Cook Family

Playing catch up!!

2011-11-22T08:15:00.005-07:00

Boy have things been busy around here. It is hard to believe that we have been here for five months now. During those five months a lot has happened... Ty started first grade and Miss Lucy started preschool here at one of the local church preschools. Chris is getting busier and busier every day. Even on his busiest days, it's far better than residency. We are really enjoying having a Daddy around! I was put into the R.S. presidency soon after we moved in. Trying to keep up with that on top of that I am pregnant with number four! (about four months along) Exciting and terrifying at the same time... I know the Lord will only give us what we can handle so I guess I will trust him :) I suppose this pregnancy is my excuse for the lack of posts?
I didn't get too sick but sick enough to not want to do anything including eat :) we have done a lot of eating out I am just now getting on top of things like actually wanting to cook and feeling motivated to keep house and hopefully I will post a little more regularly. I have been told recently that I need to ahem... Grandpa R. and Robby.
So with this post I just took a few pictures from the last few month and bunched them together not too exciting but I figured if I want to catch up this is better than making a post for each event...even though I am skipping out on a lot of pictures.

First day of School (August)

Grandparents Day (Sept) We were lucky to have Grandma and Papou Kalakis here we also had Great Grandpa Cowan unfortunately He ended up in the hospital for almost the entire trip.

Picking Pumpkins x2
We had to go back for more :)

Playing in our giant pile of leaves!

A Kalakis tradition found the Cook house
This brought many trick-or-treaters to our house...at least 200!

Halloween...A spy, a 50's girl, and Bat Girl

Finally Ty's first grade had a Thanksgiving feast I was lucky enough to help out!
They encouraged the kiddos to dress up either as a Native American or a Pilgrim... I'm pretty sure the only pilgrims were the teachers.
I love Ty's chocolate face!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

We've Moved.....a month ago!!

2011-08-04T08:22:00.000-06:00

Well We arrived here in Miles City the first of July and it has been a bit of a whirlwind since! We pulled in to town and unpacked for two days straight....We then headed to Utah for the Fourth of July and stayed for two weeks. Leaving our house in complete disarray. Our kitchen walk out area was packed with empty boxes and packing paper galore! It was definitely a sight to come home to. We also accidentally left an un-emptied garbage bag ...that was a fun surprise!

Now that we are home we are getting more and more settled our house is starting to look like a home....an empty home but a home...I'm sure it will take no time to fill it up.

A little about our house and Miles City.... Miles city is a very old town I would say about 75 percent of the town are old houses. When we were looking for a house We wanted a new house but we soon realized it would not be worth the investment to build and started looking for an older house....boy was it disappointing! Many of the houses were too small (1-2 bedroom) and some had alot of work to do before we could even consider moving in. Luckily our realtor had a friend who was considering selling their house. Long story short we made an offer they accepted and we now live in a 5bedroom home built in 1915. The interior has all hardwood floors and an unfinished attic with potential of a master suite.
The house sits on five original lots sitting at a diagonal. To one side of the house we have a sunken garden area that is just AWESOME I see a lot of adventures there in our future. The picture below is pretty dark because the sun was going down but if you click on the photo you can see its awesomeness.

The house is surrounded by these purple flowers and lilies which I like but you only get to enjoy them part of the summer. Next year we will have a bit more color going on at the Cook Home

We have a lot to do inside before I take pictures. I'm hoping to get working on painting trim ....everywhere... It makes me tired just thinking about it :)
There are a lot of things we don't love about the house... like no air conditioning (that will change next year) but I think that comes with any older home. We are just happy to have a home big enough for our little family.

Fathers Day

2011-06-20T18:10:00.000-06:00

Fathers Day weekend was an exciting time for us. We had both sets of parents out just for Fathers day....well...maybe Chris' Graduation from Residency happened to be at the same time. YAHOO!!!! Either way we were happy to have everyone out for both occasions. It has been a while that we have been able to celebrate Fathers Day with our Dads. Unfortunately we took no pictures to prove that we had everyone out. I guess we were too busy enjoying each others company.
(More on Graduation coming soon!!)

Getting down with Mama Goose

2011-04-18T12:12:00.000-06:00

The Prairie View Kindergarten had a program Thursday night called
"Getting down with Mama Goose"
Ty had a speaking part. Its a good thing that our good friends sat pretty close and their little boy Davis was right next to Ty. We are pretty short therefore Ty was on the front row and we were unable to get great shots. They got some good footage for us. Thanks Ames family you are the BEST!!! Now Grandparents can Get down with Mama Goose too!

Ty is the second speaker you can see how he is dressed in his Sunday best with his shirt un-tucked and all. I guess that is his way of rebelling. He was not so happy to have to speak but did a great job!

St. Patricks day (a little late)

2011-03-28T16:40:00.000-06:00

I just adore this picture and had to share!!!
Warning:
looks can be deceiving... all three are looking pretty sweet here!

HOLY SMOKES!!!

2011-03-13T19:44:00.000-06:00

Was my last post really in December?!!! So much has been going on like Chris being on a seven week night rotation but that is seven weeks.... what happened to the rest of the time? That is a good question... there is really no answer for it... so here is my attempt to update the last three months! Let's go backwards shal we?
Saturday we went to the St. Patrick's day Parade here in Lees Summit. It was kind-of a bitter sweet day because this is the last time we will be going to this parade. After four years of parades, it's kind-of sad to think of this being our last.

Eating lunch while waiting for the parade

clapping in hopes of candy!

Silly Girl, Girly Girls and Hair-do's

2011-03-13T19:43:00.000-06:00

This little girl has become quite the character. Annie is constantly making us laugh one way or another. In this picture Chris and I had a murder mystery party and we were in need of a good mustache so I put one together. The kiddos loved it! Annie would hold it up to her face and say "Hi Joe" she is such a goofy girl!

I am finally getting back into doing the girls hair. They love it Lucy loves to have princess hair and Annie thinks she is just as big as her sister. I have been dying for Annie's hair to grow and finally gave up and decided to try something anyways. It turned out cute of course had to take pictures.

Somehow we (the kids) have lost all of our sponge curlers so I decided to try Lucy's hair in rag curls for Sunday. Lucy woke up and ran to the mirror and said disappointed ..."Mom my hair still looks funny" we took out the rags and reveled the curls "like Magic" she had curls it was fun and turned it out cute unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the after.

Super Citizen!!!

2011-03-13T19:40:00.000-06:00

We got a letter in the mail from the School District saying that Ty was Nominated for a Super Citizen Award. For the month of January each grade nominated a student for excellence in Academics. The Kindergarten nominated Ty!!

They had a little program where the kiddos got to go up and receive their award and some goodies before an evening choir performance.

Ty clapping for the other recipients
(he is so little)

Our super citizen and proud Momma with bunny ears courtesy of her dear friend Amy :)

All the goodies...
Ty was insistent on taking a picture of the loot.
he got...
Tee shirt,a bumper sticker (yay!!) paradise park coupons, a free sundae from DQ, free donuts, and free apple dippers.

We are so proud of you Ty!! You constantly amaze us with your drive to learn!!!
Love Mom and Dad

Utah

2011-03-13T19:35:00.000-06:00

Chris and I had an opportunity to go house hunting in Montana but we really didn't want to bring the kiddos. They flew the whole family to Utah to drop the kiddos off for some much needed Grandma/Grandpa/extended family time. They had a blast and I sometimes wonder if they even missed us. Before we headed off to Montana we had a few days before and after to spend time with family too.

Our first morning (a little sleep deprived) we met Adam and Ashley and the kiddos at Market Street Grill for breakfast. It was ooh so yummy!!! Somehow I missed the pictures of Adam and Ashley. I did manage to get pictures of the kiddos but didn't want to post them.
(I'm sure Ashley appreciates this)

We did manage to get a picture of Chris and I
(this rarely happens)

Chris' Mom and Dad also joined us....I love this picture!

This is the way we arrived most places with Annie during our trip....She was wiped out!

Utah part 2

2011-03-13T19:30:00.000-06:00

Like I said before Chris and I only had a few days in Utah it felt kind-of like a whirl wind while we were there... and we often forgot our camera. The picture above was from my cell phone we wanted to make sure that we had pictures with Nana Bev and Papa Neil
(Chris' Grandparents)
Before we left back to Missouri We finally took some pictures with Grandma and Grandpa Kalakis

The girls helped pack

Ty was too busy drawing up the plans for his new room
(the one we are no longer building...a story for another time)

one more photo opportunity with Grandma Cook before we headed off to the airport.
Grandpa Cook had to work at the Temple.

The kiddos loved every minute spent with family. Like I said before, it was much needed. Chris and I love seeing our kiddos bond with their grandparents. There is nothing better than seeing your child interact with your parents. We love seeing those relationships grow stronger and stronger each time we are together. In a short three months we will be back!!! and living 8 hours closer!!!
Thanks to everyone who helped out while we were gone!

Christmas Morning

2010-12-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

Christmas Morning started with Ty trying to wake up at three an was quickly sent back to bed for a few hours (much easier to do this year than it was last year) The girls finally woke up at about 7:30 and the excitement started!!

Santa Came and Ty and Lucy got what they most wanted!

Ty wanted the Harry Potter 3 movie. He got an awesome box set with a bunch of extras!

Lucy got an "American Girl" doll
She thinks that any 18 inch doll is an American Girl
This helps Santa's pocket book and makes for a pretty excited little Lucy!

Miss Annie was pretty easy to please. She got and orange in her stocking and would have been completely happy the rest of the day. we convinced her to open some presents and she loves her new "D" (dolly)

We had a nice relaxing day spent in our PJ's because we had nowhere to be but with our little family.We played the Wii that Santa Got for the family we had marshmallow wars with the guns that Uncle Jared bought the kids (there's nothing better than shooting your kiddos with marshmallows Christmas morning just ask Chris and I) Then at about 5 We headed to see the Christmas light display at Longview lake (still in pj's) a tradition that has now come to an end. We then came home to make our traditional Rasmussen Steak dinner (usually on Christmas Eve but Chris was working so we tweaked things a bit)
Soon after our dinner I heard a crash and then a scream. This is what I found

Apparently, Miss Annie needed a sixth candy cane off the tree and somehow knocked it over. Luckily she was not hurt. I guess Christmas is over! The tree is down and the decorations will be put away tomorrow...and surprisingly I'm okay with that!
(I usually wait until after New Years)
On to the New year!!! We have a lot to look forward to!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T19:54:00.001-07:00

Christmas Eve Chris had to work until midnight. Our good friends invited me and the kiddos to go caroling with a few other families at a care center. Yes Lucy is wearing her princess dress and tiara not my choice of outfit but I was not in the mood to argue after all it was Christmas! The kids enjoyed about one song then were ready to go. They lasted about half way through the caroling and soon all three kiddos were out in the foyer where I could mostly see them while we finished singing with the old folks.

Annie got a hold of my camera and they entertained themselves. These are the pictures I found

A bunch of goofy kiddos!
After the Care Center we headed back to the Truman's for treats then headed home to get ready for Santa!
We got our Christmas PJ's on, Sprinkled Christmas dust so the reindeer could find our house, set out milk and cookies for Santa, read a Christmas story and tucked into bed to dream of what Santa would bring!

(They were so excited and wound up this was the best picture I could get)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T15:56:00.000-06:00

Halloween week here at the Cook house was quite eventful.
I started off the week with finishing off five Halloween costumes. Harry Potter, Belle, Minnie Mouse, Momma Mouse, and a vampire Jellybean. (I helped make one more the week before)
all without patterns baby!

We Celebrated Miss Lucy's Birthday on Wednesday
(here is the camera phone picture of Lucy and Red thanks Robyn!)

On Friday We had school parties, Parent teacher conferences (Ty is doing great!) , our good friends took Ty and Lucy out to the pumpkin patch while Chris and I went to the Conference. Then off Our ward Halloween trunk-or-treat party where Miss Lucy won the prettiest costume award, and Miss Vampire Jelly bean won the funniest costume award.

On Saturday we bought cameras with the kiddos birthday money, spent the afternoon at Cabela's spending Chris' birthday money and taking pictures with our newly bought cameras, we had some lunch at Chick-fil-a , then that night we carved our family pumpkins while listening to Halloween music.

The final products

Ty's was a scary pumpkin which said Boo!!

The girls were pretty easy to please.
Annie LOVED the pumpkins only after they had faces!

On Sunday We headed to church in the morning, we had an early dinner at "Our Truman's" where the kiddos (mom and dad) carved their pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, then home to do a little "visiting" with our neighbors on the Sabbath :)

Here are the kiddos in their costumes
Harry Potter

Miss Belle

Minnie Mouse

Group Picture

Chris took Miss Annie home after a little bit of "visiting" where she was exhausted and fell asleep in the hallway. Too Cute!!!
(once again thanks to Aunt Robyn's camera phone)

After it all I now have three HUGE cold-sores but hey, we had fun!!!

Miss 4 year old!!

2010-11-02T15:20:00.001-06:00

Miss Lucy Turned 4 Last Wednesday. Our Computer and Camera was giving us problems so we didn't have a post until now. Here is an fairly recent picture of our little Goose. I feel this picture captures her personality perfectly. She is always smiling...okay almost always (with a little bit of goofy on the side) Lucy's day started off by heading off to school armed with mini cupcakes to share with her preschool class. Then we came home to watch princess movies and what ever Miss Lucy wanted to do for the day. When Daddy came home, we went to Red Robin for her birthday just like Ty because she wanted her very own ice cream too. When we told our server that all she wanted for her birthday was Red Robin. He thought we meant the mascot Red and so he found Red in the back of the restaurant to come say happy birthday to her. Lets just say our waiter got a good tip! Luckily Aunt Robyn's Camera phone was working so we will at least have some memories of Lucy's fourth birthday. Those pictures will come soon. When we came home we had more mini cupcakes and opened a lot of presents. We had minor melt downs by a certain big brother due to a pillow pet and a tad bit of jealousy but it has since been resolved. We will be having a little fairy tea party with her friends so those pictures will be posted next week too. Miss Lucy we love you so much goosey goose! We are so lucky to have you!

Here our four fun facts about our little four year old

Miss Lucy loves her Prince...aka Daddy
Miss Lucy has the sweetest voice. Everywhere we go we always get a comment of how sweet her little voice is.
Miss Lucy LOVES animals.
Lastly Lucy is all girl, but doesn't let it stop her from keeping up with the boys.

Happy Birthday Ty Man!!!

2010-10-19T08:01:00.000-06:00

Ty is 6 today! I tried to snuggle with him a little bit before he got ready for school and I am realizing that he no longer fits on my lap the way he used to. My little green eyed baby is 6 and growing faster than ever, it seems to happen over night!

I had intentions to post yearly pictures but the computer is having technical difficulties. So we will just post the Birthday party pictures from Saturday.

Right now Ty LOVES Harry Potter. It only seemed fitting to have a Harry Potter Birthday Party. Ty chose 6 friends to invite to his party and I went crazy planning the party. We sent out the invitations and got busy sewing robes and making wands. I found a lot of ideas online and meshed them with my own. The party turned out so fun(even for me) afterward Ty said "That was the best party ever!" We had a Birthday Banquet equipped with pizza and pumpkin juice aka orange soda topped off with an awesome candy cake. I tried to get Ty to let me make the cake into a quidditch field but he didn't want to so I backed down. After the banquet we had potions and charms classes where we made good luck potions and made ink disappear. I had them all believing they were doing magic by the end of the party. It was a lot of work but so worth it seeing the excitement on Ty's face. Happy Birthday Buddy We love you!!

the newest bunch of wizards

Potions class wengardium leviosa

can you say spoiled?....and that was 4 days before his birthday!

Here are Six fun facts about the Birthday Boy

Ty loves to draw. He is always doodling on paper
He is very passionate....sometimes good, sometimes bad.
His favorite food is deer steak
Ty almost always includes Lucy in everything and is adored by the littlest sister. For a while Ty was the only one who could get Annie to laugh. He is a great big brother
Ty Loves his family
And lastly, Ty LOVES to read! He practically taught himself how to read and has always loved being read to. Right now we are reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Playing Catch-up

2010-10-16T20:24:00.000-06:00

There were a few very important people we were able to meet up with at the end of August and beginning of September.
So I am playing the backtracking game.

We had an extra ticket and I asked my most favorite little sister:) to fly out and visit us. Shal Shal came out for 5 days and we loved every minute of it! She cooked for us we stayed up and had girl talk and watched movies. It was a much needed visit on my part. I know this is a month and a half later but Thanks Shal Shal! We love you!

At the beginning of September our ward had a family ward temple trip at the Winter Quarters Temple. They worked hard and arranged for childcare and a ward picnic after sessions. It was a great turnout, in the session we only had a handful of people who were not in our ward. AWESOME!
Because the session was on Saturday We decided we needed a visit up to Iowa Friday night. We met up with our good friends Dan and Renae and their little cutie Josie. Even though it was quick it was so nice to catch up with them. The Arnold's are the kind of friends that even though we have not seen each other for about 5 years everything seems just as it did before we left Iowa. Thanks Dan and Renae it was fun to catch up!

The Mommies and Babies
(Ty and Lucy were in the car waiting to go swimming)

Don't they look like pals!
We miss you guys!

Royals Game

2010-09-21T12:21:00.000-06:00

Like I said in the previous post Chris got 4 tickets to the Royals game last week. We were excited that we were finally going to see a game. We have lived here over three years and this is our first game...sad I know!

Our Tickets said the game started at 7 I thought that was weird because the Chiefs first home game of the Season was that night too. The morning of the game Chris luckily was listing to talk radio where he found out that the game had been changed to 2 in the afternoon! NUTS!!! Chris was able to do some juggling and cashed in on favors at work so we could make it to some of the game. We took Ty out of school 30 minutes early and headed to the game. We got to the stadium but we ended up in line with a bunch of crazy Chief tailgaters and sat in the car for forty five minutes.... talk about frustrating! When you are heading to a game and you can see the stadium while fighting traffic with the nutcases who are partying for a game that doesn't start for another 6 hours! We got to the parking gates and they tell us that our parking pass is no longer valid because it was after 3:30...it was 3:50! We don't have any cash so they tell us that they will take our Drivers License and we can go pay at the stadium to get it back. We were in such a hurry to get to the game We didn't read the paper with the instructions. ... until we drove away....

(Go to the Chiefs customer service at the end of the third quarter with your receipt to retrieve your license)

WHAT!!! We weren't even going to the freaking Chiefs game! How in the heck are we supposed to get our license back now? Finding parking was a joke. We kept getting redirected away from the Royals stadium and now it was the top of the 6th inning, we were super frustrated. Finally we pulled over to the silly people who were trying to redirect us and they told us how to get to the game. We finally got parked and headed to the game. We asked the ticket guy what we should do about our license and he was kind enough to tell us where to get it taken care of.
We decided to get to the game and worry about the license after so we could calm down a little bit.

Our tickets were on 6th row behind the visitor dugout! AWESOME!!

We told the kiddos they could get a drink so I took Lucy and got two sprites at $4 each. All while wishing we did not tell them we would get anything ....$4 really? We got back to our seats when Lucy informs me she has to pee..really Luce? You couldn't tell me this 2 minutes ago! So back up the stairs we went:) After we came back we had a good time. We were able to see the last two and a half innings and think that is all the kiddos could have handled anyway.

Our post game photo.
I think their smiles say it all!!!
WE HAD FUN!!!
(minus a few mishaps)

After the game we waited another hour to get the License back from the Chiefs people. Over all it was fun to have family time. Chris got off work early to go to a baseball game, and it didn't cost us a penny...wait ....it only cost us $8 for those stinking drinks:) robbery I tell ya ROBBERY!!!

Chiefs!!!

2010-09-14T15:48:00.000-06:00

I downloaded these pictures with the intent to write about our adventure later. I realized that I had posted after I already had 4 comments :)

One of the Dr.'s groups has season ticket to the Chiefs and when they are unable to go, they give the lowly Resident's the tickets :)

Chris lucked out and got two tickets to one of the last pre season games against the Packers!
We were 45minutes late to the game because the freeway was closed down due to a wreck But we made it. Our seats were on the Packers side eighteenth row up from the field!
These tickets were priced at 89.00 each.... holy moly! There is no way we would have ever gone to a NFL game while here in Missouri unless it was free. Luckily it was free and we can mark that off of our list :)

See a NFL game live...Check

The next week Chris came home with four tickets to the Royals game :) more to come on our adventure at the Royals stadium!

Kindergarten

2010-08-16T09:20:00.001-06:00

(click to read)

Today was Ty's first day of Kindergarten. I guess technically Wednesday will be the first day but Today was Kindergarten Transition day. The buses come and pick up only the kindergartners and they go for a few hours so they hopefully can adjust a little easier.

Ty waiting for the bus

The bus gets here and Ty just hops on, no hesitation whatsoever!
See ya Later Mom and Dad!

Luckily we have fabulous friends who tell us it is okay to put him on the bus, then get in the car and drive to the school to take pictures at school. So that is what we did put him on the bus and then put the girls in the car and off to Prairie View.

(here is Ty arriving at school)
while waiting for Ty's bus I started to get slightly emotional, we walk in the doors walk past another Mommy who is having a hard time...little more emotional but able to contain my emotions.

We take one last picture of Ty before he goes into his class room. Once again he goes in with no hesitation, just with excitement to finally be a Kindergartner.

The PTA did a little breakfast for the parents called the Boo-hoo, Ya-hoo breakfast where we went for Muffins and Juice. We headed down and I felt like...WOW we got through sending our baby off with out any tears. Then the PTA gave the parents a little bag with tissues and the poem at the beginning of the post. Lets just say it was a bad idea to read it. Ty has been so excited to start school and I have been so excited too. I was not expecting to feel emotional at all.....but I couldn't help it.... all of a sudden our baby is growing up and the next thing I know I am putting him on a bus and sending him off! I think Chris was even surprised at my emotions. I guess as crazy as Ty makes me sometimes, I'm still going to miss him!

We love you Buddy and hope you continue to have that drive and passion for learning!
LOVE,
MOM and DAD
(we will see how Wednesday goes)

Crown Center

2010-08-16T09:16:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I was able to meet up with an old friend from our Iowa life... also known as Med School life. I was her Visiting Teacher until the ward split then we parted ways. It was fun to catch up with her and meet her two adorable kiddos. Ty and Lucy had so much fun playing with Carter and little Hayden is just plain adorable and so smiley. Amber invited us to meet her and the kiddos at Crown Center to go to the Clifford exhibit and then play in the fountains. Needless to say they had a blast! Even Annie got in on the action.

This picture is probably one of my favorites Love the crack!
Thanks Amber it was fun to catch up!

Dr. Cook on Fox 4

2010-07-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

Chris was on Fox 4 news last night. I couldn't figure out how to post the actual piece on the blog so just click HERE to see it.

The first Dr. you see is a fellow Resident Logan.... he is a better actor than Chris so he did the first part of the piece. Chris is at the end in the background pretending to look at charts... apparently he would have been on longer but he couldn't keep a straight face :) Either way it is fun to see him pretending to work on the news.

It's Official!!!

2010-07-01T17:16:00.000-06:00

We sent a signed contract to the Billings Clinic in Montana this morning.
Chris will be working with the Billings Clinic in Miles city, Montana
No turning back now!
It is kind of nice to be starting the fourth year of residency and already have a job set up.
What is in Miles city you ask? Great Hunting, Great Fishing a Walmart...and in one year the Cook Family!

Summer Time!!!

2010-07-01T17:15:00.001-06:00

With all the warm weather we have been having, and with Chris just finishing his third week of working every single day. I needed something to keep the kiddos busy when it came closer to dinner time. I have really enjoyed the five dollar sprinkler my mom bought for the kiddos last year..... especially these last couple of weeks. I wait until about 3:00 by that time they are driving me crazy and there is shade in the front yard so they won't get too burned.
Then I let them run wild!

They drink the water because they can... and it's hot.

after a couple of hours of play

they come in and sit on the couch...

and...

Like Magic...

They ....

are....

OUT!!!

There have been a few times that they have fallen asleep a 4:30 and slept through the night..I was worried that they would be up at 3am, but nope they even sleep in.
I LOVE SUMMER!!!!

Steps and Kisses

2010-07-01T17:02:00.000-06:00

Miss Annie took her first steps to her big brother while I was in the kitchen cooking dinner Tuesday Night. I guess Chris can't be sad he was at work because I missed it too :)
She is still pretty wobbly and only taking a few steps at a time but it is fun nun the less.
She loves to give kisses and I just thought it was cute she tried to give the camera kisses.
So to all who reads this.... here is a kiss from Miss Annie to you! MMMMUAH!!!

ONE!!!

2010-06-05T14:24:00.001-06:00

This Little Miss turned ONE!

It is hard to believe that one year ago we brought this beautiful baby into this crazy world and now she celebrated her first birthday yesterday.
Yesterday we had a little family web party! Aunt Robyn came over and we skyped our parents so they could be a part of her birthday celebrations like watch Annie open presents and make a mess of the cake.

We had a party this afternoon with our friends which I think turned out pretty well with a lot of preparation. Thanks Honey for putting up with my craziness:) although I do have to say it was nice to have the extra motivation to get things done.

I was so excited to have a birthday party in June. I've had this birthday party on my mind for over a month now. And after it is all said and done and we were cleaning up it was kind of sad to not enjoy all that hard work a little longer...Oh well it was fun!!

As I was trying to decide on what kind of party I wanted to do and I came across an idea of a Watermelon theme, with the summer and all the fresh fruit my family eats this time of year I thought it would be perfect. Obviously I went with pinks and greens for the colors, and all we had for food was cupcakes and watermelon with pink lemonade and water to drink. I thought it turned out really cute. I also made a bunch of tissue paper pom-poms and hung them in the trees. So pretty!!!

Here are a few fun facts about Little Miss Birthday Girl!
Annie loves her brother and sister, when she is excited and having fun her tongue is sticking out with a big smile. She is loving baby dolls, and wants nothing to do with baby food. She loves to splash in the tub. She is still terrified of Shelly our dog but really enjoys watching her from the window until Shelly is too close. She is still not walking but will now clap when she is standing up so we know she is more stable it won't be long before she is running around.

As with any of our kiddos I don't remember what life was like before her and we feel so blessed to have this sweet little girl as a part of our family. Happy Birthday Annie Bear! We love you!

Standing on two feet

2010-06-01T09:14:00.000-06:00

This is what Miss Annie is working on this morning. Just a few days shy of her 1st Birthday she is standing, we will see if she will be taking steps by Friday.

Preschool Graduation

2010-05-26T16:32:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago Ty and Lucy had their Preschool graduation from Little Tiger Cubs at the Lees Summit High School
It is crazy to think that Lucy will be going alone next year because our Ty will be finally going into Kindergarten. All day Kindergarten! He is more than ready! I'm more than ready! Within the last month or so Ty has realized he can read. It is fun to watch him write little notes to everyone words misspelled because he is sounding them out but we are getting good at reading this 5 year old writing.

Ty and his buddy Davis at preschool.
As we were leaving the last day of preschool Mrs. Powell asked if Ty and Davis would be in the same class and she just chuckled and said "They sure did have a lot of fun together"...I'm pretty sure she meant that they were a little wild together and she felt sorry for their kindergarten teacher if they were in the same class.

The new favorite

2010-05-26T16:29:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we pulled out the walking hippo that we've had since Ty. I am pretty sure that this is the most any of our kiddos have used it Miss Annie loves it. She loves to push it, sit inside, and she love to stand on top of it. I'm pretty sure it is here favorite! She has this big smile all the time while playing with it.

My New Life

2010-05-07T14:38:00.000-06:00

With Mothers Day so close I wanted to share a video from a mother who's blog I often look to to help me put life into perspective. I often find myself stressed out with the smallest things and I need a good kick in the butt to realize how lucky I am to be able to spend every day with my kiddos watching them grow and no matter how stressed out I get, I am one lucky Mommy!
This video was one of many kicks. Stephanie is an amazing woman. If you don't know who she is I highly recommend checking out her blog.

A Great Grandpa visit

2010-04-28T16:25:00.001-06:00

Great Grandpa Cowan came for a visit on Easter and stayed for a few days. They were fascinated by his trailer, Ty called it Grandpa's clubhouse. Grandpa got all sorts of pictures made by the kids and was entertained by the whole time. He was even nice enough to watch the Princess and the Frog with them. The kids were in heaven! This is the picture of Lucy and Grandpa watching the movie. I loved having him here it was so nice to slow the pace of my every day life and spend some time with my Grandpa not to mention letting the kiddos get to know Grandpa a little better. We love you Grandpa and we are so glad you came!

The kiddos are still talking about your visit!

Ty-"hey mom do you remember when Grandpa sneezed?"
Lucy-"it scared us!"
Mom-"Yes Grandpa's sneezes have scared all of us at one point and time" :)

Easter

2010-04-05T12:18:00.001-06:00

Wow it's a good thing there has been a Holiday each month because it seems that I only get around to posting if it's been a holiday.
Yesterday we had a nice relaxing Easter. The kiddos woke up and started the day off with checking out their Easter baskets and Lucy eating most of her candy in an hour. Then she worked on the rest of the families through out the day I guess that is the fun of being a kid. We hung around the house, watched conference and had ourselves an Easter egg hunt in the front yard. It was a beautiful day. We also had a visitor come to stay for a few days. My Grandpa Cowan It is so fun to have him here with our family. The kids are so excited to have him too! Grandpa will probably leave with enough pictures and notes to fill his trailer. More pictures to come I just wanted to post the Easter outfits I think they turned out pretty cute.

St.Patrick's Day

2010-03-18T14:58:00.000-06:00

We had an eventful day yesterday between trying to catch that sneaky leprechaun who turned our milk and pancakes green again, and an unexpected trip to get two...yes two kids hair cuts all while trying to get some sewing done for the spring open house this weekend I was ready for a nap by two o'clock!
Our morning started off with our ritual of green pancakes courtesy of Mr. Leprechaun. I wasn't sure how he was going to do it because all Ty has talked about was catching the Leprechaun when we made pancakes. Lucky for the Leprechaun, Ty was distracted by Dinosaur train while the pancakes were mixed. Just like last year the mix turned green when they "helped" stir the batter. They were pretty excited about the tricks but not too long after Lucy was a little creeped out by the idea of a little green man in our house playing tricks on us and according to Lucy green pancakes an milk are gross!

After reassuring Lucy that the Leprechaun was done playing tricks and he is not scary I sent the kiddos down stairs to play while I got some sewing done so I could drop stuff off to the shop after lunch. I was feeling pretty good about myself and keeping on task and just as I was patting myself on the back and that I would be done before lunchtime Lucy comes up with a handful of hair. I take one look at her while I'm holding back the tears I just looked at her and said "OH BABY WHAT DID YOU DO!" She cut probably 6 inches off!!! I about died!

After the initial shock of her pretty hair all gone I snapped some pictures and started getting the kiddos dressed to make a run to the salon. Ty got dressed and I got the girls and myself dressed I asked Ty to comb his hair because it was sticking straight up in the back. He came out with it plastered to his head :) As I was getting ready I was feeling self conscious about my parenting abilities (letting my kids play with scissors, let them go out in public with plastered down hair) and I didn't want the stylist to judge me so I tried to fix Ty's hair. As I was combing it I realize that he too had cut his bangs super short on one side. CRAP!!!! Luckily for him his fix just looks like he has a short buzz cut for now. Lucy on the other hand chopped 6 inches! We got to custom Cuts and the fixed Lucys hair and buzzed Ty's She was really nice and only charged me for Lucy! Thank goodness because the night before I left my purse in Chris' car credit cards and all! All I had was a twenty in my pocket! Oh boy what a day!!!

I hope you had a fun St. Patrick's Day ...We sure did!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

2010-02-14T18:06:00.001-07:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM THE COOK FAMILY!

My favorite Aunt is a STAR!!

2010-02-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

My Auntie Roxanne is a cancer survivor. Recently she was asked to participate in a fundraiser for the Huntsman cancer institute. The popular interchangeable Miche bag unveiled their bag HOPE in hopes to raise at least one million dollars to give back for cancer research in the year 2010. (HERE is a link to the news coverage. ) These bags are reasonably priced and pretty cool I might add :) plus if it will help cancer research I'm all over it. If you are interested my cousin Jane sells these bags just shoot her an email. jscowan28@msn.com

On the move!

2010-02-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Miss Annie Bear has been on the move for a few weeks now. She is now eight months and is getting quicker every day. She is still doing the army crawl but I'm sure it won't be long before she is doing the real thing we have been on all fours rocking away for a while now. Some other things about Miss Annie are she has figured out how to clap, she ADORES Ty, and is terrified of our dog in the backyard it's kind of funny.

New things I'm trying out

2010-02-08T07:09:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post this along time ago but I am just now getting around to it. I have been following a site So you think your crafty. There are so many talented women and each week they create a craft around that weeks theme. Although I could never be a participant I love to get great ideas from these amazing women. The last winner is amazingly talented and I now love to check her blog (HERE) out multiple times a week and has inspired me to be more thrifty and see things in a different light. I found this shirt in the first picture at JCPenny for a whopping $2.97 it was a womens shirt extra small and thought I could refashion it to a dress for my Goosey I was mostly pleased with the results and for my first refashion I think it turned out pretty well. One other thing I have made is a skirt made out of a vintage bedsheet kindof fun. Someday I will try to make this too. So many things to try... so little time!

Before/ After

The other thing that has been taken over in my mind is doing a little baking. My visiting teacher (who was just taken from me to edify a new sister in the ward) is an amazing talented lady who also has inspired me. I have always loved to bake but after seeing the amazing work that Trudy does I wanted to try different things too. Chris got me this cookbook. I love it and look at it often. We decided that we need to have more get-together because it is a bad idea to bake all the yummy stuff in that book and eat it just the two of us. So mostly we just look at all the pretty pictures but these are a few of the things I have made. Not Trudy worthy but they tasted good!

My Christmas Favorites

2009-12-28T16:20:00.001-07:00

THE NATIVITY

There are two reasons this is my favorite....first and most important having a nativity displayed in our home reminds us what Christmas is really about and, gives us many opportunities to teach our little ones. I love the spirit that Christmas gives off helping us to be more like our Savior.
The second reason I love my nativity is because since we have been married Chris' parents has given us one piece of the nativity each year, this year is the first year to have the complete nativity up and I love it!!!!

DECORATIONS

I love Decorating for Christmas! There have been many times Chris has mentioned that Christmas has thrown up in our house and each year it gets worse.
This year the Mantle is by far my favorite !

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS

Most of the ornaments on the tree are special in one way or another. There are many from Chris' Grandparents that he was given each year starting from his first Christmas. Now that tradition is slowly filling up our tree with our kiddos yearly ornaments. Other ornament on our tree are silver bells that were on my family tree when I was growing up and other home made ornaments from our first Christmas together six years ago in Iowa. They all have a memory that is special to us in some way or another. This year the temple ornament in the picture above has special meaning to me. My Grandma Cowan gave that ornament to us for our first Christmas being married because it was the temple we were married and sealed in. With her passing this summer it will forever remind me of her and how lucky we are to be an eternal family.

SPENDING TIME AS A FAMILY

(The kiddos helping make gifts for friends and making our gingerbread house for FHE)

(spending Christmas Eve with members of our ward family caroling at a care center)

What a great time to spend together as a family. Although we missed our families back in Utah We have been able to make some of our own traditions as our little family and have been taken in by some of our ward family who invited us to spend Christmas Eve with them this year.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!

(Ty and Lucy with their Santa gifts )

(Miss Annie loved the wrapping paper)

Who doesn't love Christmas morning? Our Christmas morning started off with Ty entering our room with excitement at 2AM telling us that Santa came! We told him that it was still too early to wake the girls up and he needed to go back to bed I could hear how excited he was and knew there was no chance he was going back to sleep now. We told Ty that he could go sleep by the Christmas tree and wait until it was time to get up. I thought that might work but I could hear him walking around so I decided to go lay on the couch with him. It took until 4am before he fell asleep again. That morning was one of those days where I was so glad I was up to see and feel the excitement of Christmas morning of our little man. And made me just as excited for him and the girls. When he finally woke up again we told him it was okay to wake Lucy up and the fun start. Ty and Lucy both got bikes but they weren't as excited as Santa thought they would be...in fact we got more of a reaction from the oranges in the stocking! If only we would have known Santa could have saved some money and bought a few more oranges. Either way we had a great morning spent together as a family reflecting on the birth of our Savior.

A week of Firsts

2009-11-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

So last week was full of firsts for our family....

1)Ty started Tai Kwon Do. This is the first day he went and loved it. He is such a little guy, you can tell he is the youngest in his class but I think he did pretty well for his first time. He was ready to ditch the uniform as soon as class was over because he couldn't breath (the belt was too tight I guess) but of course I had to have a picture So I made him put it back on.

2) Lucy had her first dance class....Too bad I was a horrible mom and looked at the time wrong. We arrived at the very end. I think I was more devastated than she was! Lucy was sad but I asked her if she wanted to run up and dance a little in front of the mirror. She ran, did a little prance, ran back and was happy. Tonight we will go at the right time and remember to bring the camera. This picture was taken the same day as Ty's first day of TKD. All she wanted to do was go to her dance class so I let her try on her leotard. and of course because brother is having his picture taken She had to have her turn in front of the camera too.

3) Last weekend was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! the temp outside was at least 75 degrees. We played out side and got some much needed energy out and played in the leaves. Now you ask why is this a first? Because, I'm not sure why, but this was the first time Ty and Lucy really have ever played in the fall leaves. Like I said, I don't know why this is a first, maybe because last year I was prego with Annie and at the peak of morning sickness. Who knows what happened the years before. Oh well we had a great time and spent at least two hours playing to make up for it.

4) Annie finally rolled over from back to belly....The only problem is that she has forgotten how to roll back so it has been slightly frustrating for all of us. I am always amazed that a baby can do something once or even more times then decide there is no need and won't do it for months after....I sure do hope she remembers soon!

You can't see it too well but I love the little crinkled nose when she smiles.

Time with Daddy

2009-11-12T22:56:00.001-07:00

Because Chris is working nights our time with Daddy is precious. This day Daddy woke up a little earlier than he should have, but the kids were so excited to see him he decided to watch a movie with them. Lucy climbed up on his lap and before I knew it they were both out like a light. I love this picture for many reasons but mostly I love that Lucy has her arm around Chris' arm just chillin' with Daddy... too cute!

Halloween Festivities

2009-11-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

(this is the best picture I got without crazy faces)

The kids started their Halloween festivities on Thursday where they dressed up for a preschool party. Then on Friday We had our ward trunk-or -treat where we froze our tushes off it was so cold and windy. Seriously, I think the ward party lasted a little over an hour before everyone headed home. We ate chili that cooled off as soon as we got there and had the trunk-or-treat soon after. It was still fun and amazingly there was a pretty good turn out. After we went to the trunk-or-treat we headed home to carve our pumpkins. Ty and Lucy were grossed out by the pumpkin guts and wanted nothing to do with cleaning it out. Lucy just kept saying it's digusting! I finally got some tongs so they could work on cleaning theirs while Chris and I worked on ours. Sadly enough I didn't take pictures of the final masterpieces. But I was pretty impressed with Ty because he created a ninja turtle pumpkin. This kid is seriously artistic for a five year old.

The next night was the night of Halloween ( insert scary music here) The kids have been dying to go trick-or-treating so you can imagine the excitement when it was time to go...hence the crazy pictures. We lucked out and had wonderful weather, far better than the night before. We just needed sweatshirts and we were off. We even bundled Annie up and put her tutu on with a cute skeleton onesie over her thick warm jammies It kind of reminded Chris of a Christmas Story..."I can't put my arms down!" But never the less she looked adorable....They all looked adorable! Lucy was so excited to trick-or-treating, she literally ran to each house and actually wore Ty out. It was fun to be able to watch the kiddos from the street and not have to go up with them unless it was a scary house. We had a good night or I guess I should say weekend

we are ready to go

Miss Blue eyes herself

PUMPKIN CLEANING DUTY

Lucy is 3

2009-11-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

On the 27th Lucy turned 3. According to a big three year old girl ,everything should be pink and princess. Our little Lucy makes us smile every day at the little things she does. She is such a girl but can keep up with her brother and the superhero stuff too. Chris is still on nights so we had to tweak our birthday celebrations again. Ty and Lucy had preschool that morning so we took them to school with birthday cupcakes to share, and sent Daddy to sleep so we could make a late birthday lunch to Culver's after preschool. Everything worked out well and Lucy was spoiled as ever. She is still telling us thank you for her presents. Man she is a thoughtful little one. Happy Birthday Goose!

(I thought her little cupcakes turned out pretty cute)

Ty turned 5

2009-10-23T08:47:00.000-06:00

On October 19th 2004 our lives changed forever. We had a beautiful baby boy join our little family and I can't belive that baby boy just turned 5!
This year for Ty's birthday we had to celebrate a little different. Daddy started his night rotation the night before so we would have to do our birthday celebrations the morning when daddy got home. I was a little worried because we always go to dinner for his birthday and sometimes Ty doesn't do well with change. So Saturday we explained that if he wanted to go to Red Robin we would have to do it early or the next weekend or we could have a birthday breakfast. His sweet little eyes lit up and said I want to go to Neighbors cafe. He loves the cinnamon rolls there. Problem solved! We had our birthday breakfast came home opened presents, sent Daddy to bed and stayed home and watched movies (birthday boys choice) the kids were still wore out because of the fevers they were battling the few days before So it all worked out. Just before Daddy went to work we sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes. Daddy went to work and we went to dinner Ty's choice He wanted a kids meal from Wendy's. We spent the day a little different this year but I think it worked out well.
Ty was still spoiled rotten :) And we still love him more than ever! Happy Birthday Buddy!

Milk Jug Skeleton

2009-10-23T08:27:00.000-06:00

I remember growing up my Mom and Dad made milk jug skeletons for Halloween and we used them for quite a few years. The last few weeks I have seen a couple people who had them and I thought it might be a fun thing to do with the kiddos. Although ultimately I think it was more fun for Chris than anybody. The kids were more moral support and the hand and feet models. All of the patterns we saw called for 8 or 9 milk jugs but we tweaked it and got two skeletons out of 8. I think they turned out cuter if I say so myself. And on Halloween we are going to tape a few glow sticks to its chest to make him glow. We will see how that works out.

The master at work

The kiddos playing with Mr. Skeleton (with no arms)

And the final masterpiece hanging in the tree the kiddos were so wound up and excited!

Here is a website (MELISSA) if you want to make one but like I said we tweaked it to make more than one. We took the backs off the head, chest, and hip bones, used 4 handles instead of 2 and rolled and taped up scrap pieces to make the arm and leg bones. (two of the leg bones are handles). Have fun!

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!!!!

2009-10-11T18:15:00.000-06:00

So because because my lovely assistant has a little sister who also wanted to be a lovely assistant, we have two winners.

And the winners are......

Kirin and cjshaw2@yahoo.com

Congrats!
I will get in contact with you to decide if you want a tutu or a cape and which colors you want and so on :)

TUTUCUTE GIVEAWAY!!!

2009-10-06T20:47:00.000-06:00

I enjoy making things for people and so I decided that I needed to have a giveaway. I am going to give one lucky winner a custom tutu. What am I thinking? Not all of us have girls or want a tutu so I will give you a choice between a tutu, or a super hero cape. Do you want to win? Just leave a comment on this blog or here don't forget your email address if you are not signed in. Anyone is welcome to enter even you blogstockers admit it we all do it! We will choose a winner on Sunday October 11th. I think I might be more excited about this than you are :) Good luck!!!

Annie's Tutu

2009-10-06T20:36:00.000-06:00

I finally got Annie's tutu made and my good friend Charlene did her pictures this morning while the kiddos were at preschool. Click here for a peek. Really TUTU CUTE!!!!! Thanks Charlene I love them!

Preschool

2009-10-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day of preschool for both Ty and Lucy. This has been a long time coming, every day for the last month or so they have been asking when they get to go to preschool or as Lucy says my princess school. We can't afford real preschool but the high school has a preschool lab that last for about two or three months and is free so I get a break a few days a week and the kiddos love having all the new friends and seeing all their friends from church, there are about four families from our ward. When I picked them up I asked how their day was at preschool and Lucy says " now I'm ready to go to my princess school" Poor girl I think she had this idea of what school was and preschool just didn't cut it today. She actually had fun and talked about her day. But "Preschool" was just a place mommy dropped them off and came back three hours later not a school. maybe we really should find a dance class for her and that could be her princess school.

They both looked so little with their giant backpacks heading into the school.

Camera play...

2009-09-17T15:23:00.000-06:00

Any time I have the camera especially taking pictures of Annie (just making sure she doesn't become the younger sibling with no pictures) Ty and Lucy are always trying to poke their cute little heads in whenever possible. I thought this was pretty cute so I had to share. I love that they are all smiling, too bad it is a little fuzzy.

While I was playing with the camera I had Annie in these cute leggings doesn't she look like she's from the eighties? I guess the eighties are coming back baby!
I think I'm a fan...of the leggings not the eighties! Okay I can handle some of the eighties just lets get rid of the neon...WHAT THE HECK!!!!?

I can't believe our baby is three months I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday!!

We took this picture one Saturday night. We put the curlers in so we could have the pretty curly hair for church and I think little girls in curlers are adorable.... melts my heart!
Doesn't she look like a little ballerina?...dance class here we come!!

Ty absolutely loves his sisters! He is always telling us "I think I am the favorite"
You're right buddy you are the favorite brother and your sisters adore you!

Bug Bites!!!

2009-09-17T15:01:00.000-06:00

These are a few reasons (more like 14) I'm not a fan of the kiddos playing outside in our yard!! Yesterday I decided that it was a nice day lets go out and play. It was only four so I didn't think we needed bug spray...We were not out there for more than five minutes and Little Lucy's arms already had two big welts and her leg had one more! The reaction to the bug bites make me so sad and they look pretty painful! Ty has the same reaction too but this day the mosquitos got the best of Lucy. Sorry for the poor picture quality I had to have the flash off to really see the bites plus an old camera with poor resolution....Sigh...someday I will have a good camera.

Mistake

2009-08-09T13:44:00.000-06:00

As we were on our way to church this morning, Ty casually tells us...
"I think Jesus made a mistake"
We ask how did Jesus make a mistake?
"Because he made bees and we don't like bee's"
We all had a good laugh. Who am I kidding we are still having a good laugh:)

Two Months

2009-08-06T17:37:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Annie's two month check-up here are her stats
Height:21 1/2-15%
Weight:10lbs 12 oz-50%
Head: 39-55%

Annie is our first to be under the 80th percentile in head :) But it looks like by her height she definitely has the curse of the Cook/Cowan genes...cute little short legs!

Unexpected trip to Utah...

2009-08-06T16:10:00.000-06:00

WARNING:this is a long post without any pictures I apologize but as this is kind of my journal, I needed to write my thoughts about my Grandmas passing. So feel free to skip this post if you want.

A couple of weeks ago I was told my Grandmother was not doing well, for days I had struggled with the decision of weather I should go out and say my goodbyes I didn't want to see her in the state she was in and I had come to terms that I would just come out for a funeral. The closer time got for her to go My thoughts kept coming back to the fact I was the only one living out of state that has not seen or talked to her face to face I worried that Grandma was holding out to say her goodbyes before she left this earth. Chris was very supportive and was with me in what ever decision I made. While my best friend Candice was here visiting I got a call and I knew I needed to be in Utah. I quickly made phone calls to Southwest hoping to be on a Sunday flight leaving close to the same time Candice would be leaving. They had nothing..the soonest they could get me out was Monday morning not arriving until 2 in the afternoon. I just prayed that it wouldn't be to late and booked the flight. Sunday after we got home from church I just had a feeling to call the airport and check on flights They had one seat leaving at 5:45 I called Chris and he made arrangements to get off work early to take us to the airport. In a whirlwind Candice and I quickly packed and within an hour we were on our way to the airport. My Dad met Annie and I at the airport where Annie gave one of her first smiles to Papou. it was very sweet. I figured that we would go home and then go to the care center first thing in the morning instead we made our way straight to the care center where many of the family was waiting. My heart was nervous for the same reasons I struggled to get to Utah in the first place, I didn't want to see Grandma this way, But I knew that I would regret it if I didn't. I walked in to a room full loving family surrounded by Grandma both happy and sad to see us walking in the door. Grandma was pretty out of it so I just sat by her side and held her hand and told her I loved her. One touching thing that happened after we arrived was Annie started to cry and My mom said to grandma "Mom, Corine brought Annie can you hear that sweet cry?" just then Grandma had a tear in her eye. I was glad she responded and hope that Annie will have that special bond to her great grandma even if she never remembers her. After visiting for a while we made our way home and I couldn't help to feel bad that I really didn't get to talk to Grandma and I was sad for my own selfish reasons. In the morning I talked to Chris on the phone and cried telling him that it was hard to see Grandma this way but how glad I was to be there. We got dressed and headed back to the care center. As we walked in to Grandmas room I looked at Grandma and she had life in her eyes I knew that Grandma knew I needed to see her eyes this way, she looked at me and said hi and told me she loved me. We showed Grandma Annie again and Grandma was able to kiss her newest great grand baby. Later that afternoon Grandma asked for a blessing not long after the beautiful blessing the life in her eyes left again and she was in that state until she passed from this earth Wednesday morning. As the family had made funeral arrangements, I again for my own selfish reasons was sad that Chris Ty and Lucy weren't going to be there with me. That night Chris called and told me he got his vacation switched around and was on their way the next morning Because He just felt that he and the kids needed to be there. If any of you know Chris and his schedule it is unheard of to be able to switch vacations and get shifts covered for a week in a matter of hours. I truly believe that our family and our needs are being looked out for. and I am so grateful for that. The next week was kind of a whirlwind, Chris' Uncle had passed away that weekend as well so on Sunday we went to his viewing, Monday we had Grandma's viewing And the the funeral on Tuesday. We had the rest of the week to fit in the things we had arranged for our week vacation in August including Annie's Blessing just hours before packing up the car to head home. We had a swim party at Chris' sister Susanne's house, Chris and Ty went fishing with Chris' Grandpa. And we were able to fit in a little time to visit with friends in between. Sad that we missed out on seeing some of our other friends. but with so little time we took what we could get. We were exhausted by the end of the week but everything seemed to work out and in all reality I felt that we had more time with our family this week than we would have when we were supposed to come in mid August. so I am glad that we had that quality family time.

Blessing

2009-08-06T16:05:00.000-06:00

Because of our early vacation to Utah. We made some quick changes to bless Annie so we could be with family. Our nephew Daniel was born two weeks before Annie, and Adam and Ashley were waiting to bless him when we blessed Annie in August. So we made some last minute arrangements to bless these sweet babies Saturday morning before we left back home. This is one more thing that just fell into place while on this trip. It was a beautiful morning for two blessings and very hard to see my Grandpa there without Grandma next to him for this family event. As hard as it was for him, I am still glad we had him with us on this occasion.

Kansas City Star

2009-07-13T21:28:00.000-06:00

A lady from the Kansas City Star came into the shop where I sell some of my things and she picked a few vendors to feature in her article and she picked my kid aprons. I thought it was kindof fun to see my name in the paper. Hopefully I sell some aprons out of all this.

The Talk of the Nurses Station...

2009-06-22T08:48:00.000-06:00

So now that Miss Annie is a little over two weeks I thought it was time to tell the story of the day we added her to our family. The night before....I had an enrichment activity that I went to and was telling everyone I had just come to terms that I would have the baby sometime next week which happened to be after my due date. After enrichment, Chris was working nights that week so I needed something to keep me from being bored so I thought I needed to get the stuff to make a tutu for my friend Kendra's baby shower that was on Saturday. I finished the tutu at 11:30ish and headed to bed. All night I wasn't feeling great I just thought I had gas or something :) because remember I was having a baby next week and was to tired to pay attention to the timing of these so called gas pains. After I woke up I realized that they were pretty regular about 8 minutes apart So I waited for Chris to come home from work so he could watch the kiddos while I went to my doctors appointment at 9:30. Chris was pretty excited and we were both hoping that my Dr. would check me and just send me to the hospital. When I got to the Dr. I was still having contraction about 7 minutes apart and only dilated 1-2. Dr. Kruger says well you live here in Lees Summit, why don't you go home and come back to the hospital if your contractions get closer together or stronger. And we will go ahead and set up an induction date for next week just in case. I came home pretty disappointed with an induction date of next Thursday and contractions were now 5 minutes apart. Poor Chris was up all night working so I sent him to bed and I told him I would wake him if I needed him. He pretty much laid in bed without sleeping much because he knew I was laboring all morning. Finally He came out around lunch time and was helping me time my contractions. ....Have you had one yet? you should be due for one. (That was very helpful and by helpful not so much) Then we spent another hour with Chris deciding how in labor I really was because he sends people like us home all the time and didn't want to be sent home. unfortunately you can't tell unless the cervix is checked and we both were not ready to cross that line. Anyhoo my contractions continued to stay at five minutes getting worse so we decided that we would go to the hospital When Robyn (Chris's sister that is staying with us) came home in about an hour. A half hour later I was in quite a bit of pain and started getting everything ready to walk out the door as soon as Robyn walked in. When Robyn walked in my Contractions were three minutes and off we went. Can I tell you a fifteen minute drive with contractions every 3 minutes makes for a long drive. We finally arrived at the hospital and made our way up to the Labor and Delivery floor with only stopping three or four times to breath through contractions we finally made it. We got to my room, changed, and they Checked me...wow your dilated 7-8 sweet lets hook up the epidural. I am still feeling pretty optimistic at this time when the nurse comes in and says nicely that we are going to try really hard to get you an epidural but we have to have your labs back before anything can happen. WHAT!!! I wanted to cry still trying to be optimistic...I'm sure there is still a chance. Then I watch Chris watching my monitors and I look pathetically at him and ask him "I'm not getting an epidural am I?" Then I think I did cry I don't want to be a pioneer and all Chris could say was I'm sorry honey I'm so sorry. He did try to make things better when the Dr. came in he asked about some Litacane shot to ease the pressure. I got the shot they broke my water and after three pushes we had a beautiful little Annie. So from the time we got to the hospital We had Annie an hour and a half later Honestly It wasn't as bad as I expected I'm just glad I didn't have to push very long because I think It would have been a lot worse. So during my Hospital stay I had many comments from the nurses how my Obgyn husband better check me next time so I could have an epidural. I tried to defend him because really it was both of our decision. Anyhoo after the whirlwind of events, being curious, I asked Chris "If my water would have broke at home would I have had a baby at home or on the way?" this was his reply..."It's okay honey I have delivered a few babies" THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!! I guess I'm glad my husband was there as dad and not as Dr. I guess things could always be worse.

And Then There Were Five...

2009-06-04T22:50:00.000-06:00

For all you blogaholics, please forgive me since this is my first time attempting to enter the blog scene. Today (June 4th) at 1756 (that's 5:56 pm for non-military and non-medical folks), Corine gave birth to our second baby girl, Annie Cook. Mom and baby are doing great! I'll let Corine give you all the juicy details, just remember when she tells it, I'm really not that bad of a guy. Have I peaked anyone's interest yet? Anywhoo, here's the stats: weight 7 lbs, 4 oz., length 19 1/2 inches, NOT A RED HEAD!

Hope you enjoy the pics and thank you all for all of your friendship!

Potty Trained!!!

2009-05-30T15:57:00.000-06:00

Great News!!! Lucy Goose has been potty trained for a couple of weeks now I am just now getting around to posting about it. Love it! I'm so excited to say that we will only have one in diapers in a week or so. Wahoo!! I love this picture because you can definatly tell who Lucy went potty with the most. (I'll give you a hint...not Mommy:) Yey for no more diapers!!! I will update soon about baby news.

Mothers Day

2009-05-10T18:27:00.000-06:00

Happy Mothers Day!
I woke up this morning to Lucy yelling from her room "Mommy... where are you?" then as Chris is getting Lucy out of bed Ty runs into our room with a big hug and tells me "Happy Mothers Day Mommy, do you know what the best gift I'm going to give you?" I ask "what?" and his reply is "Catching bugs" Being a Mom is the best! And Bugs...What more can you ask for? The perfect Mothers Day, Chris cooked breakfast we then went to church where Ty actually went up with the primary kids to sing to their moms and then all the moms got a bag of Godiva Chocolate yum! Ty got this cute certificate from primary for me, he filled out the gift given part is to catch bugs too cute! I had to scan it so I could save that forever. Really I can't think of anything better than being a Mom, and being a part of raising these amazing kiddos who teach me every day. Happy Mothers Day to all the women in my life who have influenced me as a mother. Especially my own Mommy!

Hy-vee Coloring Contest

2009-05-02T13:04:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago Hy-vee had a coloring contest so I picked one up for our little artist Ty. Ty loves to color so he was super excited and wanted to color it right away. Ty finished his picture and it sat on our fridge for a week before I realized that it needed to be back to Hy-vee. It's a good thing because Ty won his age group 0-4 years. Hy-vee called yesterday and told Ty he won and could come pick up his prize Saturday afternoon. Ty was so excited to tell every one about winning it was pretty cute. As soon as Ty woke up this morning he asked if we were ready to go get his prize. So we ate some breakfast and headed to the store. He won a Royals monkey. Slugger, the mascot for the Royals was there so we asked Slugger to sign the monkeys shirt. Like always when Ty gets around strangers he clams up and won't talk or smile so we were unable to get a picture of Ty and Slugger but as we left he finally let us take a picture of him (with a smile) by his drawing hanging up with the other winners at the front of the store.

The Bow Tie Club

2009-04-28T07:39:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we attended a UMKC OBGYN Bow Tie Club lunch. Apparently this was started by a former Dr. who passed away during Chris' first year. He wore a bow tie every day for work. Most of the guys in this picture are wearing this Doctors old bow ties given out at his funeral. Unfortunately Chris never really got to know this man and was unable to attend the funeral so we were on our own finding a bow tie for this event. We searched everywhere, and the only place we found a bow tie you had to tie yourself was at Mens Warehouse and there was no way I was going to pay 40 dollars for something Chris was not going to wear that often. Heck who am I kidding I don't like to even pay more than 10 dollars for a regular tie. After seeing the tie at Mens Warehouse I thought it can't be that hard to make myself. So after buying a pattern on sale for 99 cents and some material for less than two bucks with plenty left over, Chris had his own unique bow tie for a lot less than 40 dollars. I think it turned out pretty good and now our cute Ty keeps asking when I am going to make his bow tie.

At the beginning of the meeting they passed out this paper explaining the Bow Tie Club. I thought it was funny so I thought I should share.

THE BOW TIE CLUB
Preamble
Whereas male residents in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Missouri Kansas City constitute a minority of residents in the Department and Whereas it is established public policy that all minority groups need special assistance, therefore By these presents is established

THE BOW TIE CLUB

Purposes

The purposes of the Bow Tie Club shall be:

To raise the self esteem of the male residents in the Deparment of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of Missouri Kansas city
To improve the sartorial standards of the Department.
To promote camaraderie and fellowship within the Department.

Membership

Membership shall be limited to male members of the Department who can tie a bow tie.

Meetings

Attendance- All males attending meetings must be attired in a coat and self tied bow tie. All females attending meetings must be accompanied by a male attired in a coat and a self tied bow tie. All residents, faculty, and alumni are eligible to attend meetings if appropriately attired or accompanied.
Schedule- Meetings will be held irregularly.

Bylaws, Officers, Dues, Duties
NONE

Motto
Never trust a surgeon who clips on his bow tie

Greek Easter

2009-04-20T07:38:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the Kalakis side of the family celebrated Greek Easter. Growing up I always looked forward to the fun party at George's house including the lamb roasting on the spit in the backyard and more great greek food. I decided that I didn't want to miss out on my favorites so our little family made our own Greek Easter meal. Unfortunately we didn't get our lamb but we made the next best thing, Souvlaki and it would not be Greek Easter if you didn't have dolmothes (stuffed grape leaves) and spanicopita (spinach turnovers). We were in heaven. I even stayed up late the night before making Greek easter bread (the best sweet bread ever) so we could eat that for breakfast. It was a great day of great food. Even though we missed the party in Utah we were still able to enjoy our family tradition with great food.

33 Weeks

2009-04-16T08:55:00.000-06:00

I have had a couple of requests for the lovely belly shot. So here I am at 33 weeks. I am feeling great other than the fact that It is getting more and more difficult to bend over or breath and when I stand up I look, and walk like an old lady for just a moment but everything seems to be good. I finally have my heartburn under control after switching medication and I only deal with carpel tunnel when I am on the computer or sewing a lot. I had a doctors appointment a few weeks ago and the Dr. had me get another sonogram because he felt like I haven't been gaining enough weight. I was not worried because I am just following the same pattern as I did with Ty and Lucy. Loose a bunch of weight at the beginning then slowly gain until about this time then gain like I should my body is kind of crazy but I'm not complaining. The baby is growing like she should, and I will just have another small baby like the other two. That doesn't hurt my feelings at all...I like small babies.

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-13T08:33:00.001-06:00

Happy Easter!!!
Yesterday morning we woke up to Ty's little feet running up and down the hall telling us everything the Easter bunny left us. Finally we had to tell Ty that he needed to wait for Lucy to wake up. That didn't go over the greatest, But Lucy soon woke up and everything was okay again.

Here are the kiddos and Aunt Robyn with there baskets from the Easter bunny.

We ate a quick breakfast then off to get ready for 10:00 church. We had Stake conference which I thought was a crazy day to have a stake Conference but found out that Pres. Monsen was presiding via satellite so that made for a great Easter service. What a treat to be able to hear the Prophet speak to you on such a special holiday.
After conference was over we headed home for some lunch and nap time. It was a cloudy day and we all were able to take a nap, in my eyes that is a great way to spend a holiday if you are away from family nice and quiet. After naps we had our Easter dinner with spiral ham (for our ham snob) funeral potatoes and rolls. And to top it all off Strawberry Shortcake (my favorite) for dessert What a great day to spend with our little family and reflect on the wonderful gift from our Savior.

St. Patricks Day!!!

2009-03-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We started our day off with Lucy asking for milk and Ty remembered what day it was and quickly ran to the fridge. He came running back " MOM, OUR MILK IS GREEN!!!!" Wow what a sneaky leprechaun. Again Ty says "Mom I wonder what else he is going to get. I need to get my net so I can catch him and get his gold". So as we were making breakfast that sneaky Leprechaun struck again and turned our pancake batter green right before our eyes as seen in our video. Surprisingly even Lucy loved the green pancakes and kept telling us she was eating leprechaun pancakes unlike last year she wanted nothing to do with green pancakes it was too cute watching them both. One of Ty's plans to catch this sneaky Leprechaun was to make a green watch (shown in the picture above ) and the Leprechaun would want it so Ty could catch him with his net. Too bad the Leprechaun has already taken the watch but decided to leave some gold coins to say thank you for the wonderful handmade watch. We are still waiting to see Ty's reaction. I decided being the parent is so fun to watch your kiddos imaginations run wild especially with a sneaky Leprechaun on the loose.

St. Patricks Parade

2009-03-17T09:20:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday Lee's Summit had their St. Patrick's day parade. We have been planning on going for the last few weeks and then found out Chris was on call that day. I was up to the challenge and got the kiddos all greened up to go to the parade by myself. The parade itself was pretty disappointing for a St. Patrick's day parade there was only one man playing a bagpipe behind the flag at the beginning and no other bands the rest of the parade. Then the people throwing candy would throw literally one piece of candy every five yards. The kids still had fun and even scored a few green necklaces. It was a nice warm day and fun to see Ty and Lucy clapping for the random Business truck and trailer hoping a piece of candy would come their way. We had a good time but Some day we will have go to a real parade.

Peanut Butter

2009-03-13T09:20:00.000-06:00

This is a song that was passed down from Chris' Grandpa Rasmussen. I love that Chris' mom passed these kind of songs down to her kiddos so we could pass them on to ours. I love to think of the many times sitting around with Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen and listening to all the random songs and stories. This peanut butter song is one of Ty's favorites so we thought we would share.

SIX YEARS!!!!

2009-03-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

After six years...
Five different times living with our parents...
Four years of medical school...
Three major moves...
Two great kiddos...
and One on the way!...
I sure do love this Guy!!
Happy Anniversary

Saturday Snow Storm

2009-03-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we woke up to three inches of fluffy snow....Not typical for the mid-west. We decided even though it was the end of February and we should be in a bad mood for that much snow, the snow reminded us of Utah snow so we ate breakfast and geared up in our snow clothes to enjoy the hopefully last snow storm of the year.

The kiddos loved the snow. After the first few times of sledding we finally got Lucy to go down by herself then she dragged the sled around telling us she was going shopping. While Ty spent most of the time cleaning off the cars. (that will come in handy after he is a little taller) After about an hour, the big fluffy flakes changed into the normal icy crystals and the wind started blowing so Daddy and I decided it was time to go in. It really was a nice way to start our weekend off. Now we get to enjoy the rest of the week with Daddy while he has his vacation. Even if he is studying a lot for his upcoming boards exam on Thursday. We still get to see him more than usual.

Visit from Grandma

2009-02-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit with Grandma Kalakis this weekend. My mommy came on Thursday evening and after a few days of shopping and lots of play we took her home Monday afternoon. As always,never long enough but a much needed visit for all of us. We love her and like Ty said this morning...."I really miss Grandma" We love to have visitors and just as sad to see them leave. Thanks mom for playing with us and spoiling us. We love you, and can't wait for the summer to see you again.

Soccer Medal

2009-02-11T10:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Ty's last day of soccer. The Coach had them "pass a test" before they could get a medal. The kids had to stop the ball then kick it back to the Coach. Ty was so proud of his medal he carried it around with him all day.This video is of Ty's test, I'm sure this is a very exciting video to most. But I had to post it for family who missed it.

St. Louis

2009-01-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Chris and I decided that we needed a change of scenery and a trip to the temple. So on Friday as soon as Chris got home from a almost 24 hour work day/night we packed up and headed to St. Louis. We even let Robyn tag along with us :) She was company for me while driving while Chris slept on the back bench of the van. We found a hotel through priceline and ended up at a Marriott for 50 dollars, even better it was just down the street from the Temple. Saturday morning Chris and I woke up early to hit the 7:30 session while Robyn and the kiddos slept in. After we came home Robyn went to do baptisms while we swam in the nice and warm hotel pool. (you know it is a pretty nice hotel when the pool is warm). After checkout we decided to venture out and find the arch. We should have asked for directions but eventually we found it, we just took the scenic route. We had a great time and it really was a much needed mini vacation and much needed Daddy time. Another plus to having Robyn stay with us we actually get pictures of all of us together.

Soccer

2009-01-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ty started indoor soccer a few weeks ago and I am just getting around to posting about it. The picture above is the kids warming up. Ty is the third from the right in the grey shirt. Like any little kid sport not much happens but the kids running around chasing the ball. But Ty loves it. Here is a video of practice Ty is picking the ball up from behind the net and scoring. It is a little jumpy because I was trying to keep Lucy from running around, but if you look close you can see him at the end of the video score. then hear him say "I did it!" You may want to stop the blog music before you start the video.

It's a Girl

2009-01-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

We are having a .........Girl!!!
We have known for a while, I have just been lazy about the blogging .
I had an Ultrasound and Chris was going to get off work so we could find out together but he got stuck in surgery so when the ultrasound tech asked if I wanted to know the sex. I said "Yes, but No" I was so sad and Chris was too. But it is very convenient having an OBGYN for a husband because we just went to the hospital that next Sunday and found out for ourselves. We really would have been thrilled either way but we are excited for an other little girl.

2008-12-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

We had a nice quiet Christmas with our little family. Although we missed being with our family in Utah, We enjoyed having no parties to be to and being able to spend the whole day in our pj's and watching movies.

We started off with Christmas Eve. Chris had to work a half a day in clinic so the kids and I cleaned the house getting ready for Santa to come. When Chris came home we finished up the cleaning and I was off to Walmart for some last minute Christmas Breakfast food. What a crazy place to be Chrismas Eve. I was amazed at how many people were buying a ham last minute. good thing I just needed milk and eggs.
Both mine and Chris' grandparents always throw a big Christmas eve dinner and so We thought because we can't be there with family we would make our own. Chris' request was to have steak like his family tradition so we had some great steak and potatoes. After dinner we quickly cleaned up and whipped up a batch of boiled raisin cookies for Santa and headed off to Longview lake with our new pj's and robes and a Christmas movie in the car to look at the Christmas in the park lights. We knew with it being Chrismas Eve that we would probably wait for a while so we were glad to enjoy "Buddy the Elf". We got home and put the kiddos snug in their beds, excited to see what the morning would bring.

We didn't realize that morning would come at 3:30. Ty came running in saying "Mommy he came!" I looked at the clock and told him that we needed to wait for a while so he could get his pillow and blanket and sleep on our floor until it was time. Little did I know that he would be asking me every time Chris or I would move he would ask "is it time?" he finally fell back asleep at 6:00 and we had to wake him up. Even though we got little sleep, It was fun because that was the first time Ty has been so excited like that about Santa.

Lucy got plenty of baby and princess stuff you could tell what pile was hers after everything was opened because it was just a big pink pile.

Here is our beautiful princess with her accessories. She was mad when she had to take them off for her bath.

Ty was the hardest to shop for. All he wanted was E.T. the movie, Candycanes on the Christmas tree, and a Moose paper to make a card. needless to say he got everything he asked for. Crazy kid. I was glad he was happy with the other gifts he got because anytime I would say Maybe Santa could bring that he would get mad and tell me the three things he wanted nothing else.

Santa enrolled him into an indoor soccer that starts the first of the year so he got his own soccer ball and cones.

We were very lazy all day watching our new movies, and eating. and eating, then we ate some more. It was a great Christmas, spending time with our little family and reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas.

Holly Ball

2008-12-08T12:42:00.001-07:00

Ever since we were married I have always told Chris "I can't wait until we have to go to some party and actually dress up" well last Saturday I got my wish. St. Luke's hospital was having a benefit dinner for a new women's center and one of the practices paid for two tables just for the Residents. Chris made the mistake of telling me about it and then asked if I wanted to go...um...yeah! I knew that I could find a dress somewhere and I was thinking that It wouldn't be hard to find a black suit for Chris to borrow. Wow was I wrong! I found a dress for....wait for it....wait for it. $3.20! that is right, I was talking to my friend Jaime and she had mentioned try the salvation army. The thought never crossed my mind until then, and the next day I was off to find a dress. I found this dress and it was $6.40 but that day, all clothing happen to be 50% off. Wahoo! Luckily I didn't have more of a belly than I already do because there is no way I would have fit into that dress come another week or two. Chris' was another story, in the end we spent alot of money on his suit but at least he has something if we ever go to a black tie event again. So I'm thinking Happy birthday to me! I got a Black suit so We could get all dressed up and go to a ball :) We had a good time. It is so nice to have a live in babysitter to let us go out every once and a while. Thanks Robyn!

The things you are forced to do when you are out numbered by a bunch of girls!
Chris was a good sport by showing some manly leg!

Number three!!!

2008-11-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to announce that number three is on the way! I am about thirteen weeks along and doing pretty good minus a little bit of nausea though I feel like that is slowly going away each day. The baby's due date is June 4th 2009.

A Week With Daddy!!

2008-11-24T08:27:00.001-07:00

We're so glad when Daddy is home glad as we can be!!!
This last week we had Daddy all to ourselves (well mostly) Last week was the opening of the deer hunt for Missouri and so Chris had specifically requested that week for one of his three week vacations for the year. He started it off by going with our friends the Truman boys for the opening day and was home by late Saturday night to be home with the family for the rest of the week. Daddy still went hunting but in the morning and was home no later than 10am. We had a good time going to the zoo, having Daddy pick Ty up from preschool, and wearing Daddy's t-shirts for pj's (the kids thought that was the coolest). We had a great week together and are sad that it is back to real life. At least He only has to work Monday - Wednesday this week.

How low can you go?

2008-10-29T12:48:00.000-06:00

So our gas prices are officially getting lower and lower by the day! Most everywhere in Kansas city is $1.99 a gallon. That's right folks under two dollars, and I over heard a lady talking about how it is supposed to be down to $1.50 by the end of the week! I don't remember the last time it was under two dollars and I am super excited!

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

2008-10-27T08:39:00.000-06:00

Our Birthday Girl!!!

Today We celebrate Miss Lucy Goosey's second birthday. Somedays I just wonder where the time has gone. This time two years ago I was in the hospital waiting the arrival of our beautiful little girl making number two. She is all girl, loving princess shoes, neclaces and dresses. We had a good day celebrating Lucys birthday. Ty really wanted to get Lucy a present so I took Lucy to a friends for an hour and Ty and I were off to find the perfect present. Lucy loved the umbrella Ty picked out. Later, we celebrated her birthday dinner at Ihop and then opened presents. It was a great day! We are so glad that we have her as a part of our family. Happy Birthday Goose!

Princess umbrella from Ty

Lucy's new george jammies!

Boo at the Zoo

2008-10-26T23:32:00.000-06:00

After the party (see next post) and naps we decided to get full use of the kiddos costumes and go to boo at the zoo. We got their kindof late so we didn't get to see any animals(thank goodness we didn't have to pay) but it was still fun to walk around and trick or treat with the kids. We thought it was so funny how many adults commented on Ty's ghostbusters costume.

The family taking a ride on the haunted train

Halloween/ Birthday party

2008-10-26T16:31:00.000-06:00

Last minute we decided to do a birthday party for Ty and Lucy. Ty could invite four friends and Lucy pretty much had the sisters of Ty's friends. I think it turned out pretty well. Saturday morning at 10:30 The kiddos came over played, decorated cookies, opened presents, ate doughnuts and chocolate milk and went home. It was fun and quick, thank goodness it doesn't take much to entertain a bunch of two to four year olds.
Ty and Lucy blowing out their doughnut candles

Decorating cookies!

Our cute party bunch in their costumes

Big 4 year old!

2008-10-20T08:22:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, We celebrated having our baby boy who is not so much a baby but a big 4 year old! Because Ty's birthday fell on a Sunday he would have been devastated if he couldn't go to Red Robin his favorite restaurant so we made his birthday a two day event. Saturday we went to Red Robin and Sunday we made calzones and fruit pizza (Ty's request) and opened presents all after Daddy came home from work. The poor kid had to wait until after 6:30 that is an eternity for a 4year old. Any time someone would call to wish Ty a happy Birthday the first thing he would say is "It's my birthday but I don't get to open presents until daddy gets home!"
Boy was it excitement when Daddy opened that front door!
We had a great weekend and I can't think of spending it any other way than celebrating the sweet addition made to our family four years ago. We love you Ty Man Happy Birthday!

A post for Erin

2008-10-09T12:04:00.000-06:00

Click {HERE}
I know this is cheating but it's hard to come up with 6 things sometimes!

Free Handbags!!!

2008-10-07T14:30:00.000-06:00

Handbag planet is giving away a free handbag every hour for 24 hours on October 15th. All you have to do is go to their sight{ HERE} and register.

Popcorn popping

2008-10-03T13:02:00.000-06:00

Okay this was taken about a month ago but I just found it and had to post. Lucy knows the popcorn song but loves the actions more than singing. My favorite is when she is shaking her finger.
How Cute!

30 on the30th

2008-09-30T08:23:00.000-06:00

Thirty years ago a cute baby boy was born to Kelley and Susan Cook. Making their family of six to a family of seven. They named him Christopher David Cook. His parents raised him and taught him everything that a parent would hope to teach their child and sent him off into the world. Chris served a mission for his church in Ft. Lauderdale Florida for two years. When he came home, while going to college to work on his undergrad at the University of Utah, Chris worked as a phlebotomist. Little did he know, while working as a phlebotomist, he would meet his future wife Corine. Chris and Corine dated for eleven months when they were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. They started there life together and have lived in multiple states. Chris is now a proud daddy to a three (almost four) year old boy Ty, and a one (almost two) year old girl, Lucy. Their little family of four was a happy family, because they had the best daddy ever.
Happy 30th Birthday Daddy We love you!

TUTU cute by corine

2008-09-22T13:06:00.000-06:00

Since the first tutu I made for Lucy, I have not been able to stop. I finally rented a booth at a little shop in downtown Lees Summit trying to sell them and a few other things like superhero capes, and little aprons. In the first three weeks I have sold two tutus and a few superhero capes. I have been asked if I had a website and thought maybe I should try another blog and see if it goes anywhere. If you are interested or know someone who might be, or just want to take a look go to my site. www.tutucutebycorine.blogspot.com
Let me know what you think, or if you have any other suggestions for improvement let me know too. Thanks

Splashing in puddles!

2008-09-04T15:02:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday I found some rain boots on clearance for Lucy. Because she loved Ty's so much I had to buy them. Just in time for a nice rain storm to come. Robyn and I decided to take Ty and Lucy out to play in the rain. Wow what a way to bring back your inner child :) I think we had just as much fun as the kids.

OBGYN Wife

2008-08-27T11:52:00.001-06:00

There are a few things about being an OBGYN's wife that make me laugh and I thought I would share.

1. My house is filled with "light reading" about the female anatomy. (It apparently makes for good bathroom reading:)
2. We got a package in the mail a few weeks ago for Chris and I asked him what it was. His reply..."Oh I think it is my uterus" (I didn't know you could mail order a uterus now days)
3. My little Ty and his imagination found the mail order uterus and decides, it is now his parrot while he plays pirates.
4. The reps. that sent the uterus sent one more a week later. I didn't even open the package, I placed the box and the "parrot" where Chris could take it to the clinic where it belongs the next day.
5. There are still two uterus models in the back seat of Chris' car. (makes for good conversation when you are taking a counselor from Relief Society home)
6. I love the stories about deliveries. My favorite was when Chris delivered a 24 week baby and had to catch it football style as it was flying over his right shoulder. (That still makes me laugh)

I'm constantly asked how I feel about being an OBGYN's wife. Honestly I think it is pretty cool, he gets see new life come into this world just about every day. What could be better?

(Maybe to be done with residency but that will come. )

Imperfect cookies

2008-08-22T08:35:00.000-06:00

I love the look of imperfect cookies. It tells me sweet little helping hands did the work with me. Ty has been wanting to make "the cookies that you roll out" for weeks, so I finally made the time to do it. Sometimes being a busy mom trying to keep up with the house, paying bills, church callings, and other things; I forget how precious time spent not worrying about those things and spending time making a mess with my kiddos really is. I love to watch Ty master the skill of rolling out dough then using his imagination while using the cookie cutters. I love to see Lucy watch her big brother and try to imitate everything he has done. Such a simple thing that really didn't take that much time. I enjoyed every minute of that time we were making a mess and was reminded again that it is okay to put off making a phone call or doing laundry so I could watch my kiddos be kids and join in for a moment forgetting every thing that needed to be done.

Painting, painting and more painting

2008-08-11T16:27:00.000-06:00

BEFORE/AFTER

I know I posted about putting my in-laws to work while they were here on vacation. I am very thankful they were here to start a project that we have been putting off for a long time. They just lit the fire under our rears to get started. After we had the living room, kitchen, and hallway painted, we decided why stop now. I have had so many projects to paint and never had the motivation to actually paint them until the last week or so. I painted a dresser I bought for Lucy's room over a year ago, an entertainment given to us by the Shelley's before they moved back in March and finally decided to get guttsy and paint our mantel over the fireplace. It is so fun and I am amazed at what a new coat of paint can do to anything.

Cook Family

2008-08-04T07:54:00.000-06:00

This past week we have enjoyed Chris' Mom, Dad, and sister Robyn. Robyn came to live with us because she will be starting law school at UMKC. After a long trip for the three they finally made it to Missouri last Sunday. We have had plenty of time to enjoy each other. We even put them to work and finally painted our living room hallway and kitchen. We were able to see alot of church history finishing the week off with a small trip to Navoo. We are so glad we had plenty of time with Grandma and Grandpa Cook and are excited to have Robyn stay with us.

Our little family at the Navoo temple

Aunt Robyn and Lucy enjoying the Mississipi

The beautiful sunset we enjoyed on the drive home. Made us kindof miss Iowa.

Oh the memories....

2008-07-22T07:48:00.000-06:00

This is a pretty fun game. Just follow the instructions. It can be about Chris or Me.

1. Leave a comment on my blog, one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

One year later...

2008-07-18T12:01:00.000-06:00

Last year we decided to rip out some ugly bushes that lined our stairs.
This is what it looked like until now.

Before

AFTER!!!

Because Chris is on such a nice rotation we have been able to finish things like this.
He worked super hard and did a great job all in two days.
It is nice to not have the ugly house on the block :)
I am so excited to get planting!

Potatoes and Plums

2008-07-17T09:14:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to Brother and Sister Petersons garden to help dig potatoes.

After the potatoes, we picked plums from the plum tree.

It is so nice to have Daddy around more for things like this.

What kid dosent like to play in dirt?

Ty and Lucy had such a good time finding their little red treasures.

Lucy was eating the plums just as fast as she could pick them.

Catch up!!

2008-06-30T06:50:00.000-06:00

I have been without a computer for the last two weeks. Our computer Chris got for school finally decided to quit working like it should. Thanks to reading Alisons blog a while ago, we kindof knew what to do. Of all times to do this ! There are so many things that has happened and I have to admit sometimes blogging is the only way I feel like I'm linked with the rest of the world . It has been a crazy two weeks. the day before the computer problems Chris decided his Jeep was not going to work much longer so he thought we should go car shopping. Me, being the always looking to the future girl, decided that if we were going to get a car we should get a car that we can fit three carseats in (no I'm not pregnant just looking to the future). So I am now officially a mini van mom. I never wanted to have a mini van but unfortunatly that is all we can afford right now. Although, I do have to admit it is nice and roomy. So the next day I go to turn on the computer and nothing. I thought of Alisons blog and she had a picture of Jeff with a flashlight to the computer saving all their info. So I ran for a flashlight. Sure enough the backlighting had gone out. I guess it could have been worse. I took it over to the geek squad and they told us it would probably be a couple hundred dollars to fix. Long story short we decided the computer was old enough we should suck it up and buy a new one. We are still dealing with computer issues like our DMU laptop is currently hooked up to our new moniter while we wait for our wireless stuff to be installed in another week. What a pain! On another note, other than the no computer thing We had a pretty good week . Ty started swim lessons that a couple of the girls in the ward were teaching. They did lessons everyday last week so I got a nice tan while watching Ty learn to blow bubbles in the water and telling his teachers that he just blew bubbles so he did'nt need to do it again. What a frustraiting thing to watch! By friday he was doing better I hope when he starts his next set of lessons He will be more comfortable in the water. The other good thing about swim lessons the kiddos would play for a little while after lessons and would come home for a three hour nap. LOVELY! Last thing worth reporting, tonight is Chris' last night of night rotations for a while. It will be nice to have help agian. Pictures to come I just wanted to update a little before Chris came home and wanted to sleep. I hope you have a great monday!

Crafty Stick

2008-06-13T08:57:00.001-06:00

Lately I have been hit on the head with the crafty stick. I have been obsessed making bows for Miss Lucy. Then we went to our city fair and while looking at the vendor booths I thought to myself that Lucy needs dress up stuff. I saw cute tutus for more than I was willing to pay. So I decided I was going to make one myself. I couldn't believe how easy it was and how much fun I had making it. And it cost less than five dollars! It makes me want to make more. I made it last night and was so excited this morning to try it on her. Too bad she wanted nothing to do with it. Until Ty tried it on and was running around in it. Normaly I would not let my little boy dress up in a dress but He was showing Lucy how fun it is right? (nice excuse)

Congratulations Aunt Shal Shal!

2008-06-13T08:45:00.001-06:00

We just wanted to say Congratulations to Aunt Shal Shal. She is gratuating from the
Art Instiute of Colorado today in the Culinary Arts program. We are so proud of you and wish we could be there. LOVE US!!!

Utah Pictures round one

2008-06-04T10:28:00.000-06:00

Here is the first round of pictures from our trip. I'm glad I at least have these pictures, because I left my camera cable at my moms. I'm now waiting for that in the mail so I can download the rest.

Ty and Lucy looking styling in their glasses.

I think Ty was finished with driving

Ty and Kayla were super excited to see each other
and just held hands for a while

We went to Leatherby's
BEST ICECREAM EVER!!

CELEBRATED GRANDMA RASMUSSENS 80TH BIRTHDAY AND CHRIS' MOMS BIRTHDAY MAY 5TH

Lucy was loving Aunt Robyn's shoes.

The girl does have style

Made a visit with Daddy to Nana Bev and Papa Niel's house.

That was just in the first week the next three and a half weeks are still to come.

Back to real life

2008-06-03T07:35:00.000-06:00

We made it home from Utah on Friday. My brother Brett and his little girl Kayla Sue made the long drive 16+ hour drive with us. We made it a two day trip and left on Thursday. We had pretty nice driving weather. It seemed to be that we were just a couple of hours behind the storms. Thank goodness. There was a Tornado in the city of Kearney Nebraska where we stayed the night about five hours before getting there. And another tornado on I-80 just past Kearney only an hour before getting there. After getting back on the road Friday moring we truly felt blessed that we were behind the storms. Looking at pictures of the aftermath of a tornado is nothing compaired to driving through it. And silly me I didnt take any pictures. Anyway we are home safe. We had a nice weekend with Brett and Kayla and took them to the airport yesterday. Now it is back to real life. Pictures of our Utah trip to come later.