All About Jake!

Jacob looked at the blog and said - "Where are all the pictures of me! Here you go Jake! This post's for you! PS - See if you can find Jake in this sea of swimmers!
Just after he got off a HUGE slide! Brr! He got so burnt that day! He missed the next two days of school!!! Next time wear sunscreen like mom suggested! ;-)
Holding a Rabbit at our week long 6th Grade camping trip. Awh - can't we get a pet mom!
Two brother's hug on Jon's Birthday!
Skating with friends on Dec 17, 2008.
6th Grade Promotion Day June 12th with Mom and Dad. Rock Climbing at our weeklong camping trip/6th grade field trip! So fun!


Today we got a shot of him flexing before he changed out of church clothes. His muscles are much bigger in person! I am amazed at how strong he is!
April - BEFORE he got a hair cut! "Peace" you shaggy guy!
Love ya Jake!

Clarissa's Artisan Tropics Bedroom Makeover

It's is nearly finished! Clarissa's dream of a Tropical/Hawaiian Artist's Dream Bedroom has come true! We have been working on it for awhile. She spent most of her Birthday money on the accessories - curtains, pillows, decorative plates and such. We used leftover cans from our "year supply canning" project to create her "art wall". She loves it! All of her art supplies are separated into different cans that hang from her bed. She got her loft bed for Christmas after searching for months on Craig's list. It was a miracle that she found one with in her "Christmas budget" and the bonus was that it was located less than 5 minutes from our home. Clarissa and I went and looked at it and that night Jerry went and picked it up in the van. For her Christmas surprise, I used www.scrapblog.com to create a picture of each letter of her name. Each of them are different and they turned out darling. We are still looking for a pineappple water fountain, an "island inspired" mirror for her wall, and rope lighting for around her bed. Right now we have iscle lights hanging from her bed but they blink so much that they are really distracting.

All in all - Clarissa loves her room! She believes that dreams do come true and she busily spent Friday and Saturday putting together her new goal posters for the coming year!

Great job Sis!

Christmas Eve Night! Happy Birthday Sarah

I forgot to take any pictures of how I spent most of my day! In another post I will show you pictures of the finished product! I had a wonderful breakfast in bed - fried eggs and apples!
After we finished the huge projects we had a quick dinner (aka burger king for the kids and a yummy cranberry salsa turkey spinach wrap for me) and then we headed out to see the lights at Dovewood Ct. We had never been before and they were so beautiful. It was raining so the picture here is pretty blurry. Dovewood will be an annual tradition now for sure! Upon arriving home from seeing lights, I took Clarissa and Jon out to leave food on the grass for Santa's reindeer. We had a fun time checking in with www.noradsanta.com several times to see when Santa was coming. The children all had a snack before bed of cookies. We were sure to save some for Santa too. Here's the picture Jon took of the plate we made for Santa. We had a big glass of goat milk for Santa as well. Jerry and I stayed up way to late putting together last minute projects - ie -the 12 x 6 foot soccer goalie box I designed for Jon. All in all it was a nearly perfect day!

Christmas Eve Eve!

These beautiful flowers arrived on Monday from Mom and Dad B for my Birthday! They are so beautiful! They came just time for our dinner guests on Monday night! The next day was JAM PACKED! Jon had a Primary class party! I had to get last minute "Santa supplies" from the landscape store for Jon's Christmas surprise. All three children had dentist appointments. Jon has two cavities again! Dentist says it's genetic! My check book still feels rotten even after hearing that! Jerry dropped me off at the mall and I scored big time! Between there and the thrift store I got over 20 items for less than $3 each and great brands too! When we got home from all the errands, I started cleaning out the cars and doing laundry and such! What a JOB! Cute Jon pitched in and helped rake up the pine needles. "Mom, do I get paid for this? This is a lot of work - whew!"

Chirstmas is Magical! 6:30 AM w/ Jon!

Family Pictures Take 2

We were planning on having all of these in black and white (she gave us all the shots in both color and black and white) so I wasn't really worried about the fact that they boys were wearing red under their jackets and that it might clash with the hot pink jackets. Oh well! We will love how they turned out! I will let you know when Shae is in town next so that she can take pictures of you too!!!!

Family Pictures Take 1

Well here are a few of the shots we took from the first part of our photo shoot. These were all inside - mostly in front of the fire place. Not my favorite but they are still cute. I especially like the one of the three kids in a pyramid. That's a keeper!

Better than Dish!

ROTFLOL! These two guys crack me up! They share headphones to watch free movies on-line! We turned off cable a few months ago but that hasn't stopped our "viewing" time. We have a total of 5 computers in the house - 4 of which are hooked up to the Internet! ARGH! I know, look at who is talking - I am on the computer right now writing this...! I have purposely planned many outings for our Christmas break so that we don't spend all day in separate rooms in front of our "own" computers. I'll let you know how it goes.

I saw Sista Kissing Santa Clause...

Actually, he kissed Sis! Many of the little ones in our neighborhood and at church have a sweet spot for Sis because she is so kind to them. They run after her and giver her hugs and kisses. They wave and say "hi" to her when she walks into any room. We are setting up baby-sitting in our home because she is already such a popular sitter. She isn't quite old enough to do it at other people's homes but she does such a great job that people have already requested her. These cute pics are from the last EQ Party this past Friday. It was fun and we got to try Chocolate Rice...unusual but it grows on you! I had two bowls!

Dancing Sista

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Jon Can MOVE!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Go Disco! Those Cooks Can Dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Look How We Can Dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ice Skating for the First Time!

Our skating trip on Wednesday evening consisted of five Gallons of hot cocoa, a few dozen cookies, and 40+ youth! It was CRAZY trying to get all the double permission slips from everyone!
Here's a shot of Sis and me. She did such a great job skating especially for her first time!!
Allan, Jake, Brian and Jon! Everyone had fun!
Family Pic! Jerry and Sarah Enjoying the ice together! Jerry must have tried on 5 different pairs of skates! None of them seemed to fit quite right! Still it was fun!

What pros on ice Jon and Jacob were and for the first time ever skating! Everyone was amazed by Jon because of his size! Put him in a Hockey League was the consensus! Right! Ice Hockey in CA!

My Photo Shoot and Family Photos

A few weeks ago a friend of mine called me about a project she was working on photographing working women and asked if she could photograph me. I said sure why not. We took a lot of shots and she burned a CD of the ones she liked best. These are my three favorite. Which one do you like?

I felt like she did such a great job that I asked if she could take some family pictures as well. We had a hard time getting our schedules together but finally yesterday we did it - a 2 hour photo shoot of the Cook family! It was really fun! I will post them as soon as I get them!