Happy Birthday from Spencer

For my birthday in May, Spencer gave me a "photo shoot with dad" because "we didn't have any good photos of the two of us" and "since mom always takes the pictures we don't have any good ones of her". He also insisted that we "dress up nice" and he would pick the location. So Saturday he laid out some "choices" for me on my bed (which were all black) and I talked him into a little color and made Dennis change from the blue and white striped button up shirt to the plain blue one. (I thought with me almost in all black and him in tan and a striped shirt might be a little too much contrast or too much going on). We trooped down to the Locks and Golden Gardens. It was a little too sunny and figuring out the lighting was a little challenging for him. He took 98 pictures and only kept about 5 of them. The subject matter apparently wasn't too cooperative either. According to Spencer "one of you would be smiling or the other wasn't" So this is is first attempt. We are gonna give it another go probably some evening when the light is softer rather than midday like the first attempt. I put in the black and white version because the color is a little washed out. Not bad for his first attempt I think!

Movin' On To Middle School

Today was Cooper's Promotion from elementary school not Graduation but Promotion. It's the end of 14 years at that school which seems pretty amazing. The poor neglected 3rd child had a little ceremony with the rest of his 5th grade friends. This first picture is with his three best buddies Avery, Nick & Jack that he has known since before kindergarten even. We call them the 4 musketeers. All but Nick are headed to the same middle school where I work.

This is Cooper the ham with his principal, Mr. Floyd. He has been the principal for only two years of the six that Cooper has been there. In his time there he had 3 different principals.

Cooper was asked with a group of friends to present the 5th grader's "gift" to the school which was new basketballs for the school.

I added this one just for fun because it is Cooper again being a ham which pretty much is every picture ever taken of him. Parents from his school always talk about what a nice, fun kid he is and how much the love being around him. It's awesome to be the mom of such a happy-go-lucky kid. He really IS awesome!

I just threw this one in for fun. This is Tucker on the back of his truck with his good friend Justin. The back of the truck he just wrecked one Wednesday! Yes, it is true another vehicle bites the dust. Well actually it can be repaired luckily but it seems he is not capable of having a car for more than a year without doing damage. I can't really imagine what it would be like to be a new driver in a big city myself. I never got in a wreck as a kid, but I didn't have as much traffic to contend with of course. Hopefully things will go better for him once we get the truck repaired!

Still Not Much to Say

This is a picture of Cooper from last year when the kids who did crossing guard got to go to Wild Waves as an end of the year celebration. I posted it for lack of something better. Cooper is finishing up his last year of elementary schools and if I remember to bring my camera I might just have some pictures of some of the festivities in the future. Remembering the camera being the key point.
Spencer finished up the track season with two personal best times at the JV Track Meet. He ran the mile in 5:30 and the two mile in 12:01. His coach is expecting him to be one of his "top runners" in cross country next year.
Tucker continues to work (very little) and go to school (one class). In his free time (alot) he mostly hangs out with his girlfriend, Tae. He met her at his cousin's sorority and we have met her once when she came over for dinner. She is a nice girl.
What can I else can I say other than it continues to rain up here on a regular basis, although there are moments of sunshine occasionally now. Today appears to have been mostly sunny in Seattle. I say appears because Dennis & I went up north to play golf (for my birthday which is today) and the weather was not as nice up there--should have stayed down here to play. Although Dennis is a happy camper because he shot a record score today. Me, not so good. Oh well.
As to birthday celebrations, I have requested pasta for dinner and apple crisp for dessert. Mostly I'm just glad I don't have to cook. We WERE going to go to the Oregon coast for the weekend (then I really would have had some pictures to post and something to say) but I did mention that rain thing we have going on here so you can understand why we didn't. We will probably go some other weekend this summer when the weather may be better. I say "may be" because it appears to be shaping up as one of those rainy summers that we haven't had in quite awhile. Not that I am truly complaining because it beats the weather in the midwest by a mile. Tornados vs. drizzly rain--I'm fine with the rain!
So there you have it. Not all that interesting, but at least it shows that I'm alive!

A Post About Nothing (in particular)

I put in this picture from Spencer's track meet because that is the only new picture I have of anything to share. I didn't even take this picture myself that's how lame I am right now. There is a parent who goes to the track meets that tries to take pictures of lots of different kids. Spencer has had three track meets now and we have attended none. Why? Well because they have all been at a high school somewhere far away and the weather has been super crappy. So being the uncaring parents that we are, we opt to stay home rather than go sit in the rain for a couple hours. We stink it's true. Spencer is running the mile and the two mile. At his last race he ran his personal best and shaved 5 seconds of his last time. He ran the mile in 5 minutes 40 seconds. It's setting up for a really good cross country season next year. His coach says he is expecting really good things from him and can't wait to see what happens with him in the next year or two. I think he has found his niche'. Speaking of rain, can I just say that I am so sick of the rain this year! The weatherman reported that we had 3" more rain that for the month of March than normal. Now that might not seem like alot, but trust me it is when you have to wake up to it day, after day, after day with no end in sight. We have had occasional patches of sun on a given day but have yet to have a full day of sunshine. Rumor has it that we might see a change in the weather towards the end of the week but I'm not holding my breath for that one. I certainly has gotten old and that's all I have to say about that or it could be depressing!

Just to keep things random, Cooper has become and oragami fiend. He likes to get on Youtube and watch step by step instructions on how to make things out of paper. He has learned how to make some pretty cool things. If I wasn't such a lame mom right now I would provide a picture right here....but I didn't. I have actually given him permission to use the craft paper I have had for years and years just sitting on the shelf. I figure someone should get some use out of it. It also keeps him from using the paper from the printer. No mattter how many times I tell him to use the scrap paper, he is always pulling out fresh paper. The good thing is it is working his brain, spacial skills and hand/eye coordination in a different way than playing video games. (The penguin picture is in here just to break up the monotony of all the typing. They are Cooper's favorite animal so the placement is appropriate--just pretend it is really a picture I took)

He was just in a play at school (again no pictures--however some friends had their cameras so I am hoping for some photos from them). The play was The True Story of Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde which was about as "true" as you can be in a 20 minute play. Big ham that he is, he got a lead role and played Dr. Jekyl. He did a pretty good job and projected well. His best bit was his evil laugh which I'm sure he would be happy to perform if asked. He also got a good laugh during the question & answer session at the end of the play when he called the boiler room which is in the basement at the school the "Dungeon of Sorrow" in a very dramatic voice (you had to be there I guess).

Tucker is finally back in school taking a pre-math class. I call it pre- because it doesn't count. It is the math class he needs to take to get to the math class he needs to take to get to the one that actually will count. Luckily he tested and got to move up two math classes so he didn't have to take four classes to get to one that counts. He seems to be ready to apply himself but time will tell. I volunteered him at Cooper's school to administer spelling tests to kids in Cooper's class twice a week. They had sent out an e-mail saying they needed help and I was thinking about taking one day a week from work to do it and then I thought of Tucker and what a good thing it would be for him to do. He such a good kid, he didn't mind me volunteering him and already did his first tests last week.

So that's the end of my randomness. Now at least I can come to my blog and not feel guilty because I have finally updated it. Whew that is a load off my mind!

Sigh - Tucker is 19

So very true. Don't know when it happened, but we all got older. Yes, I know I have about a week behind (his birthday was literally a week ago Saturday). I've got no excuses. We had a little family celebration which didn't include the usual Chandler Mexican fare. Tucker opted for Swedish meatballs and Caesar salad oddly enough. The nifty vest he is wearing in the photo was made for him by his Aunt Lisa similar to the one she made for her own son, James, for Christmas. He also got a new stereo for his truck, tickets to Comicon (or Nerdcon as Spencer was want to call it) and quite a bit of cash which is always useful for a poor boy like him. (Comicon is a comic convention which is happening right now as I type. A three day affair at the convention center featuring comic book authors, illustrators plus other Sci Fi kinds of thing--complete with people dressed as super heroes, Star Trek & Star Wars characters, etc. So yes, Spencer is correct in calling it Nerdcon). Tucker is currently working at Office Max though not as many hours as he needs. He is supposed to be looking for more work...or hopes that his old job at the Dirt Exchange will be available again soon (it's getting more towards construction season again so hopefully that work will pick up). He will be back in school again in April so he won't have quite as much free time on his hands as he does now. He's still a pretty awesome kid (if mom's are allowed to weigh in) though he is currently suffering from that self-centered, ego thing that lots of kids this age seem to have. This too shall pass I assume. It's hard to believe my little 6 pound 8 oz baby turned into this 5 o'clock shadow (well okay a day or two without shaving) boy!

I've Got Nothin'

I keep thinking I should update my blog. Then I think, "With what?" I could tell you about my new cute boots that made me fall 5 times at work the first day I wore them with the big brown bruise on my left knee pictured as proof. Only I didn't take a picture and how thrilling is that anyway.

I could tell you about our Christmas but pretty much the only pictures I took were from this day where we got our tree. I have none at all of Christmas itself.

I could regale you with stories of Cooper's comical basketball team, but I've only seen one game and don't have any pictures of that either. Although it is funny to watch them finally get "called" for things they have been doing for year--traveling, 3 seconds in the key, double-dribbling, stepping over the line when throwing it in. Really only a video could do it justice, but I haven't got that either.

I could tell you of Spencer's high school woes, but that's just a typical teenager story. Plus it would probably just add to his misery knowing it was shared. Suffice it to say, he will survive it all and look back on it in wonder one day just like we all did.

How about Tucker's school and employment constant changes for a topic of conversation. No, that's not really anything new either.

So lest you think life is all dull and uninteresting for me, here's proof that you can be surprised. Dennis spent this past week in Florida, which he pretty much does annually. On Friday, the day he was returning I got this lovely arrangement at work. The funny thing was, when it was delivered I was on the phone and ignoring it. Imagine my surprise when my co-worker looked at the tag and brought over to my desk. I was still wondering who could have sent me flowers (it's true). When I read the card I almost started crying. See Dennis rarely sends flowers (can't even remember the last time) so when he does send them it is always surprising and that makes it all the more special.

Maybe I do feel like I don't have anything interesting going on right now. The reality is while it may not necessarily be interesting, I've got everything. At least everything I need and that's what really matters.

Cooper is 11!!

Crazy but, true. Cooper celebrated his 11th birthday on 12/21. He actually started the celebration on Monday 12/20 with a sleepover with four of his school friends. The boys were told at 11:30 they should turn off the TV where they were playing video games. Apparently that was interpreted as just turning off the video games because I had to tell them to go to turn off the TV and the lights at around 1:30. Somewhere in there they may or may not have fallen asleep briefly. Dennis had to yell at them at 4:30 again that it was too early to be awake and to go to sleep! Oh to be young and stay up like that all night (not really).

Cooper is a fun loving, always smiling young man. He loves to laugh and is often doing just that. He loves to play with any kid any age. On his actual birthday, Dennis had arranged for our whole family to go on an Argosy cruise around Lake Washington with the Christmas Ship. It is a little flotilla that gathers every night and may include just the Christmas Ship which has a choir on it and the dinner ship which is the one we were on if the weather is bad or if the weather is nice many ship oweners join in the "parade" around the lake. We got lucky and the weather was nice so there were probably about 10-15 boats all decorated with lights and such that followed along. The Christmas ship stops twice to perform for people on shore and all the other ships gather round. We got a lovely four course meal and the lounge band sang Happy Birthday to Cooper (and a few others on board). It was lots of fun for the whole family. Something he will probably remember for awhile.