. We met our friends - Ann (Salem) Rob, Gayle, Emma and Ethan (Indiana). We were able to stay next door in the same hotel! Our only regret was that Halloween was the first night and the Spencers had travelled all day, lost 3 hours on the flight, had the big Halloween party, then Ethan was sick in the night and had to be rushed 911 to two different hospitals for a couple of days. He was able to recover and we were sure thankful we had week long (6 day) passes to Disneyland.

The kids loved to come back after lunch and take a swim. The weather was incredible over 90 degrees two of the days and the rest in the 80's. This was the first week of November!!!!

Checking out their loot....Gary thought there was over 30 pounds of candy! and YES we hauled it home on the plane. :)

This is how we found Ian on Halloween night..... the pirate was a bit tuckered out...

3,2,1.... Blast off -- Destination Southern California

We are so lucky that the boys love to fly in airplanes. (However, their mother does not fly well.) We had a good flight down to Orange County with a very empty plane. The flight attendant's were so nice and even offered to let the boys check out the pilots and cockpit. They were very excited and thought they could fly a plane~no problem. Of course, the boys were offering them candy every chance they could so that helped butter up the crew.

Coopers are down and out...

This was the look for about 2 weeks at our house. We were all 4 sick with the flu. I started out the sickest of all~not good being the mom. We were almost over it by Lindsay's wedding and our vacation. Just a nagging cough--our guess the swine flu. :)

Margarita Sunday

Gary and I like to go out and have dinner without our kiddos pulling on our sleeves. We realized the last couple of months we had always gone on Sundays and had Mexican food with margaritas. We starting labeling it ~ Margarita Sunday. Gary decided one week to invite some of his nieces and nephews ~ 3rd street McMinnville. It was fun to catch up. It happened to be Kathie Byers and Tucker Van Dykes birthdays!!! Ole'!!!

Grant's 1st Grade Progress

Notice the missing tooth!

Grant loves his first grade class at school. We are so happy because he does not have very many friends from his PreK and Kinder days. The district reorganized and joined 2 grade schools together for the first time this year. He really likes his teacher and I believe that is so important at this age. They have a punchcard system and this was his first award for getting 30 punches. It is a cool picture frame. He wanted to stand by the color that he wants to paint his room. We are still deciding if we are sticking with that color. It takes us time to make the change. :)

Our parent/teacher conference went well. We are loving this age as he begins to read and figure books out. Reading has been our main homework assignment so far.

Good job Grant!

Combining on our Farm

Grant on the combine

Ian posing with the combines

Ian on the combine

I always tell folks we have a farm, but we are not really farmers. I say that because people want to come and buy our eggs and milk, but we don't have any. We have chosen the option to lease out our land to a seed farmer. He has grown several crops and this year it is clover. I didn't know my boys were so much into tractors, but when the time came to harvest. Daddy took them down to see if they could go for a ride. It lasted over 3 hours! The next day they made Dianne stay home in case they came back again (and they did). Another ride and they finished up. Wow! It was so much fun and they talked for days about it. They even got to drive a bit. They called their cousins to report the news.

Boys will be boys! Tractors are cool!!!!

Weekend with Daddy before 1st grade

Lighthouse in Newport.

Grant getting ready to climb.

Daddy starting the trek.

Grant taking a minute to pose for the camera. :)

It looks like a long climb from here!

Having a snack of chips with daddy before bedtime.

We decided early in the summer that Daddy and Grant should have a weekend away at the beach before he starts 1st grade. It is a sort of a new family tradition to mark a rite of passage. It was so fun for them to plan and they decided on Newport. They went to a lighthouse in the fog and climbed it. They had a nice lunch at Mo's with a window seat overlooking the bay. They watched the loud and crazy sea lions in Newport. Even did some shopping along the bayfront and brought back prizes for Ian and I. :) It was so good for all of us to have some one on one time with the boys. Of course, their behavior is much better apart from each other. These are the times when you know they really love each other, because they talk nonstop about each other. A glimpse of brotherly love.......

The CRAZY COOPERS owe the dentist big time!

This was the year of the dentists for the Coopers. Gary and Debbie both had root canals and crowns. We both need more, but waiting until next year:) Ian had surgery twice~ once to pull a tooth and once in the hospital to pull another tooth, put in spacers and crown 6 more teeth. Grant had just a few cavities, but he has had the 2 bottom teeth out and now a top tooth. This photo session started with getting Grant's picture of his missing tooth and ended up to be a crazy Cooper camera moment. I don't think we will forget 2009 and all the dental woes it had to offer.

111 degrees and he can find the mud!!!

Ian Robert Cooper is one of those kids that can find mud or dirt anywhere. It was a very hot week in Oregon.... 100s all week long. Ian and Sadie (pup) go out to the backyard for a short time. Gary knows they won't stay out long in this heat! He doesn't hear from them for awhile. Daddy went to check....uh oh.... the sprinkler had formed a mud puddle and they decide to play in it. Oh my! Pictures are much louder than words.

Summer Swimming 2009

Swimming is such a huge part of our family that I wanted to include some swim lesson pictures. We swim in the winter in a local pool, but in the summer we go to the outdoor pool. The boys took lessons this summer again. Grant passed to level 4 and Ian to level 3. It is a great activity that we all enjoy. If we travel the first requirement is a swimming pool.