100th Day of School

Here's Evan as a100-year-old man on the 100th day of school.  

He also made a had with 100 face emojis. 

His class looked so much older, now that they've made it to this milestone of 1st grade!

Evan has been working on this art for me for a few weeks, and I'm glad he had a chance to finish it today.  I needed some colorful and happy cheering up!  My baby is growing up.

Kyle's Ordination to Deacon

 This day was such a special day!

(We did have to wait an hour longer than the scheduled time, since the bishopric member who was coming to join us forgot and was actually at the temple!  We were just glad to know that nothing bad had happened to him or to a member of his family.)

After that long wait,


Stephen was able to confer upon Kyle the Aaronic Priesthood, and ordain him to the office of a Deacon.  Then, he gave Kyle a special blessing:


Kyle at this time, we want to impress upon you the importance of the priesthood, and that as you become this age and are growing up in your life, more and more will be expected of you, not only here from your own family here on earth, but also from our Heavenly Father.  Heavenly Father wants you to know that you now possess little pieces of His priesthood.  You'll be able to do things that He needs done, that you can help other people.  That's what the priesthood is about, having the authority to help all people that need your help as a deacon.  Listen to your councilors that you will have in your life and listen to your leaders that you have in your life, and they will guide and direct you.  You will be able to learn from them things that are good, and youmay also learn things that you don't want to do.  Remember at all times you have that opportunity to learn.
Kyle, also remember to live a worthy life to have this priesthood.  As you grow up and as more is expected of you, Heavenly Father wants you to live an even better life.  He wants you to make the right choices.  You're going to be expected to stand up and have to say that you follow Christ and that you believe in Him and that you're doing the right things.  It will be difficult.
Our Heavenly Father has taught us that this life is not easy and it's going to be a test.  So, you're going to have to stand up and make tough choices, and you're going to have to fight through things that may be difficult for you, but the best thing in the world that you have going for you is that you have a family who loves you.  You have parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who love you and care for you.  You can talk to them about anything at any time about.  There are church leaders who care about you, that want the best for you and will guide and direct you the best that they know how.
Finally, Kyle, remember to keep praying.  As you pray and become closer to Heavenly Father, he will bestow upon you the Holy Ghost, and that is what will guide you to do what is right and make good choices.
We love you, and we're so, so very proud of you.  Continue to make good choices, and you will make, not only yourself happy, but those who love you happy and our Heavenly Father happy.



We ARE so, so very proud of this young man, who is so, SO close to being taller than his mother.

After the blessing, Grandpa gave Kyle a special tie tack, a horny toad with ruby eyes.  He explained the story behind this gift:

when he first joined the church, a man who became very close to their family over the years, helped Grandpa as he learned all about the gospel.  He also wore a tie tack just like the one Grandpa gave to Kyle.  When this man died, he passed. his tie tack onto Grandpa, who had several replicas made to give to his sons and grandsons, encouraging them to live a life to help and serve others.  

Kyle also got his very own temple recommend holder, as he can now attend the temple!  

I can't believe this day has come, and that Kyle is now passing the sacrament and doing other duties of a deacon!  

Evan's Grit

I was so excited to get a happy email from Evan's teacher, Mrs. Bonn:

"Hello!  Evan has been working so hard on getting his work done, being a leader, having self-control, and working hard on all his work.  With that being said, he will be getting the GRIT award this Friday at GMP. (Good Morning Purefoy assembly).  It will be a surprise to him, so don't tell!  I hope you are having a great day!"

[Grit is perseverance and passion for long-term goals.  You finish what you begin, stay committed to your goals, work hard even after failure or when you feel like quitting, and you stick with projects for more than a few weeks.]

For those who don't know, Evan has been having the hardest time transitioning to all the changes in the past few months.  We've been working with him at home, and I've been up at the school many times, meeting with the counselor and his teacher, sitting in his classroom, and trying to work out plans to help him set and reach goals, both academically and behaviorally.  Just to get to see Evan making steps in the right direction is so encouraging!  His reading and control is improving.  His behavior at home is moving forward, even though the progress is sometimes SO SLOW.

Mrs. Bonn also include a personal note:

Evan,

I am so proud of you.  You are working so hard!  

Keep up the great work.  I'm lucky to be your teacher!

Evan also leveled up in swimming, showing GRIT there, too!  

I'm happy that our Meow-Meow is making small moves.  

Ryan Stuff

Ryan has been working hard in gymnastics, and he LOVES it!

Here's him working on the uneven bars, the high bar, and working on drills for the vault.






Little Po has also been enjoying Cub Scouts.  They've done hikes, community service, a field trip to the local fire station, and much more.  He loves checking off another activity and seems to be trying to get every belt loop!

As always, he's working hard at school, too. 

Here's the latest project that he was pretty happy with.  It's on earthquakes.  

Way to go, Little Po!

Eleven + a Half

Miraculously, Stephen was off early on Kyle's 1/2 birthday!

He was able to join us for this summer birthday boy's birthday celebration at school.

Since this school doesn't allow treats, 

it made our job as parents so much easier:

all we needed to do was bring Kyle Coop his requested lunch:

Freebirds!

How grateful I am that this boy joined our family almost TWELVE YEARS AGO 

and made us parents.  We love him so much!

Kyle's Half-Birthday Questions:

Name: Kyle

How old are you? 11 1/2

Favorite Color: blue

Favorite Animal: octopus

Favorite Book: Harry Potter series

Favorite TV Show: Gravity Falls

Favorite Movie: Infinity War

Favorite Song: Star Wars theme song

Favorite Food: sushi 

Favorite Drink: rootbeer

Favorite Breakfast Food: bagel sandwich

Favorite Snack: yogurt

Favorite Outfit: Blue suit and tie

Favorite Game: any video game

Favorite Toy: Legos

Best Friend: Emmet

Favorite Thing to Do: play games

Favorite Thing to Do outside: swim

Favorite Holiday: Christmas

What do you take to bed at night: my blankets

Where is your favorite place to go? Disney World

Favorite Restaurant: Taco Bell any asian food place

Where do you want to go on vacation: a cruise

What do you want to do when you grow up? be a doctor

What did you do on your birthday? Mom and Dad brought me Freebirds, we went to Freddy's and I got ordained to be a Deacon.   

Dentist---Again

On our regular check-up, we found out Evan had a cavity.  

On the day we were scheduled to have that work done, 

I got an email from the school nurse informing me that Ryan had taken a bad fall from his bike on the way to school and had cracked one of his front teeth. 

When I called the dentists' office, they said to bring them both in.

Evan took to the gas nicely, a little TOO nicely.

The dentist came out of the room after fixing the cavity laughing.

"I like him!  He's funny!  He kept asking me to give him a gold tooth!"

"Give me a GOLD tooth!"

"He's hilarious!"

 She made sure I got a picture of him with his face half numb.

Thankfully, there wasn't too much damage for Ryan,

 especially since both front (permanent) teeth are now chipped!

Dr. Kelly gave both boys two thumbs up and complimented them (and me)

on how well behaved and polite they both were.  

Well, even though it was a pain, at least both boys were

made a good impression! 

Since they had both missed lunch at school and they both had sore mouths, 

we followed directions and found some soft foods to eat:

fries and ice cream!

Evan kept his gas giver as a souvenir!  

Cousins

I love it when everyone gets along.  

Penicillin Man

Kyle had a living history presentation at school.

His person of study was Dr. Fleming, who invented penicillin.  

I was proud of Kyle for planning and executing this project all on his own.  

(I did help him with the costume)

It was refreshing to see a 5th grade project actually completed by a 5th grader.

I was his first spectator, but he had many visitors throughout the school day!

Teacher's Dream

We hit the ground running in 2019.

After a wild trip, it was right back into school for the boys + chemo for me.

A bright part of my week was receiving this email:

Good evening, Mrs. Cooper.

I hope you had a restful break and enjoyed having the kids home over the holidays.  I want to let you know that your sweet boy will be receiving a Spotlight Award during this Friday’s GMP Assembly.  Ryan is a teacher’s dream student in every way. I love his enthusiasm for learning new things and how he is so ready to take on any challenge given to him.  He is also so sweet and thoughtful of others and willing to help out in any way.  It is an absolute pleasure being Ryan’s teacher.  I hope you are able to attend on Friday. If so, don’t forget to preregister.  I hope to see you there. Thank you so much for sharing your boy with me!

Mrs. Miller

Ryan's Spotlight Award was for Purpose:

for having a sense of meaning and direction in life.

You have a determination to fulfill you set goals.

He really is a great kid. 

The following week, I saw Ryan's teacher at school.  

She again spoke about her love for Ryan and how grateful she is to have him in her class.

She talked about how she loves all the students, but sometimes....

there's just a few who are "literally a teacher's dream in every way."

(are we raising Mr. Poppins?)

"You're a former teacher.....you know how it is."

He's just practically perfect in every way.  

Home Again

It was so great to be home and sleep in my own bed!

It was also great that my boys missed me and we got to spend some quality time.

There was a lot of organizing of Christmas gifts 

and putting away of Christmas decor.

We used some gift cards for lunch and even squeezed in 

hot chocolate and Christmas lights, a tradition we ran out of time for before.

We FINALLY saw the movie Kyle has been begging for: 

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

(we all loved it!)

That rounded out the holiday movies:

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Aquaman

Mary Poppins Returns

When Julia had to go back to work on the teacher's work day Monday,

the kids and I took advantage of the 74 degree weather!

It was SO restorative for me to get out in the sunny warmth and

watch the kids play.  

And, thus ended the winter break of 2019.